NEW YORK – Portland fans got their wish Monday to cheer their expansion Timbers on in the quest for the US Open Cup, thanks to a fortunate flip of the coin at Major League Soccer headquarters.
The Timbers won a coin flip to earn the right to host a USOC play-in game against Chivas USA in March, the first of eight outcomes determined by a coin flip to decide the host sites for a number of the USOC’s early matches.
D.C. United also won the right to host a play-in match against the Philadelphia Union, and could extend their home-field edge as far as the next round. The winner of the DC-Philadelphia game also won the right to host the New England Revolution in the next round of the tournament, a match scheduled to be played by the end of April.
The San Jose Earthquakes also won a toss to host the winner of the Portland-Chivas USA match in April, while the Chicago Fire will host the Colorado Rapids and the Houston Dynamo will host Sporting Kansas City in matches all played in April.
The winner of the San Jose/Portland-Chivas USA match will host the winner of Chicago-Colorado in May, and the winner of Houston-Kansas City will host the winner of D.C. United-Philadelphia/New England.
USOC results determined Monday (first team listed will host, seeding in parenthesis):
Game A: (10) Portland Timbers vs. (8) Chivas USA
Game B: (9) D.C. United vs. (7) PhilAdelphia Union
Game C: (2) San Jose Earthquakes vs. Game A winner
Game D: Game B winner vs. (6) New England Revolution
Game E: (4) Chicago Fire vs. (1) Colorado Rapids
Game F: (5) Houston Dynamo vs. (4) Sporting Kansas City
Game G: Game C winner vs. Game E winner
Game H: Game F winner vs. Game D winner
