 What if, every two to four years, there was a nationwide competition, displaying the top amateur talent from across the country while pitting states against each other in friendly competition? Well I've got an idea for that. The United States Cup. The idea is simple. All 50 state associations assemble their best amateur players into a state team, and play each other in a March Madness style knockout competition. In year one, you do things easy. Top 16 states by population are automatically seeded. The next 30 are in the qualifiers. The 4 states with the lowest population play a home and away qualifier, The First Four. After that, you randomly draw the next 16 home and away qualifying games. Those 16 winners move onto the United States Cup proper. If you make it to the second round, you automatically qualify for the next edition. Eventually you could do away with this by playing friendlies and having a coefficient. Think about. With time, this could become not just something really fun, but really important to the American Soccer Landscape. And if you take away college players, it becomes the perfect platform for displaying top adult talent to pro teams around the world. The layout for the Inaugural United States Cup, presented by American Pyramid, looks like this.
The Hopefuls
For fun, I put names in a hat, and pretended this actually happened from start to finish. Here are the results. All results were determined after a roll of dice with random hat drawings to determine match ups. With help of my cousin Greg, this nerdy game got underway.
The First Four - Result over two games, aggregate score. North Dakota 6 - Wyoming 5 Alaska 7 - Vermont 4 Qualifying - Results over two games, aggregate score Idaho 9 - Nebraska 3 Minnesota 10 - Delaware 9 Montana 9 - Wisconsin 6 Colorado 7 - Nevada 5 Alabama 10 - North Dakota 5 Alaska 10 - Missouri 5 Rhode Island 8 - Louisiana 5 Maryland 11 - West Virginia 5 Oregon 8 - Hawaii 6 South Dakota 10 - Mississippi 2 New Hampshire 10 - New Mexico 4 Oklahoma 9 - South Carolina 3 Connecticut 9 - Kentucky 5 Indiana 7 - Iowa 3 Utah 10 - Kansas 5 Maine 6 - Arkansas 4 Now we enter the tournament proper, single game elimination. PK's happened 3 times, rolled the dice to see who would win, best of 5. Opening Round Utah 4 - South Dakota 2 Alaska 5 - Rhode Island 2 Pennsylvania 4 - Massachusetts 1 Oklahoma 4 - Montana 3 Maine 6 - Illinois 3 Colorado 4 - Virginia 2 New York 3 - Ohio 2 (PK's) Florida 5 - Maryland 3 Arizona 2 - Idaho 1 (PK's) Georgia 6 - Washington 4 Tennessee 6 - California 2 North Carolina 5 - Michigan 3 Connecticut 3 - New Jersey 1 (PK's) New Hampshire 5 - Texas 2 Minnesota 5 - Indiana 1 Alabama 6 - Oregon 2 Sweet Sixteen Arizona 5 - Minnesota 4 Colorado 3 - Alaska 1 Utah 6 - North Carolina 1 New Hampshire 5 - Georgia 2 Maine 5 - Connecticut 4 Florida 6 - Pennsylvania 5 Oklahoma 5 - Tennessee 4 Alabama 6 - New York 2 Elite Eight New Hampshire 4 - Arizona 1 Florida 6 - Maine 3 Oklahoma 2 - Utah 1 (PK's) Alabama 4 - Colorado 2 Final Four Oklahoma 5 - New Hampshire 3 Florida 5 - Alabama 2 Third Place Game New Hampshire 6 - Alabama 5 Championship Florida 6 - Oklahoma 4 And there you have it. Florida are the inaugural United States Cup Champions. While this might be the nerdiest thing ever written on AP, it was actually a lot of fun. If you want a recap of the rules to play yourself, let me know. Anyway, a tournament like this has the potential to be something truly special in the American Soccer Landscape. What do you think? Is this a good idea? Would you watch it or attend the games Let me know! |
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