So how chaotic was it this weekend in the Jägermeister Cup? Pretty crazy, as it turned out. And some of the end results were pretty funky. But that is in the nature of cup competitions structured this way and it worked out precisely as drawn up. The USL has to be happy. And yes, I went with the classic conspiracy meme. 0 points for originality but, man, it applies.
First, the scores ended up with 11 teams in competition for the 8 playoff spots. Second, 2 groups were decided on tiebreakers, and 1 of them was between 3 teams. Third, the second wild card spot was also decided on tiebreakers, this one between 4 teams. Here are the teams who were in it at the end:
| Group | Pos. | Team | P | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sacramento Republic | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | Las Vegas Lights | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 9 | |
| 2 | 1 | San Antonio FC | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | 1 | Indy Eleven | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| 2 | Birmingham Legion | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 10 | |
| 4 | 1 | Rhode Island FC | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 10 |
| 2 | Hartford Athletic | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 9 | |
| 5 | 1 | Loudoun United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | Louisville City | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 | |
| 3 | Charlotte Independence | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 | |
| 6 | 1 | Greenville Triumph | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
4 groups were won outright.
San Antonio took Group 2, but it was a close-run thing. They played New Mexico United, who were second and trailing by 3 points. New Mexico therefore had to win in regulation to take the group on the head-to-head tiebreaker; a wild card was possible but not realistic. The teams drew 2-2, guaranteeing San Antonio the group title. New Mexico won the shootout 3-0, which probably shows that San Antonio already knew they had clinched. New Mexico finished with 8 points and out of the wild card chase.
In Group 3, Indy Eleven kicked off against FC Tulsa an hour before the Legion game. By the time the Three Sparks kicked off Indy were a goal up; by half-time of the Legion game Tulsa had scored twice in the second half. But one was in their own net and thus Indy won the group but just barely. The Legion thus knew as the second half got under way that the best they could do was a wild card. After a shock Forward madison goal the Legion finished the job in grand style and ended on 10 points, enough to guarantee a wild card.
Rhode Island and Hartford Athletic—who had faced each other league play just a week earlier with a 0-0 draw—went at it for Group 4. Hartford made it as hrad on tghemselves as they possibly could. Beverly Makangila was sent off in the 28th minute for two yellows cards. Even so, Hartford were leading 1-0 at the half. Indy tied it up shortly into the secind half and took the lead on a penalty given up by Adrian Diz Pe. Diz Pe made up for it 4 minutesd later by scoring himself to make it 2-2. Hartford went on to win the shootout 4-3. But like San Antonio, Rhode Island already had the group in the bag.
Group 6 was the big surprise. Going into the final weekend the Tampa Bay Rowdies were leading the group on 7 points with the Greenville Triumph a point behind. The Rowdies lost 1-2 to the already-eliminated Charleston Battery and Greenville made it 3 straight wins in the Cup by beating FC Naples 2-1. Thus League One was guaranteed representation in the quarterfinals.
Then came the two groups decided on tiebreakers.
In Group 1, the Las Vegas Lights were long since done, having played their 4th game back in June. All they could do then was watch as Sacramento Republic and Monterey Bay FC worked to hit the same 9 points they were sitting on. Monterey Bay blew it, losing 2-to AV Alta. SacRep were playing at Spokane Velocity, who can be very dangerous. The Californians scored the only goal in the 10th minute to head into a tiebreaker with Las Vegas. That was an easy call, as Sacramento had beaten Las Vegas handily, 4-0.
Group 5 was a mess. Loudoun United, Louisville City and the Charlotte Independence all finished with 9 points. Lou City beat Lexington SC 2-1, but made it interesting by going down in the 87th minute and scoring twice in stoppage time. The Independence breezed to a 3-0 decision over Richmond Kickers. Loudoun, who were already top of the group, made it a 3-way tie in bizarre fashion. They went down to North Carolina FC after 36 minutes and had to overcome a 1-man deficit after keeper Hugo Fauroux committed a blatant foul in the 52nd minute. They finally tied the game up 13 minutes into stoppage time and lost the shootout 5-3 with Owen Jack having taken over in goal.
They didn’t have to worry too much though. They had already beaten Louisville in regulation and Charlotte on penalties, so were good for first in the group on head-to-head results. Lou City took second spot. Although they did not play Charlotte in the group stage, they had 3 wins as compared to Charlotte’s 2 (Charlotte did also have a shootout win, but it’s not clear if that would count. If it did, the tiebreaker would have come down to disciplinary points and Louisville had 6 versus Charlotte’s 10 so the result would have been the same). Messy, but that’s what group stages are all about.
All of that meant that with 10 points the Legion took Wild Card 1 undisputed and will head to Rhode Island for the quarterfinal.
That left 4 teams on 9 points to battle it out for Wild Card 2. After total points the second tiebreaker is goals scored; Hartford’s 9 goals clinched it for them and they advance as well to play at San Antonio. In the other two games, Greenville will host Indy and Loudoun will host Sacramento. The games will be played the weekend of August 19-20 with the final schedule yet to be determined.
As for the 6 other teams who were still alive going into the final weekend, none could finish with more than 8 points and so were doomed. Only one of them even got that much. Here’s how they fared:
Phoenix Rising: They were already done before the weekend and so were sitting on the sidelines watching, as were the Lights. Their 7 points were unlikely to hold up and they saw 7 teams pass them.
The Miami FC: Miami’s potential 8 points were an outside chance but they failed to get them, going ahead just before half-time but giving up 2 second-half goals to South Georgia Tormenta.
Detroit City: A penalty and a Westchester red card, both in first-half stoppage time pretty much sealed the deal. Detroit cruised to an eventual 3-0 win over one of League One’s weaker teams. 8 points didn’t get the job done though.
South Georgia Tormenta: Tormenta’s comeback 2-1 win over Miami netted them 7 points. That was not enough but at least they knocked off a Championship side in the process.
Oakland Roots: The Roots’ outside chances were dashed in Saturday’s first game. They lost 0-1 to Orange County and ended with just 4 points.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks: The Switchbacks were all over Texoma FC, winning 4-0. Another team finishing with 7 points and out of the playoffs.
