Open Cup lives up to expectations Once again, the Open Cup offers us some giant-killing results and some favorites needed Extra Time to get past smaller teams.

• Rochester 2 - 1 Virginia Beach

Rochester needed a late winner to get past the rival USL 1 team.

• Western Mass 1 - 3 Chicago

Chicago went a goal down early on the road against the USL 2 side before getting three back before the break.

• Charlotte 2 - 3 Chivas (AET)

Chivas had to fight to get past the USL 2 side and didn't come out on top until Extra Time was played.

• Atlanta 1 - 5 Des Moines

Wow! The college kids tore the pros apart. This has to be the upset of the round.

• Dallas 3 - 1 Wilmington (AET)

Wilmington scored first. Dallas could only manage to level the score before showing their fitness and scoring twice in Extra Time.

• Minnesota 6 - 4 Salt Lake (AET)

Two Extra Time goals from the Thunder. 10 goals total. This had to be a classic!

One thing is certain. No team can take these Cup games for granted. On any given day, any team can win over 90 minutes. I just wish more was done to make this competition bigger. After all, we--as American's--love a good underdog story. This could make some of the unlikely runs in the NCAA Basketball Tournament seem meaningless. Well, maybe not meaningless but you know what I'm getting at here.

UPDATE: I just found this great piece by Marc Connolly on MLSnet. He does a great job of painting a picture of last nights Western Mass - Chicago game. I agree, this is what the Open Cup should be about.

  ¶ 1:01 PM