Jeff DiVeronica

@RocDevo

Sacha Kljestan, the player who converted the decisive penalty kick for the New York Red Bulls in Wednesday's 1-0 win in Rochester, makes $687,500. Gonzalo Veron, the 26-year-old from Argentina who was fouled to set up that PK, will earn $500,000 this season, and Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips checks in at a team-high $710,000 in guaranteed money. Dax McCarty and Aurelien Collin, two other starters, each take home $500K.

Why does that matter?

Because the caliber of play between Major League Soccer teams and the rest of the "lower" professional leagues in America has never been tighter and yet ... the difference in what players are paid has never been wider. That's the reality in Year 21 of MLS. Consider this: The Red Bulls' player payroll is $5.8 million. The Rhinos' is under $500,000. That's right, all those players I listed above make more individually than the entire Rochester roster.

Red Bulls bring their best, edge Rhinos 1-0 in Cup

And the Red Bulls' payroll ranks only 14th in the 20-team MLS.

"These games are never easy," New York head coach Jesse Marsch said after his club became the first team to escape western New York with a win in Rochester since August of 2014.

But the defending USL champion Rhinos are far from the only team from a league lower than MLS that pressed the issue in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday and Wednesday. Twelve of the 15 matchups between MLS clubs and teams from a lower division were close. MLS prevailed in most, but it was pushed — hard.

Seven one-goal games: MLS went 6-1. Kudos to the New York Cosmos (NASL) for knocking off neighbor New York City FC (MLS), 1-0.

Four matchups decided by PKs: MLS went 3-1. Props to Fort Lauderdale (NASL) for outlasting D.C. United, 4-3, on penalties.

One match, late Tuesday, went to extra time: The L.A. Galaxy turned it on and beat an amateur squad, La Maquina, 4-1. The Galaxy's payroll is $18.1 million, third in MLS behind Toronto and New York City FC, and "Beat L.A." is almost what those guys who have day jobs did.

The close matches are, in part, a product of the sport. That's just how soccer is, the little guy can play a certain style or with more heart and hang in there against the superior team. Did all the MLS teams play their regular starting lineup like the Red Bulls? Of course they didn't, but these results should be fair warning to America's top league. Wednesday night could have been a blood bath and an embarrassment had a few things broke the right way for the lower sides.

I still don't think any lower-division club will be able to good enough over four to five matches and win this whole thing like the Rhinos did in 1999, but in years to come, unless MLS takes this tournament more seriously, it's going to get shown up more.

The Open Cup is a great tournament and I'm hearing more and more from the other side of the wall that MLS might buy in someday soon and really promote this thing. It could be very cool and feature several great storylines. I've written for years that this is American soccer's version of the NCAA basketball tournament and it was almost filled with upsets on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cinderella will be back and one night in a future fourth-round there might be slippers that fit across the continent.

COMING SOON: Only 3,500 fans showed up Wednesday night. Why? I'll give you my opinion.