New York Red Bulls Come To Town Tomorrow Night For Fourth Round Of Open Cup

June 14, 2016 - United Soccer League Championship (USL) - Rochester Rhinos News Release





Rochester, NY - The Rochester Rhinos enter the Fourth Round of the U.S Open Cup tomorrow night against the New York Red Bulls from the MLS. This is the first round of the historic tournament that MLS teams will enter. There are five other USL teams competing in the Fourth Round including the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, the Harrisburg City Islanders, Oklahoma City Energy FC, San Antonio FC, and the Wilmington Hammerheads.

History shows that defeating the New York team isn't impossible. The Rochester Rhinos faced the New York Red Bulls (at the time the Metrostars) in the U.S Open Cup back in 2005 where the Rhinos came out with a 3-1 victory.

The Harrisburg City Islanders, a team the Rhinos beat 2-1 earlier this season, defeated the New York Red Bulls in 2012 with an outstanding upset that ended 3-1 in extra time in the Fourth Round. More recently in 2014, the New York Cosmos of the NASL came away with a 3-0 win in the Fourth Round against the Red Bulls as well. Rochester fans heading out to the game Wednesday night will be hoping for another underdog victory.

The Rhinos have a record better than most teams against MLS in the U.S Open cup. In 2004 they advanced in PKs against the New England Revolution, and again in 2005 against the Red Bulls (Metrostars). Their most recent upset came in 2014 against DC United where the Rhinos walked away with a 1-0 win.

The Rhinos are also the only non MLS team since the creation of MLS in 1996 to win the 103 year old Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup. They did so in 1999.

The Red Bulls are winners of the MLS Supporters Shield, an award given to the MLS team with the best regular season record. New York is currently 6-7-1 in league play. The New York team hasn't played a regular season game since May 28 with three weeks off for Copa America. While rest is good, this may be an advantage for Rochester as last season the Red Bulls struggled when coming off extended breaks.

Last tournament, the Red Bulls entered against the Atlanta Silverbacks, and advanced to play the New York Cosmos in the Fifth Round. They then moved on to the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by the Philadelphia Union in PKs.

The Rochester Rhinos have held all Open Cup matches this year at home on their new turf at Rochester Rhinos Stadium. In the Second Round they defeated Southie FC 7-0, and Lansdowne Bhoys 2-0 in the Third Round.

The match will be a battle between two New York teams, both who saw extreme success in their 2015 seasons with New York coming away with the Supporters Shield and the Rochester Rhinos being the defending USL Champions.

The game will be live streamed via the U.S Soccer Youtube Channel.

All tickets are just $20 and can be purchased at rhinossoccer.com/tickets or by calling 454-KICK.

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