RAPIDS GAME SATURDAY AGAINST KANSAS CITY TO DOUBLE AS U.S. OPEN CUP QUALIFIER

DENVER (Wednesday, April 14, 1999) - The Colorado Rapids' MLS contest this Saturday against the Kansas City Wizards will double as a qualifying match for the U.S. Open Cup. The Rapids (1-2, 3 points) face the Wizards (0-4, 0 points) Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (MT) at Mile High Stadium in a regularly-scheduled MLS game.

The winner of the contest will advance to the third round of the U.S. Open Cup, which is set to begin in mid-July. The Rapids also could advance to the third round even with a loss, depending on their MLS results as of June 1 (please see below for details).

The third round of the tournament will consist of 16 teams, eight of which will be MLS clubs, eight of which will be from the lower divisions. The first two rounds are competitions solely for non-MLS clubs.

Dating back to 1914, the U.S. Open Cup is the oldest competition in the United States and is among the oldest in the world. Open to all amateur and professional teams in the United States, the annual U.S. Open Cup is an 85-year-old single-elimination tournament.

As the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history, the U.S. Open Cup dates back to 1914 when the Brooklyn Field Club won the first national title by defeating the Brooklyn Celtics in Pawtucket, R.I. First instituted as the National Challenge Cup under the aegis of the United States Football Association, it was conceived as a competition open to all players (amateur and professional) and based upon England's Football Association Cup format.

The Rapids have not fared too well in the Open Cup, with a 1-3 record overall in tournament games and qualifiers since the Rapids began play in 1996.

1998: Lost qualifying-round match, 3-2, to the Miami Fusion on May 2.

1997: Rapids dropped third-round match, 2-1, to the USISL Chicago Stingers on July 30.

1996: Colorado defeated the Kansas City Wiz, 3-2, in the quarterfinals on September 15, before falling in the semi-finals, 3-0, on October 12 to the A-League Rochester Raging Rhinos.

1)	Chicago Fire (1998 U.S. Open Cup champion)
2)	Columbus Crew (1998 U.S. Open Cup runner-up)
3)	Dallas Burn (1997 U.S. Open Cup champion)
4)	D.C. United (1996 U.S. Open Cup champion)

1)  Kansas City Wizards @ Colorado Rapids		April 17, 1999
2)  Miami Fusion @ New York/New Jersey MetroStars	May 15, 1999
3)  Tampa Bay Mutiny @ Los Angeles Galaxy		May 15, 1999

** The 8th MLS Open Cup place in the third round will go to the one team out of the three that lost their qualifying matches which has the highest point total in the MLS standings (per game) on June 1, 1999. Therefore, on June 1, of the three teams that lost their qualifier, the total points in the MLS standings will be divided by the total number of games, with the highest of the three clubs advancing to the third round.

YEAR		CHAMPION	RUNNER-UP 		FINAL SCORE
1996		D.C. United	Rochester Rhinos	3:0
1997*		Dallas Burn	D.C. United		0:0 (OT-PK)
1998		Chicago Fire	Columbus Crew		2:1 (OT)

* After 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, Dallas won, 5-3, in penalty kicks.

Since the inception of MLS in 1996, two of the three U.S. Open Cup champions have "done the double" of winning both the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in the same season. Both D.C. United in 1996 and the Chicago Fire in 1998 completed "the double," with only the Dallas Burn failing to also hoist the MLS Cup in their U.S. Open Cup championship season (United won the 1997 MLS Cup, defeating the Colorado Rapids in the final).

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