CHICAGO (Monday, June 21, 2004) – The eight playoff teams from the 2003 Major League Soccer season have learned their potential opponents for the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fourth round, the majority of which will be played on July 20, 2004.

With the Dallas Burn and Columbus Crew entering in the third round (as the bottom two finishers in the 2003 MLS regular season), the Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, D.C. United, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, MetroStars, New England Revolution and San Jose Earthquakes are the final eight MLS teams entering the 40-team tournament.

The Chicago Fire are the defending champions, and are the only team left in the tournament with multiple Open Cup crowns to their name. In 2003, the Fire topped the MetroStars 1-0 in Giants Stadium on a goal by Damani Ralph. The Fire also won the Open Cup in 1998 and 2000. Other former champions still in contention are the Richmond Kickers (1995), D.C. United (1996), Dallas Burn (1997), Rochester Raging Rhinos (1999), Los Angeles Galaxy (2001) and Columbus Crew (2002).

Geographical pairings and host proposals received from each club determined match-ups, as they will through the quarterfinals of the tournament. The U.S. Open Cup continues with the third round on June 30. Complete U.S. Open Cup schedules, results and news are available on the competitions page of ussoccer.com.

Third & Fourth Round Pairings
Round 3
#     Date     Teams                 Venue; City     Time
17     June 30     Portland Timbers (A) at Utah Blitzz (PSL)    Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, Utah      7:30 p.m. MT
18     June 30     Boulder Rapids Reserve (PDL) at Minnesota Thunder (A)    James Griffin Stadium; St. Paul, Minn.     7 p.m. CT
19     June 30     Wilmington Hammerheads (PSL) at Charleston Battery (A)    Blackbaud Stadium; Charleston, S.C.     7:30 p.m. ET
20     June 30     Atlanta Silverbacks (A) at Carolina Dynamo (PDL)    MacPherson Stadium; Browns Summit, N.C.     7:30 p.m. ET
21     June 30     Virginia Beach Mariners (A) at Dallas Burn (MLS)    Old Panther Stadium; Duncanville, Texas     7:30 p.m. CT
22     June 30     Cape Cod Crusaders (PDL) at Richmond Kickers (A)    Sports Backers Stadium; Richmond, Va.     7 p.m. ET
23    June 30    Syracuse Salty Dogs (A) at Columbus Crew (MLS) OR    Columbus Crew Stadium; Columbus, Ohio    7:30 p.m. ET
                        South Jersey Barons (PDL) at Columbus Crew
24     June 30     Chicago Fire Reserves (PDL) at Rochester Raging Rhinos (A)    Frontier Field; Rochester, N.Y.     7:35 p.m. ET

Round 4
#     Date     Teams                 Venue; City     Time
25    July 14    San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) at Portland Timbers OR    PGE Park; Portland, Ore.    7 p.m. PT
         July 20    San Jose Earthquakes at Utah Blitzz    Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, Utah    7:30 p.m. MT
26    July 20    Boulder Rapids Reserve at Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) OR    Harder Stadium; Santa Barbara, Calif.    7:30 p.m. PT
                         Los Angeles Galaxy at Minnesota Thunder    Metrodome; Minneapolis, Minn.    7 p.m. CT
27    July 20    Colorado Rapids (MLS) at Dallas Burn OR    Cotton Bowl; Dallas, Texas    7:30 p.m. CT
                       Colorado Rapids at Virginia Beach Mariners    Virginia Beach Sportsplex; Va. Beach, Va.    7:30 p.m. ET
28    July 20    Game 24 Winner at New England Revolution (MLS)    Lusitano Stadium; Ludlow, Mass.    7:30 p.m. ET
29    July 20    Game 23 Winner vs. Chicago Fire (MLS)     TBA    TBA
30    July 20    Kansas City Wizards (MLS) at Carolina Dynamo OR    MacPherson Stadium; Browns Summit, N.C.    7:30 p.m. ET
                        Kansas City Wizards at Atlanta Silverbacks    DeKalb Stadium; Clarkston, Ga.     7:45 p.m. ET
31    July 20    Wilmington Hammerheads at MetroStars (MLS) OR    Yurcak Field; Piscataway, N.J.    7:30 p.m. ET
                        MetroStars at Charleston Battery    Blackbaud Stadium; Charleston, S.C.    7:30 p.m. ET
32    July 20    Cape Cod Crusaders at D.C. United (MLS) OR    Maryland SoccerPlex; Boyds, Md.    7:30 p.m. ET  
                        D.C. United at Richmond Kickers      Sports Backers Stadium; Richmond, Va.    7 p.m. ET   

At stake in the tournament is $180,000 in prize money broken down as follows: $100,000 to the champion, $50,000 to the runner up and $10,000 to the team which advances deepest in the tournament from each of the Division II, Division III and amateur levels. The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.

Teams Still Alive
MLS (10): Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, Dallas Burn, D.C. United, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, MetroStars, San Jose Earthquakes
A-League (8 of 8): Atlanta Silverbacks, Charleston Battery, Minnesota Thunder, Portland Timbers, Richmond Kickers, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Syracuse Salty Dogs*, Virginia Beach Mariners
Pro Soccer League (2 of 6): Utah Blitzz, Wilmington Hammerheads
Premier Development League (5 of 8): Boulder Rapids Reserve, Cape Cod Crusaders, Carolina Dynamo, Chicago Fire Reserves, South Jersey Barons*
USASA (0 of 8)

* Syracuse and South Jersey replay their second round match Monday night.