Guevara vs New England, 2003

Tomorrow, Metro will play New England in the Open Cup. Scratch that, Metro will play New England in an Open Cup play-in game. By the virtue of finishing dead last in the league, Metro has to beat three MLS teams just to enter the Open Cup proper. They did the job two weeks ago by dumping Philadelphia. If they get by the Revs, they'll play Colorado. All that just to enter the field of 16, meaning they will need four more victories to take the trophy home.

So, the question is, why bother?

Earlier this season, Hans Backe said that he will use his starters in the Open Cup. When he saw the fixture congestion in May, he changed his tune. So, against Philadelphia, Metro trotted out a team of reserves, who promptly went out and beat the pathetic Worms. A similar team is expected against the Revs tomorrow.

This has been the practice for years in MLS for most teams: play the reserves in the Open Cup. The Cup is seen as secondary to the league, and an early exit will often be met by a hidden sigh of relief. Why even bother?

Well, for a franchise like Metro, we should bother. With no domestic hardware to our name (we're not counting the irrelevant preseason trophies or conference "championships"), every attempt at an actual title should be met with utmost respect. Yes, the road the the Open Cup might be difficult, this year specifically. But why not give it your best effort?

For Metro did that before, getting oh so close to the title. In 2003, Bob Bradley threw his young team into the competition, and they promptly trashed the minor-league Mid-Michigan Bucks, and then beat three straight MLS clubs -- Columbus, New England, and DC, meeting Chicago for the title. Yes, they lost in the final, but at least it gave Metro fans a taste of what's possible.

Since then, the only taste of the Open Cup was that of sour feces. Metro has been anything but successful, often fielding the reserves, and dropping games to the likes of the Rochester Rhinos and the Charleston Battery. The worst came in 2008, when Juan Carlos Osorio started such luminaries as John Gilkerson and Gordon Kljestan, and his pathetic team was drubbed 2:0 by third-division Crystal Palace Baltimore. We'd call it an all-time low for Osorio, but there are just so many competitors for that spot (the 2009 Open Cup defeat to DC, when Metro went down four goals after 26 minutes has to be considered as well).

On the other hand, our reserves this year seem to be much more adept than years prior, as demonstrated in the win over Philly. And it will test the strength of the roster, which is bound to be strained as the season goes by. And it will give some of these players a chance to prove they belong in MLS. So playing the reserves makes sense on some level.

It's just... well, we want that elusive trophy.