US Open Cup Pickem Standings After Round 3

The third round of US Open Cup play marked the entrance of the MLS clubs into the competition and brought with it the first upset of the tournament (or the second, depending on what you think of the NPSL). The general lack of upsets meant two things. One, players who paid attention to the bracket and picked the favorite out of each geographical group racked up a lot of early points. But two, players who avoided MLS clubs are just about done picking up points (unless they picked the Richmond Kickers, the only lower-division team remaining). That means bmvaughn still tops the charts but is suddenly down to one team (those Kickers) left.

There's a pack of players 4 points back but who have an MLS club remaining each, including Dizzo with the Seattle Sounders and TGos with the LA Galaxy, who face each other in the next round — meaning one of them will cut the lead in half if Richmond can't continue the run. Jeremiah is also in that pack and has Real Salt Lake remaining. Further down the table lefthand is carrying two MLS teams in the Sounders and Sporting KC, who are on opposite sides of the bracket and therefore could potentially meet in the final. That would add up to 10 more points and likely a runaway win in the contest.

Even now there are only 4 players who've lost all of their teams, so most people should have a rooting interest in the Quarterfinals in two weeks (other than the Sounders, of course).

Full standings are after the jump