U.S. Open Cup: Sounders will visit Tampa Bay Rowdies in third round

The Seattle Sounders' road to a fifth straight U.S. Open final will start out in the longest way possible. The Tampa Bay Rowdies beat VSI Tampa Bay 2-1 on Tuesday in the second round, meaning the Sounders will be forced to make a cross-country flight following their match against the LA Galaxy on Sunday.

Further complicating matters is that the first cross-country flight will take place over Memorial Day weekend, and Sounders coach Sigi Schmid suggested they have so far been unable to find direct flights to accomodate the entire team. He even joked that some would have to take the bus. The Sounders then need to be back in LA for a match against Chivas USA on June 1 and a reserve game the next day.

The assumption would be that some of the Sounders would spend the entire week in Southern California, with a team of mostly reserves going to Florida for the Open Cup game.