Charleston, SC. - Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo will participate in the Carolina Challenge Cup at Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, SC, February 22 – March 1, 2014. The Sounders will be joined by current U.S. Open Cup champions D.C. United, MLS’s Seattle Sounders and USL PRO’s Charleston Battery for the 11th edition of the prestigious week-long round-robin tournament.
Carolina Challenge Cup tickets are included in all 2014 Charleston Battery season ticket packages. Season Ticket packages are on sale now starting at only $120. Individual and group Carolina Challenge Cup Tickets will go on sale to the general public Monday, November 11 at 11 AM. For more information please call (843) 971-GOAL (4625) or visit www.charlestonbattery.com.
Seattle Sounders FC roster includes US men’s national team captain Clint Dempsey, a seven-year veteran of the English Premier League. Dempsey was voted the 2012 U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year, earning the honor for the second-consecutive time and third overall. Dempsey ranks second all-time with 35 career goals, ninth with 12 assists and 13th overall with 99 caps for the U.S. National Team.
A product of Furman University, Dempsey made 213 appearances for Fulham and Tottenham in the English Premier League, setting the record for most goals scored (57) by an American in the EPL.
Seattle’s squad also includes USMNT’s Eddie Johnson, Brad Evans and three former Charleston Battery players, Osvaldo Alonso, Lamar Neagle and Alex Caskey.
D.C. United returns to the Carolina Challenge Cup for the seventh time in 2014. United have won the tournament on three previous occasions (2010, 2011, 2012).
D.C. United defeated Real Salt Lake 1-0 on October 1st claiming the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and cementing its status as the most successful club in United States professional soccer history, with 13 major domestic and international titles.
The Houston Dynamo have played in the Carolina Challenge Cup on three occasions, winning it in 2006 and 2007. The Dynamo are led by former US international Dominic Kinnear whose 8 year tenure as head coach has included two MLS Cup titles (2006, 2007) and four MLS Cup Finals (2006, 2007, 2011, 2012). Dominic Kinnear won the MLS Coach of the Year award in 2005 and has been nominated on three other occasions (2006, 2007, 2008).
The Carolina Challenge Cup is the premier pre-season tournament in the US. Each spring for the past ten years the Battery has been joined by three teams from Major League Soccer for the round-robin competition.
