COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Crew continued their hot 2008 on Tuesday night, this time topping Real Salt Lake 2-0 at Crew Stadium in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play-in match. The Black-and-Gold got goals from rookie Steven Lenhart in the first half and Robbie Rogers in the second half to take a step closer to the U.S. Open Cup field.

With the victory, Columbus advances to play the Chicago Fire in both teams' final play-in match on June 10 at Bradley University's Shea Stadium (1523 W. Nebraska Ave.) in Peoria, Ill.

Tickets for the June 10 game in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are $25 for reserved bleacher seating and $15 for general admission endzone lawn seating and may be purchased in person during regular business hours at the Shea Stadium Box Office or 24 hours per day through Bradley's official athletic department home page www.BradleyBraves.com.

Although the U.S. Open Cup game will not count in the Major League Soccer standings, both Columbus (6-2-1) and Chicago (6-2-1) enter the weekend part of a three-way tie atop the MLS Eastern Conference standings with New England (6-3-1), all with 19 points.

In other news involving the two teams, Chicago Fire star Cuauht?moc Blanco was voted the MLS Player of the Week for Week 9 for his 1 goal, 3 assist effort in a 5-1 win over the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Sunday. This is the first Player of the Week award for Blanco.

Blanco helped Chicago get on the board early by sending a ball over the top to Chad Barrett for the game's first goal in the 8th minute, and assisted on a Chris Rolfe header to go up 2-0 in the 48th minute. Blanco then converted a 55th minute penalty kick and assisted on Barrett's second goal in the 60th minute to lead the team.

Information provided in this release courtesy of the Columbus Crew and the Chicago Fire.