US Open Cup 2024 preview

The US Open Cup – officially the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup since 1998 in honour of one of US soccer’s most influential figures – is the oldest continuing competition in North America. The competition is predated by the American Cup, which began in 1884 and ran for forty years until it was supplanted in importance by the National Challenge Cup, the name by which the US Open Cup began its existence in 1914. The National Challenge Cup was born after the United States Football Association had received official sanctioning from FIFA and was an attempt to create the first nationwide soccer trophy in the US, with teams playing for the Sir Thomas Dewar Trophy, donated by a whiskey magnate heavily involved in the promotion of US soccer at the time.

The early years of the cup were dominated by teams from the first American Soccer League, although clubs from the isolated league in St Louis did challenge their supremacy and took the trophy back to Missouri on occasion. After the collapse of the ASL and the launch of the second competition to bear that name, cup wins were more widely spread, with teams from the National Soccer League of Chicago becoming a major force. After World War 2 that spread expanded to include teams from Los Angeles – notably the Kickers – and it was as likely to find teams from the New York-based German American Soccer League in the final as it was from the similarly New England-centred second American Soccer League.

When the North American Soccer League was founded in 1968, it opted not to have its teams enter the National Challenge Cup, something that was echoed by the ASL when they sought to ape their richer rivals and go nationwide themselves in the 1970s. After the collapse of both leagues – and of organised outdoor professional soccer in the US – the tournament reverted to an almost amateur basis, existing alongside the US Amateur Cup (which had been launched in 1924). Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, as the cup was renamed to its more familiar moniker, powerhouse clubs such as St Louis Kutis, Maccabee Los Angeles, and the Brooklyn Italians came to the fore, a situation only upset in 1995 when teams from the A League entered, followed a year later by those from Major League Soccer. Since 1996, MLS clubs have won every tournament bar one – when the A League’s Rochester Raging Rhinos carried off the trophy in 1999 – and the reigning champions are Houston Dynamo of the MLS.

Ahead of the 2024 season, MLS signalled its intention to withdraw from the competition, quite against the spirit and the letter of US Soccer’s rules. Subsequent negotiations saw US Soccer cave into their golden child and this season will see a hybrid approach from MLS clubs, with some entering, some sending their reserve sides, and some sitting out altogether. It is to Houston Dynamo’s credit that they, at least, will defend their title, but many MLS fans and players are unhappy at the stance their league has taken.

The format for this year’s competition has been tweaked as a result, with a first round of 32 matches consisting of professional versus semi-professional clashes in each tie. The 32 semi-professional clubs are a mix of those who qualified through open qualification rounds in the latter half of 2023 and those selected by the two unofficial fourth-tier leagues, United Soccer League Two and the National Premier Soccer League. They are joined in the first round by clubs from the third-tier USL One, National Independent Soccer Association, and MLS Next Pro competitions. Sixteen teams from the second-tier USL Championship will join in the third round, with the remainder and the eight MLS clubs sending their first teams coming in a round later.

US Open Cup First Round preview

The first round of the competition begins tonight and is spread over the next three days. One club is already into the hat for the second round as one of NISA’s newest clubs – Georgia Lions – was unable to organise itself in time to take part, sending Atlanta-based NPSL side Apotheos FC through with a forfeit win.

In tonight’s matches, reigning MLS Next Pro champions Austin FC II host Foro SC of the United Premier Soccer Leagues. The Dallas club won the UPSL National Championship in 2021 but will be up against things at Palmer Field tonight. Brave SC – formerly known as The Villages SC – are based in Summerfield, Florida, an hour northwest of Orlando. The USL-2 side have qualified for the first time since 2019 and will welcome NISA’s Savannah Clovers to their HG Morse Range Stadium. Chattanooga FC moved from NISA to MLS Next Pro this season and had a crowd of almost 5,000 at their opening game on Saturday. They face old enemies from their days in the NPSL in the shape of Miami United, who currently play in the United States Soccer League (sixth tier at best) and reached the last 32 in 2018.

USL-1 side Forward Madison have made the third round of the Cup on a couple of occasions and will face NPSL opposition in the shape of Duluth FC from Minnesota, returning to the first round proper after an absence of five years. The second of the MLS reserve sides to take the field are Portland Timbers 2, who will host the NPSL’s El Farolito SC at Providence Park. El Farolito won the US Open Cup in 1993 when they were playing under the name Club Deportivo Mexico and dominated the San Francisco Soccer Football League before stepping up to the NPSL in 2018. USL1 side South Georgia Tormenta have just one point from their two games so far this season which will catch the attention of their UPSL opponents FC America CFL Spurs. If that name sounds unwieldy, the Sandford, FL, club are mostly known as FC America.

The NPSL’s Tulsa Athletic have a good recent record in the Open Cup and reached the third round last year after defeating city rivals FC Tulsa of the USL Championship. They’ve been drawn at home to USL-1’s Northern Colorado Hailstorm, who have yet to find their rhythm this season, and it’s probably tonight’s best chance of an upset. There’s a USL-2 versus USL-1 clash in Burlington tonight as Vermont United take on Lexington SC. Both clubs are just three years old, and it will be the first time Vermont – who average over 2,000 fans at home – will compete in the first round proper. Tonight’s final game comes from Pennsylvania, where West Chester United (who were formed in 1976 and play in both the NPSL and USL-2) welcome NISA powerhouse Maryland Bobcats to the YSC Sports Stadium in Wayne.

There are twelve games on Wednesday night, down from thirteen after Apotheos FC were given a walkover victory when new NISA side Georgia Lions couldn’t make their tie. Down in Florida, UPSL National Champions AS Frenzi host NISA’s Club de Lyon in Daytona Beach and with CdL being in some disarray last season, the chances of an upset are good. USL-2’s Asheville City make their US Open Cup first round proper debut, welcoming USL-1 sophomore side One Knoxville to North Carolina, with another first-timer in the shape of USL-2 National Champions Ballard FC of Seattle facing the USL-1’s newest club, Spokane Velocity. In the longest distance travelled at this stage, USL-2 side Des Moines Menace travel to San Luis Capistrano in California to face Capo FC, one of the new intake of NISA clubs for 2024. Menace have been in existence for almost thirty years and were awarded a USL Championship spot five years ago, although a series of delays has postponed that indefinitely.

There’s a Chicago derby at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, when Chicago Fire II of MLS Next Pro face Chicago City, the Windy City’s top USL-2 side. Another Chicago team – the cult favourites of Chicago House AC – are at home to Minnesota United 2 and will hope to capture the imagination of the fans in the same way that took the Midwest Premier League club to the third round last year. Over in California, FC Folsom of the UPSL host Jermaine Jones and his USL-1 Central Valley Fuego charges, and another NISA newbie – Irvine Zeta – will play their 2024 season opener against California State League outfit SC MesoAmerica, winners of the 2023 US Amateur Cup. Zeta’s city and league rivals LA Force are also in action, welcoming USL-2 side Redlands FC to their new home in Long Beach. Redlands actually get bigger crowds than the Force and so it will be interesting to see how many fans make the short journey and whether that will negate the NISA side’s home advantage.

The Hudson Valley Hammers will make the journey from their Newburgh, New York, base to Montclair, New Jersey, to face New York Red Bulls II of MLS Next Pro having reached the USL-2 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals last season, and there’s another local derby of sorts in the DMV where Richmond Kickers of USL-1 host Christos FC of the Maryland Super Soccer League at City Stadium. Wednesday’s final game comes from Columbia, South Carolina, where South Carolina United Bantams – named for their links to English league side Bradford City – face near-neighbours Greenville Triumph in another USL-2 versus USL-1 clash.

Thursday sees the final ten games in the first round, beginning with MLS Next Pro expansion side Carolina Core’s first-ever home game when they welcome NoVa FC – from Leesburg, Virginia (also home of USL Championship outfit Loudoun United) – of USL-2. Brockton FC United of the UPSL have to travel over a thousand miles to face Chattanooga Red Wolves of USL-1, a rare distance at this level of competition and one many times that between Colorado Rapids 2 and Colorado Premier League rivals Azteca FC, who just have to cross metropolitan Denver.

In a trans-Carolinas tie, Crown Legacy FC - the MLS Next Pro affiliate of Charlotte FC – play South Carolina United Heat at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews, North Carolina, while another MLS reserve side with a fancy name – LA Galaxy seconds Ventura County FC – host Irvine Zeta 2, the main club having already qualified before their elevation to the professional ranks and subsequently replaced by their amateur equivalent. The last of the four new clubs to join NISA this season, Arizona Monsoon, have their roots in former UPSL side Phoenix Monsoon, and they make their professional debut away to Lubbock Matadors of the NPSL on Thursday.

With a name like FC Motown, you’d think the NPSL club are from Detroit, but the name is actually short for Morristown, the New Jersey commuter city where they formed, and their home tie against New York City II will be their eighth straight appearance in the first round proper, having first qualified under their previous identity of Clarkstown SC Eagles. Motown’s NPSL rivals, the equally ace-monikered Steel City FC (who are from where you’d expect them to be, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh) take on Michigan Stars (who are, weirdly, from Detroit) in another first round tie.

Langhorne, Pennsylvania, is the unlikely location of Vereinigung Erzgebirge, a team you’d think would be taking part in the DFB Pokal judging by their name but were actually formed in 1931 to represent immigrants to Pennsylvania from the Ore Mountains region of eastern Germany. The sole remaining representative of the United Soccer League of Pennsylvania, they take on USL-1 heavyweight Charlotte Independence. The final first round game comes from the historic soccer city of Ludlow, Massachusetts, where Western Mass Pioneers – who have their roots in the 102-year-old Gremio Lusitano club – of USL-2 host Union Omaha of USL-1.