This coming Wednesday, June 1st, we’ll reach the third round of the 104th Lamar Hunt US Open Cup – the round where we see the first interleague clashes of the upper professional divisions of US Soccer. While slowly growing in awareness and importance, the tournament still lags far behind England’s FA Cup and other domestic cup competetions. In the ever-shifting soccer landscape in the United States where the top three divisions (MLS, NASL, USL) are jostling for fans, markets, sponsors, and attention, the Open Cup gives us the one chance to pit those clubs and leagues up against each other for bragging rights in real competition.
On its own, US Open Cup is not the best judge of league quality. Much like the March Madness as a barometer to compare basketball conference supremacy, no single-elimination tournament can be a test of quality. Our domestic leagues change each season, particularly in the lower divisions, so that even comparing them against themselves year-over-year is a sometimes difficult task. Each individual club takes this tournament with varying degrees of seriousness – some trotting out “B” squads until later rounds while others circle the dates on the calendar as their top club priority.
But with that said, interleague rivalry, giant killing and cross town non-league derbies are part of what makes US Open Cup so much fun. We love to trash talk about it, we root for the minnows and we want to see how we stack up against everyone else. So, here’s something to add to the conversation.
Notes and Highlights:
- The graphic captures the last 4 years of Open Cup play, starting in 2012 (the first year of NASL’s inclusion in the tournament)
- The size of the competition has increased each year, with more expansion teams being added in the professional divisions and more amateur clubs entering in initial rounds: 2012 (64); 2013 (68); 2014 (80); 2015 (91)
- In all 4 years, MLS took the tournament honors: Sporting Kansas City (2012, 2015), D.C. United (2013), Seattle Sounders (2014)
- NASL has the best winning percentage in this time period vs. MLS (12-17, .414), with the Carolina RailHawks (quarterfinalists in 2013, 2014) and Atlanta Silverbacks (quarterfinalists in 2014) making the deepest tournament runs
- USL is 9-34 vs. MLS in these years with Orlando City (2013), Harrisburg City Islanders (2012), Dayton Dutch Lions (2012), Charlotte Eagles (2012) all reaching the quarterfinals
- USL turned in a decisive 2015 showing where they went 7-0 vs. NASL clubs, leading to a lifetime 9-3 record
For those of us who follow the Open Cup closely, we love it because of all the romance, history and unpredictability that comes with it. Drink it in, because the action restarts this Wednesday.
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