How to watch quarterfinals, tournament bracket

What is the US Open Cup?

Pre-MLS American soccer history is a disjointed and often-confusing enterprise, barren of the convenience of the century-long continuity of leagues such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League. However, one thread that ties the game of soccer together in this country through the years has been the U.S. Open Cup (officially known as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup). The first U.S. Open Cup (originally called the National Challenge Cup) kicked off in 1913, seven years before the formation of the NFL and 12 years after the opening season of baseball’s American League. The U.S. Open Cup — this country’s oldest annual tournament for team sports — has been played every year since 1913 with the exception of 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament was modeled after England’s FA Cup, so the single-elimination competition is open to U.S.-based amateur and professional clubs. The winner of the U.S. Open Cup — a team that technically is the national champion of American men’s club soccer — earns a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

MLS has dominated the competition

Since 1996, MLS teams have won all but one U.S. Open Cup; the Rochester Rhinos beat the Colorado Rapids in the 1999 final. While MLS has competed in the U.S. Open Cup since the league’s inception, the old North American Soccer League avoided it. So, you won’t see the likes of multiple-time NASL Soccer Bowl winners such as the New York Cosmos or Chicago Sting gracing the historical records of the U.S. Open Cup.