San Antonio FC versus an MLS team might be closer than you think, thanks to the U.S. Open Cup.
The Cup is American pro soccer’s version of March Madness. Ninety-one teams from every level of soccer from amateur to the MLS are entered in a single-elimination tournament, with the champion receiving a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League and $250,000.
It’s one of the world’s longest-running tournaments as it enters it’s 103rd edition. On Wednesday, San Antonio FC takes its first shot at the Cup.
SAFC hosts Corinthians FC at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Toyota Field in the second round of the Cup. If SAFC can advance to the fourth round, it will have an MLS opponent.
“It’s an important tournament for us,” said SAFC coach Darren Powell. “The U.S. Open Cup has a lot of tradition, and it just has a special feel about it. It creates story, and hopefully it creates a little bit of history.”
As Leicester City is still celebrating its English Premier League title, the Open Cup is where a similar underdog story may occur stateside. In 1999, the USL’s Rochester Rhinos defeated four MLS teams on its way winning the Cup. In 2008, the Charleston Battery reached the Cup final.
Could the Cinderella story come to San Antonio? Could one imagine Josh Ford raising a cup after his first-year USL team pulled out wins over four MLS teams, like Rochester did way back when?
“Whenever you get to play in events or tournaments or leagues, something like Leicester inspires everybody,” Powell said. “It would be a perfectly normal feeling for our players to think big, and one that they should aspire to have. These are the sort of events that you can talk about in future years with your children, your grandkids.”
Ford has been part of two U.S. Open titles, as his Seattle Sounders teams won the Cup in 2011 and 2014. He said a U.S. Open run could mean a lot for the big picture in putting San Antonio professional soccer on the map.
“It’s huge for us, for the club,” Ford said. “We’re a startup, and we have aspirations for something more. To show what we’re about, we want to do well in this.”
SAFC Managing Director Tim Holt said SAFC will apply to host every U.S. Open match it can, which could mean an MLS opponent at Toyota Field if SAFC makes a run in the bracket.
Holt, a former chair of the U.S. Open Cup committee, said the Cup makes for the perfect underdog story if an FC Dallas or Houston Dynamo might wind up in town.
First, SAFC has to get past Corinthians FC. The winner will face the USL’s Tulsa Roughnecks or the PDL’s Des Moines Menace in the third round.
“There’s an opportunity for the open cup to really create some special events,” Holt said. “There’s no margin for error and each game is big.”
San Antonio FC versus an MLS team might be closer than you think, thanks to the U.S. Open Cup.
The Cup is American pro soccer’s version of March Madness. Ninety-one teams from every level of soccer from amateur to the MLS are entered in a single-elimination tournament, with the champion receiving a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League and $250,000.
It’s one of the world’s longest-running tournaments as it enters it’s 103rd edition. On Wednesday, San Antonio FC takes its first shot at the Cup.
SAFC hosts Corinthians FC at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Toyota Field in the second round of the Cup. If SAFC can advance to the fourth round, it will have an MLS opponent.
“It’s an important tournament for us,” said SAFC coach Darren Powell. “The U.S. Open Cup has a lot of tradition, and it just has a special feel about it. It creates story, and hopefully it creates a little bit of history.”
As Leicester City is still celebrating its English Premier League title, the Open Cup is where a similar underdog story may occur stateside. In 1999, the USL’s Rochester Rhinos defeated four MLS teams on its way winning the Cup. In 2008, the Charleston Battery reached the Cup final.
Could the Cinderella story come to San Antonio? Could one imagine Josh Ford raising a cup after his first-year USL team pulled out wins over four MLS teams, like Rochester did way back when?
“Whenever you get to play in events or tournaments or leagues, something like Leicester inspires everybody,” Powell said. “It would be a perfectly normal feeling for our players to think big, and one that they should aspire to have. These are the sort of events that you can talk about in future years with your children, your grandkids.”
Ford has been part of two U.S. Open titles, as his Seattle Sounders teams won the Cup in 2011 and 2014. He said a U.S. Open run could mean a lot for the big picture in putting San Antonio professional soccer on the map.
“It’s huge for us, for the club,” Ford said. “We’re a startup, and we have aspirations for something more. To show what we’re about, we want to do well in this.”
SAFC Managing Director Tim Holt said SAFC will apply to host every U.S. Open match it can, which could mean an MLS opponent at Toyota Field if SAFC makes a run in the bracket.
Holt, a former chair of the U.S. Open Cup committee, said the Cup makes for the perfect underdog story if an FC Dallas or Houston Dynamo might wind up in town.
First, SAFC has to get past Corinthians FC. The winner will face the USL’s Tulsa Roughnecks or the PDL’s Des Moines Menace in the third round.
“There’s an opportunity for the open cup to really create some special events,” Holt said. “There’s no margin for error and each game is big.”