Are you familiar with the US Open Cup?

O

OrangeCountyDad

SILVER ELITE
Second Round pairings/possible-pairings are supposed to be announced this week.

shockingly few local amateur teams qualified for this year's tournament, but luckily we've got quite a few 2nd and 3rd Division teams to compete in the 2nd round.

I find most club/HS parents have no idea what the Open Cup is, wondering if more people here know about it?

thecup.us

2022 US Open Cup: Format, schedule finalized for 107th edition of tournament

This March, the 107th edition Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will finally kick off after a two year wait. This all comes with a revised format and the earliest tournament start in the Modern Era (1995…
thecup.us thecup.us
 
OrangeCountyDad said:
Second Round pairings/possible-pairings are supposed to be announced this week.

shockingly few local amateur teams qualified for this year's tournament, but luckily we've got quite a few 2nd and 3rd Division teams to compete in the 2nd round.

I find most club/HS parents have no idea what the Open Cup is, wondering if more people here know about it?

thecup.us

2022 US Open Cup: Format, schedule finalized for 107th edition of tournament

This March, the 107th edition Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will finally kick off after a two year wait. This all comes with a revised format and the earliest tournament start in the Modern Era (1995…
thecup.us thecup.us
Click to expand...
Yes I do. I use to play against Doxa Italia and Hollywood United. And had a friend or two on those squads. Both these teams were and still are amateur sides. They now both compete in the LA Premier League.

www.espn.com

U.S. OPEN CUP: Doxa Italia has will, seeks way

America's oldest soccer competition enables amateurs to test themselves against the sport's big boys, but Doxa Italia heads into its U.S. Open Cup opener Tuesday night with something more than a desire to prove it can handle tougher competition.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

thecup.us

2008 First Round: Hollywood (United) ending; USASA club stuns Portland Timbers

You all know the cliché, if you turned this story in to a movie producer, he would laugh at you because of the ridiculous ending. Well, since someone already turned this script in two years ago with…
thecup.us thecup.us
 
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LASTMAN14 said:
Yes I do. I use to play against Doxa Italia and Hollywood United. And had a friend or two on those squads. Both these teams were and still are amateur sides. They now both compete in the LA Premier League.

www.espn.com

U.S. OPEN CUP: Doxa Italia has will, seeks way

America's oldest soccer competition enables amateurs to test themselves against the sport's big boys, but Doxa Italia heads into its U.S. Open Cup opener Tuesday night with something more than a desire to prove it can handle tougher competition.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

thecup.us

2008 First Round: Hollywood (United) ending; USASA club stuns Portland Timbers

You all know the cliché, if you turned this story in to a movie producer, he would laugh at you because of the ridiculous ending. Well, since someone already turned this script in two years ago with…
thecup.us thecup.us
Click to expand...
Here is some footage for HollyWood United.
 
LASTMAN14 said:
Here is game footage for Cal FC.
Click to expand...
And here is a Cal FC piece written by the boys at 3four3 with game clips. The other team PSA ELITE is also another amateur side from OC. They use to compete against Doxa Italia in the Coast Soccer League (https://web.archive.org/web/2013092...org/teams/31691093/8278163-31691183/TEAM.html).

US Open Cup 2012 Cal FC and PSA Elite show what’s up! @Wynalda11

PSA Elite defeats Portland Timbers U23s. Eric Wynalda's Cal FC defeats Kitsap Pumas. Fluke or a highlight of incompetence? Either way, anyone with half a soccer brain should be asking questions!
blog.3four3.com blog.3four3.com
 
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i was really cool when ESPN+ started streaming games in 2019. I read they're not going to stream every game this year- hopefully still get some good coverage. I watched far too much soccer some days. Watching like Florida Soccer Soldiers for no reason other than it was on.
 
OrangeCountyDad said:
Second Round pairings/possible-pairings are supposed to be announced this week.

shockingly few local amateur teams qualified for this year's tournament, but luckily we've got quite a few 2nd and 3rd Division teams to compete in the 2nd round.

I find most club/HS parents have no idea what the Open Cup is, wondering if more people here know about it?

thecup.us

2022 US Open Cup: Format, schedule finalized for 107th edition of tournament

This March, the 107th edition Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will finally kick off after a two year wait. This all comes with a revised format and the earliest tournament start in the Modern Era (1995…
thecup.us thecup.us
Click to expand...
It’s not the amateur teams’ fault for it being a low number honestly. US Soccer is the one that decides that only 13 can qualify which is a bunch of bull. For this years qualifiers they even added a 4th round of qualifying just so they can cut the number of amateur clubs qualified in half.
 
northeastlafc said:
It’s not the amateur teams’ fault for it being a low number honestly. US Soccer is the one that decides that only 13 can qualify which is a bunch of bull. For this years qualifiers they even added a 4th round of qualifying just so they can cut the number of amateur clubs qualified in half.
Click to expand...
not blaming them, just noting how few make it through compared to 2-3 years ago. A unforeseen consequence of having more pro teams in America, which I guess is a good thing.
 
OrangeCountyDad said:
Second Round pairings/possible-pairings are supposed to be announced this week.

shockingly few local amateur teams qualified for this year's tournament, but luckily we've got quite a few 2nd and 3rd Division teams to compete in the 2nd round.

I find most club/HS parents have no idea what the Open Cup is, wondering if more people here know about it?

thecup.us

2022 US Open Cup: Format, schedule finalized for 107th edition of tournament

This March, the 107th edition Lamar Hunt US Open Cup will finally kick off after a two year wait. This all comes with a revised format and the earliest tournament start in the Modern Era (1995…
thecup.us thecup.us
Click to expand...
I know about it, but it's been a deeply flawed competition for quite awhile. US pro rosters aren't big enough and deep enough for most of those teams to take it seriously and amateur teams haven't had the funding to afford the massive travel involved if you advance. They try to keep things local for awhile, but it escalates quickly, especially in parts of the country where there is a lower density of teams than SoCal. The amateur and lower divisions fans want US Soccer to pay more for them to manage the travel, but US Soccer hasn't figured out how to really monetize it (probably due to their incompetence more than the market). Even if they could monetize it, many of those lower division teams couldn't travel too much because their players have day jobs. This isn't England or some European country where everything is really close together. Moreover, even if the lower division teams could travel, most of them don't have enough fans, and enough really committed fans, to travel. That means that if the MLS teams can't afford to put out their top lineups, their fans don't come either, which means the whole thing is a loser unless they can get TV interest. They probably needed to add it in to a huge deal combined with other things like USMNT/USWNT/Mexican NT/League Cup, but US Open Cup would likely be on ESPN+ and I'm not sure that gets more than the hard core fans and a few bucks.
 
Dargle said:
I know about it, but it's been a deeply flawed competition for quite awhile. US pro rosters aren't big enough and deep enough for most of those teams to take it seriously and amateur teams haven't had the funding to afford the massive travel involved if you advance. They try to keep things local for awhile, but it escalates quickly, especially in parts of the country where there is a lower density of teams than SoCal. The amateur and lower divisions fans want US Soccer to pay more for them to manage the travel, but US Soccer hasn't figured out how to really monetize it (probably due to their incompetence more than the market). Even if they could monetize it, many of those lower division teams couldn't travel too much because their players have day jobs. This isn't England or some European country where everything is really close together. Moreover, even if the lower division teams could travel, most of them don't have enough fans, and enough really committed fans, to travel. That means that if the MLS teams can't afford to put out their top lineups, their fans don't come either, which means the whole thing is a loser unless they can get TV interest. They probably needed to add it in to a huge deal combined with other things like USMNT/USWNT/Mexican NT/League Cup, but US Open Cup would likely be on ESPN+ and I'm not sure that gets more than the hard core fans and a few bucks.
Click to expand...
I understand your remarks in regards to amateur teams involved. Yet, the amateur sides that do partake could have opted not to knowing the potential cost. Yet, I don’t think they chose to do so thinking that some entity could, should or would cover the costs.They went for the challenge it is. I can’t respond to any amateur club after Cal FC’s participation but when Doxa Italia and HUFC were involved they did have the financial backing to go forward if they progressed. It’s possible if amateurs sides want to.
 
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LASTMAN14 said:
I understand your remarks in regards to amateur teams involved. Yet, the amateur sides that do partake could have opted not to knowing the potential cost. Yet, I don’t think they chose to do so thinking that some entity could, should or would cover the costs.They went for the challenge it is. I can’t respond to any amateur club after Cal FC’s participation but when Doxa Italia and HUFC were involved they did have the financial backing to go forward if they progressed. It’s possible if amateurs sides want to.
Click to expand...
I think therein lies the problem, at least with respect to amateur teams' participation. The feeling is that the US isn't really "open," but is just an adult version of soccer's pay to play system. This article gives some sense of the problem, at least under its recent structure (the current structure severely limits the number of teams, but that may be a Covid-related measure since they haven't even played the US Open Cup in a couple of years).
 
2nd round draw actually happened.
thecup.us

2022 US Open Cup: Round 2 pairings and hosting scenarios announced

The professional teams in Division II and Division III leagues now know who they will or could face in the Second Round of the 2022 US Open Cup.
thecup.us thecup.us

no dates and times yet.

ALBION San Diego (NISA) vs. San Diego Loyal SC (USLC)
Orange County SC (USLC) vs. Los Angeles Force (NISA)
California United Strikers FC (NISA) vs. San Fernando Valley FC (Calif.)/Escondido FC (Calif.) winner
 
I read somewhere, can't find it now. maybe Cup.US' twitter, that amateur teams get their travel subsidized by the federation. And there is a cash pay out for being the last standing team from your starting division, IIRC. But yes it's hard for amateur teams to travel because those dudes mostly all have day jobs.

it's easy to throw rocks at almost anything in US Soccer, but in the meantime I'm going to support the local teams and cheer for them, win or lose.
 
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