FC Cincinnati host last-placed MLS club (but one arming up with the likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets) Inter Miami at their brand-new TQL Stadium in the Semis. Booking a place in this year’s Final would come as a relief to all associated with the club, perhaps especially Austin Berry – now of the athletic training staff, but a veteran midfielder of that 2017 Cinderella run.
Miami Messi Hoopla and Fusion History
All of the attention is currently aimed at the cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Southern Florida.
It’s hard to ignore the recent superpower signings that threaten to change the entire ecosystem of MLS and American Soccer. But an uncomfortable reality still does exist: despite being at the center of a Lionel Messi-inspired media circus – Inter Miami are currently bottom of MLS’ eastern conference – a full 28 points behind Semifinal opponents FC Cincinnati.
This year’s Semifinal Round is the farthest Inter Miami, founded in 2018, have ever climbed in the U.S. Open Cup – a tournament with roots going all the way back to 1914.
That’s not to say that Miami/Fort Lauderdale doesn’t have Open Cup history. They do, you know. The previous attempt at an MLS club in the area, the now-defunct Miami Fusion, reached the Final in 2000.
They were led then by head coach, local legend and broadcasting phenomenon Ray Hudson.
He described that year’s team as his “happy pirate ship” and it included the likes of goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Pablo Mastroeni – both future standouts with the USMNT.
Real Salt Lake’s Night to Forget
So that moves us, logically, over to Real Salt Lake – where Mastroeni is now the head coach and leading an RSL team he says “made a major priority of the Open Cup” this year.
Most fans of the Rocky Mountain club will likely want to forget their previous reach for the Open Cup’s highest shelf. In 2013, playing some fabulous soccer under then coach Jason Kreis, they were tipped to pull off the rarest of MLS and Open Cup trophy doubles. But things went horribly wrong in the Final.
