It’s been an up-and-down season for Atlanta United in MLS league play. They currently sit on the cusp of the last playoff spot in ninth place (12 points behind Toronto FC in eighth) and the Open Cup could well represent the club’s best chance for silverware this year.
Led by interim coach Rob Valentino, who took over for the sacked Gonzalo Pineda last month, the Georgians used a heavily rotated side in the first two rounds of the Cup. A 3-0 win over third-division Charlotte Independence was followed by a tight and tense shootout squeaker on the road against Charleston Battery (Division II) in the Round of 16.
“You can think back to when D.C. United won the Open Cup in 2013 with a team that had, probably, the worst season in MLS history,” said Dax McCarty, the 37-year-old veteran midfielder who’s been a steadying influence in the otherwise young side’s Cup run this year. “Some people will look at that and say, well that’s a successful season.
“We want a trophy – and with the Open Cup we have a great chance to galvanize the team and go and do it,” McCarty added.
Sounders and Sacramento Hunt (More) History
The late game on Opening Day sees four-time champions the Seattle Sounders on the road against USL Championship powers and Open Cup giant-killers Sacramento Republic at Heart Health Park.
The Sounders – in ninth in MLS' western conference and clinging to dimming hopes of a postseason berth – are bidding to become the first side from the Modern Era of the Open Cup (1995 onward) to claim a fifth title. Performances so far – both at their early-round home-away-from-home of Starfire in Tukwila, Washington – have been tense affairs. The Round of 32 opener needed a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw with USL Championship toppers Louisville City and the 2-1 Round of 16 victory against Phoenix Rising was decided only with a last-gasp winner from Kalani Kossa-Rienzi.
“The Open Cup is something we take very seriously here in Seattle,” said Andrew Thomas, the young goalkeeper who’s lit up the Cup this year and might well be the man in line to succeed club legend Stefan Frei when he finally hangs up his gloves. “We have pictures all over the place of the Cup successes of the past and we know that history is something we have to live up to here.”
It will be no easy matter as Sacramento Republic have their own recent Cup history to lean on. They’ll also have a packed house at the very stadium where they beat Sporting Kansas City in the 2022 Semifinal to become the first Division II team to reach an Open Cup Final since 2008.