Another USL Championship team hoping to avoid a upset is El Paso Locomotive, who’ll meet everyone’s favorite Colorado Soccer Bros, Harpos FC. “The Open Cup is always a priority for us at the start of every year,” said Dan Whittle, a survivor from the 2015 Harpos team that first reached the Open Cup – and a police officer by day. “We always try to bring everything and see how far we can go.”
Another set of respected amateurs will be in action on Wednesday when El Farolito – the San Francisco-based team affiliated with a well-loved Taqueria and last year’s farthest-surviving amateur side – travel to Utah to take on Real Monarchs (the MLS NEXT Pro affiliate of Real Salt Lake).
Finally, rounding out the 13-game Humpday Cup Marathon, are the following contests: Little Rock Rangers (USL2) vs 2023 Quarterfinalists Birmingham Legion (USL Championship) and LAFC 2 (MLS NEXT Pro affiliate of our reigning Champions LAFC) hosting FC Arizona of the NPSL.
Day Three – Curtain up in Maine as Legendary Islanders Ride Again
The Final Day of the First Round wraps with an eight-game schedule, one packed with exciting firsts and returning heroes of old.
For the last handful of years, Maine native Gabe Hoffman-Johnson has been working himself into a frenzy trying to bring pro soccer to his great state. On March 20, 2025 all his efforts will culminate in a first-ever competitive game for USL League One’s Portland Hearts of Pine. It will be played at Lewiston High School with Clubes Desportivo Faialense of Cambridge, MA hoping to spoil the big kick-off party.
READ: Back to the Future with Massachusetts’ CD Faialense
“The aim was to build something true for Maine and the game – something to touch people in their soul,” said Hoffman-Johnson, the chief community officer and founder of a Hearts club that wowed fans of design, marketing strategy and cool vibes even before ever kicking a ball or signing a player. “And to be involved in the true grassroots of the game in this country – which is what the Open Cup represents – it’s perfect for us to have our introduction as a team in this tournament.
“It's almost poetic,” he said.
Another poetic element is the venue. Lewiston High School’s boys soccer team won a national championship in 2023, just weeks after a mass shooting stunned the area. That famed high school team was powered, in large part, by the area’s vibrant Somali community. And one of its stars, young Khalid Hersi, now 20 but a freshman back in 2023, will be in the squad when Maine's first pro team lines up for action – and on that very same field where he lifted the national title.
From a new story to an old one, we turn an eye to the Long island Rough Riders (USL League II) who’ll be taking on USL League One pros Charlotte Independence. The club, founded in 1994 and boasting famous alums like Tony Meola and Chris Armas, are back in the Open Cup for the first time since 2018. Despite that sizable gap in participation, they’re history goes deep in our competition.
In 1997, at a local high school field in the brutal heat of August, the Rough Riders stretched a star-studded NY MetroStars (now New York Red Bulls) of MLS in that year’s Quarterfinal. Since then, they’ve taken part in eight editions of the Open Cup Proper.
The rest of Thursday’s menu offers up some spicy dishes. Forward Madison of USL League One host beloved North Country amateurs Duluth FC, part-owned by Team USA gold medal-winning curling icon John Shuster. South Georgia Tormenta (USL1), with an enviable record of causing havoc in our early Rounds, host Sunshine State amateurs Harbor City FC of UPSL. MLS NEXT Pro’s Carolina Core – with a behind-the-scenes raft of former USMNT stars pulling the strings on a run to last year’s Third Round – host UPSL Spring Champions and tournament first-timers Soda City FC.
FC Cincinnati 2 (MLS NEXT Pro) welcome USASA National Champions NY Pancyprian Freedoms. Despite being an amateur outfit based in Queens, NY, the Pancyprians won three Open Cup crowns back in 1980, 1982 and 1983 in an era when the tournament was largely amateur and semi-pro in nature. “I think player for player, we're better than them,” said Pancyprians player-turned-coach Andreas Chronis about matching up against a pro outfit. “Where we aren’t better is in fitness and training, because we're not a professional team.”
We round out all the action with Union Omaha (the Division III pros of USL League One who stunned underdog fans with their run to our Quarterfinals in 2022) traveling to Flatirons FC of USL League Two before, way out on the woody edges of the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma Defiance (MLS NEXT Pro) host newcomers and part-timers Washington Athletic Club at the legendary Open Cup venue of Starfire Sports Complex. It’s the very same field where last year’s Semifinal between eventual Champions LAFC and the four time-Champion Seattle Sounders was played.
So, let’s do all this. Shall we?
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Fontela is editor-in-chief ofussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.
