But you don’t need to look too far back in the Open Cup to know how much of a difference he can make. His performance in last year’s Round of 16 was truly spectacular. One of those showings that will live long in the memory of anyone who was privileged enough to see it.
“He [Paes] was incredible,” added Farrington, who scored the winner in the 2-1 victory, describing how outstanding Paes was in the 2024 Round of 16 on the road against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. “He did everything you could ask of a goalkeeper and more.”
Incredible, yes. Singular, sure. And busy too. Paes, with his quick-as-cat reflexes, made a career-high eight saves in the game. His performance at Al Lang Stadium that day, steps from the warm waters of the Bay in St. Petersburg, prompted all manner of puns and memes on social media: Masterklas Maarten Paes, Thou shall not Paes to name only a few.
“You have to struggle to win in the Cup,” explained Paes, who knows the challenges of meeting lower-division teams in Cup play from his days with both Utrecht and hometown side NIC Nijmegen in his native Netherlands.
“In the Cup, it only matters if you go through or not,” he said ahead of the next test in this year’s Open Cup: A road trip to New Jersey to meet the high-flying New York Red Bulls. It’s a game with a Quarterfinal berth on the line for the two-time Open Cup Champions (1997 and 2016).
At Home in Dallas
“When I was a kid there was a show called Dallas on TV, with the famous J.R. Ewing, and I thought that was what it was going to be like,” Paes chuckled, before getting serious about the place he’s found himself and where he’s “grown a lot on and off the pitch” to become one of the top netminders in Major League Soccer. “But the city is really a center of sports in America – the Rangers, the Mavs.”
Paes has also made it his business to learn the history of his new club, where he’s been since January of 2022, in the Open Cup and beyond. “It might not be as well known to Europeans, but the history here is very interesting to dive into,” said Paes, whose current playing home of Toyota Stadium also houses the National Soccer Hall of Fame and is home to our Open Cup’s original prize: The Dewar Cup. “The Open Cup is at the center of that history for us.”
“It’s a trophy that’s close to our hearts here at FC Dallas. The name Lamar Hunt, a founding father of MLS and this club, is inscribed on the U.S. Open Cup,” said Paes, ahead of the trip to the Northeast.
FC Dallas are undergoing a revival with the arrival of both new coach Eric Quill – formerly of Division II side and two-time Open Cup Quarterfinalists New Mexico United – and the former Major League Soccer MVP Lucho Acosta pulling the strings in the creative role. Acosta’s inclusion in the Starting XI against AV ALTA in the Round of 32 of this year’s Open Cup is a pretty good indication of just how seriously FC Dallas is taking this year’s edition of the historic tournament.
