Photo by John Geliebter/USA TODAY Sports
By SBI SOCCER
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final between the Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City is just around the corner, but U.S. Soccer is already looking ahead.
U.S. Soccer announced pairings for all 56 teams that had entered to participate in the First Round of the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition on Monday. The first games will kick off on Oct. 17 and the round will end on Oct. 25.
Winners of the First Round will then compete against each other in the Second Round on Nov. 14-15 and Nov. 12-22.
The team from the Open Division, which includes all teams not in MLS, NASL and USL, to advance the furthest in the tournament will receive a cash prize. In 2015, PSA Elite advanced the furthest out of any other team outside of Divison I, II and III, and it received a $15,000 prize.
Here are the possible Second Round pairings, and below are the First Round matches from across the country:
OCT. 17 (HOME TEAM LISTED SECOND, ALL TIMES EASTERN)
12 p.m. — Southie FC (Roxbury, Massachusetts) vs. Battery Park Gunners (Roxbury, Massachusetts)
2 p.m. — Salone FC (Philadelphia, Philadelphia) vs. Vereinigung Erzgebirge (Warminster, Philadelphia)
3 p.m. — Tartan Devils Oak Avalon (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) vs. Aromas Café FC (Charlottesville, Virginia)
5 p.m. — Newport FC (Portsmouth, Rhode Island) vs. Worcester FC (Auburn, Massachusetts)
6:30 p.m. — West Chester United (Wayne, Philadelphia) vs. Junior Lone Star FC (Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania)
7 p.m. — South Jersey Elite Barons (Hammonton, New Jersey) vs. Jersey Shore Boca (Bayville, New Jersey)
7:30 p.m. — Newtown Pride FC (Sandy Hook, Connecticut) vs. Lansdowne Bhoys FC (Bronx, New York)
OCT. 18
10 a.m. — Boston Olympiakos FC (Boston, Massachusetts) vs. Global Premier Soccer (GPS) Omens (Wayland, Massachusetts)
3 p.m. — Maryland Bays (Elkridge, Maryland) vs. Dulles Sportsplex Aegean Hawks FC (Boyds, Maryland)
6 p.m. — New York Pancyprian Freedoms (Jamaica, New York) vs. New York Greek American SC (Maspeth, New York)
OCT. 24
4 p.m. — NTX Rayados (Dallas, Texas) vs. Austin Real Cuauhtemoc (Georgetown, Texas)
6 p.m. — Red Force FC (Pembroke Pines, Florida) vs. Uruguay Kendall FC (Pembroke Pines, Florida)
7:30 p.m. — Colorado Rovers (Commerce City, Colorado) vs. Harpo’s FC (Commerce City, Colorado)
9 p.m. — La Maquina (Lake Forest, California) vs. Strikers FC South Coast (Lake Forest, California)
10 p.m. — Chula Vista FC (Chula Vista, California) vs. Temecula Football Club (Temecula, California)
10 p.m. — KC Athletics (Overland Park, Kansas) vs. I.P.S. (Portland, Oregon)
10 p.m. — San Nicolas FC (Chino, California) vs. Corinthians USA (Rialto, California)
10 p.m. — Footballers Academy (Irvine, California) vs. San Pedro Monsters FC (San Pedro, California)
10:30 p.m. — Del Rey City SC (Playa Del Rey, California) vs. LA Wolves FC (Manhattan Beach, California)
OCT. 25
2 p.m. — Tobacco Road FC (Raleigh, North Carolina) vs. CD Motagua of New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
3 p.m. — Davis Legacy (Davis, California) vs. International Fútbol X-Change (IFX) Ballistic (Livermore, California)
3 p.m. — El Farolito (San Francisco, California) vs. San Francisco City Football Club (San Francisco, California)
4:30 p.m. — Boca Raton Football Club (Boca Raton, Florida) vs. Real Miami Club of Football (North Miami, Florida)
5 p.m. — Valley United SC (North Hills, California) vs. Cal FC (Agoura Hills, California)
6 p.m. — Outbreak FC (Long Beach, California) vs. Buena Park FC (La Palma, California)
7 p.m. — Charlotte Sporting Soccer Academy FC (Charlotte, North Carolina) vs. Queen City United FC (Charlotte, North Carolina)
7 p.m. — Colorado Rush (Wheat Ridge, Colorado) vs. FC Boulder (Boulder, Colorado)
7 p.m. — Real Sociedad (Bellflower, California) vs. Ozzy’s Laguna FC (Monterey Park, California)
I would like to see Concacaf Champions League qualification no longer linked to the US Open Cup. It just puts an extra (unnecessary) burden on MLS teams during their already busy season. MLS should excuse itself from the USOC competition in order to let their teams focus on making the MLS Cup playoffs and CCL–in which MLS teams have done very poorly over the past decade. The best teams in NASL, USL, and whatever the 4th division is called right now, could then compete for all that USOC glory and prize money–oh the fame and fortune it brings!!!
“Charlotte Sporting Soccer Academy FC” – lol has to be a joke right?
What happens if 2 or more teams from the same division are knocked out in the same round but those teams advanced the furthest? Do they split the $15,000 prize money or do they all get $15,000? I’ve always wondered this.
wow. finally the Cup expands the entire country!
It’s always been available to all USASA teams. It was administered at the state level first and then at the USASA level after state associations crowned champions. Some state bodies are not as active or effective, leaving teams that were unaware how to qualify if they wanted to. Some of these governing bodies hardly promoted it. With that said, not every USASA team or league should try. Some are more recreational while others are more competitive. I suspect we will see more teams taking the plunge as the tournament grows. With that said, USSF screwed teams over this year. 8 USASA teams would have been qualified already under previous rules but they changed the process half through qualifying. Now they all have to qualify all over again. They should have grandfathered those teams in and adjusted the tournament accordingly for 1 year.
a lot of these teams are from other leagues than USASA. instead of lobbying guaranteed spots for all of the fragmented leagues div IV-whatever we got a big regional qualifying tournament that covers the most of the country. Hope they keep expanding it and assisting these clubs with tournament prize money
My point was that the tournament HAS been open to the entire country for some time as long as the team was in a league recognized by USSF via one of the amateur governing bodies. The process to qualify was just different. Maybe even weighted to favor USASA over US Club Soccer and USSSA. Don’t get wrong. I like this new way better. But I still think teams that had begun qualifying under the old format should be rewarded with qualification under the previous standards with the 2016 tournament adjusted to accommodate extra teams. And yes, I do have a dog in this fight as the team I manage should be in under the previous process. It’s a bait and switch. We were told to qualify one way and then half way through, they changed it and said you have to do it another way.
On another note, I too am looking forward to seeing it grow. Too many parts of the country aren’t represented at all. I hope to see that change.