Brace yourselves, friends…
We open with a test of your cardiac durability for a second year running. There’ll be 32 opportunities for amateurs – plumbers and bakers and candle-stick makers – to knock off Division II or Division III pros and take their rightful place among this year’s roster of Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Cinderellas and Dream Chasers.
Over three matchday from Tuesday, March 18 to Thursday, March 20, 64 teams will be in action and all will be hunting a place in the Second Round (April 1-2). You can WATCH all 32 FIRST ROUND Games (and the SECOND ROUND too) LIVE and FREE on U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channel.
DIRECT LINKS to ALL FIRST ROUND Games HERE
The Marquee match-up of our 2025 Opening Day comes from deep in the American Heartland, with amateurs Tulsa Athletic hosting crosstown pros FC Tulsa (USL Championship). It’s one of eight games of the First Round that pits an amateur team against a club from the country’s second pro tier.
It’s also a replay of one of the biggest early round Cupests in recent years – and at the very same venue: Athletic Community Stadium at Hicks Park. There, on April 5 of 2023, many of the very same players you’ll see on Tuesday pulled off a huge shock with a 1-0 win over this same FC Tulsa. It was a miracle of underdog ecstasy and one that Tulsa Athletic players and fans hope will lightning-strike again.
“This is the kind of magic that only happens in the Cup,” said Sonny Dalesandro, Tulsa Athletic’s co-owner, local restaurateur, all-around fixer, famed gameday groundskeeper and general lifeblood supplier. “This is where it’s at.”
The other Amateur-vs-USL Championship contests of Opening Day offer similar opportunities for underdog fireworks. Hartford Athletic (USLC) welcome NPSL part-timers the New York Shockers to Trinity Health Stadium in the Nutmeg State’s capital. Miami FC – last year’s worst performer in the USL Championship but bolstered by the arrival of former USMNT goalkeeper Bill Hamid – host Naples United FC. And finally, Pennsylvania amateur powers West Chester United SC have home-field advantage when they take on USL Championship side Loudoun United, who reached last year’s Round of 16 in their debut in U.S. Soccer’s historic club championship.
The other six games on Tuesday are no less dramatic in concept, with amateur teams playing Division II clubs from both MLS NEXT Pro and USL League One.
Regular contenders (and 2022’s longest surviving amateur team) FC Motown are one of two New Jersey-based amateur outfits in action. They host USL League One new boys West Chester SC while fellow Garden Staters New Jersey Alliance, in their Cup debut, host Chattanooga Red Wolves (USL1).
Out on the West Coast, Ventura County FC (MLS NEXT Pro) host Laguna United FC of UPSL
One of five new USL League One clubs coming on line in 2025, Texoma FC – with their new loan signing Diego Pepi, younger brother of USMNT star Ricardo – host their first-ever Open Cup game against one of last year’s Cinderellas. FORO SC of the UPSL – who beat Austin FC II in the 2024 First Round – will be no pushovers.
Fellow USL League One new club AV ALTA FC, of California’s Antelope Valley, welcome USL League Two amateurs Ventura County Fusion in one of three USL League One-vs-USL League Two contests on Tuesday. The others are: Asheville City (USL2) vs Greenville Triumph (USL1) and Sarasota Paradise (USL2) vs FC Naples (USL1).
FC Naples head coach, Matt Poland, might look familiar to many Early-Round Open Cup enthusiasts. He led amateur powers Chicago House AC to a Third Round Cinderella run in 2023 – and a date with crosstown MLS side Chicago Fire. Now, in a twist of Cup fate, Poland finds himself leading a pro team – very much the favorites on paper – in the First Round.
“There’s no more players and coaches shoveling the fields before training,” Poland laughed about his new sunny venue and step up into the pro ranks. “I’m on the other side now. In some ways, it’s easier for the amateur team because you go into games like this completely free with literally nothing to lose.”
Wednesday, March 19 sees the fullest schedule of the First Round with 13 games dotting both coasts and many points in between.
One highlight comes from the wilds of Boone, North Carolina where Appalachian FC (of the all-amateur NPSL) host pro side One Knoxville (USL1). It’s the second time the Sasquatch-mascotted heroes of the High Country are in the Open Cup since debuting in 2023. And having just dug out from the heavy destruction of last year’s Hurricane Helene, these amateurs are hoping to make it a big day for club and community both.
“This is what we want. This is what we all dream about,” said Appalachian FC’s coach Dale Parker. “Playing a professional team in front of our own fans in the oldest and most-fun tournament in the country. If you don’t feel the buzz, then you’re not paying attention.”
Speaking of fun and buzz, there’s a pot boiling over in Des Moines, Iowa. Known for several decades of giant-killing and underdog heroics in our Open Cup, this year the USL League Two amateurs, the Des Moines Menace, are swinging hard for the fences. They’ve signed a dozen former big-name pros – like four-time Open Cup Champion Ozzie Alonso and former MLS goal-machine Bradley Wright-Phillips, Benny Feilhaber, Dax McCarty and Sacha Kljestan too.
Sporting Kansas City II, where Feilhaber recently coached, will do well to get their preparations right.
“I love the Open Cup. You have all the levels and all the layers of the game in this country,” said Kljestan, who’s back with the Menace for a second straight Open Cup. “It's the only time when you get little teams with a chance of going out and winning against the odds on the day. It means something to every player who’s ever played in it.”
There’s some fun to be had Out West too. First up, at Interbay Stadium near the famed Ballard Bridge, the second-year amateurs of Ballard FC (USL2) host Spokane Velocity of USL League One for the second year in a row. Last year’s First Round game ended with the Velocity pros nipping a slim 0-1 win at the death. And Ballard’s coach, a former Open Cup Champion with the Seattle Sounders, James Riley, will be hoping his boys can turn the tables on their neighbors and favorites this time out.
Farther south at Cardinale Stadium, we have International San Francisco – the ambitious amateurs from the City by the Bay – taking on Division II USL Championship pros Monterey Bay in one of the days Amateur-vs-Division II contests.
“We’ve doubled our training schedule for the game,” said Inter SF’s captain Javier Rivera, 26 – a Bay Area engineer who grew up in the Catalunya-based CE Europa youth system. “You always want to play against the strongest opponent and our aim is to make it far in the Open Cup.”
Wednesday’s other games shouldn’t be overlooked. The beauty of the Open Cup is in the not-knowing where the inevitable miracles will happen. Columbus Crew II (MLS NEXT Pro) host UPSL’s NY Renegades. Chattanooga FC – also of MLS NEXT Pro, who lost in last year’s First Round to amateurs Miami United FC – open the doors of famous Finley Stadium to Corpus Christi FC (USL2).
That very same Miami United FC team – still led by free-scoring Robertino Insua – open this year on the road against Inter Miami CF II, the MLS NEXT Pro affiliate of 2023 losing Open Cup Finalists Inter Miami CF. The Richmond Kickers (USL1) – winners of the Open Cup in 1995 and U.S. Soccer Royalty – host debutants Virginia Dream, who were imperious in this fall’s Qualifying Rounds.
Another team so impressive in those Qualifying Rounds was Southern Indiana FC (UPSL) – and their reward is to be one of the eight amateurs drawn against a Division II team in this First Round. Their opponents are Lexington Sporting Club of Kentucky, who’ll try to avoid being Cupset in the First Round for a second year running.
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.
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?
BE SURE to WATCH all 32 FIRST ROUND Games (and the SECOND ROUND too) LIVE and FREE on U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channel. DIRECT LINKS to ALL FIRST ROUND Games HERE
Fontela is editor-in-chief ofussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.