Mother Nature had her say on July 9, dumping massive amounts of rain – complete with thunder and lightning pyrotechnics – over Chester, Pennsylvania for hours on end. The players of Philadelphia Union and the visiting New York Red Bulls were back in the locker room almost as quickly as they emerged for the kick-off of their 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal.
The game was eventually postponed. The fans – who’d taken cover in the concourse of Subaru Park – headed home without knowing which side was bound for the 2025 Open Cup Semifinals. That mystery will be solved this Wednesday, August 13, over a month later, when the two teams face off to see who’ll join Austin FC, Minnesota United FC and Nashville SC in this year’s Final four.
The game itself (LIVE on Paramount+ and on air at CBS Sports Network) is an all-MLS classic, with the two teams – separated by less than 100 miles of Interstate 95 – embroiled in a long-simmering Northeastern rivalry. Both clubs, incidentally, are based in urban centers with deep roots in our historic Open Cup.
The New York Red Bulls – who last reached an Open Cup Final back in 2017, when Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips were on the pitch instead of the studio coaches of MLS broadcasts – have been hot-and-cold in league play. Their opponents, the Philadelphia Union, have been pretty much exclusively hot and, at the time of publishing, sit top of the 2025 MLS regular season standings.
The Union have reached our Open Cup Final three times in their history, hosting twice, but are still waiting for that first trophy-lift. It may well be this year, with veterans like 38-year-old Alejandro Bedoya and up-and-comers like 15-year-old Cavan Sullivan (and his older brother Quinn of the USMNT) all playing a part to see the team firmly among the favorites to scoop this year’s Open Cup crown.
“Any opportunity to win a Cup with your team is obviously a huge incentive for the players,” said Indiana Vassilev, the Union’s Man of the Match when they knocked out the last remaining non-MLS team (the Pittsburgh Riverhounds) in the Round of 16. “We’re definitely looking to make a deep run.”
“We’re putting all our eggs in the basket and going for it,” said veteran Union and former USMNT midfielder Alejandro Bedoya. “When there’s a trophy on the line, you want to make sure you do everything you can to raise it up.”
The Union will have their hands full when the Red Bulls come to town again. Coach Sandro Schwarz is looking “to build emotions in the Open Cup” and while his RBNY team has been inconsistent in league play this term, they are quite simply unplayable when in the mood.
Big-name stars like Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting have combined with young up-and-comers Mohammed Sofo and goalkeeper AJ Marcucci, brought in for his first starts in RBNY’s first two 2025 Open Cup games.
“It’s amazing to be out there and be a part of things,” said Marcucci, shootout hero of the Red Bulls Round of 16 win over FC Dallas, who, four years ago, was lining up on the Division III NCAA fields of New England as a Connecticut College Camel. “These are the moments you strive for in your career, where it’s all on the line and we have the kind of players who thrive in those.”
The winner of Wednesday’s Quarterfinal will meet high-flying Nashville SC in the Semifinal Round on Tuesday, September 16. The venue for that game depends on who wins in Chester this week. The Red Bulls, should they win, would welcome the Tennesseans to Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J. (7:30 p.m. ET), while a victorious Union side would travel to GEODIS Park in Nashville (8:00 p.m. ET).
Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.