The most important thing to know about the U.S. Open Cup competition that LAFC is participating in is that there’s a trophy on the line—a historic one.
LAFC’s GM and Co-President, John Thorrington, says it often, including this preseason – This club tries to win every competition. Forward Nathan Ordaz reiterated it earlier this season when asked about the U.S. Open Cup: “We’re always trying to win whatever we’re in. Not being in Champions League this season will make us push for every single trophy even more.”
So what is the U.S. Open Cup?
LAFC is taking part, for the fifth time, in the oldest national soccer competition in the U.S., and the third-oldest in the world.
First played in 1913-14 (when it was known as the National Challenge Cup), the U.S. Open Cup was founded earlier than the NHL (1917), the NFL (1920), and the NBA (1946).
The annual competition is open to professional and amateur clubs in the United States. In this 109th edition of the tournament, lower division pro and amateur teams battle it out to advance to the Round of 32, which is when MLS teams like LAFC get involved. U.S. Open Cup matches are interspersed among the regular-season games played by LAFC and other participants.
OPEN CUP OPPORTUNITIES
When LAFC played in the U.S. Open Cup in 2023, the Black & Gold was making its way to the Concacaf Champions League (now Cup) final – the title game of most prestigious competition in LAFC's corner of the world. As such, LAFC started mostly second-team players from LAFC2 in its Open Cup Round-of-32 win over Monterey Bay in May 2023—a thrilling match that LAFC’s young lineup won on penalties.
That same young LAFC side fell 2-0 to the Galaxy in the next round, bowing out of the single-elimination tournament while keeping its first-choice players rested and healthy for the demanding Champions League schedule.
This year, LAFC’s focus is different. It has pursued the Open Cup more vigorously. Foremost was the goal of winning the Open Cup to claim the automatic Concacaf Champions Cup slot awarded to the tournament champion, but having already qualifed for the 2025 edition of CCC via Leagues Cup, the Black & Gold are aiming to add another trophy to the cabinet.
5 WINS TO THE TROPHY
LAFC started its 2024 Open Cup journey with a 3-1 win on the road against former affiliate team, the Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship (Division II). Coincidentally, that result was the first win in the Black & Gold's newly established club-record unbeaten streak of 13 matches across all competitions, which lasted from May 8 to July 10.
Next up on the team's Open Cup quest was a Round of 16 showdown versus Loudoun United (who also play in the USLC). The Black & Gold took care of business with a 3-0 home win against the D.C.-area club back on May 21.
Then it was the Quarterfinal round on July 10. LAFC downed a third straight USLC squad in New Mexico United, one of the best Div. II teams in the country in 2024. Today, as it was back in July, the boys from the Land of Enchantment sit in first place in the USL Championship Western Conference, but the Black & Gold conjured an impressive 3-1 win at BMO Stadium.
In the Semifinals, LAFC faced down four-time Open Cup champs the Seattle Sounders 1-0 thanks to a Denis Bouanga PK at the cozy confines of Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash. on Aug. 28.
Similar to Seattle, Sporting Kansas City also won the Open Cup four times in its history, doing so by winning every Final in which it had appeared. The 2024 Final would be LAFC's night however as the Black & Gold earned a 3-1 extra time win to secure its first Open Cup crown in club histroy on Sept. 25.
LAFC'S 2024 U.S. OPEN CUP SCHEDULE & RESULTS:
- 3-1 W @ Las Vegas Lights (USLC) - Round of 32
- 3-0 W vs. Loudoun United (USLC) - Round of 16
- 3-1 W vs. New Mexico United (USLC) - Quarterfinals
- 1-0 W @ Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) - Semifinals
- 3-1 W (aet) vs. Sporting Kansas City (MLS) - U.S. Open Cup Final
LAFC'S BEST USOC RUN
LAFC has a record of 10W-3L-1D over four appearances in the U.S. Open Cup. Its best finish came in 2018 when the Black & Gold made it to the Semifinals before falling to the eventual champs, the Houston Dynamo, on penalty kicks. Diego Rossi had a hat trick for LAFC that day as the Black & Gold fought back from a 3-1 deficit to send the game into 30 minutes of extra time, then the deciding penalty shootout.
PREVIOUS OPEN CUP CHAMPIONS CURRENTLY WITH LAFC
A few members of the Black & Gold have raised the U.S. Open Cup while playing for other clubs:
Ante Razov – LAFC asst. coach
three-time champion with Chicago Fire: 1998, 2000, 2003
John Thorrington – LAFC Co-President & GM
D.C. United: 2013
Ilie Sanchez
Sporting KC: 2017
Ryan Hollingshead
FC Dallas: 2018
Kei Kamara
Sporting KC: 2012
LA CONNECTION
When LAFC entered this year's Open Cup back in early May, the Black & Gold, Las Vegas, Orange County SC, and Loudoun United were grouped together for the Round of 32 and the Round of 16. The group was named the Mark Division after Sam Mark, the owner of the Fall River Marksmen and the New Bedford Whalers that together won five Open Cups from the mid 1920s to the early '30s.
Mark, a first generation American born to Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, also commissioned the building of one of the first soccer specific stadiums in the United States – Mark's Stadium – in North Tiverton, Rhode Island in 1922. By 1955, Mark had relocated to Los Angeles where he helped form Los Angeles Kickers, one of the city's first professional soccer teams. The Kickers, won the Open Cup in 1958 and '64 when it was still known as the National Challenge Cup, and the club continues to opperate to this day (although no longer in a professional capacity).
LAFC continues its bid for the U.S. Open Cup title on Wed., Sept. 25, in the championship match against Sporting Kansas City. BUY TICKETS. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The U.S. Open Cup Final will stream for FREE on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Radio coverage will be available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA App and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera.
