“It’s all about winning, finding a way,” said midfielder Timothy Tillman, discussing the complexity and intensity of Cup play. “In Germany we used to say that the Cup has its own laws, its own rules.”
He’s addressing a question about the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, where he and his Los Angeles Football Club are days away from hosting a Final against four-time Champions Sporting Kansas City, but he’s also touched on the Magic of the Cup writ large. Those domestic competitions, the world over, where lower-league strivers come up against first division big shots. Where draws aren’t tolerated and a winner will be had on the day, no matter what. It’s here where luck and guts seem to count for more.
“The Cup means a lot in every country,” added Tillman, who was at his necessary battling-best in a physical Open Cup Semifinal against the Seattle Sounders in Tukwila, WA that he described as “all about mentality and intensity” in the end. “There’s excitement to the Cup, an opportunity for all, and that’s a great feeling.”
He and his star-studded side from the City of Angels began their 2024 Open Cup account in a dimly-lit baseball stadium off the Strip in Las Vegas. And Tillman was fully prepared for the challenges unique to the world’s domestic cup competitions.
“It’s a chance for the little guy,” the 25-year-old, always with a ready smile, told usopencup.com about the Round of 32 game against Las Vegas Lights of the Division II USL Championship. “They have their chance for glory in that moment, and you better be ready for it if you’re the higher-ranked side.”
It’s not just theory here. Tillman remembers the 2021 German Cup (known as the DFB-Pokal) as a “special moment.” He was playing for a second-division side from his Bavarian hometown of Fürth, way out of the spotlight, having returned from a teenage sojourn at Bayern Munich where he failed to break through to the big-time.
Tillman’s Greuther Fürth shocked Bundesliga powers Hoffenheim in that year’s Second Round. He scored his penalty in a marathon shootout after a dramatic 2-2 draw. “It was something you’ll never forget,” he said of the Cinderella win.
The slipper’s on the other foot for Tillman now. An underdog no longer, he’s in his second year with MLS giants LAFC. It’s a young club, born only in 2018, but one designed and expected to win everything all the time. He arrived in 2023, the year after LAFC won their first MLS title.
Why LA? It’s a long way from the woody Bavarian forests. “I wanted a new challenge for myself – a place where I could grow not only as a player but as a person,” said the midfielder, who’s scored two goals so far in this year’s Open Cup.
A conversation with a boyhood idol didn’t hurt his decision to head out west to LA. Former USMNT fullback Steve Cherundolo, current coach of LAFC, began his storied playing career in Germany in 1999. That’s the year Tillman was born. By the time Tillman turned 15, in 2014, Cherundolo had earned the nickname The Mayor of Hannover – playing 15 seasons and wearing the captain’s armband for the city’s top-flight club Hannover 96.
“Things happened really quickly,” said Tillman about his transfer from Greuther Fürth. “I had a great talk with the coach [Cherundolo] and he told me about the plans for the club. It sounded important.”
An additional connection to the United States helped make Tillman’s move a no-brainer.
While he was raised in Nurnberg by his mother, Anja, his father was born in the U.S.. Holding dual citizenship, Tillman and his brother, Malik, both now represent the USA at senior national-team level after lining up for Germany in their youth. While Timmy’s only earned one cap so far, younger brother Malik, currently with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, has 14 appearances for the USMNT under his belt.
Tillman may have had a memorable run as a giant-killer in the German Cup but, before that, he spent three years up among the big boys. Way up in the stratosphere with global super-club Bayern Munich. He never made a first-team appearance in his three seasons there, having gone out on loan to FC Nürnberg for a year. But he was on the bench for the 2017 win in the DFL-League SuperCup, a one-off game played out annually in Germany between the Cup (Pokal) winner and the Bundesliga Champion.
Tillman was only 17 at the time and celebrated that trophy with Bayern legends like Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller – to name but a few.
While LAFC has a long way to go before matching the history and trophy-count of Bayern, it’s nevertheless a club with huge ambitions. There's a desire there to be the best team in the United States and to build a cabinet bigger and fuller than all the rest. When Tillman arrived in LA, club co-president and GM John Thorrington signaled the club’s intent: “He [Tillman] will immediately help in our ambitions to win more trophies.”
LAFC – now with World Cup winner Olivier Giroud and flying high near the top of the western standings – have reached another two finals since Tillman hit the scene. They ended in two losses to the Columbus Crew in both the 2023 MLS Cup decider and this year’s Leagues Cup final.
“Now we have a great chance to win a trophy at home,” he said of the upcoming Open Cup Final on September 25th (LIVE and FREE on APPLE TV) against fellow MLS side Sporting Kansas City. “We have a tough game between us and a trophy and this is a kind of positive stress for us.”
“It’s not only about reaching finals, it’s about winning them too,” said Tillman, comfortable in his new home but eager to help build a dynasty. “Reaching finals means we are a good group with a lot of potential, but winning is the key of the whole thing.”
When LAFC face off with Sporting KC in the 109th Open Cup Final, the fashionable West Coasters will be very much the favorites. The only time the two met this year, very early in the season, it ended in a goalless draw. But LAFC have gone on to huge successes – and stand poised among the favorites to win this year’s MLS title – while SKC are mired outside the playoff places and looking to the Open Cup as a potential season-rescuer.
“They’re a danger for us,” said Tillman, knowing oh-so-well the risk posed by an underdog in Cup play. “They have some really good attacking players who can make something out of nothing.
“We have a great chance to win a title in front of these fans who never stop supporting us, of making it a big party,” said Tillmann, still a little wary of the pitfalls that line the road to Cup glory. “But everyone has to show up and give everything – this is the only way”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.