There was a time in this country when the Open Cup’s favorites hailed from the cities of the midwest. For three decades – the 1930s, 40s, and 50s – teams from St. Louis and Chicago littered the list of Open Cup Champions and Runners-up.
Powered by the immigrant migrations that filled the factories of the postwar United States, teams from the midwest played hard and had long runs in the competition. After a short resurgence of St. Louis clubs winning in the all-amateur and semi-pro days of the mid 1980s, the rise of Sporting Kansas City and Chicago Fire in the modern MLS era would return the midwest to Open Cup relevance.
Sporting KC hoisted the trophy four times and played Runner-up once, while Chicago has also seen its name engraved on the Dewar Cup four times.
But in all those eras of midwest dominance, no team from Iowa threatened a true challenge for the trophy. Though it lies dead-center in the region, none of the late-round Cup magic of the midwest has touched a club from the Hawkeye State.
Maybe that’s all about to change?
Well, probably not all that. But there sure are a lot of eyes on Iowa’s capital city in the early days of our 110th U.S.Open Cup. The alliance between the Des Moines Menace and a cadre of retired one-time MLS superstars continues to gather steam – and has made the club ground-zero for 2025 Open Cup fun.
It’s not the usual retinue of college kids and local up-and-comers you’d expect to see in the all-amateuer Menace line-up for the early rounds. The squad that beat MLS NEXT Pro side Sporting KC II 2-1 in icy weather last week included a four-time Open Cup Champion (Ozzie Alonso), two former Olympians (Dax McCarty and Sacha Kljestan), a former MLS Defender of the Year (Matt Hedges), the league’s two-time scoring champion (Bradley Wright-Phillips) and several former USMNT stars and MLS Champions (Benny Feilhaber and AJ DeLaGarza).
While the Menace’s new coach doesn’t have the same eye-popping CV as some of his current players, he’s a 19-year veteran of the Chicago soccer scene. Charlie Latshaw III is a product of the American midwest, and considers it as home, but he described taking the head coach position with the Menace – even before the injection of big names hit the team sheet – as “this whole new adventure, coming to Des Moines. The fanbase is much larger, the resources are bigger…at some of my previous jobs, we used to send players to Des Moines[Menace]if we couldn’t provide housing for them.
“For me it’s definitely a step up,” said Latshaw, who must now navigate the tricky waters of combining retired former pros – in varying states of physical fitness – and a handful of young strivers who’ll make up the core of the Menace’s USL League Two side when they compete for the league crown this summer. “There’s higher expectations for excellence here…I want to do this club justice and make sure the players understand the legacy and what is expected of them.”
Latshaw, who previously led Chicago City and River Light FC in USL League Two, would often clash with the Menace in league play, but his awareness of the club began years before that. “I’ve grown up in the midwest...Des Moines Menace has been a name in soccer here since the 90s.” He was also quick to point out that in head-to-head clashes in league play, his teams won three out of four matches.
Long before the current hybrid vision of the Menace was in place for the 2025 Open Cup, the Iowans were regularly causing problems for pro sides in the tournament. Starting in 2005, and a win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Cupsets have struck for the Menace seven more times since.
It’s an enviable tradition, ranking the Iowans among the most reliable (and thrilling) Cinderellas in the Modern Era of the Open Cup.
This season the team restyled the crest to embrace the history of the club, after teasing it last season. The angry soccer ball, with glowing red eyes and a trail of flames, is the stuff of 90’s legend. After the team used it sparingly to celebrate the club’s 30th anniversary, they decided to expand it this season into a full retro look. Menace business director Ken Davy is confident the people of Iowa wanted a return to the glory days. ”The community embraced our throwback to the retro ‘90s look, and we felt that the refresh seen in our new crest was an exciting next step for the club.”
Part of that refresh is the hiring of Latshaw, who coached his first Menace match in the US Open Cup against Sporting KC II, which he described (with a chuckle) as “definitely unique.” Furthering the quirkiness to the arrangement was the fact that the weather was brutal – icy winds blew in 50 MPH gusts and the game was only settled when Sacha Kljestan, playing in the Open Cup for a second straight year with the Menace, buried a pair of spot-kicks to send the Des Moines side to a Second Round home date against Div. III pro powers Union Omaha on April 2.
“It’s a pretty unique Menace thing we’ve got going on here [for the 2025 Open Cup],” said Latshaw about one of the country’s proudest amateur clubs joining forces with a raft of former pros. “Hopefully they can pull the jersey on more than just the once.”
With their Second Round matchup coming up, a replay of last year’s loss to a Union Omaha side that reached the Quarterfinals of the Open Cup in 2022, Latshaw will soon get his second chance at the helm of one of the biggest legacy clubs in American amateur soccer’s lower leagues. And this time they’ll be at home with, hopefully, much better weather on tap.
He’ll lead a star-studded roster of one-time greats, all wearing the Menace shirt. And maybe that team of avengers can muster the magic of the midwest one more time – and this time for Iowa.
Dan Vaughn is a veteran soccer journalist and the founder and editor of Protagonist Soccer. Follow him at @TheDanVaughn on X/Twitter.