There’s a shimmer somewhere near the end of the tunnel, folks.
The 16 surviving sides who’ll lace up their boots for this week’s 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on May 20-21 will begin to sense a finish line coming into view. All of them, 15 muscular contenders from the top-flight of Major League Soccer (MLS) and heroic underdogs the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the Division II USL Championship, are one win away from the Quarterfinals (and just four from lifting this country’s most-historic prize).
You can WATCH all EIGHT GAMES LIVE on Paramount+ with THREE GAMES on CBS Sports Golazo Network and on-air at CBS Sports Network. Additionally, CBS Sports Golazo Network will offer up ‘THE GOLAZO SHOW’ – a whip-around program showing every goal from every match on Wednesday, May 21.
Opening Day of our Round of 16 kicks off with an All-MLS classic between the New England Revolution, founding members of the league, against four-time Open Cup Champions the Chicago Fire (who started life in MLS with a famous League-Cup Double as an expansion team back in 1998).
“It’s never easy against Chicago,” admitted 33-year-old Revolution defender Andrew Farrell about the long-simmering rivalry between the two teams that reached its boiling point in the mid-2000s when they met eight times in the MLS Playoffs. “But there’s a different feel to a Cup run and I always enjoy it.”
While the Fire, led by former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter, aim to become the first side from MLS (founded in 1996) to lift the historic U.S. Open Cup trophy five times, the Revs are gunning to add to their lone triumph, earned way back in 2007 when they beat FC Dallas to lift our Cup.
The game, though hosted by the Revs, will be played away from their usual home of Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. At Chapey Field on the campus of Providence College, it will be the second Open Cup game in a row in Rhode Island for the New Englanders, who beat RIFC 2-1 at the USL Championship club’s soccer-specific Centreville Bank Stadium in the Round of 32.
WATCH NE Revolution (Div. I) v Chicago Fire (Div. I) on Paramount+
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Tuesday’s other game will be played a little over 3000 miles west, out in California’s Bay Area where the San Jose Earthquakes host the Portland Timbers with a place in the Quarterfinals on the line. Neither side have managed much in the way of Open Cup success over the years, with runs to the Semifinals (Timbers in 2013 and Quakes in 2004 and 2017) the farthest either have gone.
The Quakes, in addition to huge weaponry in attack like ‘Chicho’ Arango and 2019 Open Cup Champion (with Atlanta United) Josef Martinez, also have former USMNT boss Bruce Arena – a legend in MLS circles – pulling the strings. Among the veteran coach’s many accolades, he scooped a U.S. Open Cup title back in MLS’ inaugural year when he was in charge of a dynastic D.C. United.
“It takes a little bit of everything to get going on an Open Cup run,” said Quakes midfielder Ian Harkes, son of USMNT star John Harkes, who lifted the Open Cup under Arena in D.C. in 1996. “You need everyone to step up and you need a little luck too. That way you give yourself a fighting chance.”
“It’s a different flavor to domestic Cup games,” added Harkes, who scored in a recent MLS regular season draw (3-3) against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. “Cup games are special.”
Phil Neville’s Timbers have started the stronger of the two in MLS league play this year, with his side sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference at the time of publication (five in front of the Quakes).
WATCH SJ Earthquakes (Div. I) v Portland Timbers (Div. I) on Paramount+ or on CBS Sports Network
Five of Wednesday (May 21) night’s games kick off at the same time (7:30 pm ET).
One of those contests, in particular, embodies the spirit and magic of the Open Cup in its purest form. When the Division II USL Championship’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds travel to take on MLS’ 2025 regular-season high flyers Philadelphia Union it will be a battle between two of this country’s most traditional and historic soccer epicenters. It will also be a clash of underdog-outsiders against a prohibitive favorite – as the Union sealed top spot in MLS league play with a win this weekend.
The Riverhounds, who beat two MLS sides in 2023 to reach that year’s Open Cup Quarterfinals, are led by legendary lower-league Boss Bob Lilley. “The odds of winning the Cup, for a second-division team, are astronomical,” the iconic coach said. “I’m confident that my guys can step up when needed. A Cup run is something they all want to be a part of.”
The Riverhounds’ dramatic win over MLS’ NYCFC in the Round of 32 was the lone Cupset of that stage of the tournament. And to pull off another one, against a Philly Union side who leaned on experience (38-year-old Alejandro Bedoya) and youth (15-year-old Cavan Sullivan) in their Round of 32 win (via shootout against Indy eleven) will require a massive effort and a lot of good fortune.
But it’s possible, friends, and that’s what our Open Cup is all about.
WATCH Phil. Union (Div. I) v Pitt. Riverhounds (Div. II) on Paramount+
The five other games of the Round of 16’s Day Two pit MLS teams against other MLS teams. The top-flight of this country’s soccer pyramid, who’ve provided our winner in 25 of the last 26 editions, are clearly motivated in this year’s 110th Open Cup.
The New York Red Bulls, led by Swedish star Emile Forsberg and with the recent addition of former Bayern Munich man Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, laid down a marker with a 4-1 win over USL Championship defending-champions Colorado Springs Switchbacks on the road in the last round. Now they meet two-time Champions FC Dallas (1997 and 2016), who boast one of the league’s top goalkeepers in Maarten Paes in addition to former MLS MVP Lucho Acosta’s creative spark.
Seven teams from St. Louis, MO have lifted the Open Cup on ten occasions since 1920. It’s a big tradition to lean on for the new MLS side from the Gateway City.
WATCH MNUFC (Div. I) v St. Louis CITY SC (Div. I) on Paramount+
We close out the Round of 16 with a pair of recent Open Cup Champions in action.
First up, Orlando City SC, who rode six straight home games to glory in 2022, host Nashville SC in a replay of that year’s Open Cup Quarterfinal. That contest, which ended via shootout, was influenced heavily by a rare Rodrigo Schlegel goal late in stoppage time. The veteran Argentine workhorse, who has a tattoo of the Open Cup trophy on his calf to commemorate the 2022 title, led a youthful Orlando City side to a lopsided 5-0 win over Division II Tampa Bay Rowdies in the last round of the current edition.
Nashville SC, whose best Open Cup run was that very Quarterfinal loss to Orlando in 2022, have started the MLS regular season strong and sit, currently, in fourth place in the East.
WATCH Orlando City (Div. I) v Nashville SC (Div. I) on Paramount+
Last but not least we have our 2023 Champions, Houston Dynamo FC, traveling to take on Austin FC in an Open Cup instalment of the Copa Tejas Derby. The Dynamo are led by Ben Olsen, who was the architect of the 2013 D.C. United Open Cup title run as rookie coach and also the man in charge when the Houstonians beat Inter Miami to be crowned Open Cup Champions on the road two years ago.
While Austin FC’s record in the tournament hasn’t been much to crow about (a lone win in 2023 that sent them to the Round of 16), the Dynamo have lifted the Open Cup twice in the last eight years (2018 and 2023). It's a trophy that matters much to the club’s fans and organization.
“Trophies talk,” said Olsen, who won two Open Cups as a coach and one as a player. “When the fans see you holding a trophy, it’s special. And that doesn’t go away.”
WATCH Austin FC (Div. I) v Houston Dynamo (Div. I) on Paramount+
Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter. Top Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Riverhounds/Chris Cowger