It’s that time again, when the big boys of Major League Soccer – this country’s Division I – join the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Party and put their reputations on the line.
This year, 16 teams from MLS will compete (up eight from last year) and, as always in our single-elimination competition, they’ll need to have their wits about them in order to avoid being knocked out at the first hurdle by opponents from the lower pro leagues who’ve toiled to reach this stage.
ALL 16 GAMES of the Round of 32 can be STREAMED LIVE on Paramount+ on May 6 (five games) and May 7 (11 games) with select games also available FREE on CBS Sports Golazo Network and on air on CBS Sports Network.
The first day of action in the 2025 Round of 32 kicks off with a replay of our 2008 Final – when an Ozzie Alonso-led Charleston Battery (Division II) fell to D.C. United of MLS 2-1. It’s one of only three Open Cup Finals not contested exclusively by teams from Major League Soccer since the current top flight began life in 1996.
“If you’re talking about football, about soccer in America, the Charleston Battery will be in that conversation,” said the 31-year-old USL Championship club’s head coach Ben Pirmann, who’ll be hoping his young striker MD Myers can stay hot and add to the hat-trick he bagged in the Third Round against South Georgia Tormenta. “Being a part of the Battery, and representing this club in the Open Cup, it’s something we all know is special.”
Charleston are up against a three-time Champion in D.C. United, and their coach Troy Lesesne will know all about USL Championship sides from his formative years with New Mexico United. “We want to play our game,” insisted Myers, up for April’s USL Championship Player of the Month honors. “If we do that, we’ll put them to the test because I think we match up.”
WATCH Charleston Battery (Div. II) v D.C. United (Div. I) on Paramount+
Another USL Championship side, North Carolina FC, kick off early against Charlotte FC of MLS in the Round of 32’s opening day. NCFC, who are back in Division II after three seasons in USL League One (Div. III) will have their hands full against a side that boasts former English Premier League star winger Wilfried Zaha and who’ve started their 2025 MLS campaign with big ambitions and results.
“It's about winning – about trophies,” said Charlotte FC and USMNT defender Tim Ream. “And the Open Cup is an important one in the grand scheme of things. This is an opportunity for silverware, an opportunity to put a trophy in a cabinet.”
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There’s a pair of enticing Division III-v-MLS encounters on Tuesday May 6.
First up, Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, the USL League One side who survived three penalty shootouts thanks to their outstanding 39-year-old goalkeeper Ricardo Jerez, travel to meet Nashville SC. The fellow Tennessee side (MLS) are led by former USMNT interim boss B.J. Callaghan, who’s hoping to take his MLS side past their best-ever Open Cup finish (a Quarterfinal berth in 2022).
Another David-v-Goliath contest has the potential for real fireworks as the lone remaining MLS NEXT Pro side (Div. III), Tacoma Defiance – who are the academy team for MLS’ Seattle Sounders – take on the Sounders’ hated Pacific-Northwest rivals the Portland Timbers. This game – a hybrid of the decades-old Cascadia Derby – will be played in Tukwila, Washington at the legendary Starfire Sports Complex.
“Everyone will go into this game feeling like we can do something special,” said Defiance goalkeeper Andrew Thomas, who also lined up for the first-team Sounders on their run to last year’s Open Cup Semifinal (also played among the lodgepole-piney splendor of Starfire). “We need to create as much energy as possible and to drive the intensity – and there’s no reason something special can’t happen.”
WATCH Chat. Red Wolves SC (Div. III) v Nashville SC (Div. I) on Paramount+
WATCH Tacoma Defiance (Div. III) v Portland Timbers (Div. I) on Paramount+
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The last game of the five on opening night pits the New York Red Bulls – still hunting a first-ever non-Supporter’s Shield trophy since starting life as the MetroStars in MLS’ founding year of 1996 – on the long road against last year’s USL Championship (Div. II) toppers Colorado Springs Switchbacks.
“We have to be very serious and have a lot of respect for our opponent,” said NYRB’s German coach Sandro Schwarz, a man with much experience in cup competitions overseas. “They [the Switchbacks] were very successful last season, but at the end we have to show our quality because we are the MLS.”
WATCH Colo. Springs Switchbacks (Div. II) v NY Red Bulls (Div. I) on Paramount+
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First up among our past Champions playing on Day Two is our 2007 title-winning New England Revolution. Picking up MLS steam under coach Caleb Porter after a poor 2024, the Foxboro-based side travel to meet Rhode Island FC of the USL Championship at their brand-new soccer specific stadium just 20 miles down I-95 and over the border in Pawtucket. The coastal city holds a special place in the history of the Open Cup as our first-ever Final – way back in 1914 – was played there.
WATCH RIFC (Div. II) v NE Revolution (Div. I) on Paramount+
Our 2022 Champions Orlando City SC of MLS are also out on the road against the historic Tampa Bay Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium in St Petersburg in an all-Sunshine State affair. Orlando are off to a strong start in MLS play this year but the Division II Rowdies are always a handful in the Cup as they showed by taking FC Dallas to the wire last year in a 1-2 loss – at this very same Al Lang Stadium – that the MLS side were lucky to walk away from unscathed.
WATCH Tampa Bay Rowdies (Div. II) v Orlando City (Div. I) on Paramount+
It's fitting then to talk about FC Dallas, in Round of 32 action at home against one of our Division III Cinderella darlings AV ALTA FC of California’s Antelope Valley. The Texans, who won the Open Cup in 1997 (still as the Burn) and again in 2016, have newly arrived former MLS MVP Lucho Acosta in the roster and will hope to avoid the nerves of a potential huge Cupset on the day.
“The Open Cup is all about opportunities and that’s why I love it,” said first-year AV ALTA’s General Manager ‘NiNi’ Blanco, a man with Open Cup history as a player with the Fresno Fuego way back in 2001. “Every game we’re playing is a Final and we want to compete and show who we are to the best of our ability. You never know what can happen.”
WATCH FC Dallas (Div. I) v AV ALTA FC (Div. III) on Paramount+
It’s been a while since the Chicago Fire won a trophy (2006 to be exact), but they are four-time Champions of our Open Cup and on the hunt to become the first-ever five-time winner from the MLS Era. Led by former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter, they’ve had their wobbles to start the MLS season, and they won’t have things all their own way up against noted giant-killers Detroit City FC of the USL Championship.
WATCH Chicago Fire (Div. I) v Detroit City FC (Div. II) on Paramount+
Last but never least among our former Champs is Houston Dynamo – who lifted this country’s most historic prize in 2018, led by DaMarcus Beasley, and again in 2023 with Mexico legend Hector Herrera bossing the on-field action. The head coach now (same as in 2023) is Ben Olsen. “Trophies talk,” said Olsen, who faces what he called a “tough draw” on the road against Phoenix Rising FC of the USL Championship. “When the fans see you holding a trophy, it’s special. And that doesn’t go away,”
WATCH Phoenix Rising (Div. II) v Houston Dynamo (Div. I) on Paramount+
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Any devoted fans of Open Cup Chaos, the Magic of the Cup – or whatever you want to call it – will have eyes glued on Union Omaha when they travel to take on MLS side St. Louis CITY SC at Energizer Park. The Division III Owls of Nebraska are among the most dangerous underdogs in recent Open Cup history – and their thin OT loss to eventual Finalists Sporting KC last year in the Round of 32 is evidence of what they can do out on the field – regardless of the opponent.
“We like the role of underdogs when we’re going up against a team from MLS,” said Dion Acoff, who scored the winning goal in the side’s Cupset win over Div. II San Antonio FC in the last round – and was also part of the Union Omaha team that beat two MLS sides in 2022 en route to the Quarterfinals. “We can just play freely, give it our best shot and hope things fall with us.”
The game will be a replay of the same fixture that saw 22, 423 fans turn out in St. Louis in 2023.
WATCH St. Louis CITY SC (Div. I) v Union Omaha (Div. III) on Paramount+
Elsewhere on Day Two (Wednesday, May 6) is a series of USL Championship vs. MLS matchups posing big jeopardy for the Division I sides. New York City FC travel to Highmark Stadium, on the banks of the Monongahela River, to meet noted Upset-Weavers the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Hounds fans will remember that run to the Quarterfinals in 2023 that was sparked by wins over the New England Revolution (on the road) and Columbus Crew at home at Highmark.
WATCH Pitt. Riverhounds (Div. II) v NYCFC (Div. I) on Paramount+
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Also on the road, Minnesota United FC – our 2019 Open Cup Runners-up – will have their hands full against Louisville City FC at their Lynn family Stadium. The Kentucky side have a huge reputation in the Division II USL Championship – and, with the experienced Danny Cruz at the helm, they’re aiming at matching their best-ever Open Cup finish earned in 2022 (Round of 16).
Then there’s the Philadelphia Union. Our three-time losing Finalists have a home date against Indy Eleven, our top-performing Division II side from last year who stormed all the way to the Semifinals in a historic run for the Indiana club.
WATCH Louisville City (Div. II) v Minnesota United FC (Div. I) on Paramount+
WATCH Philadelphia Union (Div. I) v Indy Eleven (Div. II)
Out west, we finish with two more potential banana skins for MLS’ big boys. First up, Austin FC open their doors to El Paso Locomotive in an all-Texas showdown. The Austin side, who only played their first Open Cup game in 2019, haven’t had much in the way of success. Neither have the Locomotive – until this year, that is. The El Paso-based club, who never won an Open Cup game in years of trying, won three times so far in 2025 and are led by the steady hand of 2018 Open Cup-winning boss (with Houston Dynamo) Wilmer Cabrera.
“We’re improving and growing as a team,” said the former Colombia international and World Cup participant (1998) who overhauled the roster and got the El Paso side humming. “You try to do your best, because you want to go far in the U.S. Open Cup.”
We close out our Round of 32 action in San Jose, with another battle between MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes – coached now by former USMNT boss Bruce Arena, who won the Open Cup with D.C. United in the 1990s – hosting Sacramento Republic. The Div. II side knocked the Quakes out of two of the last three Open Cups and stormed through to a shock Final appearance in 2022.
“These types of games are what you play for,” said returning Sacramento legend Rodrigo ‘RoRo’ Lopez, who tore his ACL in last year’s Open Cup win over San Jose. “It’s also a rivalry and I think they are going to remember the last few years and how the results have gone. It’s now our turn to be the underdogs and go out there and perform.”
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WATCH San Jose Quakes (Div. I) v Sacramento Republic (Div. II) on Paramount+
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Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at@jonahfontela on X/Twitter.