Philadelphia Union: The Lamar Hunt Open Cup is Back

The Philadelphia Union have a strenuous relationship with the US Open Cup (no not the golf one) and it returns to Talen on Wednesday.

Two years, two finals, no trophies. That is the sad reality of the Philadelphia Union’s efforts in recent Open Cups. For a team with no silverware in its history, it’s especially painful for the Union and their fans to have seen opposing teams come into their home pitch and raise the trophy in games that the Union played well in.

Last year’s Open Cup loss to Sporting Kansas City will always stay with me because at the end of the day a sobbing Fabinho came up to my roommate and I and apologized for the Union losing that game.

The Philadelphia Union want to bring silverware to the city as much as their fans want it and while they are currently in first place in the Eastern Conference, the Open cup is the Philadelphia Union’s best shot at silverware. But what is the open cup and why should we even care? That’s a question that by the end of this I will hope to have answered.

The history of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup.

This year marks the 103rd edition of the Open Cup making it the longest ongoing competition in American soccer. The winner of the competition receives a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League which pits the best soccer teams in the US, Mexico, and Canada against each other.

The winning team also receives 250,000 dollars in General Allocation money which can go a long way when it comes to buying down player salaries or more important for the union is 1/4th of the way to their “million dollar striker”.

The teams in the top three divisions of US Soccer all qualify so the MLS, NASL, and USL teams can all duke it out for the trophy, sort of like the FA Cup in England. However, teams that are owned by pro teams are unable to compete.

This rule prevents United Soccer League teams Bethlehem Steel FC, LA Galaxy II, New York Red Bulls II, Orlando City B, Portland Timbers 2, Real Monarchs, Seattle Sounders FC 2 and Swope Park Rangers from competing. New York Cosmos B (NPSL) have also stated that they will not enter the competition. The Rio Grande Valley FC Toros were ruled ineligible.

We are currently in the fourth round of the tournament where MLS teams, including the Philadelphia Union, join. The Philadelphia Union will be hosting the Harrisburg City Islanders on Wednesday. This is an interesting matchup because prior to the inception of Bethlehem Steel FC, the Union had a developmental agreement with the Islanders. With that deal Union prospects would be loaned to the Islanders for playing time and development forming a pipeline between the two clubs.

Philadelphia Union History in the Open Cup.

While the recent history of the Union playing in the open cup is grim they still have a storied history in the competition especially if you count the success of the former Bethlehem Steel FC USL side. The Philadelphia Union’s biggest successes in the tournament were in the past two years in reaching consecutive finals.

In 2014 the Philadelphia Union lost in extra time to the Seattle Sounders and last year they lost to Sporting Kansas City on penalties. That is the closest that a Philadelphia team has come to raising the trophy since the Ukrainian Nationals won the cup in 1966.

The pinnacle of the success of Philadelphia Soccer in the open cup was with the Bethlehem Steel during the inception of the tournament. In the first six years of the tournament, the Steel played in five of the first six finals. They brought home trophies in 1915, 1916, 1918 and 1919.

The Philadelphia Union will hope to make more history this year and it starts now. While the Open Cup may not be as glamorous as the domestic cups in other leagues such as the FA Cup in England, the Copa Del Rey in Spain and the Deutscher Pokal in Germany it is the third oldest of all of the domestic cups in the world. That’s gotta count for something.

The Open Cup is a legitimate competition that should be respected. That’s something that Jim Curtin knows from his playing days, winning the cup twice with the Chicago Fire. Curtin has let everyone know that he is taking that seriously saying, “the mindset of the US open cup doesn’t change just because we’re doing better in the league this year.”

That’s the stance that you want your team to take in a season where they are making tremendous progress. Domestic cups are events that should be taken with pride from fans and players alike. Where else are you going to see semi-pro teams get a crack at the upper echelon of US Soccer?

Next: The Landscape of Philly Soccer

The road to another Open Cup Final begins Wednesday. Let’s hope that this one is more fruitful than the last two. Come on guy’s let’s stand for blue. Because, as we all know “Philly is Blue and Gold!”

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