2019 US Open Cup

2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule, Format and Other Key Dates:

Fourth Qualifying Round – April 6 & 7

First Round Pairings Announced – April 10

Second Round Pairings & Possible Pairings Announced – April 17

First Round – May 7 & 8*

• Number of Games: 19
• Participants: 32 Open Division teams and six Division III (USL League One) clubs
• Competition: Teams will be paired geographically with the restriction that teams from the same qualifying pool (i.e. local qualifiers, NPSL, USL League Two, USL League One) cannot be paired to play each other. The restriction may be disregarded if doing so avoids extensive travel on balance for the participating teams.

Second Round – May 14 & 15*

• Number of Games: 22
• Participants: 19 First Round winners and 25 Division II (USL Championship) clubs
• Competition: After the First Round pairings are made, each pairing will be matched geographically to a specific Division II team, with the First Round winner playing the assigned Division II side. The six remaining Division II squads will be paired to play each other, with these pairings also made geographically.

Third Round – May 29*

• Number of Games: 11
• Participants: 22 Second Round winners play each other
• Competition: After each Second Round matchup has been determined, the Second Round pairs will be bracketed geographically to create the Third Round matchups, with the Second Round winners playing each other.

Fourth Round Draw – May 30

• The 11 Third Round winners and 21 Division I (Major League Soccer) clubs will be divided geographically into eight groups of four, with teams who are precluded from playing each other until the Final per tournament regulations (i.e. pro teams and their affiliated Open Division sides) placed in different groups. Each group will have at least one and no more than two Third Round winners, with pairs drawn randomly but done so that each Third Round winner faces an MLS team.

Fourth Round – June 12*

• Number of Games: 16
• Participants: 11 Third Round winners and 21 Division I (MLS) clubs.
• Competition: Eleven games will be between Third Round winners and MLS teams, while the remaining five matchups will be MLS vs. MLS affairs.

Round of 16 Draw – June 13

• The Fourth Round winners will be divided geographically (regardless of league affiliation) into groups of four, with teams who are precluded from playing each other until the Final per tournament regulations (i.e. pro teams and their affiliated Open Division sides) placed in different groups. A random draw will determine the pairings within each group, resulting in a fixed bracket for the remainder of the tournament. Should a precluded pair of teams reach the Semifinal Round and be scheduled to face each other, the matches will be re-drawn after the Quarterfinal Round to avoid this outcome.

Round of 16 – June 19* (also June 18-23 if home team chooses and visiting team has at least three non-game days on each side of chosen date, with any overlap of U.S. MNT Gold Cup games on June 18 and June 22 disallowed)

• Number of Games: 8
• Competition: Fourth Round winners face each other as determined by the Round of 16 Draw.

Quarterfinals – July 10*

Draw to Determine Hosts for Semifinals and Final – July 11

Semifinals – August 7*

Final – August 27 or 28

 

Potential Regional Teams the Union could face:

Immediate Region:

Philadelphia Lone Star
Reading United
West Chester United

Extended Region:

Western PA:
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Erie Commodores

NY:
NY Red Bulls
New York City FC
NY Cosmos
FC Motown
NY Red Bulls U23

DMV:
DC United
FC Baltimore
World Class Premier Elite
Virginia United
Richmond Kickers

New England:
New England Revolution
Safira FC
Hartford Athletic
Blackrock FC

 

That 3rd Marble should be Orange.

 

1st Round Pairings in our region/extended region:

Immediate Region:

Reading United v Philadelphia Lone Star
FC Baltimore v West Chester United

Extended Region:

Western PA:

Erie Commodores v Dayton Dutch Lions

NY/New England:

NY Cosmos v Blackrock FC
FC Motown v NY Red Bulls U23

DMV:
Richmond Kickers v Virginia United

 

Round 2 draw pairings are locked:

• If West Chester wins they will travel to Birmingham.
• The winner of Reading v. Lone Star will travel to Louisville.

Other Northeast region match-ups:

• Hartford will host the winner of Cosmos/Black Rock
• Memphis will face the winner of Motown/RBNYU23
• Pittsburgh will face the winner of Erie/Dayton
• Indy will host the winner of Lansing/Ann Arbor
• NCFC will host the winner of Richmond/Virginia Utd

 

Had a blast watching Open Cup last night.. the ESPN+ broadcasts are quality.

West Chester has a finishing problem.. they were the better team for sure, but man did they almost give that game away.

 

Reading takes down Lone Star.


Round 2 match ups:




Immediate Region:

Louisville v. Reading
Birmingham v. West Chester

Extended Region:

Western PA:

Pittsburgh v Dayton

NY/New England:

Hartford v NY Cosmos
Memphis v Red Bull U23

DMV:

North Carolina v Richmond

 

My predictions at round 3/4 groupings:

 

If Reading and West Chester both win they will both play each other in Reading.


If Reading wins and WC loses Reading will host Birmingham.
If WC wins and Reading loses they will travel to Louisville.

 

Draw will happen later today, but we are in a group with:

DCU
Columbus
Pittsburgh

 

away @ DCU it is:

Mid-Atlantic Pool:

D.C. United (MLS) @dcunited will host Philadelphia Union (MLS) @PhilaUnion

Columbus Crew SC (MLS) @ColumbusCrewSC will host Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (USLC) @RiverhoundsSC #USOC2019

— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) May 30, 2019