After winning the 2019 NPSL Golden Gate Conference, FC Davis became the first team ever from our local area to qualify for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, our historic domestic tournament which includes teams from MLS, USL, and NISA.
Aside from coverage on ESPN and an amazing trophy, the winner of the tournament gets a bid to the Concacaf Champions League...bring on Chivas!
With COVID disrupting sports worldwide in 2020, teams in the tournament were left in limbo waiting to see if their qualification spot would carry over to the 2021 US Open Cup edition. In early January, word came that qualifiers would indeed roll over, and teams starting gearing up for a cup run that would begin in April.
When spring arrived, COVID continued to cause competition issues and as a result, the 2021 tournament was also cancelled. After a 106 year streak of continuous play, the US Open Cup was cancelled for two years in a row. Those two years just happened to be the ones FC Davis qualified for.
So, where are we now?
In a normal season, FC Davis qualifies for the US Open Cup through NPSL league play. Since Northern California teams did not compete under the national league structure due to COVID restrictions, it allowed for select teams to enter open track qualifying. This route is traditionally provided to teams that reside in leagues that do not have a coordinated national footprint or mostly operate on a local or regional level.
In total, 92 teams around the country entered US Open Cup open track qualifying.
In northern California, the following teams entered the competition:
Contra Costa FC (Concord)
El Farolito (San Francisco)
FC Davis (Davis)
Oakland Stompers (Oakland)
Real San Jose (San Jose)
Inter San Francisco (San Francisco)
Metro FC (San Francisco)
Davis Legacy (Davis)
JASA RWC (Redwood City)
Modesto City FC (Modesto)
Qualification rounds are single elimination, with four total rounds needed to secure a berth to the national tournament. Due to the locality of teams, Davis will likely stay in Northern California for all qualification matches.
The Lion's roster will have a different look for qualification matches, and will be made of a mixture of up and coming talent sprinkled with players from our historical rosters.
The the first game takes place tomorrow night, 5:30pm against the Legacy Adult team across town!
Game updates will be made available via twitter.
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