The Houston Dynamo will host the Philadelphia Unionin the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship game at BBVA Compass Stadium on Wednesday (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET).
Both the Dynamo and Union are going for their first-ever U.S. Open Cup title.The winner also earns a berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League. While this is the first time that the Dynamo have reached the tournament final, this is the third time that the Union has advanced this far (the Union lost in the finals in both 2014 and 2015).
During this Major League Soccer season, the Union — who have won six of their last eight — are vying for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, while the Dynamo — who have lost seven of their last 10 —are teetering toward postseason elimination in the Western Conference.
Before taking in Wednesday night's U.S. Open Cup final, here are five things to know know about the tournament:
1. It's old
American soccer history is a disjointed and often-confusing enterprise, barren of the convenience of the century-long continuity of leagues suchas Major League Baseball or the National Football League. However, the one thread that ties the game of soccer together in thiscountry through the years has been the U.S. Open Cup (officially known as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup). The first U.S. Open Cup (originally known as the National Challenge Cup) kicked off in 1913, seven years before the formation of the NFL and 12years after the opening season of baseball's American League. The tournament's design was modeled after England's FA Cup, so it is open to U.S.-based amateur and professional clubs.
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2. New York, New York
The first U.S. Open Cup final was an all-Brooklyn affair, as Brooklyn Field Club beat Brooklyn Celtic, 2-1,in1914. In all, 18 different teams from the state of New York have claimed 26 U.S. Open Cup titles. The New York Red Bulls have never won the U.S. Open Cup. Of course, NYRB plays its home games in New Jersey. New York City FC, which plays its homegames at Yankee Stadium, hasn't come close to winning the U.S. Open Cup in its four-year history.
3. Early powerhouse
If the National Association Football Leaguehad stood the test of time like MLB or the NFL, perhaps American sports fans would speak of Bethlehem Steel in the same reverenceas the New York Yankees or Green Bay Packers. Bethlehem Steel won five U.S. Open Cups in the tournament's first 13 years. Four years after its last U.S. Open Cupchampionship, Bethlehem Steel folded (it should be noted that a team with the Bethlehem Steel name made a return in 2015 in the form of a United Soccer League team).
Even though its last title came in 1926, BethlehemSteel remains tied for the most U.S. Open Cup championships with Maccabi Los Angeles, which owns three more U.S. Open Cup titles than the L.A. Galaxy. MLS teams are catching up to the early repeat champions, with the Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City and SeattleSounders each with four championships.
4. MLS domination
Since 1996, MLS teams have won all but one U.S. Open Cup; the Rochester Rhinos beat the Colorado Rapids in the 1999 final. While MLS has competed in the U.S. Open Cup since the league'sinception, the oldNorth American Soccer League avoided it. So, you won't see the likes of multiple-time NASL Soccer Bowl winners such as the New York Cosmos or Chicago Sting gracing the historical records of the U.S. Open Cup.
5. Growing interest
The Seattle Sounders entered MLS in 2009 and promptly won three consecutive U.S. Open Cups. In the process, they hosted two finals in Seattle's CenturyLink Field, where the team and its dedicated fanbase shattered U.S. Open Cup attendance records and helped pull thetournament out of obscurity. There were 31,000-plus at the 2010 U.S. Open Cup final (a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew), and then 35,615 showed up for the Sounders' 2-0 win over the Chicago Fire in the 2011 U.S. Open Cup final (the previous attendancehigh-water mark was a reported 21,583 for the 1929 final). In 2018, FC Cincinnati (a United Soccer League team) drew 32,287 fans for a U.S. OpenCup quarterfinal win over the Chicago Fire.This year, Los Angeles FC set a modern-era quarterfinal attendance record in a win over the Portland Timbers (17,898), while Atlanta United broke an all-time attendance record in a Round of 16 loss to the Chicago Fire (41,012).
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jim Reineking on Twitter @jimreineking.
