Home SportsMLS Major League Soccer Returns to the Open Cup, Kind Of.

Major League Soccer Returns to the Open Cup, Kind Of.

St. Louis’ Participation Doesn’t Give MLS A Pass

by Jeremy Clements
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Major League Soccer outlined the structure and qualification process for each of the Cup competitions its’ clubs will participate in over the next two seasons on Tuesday afternoon. While some may see it as a step in the right direction, with 16 MLS teams participating in the oldest running soccer tournament in North America; it’s not enough. Let’s dive into the good, bad, and ugly of the announcement.

The Good: MLS is back in the tournament, kind of.

Sixteen of the clubs in America’s top flight will play the 2025 and 2026 iterations of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (USOC).  This season the competition will include St. Louis City SC based on where the club finished the 2024 campaign. The other 15 MLS sides participating are a combination of clubs who finished outside of the qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC) based on Supporters Shield standings and those not playing in the Leagues Cup or the CCC.

Coming on the heels of protests from many supporters groups in 2024; including those recognized by the St. Louis City SC, the MLS’ decision to allow its’ clubs to participate in this tournament seems like a small step forward. This “qualification” process will be evaluated again prior to the 2027 season. I’m hopeful that means we see all MLS clubs back in the tournament for that season.

The Bad: It’s Still Not Enough

This won’t be an original opinion by any stretch of the word. But having half of the teams in the American top flight play in the USOC isn’t what the league and the United Stats Soccer Federation (USSF) should be doing with what should be regarded as the American version of the F.A. Cup. Could you imagine a Premier League club trying to skip that competition? I can’t imagine it’d go well.  But let’s bring this back on our side of the pond.

For those who aren’t familiar with this tournament; it is a knock out style tournament that dates back to 1913. It features teams from across the American Soccer Pyramid, allowing amateur clubs the opportunity to compete against clubs from the USL Championship, USL League One, NISA, MLS Next Pro and the MLS. Some real David vs Goliath stuff.  It provides for the occasional Cinderella runs, upsets, drama and affords some clubs a chance to give meaningful minutes to younger players. In this regard, it offers value across the entire soccer landscape and should be regarded as America’s premier soccer tournament.  Unfortunately, that seems to be the opposite of how the MLS and USSF view the USOC. Anything less than a full commitment of having all MLS clubs in this tournament is a complete failure.

The Ugly: MLS Treating the USOC as a Third Tier Tournament

If we go back to where I started, I mentioned the Leagues Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. Based on the way the MLS has positioned this tournament; having fewer and lower finishing sides play in the USOC compared to the LC, for example; it paints the picture to casual fans that this is a lesser competition.  It takes away the prestige of this tournament and gives fans the impression that it’s a “loser cup”.  This is furthered by the fact that the MLS and USSF seemingly refuse to provide advertising and accessibility to fans to even view this tournament on a regular basis.

If the powers that be want to cite costs and expenditures as the reason to not mandate full participation, then they need to make it a level playing field.  Market it the same way as they did the Leagues Cup. Run some feature pieces on the local markets impacted; introduce people to the American game at the most intimate levels. Show the culture outside of the top flights. If anything, the failure to do so nothing less than an admission that the MLS and USSF’s commitment to growing the game is nothing more than a farce.

 

 

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Taking his passion for soccer and St. Louis to the next level, Jeremy aims to provide analytical coverage of all this St. Louis City SC.

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