Nobody could blame you for feeling like just last week that US Soccer crowned Orlando City as the 2022 US Open Cup Champions - this week, however, is already the third and final qualifying round for the 2023 tournament! Once this is done the competition waits for the existing and expansion professional clubs to confirm their participation. All three qualifying rounds will have seen a total of 25 states, plus Washington DC, represented by clubs from 24 different state, regional, or national amateur leagues.

While the first amateur side to clinch a spot in The Cup was Milwaukie Bavarian, after defeating Northern Virginia FC 1-0 in the 2022 National Amateur Cup, NoVa’s EPSL squad have won twice in the first two qualifying rounds in a bid to get into the tournament a different way. They have just one more match to go - we’ll take a look back at a few of the more interesting score lines from the first two rounds and highlight a few matches coming up this weekend which should be on your list of streams to search for.

First Qualifying Round: September 17 & 18

Florida Soccer Soldiers (UPSL) 2-3 City Soccer FC (NSL)
NoVa FC (EPSL) 0-0 (advance on penalties 3-1) Steel Pulse FC (MSSL)
Lansdowne Yonkers (EPSL) 5-0 Manhattan Kickers (Cosmo League)
New York Greek Americans (EPSL) 3-3 (advance on penalties 11-10) Newton Pride (Cosmo)
Inter San Francisco (SFSFL) 5-0 Marin County Union (NSL)

Second Qualifying Round: October 15 & 16

FC Birmingham (UPSL) 1-5 Kalonji Pro-Profile (UPSL)
NoVa FC (EPSL) 6-0 Germantown City (UPSL)
New York Greek Americans (EPSL) 0-3 Lansdowne Yonkers FC (EPSL)
Real San Jose (NSL) 0-4 Inter San Francisco (SFSFL)
Bellevue Athletic (UPSL) 0-1 Legend Football Gold (Federal Way Men’s Open Sunday)

Must Watch Matches in the Third Qualifying Round: November 19 & 20

DCFC (DC Premier League) vs NoVa FC (EPSL) - Saturday, November 19th
- 6:30 pm (ET) / 3:30 pm (PST) from Jelleff Rec Center in District of Columbia
Lansdowne Yonkers FC (EPSL) vs Oyster Bay United (UPSL) - Saturday, November 19th
- 7:00pm (ET) / 4:00 pm (PST) from Tibbetts Brooke Park, Yonkers, NY
Inter San Francisco (SFSFL) vs Davis Legacy (UPSL) - Sunday, November 20th
- 7:00pm (ET) / 4:00pm (PST) from Beach Chalet Fields, San Francisco, CA
Kalonji Pro-Profile (UPSL) vs Beaman United FC (UPSL) - Sunday, November 20th
- 7:00pm (ET) / 4:00pm (PST) from Shiloh Generals Stadium, Snellville, GA
Legend Football Gold (FWMOS) vs BattleBorn FC (NISA Nation) - Sunday, November 20th
- 8:00pm (ET) / 5:00pm (PST) from Saghalie Park, Federal Way, WA

Check out the full schedule of Third Round matches from the US Soccer / US Open Cup home page

by Joshua Duder