Welcome to the 2024 US Open Cup Quarter Finals, where we are left with three USL Championship sides who will fight to make it past 5 MLS sides on their way to the Semi Finals… and possibly beyond. Our contributors lay out the four scenarios, including a lone MLS vs MLS fixture which pits two former US Open Cup champions against one another! Let’s get stuck into some Tournament Soccer!

Atlanta United (MLS) vs Indy Eleven (USL Championship)

Tues, 07/09 - 4pm PST / 7pm EST at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, GA

Despite the league’s attempts at erasing US Soccer History, one of Major League Soccer’s most popular teams and the 2019 US Open Cup Champions themselves, have earned their way into this year’s Quarter Finals. This isn’t quite the Five Stripes from 6 years ago and they are inconsistent, at best, with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses in their last 6 league games - that has Atlanta in 10th place and just outside of the playoff places in the Eastern Conference.

Atlanta has fared well in their two USOC matches so far; having entered in the Round of 32, they handily knocked out Charlotte Independence, of USL League One - winning 3-0 with 65% of the ball and outshooting the division 3 professional side 22-7. In the Round of 16, United had a close one on the road as they were away to USL Championship side Charleston Battery, and only advanced through penalties after 120 minutes of scoreless soccer.

Daniel Rios, of Atlanta, has found some form lately and has 4 of their 9 goals since June 15th - one of which came last weekend during their drubbing away to Real Salt Lake. United do travel away in consecutive league matches and have to be in Montreal on Saturday for a crucial match against the team one place below them in the battle to get back into the playoff picture. Interim Head Coach Rob Valentino may be tempted to make more than a few changes for the midweek USOC clash.

Indy Eleven, of the USL Championship, will head to Fifth Third Bank Stadium in fairly good nick - having won 4 of their last 6, and actually 11 of their last 14 in all competitions. Including a 2-0 win over San Antonio FC in the Round of 32 and a 3-0 romp over Detroit City FC, who many favored at the time. Admittedly, their form has slipped in the past two match weeks of USL, with a surprise home loss vs Orange County SC on June 22nd and a very entertaining 3-3 draw, away to newcomers Rhode Island FC, last weekend.

Indy are led by Jack Blake, up top, who is 6th in the league on 8 goals and he is fed by Aedan Stanley, who is the league leader in assists, on 7 and has 32 chances created. Cameron Lindon backs him up as well, with 24 goalscoring chances created. Hunter Sulte, between the pipes, has 26 saves and 3 clean sheets - Indy also have a clutch home game on Saturday, against a rising Loudoun United and Eleven will want to get a league result to keep pace with 2nd place Charleston Battery - expect both teams to come out firing in the first half and whoever takes control may look to shut down shop by the second stanza.

Joshua Duder - Protagonist Soccer / One League Under the C

Sacramento Republic (USL Championship) vs Seattle Sounders (MLS)

Tues, 07/09 - 8:00pm PST / 11:00pm EST at Heart Health Park in Sacramento, CA

Sacramento Republic play host to the Seattle Sounders in what will probably be the hottest game of the quarterfinals with game day temperatures expected to be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Sounders enter the game as hot as the weather, having just completed a make or break homestead where they’ve won 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5 games. They are also finally healthy with only one player (Braudilio Rodrigues) on the injury report for their game this past weekend against the New England Revolution.

With the Open Cup as their most realistic trophy and multiple Tacoma Defiance players having used up their short term loans for the season expect a strong squad from Seattle. Meanwhile Sacramento is in a battle at the top of the western conference of the UCL Championship. They will be without Rodrigo Lopez who tore his ACL in the Republic’s last Open Cup game against the San Jose Earthquakes. But there is still plenty of attacking fire power available for Sacramento in Trevor Amann who has 8 goals through 19 appearances this season.

The Republic know how to beat MLS foe in the open cup with 4 wins in the past 3 tournaments. Expect a low scoring game though, Sacramento is letting in less than a goal a game (tied for best in the USL Championship) while the Sounders offensive output has left a lot to be desired. An 8pm start time means we’ll be getting some Open Cup after dark with two teams that know how to get far in the tournament.

Josh Duder - Protagonist Soccer / One League Under the C

Sporting Kansas City (MLS) vs FC Dallas (MLS)

Wed, 07/10 - 6:00pm PST / 9:00pm EST at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, KS

In a match up between two teams that firmly sit outside the playoff picture in MLS Western Conference who just played July 7th in Kansas City with SKC getting a 3-2 win with a late goal in the 81st minute and the game ended with a red card in extra time. So expect both teams to really push to win the US Open Cup to qualify for CONCACAF Champions Cup next year. Sporting Kansas City path has been an extra time win on the road against Union Omaha, and a convincing home win over FC Tulsa. FC Dallas path was two one goal wins over Memphis 901 FCat home, and on the road vs Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Leading goal scorer for FC Dallas is Peter Musa with 11G and 2A in 21 games. Jesus Ferreira is returning to form with 4G 2A in 13 games

Leading goal scorer for Sporting Kansas City us William Agada 7G 2A, with Erik Thommy and Johnny Russell each with 4G 3A

Fun fact of this matchup is that FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City have played five times in US Open Cup history, and all five games have been played in Kansas City with Sporting KC winning all five games. Is the sixth time the charm for FC Dallas? And will the spicy ending on July 7th add another layer to this rivalry! (Thank you to 3rddegree.net for the history of this series)

Harry Austin - SATXSoccer / SAFC Fancast / Texas Ring of Fire

Los Angeles FC (MLS) vs New Mexico United (USL Championship)

Wed, 07/10 - 8:00pm PT / 11:00pm ET at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, CA

Not Like Us: LAFC is coming off a 2-1 victory over derby rivals, LA Galaxy. Their match on Sunday against Houston Dynamo got postponed leveling the pitch for their preparation against Open Cup opponent, New Mexico United. Just Like Them: If anyone understands the stride of LAFC, its New Mexico United. United is coming off a 2-0 victory over Orange County SC and is currently on a 3-match win streak. United had rescheduled their match originally slated for July 6 a month back in preparation for their match against LAFC.

Both sides lead their respective League’s Western Conference and are unbeaten through their more recent competitions. So this frames itself as an Open Cup edition of the Best In The West matchup. Surely the Major Lesgue Soccer and USL Championship stans are going to debate over on reddit for weeks to come. LAFC’s record is 13W-4L-4D and United’s record is 11W-4L-1D. Speaking of the matchup between these two sides, it was a dream match between each club’s supporters back in 2019 when both United-LAFC were on opposite sides of the Open Cup Quarterfinals. They each needed to win a match to face the other in the Semifinals. Of course, they both lost and exited the tournament.

The 3252 can expect a minimum of 250 traveling supporters for the Black & Yellow. At least, 180 are traveling by way of United’s chartered flight and still that number could be inflated in the coming days with last-minute bookings. It will be a passionate 90+ minutes on the pitch and that energy is guaranteed to hit the stands. United’s gaffer has a slight advantage when it comes to preparation as he has seen LAFC’s gaffer, Steve Cherundolo during his stint at Columbus Crew. Besides that, Cherundolo can study each of United’s multi-goal defeats to get an idea of how to exploit Quill’s side.

LAFC’s hype men are none other than top goal scorers Denis Bouanga(14) and Mateusz Bogusz (12). However, jumpman Kai Kamara has been dangerous in the air near the goalmouth. United has been on a next-man up mentality all season with at least 10 players scoring a goal. Still, Greg Hurst(7) and Daniel Bruce(3) lead the team in scoring. Zico Bailey and Ayo Flanagan are due to shake it up and make this one interesting.

If United can disrupt the counter, address set pieces, and pass effectively they have a solid chance for an upset at BMO. Of course, LAFC just has to play their usual game to advance. It’s going to be a wild one regardless and hopefully there’s plenty of beers passed around afterwards. This will be the most-watched match of the Quarterfinals. Will the New Mexico’s Kings of Chaos pop out and show the Black & Gold what they’re about? We’ll see on Wednesday night!

Chris Walker - Protagonist Soccer / Seek and Strike Collective / Black Diamonds

Edited by Joshua Duder
Special thanks to all contributors - we couldn’t do things like this without you!