May 11, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Colorado Rapids News Release
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The Colorado Rapids will return to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the first time since 2019 as they take on Minnesota United FC in the Round of 32 at Allianz Field on Wednesday, May 11. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. MT and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
First held during the 1913-14 season, the U.S. Open Cup (USOC) is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States. The tournament features teams from across the American soccer pyramid, from the professional level-Major League Soccer (MLS), the United Soccer League (USL) and the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA)-down to the semi-pro and amateur ranks, providing unique David-versus-Goliath matchups not seen across any of the country’s other major professional sports.
In this year’s iteration of the USOC-the first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic- not all MLS teams entered the competition in the Third Round as has been customary in recent years (lower division sides feature in the first two rounds). The eight highest-seeded teams from the 2021 MLS season, which include the Western Conference-topping Rapids, bypassed the Third Round and are entering the tournament this week in the Round of 32 (Fourth Round). Each round of the USOC is single elimination so the Rapids must win on Wednesday night in order to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2017, which was also the last time Colorado faced an MLS opponent in the competition.
“My approach [to the U.S. Open Cup] is to treat it like it’s any other game in that we want to win,” said Rapids head coach Robin Fraser ahead of the match. “The thing about the Open Cup is if you win six games in a row, you’re in [Concacaf] Champions League. So for anyone who may not take it seriously, they’re looking at it slightly different than we are because for us, I think we try to win every game that we play and the mentality is…
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