BIG READ: On a trip to Spokane for the U.S. Open Cup & the importance of preserving the Canadian Championship
From the outside, it might have looked like any regular old match. Hell... it wasn't even a remarkable 90 minutes, in retrospect.
But a second-round U.S. Open Cup matchup between USL League 1’s Spokane Velocity and the NISL’s LA Force on a Wednesday night in April was also a game of football that meant so much more than what occured over 90 minutes.
Instead, from those in attendance to those on the pitch, there were a lot of reasons to get excited about the fact that the game was even happening at all.
Have made it out to quite the game tonight - A US Open Cup 2nd round tie between USLL1’s Spokane Velocity and NISA’s LA Force
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) April 4, 2024
Great to tuck into my 1st US Open Cup game with everything that has gone on with the storied tournament this offseason
Excited for this one🫡⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Jqb7BL40s5
Of course, every game has its storylines; a chance at an underdog upset, to see some new faces play, or to compare the play between different leagues are all typical reasons as to why one might keep an eye on a cup tie of this sort; in the case of the Spokane faithful, there was also the opportunity to see their brand-new team play live at home for just the third time in their history, as they embark on their first season as a club.
But the most pressing? The reality that the U.S. Open Cup – one of world football's oldest competitions – seems numbered in its remaining days
Major League Soccer's ongoing dismissal of the U.S. Open Cup’s importance – which led the league to try and pull out all of their first-team outfits from the 2024 edition – has made for a chaotic couple of months for America's longest-running soccer competition, which was originally founded 110 years ago in 1914. Instead of feeling support from a crucial member in MLS, who could be breathing key life into the domestic cup competition, they were instead encountering big resistance – and in the worst form.
While a compromise was reached between both parties that ensured this year's tournament would continue as planned – MLS elected to send eight of their clubs along with nine MLS Next Pro clubs, ensuring that they’d still participate in some form – even calling the league's end result an acceptance of 'participation' is a big stretch, given that A) the eight first teams only represent 30 percent of the league’s 29 members, and B) those MLS Next Pro sides are those club’s B-teams. Still, it was a solution nonetheless, and the cup carries on.
It seemed a big win for those outside of MLS. For those supporters, the U.S. Open Cup obviously means a lot, and rightfully so: It’s a chance to chase silverware, play in big matches, and raise the profile of the largely community-focused, local clubs involved.
That was on full display in Spokane as well. Knowing what was at stake, both teams combined for an even, competitive match, decided by an 85th-minute winner from Luis Gil after the game had previously seemed destined to go to extra time.
In a sense, however, it was only fitting that Gil was the one to score on the day. Despite having already won the tournament with the Houston Dynamo in 2018, as well as finishing as a runner-up with RSL in 2013, this familiar name among MLS circles certainly knew what a game like this meant – and celebrated like it.
Yet, as he explained after, the beauty of a tournament like this is that no matter how much you’ve seen in the game, the feeling of a goal in a match of this magnitude is always going to feel special.
"It was awesome," Gil said after the match. "Every single tournament that comes at us, our goal is to win it. This cup’s been around for so long, I was fortunate enough to win it once and make it to another final, so this is a special moment, one I take very seriously.
"Especially when we play at home, you see the fans how seriously they take it, as well, they’re behind us the whole time, they're excited about this, and that just motivates us even more."
Our Modelo Play of the Match!
— Spokane Velocity FC (@SpokaneVelocity) April 4, 2024
Beat LA ✅#SpokaneVelocityFC #LetsGoSpo pic.twitter.com/VaBOmqzCiV
But while Gil can appreciate the beauty of tournament soccer having lived it, it’s worth noting that not all of his teammates have had that same luxury as him. In fact, many of them would love nothing more than to achieve anything close to what Gil has done in his career, in which he’s played nearly 200 MLS games and made two appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
For them to do that, however, a game like this can be a stepping stone for them to reach those goals. A reserve player could see this as a chance to earn more minutes, a regular piece can use a game like this to become a star, and star players showcase themselves as worthy enough to move up a level.
And that’s the case across all levels. Look at one case closer to home for Canadians, for example – the story of Alphonso Davies.
Long before he was a World XI left-back patrolling the pitch for Bayern Munich, he was a youngster looking to break into the Vancouver Whitecaps' first team, and earned his first opportunity to do so in a Canadian Championship semi-final against the Ottawa Fury in 2016.
There, he impressed in that audition and was eventually able to break into the squad on a full-time basis by the end of the year, allowing him to begin the meteoric rise that saw him join Bayern just two years later.
Might have he been able to do all of that without that Canadian Championship appearance? Almost certainly, but that Canadian Championship opportunity only helped him along, giving him a chance that might have otherwise been hard to come by for a youngster, with coaches often finding it hard to give those sorts of opportunities in league games.
Spokane’s goalkeeper on the day, Peter Swinkels, whose three of seven career appearances have come in the Open Cup, is one of several who can look at cup competition as a launching pad for their careers, something he reflected on after the match.
"The U.S. Open Cup is special to me; I made my professional debut in the Open Cup," Swinkels said. "So that gave me an opportunity, and it gives a lot of opportunities to players, not only in the lower leagues, but to professional players, so I'm very thankful to this competition for giving me that dream."
Can this be a Save the Crew moment for the US Open Cup? Maybe a dire threat can galvanize everyone in a positive way and prompt renewed efforts to elevate and celebrate this living piece of soccer heritage.
— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) December 20, 2023
Then, on the other side, there’s the importance of these sorts of games for those lower down the pyramid. In this game, this wasn’t fully a matchup of David vs Goliath, as USL League 1 and the NISA are both sanctioned as tier three leagues in the U.S., but with USL League 1 being a much bigger and more professional venture than the NISA, it did feel like a matchup of a professional club going up against a semi-professional outfit on the day.
But for those on LA, that provided them with an opportunity for them to shine on a bigger stage. They may have had some heavy hitters in their roster, such as former CF Montréal forward Michael Salazar or former Liga MX striker Chila, but most of their roster was filled with college players just trying to move up the ladder.
As a result, they will have seen this game as a showcase opportunity, and to their credit, they put up an excellent account of themselves despite the loss, looking organized tactically and threatening Spokane’s goal on a few occasions.
So even if they came up short in the end, it made for a good game, one that the Spokane players were happy to be a part of.
"That win or go home aspect to it brings a different vibe, as every good action and every mistake kind of feels a bit more important,” midfielder Jack Denton explained. "And you can feel sort of pressure in a good way, as there’s this kind of importance of what you're doing, and it gives us a different atmosphere."
"That's what the Open Cup is about," defender Camron Miller added. "It's going to be a fight because for a lot of these lower league teams, it’s their World Cup when they get this chance to play teams higher than them, so yeah, you’ve got to match their intensity and embrace it."
Cup Nights🌌⚽️
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) April 4, 2024
Great night at One Spokane Stadium as USL L1 side Spokane Velocity defeated NISL side LA Force with an 85th minute winner from Luis Gil
Awesome to see the magic of the US Open Cup continue despite everything that has happened
To many more like this🫡#USOpenCup pic.twitter.com/hVhiZLngIW
Unfortunately for the Velocity, their U.S. Open Cup journey came to an end in round three, as they fell to USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights in an entertaining game two weeks after they beat the Force, one that saw the Light’s triumph 2-1 in extra time after a late Spokane equalizer in regular time.
So now, they’ll look on and wonder ‘what if’ as the Lights get set for their Round of 32 matchup, in which they were drawn to host LAFC in what promises to be a special game for the club.
But while they may look at that game with regret of knowing that could’ve been them, they can also do so with optimism, because as a brand-new club, there’s no reason why they can’t dream of being able to host a matchup like that in the near future.
For that to happen, however, it will be important for the U.S. Open Cup to survive, and preferably return to its usual format in 2025.
All around the world each year, the magic of the cup continues to be crucial in the growth of the sport, regularly producing stories such as the one seen this year in the German DFB Pokal where third-tier side FC Saarbrücken downed Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach en route to a semi-final finish.
But fittingly, it also serves as a perfect reminder of what lies ahead this summer up in Canada, where the Canadian Championship is slated to return starting next week, with all of its MLS teams participating.
Having seen the tournament’s biggest upset ever in 2023, in which League 1 BC side TSS Rovers upset the CPL’s Valour FC to become the first semi-professional side to beat a professional one in the competition, it showed that the sparkle of cup competition is also starting to make its way up north, too.
Motivated to return to pro⚽️, 2021 #CanPL champ Matteo Polisi played a big role as the @TSSRovers pulled off a big #CanChamp upset vs Valour
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) April 20, 2023
Here's how his driven performance embodied the Rovers ethos, in my latest for @onesoccer👇https://t.co/MIPEW9bIT8pic.twitter.com/HjkmzDqSrJ
So while one might wonder how the U.S. Open Cup situation might tie into what’s going on in Canada, this is an important reminder of why these tournaments are special and deserve to be treated as such.
Just seeing everything that went into this second-round matchup between Spokane and LA, that much is clear, serving as a reminder of why these nights can’t be overlooked, be it in a tournament with the history of the U.S. Open Cup or with one still looking to establish itself in the Canadian Championship, which is celebrating its 16th edition this summer.
Sometimes, these nights can just mean so much more, serving as a reminder of what this sport can do for so many.
“It's huge, this tournament has been around since 1914,” Spokane’s head coach Leigh Veidman said. “The culture is there, I know there was some grumbling about what was going to happen with the tournament, so we're all thankful it's still here, and I think tonight showed why the club should still be here and why it still is.”
“It's the David versus Goliath matchups, the environment that we had tonight with 2400 people in the stadium, and this is what the tournament is about. It's the close games, it’s tight, there’s drama, it goes back and forth, it's entertainment.”
“That’s what the fans want to see. So that’s what it’s about, creating those moments, and that part of our job is to continue to create them.”
Cover Photo via: Brandon Campea
