The US Soccer Federation unveiled the draw and pairings for the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Wednesday, unveiling whom the potential opponents will be when the contingent of Major League Soccer teams enter the 100th edition of the tournament May 28-29.
With six games falling on Wednesday, it is the largest split of matches between dates since the less formal scheduling structure that ended in 1999. Since the introduction of the formalized dates in 2000, the largest such situation occurred in the Third Round of the 2007 tournament when matches were spread over five different dates with four outliers from the predetermined night.
Five MLS clubs (Columbus, Kansas City, New York, Portland, Salt Lake) are guaranteed to play at home in the Third Round while four (Chivas USA, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Jose) will be heading out on the road no matter the opponent, though it should be noted that Chivas USA will be staying in the greater Los Angeles area. The remaining MLS sides will not know their travel plans until the conclusion of the Second Round on May 21.
Also of note, two of the four official MLS-USL affiliate partners were paired up in the Third Round scenarios with the Rochester Rhinos playing host to the New England and DC United visiting the Richmond Kickers should the USL Pro sides advance from round two.
Four pairings could see teams in the same state square off in the Third Round, pitting sides from California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia/DC against one another. Chivas USA will face one of the other greater-LA sides while Columbus could meet up with Dayton, Philadelphia could visit Pittsburgh and DC may square off with Richmond.
Witness Account of the Draw [+]
US Open Cup Scoreboard & Second Round Schedule [+]
THIRD ROUND PAIRINGS
TUESDAY, MAY 28
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29
REMAINING ROUND DATES
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