Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

Tim Abbott

2026 National Amateur Cup: Chicago House disqualified for fielding ineligible player

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Chicago House AC players and coaches huddle up before the club's 2026 Amateur Cup match against RKC Third Coast SC. Photo: Justin Limon | IG: @jsl.vvisuals
Chicago House AC players and coaches huddle up before the club’s 2026 Amateur Cup match against RKC Third Coast SC. Photo: Justin Limon | IG: @jsl.vvisuals

The 2026 National Amateur Cup has had another bump in the road. Following their 4-1 win over RKC Third Coast in Round 1 of the USASA Region II (Midwest) Amateur Cup, Chicago House AC (IL) has been disqualified from the tournament. The team fielded an ineligible player in their match.

A statement was provided to TheCup.us by the United States Adult Soccer Association.

“A decision was made to disqualify Chicago House for using an ineligible player in their last game against RKC Third Coast. Chicago House has appealed that decision. The USASA Appeals Committee will rule on the appeal as soon as practicable,” USASA Executive Director Bruce Bode told TheCup.us. “We will work to disrupt the game schedule as little as possible.”

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The rule in question, 202.2 in the USASA National Cups policy reads “Players competing in the Amateur Cups must have amateur status as defined by the Federation.”

The ineligible player was not named by USASA. However, Chicago House forward Nico Williams, who scored a brace in Round 1, is likely the player involved. At the time of Round 1, Williams was playing professional indoor soccer in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) with the Baltimore Blast. A few days after the Amateur Cup game, Williams appeared for the Blast in an MASL playoff match against the Milwaukee Wave.

House has appealed the disqualification.

The club’s Managing Partner, President and CEO Peter Wilt responded: “We have followed all the US Soccer Federation policies assuring we have used no ineligible players. We are confident that the appeal process will validate this. According to US Soccer, a player is only classified as a professional when a professional registration is submitted to and approved by U.S. Soccer. MASL does not submit professional registrations to USSF, so they do not consider the player a professional in their records.”

House, which competes in the Midwest Premier League, was scheduled to host Minnesota Blizzard FC of the National Premier Soccer League. That game was scheduled to be played on Sunday, April 19.

The Round 2 “competition window” is supposed to run until this Sunday, April 19. The Blizzard, who await either House or RKC, have been advised that their next match will happen in the next two weeks. The Quarterfinals are scheduled for the first week in May.

Since leaving professional soccer in the National Independent Soccer Association, House have become regulars in both the Amateur Cup and US Open Cup. Founded by soccer executive Peter Wilt, House have appeared in last four Region II Amateur Cup tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals in 2024 and 2025. The team appeared in two Open Cup tournaments in 2023 and 2024, reaching the Third Round in 2023 after beating USL League One side Forward Madison FC before facing off against Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire FC.

The winner of the Region II Amateur Cup qualifies for the national finals alongside the three other USASA regional champions. The 2026 National Amateur Cup champion will automatically qualify for the 2027 US Open Cup.

2026 US Open Cup Qualifying: CD Faialense back in USOC after win over FC Lonestar

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CD Faialense celebrates after a 5-2 win over FC Lonestar to clinch a spot in the 2026 US Open Cup. Photo: CD Faialense
CD Faialense celebrates after a 5-2 win over FC Lonestar to clinch a spot in the 2026 US Open Cup. Photo: CD Faialense

Bay State Soccer League stalwarts Clube Desportivo Faialense of Cambridge, Mass. made a 45-minute trip North up I-93 to the Merrimack Valley to face FC Lonestar Global Pro Soccer Exposure (GPSE) on Saturday night. It was the visitors from a Portuguese community club that emerged with the win, and a spot in the first round proper of the US Open Cup for the second year in a row. Lonestar had been making their qualifying debut, after a 2-6-2 debut in UPSL Premier New England North. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of the guys,” said CD Faialense head coach Paul Correia. “They went out there from the first whistle and really played with an incredible energy and showed their quality from minute one to minute 90. We’re so happy to have qualified again for the US Open Cup as it was one of our objectives at the start of this year.” 

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On his return to the area where he went to Merrimack College, Alessandro Negri made the breakthrough after 16 minutes, smartly sweeping home a ball which took a deflection off a defender who had intervened to stop a right wing cross.

North Carolina Tar Heel Martin Vician made it 2-0 only two minutes later, capitalising on some loose defending to latch onto a long ball down the right wing. Vician turned the defender inside out before finishing himself. 

A turnover in midfield saw Faialense break forward, although the eventual chipshot by Max Krause into the ground required an element of luck to bounce into the back of the Lonestar net. Krause, who attended Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., had given the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead. 

Max Krause of CD Faialense rests after a 5-2 win over FC Lonestar to clinch a spot in the 2026 US Open Cup. Photo: CD Faialense
Max Krause of CD Faialense rests after a 5-2 win over FC Lonestar to clinch a spot in the 2026 US Open Cup. Photo: CD Faialense

The hosts returned the favor immediately, a long ball down the center of the pitch from close to the halfway line beat the defense and former pro Luke Stavros Campbell dashed onto the end.

Krause restored the lead to a three-goal margin in the 38th minute, blasting home from 30 yards out of goal with a precision strike past a fully stretched Lonestar goalkeeper after he dribbled in-field from the left.   

The second half of the match saw the CDF left back baited into a penalty-conceding slide tackle down their right wing and Eddie Yepes picked out the opposite bottom corner from the spot to make it 4-2. 

The final blow by the Lusitanians saw play down the Faialense left wing reversed into the penalty area and another Holy Cross product Jonathan Klein drew the ball back past the onrushing goalkeeper in the 88th minute.  

“While we know that the next opponent (in the US Open Cup) is going to be an incredible challenge, we’re gonna work to try to put ourselves in the best positions to have our best showing that we can,” said Correia. “I know that the guys are up for it and they’ll do whatever it takes to to make that happen.”

 

2024 US Open Cup Round 3: FC Tulsa earns first win vs. pro team, 2-1 over Hailstorm FC

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Photo: FC Tulsa

It’s close to a 24 hour road trip from Windsor in northern Colorado to the oil capital of Tulsa. For the Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC, it will likely feel longer on the way back, for the winless USL League One side, as they fell to FC Tulsa, 2-1.

For FC Tulsa, it was the club’s first win over a pro team in the competition in team history. Out of the four times they have advanced, three of them were against amateur teams, and a fourth was a penalty kick shootout win over San Antonio FC (US Open Cup games that go to PKs are officially listed as a “draw”)

FC Tulsa pinned the Hailstorm into their defensive third for much of the opening twenty minutes, winning a series of corner kicks but failing to capitalize. The pressure would continue against Hailstorm’s low block without threatening the Coloradan goal mouth.  

In fact, the best chance for either side came when a Noah Powder free kick for Hailstorm was whipped in from the left hand side of the penalty area, only for Tulsa keeper Michael Creek to deny a Brecc Evans header at point blank range, in the 32nd minute.

It took a mental error by Powder at the other end for FC Tulsa to go ahead, with the Trinidad and Tobago international hip checking Blaine Ferri to the ground in the penalty area in the 37th minute. Diogo Pacheco snuck his penalty kick just past the left hand of Edward Delgado into the goal. 

In the 44th minute, substitute Milo Yosef added to the margin, driving a ball into the near post from 24 yards out after a free kick wasn’t fully cleared. Hailstorm closed out the first half on the attack, securing back to back corners, the last one marginally past an onrushing Bruno Rendon.  

Northern Colorado Hailstorm fought their way back into the game and in the 65th minute, substitutes combined as Isidro Martinez pulled a goal back with a sumptuous curler into the Tulsa net after Ethan Hoard laid the ball back to the top of the box.

Alex Dalou had a shot kicked clear by Hailstorm keeper Delgado in the 68th minute, with the FCT player claiming a penalty, but it was not given. 

Diogo Pacheco of FC Tulsa celebrates after scoring a goal against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC in the Third Round of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: FC Tulsa
Diogo Pacheco of FC Tulsa celebrates after scoring a goal against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC in the Third Round of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: FC Tulsa

The last few minutes saw end to end action, although neither side threatened until Camilo Ponce sliced a half volley wide in the 80th minute for FC Tulsa. Ethan Hoard returned the favor, muscling in and earning a corner with a shot. David Garcia, who got the winner against Rapids 2 in the Second Round, had a second chance shot blocked by Creek. Ethan Hoard drove in, with the clock approaching 90, but a ball across the box was missed by Lucky Opara and Hailstorm’s challenge evaporated.  

“Going back to the Rapids 2 game, it had been 10 days since we played, so we were rusty and we were awful in that first half, just like tonight. This time we gave ourselves too big a mountain to climb,” Hailstorm FC head coach Éamon Zayed said.

2019 US Open Cup Semifinals: Mason Toye of Minnesota United voted TheCup.us Player of the Round

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Mason Toye of Minnesota United celebrates his goal against the Portland Timbers in the 2019 US Open Cup Semifinals. Photo: Minnesota United
Mason Toye of Minnesota United celebrates his goal against the Portland Timbers in the 2019 US Open Cup Semifinals. Photo: Minnesota United

Minnesota United FC’s Mason Toye is another example of a young player who has used his performance in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup to earn playing time with the senior team. Toye has leveraged his goalscoring in the tournament into more regular playing time in Major League Soccer play and has earned him a reputation as a key piece of the club’s squad. 

Toye’s 90th minute game-winner against the Houston Dynamo in the Round of 16 helped United reach the Quarterfinals for the first time in club history. He followed that up with a man of the match performance in the 2-1 win in the Semifinals against the Portland Timbers, scoring the game-winning goal in the 64th minute.

Kevin Molino started the play with an outlet pass in front of Toye just past midfield. The New Jersey native ran on to the ball with Portland’s Claude Dielna closing in on him. As he approached the 18-yard box, he sent a curling shot that beat Portland’s Steve Clark who had come off his line and found its way into the side netting.

Mason Toye of Minnesota United dribbles the ball just before scoring his goal against the Portland Timbers in the 2019 US Open Cup Semifinals. Photo: Minnesota United
Mason Toye of Minnesota United dribbles the ball just before scoring his goal against the Portland Timbers in the 2019 US Open Cup Semifinals. Photo: Minnesota United

Thanks to Toye’s game-winner, Minnesota United becomes the first team from the North Star State to ever reach the USOC championship game. For his effort, he has been voted TheCup.us Player of the Round for the semifinals. The award is voted on by TheCup.us staff and a select panel from the North American Soccer Reporters and select backers (those that pledge $10 or more) from TheCup.us’ Patreon team.

Toye narrowly edged Eric Remedi of Atlanta United by just a few votes and Minnesota teammate Kevin Molino finished just a few votes shy in third place. Brad Guzan of Atlanta United finished fourth.

Toye is the first Loon to ever be awarded TheCup.us Player of the Round.

“He wants to be good,” Minnesota head coach Adrian Heath said about the game’s hero Mason Toye. “He’s willing to put the hours in to make himself good. That’s why there’s not a person on the coaching staff that’s not absolutely delighted for him.”

Born in South Orange, New Jersey, Mason Toye was a high school All American and Gatorade Player of the Year at Seton Hall Prep. He scored a conference-leading 10 goals for Indiana University and a runner-up spot in the 2017 College Cup in his only year of college before he was drafted 7th overall in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft. As a fringe member of the Loons, Toye was loaned out to Colorado Springs Switchbacks and then Forward Madison, where he made his name before making his debut for the parent club on May 19.

Now, he is part of a team that is one win away from lifting a major trophy for the first time since joining MLS.

2019 TheCup.us Player of the Round winners

Round 1: Charles Boateng (Richmond Kickers, USL-1)
Round 2: Bryant Martin (Florida Soccer Soldiers, USASA)
Round 3: Blake Frischknecht (Orange County FC, NPSL)
Round 4: Teal Bunbury (New England Revolution, MLS)
Round 5: Sam Fink (Saint Louis FC, USL-C)
Quarterfinals: Adam Grinwis (Orlando City SC, MLS)
Semifinals: Mason Toye (Minnesota United FC, MLS)

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