The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is a knockout tournament in American soccer. The tournament is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U.S. and is currently open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer.
The Open Cup was first held in 1913–14, when it was called the National Challenge Cup.
The defending Open Cup champions are Sporting Kansas City, who beat the Seattle Sounders FC 1-1 on penalty kicks in the 2012 final. It was Sporting Kansas City's first title since 2004, when they won it as the Kansas City Wizards.
Read more about Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: History, Qualifying, Criticism, Winners, Winners By State
Famous quotes containing the words hunt, open and/or cup:
“The laughing queen that caught the world’s great hands.”
—Leigh Hunt (1784–1859)
“Who shall forbid a wise skepticism, seeing that there is no practical question on which any thing more than an approximate solution can be had? Is not marriage an open question, when it is alleged, from the beginning of the world, that such as are in the institution wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In poorer lands
No one touches the water of life.
It has no taste
And though it refreshes absolutely
It is a cup that must also pass
Until everybody
Gets some advantage....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)