Hello everyone and welcome to Soccer 101.

My name is Joe Lowry, and on this episode, we're asking and hopefully answering the question, why isn't the U.S. Open Cup a big deal?

Back in 2017, Christos FC was on quite the tear. They'd beaten Fredericksburg 3 to

nothing on May 10th. One week later,

they took down the Richmond kickers by a score of 1 to nothing. And two weeks later, they bested

Chicago FC United one to nothing. Before you ask, yes, Chicago FC United is a real name of a real soccer

team. Those three Christos wins were in the first three rounds of the U.S. Open Cup,

or if you want to go for its full-length proper title,

the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Founded in 1914, the U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in the United States.

It puts professional and amateur teams together into a knockout

tournament that runs during the United States domestic professional league seasons. If the idea of a

league season and a separate tournament happening at more or less the same time sounds strange to you,

or if you're looking to learn more about soccer's tendency to smush a bunch of competitions

into one season, Taylor's recent Soccer 101 episode titled, How Many Leagues Are in

This Season is the place to go? To really boil it down, there are two fundamental things to know

about the Open Cup. It's old, and it allows teams from all levels in parts of American soccer

to compete for a U.S.

soccer-sanctioned trophy.

It's essentially the American version of England's F.A. Cup or of Spain's Copa del Rey.

With a brief U.S. Open Cup explainer out of the way, let's get back to the story of Christos FC.

A three-game winning streak in a knockout competition is a relatively impressive feat on its own.

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