Club heads to Indy for U.S. Open Cup fourth round
San Antonio FC earned its spot last year.
Now, it is time to prove they still deserve it. SAFC begins play in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night, when it travels to face fellow USL Championship club Indy Eleven for a fourth-round matchup.
Indy Eleven earned its spot in the fourth round by beating Chicago Fire II in the third round, while San Antonio FC earned a bye to the fourth round by being one of the top eight teams in the USL Championship last season.
“We are going there to win,” San Antonio midfielder Jorge Hernandez said. “If we do our job and execute our principles and everything, we have a chance of winning.”
It is the latest San Antonio FC has entered the tournament in its history. Every other year San Antonio has joined the Open
Cup in the second round.
San Antonio’s late start is thanks in part to decisions made by Major League Soccer to only enter eight of its senior teams into the tournament and have the rest of its teams be represented by reserve teams like Chicago Fire II.
“We are always excited to play in the Open Cup and put our best foot forward,” San Antonio coach Alen Marcina said. “One thing I know about these guys is they are mentally ready for it and prepared for it. It’s a big challenge and we’ll do our best in the moment.”
By entering in the fourth round, San Antonio FC is five wins away from potentially winning the U.S. Open Cup. If they were to accomplish that feat, they would be the first team from the second level of the U.S. Soccer Federation to win the cup since the Rochester Rhinos in 1999. Since then, only two teams from the second level have even
reached the cup final, Charleston Battery in 2008 and Sacramento Republic in 2022.
“We know it’s going to be tough,” San Antonio defender Kevon Lambert said of playing Indy Eleven. “We had a lot of positives from the game (against Oakland). If we take those positives and build on it, we should be fine.”
San Antonio is 8-5-2 alltime in the U.S. Open Cup and 3-4-1 in games on the road. This is just the third time in club history that SAFC has reached the fourth round of the Open Cup. In 2018 San Antonio fell to MLS side FC Dallas at Toyota Field. Four years later in 2022, San Antonio fell to MLS side Houston Dynamo in Houston.
“All our attention shifts to that midweek matchup,” San Antonio midfielder Mohamed Omar said. “We want to go in there and we want to win. It’s a knockout tournament so you win and you keep going, you lose and you go home.”
The best finish by any of San Antonio’s professional teams in the Open Cup came in 2012, when the San Antonio Scorpions reached the round of 16 (at the time the fourth round of the tournament) and fell to Charlotte Eagles. The Scorpions reached that round after beating the Laredo Heat and the Houston Dynamo in San Antonio.
Now, San Antonio FC is just one win away from reaching the round of 16 in this year’s Open Cup. It won’t be easy with seven players dealing with injuries, including Lucas Silva, who left early with injury in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Oakland.
San Antonio and Indy Eleven are drawn into a group for the fourth round with Detroit City and the current cup holder Houston Dynamo. Houston hosts Detroit on Tuesday night. The winner of that game faces the winner of San Antonio FC and Indy Eleven in the round of 16 on May 21 or 22.
“People would be excited,” Hernandez said of potentially facing the Dynamo. “The excitement should give you the drive to want to beat them. At the end of the day, we want to be there and if we can beat them it proves we have what it takes to beat them.”
After the visit to Indy Eleven, San Antonio returns to league play on Saturday, when it hosts the Las Vegas Lights at Toyota Field.