There was a time in this country when the Open Cup’s favorites hailed from the cities of the midwest. For three decades – the 1930s, 40s, and 50s – teams from St. Louis and Chicago littered the list of Open Cup Champions and Runners-up.
Powered by the immigrant migrations that filled the factories of the postwar United States, teams from the midwest played hard and had long runs in the competition. After a short resurgence of St. Louis clubs winning in the all-amateur and semi-pro days of the mid 1980s, the rise of Sporting Kansas City and Chicago Fire in the modern MLS era would return the midwest to Open Cup relevance.
Sporting KC hoisted the trophy four times and played Runner-up once, while Chicago has also seen its name engraved on the Dewar Cup four times.
But in all those eras of midwest dominance, no team from Iowa threatened a true challenge for the trophy. Though it lies dead-center in the region, none of the late-round Cup magic of the midwest has touched a club from the Hawkeye State.
Maybe that’s all about to change?
Well, probably not all that. But there sure are a lot of eyes on Iowa’s capital city in the early days of our 110th U.S.Open Cup. The alliance between the Des Moines Menace and a cadre of retired one-time MLS superstars continues to gather steam – and has made the club ground-zero for 2025 Open Cup fun.
