Fans of the historic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup live by its magic moments. And the Second Round of the 2025 competition tossed up a good few of those between April 1-2. Join us for a look back at eight moments of note from the 16 games in which 52 goals were scored, everyone’s favorite underdogs El Farolito shocked their betters again and Portland, Maine’s Hearts of Pine knit more high drama up north – this time with a major Cupset.
El Farolito Delays Gratification
There was something about how El Farolito beat Div. II USL Championship pros Monterey Bay FC. It wasn’t so much that they did it. After all, they’ve made a habit of the kinds of underdog heroics we saw at Cardinale Stadium on Tuesday night. The winning goal was picture perfect in that imperfect Open Cup way. It came in the 83rd minute, seven minutes to go. Much, much later than most amateur teams are able to hang around and remain relevant against the pros. The tension built as Dembor Benson’s header was pushed off the crossbar by Samuel Gomez, Monterey’s outstanding goalkeeper. A scramble ensued. It was defined by desperation. And inevitability. Jonathan Perez’s follow-up shot from six yards was cleared off the line. So was the first try of Edgard Kreye, arriving in the box late. But with his second effort, he hit the back of the net to spark off multiple celebrations, brushfires of El Farolito yellow as the players embraced and soaked it all in. These moments are so fleeting, when the Magic of the Cup is conjured, but El Farolito had the uncommon courtesy of letting us linger in the madness and the beauty and, of course, the chaos, for a few seconds longer.
Cupsets Tinted Yellow
There was another Cupset that day. The team that pulled off the first one, young Columbus Crew 2, like El Farolito, usually wear yellow. And right there is where the similarities end. The average age of this MLS NEXT Pro side is just over 19 and the team is a feeder academy and reserve squad for our 2002 Champions the Columbus Crew of MLS. It's a kind of high-concept soccer lab. Slick and stylish and well-prepped. They play every day and get paid for the pleasure. We are not here to knock good organization and the common refrain of growing the game, but let us appreciate, also, the beauty in the cracks and the bumps, the natural simplicities and imperfections – what the Japanese call Wabi Sabi – of our friends El Farolito. Born in the ethnic leagues of San Francisco, the bump and grind of Boxer and Kezar Stadiums. From the hard-knock semi-pro days of the early 90s, when they won the Open Cup under the name CD Mexico, the club – with connections to a Mexican food staple born in the Mission District – skews older and wilier and the players learned their trade where the nitty gets gritty. They’re part-timers, passed a few bucks under the table, sure, and they know who and what they are. In the end, both teams won the day – so we celebrate both. For ours is a big tent.
Maine’s New Squeeze & the Bounty of a Bounce
On now to Lewiston, Maine. This down-at-the-heels mill town in Northern New England is fast becoming the Toast of the 2025 Open Cup. Portland Hearts of Pine were heavy underdogs against Hartford Athletic, Division II pros of the USL Championship. Down a man and a goal with four minutes of extra-time to go, you could forgive some of the frozen-solid fans heading for the gates and the warming cocoas of home. But there was more to come. There was the drama of penalties to endure. And it was all caused by an unlikely equalizer, in the 116th minute of play, by one Jake Keegan. The 33-year-old journeyman, a veteran of this country’s lower-leagues and others overseas, entered the game two minutes earlier. A hopeful hoof up and out from the back took an untrue bounce off the old, worn turf. Its course altered, just so, bouncing back toward him. Keegan got to the ball first and lifted it over the goalkeeper. It arced high in the sky, up where flakes of stubborn spring snow began to dance in the floodlights. It hung there forever before finally returning to earth to bounce again. This time, up into the roof of the net ahead of a pursuing defender. The ball is round, as the old saying goes. It can bounce any way it pleases. And in the Open Cup, dear friends, those bounces can be unruly.
Et tu, Chattanooga?
Speaking of the ball and how it bounces, and all the ways the cookie crumbles, what a night we had in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Over 12,000 fans turned out to Finley Stadium for the first-ever meeting between long-standing home side Chattanooga FC, now of MLS NEXT Pro and so long a beacon for grassroots soccer in this country, and USL League One side Chattanooga Red Wolves. To say these two clubs have bad blood is, well, an understatement. And CFC’s claims to authenticity and originality – and being Chattanooga’s one true club – are valid enough on the surface. But on the fields of the Open Cup, that fickle stage where tension cranks and nerves can take over, the ball might not do your bidding. Chattanooga’s City Hall may have been lit up blue the night before the big game, the vast majority of the huge crowd may have been blue too – but in the end it was a red dawn on the field. A red flag waved over Chattanooga after the final whistle. The Open Cup, it would seem, isn’t in love with scripts. Even the well-written ones.
