It’s all very simple, folks. We’re here, at the end of the road – the last of 64 games stretching back to the fall of 2024, when the amateur strivers first laced up for the Qualifying Rounds of this year’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Our two Finalists, Austin FC and Nashville SC, both hail from the ranks of Division I MLS, both have first-year coaches and both only came to exist in real life inside the last five years. But when all is said and done on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at Austin’s Q2 Stadium (with the game LIVE on Paramount+ and on air at CBS Sports Network) one of these young clubs will lift the most historic prize on offer in this country’s soccer.
“It’s a special moment,” said B.J. Callaghan, the 44-year-old coach of Nashville SC, whose side head into the 110th edition of the U.S. Open Cup Final breathing a sigh of relief after sealing a place in the MLS Playoffs at the weekend. “The first one – the first title or the first trophy as a group – is something no one can ever take away from you. It means a lot.”
Nashville’s Been (Near) Here Before
Nashville SC have another kind of edge over their opponents and hosts as they’ve contested a major final in the past. In 2023, the Coyotes hosted the decider of the Leagues Cup and lost out via a marathon penalty shootout (1-1 aet, 10-9 PKs) to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
“We know what it’s like to host a final from a few years ago [Leagues Cup] and it can add a bit of pressure to have that expectation,” said the goal-crazy Sam Surridge, who leads 2025 Open Cup scoring with five from two games – and sits near the top of the MLS scorers’ table too (third at time of publishing with 22). “The chance to win a first trophy for the club really adds fuel to the fire.”
“People always remember the first ones to do something,” added Surridge, who, during his time in his native England, developed a huge appreciation for domestic Cup competition and reached an FA Cup Quarterfinal with then-second division Nottingham Forest and went on a Cinderella run, early in his career, with Oldham Athletic. “To think about how, 50 years from now, people will look to see the names of the guys who won that first trophy, it really means something.
“It’d be a huge moment for the club,” Surridge added. “But only if we can bring home a trophy.”
Callaghan’s Nashville squad – which he insists he always wants to “out-team all the other teams” – is a fine balance of stars and dirty-workers. And, according to the former USMNT interim coach, his squad has “ a lot of the things you need to lift a trophy.”
Hany Mukhtar – MLS league MVP from 2023 – and Surridge scored in the weekend win against Houston Dynamo. And they both represent the cream of the team. In the back, there’s Walker Zimmerman. Out wide in midfield is the sumptuous Andy Najar, Alex Muyl and Jacob Shaffelburg. Holding it all together, deep in the midfield dungeons where the battles break out, is Edvard Tagseth.
