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Pictured: Niko Tsakiris. Photo Credit: Kelly. L Cox (IMAGN / USA Today Photos)
As the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup enters the Round of 32, 21 Major League Soccer teams remain in the hunt for the coveted championship in the oldest national cup competition in United States soccer. The annual tournament continues to provide important opportunities for young talent to step into big roles, particularly in the early rounds.
Among the players who seized their opportunities were a pair of San Jose Earthquakes who led a 5-0 routing of Bay Cities FC of the National Independent Soccer Association. Sixteen-year-old Homegrown Niko Tsakiris scored the first goal of his professional career, and he proudly shared the moment with family and the home crowd (Link). In addition, 21-year-old 2022 SuperDraft selection Ousseni Bouda also scored his first professional goal in the club’s U.S. Open Cup victory and parlayed that into an explosive effort in MLS NEXT Pro for Earthquakes II, scoring a pair of stunners against Tacoma Defiance just six days later. Bouda has made five appearances for the first team in San Jose in his rookie season.
In Cincinnati, 21-year-old Álvaro Barreal registered a late-breaking brace to take down Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC with his 95th-minute penalty and another goal in the 99th. Prior to U.S. Open Cup play, Barreal had one start this season. However, his stock rose quickly with starts and 90-minute contributions in two of the next three FC Cincinnati matches.
And the opportunities keep coming as clubs look to provide a platform for dynamic rising stars in their player development pathway, including Phil Neville’s 19-year-old son Harvey Neville (Inter Miami CF II) earning a first-team call-up and a chance to gain meaningful minutes in the competitive tournament environment.
On average, starting lineups of the 17 MLS clubs that competed in the latest round of U.S. Open Cup play consisted of approximately eight players (7.94 per team) who had started fewer than 50 percent of the regular-season games for the respective MLS first team clubs this season prior to U.S. Open Cup. More than half of the MLS starters in the third round – an average of 6.4 players per team – had made one or zero starts for their respective MLS clubs this season prior to their U.S. Open Cup appearances.
Across Tuesday, May 10, and Wednesday, May 11, 14 U.S. Open Cup matches will feature MLS clubs, including eight intraleague MLS matchups. Rochester New York FC is the lone MLS NEXT Pro side remaining in action, and they take on NYCFC on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE on ESPN+). All matches will be broadcast on ESPN+ and a full schedule of this week’s matches can be found here.
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