The Battle of I-95: The US Open Cup Quarterfinals begin

Open Cup Digest #17

It feels good to be back. The 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Quarterfinals are here with eight Major League Soccer teams still vying for America’s national championship.

After five rounds of semi-consistent soccer, the Quarterfinals come after a month-plus break in the competition, and it only gets worse from here. The Semifinals of the tournament won’t be until mid-September, and the Final will be held on October 1.

Two Tri-State Area teams remain and will clash in a battle of I-95 proper on Wednesday night. The latest tally in a historic rivalry between the cities of Philadelphia and New York City…or at the very least, the Metropolitan areas of both of those places.

Among the eight teams remaining, six are hunting for their first-ever US Open Cup title. On the other side, Chicago Fire FC could become the winningest MLS team in the tournament’s history if they can keep advancing and lift the cup in October.

Tournament matches can be watched on the CBS family of networks, with all four Quarterfinals streamed live on Paramount+. Each game will also be shown on other CBS outlets: Two on CBS Sports Golazo Network, and two on CBS Sports Network (including the Philadelphia Union vs New York Red Bulls game on Wednesday). 

Read on as we take you through each match in this week’s Quarterfinals, before making some iron-clad US Open Cup predictions.

Minnesota United has to like its chances in this tournament. 

The squad this year is better than the one that made it to the MLS Western Conference Semifinals in 2024. Should Minnesota win tonight at home against Chicago Fire, it will be just the second time in club history that they play in an Open Cup Semifinal. It will also be a huge chance to finally add a third piece of silverware to the team’s trophy case, joining the 2011 NASL Soccer Bowl and 2014 North American Supporters' Trophy.

It’s been a breakout season for striker Tani Oluwaseyi, who has right goals and five assists in 17 appearances. New Yorkers can claim him as one of their own: Born in Nigeria and raised in Canada, Oluwaseyi played for St. John’s University in Queens before joining Manhattan SC in USL League Two and New York Pancyprian-Freedoms in the unofficial “Fifth Tier” Eastern Premier Soccer League. Minnesota selected Oluwaseyi in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft.

After spending the 2023 season with USL Championship side San Antonio FC, Oluwaseyi rose to the Minnesota First Team in 2024 — and the Canada men’s national team. He's back with Minnesota after spending the international break with Canada, scoring a goal and adding an assist in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Oluwaseyi might lead Minnesota with eight goals, but the team has scoring threats in every position except goalkeeper: Nine of the 10 outfield players in the Starting XI that beat Dallas FC on the road 2-1 over the weekend have scored this season. As for the tenth player, center-back Nicolas Romero, he has three assists.

Minnesota has a strong record of 3W-1D-1L in their last five games played. But they also have a tendency to leak goals, with just one clean sheet in that time. They scored 12 goals in that run — and allowed 10. 

That could make things interesting when they host a Chicago that likes to score goals — and give them up. Remember, Chicago is the team that put seven past a hapless DC on June 7, just six weeks after Nashville put seven goals past them. 

Chicago is a hit-or-miss team on the road, with six wins (joint second-best in the league) and five losses (joint 10th-worst). This is a team that lives and dies by Hugo Cuypers, whose 11 goals lead the team. More than that, Chicago has a hard time winning when he doesn’t score: Cuypers has goals in seven of the team’s eight wins in league play. Add to that his two goals in the 2-2 draw with Inter Miami, and Cuypers has played a direct role in earning 22 of Chicago’s 28 points.

Yes, 30-year-old Danish winger Philip Zinckernagel has nine goals and five assists, and 22-year-old midfielder Brian Gutierrez has seven goals and one assist, but Cuypers is the straw that stirs the drink. 

Shut down Cuypers, and Chicago is lost. Which makes the tactics for this game fairly simple: Chicago needs Cuypers to score, while Minnesota will do everything to keep him silent.

Prediction: Minnesota has what it takes to advance. It’s a balanced team with scoring threats at all positions, and as long as they can contain Cuypers, they will advance: Minnesota 2-1 Chicago.

San Jose Earthquakes are playing at home and so far this season have had a much more potent attack than Austin FC, but these two Western Conference rivals, neither with an Open Cup trophy to their names, are hard to separate. 

They are literally hard to separate, in that the teams have played head-to-head nine times going into this Open Cup clash, and six of those matches ended in draws. 

Despite the generally even head-to-head history, Austin will be the underdogs at PayPal Park. That’s because they’re the lowest-scoring team in Major League Soccer so far this season. They’ve scored just 15 goals in 20 matches, and that’s despite spending around $25 million in transfer fees to acquire attackers Brandon Vazquez and Myrto Uzuni this offseason. 

The reason Austin might like their chances on the road is because of the MLS All-Star they have in goal, the former New York City FC backup goalkeeper Brad Stuver. Stuver is among the league leaders at goalkeeper in terms of saves, save percentage, and clean sheets, and Austin will need him to be on his game if they want to get past the Quakes.

Bruce Arena’s San Jose side has scored the second-most goals in the league this season, scoring 41 times in 21 MLS matches, so Stuver will likely be tested. Both these teams won knockout games at home last round to reach this quarterfinal matchup, Austin rolling past Houston Dynamo FC 3-1, while the Quakes outlasted Portland Timbers FC, 1-0, in extra time. 

San Jose has improved in their first season under Arena, the Brooklyn native who won the US Open Cup once, in 1996 with DC United, during his storied career of coaching in the United States. Since their last Open Cup match, the Quakes got put up for sale by their billionaire owner John Fisher, who was last seen uprooting the Oakland A’s and moving them to Las Vegas-by-way-of-West-Sacramento for, uh, rea$on$. 

The San Jose defense isn’t impenetrable, as they’ve conceded 33 goals and have the same expected goals against (xGA) number, 34.9, as their last-place California rivals, LA Galaxy. Yet their double-threat they pose in attack with Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez might be too much for even a great goalkeeper like Stuver to handle.

Prediction: San Jose finds a way to solve Stuver and takes care of business at home, a 3-1 win that might even get Bruce Arena to crack a smile.

Two teams in very different places this season are hunting for their first US Open Cup title.

For all intents and purposes, the New York Red Bulls look to be in the same spot as they usually are — one piece away from truly contending. Still, the team from Harrison is back in an Open Cup Quarterfinal for the third time in their last six tournament appearances.

Coming off a strong run to the MLS Cup Final last year, the Red Bulls have stumbled multiple times this season, but manage to stay consistent — which is to say, middling. A three-game winning streak to end May turned into a four-game winless streak, including three straight draws. That includes a 1-1 tie with a Toronto FC team at the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference. Right now, the team sits in eighth place with a record of 8W-6D-7L (30 points).

Head coach Sandro Schwarz and his group need to play chess against Philadelphia. This is an RBNY side currently dealing with two major injuries and a lacking roster. Midfielders Lewis Morgan and Cameron Harper are both out for the foreseeable future. Midfielder Felipe Carballo — who’s two goals in last year's MLS Cup playoffs helped his team reach the Final, couldn’t come to a loan agreement with the Red Bulls and is now back in Brazil.

There might be help coming, with rumored additions from Europe such as Swedish midfielder Gustav Berggren and German forward Timo Werner. But it won’t come in time for Wednesday.

The regular season offense has relied on two players: Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting (12 goals) and Emil Forsberg (7 goals). In the US Open Cup, 20-year-old Mohammed Sofo has been the team’s star scoring threat, with three goals in two games.

Those goals came via a brace on the road against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC of the USL Championship, and a second-half strike against FC Dallas in the Round of 16.

With all that said, New York has not been afraid to switch up its lineups this season. It's been necessary to survive with every injury or international call-up. With USOC, we might see a player or two from New York Red Bulls II fill out this roster. That team is making waves and is one of the best in MLS Next Pro this season. Maybe that means an appearance from midfielder Nehuén Benedetti, named MLSNP Player of the Month for June after scoring four goals and adding three assists.

First-year Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell guided his team into Supporters’ Shield contenders. Despite being on a two-game losing streak for the first time this season – this slipup pulled them out of first place in the Eastern Conference – they are probably the team to beat in the competition.

Philly’s hot start in league play was helped by a weaker schedule, with nine of the team’s 12 wins coming against opposition currently outside the playoff field. The team’s most recent win was June 25 against the Chicago Fire, who are two points above Charlotte FC for the last playoff spot. Their opponents on Wednesday are around that same range.

The Union has produced even while missing players. Forwards Tai Baribo and Mikael Uhre both suffered injuries in June, but Baribo made a return in his team’s last match against Nashville. Main goalkeeper Andre Blake has been out due to a knee injury. Though his absence has been mitigated thanks to a combined effort between former Louisville City FC keeper Oliver Semmle and Union homegrown Andrew Rick.

If this half-healthy Union can trot out in a 4-2-2-2 formation every week and get points, I am scared to think what it can do at full strength. Recent results might have Carnall and company considering tactical flexibility. Especially considering the fact that the team they face on Wednesday is the same one they host on Saturday in Major League Soccer.

The question will linger, though — does the team put their chips into the Open Cup or try to stay fresh for the regular season game the coming weekend?

For example, 15-year-old Cavan Sullivan started and went the distance in both of the Union’s previous Open Cup ties. Both of those games were against lower-division teams, with Philadelphia needing penalty kicks to beat Indy Eleven of USL Championship before cruising past Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (after their Round of 32 upset of NYCFC) in the Keystone Derby. Sullivan also just made his MLS debut this past weekend against Nashville SC.

Prediction: After RBNY and the Union play on Wednesday, they will face off again three days later in an MLS match. That means both teams will likely have different lineups for each game. It's also unlikely one team will win both games. Union is the better team, but both teams have injury issues right now, and I like Sofo to keep his momentum going. Take the Red Bulls beating Philly for the first time since September 2019 and doing it in Chester for the first time since October 2018, 2-1.

I-95 Quarterfinals: Best of New York-New Jersey vs. Philadelphia in US Open Cup history

The history of the US Open Cup is full of rivalries between cities. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco, St. Louis vs. Chicago, Philadelphia vs. New York. Put these games in the late stages of the…

Chuck Nolan Jr.

You have to think that Nashville SC head coach BJ Callaghan enters this game with an eye on lifting the trophy in October. The Coyotes are once again a dangerous team since Callaghan took over in July 2024, currently sitting in second place in the league with 41 points after 20 games. Nashville has yet to win silverware in its short but impressive history, and while MLS Cup is the ultimate goal for any team in the league, the club has a clear path to Open Cup victory.

It helps that Nashville is one of the hottest teams in MLS right now. On Saturday, they beat Philadelphia Union, 1-0, with a 90+11’ penalty despite going down to 10 players with a red card in the 63rd minute. Striker Sam Surridge didn’t score in that game, but his 16 goals lead the league. The week before that, they beat DC United, 1-0. As for the "Minnesota United" that played a friendly against Holstein Kiel of Germany's 2. Bundesliga last night, not a single First Team player appeared in the game. Even Callaghan himself took the day off and gave managing duties to assistant Dennis Lawrence.

Nashville’s record is 6W-1D-1L against the teams remaining in the cup, with 15 goals scored and six goals allowed — four of those wins are clean sheets. The one blemish? A 2-0 loss to Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium back on March 1.

But first, Callaghan’s squad will need to get past a stumbling United that has just one win in 10 games — although that victory came on the road against FC Cincinnati in what ranks as one of the biggest upsets this season. Surprise result aside, DC United remains one of the most beatable teams in the country despite the return of Christian Benteke from injury.

If Nashville can get one past former New York City FC goalkeeper Luis Barraza (who had a short loan spell at Oakland Roots SC of USL Championship in 2021), they have to like their chances against a team was held scoreless in three consecutive games, and were pummeled 7-1 at home by Chicago Fire on June 7. 

DC has plenty of lower-league pedigree: Head Coach Troy Lesesne made his bones in the US Open Cup with Charleston Battery as a player and New Mexico United as a coach, while Jacob Murrell is a former Gatorade Player of the Year who came up through Annapolis Blues FC in the National Premier Soccer League.

Prediction: A comfortable win for Nashville at home, although the level of that comfort will depend on how much Callaghan will rotate his squad, considering he has two high-profile games coming up, namely Inter Miami on the road this Saturday and Columbus Crew at home on Wednesday, July 16. The smart money is Callaghan will go for the win and try to keep his powder dry by planning to score early, then pull key players: Nashville 2-0 DC United.

Semifinal hosting priority

The Quarterfinal winners in each bracket will face each other in the Semifinals on September 16. Here is the hosting priority for both brackets:

Final hosting priority

The winner of the Western Bracket's semifinal will host the US Open Cup final, which will take place on October 1.