Minnesota's Open Cup History

Tomorrow, Minnesota United will kick off its U.S. Open Cup campaign for the first time as an MLS club. Heading into the competition, it carries a legacy that ties together multiple Minnesota clubs across different eras, all of which went in search of a title and a trip to the CONCACAF Champions League.

Minnesota’s professional soccer history dates back to the founding of the Minnesota Kicks in 1976, but the state’s Open Cup lineage starts a little later. The original NASL declined to compete in the Cup for reasons that are still not entirely clear. Some claim it was a cost issue, while others say teams didn’t want to risk injuring players. One of the more popular theories is that the league…