UPDATE: The U.S. Open Cup conducted its third-round draw on Friday. There are no lower-division teams from Pacific Northwest still alive and the updated rules dictate that two teams entering in the Round of 32 can’t face one another, which means the Sounders and Timbers can’t face off then.
After two consecutive years of the Covid-19 pandemic effectively canceling the U.S. Open Cup, the country’s oldest soccer tournament plans to return in 2022 with several significant changes that had previously been approved but so far gone unimplemented.
The most relevant of those changes is that the Seattle Sounders will be 1 of 8 MLS teams who receive a bye into the Round of 32.