After an interrupted run of 106 years, the U.S. Open Cup tournament now is on the verge of being canceled for the second season in a row, the U.S. Soccer Federation will announce Friday.
Originally scheduled for May and June as an abbreviated 24-team competition because of logistical and financial concerns related to the pandemic, this year’s Open Cup was then cut to just 16 participants at the end of March. Eight berths were reserved for MLS teams, with the remaining eight scattered among American soccer’s lower divisions.
But complications persisted, and U.S. Soccer didn’t feel it could guarantee the safe completion of the 16-team event this spring.