March Soccer Madness in the ‘Burgh: Steel City FC to host Riverhounds in US Open Cup First Round match

The biggest open soccer tournament in the United States which mirrors England’s renowned FA Cup, the US Open Cup, which has been played for more than 100 years, for only the second time since 2015, will feature not one, but two teams from the Greater Pittsburgh area.

This time around, for the first time since the 1950s, two Pittsburgh based teams will face off against each other in the tournament.

That’s right, when US Soccer announced its group pairing for the first round of the 2026 edition of the long-running National soccer tournament, it will feature a first-ever match between the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Steel City FC.

The match will be home match for the defending USL League Two Great Forest Division Champions and is slated to be Riverhounds will begin their journey in the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a historic, all-Pittsburgh First Round matchup against Steel City FC out of USL League Two on Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Duquesne University’s Rooney Field.

This match will provide a showcase for Steel City FC, who may own an even greater distinction for producing more foundational home grown talent than the Riverhounds organization (two recent Steel City FC players who have primarily played with the organization through their development were selected in MLS SuperDraft).

How rare is this match-up of two Pittsburgh teams in the US Open Cup?

Prior to that, you would have to go back to the 1950s (**) to find more than one Pittsburgh area team in one of the longest running domestic Open soccer tournaments in the world.

(**During the mid-20th century, the Pittsburgh area, particularly teams from local coal mining communities, was a powerhouse in American soccer, with these clubs often facing each other in the earlier rounds of the touranment. Gallatin secured the area’s first U.S. Open Cup title in 1942. Morgan-Strasser followed with a win in 1949. The Harmarville Hurricanes, an all-amateur team with deep connections to the region’s coal mines, won the Open Cup twice, in 1952 and 1956. They also reached the final as runners-up in 1953. Between 1949 and 1956, a team from the Pittsburgh area made it to the Open Cup Final five times, winning three titles). 

Each club found different paths in getting into the tournament, as the Riverhounds automatically qualified as one of the top 17 teams in the USL Championship (*), while Steel City FC, who won its third consecutive Division title in the fourth tier in 2025 in its first year in USL League One, endured by winning three matches in Open Cup qualifying last October and November.

(* as a result of the shorter tournament and smaller field, the USL Championship had to trim its field to 17 teams. They used league standings to select these teams, all of which will be entered in the First Round. Also technically, both Division III leagues (USL League One and MLS NEXT Pro), also used league standings as well to qualify — which is why Steel City FC didn’t automatically qualify — and entered the qualifying tournament)

US Soccer announces 2026 US Open Cup format with cut-down tournament that includes Riverhounds, Steel City FC

Now, the two Pittsburgh clubs could meet each other or at the very least, could be placed in the same four-team group for the first two rounds.

“We are excited about the opportunity,” Brower said after his makeshift squad earned its third victory in qualifying, beating Croatia Cleveland in a come-from-behind effort, 3-2, in November.

As you know, we tasted the Cup competition in the past, and we can’t wait to try to make a magical run in 2026.”

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While both clubs were in the 2024 tournament, the chances that they would have met would have been slim to none, since Steel City made its first-ever appearance in the first-round that year, losing 1-0, to Michigan Stars at Ambrose Urbanic Field, while the Riverhounds, fresh off a deep run in the tournament the previous season, would not enter the tournament until the fourth round.

So, this year will likely be the closest it’s come for the possibility that two Pittsburgh-area teams could meet in the tournament since 2015, when Fort Pitt Regiment and Riverhounds were put in the same group, but Fort Pitt lost its first-round match at West Virginia (Chaos).  The Riverhounds would defeat the Charleston-based Chaos in the second round, as current Hounds’ Head Coach Rob Vincent scored against his former USL PDL club to help Pittsburgh advance.

In two of the previous three Open Cup tournaments, the Riverhounds have defeated MLS clubs, with wins against Columbus and New England in 2023, when tney advanced to the Round of 16 (losing at FC Cincinnati) and last year, when they defeated NYCFC, getting as far as Round of 32 (losing at Philadelphia)

In December, US Soccer announced the format for the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with some major changes due to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the resulting two-month break from MLS during said World Cup.

Because of that, the competition has been reduced to seven rounds instead of eight rounds as in recent years. As a result of that, the format will only result in 80 teams instead of 96 teams in the 2025 competition, and only 48 professional teams instead of 64.

As announced last January by MLS, only 16 US based MLS teams qualify for the US Open Cup this year, with teams that are not in CONCACAF Champions Cup and Leagues Cup automatically in, then filling out the rest of the field by Supporters Shield standings, excluding teams in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Tournament Format

The First Round will be played on March 17, 18 & 19 and will continue its format of 32 matches featuring teams from the Open Division facing off against a professional opponent. The amateurs will face off against one of 17 professional teams from Division II or 15 professional teams from Division III. The 32 winners from the First Round will then face off in a Second-Round matchup on March 31 or April 1.

Each of the 16 teams that advance from the Second Round will face one of the 16 Division I professional teams from Major League Soccer in the Round of 32 on April 14 or 15. Eight of the MLS teams will be seeded as home, and eight will be seeded as away ahead of this draw based on the qualifying criteria.

The final 32 teams will play down to a field of four semifinalists in May before the competition breaks until the semifinals on September 15 or 16. The final match is slated for Wednesday, October 21.

2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule

• First Round: Tuesday, March 17 – Thursday, March 19
• Second Round: Tuesday, March 31 – Wednesday, April 1
• Round of 32: Tuesday, April 14 – Wednesday, April 15
• Round of 16: Tuesday, April 28 – Wednesday, April 29
• Quarterfinals: Tuesday, May 19 – Wednesday, May 20
• Semifinals: Tuesday, Sept. 15 – Wednesday, Sept. 16
• Final: Wednesday, October 21

First and Second Round draws and schedule will be announced by U.S. Soccer in January.

The first live draw will be held Tuesday, April 2, when the Round of 32 and subsequent round pairings will be determined.

The overall format, draw groups and pairings will be based on geography, along with the basic mathematic principles of a single-elimination competition. Random selection will be used to solve a lack of logical geographic fit. Draw groups may be created to account for venue availability in any round, based on the league schedule of competing teams or other conditions per tournament regulations.

Back in the Big Dance: Steel City FC storms back to defeat Croatia Cleveland to earn US Open Cup berth