Why is there no Women’s Open Cup?
Photo credit: Jamie Smed
“Is John back on his rant soapbox again?”
Yes, yes he is.
“Well, what is it this time?”
It’s simple. There is still no Women’s Open Cup.
You see, the U.S. Open Cup is kind of the greatest thing in American sports. Every single year, teams from all over the country compete to win one of the oldest sports championships in our country. Teams ranging from the giants of MLS all the way down to our favorite #BullshitPubTeam, Harpo’s FC. Nowhere else in America will you find a World Cup veteran making millions of dollars a year playing against a group of guys who work together and play in the local league for fun on Sundays. And sometimes that group of guys beats the millionaire. It’s the best.
And that leads me right to my main point. Why is there no Women’s Open Cup?
We definitely have enough teams to make a full tournament pool. Just looking at NWSL, UWS and WPSL, there are 136 teams in the top two divisions of American women’s soccer. Even if we do something wherein each regional/conference champion of the UWS and WPSL compete alongside the nine NWSL teams, that’s still a 29-team tournament that would be loads of fun.
The closest thing we currently have is the (possibly defunct) USASA National Women’s Open, which I can’t find any current information on. The most recent results I have are from the 2016 edition, which featured all of four teams playing a total of six games. Not good enough.
I want to use the format of the men’s Open Cup, but for women’s teams. Is that too much to ask for? Seriously.
Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.
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