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The US Open Cup is highly coveted as the longest-running soccer tournament in America. In 2025, 64 professional teams and 32 amateur teams competed, with the final championship match coming down to Austin FC and Nashville SC.

Orny & Inna in the stands for the 2025 US Open Cup final.

US Open Cup opening ceremony and pyrotechnics.

The supporters' groups' massive US Open Cup tifo.

The official 2025 US Open Cup match poster.

Somehow, Austin won the draw to host the final – the first-ever championship match in Austin FC’s 5-year existence – so I convinced Inna that we should be there for the biggest game in club history. It was her first time attending a soccer match.

Despite Austin being the home team, I didn’t really expect us to win. We have 12 wins this season to Gnashville’s 16, and Gnashville have two of the league’s best players in Hany Mukhtar (the 2022 league MVP) and Sam Surridge (one of the league’s top 3 scorers). Of personal interest, one of their backup players is Teal Bunbury, who played for the New England Revolution for 8 years.

In contrast, Austin FC doesn’t have any real star-caliber players, except for our legendary goaltender Brad Stuver. Although young backup CJ Fodrey had produced stunning last-minute game-winning goals in 3 of the 4 games preceding the Open Cup final.

As for the gameday experience, we benefited from having reserved parking at a bank just across the street from the stadium. Our first stop was the team shop, where I didn’t buy anything because they’d already sold out of Open Cup jerseys and scarves, but Inna picked up a baseball cap. Then we made our way to our seats.

The pregame fanfare featured a big Open Cup banner in the center of the pitch, some pyrotechnics, and an immense and impressive tifo put together by the supporters’ groups. Unfortunately, that is about all that Austin’s SGs are good for, because they’re really there just for themselves, doing nothing to involve the rest of the crowd.

As for the actual game… We had far more and better chances than the opposition, but Gnashville did a much better job putting their chances away, while we squandered ours, including having a priceless penalty kick blocked. We also don’t fare well trying to penetrate a set defense, moving the ball forward only to turn around and pass backward at any hint of pressure.

But the most infuriating aspect was the horrific officiating. Even before the game began, I commented to Inna that lead ref Tori Penso has a terrible reputation, and she more than lived up to my expectations, allowing Gnashville to cynically piddle away over 15 minutes of game time without so much as a warning. Then, with the match tied at 1-1, she awarded Gnashville a penalty kick on a dubious foul, which gifted the game to Gnashville. So much for the idea that referees aren’t supposed to decide the outcome of games.

Following the game, we tried to pick up a match poster, but they’d all been given away at the pre-match party, so I had to settle for downloading the electronic version and printing it myself on 11x17” poster stock. Although I didn’t think about it in July when I bought some foamcore to mount my Austin vs. New England match poster, it was handy that the foamcore had come in a multi-pack, so I had some left over to use for the US Open Cup poster.

Although the disappointing result meant we couldn’t celebrate Austin FC’s first championship trophy, we still enjoyed the experience. There was more pageantry and crowd energy than you’d get for a regular-season MLS game, so it made a good first experience for Inna, who was able to forget about her work stress for a few hours of entertainment. And who knows when Austin will get their next chance to host another championship game?

If you’re interested, here’s the 11-minute extended game highlights video:

Watch on YouTube

I must have been terribly bored, because sometime around 2012 I started watching MLS, the top-tier American soccer league, with specific interest in the local team: the New England Revolution.

Sporting my Revs kit, here in the farthest seat from the pitch...

The matchday poster I snagged at the end of the game.

I’ve never been into sportshead culture, but in 2019 I paid for membership in the Midnight Riders, one of the Revolution’s supporters’ groups, specifically to back them for calling for the dismissal of the team’s coach following years of underperformance. I’ve followed the Revs and been a member of the Riders ever since; but I’ve never been to a game, because their stadium is an hour’s drive out of town, and at that point I was living car-free.

In 2022 Inna & I moved to Austin, where the local team — Austin FC – had just joined MLS. Which brought up the obvious dilemma: do I root for Austin or New England?

Although I’ll always support the Revs, I really want to like the local team, but that hasn’t been easy. Austin FC has been a perpetual underperformer, saddled with poor coaching and mystifying personnel choices both on and off the field. Plus, their supporters’ groups are best known for drawing attention to themselves and ignoring what’s happening on the pitch.

Fortunately, Austin plays in the Western Conference and New England in the Eastern, so the two teams rarely face each other. In fact, although Austin joined the league in 2021, they have only played New England once in four and a half years!

As of July 2025, New England was the only MLS team that had never visited Austin’s Q2 Stadium. But on July 12th they would finally face off here in my new hometown. For me, it was a must-see game. It would be the first MLS game I’d ever attended, so equally my first Revs game, and my first Austin FC game.

The next question was whether to go as a general local fan, or if I should wear my New England kit and sit in the away supporters’ section.

On the plus side, getting tickets through the Midnight Riders would be cheaper than general seats, and I’d be sitting amongst other vociferous New England fans for the first time. The downside was that away team seating is as far as you can physically get from the field, and on the side of the stadium that receives direct afternoon sunlight.

In the end, what swayed my decision was it being my only chance to sit in the away supporters’ section, whereas for any other game I could sit wherever I wanted and cheer for Austin with the rest of the crowd.

That’s a lot of build-up, just to get to the point of saying that I went. I’d like to say it was amazing, but the reality was considerably less.

It was indeed cool sitting in the away section with other Revs supporters, joining in on their chants and general merrymaking. My seat was indeed in the very last row at the very top of the nosebleed section in the extreme northeast corner of the stadium.

I made particular note during warmups to focus my binoculars on Andrew Farrell, a New England fan favorite who – after 13 years and a club-record 341 appearances with the Revs — is nearing the end of his career as a player.

As befits two perennially mediocre teams, 90 minutes of soccer resulted in a pretty predictable 0-0 scoreless draw.

Having some local foreknowledge – and knowing neither team was likely to score – I left just before the game ended, so that I could score the free 11x17” game matchday poster before they ran out. It’s nothing special, but in the absence of paper tickets, it’s the best cheap memento of what was, for me, a memorable event.

I’m sure I’ll go to other games at Q2 – rather soon, in fact! – but you always remember your first, right? And it was a good way to honor my dual loyalties to both Austin and New England.