2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal & Final Draw👀 the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal & Final Draw live from Soccer House.
Posted by U.S. Soccer on Friday, July 14, 2017
The road to the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final will go through Kansas City, and either Cincinnati or Miami.
US Soccer held a draw to determine the remaining hosting scenarios for the Open Cup semifinals and final on Friday (watch video above), and the results of the random process broke in favor of Sporting Kansas City and the winner of the postponed quarterfinal between Miami FC and FC Cincinnati, with those two lines in the bracket drawn as hosts for the semifinal matches, set for August 8-9 pending final schedule confirmations.
So the San Jose Earthquakes and visit Sporting at Children's Mercy Park in one semifinal, while the other will feature the New York Red Bulls vs. the winners of the all-second division quarterfinal, a clash that was originally set for Wednesday night but had to be postponed due to heavy thunderstorms in South Florida, and is yet to be rescheduled.
The draw also determined the hosting priority for the tournament’s championship final, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 20. Lady luck smiled on SKC again there, as the three-time Open Cup champions gained the top spot for hosting, followed by the Red Bulls in the second slot, the winner of Miami-Cincy in third and the Quakes in last.
What's all that mean? If Sporting win their semifinal, they'll have first dibs on hosting the championship game. If they fall to San Jose, hosting priority would shift to the Red Bulls. If neither of those teams advance, the second-division survivor would get to host. The Quakes' fourth-place slot means that they are the only team that has no chance of hosting should they win their semi.
The tournament is already assured of a new champion, with defending title holders FC Dallas having been knocked out by SKC in the quarterfinals this week.
