The U.S. Open Cup can be wildly exciting and, at the same time, extremely hard to follow.
For instance, on Wednesday night there were 10 Open Cup games taking place, with most of them overlapping in some way. Even with all the screens in the world, no one human could possibly keep track of all of the key moments from all the games. For years, fans had been crying out for a way to follow all of the Open Cup action in one centralized place.
The Futbol Americas crew finally sorted that out on Wednesday, and their whip-around show seemed to achieve something bordering on the impossible in the social media age: Everyone loved it.
Herculez Gomez and Sebastian Salazar hosted the Futbol Americas U.S. Open Cup Goalcast on ESPN Plus, doing the lord’s work by staying on the air for more than seven hours while round-of-32 games took place from coast to coast.
Gomez and Salazar brought in players from games that just finished as guests, as well as Open Cup luminaries like John Harkes, Sebastien Le Toux and Brad Evans.
The pair facilitated a relaxed atmosphere that included bathroom breaks, eating and texting on air – the kind of events viewers don’t normally see but are required when on the air for longer than a cross-country flight.
For years, fans have been wondering how to increase the Open Cup’s popularity. As a tournament featuring teams from the amateur ranks all the way to MLS, the unpredictability and natural underdog stories that emerge should be appealing to the same country that devours Cinderella stories every March in college basketball.
The Futbol Americas crew won’t make the Open Cup a marquee event on their own, but Wednesday’s show was undoubtedly a step in the right direction.