Charlotte FC plays Greenville Triumph in the US Open Cup tonight. Here’s how to watch
Charlotte FC has a chance to earn bragging rights outside Major League Soccer as it prepares to face the Greenville Triumph on Wednesday in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
The match is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Open Cup is a U.S. Soccer-organized domestic competition in which lower-division teams compete against higher-division teams, such as MLS, with the winner earning a bid into the 2023 Concacaf Champions League. Charlotte FC head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez noted that the tournament was important and could benefit the team, not only “financially,” but also with a CCL bid.
“All these games are always a special moment and a learning moment,” Ramírez said. “(It’s) a chance to keep learning and to keep playing together and to keep consolidating the ideas. It’s a great opportunity.”
Charlotte FC is coming off a 2-1 loss against the New England Revolution last Saturday, and sits eighth in the MLS Eastern Conference standings with a 3-5-0 record. This is the first mid-week match Charlotte will play since it started its inaugural MLS season as a 2022 expansion team.
Charlotte is set to return to MLS competition against the Colorado Rapids this Saturday (9 p.m. at Dicks Sporting Goods Park), so there will be a tight turnaround and heavy travel schedule for the team aiming for its first win on the road. Greenville (0-1-1 in League One) hosts Charlotte at its Triumph Stadium in South Carolina.
How to watch Charlotte FC-Greenville Triumph
A direct link to the ESPN+ stream is available here. A valid subscription is required.
What is the Open Cup?
The U.S. Open Cup tournament was first held in 1914 and is the oldest national soccer competition in the country. Charlotte FC is one of the 17 MLS teams entering Third Round play this week and is set to face the Triumph via random draw in which Charlotte was guaranteed to play a lower-division team.
The Open Cup tournament was paused due to the pandemic for the last two years, so 2019 title winner Atlanta United is the defending tournament champion. Nine MLS teams played Tuesday with two of those teams, the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew, getting upset by their lower-division opponents.
Union Omaha beat the Fire 5-4 after a penalty shootout. It was the first time a USL League One team knocked out an MLS club. Charlotte FC is aiming to avoid a similar result Wednesday.
The match will be on ESPN+ with no blackouts.
