Fans are awaiting the results of the 2019 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, but it’s not too early to start looking ahead to the 2020 US Open Cup qualifying.

The format for the 107th edition of the tournament has yet to be released, and while there was a drastic decrease in the number of USL League Two slots for 2019, the US Open Cup committee has been discussing changing the format to allow more Open Division teams into the tournament. USL League Two, formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), has held a fairly consistent qualifying process since 2012 where the league determines its entries based on the previous year’s results. The only changes have been the number of teams that the US Soccer Federation has awarded USL League Two.

This weekend is the final weekend of USL League Two, so teams and fans will not only be scoreboard watching for playoff positioning, but also to try to move up in the overall league standings to improve their chances of qualifying for next year’s US Open Cup.

In 2012 and 2013, the top 16 US-based USL League Two teams qualified for the tournament, while that number increased to 19 from 2014-16. In 2017, the top 21 teams got in. It has declined since then, with 20 slots allocated in 2018 and 10 slots allocated in 2019.

The 11 division winners will be prioritized first, followed by the rest of the league. As the Mountain Division played a 12-game schedule compared to everyone else playing a 14-game schedule, average points per game will be used to sort the teams (followed by average average wins, average goal difference, and average goals scored). If a Canadian team wins the division, they will not be replaced by the next best finishing American team. The Great Lakes division will also count all 14 of the games played on each team’s schedule this season for Open Cup purposes, even though only 12 of the matches will count for USL League Two playoff purposes.

The teams that qualify will join other Open Division teams, such as the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and local amateur qualifiers in the opening round of next year’s competition.

Below is the overall USL League Two standings (excluding Canadian clubs) updated after the games of Friday, July 12, and each team’s remaining games.

Friday results:

Dalton Red Wolves SC 4:5 Charlotte Eagles

Black Rock FC 2:7 AC Connecticut

Florida Elite SA 1:1 Lakeland Tropics

Seacoast United Phantoms 2:1 Manhattan SC

Long Island Rough Riders 1:1 Cedar Stars Rush

Peachtree City MOBA 0:1 Discoveries SC

Texas United 0:6 AHFC Royals

Victoria Highlanders FC 2:3 Calgary Foothills FC

Portland Timbers U23 1:1 Lane United FC

Orange County SC U23 3:1 San Francisco City FC

UPDATE (July 13, 11:23 a.m. ET) – Sounders drop to 2nd place in the Northwest, division titles to be decided on Saturday

With their 5-4 defeat to Charlotte Eagles on Friday, Dalton Red Wolves drop out of the top 20, significantly decreasing their chances of an Open Cup berth. Florida Elite SA also did the same with a 1-1 draw against Lakeland Tropics. Long Island Rough Riders, while undefeated in 10 straight matches, have drawn 7 matches this season, including last night’s 1-1 draw with Cedar Stars Rush, and could use all 3 points on Sunday against Ocean City Nor’easters. Finally, Calgary Foothills took back lead of the Northwest Division from Sounders FC U23, moving the Sounders academy down 6 spots to 16th. Sounders still have a chance at the Northwest Division crown if Calgary falters against Victoria and the Sounders can defeat rivals Portland Timbers.

Two division titles will be decided on Saturday. In the South Atlantic Division, North Carolina Fusion U23 will need all three points against Virginia Beach United to win the division championship. If the Fusion do not win, North Carolina FC U23 will take the title, as they own the head to head tiebreaker in the event of a Fusion draw today. The division title could be the difference between making the Open Cup and not, as the runner-up could drop below the Top 20 range.

The Deep South Division will be decided in a winner take all match today as South Georgia Tormenta FC 2 travels to SC United Bantams. Tied on 29 points for the season, a winner will take the division title. In the event of a draw, they are both equal on head to head and number of wins. Tormenta FC 2 would take the tiebreaker on the vastly higher overall goal difference in the league.

Saturday results:

Western Mass Pioneers 2:1 Manhattan SC

Park City Red Wolves SC 0:3 Colorado Pride Switchbacks U23

Ogden City SC 2:0 Albuquerque Sol F.C.

Sarasota Metropolis FC 4:2 FC Miami City

Boston Bolts 3:4 GPS Portland Phoenix

Virginia Beach United 0:3 North Carolina Fusion U23

Dayton Dutch Lions 0:1 Flint City Bucks

FA Euro New York 1:2 New York Red Bulls U23

Tri-Cities Otters 3:7 Tobacco Road FC

Daytona SC 1:0 Treasure Coast Tritons

South Georgia Tormenta FC 2 1:0 SC United Bantams

Cincinnati Dutch Lions 2:2 West Virginia Alliance FC

Seacoast United Phantoms 3:3 Westchester Flames

St. Louis Lions 2:2 Green Bay Voyageurs

AHFC Royals 3:3 Brazos Valley Cavalry F.C.

Thunder Bay Chill 0:2 Des Moines Menace

Orange County SC U23 1:1 San Francisco Glens SC

Southern California Seahorses 1:2 FC Golden State Force

UPDATE (July 14, 1:00 p.m. ET) – Tormenta FC 2 and Fusion U23 take division titles, one decided on Sunday, Des Moines Menace earn regular season title

South Georgia Tormenta FC 2 defeated SC United Bantams 1-0 to take the Deep South Division championship on Saturday, securing their spot among the top 10 of the Open Cup standings. North Carolina Fusion U23 also got the job done against Virginia Beach United 3-0 to take the South Atlantic Title. Sounders FC U23 can win the Northwest title today, but only if they win and Calgary Foothills lose to Victoria Highlanders. Calgary would have the head to head tiebreaker if Calgary and Seattle were to finished tied on points.

There was a shakeup at the top of the standings on Saturday. In the early afternoon, Western Mass Pioneers defeated Manhattan SC 2-1 to finish on 36 points. In the evening, Brazos Valley Cavalry finished 3-3 with AHFC Royals. Coupling that with Des Moines Menace’s 2-0 victory over Thunder Bay Chill, Des Moines moves up to first place on goal difference over the Pioneers. The Cavalry would drop to 4th after FC Golden State Force defeated Southern California Seahorses 2-1.

Other teams that did themselves favors with wins included Flint City Bucks 1-0 victory over Dayton Dutch Lions. That moved the Bucks all the way up to 14th place. GPS Portland Phoenix got themselves a hard fought 4-3 victory over Boston Bolts, landing them into 11th place as the best USL League Two team that didn’t win their division. Finally, Daytona SC got a 1-0 victory over Treasure Coast Tritons. That moved Daytona up to 18th place and the Tritons down to 15th place.

Sunday results:

Victoria Highlanders FC 0:3 Calgary Foothills FC

Peachtree City MOBA 0:3 Charlotte Eagles

Portland Timbers U23 3:3 Sounders FC U23

Long Island Rough Riders 3:3 Ocean City Nor’easters

Lehigh Valley United 0:5 Reading United AC

Dalton Red Wolves SC 0:2 Discoveries SC

Houston FC 1:6 Corpus Christi FC

Thunder Bay Chill 1:2 Green Bay Voyageurs

UPDATE (July 14, 10:15 p.m. ET) – Calgary takes Northwest division, Corpus Christi FC moves into top 15

Calgary Foothills claimed the Northwest Division title today with a strong 3-0 victory over Victoria Highlanders. This means that Sounders FC U23 could not join the rest of the division winners at the top of the table.

Corpus Christi FC also boosted their ranking all the way up to 15th with a commanding 6-1 victory over Houston FC. Ocean City and Long Island had a chance to get into the top 20, but untimately settled for a 3-3 draw which hampered both team’s chances of qualifying in 2020.

Reading United moved up to 5th after a 5-0 win over Lehigh Valley United.