The Great Depression gave way to World War II, where sports in this country were hit hard by the draft. High profile athletes like baseball’s Ted Williams would be taken away from the sporting world and off to fight a war. And yet, through World War II, the Open Cup did not fail to hold a tournament. Following World War II, the next era of U.S. soccer took shape: immigrant ball. Some of the oldest soccer teams in the United States have their founding club’s ethnicity proudly in their name. Teams like Greek American Atlas Astoria, an early powerhouse of ethnic soccer, were founded in 1941. They are still around today, going by the name New York Greek Americans and play in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League; they also have 4 Open Cups to their name. Other ethnic teams founded around this time that still around today include the Brooklyn Italians (1949), Milwaukee Bavarian SC (1929), New York Ukrainians (1947), and the Croatian Eagles (1922). These ethnic teams dominated the post-war soccer landscape.

But once MLS was created in 1996, The Open Cup has been MLS’s to lose. Since the league was created, MLS has had two teams in every final except two, 1999 and 2008. In 1999 the Rochester Rhinos beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0, marking the last time a non-MLS team won the tournament. In 2008, Charleston Battery made the final, but lost 2-1 to D.C. United. Also worth mentioning is USL’s own Richmond Kickers winning the open cup in 1995, a year before MLS took the field.