The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is down to eight teams, and U.S. Soccer confirmed the pairings on Thursday morning.
With the Seattle Sounders, winners of four of the last six titles, and 2013 champions D.C. United both eliminated from the tournament, 2012 champions Sporting Kansas City are the most recent champions remaining in the field. The Chicago Fire (2006) and LA Galaxy (2001) are the next most recent champions, while five teams - New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union, Orlando City, Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake - have never won the tournament before.
The first quarterfinal will be played on Tuesday, July 14, with Real Salt Lake hosting the LA Galaxy in a matchup contested in the playoffs in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014, with each team winning twice. The Galaxy had the most recent victory, however, with a dominating 5-0 win in the Western Conference semifinals last October.
Another quarterfinal will also feature a rematch of recent playoff meetings when Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo square off on July 21. Houston eliminated Kansas City in the 2007, 2011 and 2012 postseasons en route to two Eastern Conference titles, only to fall to Sporting in the 2013 conference championship game. Both teams moved to the Western Conference for this season.
The other quarterfinals feature the Chicago Fire hosting Orlando City on July 22 and the New York Red Bulls hosting the Philadelphia Union on a date to be announced.
With teams competing in a 16-team fixed bracket for the first time after a June 18 draw, the quarterfinal pairings were already known, but dates and times had yet to be confirmed. Each match in the quarterfinals will be the final of one of four regions; hosting scenarios for the final will be announced after the quarterfinals.
Round of 16
June 30:
Philadelphia Union 2, D.C. United 1 (East)
Chicago Fire 3, Charlotte Independence 1 (South)
Orlando City 2, Columbus Crew SC 0 (South)
Houston Dynamo 1, Colorado Rapids 0 (Central)
July 1:
New York Red Bulls 4, New York Cosmos 1 (East)
Sporting Kansas City 6, FC Dallas 2 (Central)
Real Salt Lake 2, Portland Timbers 0 (West)
LA Galaxy 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0 (West)
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, July 14, Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy, 10pm ET (West)
Tuesday, July 21, Sporting Kansas City vs. Houston Dynamo, 8:30pm ET (Central)
Wednesday, July 22, Chicago Fire vs. Orlando City, 8pm ET (South)
Date TBA, New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union (East)
Semifinals (Aug. 11-12)
East vs. South
Central vs. West
Final (Sept. 29 or 30)
Semifinal winners
