Tampa Bay Rowdies await if Tropics can advance in U.S. Open Cup

LAKELAND, Fla –  The Lakeland Tropics would match up with one of the most iconic franchise in soccer next month if they can win their first round game in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

U.S. Soccer announced Wednesday that the Tropics would meet the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the tournament's second round, a game that would be played either May 14 or 15 at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg.

The Tropics will make their second straight Cup appearance, and first at home, when they host The Villages SC on Tuesday, May 7 at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex, with kickoff at 7 p.m. The two are rivals, having played four times in the past two seasons in USL League Two play.

The winner will get the Rowdies, with exact game information including ticketing information to be finalized in the coming weeks.

The Rowdies are a USL Championship League franchise, one level below Major League Soccer. The game would provide for a reunion with former Lakeland Tropics star Juan Tejada, who led the Tropics in goals last season, and over the winter signed to play with the Rowdies. He has appeared in all six Rowdies games so far this year, including one start. 

The Tropics are only one of 84 teams in the country to earn a berth, and one of only 10 teams in USL League Two (previously known as the Premier Development League) to head to the  2019 Cup.

“We are honored to once again be included in this great event,” Tropics CEO Dr. Panos Iakovidis said. “We have worked very hard to put a team on the field that Lakeland and Polk County can be proud of, and being part of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for a second straight year is a reward for our team and fans who have supported our efforts.”

The 2019 tournament kicks off May 7-8 with 19 first round games, culminating in August with America’s soccer champion lifting the Open Cup trophy after eight rounds of single-elimination play.

The Tropics finished third in USL League Two's Southern Division with a 9-2-3 record. The Villages SC, one of the Tropics main rivals, is the only other Florida based USL Two team to get a Cup invite, and also finished at 9-2-3 in 2018 to earn their respective berths.

Last spring, in their inaugural U.S. Open Cup appearance, Lakeland traveled to Texas to take on the Midland-Odessa Sockers of the National Premier Soccer League, falling 3-0.

The Houston Dynamo is the defending Open Cup champion, having earned the club's first tournament title thanks to a 3-0 victory against the Philadelphia Union on Sept. 26, 2018, at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

In its 106th year, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – U.S. Soccer's National Championship – has crowned a champion annually since 1914. The history-filled tournament is conducted on a single-game, knockout basis and open to all professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor United States soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt. 

For more information, visit www.ussoccer.com which is the official website of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Follow the Open Cup on Twitter and Instagram @OpenCup and Facebook @OfficialOpenCup.

 The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States and the world's third-longest continuously-running open soccer tournament.