In years past, it was not uncommon to see teams from outside Major League Soccer make deep runs in the tournament, sometimes capturing the imaginations of fans of soccer in the country with visions of a Cinderella story in the storied tournament.
In 2008, Osvaldo Alonso helped lead the Charleston Battery to the tournament final against D.C. United. The USL’s Battery outlasted the Seattle Sounders – then in the USL as well – in the semifinal as both clubs sought to break the stronghold on the tournament by MLS clubs that had seen only the country’s top flight win the Open Cup every year since the shocking win by the Rochester Rhinos in 1999.