It’s all very simple, folks. We’re here, at the end of the road – the last of 64 games stretching back to the fall of 2024, when the amateur strivers first laced up for the Qualifying Rounds of this year’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. 

Our two Finalists, Austin FC and Nashville SC, both hail from the ranks of Division I MLS, both have first-year coaches and both only came to exist in real life inside the last five years. But when all is said and done on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at Austin’s Q2 Stadium (with the game LIVE on Paramount+ and on air at CBS Sports Network) one of these young clubs will lift the most historic prize on offer in this country’s soccer. 

“It’s a special moment,” said B.J. Callaghan, the 44-year-old coach of Nashville SC, whose side head into the 110th edition of the U.S. Open Cup Final breathing a sigh of relief after sealing a place in the MLS Playoffs at the weekend. “The first one – the first title or the first trophy as a group – is something no one can ever take away from you. It means a lot.” 

Nashville’s Been (Near) Here...