The San Jose Earthquakes hit Interstate-80 to challenge USL Championship club Sacramento Republic FC in the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, May 21. Kickoff from Heart Health Park in Sacramento, California, will take place at 7:00 p.m. PT and will be broadcast globally on usopencup.com, uslsoccer.com and mlssoccer.com. Fans can watch the game live by clicking here.
To reach this juncture, the Earthquakes defeated Oakland Roots SC, another USL Championship side, on May 7 in the Round of 32. After a back-and-forth battle, impact substitute Ousseni Bouda scored the game-winner in the 76th minute with a strike from outside the box for a 1-0 result.
San Jose eyes revenge against the Republic as this matchup serves as a rematch of their previous Open Cup meeting. In the Round of 16 of the 2022 tournament, which also took place at Heart Health Park, the USL side got the better of this matchup with a 2-0 victory. Sacramento went on a historic run, reaching the final before ultimately falling to Orlando City.
The Republic also downed a USL Championship club, Monterey Bay FC, in the Round of 32. 2-0. Additionally, the Qualis are in fantastic league form, coming off a 2-2 away draw against Rhode Island FC, keeping them at the top of the Western Conference. Trevor Amann leads the line for Sacramento with a club-high six goals to his name. In 2023, the forward finished as the top goalscorer in USL League One in Division III, netting 26 times before rising one level to join the Republic.
Back in San Jose, the Black and Blue have been preparing for the road trip. Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez highlighted the clash ahead against their NorCal neighbors. “This is the beauty of Open Cup,” said Gonzalez. “You see the competition with teams that are of different professional levels and it makes the game very meaningful. There's a lot of pride on the line and we know Sacramento will bring the very best tomorrow. … We know how challenging this is going to be, the mental part of it, the emotional part of it. We consider them another rival because of the area of the region. It’s a club that has ambition. ... [with] the stadium and the environment, passionate soccer environment. This is fun; this is what it's all about. We want to embrace it but we need to be ready to bring our very best to get the job done.”
While San Jose has a heavy schedule in May in MLS league play, Gonzalez stressed how seriously the Quakes take the Open Cup. “We're embracing playing as many games as possible,” said Gonzalez. “You know, we're going to have a week off here early June. I want to coach games and the players want to play. We have a squad with depth and we want to show our depth with players stepping up. … [It’s] a trophy that our club has never won. It's the oldest trophy, most historical trophy in our country. This is a big honor to play in this in this tournament and we are really excited for the opportunity to play Sacramento.
If the Quakes can emerge victorious in this NorCal showdown, they move one step closer toward a trophy that has historically eluded them in the past.
