The 2010 U.S. Open Cup tournament proper features teams from the top five levels of the American Soccer Pyramid. These five levels, namely Major League Soccer, the United Soccer Leagues (First Division, Second Division, and Premier Development League), and the United States Adult Soccer Association, each have their own separate qualification process to trim their ranks down to their final team delegations in the months leading up to the start of the tournament proper.

The 2010 Cup will feature 8 teams from the MLS, 9 from the USSF Division 2 (being all 9 US-based teams), all 6 teams from the USL Second Division, 8 teams from the PDL, 8 from USASA, and an additional team resulting from a single match between Sonoma County Sol of the National Premier Soccer League and PSA Los Gatos Storm of US Club Soccer.^[1] The eight clubs from MLS will receive byes into the Third Round.

Tier 1: Major League Soccer (MLS)

The top six MLS clubs in the 2009 standings were given six of the berths into the Third Round while the nine remaining U.S.-based clubs will compete for the final two berths via a playoff.

Bracket

Schedule

Note: Scorelines use the standard U.S. convention of placing the home team on the right-hand side of box scores.

Play-in Round

Philadelphia Union v New York Red Bulls

April 27, 2010	Philadelphia Union	1 – 2	New York Red Bulls	Harrison, New Jersey
20:00 EST	Jacobson  31' Le Toux 68' Miglioranzi  76'	(Report)	16' 41' Chinn  66' Borman  81' Boyens	Stadium: Red Bull Arena Attendance: 3,015 Referee: Andrew Chapin

Qualification Semifinals

Real Salt Lake v San Jose Earthquakes

April 14, 2010	Real Salt Lake	3 – 3 (a.e.t.) (5 – 3 p)	San Jose Earthquakes	Santa Clara, California
19:00 PDT	Findley 7' Johnson  8' González 60' Beckerman  89' Borchers 117'	(Report)	51' Beitashour 68' Leitch 88' Álvarez 108'  109' Burling	Stadium: Buck Shaw Stadium Attendance: 2,718 Referee: Alejandro Mariscal
	Penalties
	Johnson Beckerman Findley Russell Williams		Álvarez Gjertsen McDonald Sánchez

Colorado Rapids v Kansas City Wizards

April 14, 2010	Colorado Rapids	2 – 1	Kansas City Wizards	Kansas City, Missouri
19:30 CDT	Thompson 24'  32' 80'	(Report)	4' Bunbury  20' Chhetri  60' Conrad	Stadium: Durwood Soccer Stadium Attendance: 1,226 Referee: Tony Russo

FC Dallas v D.C. United

April 28, 2010	FC Dallas	2 – 4	D.C. United	Washington, D.C.
19:30 EDT	Guarda 52' McCarty 57' (pen.) Wallace  67' Edward  72'	(Report)	4', 59' Cristman  21' Morsink  28' Wallace 39' Castillo 51' Najar	Stadium: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Attendance: 2,804 Referee: Chris Penso

New England Revolution v New York Red Bulls

May 12, 2010	New England Revolution	0 – 3	New York Red Bulls	Harrison, New Jersey
20:00 EDT	Phelan  88'	(Report)	36' 64' Wolyniec 62' Ubiparipović	Stadium: Red Bull Arena Attendance: 1,935 Referee: Shane Moody

Qualification Finals

May 26, 2010

20:00 EDT

Colorado Rapids	0 – 3	New York Red Bulls
Larentowicz 12' Thompson  54' Earls  86'	(Report)	11' 43' Wolyniec 56' Chinn  77' Stammler

Red Bull Arena
Harrison, New Jersey

Attendance: 2,637

Referee: Niko Bratsis

New York Red Bulls qualify for the Round of 16.

June 2, 2010

19:30 EST

Real Salt Lake	1 – 2 (aet)	D.C. United
Beltran  70' Warner  73' Alexandre  77' Johnson 81' (pen.)	(Report)	75' (pen.) Emilio  90+3' Morsink 107' Najar  120+2' James

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 3,074

Referee: Mark Kadlecik

D.C. United qualify for the Round of 16.

Tier 2: USSF D-2 Pro League and Tier 3: USL-2

Due to the reshuffling of teams and the compromise between the United Soccer Leagues and the breakaway North American Soccer League, there are only 6 teams in USL-2 and 9 eligible teams in the newly formed USSF Division 2 Professional League (Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Puerto Rico Islanders are not eligible because they are Canadian or Puerto Rican clubs). All 15 eligible teams will automatically qualify rather than 8 from each league as in years past, leaving an additional slot to be filled .

Tier 4: Premier Development League

PDL eligible clubs (59 of 67) qualify by playing in PDL league matches in April and May that double as US Open Cup qualifying matches. The team with the best record in those games from each of the eight divisions will advance to the Cup.

The Abbotsford Mariners, Ottawa Fury, Toronto Lynx, Thunder Bay Chill, Vancouver Whitecaps Residency, Victoria Highlanders and Forest City London are not eligible because they are Canadian clubs. Also the Bermuda Hogges is not eligible because it is a Bermudian club.

Tier 5: United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA)

USASA is divided into four geographical regions, each of which will advance two teams to the US Open Cup. Assuming the continuation of recent seasons' format, the two finalists in each region will be awarded berths.

Region I

Region I represents the northeastern region of the US. The regional tournament began April 10 and the remaining four teams will compete in the semifinals on May 23. The two regional finalists will advance to the 2010 US Open Cup. The quarterfinalists are:[1]

Aegean Hawks	Virginia
Brooklyn Italians	New York
Charm City FC	Maryland
Danbury United	Connecticut
Fenerbahce USA	New York
Go Soccer FC	New Jersey
NY Pancyprian-Freedoms	New York
United German Hungarians	Pennsylvania

Region II

Region II represents the midwestern region of the US. The regional tournament began May 1 and the semifinal matches were played May 15. Both finalists qualified for the 2010 US Open Cup. The quarterfinalists were:

402 FC	Nebraska
AAC Eagles	Illinois
Des Moines Menace	Iowa
Detroit United	Michigan
Fire SC '00	Minnesota
KC Athletics	Kansas
Milwaukee Kickers	Wisconsin
St. Paul Twin Stars (NPSL)	Minnesota

Region III

Region III represents the southeastern region of the US. The regional tournament was conducted from May 29 to May 30 at the University of Alabama. Though it was originally scheduled to feature nine clubs organized into three groups of three followed by an elimination bracket, a lightning storm canceled the first day of games and Brazil Soccer Academy was disqualified for failing to show. The tournament was reorganized into two groups of four with the winner of each group qualifying for the US Open Cup.

Group A

Team		W	D	L	Pts
Legends FC	Texas	3	0	0	9
Pumas FC (NPSL)	Alabama	1	0	1	3
Lynch's Irish Pub	Florida	0	1	1	1
Rocket City United (NPSL)	Alabama	0	1	2	1

Group B

Team		W	D	L	Pts
CASL Elite	North Carolina	2	1	0	7
FC Tulsa (NPSL)	Oklahoma	1	1	1	4
Atlanta FC (NPSL)	Georgia	1	1	1	4
ASC New Stars	Texas	0	1	2	1

Region IV

Region IV represents the western region of the US. The regional tournament was conducted from May 21 to May 23 in Sacramento, CA. An initial eleven teams divided into three groups, each of which played round-robin, and the winner of each group as well as the best performing second place team advanced to a four team bracket. The two semifinal winners advanced to the regional final as well as the 2010 US Open Cup.

Flight A Team W D L Pts Real San Jose (NPSL)  California 2 0 0 6 FC Hasental  California 1 0 1 3 SF Italian Athletics  California 0 0 2 0 Flight B Team W D L Pts Bay Area Ambassadors (NPSL)  California 3 0 0 9 San Diego Boca FC (NPSL)  California 1 1 1 4 French Soccer Academy  Washington 1 1 1 4 Arizona Pros  Arizona 0 0 3 0 Flight C Team W D L Pts Sacramento Gold (NPSL)  California 3 0 0 9 Arizona Sahuaros (NPSL)  Arizona 1 1 1 4 Doxa Italia  California 1 1 1 4 Yakima United  Washington 0 0 3 0

Semifinals Qualified             1 Bay Area Ambassadors 1 4 Sacramento Gold (NPSL) 0 Bay Area Ambassadors Arizona Sahuaros 3 Real San Jose 1 2 Arizona Sahuaros 2

40th place

Due to the 2010 restructuring of the USSF Division 2, only 15 US-based teams were available to take the USL and NASL's non-amateur slots. On May 5, 2010 the USSF announced that the remaining slot would be allotted to the winner of a game between the Sonoma County Sol and PSA Los Gatos Storm, two California-based clubs in the US Soccer amateur structure.