Iowa might be most well known for corn, caucuses and Caitlyn Clark, but on Wednesday, it will have, however unlikely this may seem, have the eyes of the American soccer world on it as Des Moines Menace meet Union Omaha in the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Usually a second round match in the U.S. Open Cup wouldn’t draw much attention, but the Menace have done something revolutionary in American soccer. As a lower division club, they have recruited a who’s who of retired American and Major League Soccer stars to populate their roster, ensuring that they have plenty of name recognition, and maybe a chance of making a run against some of the top tier clubs.
“I think we’re the underdogs every time we step on the field. We’ve got an average age of 35 plus, so there’s no doubt we will be the underdog for the amateurs as much as we played once a long time ago, we’re the amateurs. Now this isn’t our every-day job anymore and so the expectation is that there’s more pressure on the other team than on us and we’re here to win but we’re here to enjoy ourselves with one another, with ex-players, ex-teammates in front of our families,” Des Moines Menace midfielder and former United States men’s national team player Benny Feilhaber said.
Call it What You Want (Tuesday and Thursday): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States. You can catch the show streaming live on YouTube every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
Remember Some Guys FC
USL League Two teams play their league matches between May and July, fielding mostly NCAA soccer players, which is what caused the scramble to field a team after qualifying for the U.S. Open Cup. Enter the old guys. Led by former U.S. international Sacha Kljestan, a current broadcaster for MLS on Apple TV, the Menace have become if “Remember some guys FC” was an actual soccer team. Featuring players like Dax McCarty, A.J. DeLaGarza, Benny Feilhaber, and Bradley Wright-Phillips, there’s plenty of international and top-level experience but most of the team is also is between 35-40, while balancing their day jobs with getting together to play in open cup games.
It’s something that shows the magic of the competition, that no two teams have the same roster composition, and the stories behind how those came to be can be quite fascinating. Amateur players like Leroy Enzugusi, Kyle Owen and Enzo Carvalho will still be involved, but in essence, this will only be the second match that this squad has played together.
“[Not having prep time between games], that’s huge and other than the age and the fitness to me, that’s the biggest challenge because it’s a team sport and we don’t get to train together. The first game we had a light training session a few days before with probably half of our roster and then we had our full roster just the day before,” Feilhaber said. “This time around, we’re only going to be able to get a training session…and probably some sort of a walk through for a tactical perspective, maybe day of the game. That’s huge and as a former player, as a former coach, I truly understand that time with players and time together as a team is invaluable so that is by far the biggest challenge and you’re almost king of figuring it out as you go.”
The Menace will have one game to go off of after defeating Sporting Kansas City II in the first round of the competition and Feilhaber acknowledged that it will help with determining the squad setup coming into this match to be a little more balanced but that still doesn’t make the challenge of overcoming their lack of training together. But, the lack of familiarity is something that works both ways because Union Omaha also doesn’t have much to go off of with setting up their side for this match.
“It’s a little tricky to plan for a team that don’t play together frequently, but going into all games the focus of our gameplan is on being the best version of ourselves, while understanding how the opposition might be able to hurt us and how we can hurt them,” Union Omaha head coach Dominic Casiato said. “One game of Des Moines together obviously isn’t a lot to go on, and I’m sure they will be bringing in a few more players for this game, so I think focusing more on ourselves and being at our top level is the best game plan we can put together.”
Being a team that gets to play together each week, Union Omaha will have been able to have something closer to an appropriate plan for this while also winning their last two matches in all competitions, kicking off the new season.
Notable Des Moines Menace players
| Bradley Wright Phillips | England |
| Sacha Kljestan | United States |
| Dax McCarty | United States |
| Osvaldo Alonso | Cuba |
| Benny Feilhaber | United States |
| Justin Meram | Iraq |
| Victor Ulloa | Mexico |
| Matt Hedges | United States |
| A.J. DeLaGarza | United States |
Omaha is a USL team on the rise
With a rich history in this competition themselves, which includes bouncing a Menace side with many of these same retired players last season, Union Omaha are no strangers to Open Cup success, defeating two MLS sides during their 2022 run in the competition. Now, being able to turn that into strong league form while building a sustainable team under Casiato, Union Omaha aren’t going to take anything in their path lightly. The experience of winning titles only makes them want more silverware, while also showing that they have a blueprint in big matches that can be successful.
“I think the experience of winning a championship together – our third title in two seasons after back-to-back regular season titles in 2023 and 2024 – gives the guys confidence that they know what it takes to pull through and be successful in big games,” Casiato said. “The experience of winning together consistently, year after year, despite turnover in the playing squad, gives the guys a lot of belief that no matter the circumstances, competition or opposition, we will find a way to win together.”
There’s a reason why this team has been so successful, even under various coaches, success has continued waving the flag for Nebraska soccer. They’ll be the away team in this match on Wednesday, April 2 but coming off of a big win, that feeling will follow them into this clash to push them past the experience of the Menace. There’s also familiarity due to Feilhaber getting to coach against Casiato in the preseason during his time as the manager of SKC II as despite how vast the soccer landscape is, connections are everywhere.
Even in the shifting landscape of the Open Cup, Feilhaber gets a chance to play in front of his family when his kids rarely got to see him during his professional career and Casiato will test his team against former pros who have been there and done that in a knockout competition.
“It’s almost like your own version of March Madness, but each step you’re playing a higher level team. We played an MLS Next Pro team now we’re playing a UCL League One team, and if we wi,n we’ll play a USL Championship team, and if we somehow beat them, we’d play an MLS team. It’s kind of like a dream, and we’ll take it as far as we’re allowed to take it” Feilhaber said.
Both teams will have this view on Wednesday but only one can advance to the third round.
How to watch Des Moines Menace vs. Union Omaha, odds
- Date: Wednesday, April 2 | Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Valley Stadium — West Des Moines, Iowa
- Live stream: YouTube
- Odds: Des Moines Menace +300; Draw +280; Union Omaha -140
Read the full article here
