United States Soccer Federation announced Friday the third round match-ups in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
FC Tucson will host National Independent Soccer Association side California United Strikers FC on Tuesday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Kino North Stadium in the next round of the competition.
NISA, which was launched in 2019, as an independent league within U.S. Soccer. The league was granted provisional third-division status in 2019 by USSF. The league plays a Fall & Spring calendar. Detroit City was the 2021 Fall champ and subsequently moved to to USL Championship for 2022.
The league has stated its focus is on teams building their rosters with local players. For example, Cal United, which was the 2021 Fall runner-up after going 9-3-6, has more than half of its roster hailing from Southern California.
The Irvine, California based club hosted United Premier Soccer League side San Fernando Valley FC in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup on April 7.
Fifteen-year-old Marcus Lee, who came up through Cal United’s academy, made his debut for the club by scoring one goal and an assist in the side’s 5-0 thrashing of San Fernando.
Sylmar, California native Tony Lopez scored a brace and Brazilian Guilherme Farias came off the bench to score his first goal for the club. The two are returnees from the 2021 Fall runner-up squad.
Cal United currently sit third in NISA Group B (0-0-2) after two scoreless ties in its first two games of the season.
