#WinAndIn
This Saturday, November 18th, Chicago House will play in the fourth and final round of 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification. House will travel to Milford, Ohio to face Valhalla F.C., who plays in the Ohio Valley Premier League at 3:00 PM ET at Lucas Charity Field. The winner will be one of 11 amateur sides to advance to tournament proper in a year where a record 111 teams entered the qualification process and will play their first-round matches on March 19th or 20th, 2024
About Valhalla F.C.: Valhalla, a member of the OVSL, finished at the top of the table for their spring/summer season with a record of 9-1-0. The OVSL, while technically a U23 men’s amateur developmental league, operates independently from the Ohio State Soccer governing body and is a member of U.S. Club Soccer, allowing them to waive the age regulations and be open to amateur players of all ages. Like House, this is Valhalla’s second entrance into U.S.O.C. qualification, their path came to a quick end in the fall of 2022, losing in the first round.
Valhalla’s Path to Round Four: Valhalla drew a first-round bye, like House, this fall and began competition in round two, traveling to Indianapolis to host the Chicago Strikes and advanced with a 2-0 victory. Round three saw them travel to Buffalo, NY to take on Sahara Gunners F.C, an all-refugee squad. Valhalla made easy work of the home side punching their ticket to the fourth and final round of qualification by a score of 10-1, earning the right to host Chicago House, arguably the story of the tourney last competition.
Valhalla’s Goal: The club was founded in 2018 with a goal of qualifying for U.S. Open Cup tournament proper and advancing far enough to face a professional side. At present, they would probably need a victory on Saturday and a first-round win in March to see that goal come to fruition.
What’s Valhalla? Valhalla comes from Norse Mythology and is said to be a place protected by Odin for half of those killed in battle, German kings and heroes to reside until Ragnarök when they come out to support Odin in battle against the Jtönar.
As for Chicago House, the club’s success last fall and in tournament proper have been well documented on the team’s socials and website, but house historian, Chuck Carlson, wrote a recap of last year’s qualifying run that can be found in the news section at www.chicagohouseac.com.
To read more about this season’s round two and round three matches:
Looking ahead to the fourth round from head coach and technical director, Matt Poland:
On preparing to face a team you’ve ever faced and probably won’t in the future:
“We have a lot of experience in the Open Cup facing teams we’re not familiar with. Obviously, last game versus Edgewater, we’ve played them in league play, but they were a much different team with different players from the summer but the Open Cup as a whole. We’ve played all across the U.S., and we don’t know what to expect from the other team, which is challenging on one hand and on the other hand it’s nice because you don’t over think the opponent and we just focus on ourselves and what we need to improve on. We just need to make sure we’re the best version of ourselves and as the game goes on, especially those first ten minutes, we’ll find out a lot about our opponent and what adjustments need to be made to compete against them.”
On off-season preparation for tournament play:
“It’s a challenge when you don’t have league games every weekend to get guys minutes, so having to keep the players game sharp without always having as many games is definitely an added wrinkle. Luckily, we have a big squad so we’re able to intersquad scrimmage and find some other teams to scrimmage. That’s why games like last Friday are so important, especially against teams like the Fire II that are good competition in the fall.”