El Farolito, the eponymous amateur soccer team named after the Mission District taqueria, is going back to Sacramento on Wednesday. Same stadium, same opponent — the team that beat them 1-0 in the third round last year. But 2026 is not 2025, and not only because the World Cup comes to this country in three months.
This year, the Burrito Boys enter the U.S. Open Cup directly against USL Championship teams — the country’s second professional division. The tournament trimmed its field from 96 to 80 teams this year, eliminating a round that had previously matched amateur clubs against lower-tier professional sides. Now that buffer is gone. Sacramento Republic in the first round is not a fixture accident: Iit is the new reality of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States.
“For me it was a reality check,” said coach Santiago López. “The landscape going forward is much harder than it used to be.”
The Mission District club has qualified for the U.S. Open Cup four consecutive years, and for two of those has been the best amateur team in the tournament. But Sacramento carries something the other opponents don’t: unfinished business. The 1-0 loss last year was a close match.
“We weren’t that far off. It was an even game, and it can be done,” said forward Dembor Bengtson. That time, the team’s top goalscorer barely caught any well-placed ball in the final third. “Now we’re going to impose our game.”
What makes this match different from last year is also what doesn’t show: Ccaptain Jonathan Mosquera, 38, didn’t play that game. An injury kept him out. His score to settle with Sacramento is more personal than anyone else’s: Hhe wasn’t even on the field when they fell.
“I think about that game all day,” he said. “This is a must-win exam.”
The team traveling to Sacramento on Tuesday is not exactly the same one from last year. Goalkeeper Johan Lizarralde, who kept El Farolito alive with several crucial saves that night, returned to Colombia. So did Andrés Zuluaga and Hadier Borja, two defenders from the core group. Brayan Gómez is now playing professionally in Macau.
Four new Colombians arrived: Felipe Ávila, Sergio Villarreal, Jerson Malagón and Pedro Valoyes. Known faces within the team’s Colombian circle, all with professional trajectories, but still unproven against the pace and physicality of American professional soccer.
“Hopefully the first Cup game doesn’t catch them off guard,” the coach warned. “That’s where you run into the intensity of professional football in this country, and you have to adapt fast.”
Preseason was short — one month, three times a week, with canceled friendlies and opponents who didn’t show up. The NPSL calendar, their local league, hasn’t even started. The most important game of the year arrives before any other.
There is something different about this year that goes beyond the fixture. The World Cup comes to the United States in June — the first time since 1994 — and the attention it brings has already found its way to the Mission District.
Umbro, the English sportswear brand that kits out clubs across the Premier League and La Liga, recently signed El Farolito as part of its grassroots expansion in the United States.S. The team will serve as the showcase for Umbro’s new custom kit program — a platform that allows amateur clubs to design their own uniforms.
“Some of the most compelling stories in American soccer still come from the grassroots level,” said Kevin Miranda, Umbro’s digital consultant for North America. “El Farolito represents the kind of authentic community football culture that has always existed in the U.S., and we want to help support and celebrate that.”
For the players, the World Cup is less a business opportunity than a mirror. Midfielder Herlbert Soto, 30, drives for Amazon Flex in the mornings before training in San Francisco and returning home to San José at night. “The Open Cup means even more this World Cup year, it means we can keep Farolito in the national and perhaps international conversation,” he said.
Mosquera feels it differently — with the specific ache of someone who knows exactly what he missed and how much time has passed. He played professionally in Colombia before settling in the Bay Area, before his construction jobs in the North Bay, before the hour-long commutes to evening practice.
“I would love to live the World Cup experience,” he said. “I’ll do my best to go to a game. The World Cup has always been the greatest dream of those of us who play football.”
López has been watching Sacramento clips, trying to find any footage he can. Their preseason has been behind closed doors, and they’ve played only one league game — not much to go on. What he knows is enough to worry about: they are tall, direct, and fast on the counter.
“We have to be smart with the ball,” he said. “When we have it, we need to make good decisions, play safe, not give it away and invite a counterattack. And we have to be solid in the air — they have big players, they play long balls, they jump lines. Our defense is going to be very busy.”
Getting the team to Sacramento in the right condition will be its own challenge. López plans to travel Tuesday, a day early, so players can take a day off work and arrive rested rather than stepping off a job site and onto a professional field.
“Everyone is welcome,” López said. “These matches are rare. It’s a special moment.”
Kickoff is Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Heart Health Park in Sacramento.