El Paso Locomotive to face Houston Dynamo in Open Cup road match

The USL Championship club will take on the MLS side in the annual tournament.

Apr. 2, 2026 at 11:29pm

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A cubist, geometric painting featuring overlapping planes of blue, orange, and black, representing the dynamic action of a soccer match between two teams.An artistic interpretation of the high-stakes Open Cup clash between the upstart El Paso Locomotive and the established Houston Dynamo.El Paso Today

The El Paso Locomotive, a USL Championship club, will face off against the Houston Dynamo, an MLS team, in the 2026 U.S. Open Cup. This will be the second consecutive year that the Locomotive have played a Texas-based MLS team in the annual national tournament.

Why it matters

The U.S. Open Cup is a prestigious nationwide soccer competition that gives lower-division clubs the opportunity to compete against top-flight MLS teams. For the Locomotive, this matchup represents a chance to test themselves against elite MLS opposition and potentially advance in the tournament, which would be a major accomplishment for the young USL franchise.

The details

The Locomotive are coming off a 4-0 victory in their previous Open Cup match. Now they will travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo, who are one of the most established clubs in MLS. The winner of this road game will advance to the next round of the tournament.

  • The match will take place on April 2, 2026.

The players

El Paso Locomotive

A professional soccer club that plays in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid.

Houston Dynamo

A Major League Soccer club based in Houston, Texas that has been in the league since 2006.

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What’s next

The winner of the El Paso Locomotive vs. Houston Dynamo match will advance to the next round of the 2026 U.S. Open Cup.

The takeaway

This Open Cup clash represents an exciting opportunity for the upstart Locomotive to test themselves against one of MLS's established franchises. A victory would be a major milestone for the young USL club as they continue to build their profile in the American soccer landscape.