Witness Soccer History in the Making El Farolito Soccer Team Set to Make a Comeback

The first round of the US Open Cup will take place on May 10th with multiple matches pitting top amateur soccer clubs from around the country against each other. The only amateur side that has previously won this competition that will be participating in this year’s first round is El Farolito. A San Francisco-based amateur soccer club, El Farolito won the historic US Open Cup in 1993 when at the time they were called Club Deportivo (CD) Mexico.

The club was founded by Salvador Lopez, the owner of Taqueria El Farolito, one of the most famous Mexican food spots in San Francisco if not all of California. With the prime location directly outside of the 24th Street/Mission BART Stop, El Farolito is distinguished for being one of the originators of the San Francisco Mission-style burrito. Just next door to the restaurant is El Farolito Bar where I was able to meet with Head Coach, General Manager, do-everything-for-the-Club, Santiago Lopez, to talk about the history of the Club and the upcoming tournament. The bar is where all of the Club’s trophies and memorabilia are kept. Even the 1993 Open Cup trophy sits on a shelf at the bar.

Since its founding in 1985, the club has played in the historic San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL). Salvador Lopez founded the Club because he had “always been a fan of soccer and wanting to compete, ” said head coach Santiago Lopez.

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They won consecutive promotions immediately to the SFSFL Premier Division, the top tier of the League. The SFSFL is one of the oldest soccer leagues in the United States and even the world, playing league matches in the heart of SF since 1902.

The league features its own three-tiered promotion-relegation system as well as some of the same clubs that have played in the league since the 1910s. The Olympic Club is the oldest current club in the SFSFL, having joined the League in 1916. It is perhaps El Farolito’s biggest current rivals.

“They have so much experience. The players are so committed to the Club, the tradition, that the whole club is amazing. Everything that the Olympic Club represents is prestige and tradition, ” said the El Farolito head coach. The Olympic Club is the defending SFSFL champion, having topped El Farolito who finished second last year in the league.

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El Farolito is not the only club from the SFSFL to have won the US Open Cup. The league was the home of two-time Open Cup champions in 1985 and 1994, the San Francisco Greek-American Athletic Club. The San Francisco Italian Athletic Club won in 1976. Following the 1985 win for the Greek-Americans, their head coach, Lothar Osander, became the head coach of the US National Team, a position he held from 1986-1988. He also won the Cup with them in 1994. This means that in 1993 and 1994, the SFSFL won back-to-back Open Cups. This followed the San Jose Oaks win in 1992, making the Bay Area one of the most dominant soccer hubs in the pre-MLS era.

“The 90s was the most amazing decade for Bay Area soccer, ” said Lopez. “You had the Greek-Americans, you had El Farolito, you had the San Francisco Seals .”

The 1993 El Farolito Open Cup run included some big wins over top amateur sides of the day. They beat the defending Open Cup champions, the San Jose Oaks, in regional qualifying with a 1-0 win. They then won their regional final against Exiles SC (Manhattan Beach, Calif.).

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In the Semifinals, they beat the Bavarian SC (Milwaukee), a club that remains active today in the Premier League of America, and is a four-time National Amateur Cup winner. In the match with the Bavarians, El Farolito was reduced to nine men, but managed to force the game to overtime. Jose Angulo scored the lone goal for El Farolito in regulation, and then went on to score twice more in overtime to complete his hat trick and send El Farolito to the final.

They then were pitted against the amateur power, the United German-Hungarians (Philadelphia area), in the final Cup match at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. The match was on national television on a tape delay. The United German-Hungarians were a club founded in 1910 that went into the 1993 Open Cup final with more history and experience than El Farolito. While El Farolito was able to reach the 1991 National Amateur Cup final, the German-Hungarians had already been to four Amateur Cup finals, including winning in 1965. They also appeared in the Open Cup final in 1977, a game in which they lost to five-time Open Cup winners, Maccabee AC (Los Angeles).

There was quite a number of talented players in the 1993 Open Cup squad for El Farolito. First there was striker Jose Angulo, a Columbian international. He was considered the heartbeat of the team. His biggest contribution was his hat trick in the semifinals. In addition, the team had two different multiple goal scorers in the final. Both Samuel Cid Del Prado and finals MVP Elias Fonseca found the back of the net twice that day as El Farolito won 5-0.

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The Open Cup win became the true establishment of the Club’s winning tradition. They also won the SFSFL that year to complete the double and establish themselves as a force within the League. The club did hit some hard times about seven years ago when they found themselves on the verge of relegation. That is when current head coach Santiago Lopez took over. It was bad enough that in his first game in charge he had to play himself. However, he was able to salvage a 4th place finish in what would be his lowest finish in the league as coach to date. El Farolito last won the league in 2015 under Lopez.

To qualify for this year’s Open Cup 1st round, El Farolito thought they would have to win four or five games in qualifying rounds. However, it turned out to be only two matches. In the first qualifying round back on September 17th, El Farolito topped the Davis Legacy at home, scoring twice within 10 minutes before holding on for a 2-1 victory.

In the second qualifying round, they traveled to Lake Forest, Calif. to face Strikers FC South Coast. El Farolito saw two red cards go against them in the match within 30 minutes, reminiscent of the 1993 semifinal. However, El Farolito took a 2-0 lead while reduced to nine men, before winning the match 2-1 to reach the first round proper of the Cup.

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One of their top players on the Open Cup roster from last season, Dylan Autran, recently signed a pro contract in the Finnish second tier, so he will be unavailable for this match. Some of the top players to look out for in the upcoming match begin with the most local product, Emanuel Caldera. Caldera was born in Nicaragua but grew up in the San Francisco Mission District just a few blocks from the El Farolito Restaurant.

The most versatile player is Alex Lopez. Coach Lopez says that he can play anywhere on the field, including at the back or as a winger.

“You can put him at a 90, 000 seat stadium or at Boxer Stadium and you’re going to get the same whole-hearted attitude.”

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Gabe Silveira, a player who is currently playing for El Farolito and is on their roster for the current season, but last year played for the Burlingame Dragons.

“He still doesn’t know if he’s going to play with the Dragons against us, ” said Lopez at the time of the interview. Since he hasn’t played for either side yet in this year’s Cup, he would be eligible to play for either team.

El Farolito will welcome local PDL side and San Jose Earthquakes affiliate, the Burlingame Dragons, to their home at the historic Boxer Stadium. Boxer Stadium is home to most SFSFL matches and is named after former SFSFL president, Matthew Boxer. The stadium is located just off of the Balboa Bart Stop in San Francisco.

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“It’s a tough field, ” said Lopez, when asked if Boxer Stadium would give his club a home field advantage. “You can play any field and anything can go wrong. It can go bad. Soccer has to do with a little bit of luck. Preparation will increase the luck, but at the end of the day anything can happen.”

“It’s going to be entertaining. Both clubs don’t know each other, ” said Lopez. “We have more games in preparation than them, but there are no games that we can go to and watch them play and scout them.”

“We know the Dragons are going to be an extremely tough team, because they know how to play soccer. Maybe they haven’t worked together, but truly they have quality players, ” said Lopez. “The Dragons are doing something extremely right and they are sending players to MLS, defenders that are debuting and scoring in their first MLS game. That’s amazing. We know we are up against a tough machine.”

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He then went on to talk about his opposing head

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