GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – Wednesday night, all eyes will be on the Greenville Triumph as they host Charlotte FC for a highly-anticipated matchup.
“The excitement is kind of over the top, to make it to the third round of the US Open Cup and to draw a Major League Soccer team to Greenville. It’s never happened before in the Upstate,” said Joe Erwin, owner of the Greenville Triumph.
The match features two levels of play, drawing people to Legacy Early College from across the Upstate and surrounding areas.
“We are going to have new people at Legacy, we have new people, eyes on us, and if we put a good representation of ourselves, than they will come back next week, and they will come back the week after and as a club like this, that’s what you want,” said Triumph player Jake Keegan.
With a growing fan base, the franchise said they still have plans to build their permanent home in Mauldin.
Back in February, the Greenville County Finance Committee voted against ‘Project Kick.’
They decided to hold off on the construction of the proposed $38.6 million facility.
A Greenville County Council member said the county did not have the bonding capacity to fund the stadium without raising taxes.
However, the club has not stopped working to build a new proposal.
“We are working on that every single day. This is another reminder that the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson area needs the kind of facility that we proposed,” said Erwin. “And so, we are not giving up on it. We don’t have anything to announce right now, but we are working on things and we are confident that we will get there.”
While there are no set plans ready to be reviewed by Greenville County’s Council, Erwin said they are considering a multitude of ways to make it happen.
“For us, right now, we are exploring other options as a way to get this stadium under construction and built. We are not going to leave anything unturned,” said Erwin. “We are going to look at everything.”
On the forefront of Wednesday’s agenda, he said the Triumph are hoping for a rowdy crowd and a “cupset.”
“Any time a lower-division team or a side beats a higher division side, it’s called a ‘cupset’ instead of an upset. So, we’ve already got one ‘cupset’ under our belt for beating Oakland and we’d like to make it two,” said Erwin.
Wednesday night’s match is sold out.