In a week that consists of three games in five days, the Lions open U.S. Open Cup play against the Athletics at the Seminole Soccer Complex tonight. Check out three interesting storylines for tonight’s match against the Athletics in today’s OC3.

1) Getting familiar - The Kansas City Athletics are a relative unknown to Orlando City fans, so here’s a quick background on how they got here. The Athletics defeated the PDL’s Real Colorado Foxes 3-1 last week at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo., advancing to the second round of the U.S. Open Cup. With the win, KC became the first United States Adult Soccer Association club since 1995 from the state of Kansas to win a US Open Cup game.

This year marks the second time the Athletics have qualified for the Open Cup. KC qualified for the first time in 2010 after defeating the Cincy Saints 10-2 in a Region II qualifier. They later fell to the NSC Minnesota Stars by a score of 4-2 in the opening round of the tournament in 2010.

2) Players getting an opportunity – The opening rounds of the US Open Cup usually means that players on professional-level clubs who have limited action during the regular season see the pitch in US Open Cup play. In last year’s 4-0 win over the ASC New Stars, who play in the same league as KC Athletics, Forward Dennis Chin tallied one goal and two assists. Before the New Stars match, Chin played sparingly in the 2011 regular season, with the Open Cup his first chance to really shine.

So which player will star in this year’s opening round of the Open Cup? Tuesday’s match will be interesting to see which Orlando City player emerges as the next Open Cup star.

3) Keeping fit for two more matches - When the players go to sleep Tuesday night, they’ll wake up knowing that another two matches await them in the next four days. Los Angeles comes to town for the first meeting between the two franchises on Thursday. Charlotte visits the Citrus Bowl Saturday looking for revenge after the Lions handed the Eagles a 2-0 defeat at Charlotte Christian Stadium in the season opener on April 7.

Staying healthy will be key against the Athletics. “The next match up is the most important,” said Orlando City Head Coach Adrian Heath in a recent interview with Orlandocitysoccer.com. As important as the Open Cup is, Orlando also has the rest of the regular season to focus on.