|
Round 4: Only MLS advances to quarterfinals
MLS flexes their muscle, Dallas Roma FC's run comes to an end
NY advance to quarters with narrow win
Jordan Cila spoils a late equalizer with game-winner in 86th
 |
In front of a great home crowd, the Wilmington Hammerheads’ Chris Bagley (left) battles with the Red Bulls’ Jeff Parke.
Photo by Lisa Perry (Abundant Life Photography) |
The rowdy crowd at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, NC were still celebrating an 85th minute equalizer by second half substitute Ryan Miller when another sub, Jordan Cila regained the lead for the New York Red Bulls less than a minute later. With the 2-1 win, the Red Bulls snapped a two-game Open Cup losing streak and will travel to the nation’s capital to take on DC United in the Quarterfinals.
 |
Chris Bagley (left) and Jeff Parke challenge for a header in Wednesday’s match.
Photo by Lisa Perry (Abundant Life Photography) |
The Red Bulls controlled the majority of the possession in the first half, and got off to an ideal start with a 4th minute goal by Seth Stammler. Off a pass by Mike Magee, Stammler launched a shot from just outside the box and it found it’s way into the upper left corner of the net.
The home side pushed for the equalizer late, and got their wish thanks to a pair of second half subs. Brady Bryant crossed a ball into the box and Miller headed the ball past Tony Meola to level the score at one.
The tie score and prospect of overtime were dashed less than a minute later when Danny O’Rourke crossed a ball to New York-native Jordan Cila who quieted the crowd with what would prove to be the game-winner.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak in the tournament for the Red Bulls franchise. After losing to the Chicago Fire in the 2003 final, the club, then known as the Metrostars, had been eliminated by USL clubs in the fourth round two years in a row. (Charleston Battery beat them 1-0 in 2004 and the Rochester Rhinos knocked them out 3-1 in 2005).
Fire complete quarterfinal field
Chicago snaps 6-game winless streak with 2-0 win over KC
By Sean Donahue - Revolution Recap radio show
In a match looking more like a reserve fixture than a single elimination U.S. Open Cup battle, the Chicago Fire defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-0 to advance to the Quarterfinals for the eighth time in nine years. The Fire and the Kansas City Wizards both had MLS matches on Saturday and would face each other again on Wednesday, so it was obvious that the teams were concerned about fatigue from the busy schedule. The Fire dominated the first half and took a well deserved 1-0 lead going into halftime and doubled it twenty minutes into the second half before Kansas City even threatened to score.
Chicago got off to a good start with some early chances and took the lead in the 18th minute. Chad Barrett sent a perfect pass to Calen Carr in the 6-yard box, who put it past Wizards’ goalkeeper Will Hesmer for the 1-0 lead.
Chicago continued to have the better of the play in the first half, though they rarely threatened Hesmer before the halftime break. Showing their desire to win, Chicago brought on All-Star forward Nate Jaqua into the match at halftime. Jaqua almost had an immediate impact, but his shot sailed wide of the net just seconds after coming on.
It would be Andy Herron, however, who provided the real spark in the second half. Herron troubled the Wizards backline all game long and only some great saves and good defensive plays kept him off the score sheet until the 65th minute where Herron hammered home a cross from Brian Plotkin from close range to make it 2-0.
Kansas City finally showed some life in the 70th minute after bringing on Matt Groenwald and U.S. International Josh Wolff. Wolff forced Chicago goalie Matt Pickens into a difficult save just seconds after coming into the match and Ryan McMahen added to the pressure soon after, forcing Pickens to make another stop just a minute later.
The Wizards continued to look for the equalizer and soon brought on Sasha Victorine, but it was again the Fire and Herron who looked the most dangerous. Herron fired off shots in quick succession, sending one just high in the 75th minute and forcing Hesmer to make another tough save just seconds later.
Kansas City continued to throw everything forward, even inserting Eddie Johnson into the lineup in the 80th minute, but it was too late for the Wizards and the game ended without causing Pickens any more problems.
Chicago continues their quest for their fourth U.S. Open Cup Championship on Wednesday, August 23rd at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois at 7:30 p.m. CT when they take on the New England Revolution. The two teams also met in last year’s Open Cup with the Fire needing overtime to eliminate the Revolution in the fourth round.
Battle of the Dynamo goes to Houston Houston fights off late surge with a goal by Eddie Robinson
The Houston Dynamo opened up a big lead at home, then got a bit of a scare from the PDL’s Carolina Dynamo. Eddie Robinson scored an 82nd minute goal to seal a 4-2 victory in a matchup of teams named Dynamo Wednesday night in a fourth-round U.S. Open Cup match at Robertson Stadium.
The MLS team had a 19-5 advantage on the shot chart and controlled play from the start, but the visitors had an excellent chance to take the early lead when Ben Hunter stepped to the penalty spot in the 23rd minute. Houston goalkeeper Zach Wells, though, dove to his left and made the save to keep the game scoreless.
Six minutes later, Alejandro Moreno opened the scoring on a header off a cross from Brian Mullan. Moren o was back at it again four minutes later, as he coralled a loose ball in the box after a free kick by Brad Davis and scored through traffic. Moreno’s strike partner, Ronald Cerritos, made it 3-0 in the 58th on another header, this one off a corner kick by Stuart Holden.
Wells Thompson got Carolina, which was unbeaten in PDL regular-season play this season, on the board in the 62nd as he picked up a rebound and beat Wells to the top right corner.
Carolina pulled within 3-2 in the 71st as Ryan Solle controlled the ball up the middle and played a through ball to Randi Patterson, who finished past the on-rushing Wells.
But one last header by Robinson, off another corner kick by Holden, clinched the victory and sent Houston to a quarterfinal matchup against Texas rival FC Dallas.
Cooper’s hat trick rescues FC Dallas Hoops win PK shootout after rookie scores in final minute of OT
Kenny Cooper completed a hat trick in the final minute of extra time, and Dario Sala came up with a save in the shootout as 10-man FC Dallas got past the Charleston Battery 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 3-3 tie in a scintillating U.S. Open Cup fourth-round match Wednesday night in Charleston, S.C.
Cooper’s second goal of the night, during a goal-mouth scramble in the 89th minute, appeared to be the game-winner. But in stoppage time, Justin Moore took down Luke Vercollone in the box, giving Charleston its second penalty kick of the night. Ian Fuller converted past Sala to force extra time.
The USL First Division Battery took the lead in the second 15-minute period, with Luc Harrington finishing off a cross from Troy Lesesne in the 114th minute. Charleston was moments from being the only non-MLS team to advance to this year’s quarterfinals, but substitute forward Dominic Oduro played a cross into Cooper, who spun and fired a left-footed shot past keeper Dusty Hudock to tie it again.
FC Dallas converted all five of its penalty kicks in the shootout, and after Sala stopped Vercollone’s try, Simo Valakari made the winning kick.
Cooper’s goal in first-half stoppage time gave FC Dallas the initial lead, but the Hoops lost their lead and went down a man in the 63rd when Clarence Goodson was red-carded for a challenge on Gavin Glinton. Ben Hollingsworth made the penalty kick to tie the match, and it remained that way until Cooper’s goal in the final minutes of regulation.
Revolution escape Rochester with PK win Scoreless match ends with exciting penalty kick shootout
By Sean Donahue - Revolution Recap radio show
Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution silenced their critics with a 5-4 penalty kick victory over the USL First Division’s Rochester Raging Rhinos on Wednesday night. Much of the talk leading up to the game circled around the Revs’ decision to rest key players in previous Open Cup matches, but they could not be accused of that this time as they put out their best available team and got a hard fought victory over their old Open Cup foes.
The Revs faced a tough task traveling to Rochester’s new PAETEC Park for the first time to face the former champion Rhinos, but they had the better of the play for much of the match and out shot the Rhinos 18 to 12, while putting 7 on target to the Rhinos 3. Scott Vallow made some superb saves to preserve the 0-0 draw through overtime and again on the Revs first two penalty attempts, but he could not stop the next 5, including the eventual winner by Jeff Larentowicz, as the Revs advanced to the quarterfinals for just the third time in club history.
 The Rhinos started brightly in front of their home crowd and forced Revs ‘keeper Matt Reis into the first save of the game in the 12th minute on a blast from distance by Johnny Menyongar.
It would be the Revs who took over from there however, as Pat Noonan forced Vallow into a good save in the 23rd minute. Thirteen minutes later, it was more of the same as a shot from Larentowicz forced the Rhino’s keeper into another save in what would be the last real chance of a fairly uneventful first half.
Twenty-four minutes into the second half, the Revs brought on rookie forward Willie Simms and Uruguayan playmaker Jose Cancela for Taylor Twellman and Joe Franchino in hopes to add a spark to the attack. Simms did just that, continuously getting in dangerous spots and pestering the Rhinos defense, but his finishing let him down as he was unable to hit the target on several key chances.
Andy Dorman, the catalyst of the Revs attack for much of the season, almost put the Revs in front in the 76th minute, but Vallow once more proved the hero, making yet another key save. Two minutes later Vallow was called upon again as Cancela put a shot on frame.
Possibly the Rhinos best chance of the game came from the Revolution with less than ten minutes in regulation when Dorman dispossessed Rhinos forward, but redirected the ball towards the Revolution goal. A diving save from Reis prevented what looked like an embarrassing own goal.
The teams headed into overtime with history against the Revs. The Revs had failed in their seven previous attempts under Steve Nicol to win a game that went into overtime. The Revs looked willing to attack still, and Willie Simms again sparked some Revs’ attacks in overtime, but the end result continued to be the same as he saw a couple of golden chances go just high or be stopped by continued superb play from Vallow. His counterpart, Reis, on the other end of the field went relatively untested in overtime, though he was forced into a good saves right before the end of the first period and near the start of the second.
Just before the end of overtime, Jose Cancela almost provided the game winner with an excellent solo effort, but his shot sailed just wide of the target.
The Revolution headed into the shootout with the odds stacked against them. In the Revs only two previous appearances in knockout competition shootouts the Revs ended up on the losing end, including a loss to the Rhinos on PKs the last time these two teams met in the 2004 US Open Cup. Mike Ambersley and John Ball scored on the Rhinos first two attempts, while Shalrie Joseph and Andy Dorman saw their shots stopped by acrobatic saves from Vallow to give the Rhinos a dominating 2-0 advantage. The Revs caught a break on the next two shots as Matthew Delicate sent his shot high and Tenywa Bonseu sent his into the crossbar, before Jose Cancela and Steve Ralston leveled it at 2 a piece. Aaran Lines then scored the next one for Rochester, meaning the Revs would have to score their next penalty to stay alive. With their Open Cup hopes on the line, Matt Reis stepped up and blasted it past Vallow to send it into the sudden death rounds. Both Kenney Bertz for the Rhinos and James Riley for the Revs scored their penalties to send it to a 7th round. Frankie Sanfilippo sent his shot wide and Jeff Larentowicz continued his break out season by scoring the final penalty to give the Revs the 5-4 victory in the shoot-out.
The Revs advance to the Quarterfinals to face either the Kansas City Wizards at Lusitano Field in Ludlow, Massachusetts or the Chicago Fire at the brand new Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois on August 23rd at 7:30 PM ET. The Kansas City versus Chicago match scheduled to take place just an hour after the Revs kicked off with the Rhinos was postponed due to severe weather, so the Revolution will have to wait to see who they face in the next round. The win improves the Revs record in Open Cup play to 6 wins and 6 losses, while the Rhinos drop to a still impressive record of 18 wins and 10 losses.
Colorado defeats Rocky Mountain rivals 1-0 Rapids earn only third win since losing the 1999 final
On Wednesday night, a 61st minute tally by Jacob Peterson with some magic from Clint Mathis who set him up for the only goal of the match in a 1-0 road win over Real Salt Lake.
Colorado’s backup goalkeeper Matt Jordan made seven saves and was peppered all match long from the home side who were just coming off a feel good win against DC United in MLS action, but it was not enough to get them through to the Quarterfinals for the first time in their short existence.
The play started off a quick restart from Jordan after he stopped an 18-yard blast from Chris Klein. He found Mathis and made a good distribution towards him. Mathis on the run and took the ball all the way to the end-line taking two defenders with him. He would back-heal a pass into open space behind him. Peterson, who was trailing the play, smacked the sitter past Jay Nolly for what would prove to be the match winner.
Once the match got into second half stoppage time that’s when a one goal lead can get hairy, because you pray that a poacher won’t get a chance to sneak in a shot for a late equalizer and force the match into extra time, but Matt Jordan did his job to keep the clean sheet and advancement into the Quarterfinals and they will be headed for Hollywood and face the defending cup champion LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center on Wednesday, August 23rd.
Galaxy end Roma’s cinderella story Gary Richards of The Two G’s radio show recaps the match
by Gary Richards - www.the2gs.com
The defense of the U.S. Open Cup began in earnest for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday evening. An under-strength Galaxy squad put out by head coach Frank Yallop, pitted against a squad of young, old and inspired players from Texas in the form of Dallas Roma F.C.
A beautiful summer’s evening in Los Angeles and for an ex-pat, the lure of an upset and the drama of the "F.A. Cup" experience was too good to pass up.
F.C. Roma didn’t seem intimidated in warm-ups, and looking at a makeshift backline which included Cobi Jones at left back they surely had to be relishing this tie.
Roma started the game with poise, but early signs of the L.A. Galaxy’s intent as Herculez Gomez struck a third-minute free kick, which was well handled by stand-in keeper Nestor Merlo, deputizing for Jesse Llamas, whose wife had earlier in the day given birth.
After that, the Galaxy began to flex its MLS muscles. Chris Albright down the right wing with early crosses was definitive of Yallop’s intent.
Roma’s first chance came around the 10th minute, a nice interchange of play resulting in a misfire by midfielder Patrick Shamu.
The Galaxy’s Josh Gardner with a low far-post effort came closest in the 17th minute from a wonderful cross-field pass by Kyle Veris.
Paralleling the cup experience to Europe, the usual 20th minute passed with both sides flexing without much punch. A lot of America doesn’t get it yet! And yet, I truly believe that the players and these 4,937 fans that attended all get what this cup competition is all about: Win or go home!
Roma’s lack of movement began to show, the continued bombardment already seemed to be telling. Yet still no goals. But that’s OK, it’s an enthralling game.
In the 33rd minute, the Galaxy’s Quavas Kirk pounced on a loose ball and hammered home from almost 30 yards. The large crowds whilst cheering breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The second half began much as the first had ended, with the Galaxy on the attack.
Then in the 63rd minute, Gardner crossed for Kirk, whose header was superbly saved by veteran Roma keeper Merlo. The 46-year old keeper hurled himself against the inside of the post. A few minutes passed and relief was all around as Merlo was able to continue. In the 68th minute, an errant back pass in the box and our hero became the goat as Merlo stumbled and gave the ball to Galaxy striker Alan Gordon, who made it 2-0.
Unfortunately that signaled the imminent end to Roma F.C.’s dream for this year.
Cinderella may be packing her things, but it was a gallant effort. The Galaxy supporters gave the Roma players a deserved round of applause.
The U.S. Open Cup needs more games like this one. Thrills, spills, goals and loads of excitement. For its part, the L.A. Galaxy move one step closer to retaining the U.S. Open Cup. For Roma F.C., its feet back on the ground time.
But what a run. As Roma coach Michael Schell said: “We will be back. (Landon) Donovan or no Donovan, we showed we could play tonight.”
United need extra time to beat Crew 2-1 D.C. advances to the quarterfinals to meet Wilmington or New York
Jamil Walker’s goal in the 93rd minute lifted D.C. United over the Columbus Crew 2-1 in extra time in a fourth-round U.S. Open Cup match in front of 4,774 fans on a hot, humid Tuesday night at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Md.
United dominated the match, outshooting the Crew 32-10 and putting 12 shots on goal, but saw the scrappy Crew twice sent shots off the post in the final minutes of the second 15-minute overtime. First, Ezra Hendrickson’s header hit one post late in the period, then in stoppage time Chris Leitch’s shot found the post on the other side of United goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
Columbus, which fell to 0-4-1 against D.C. United this season, took the initial lead on Chad Marshall’s header off a corner kick by Eric Vasquez in the 18th minute.
That would prove to be a theme on the night, as all three goals came off set pieces, with midfielder Christian Gomez the setup man for both D.C. United conversions.
Jaime Moreno netted the equalizer just four minutes after Marshall’s goal, tracking down a corner kick by Gomez and knocking a shot in off Crew goalkeeper Bill Gaudette -- who made 10 saves on the night.
D.C. United had many chances to take the lead in regulation.
In the first half, Freddy Adu was in alone on Gaudette, dribbled around the keeper and had an empty net to shoot at, but rolled his shot wide. Late in the second half, D.C. United fired a flurry of shots off the woodwork, including shots by Gomez off the crossbar and the post.
Rimando finished with four saves for D.C. United, which will play host to the winner of Wednesday’s game between the New York Red Bulls and the Wilmington Hammerheads on Aug. 23 in the quarterfinals.
|
|
