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Semifinals: Fire, Galaxy advance to Open Cup Final
Carr and Donovan lead their respective teams to victory
By Eric Anderson - Madison Soccer Central
Three shots on goal proved to be more than enough for the Chicago Fire in Wednesday night’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal.
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| The Fire will host the Open Cup Final as they take on the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy on Sept. 27. Photo by Brian Kersey MLS/WireImage.com |
Justin Mapp brought a scoreless game to life with a goal in the 58th minute -- on the first shot on frame by either team -- and rookie Calen Carr added two goals in the final 15 minutes as the Fire blanked D.C. United 3-0 in front of 5,153 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., to advance to their fifth U.S. Open Cup final.
Chicago, which leads MLS teams with three U.S. Open Cup titles, will play host to the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy in the championship game Sept. 27.
The Fire have a great history in the tournament: they improved to 23-5-2 all-time in the tournament, 12-2-1 under coach Dave Sarachan and are unbeaten in their last 11 home games.
Chances were few and far between before Mapp’s goal, which came off an assist from midfielder Chris Armas. D.C. United had just one attempt on goal in the opening 45 minutes, and didn’t force Chicago goalkeeper Matt Pickens to make a save until Christian Gomez’s shot in the 66th minute.
But the final 30 minutes were packed with action.
D.C. United, who were without leading scorer Jaime Moreno due to tendinitis in his knee, had plenty of possession and thought they had tied the game in the 74th. Pickens couldn’t hold onto a shot by Gomez and newly acquired midfielder Matias Donnet knocked in the rebound, but the goal was waved off.
Moments later, the Fire broke out on a counter attack. The ball quickly got to Nate Jaqua, who chipped it into Carr from the top of the box. Carr beat D.C. United keeper Troy Perkins with a shot to the near post for his second U.S. Open Cup goal and a 2-0 lead.
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Rookie Calen Carr, celebrates one of his two semifinal goals. He has 3 goals and an assist in this year’s tourney.
Photo by Brian Kersey MLS/WireImage.com |
The rough-and-tumble match then got a little ugly after Facundo Erpen’s hard foul on Fire midfielder Thiago in the 77th. Erpen was given a red card for the tackle, and Armas eventually received one, too, after a group of players got into a scuffle.
D.C. United, which was seeking its third U.S. Open Cup final apperance, kept up the pressure with the teams playing 10v10 and earned several corner kicks, but Pickens and the Chicago backline held them at bay. One great chance came in the 84th minute, when Pickens couldn’t hang onto a shot by Freddy Adu, but Gonzalo Segares cleared the ball off the line.
Carr sealed the win in stoppage time, taking a feed from Ivan Guerrero from the end line, beating his defender and firing a left-footed shot past Perkins from 7 yards out to extend the Fire’s overall unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1).
On the brink of back-to-back
Donovan, Galaxy oust Dynamo to earn shot at Open Cup repeat
Landon Donovan continues to have a major impact on the U.S. Open Cup.
Donovan set up Alan Gordon’s goal in the 6th minute, then scored what proved to be the game-winner on a free kick from about 20 yards out late in the first half as the Los Angeles Galaxy earned a chance to defend their U.S. Open Cup title with a 3-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo in a semifinal Wednesday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Los Angeles also has goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to thank as it heads to Chicago for the Sept. 27 final, where it will try to become the first team to repeat as U.S. Open Cup champions since the New York Pancyprian-Freedoms in 1982 and ’83. Hartman denied Dwayne DeRosario on a penalty kick in first-half stoppage time, one of his three saves on the night.
Hartman’s PK save made some amends for the goal he allowed earlier to DeRosario. Galaxy defender Tyrone Marshall made a sliding tackle in the box to knock the ball away from the midfielder, but the Canadian international stayed with the play and tracked down the ball near the corner kick flag. From that tough angle, he sent a ball in toward the goal. Hartman got a hand on it, but it glanced off the near post and in to tie the score at 1 in the 12th minute.
The Galaxy got on the board early as Donovan, who scored twice in extra time in the Galaxy’s 3-1 win over the Colorado Rapids in the quarterfinals, swung a corner kick into the box. Gordon went up and over Dynamo defender Adrian Serioux and snapped a header that got past Houston keeper Pat Onstad for his third goal in the past two games overall.
Donovan took matters into his own hands in the 44th minute after Brian Mullan’s foul on Ante Jazic gave Los Angeles a free kick, beating Onstad on a shot to the far post. Minutes later, the Dynamo had a great chance to tie it as Alejandro Moreno got to the ball before Galaxy defenders Marshall and Ugo Ihemelu and then was taken down in the box by Ihemelu for a penalty kick.
But Hartman dove to his right to thwart DeRosario, his second PK save in a week -- he stoned Real Salt Lake’s Andy Williams from the spot in an MLS match last Wednesday -- and Houston’s Wade Barrett blazed the rebound over the bar.
The Dynamo had opportunities to net the equalizer in the second half, and coach Dominic Kinnear was able to bring on forward Brian Ching for the final 20 minutes. Ching, tied for third in MLS with 10 goals despite playing only 16 games, was making his first appearance since Aug. 12, having been sidelined after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Moments after coming on, Ching flashed a header wide off a corner kick, a common theme for Houston. The Dynamo had 10 corner kicks on the night, including five in in the final 10 minutes -- but Hartman had to make just one save in that span.
Donovan and Gordon helped Los Angeles ice the win in stoppage time. With Houston players pushed up in search of the tying goal, the Galaxy launched a counter attack. A series of quick passes ended with Gordon feeding Peter Vagenas, who then found Santino Quaranta, and he finished things off with his first U.S. Open Cup goal of the year.
Los Angeles has lost just five times in 26 U.S. Open Cup matches, with two of the losses coming to the Fire -- in the semifinals in 2000 and ’03.
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