The Seattle Sounders had complete control of the match. They were dominating everything on the statistics side as well as the play on the field, but when Adam Smarte of Salinas Valley slammed home the goal to give the Samba a lead panic officially struck the supporters of the Sounders. Probably the Samba thought they got another strong chance to knock off another opponent but it was a USL 1st Division side.
Just like that, former San Jose Earthquake Roger Levesque & Brent Whitfield scored goals within ten minutes to silence the Samba and Levesque would add one more to make sure that the Seattle Sounders would move on to the third round for their derby match against the Portland Timbers in the Northwest.
Right now there are three PDL amateurs clubs remaining in the US Open Cup and they have advanced into the third round, but to all the supporters of the Salinas Valley Samba, don’t put your heads down, stop your dropping face, stop kicking your balls so weakly in disappointment. No one expected them to go this far. No one expected the Samba to make it out of the qualifying round. Be proud of your club at the same time the players should be proud of themselves as well.
The last time an amateur club from the USASA made this much noise was a side from Wisconsin named the Bavarian S.C. from Milwaukee. They faced off against the PDL Des Moines Menace and won that match two goals to one. 2nd round for the Bavarians and it took only one goal to defeat the Division three Reading Rage. Facing a Milwaukee derby they got the lead, but sadly the former A-League Milwaukee Wave United ended the Bavarians hopes and dreams to face against the Chicago Fire and try to knock off an MLS side.
Was I hoping for an upset against the Sounders? Yes I was. Nothing personal against the supporters from Seattle, but something about the Samba made me believe that they were going to pull the impossible. But it looks like their pumpkin wasn’t big enough to make this match a victory.
So for the Salinas Valley Samba, the glass boots have finally broken off, midnight has struck and bells tolled very loud and long. But they can tell themselves this, qualify next year out of the NPSL and attempt to put the fear into the rest of the USL again when the 2006 US Open Cup starts again. Pick your heads up, add another stride to your step and be proud that you made a name for yourselves when you participated in the US Open Cup.
