U.S. OPEN CUP Quarterfinals
CHICAGO, the Quarterfinals of the 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Soccer’s National Championship, delivered a quartet of Division I Major League Soccer (MLS) sides into the final four of the competition which will be held on Aug. 8.
The Final Draw to determine which clubs will host the Semifinal matches and the hosting priority for the Final will be broadcast from Soccer House, U.S. Soccer’s headquarters, in Chicago on Thursday, July 19 at 1:45 p.m. ET on ussoccer.com and Facebook Live.
MLS outfits Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire, Houston Dynamo and first-year club Los Angeles FC advanced through various means on Wednesday night.
Chicago and Houston both chalked up four goals apiece en route to lopsided wins. The Fire scored a 4-0 home win against the last remaining Division II side Louisville City FC, while the Dynamo broke out in the second half to defeat defending Open Cup champion Sporting Kansas City 4-2 in east Texas.
The Union rode an early goal from Alejandro Bedoya to a 1-0 win against visiting Orlando City SC before LAFC finished off the night in Southern California by downing fellow MLS Western Conference foe Portland Timbers 3-2 in a simmering match that may yet boil into a wider rivalry between the two clubs.
Philadelphia Union 1, Orlando City SC 0, after some cagey opening jabs at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pa., the Union took the first half by force and had only wasteful finishing to blame for not scoring more than once. The goal they did get came early, after four minutes, when captain and U.S. National Team midfielder Alejandro Bedoya poked home a corner-kick from Haris Medunjanin that was headed across goal by Fafa Picault. Orlando City, far from stung into response, failed to find a foothold as the home team kept up the pressure in the first 45. In the 18th minute, David Accam was on the attack when he latched onto a clever quickly taken free-kick from Medunjanin, but the Ghanaian could only see his shot well saved by the diving Earl Edwards Jr. The visitors, playing their first Open Cup game under new coach James O’Connor, had their best chance of the opening half seven minutes from the interval when Will Johnson rose to meet a chipped-in ball and forced Union goalkeeper Andre Blake into a fine diving save. Philly’s first half of poor finishing was capped off by another messy one from Dokcal, who spurned an earlier chance from a similar position. The Czech midfielder fired high and wide from ten yards out when all he had to do was pass Bedoya’s low cross into the net.
The second half saw the visitors try to come out of their shell and assert themselves on the contest, but to little avail. Cory Burke held the ball up brilliantly in the 52nd minute and whipped in a wicked shot with his left foot that had Orlando City keeper Edwards scrambling to push it up over the bar. The home side were still in control when Orlando City decided to commit more to the attack in hope of an equalizer. Second-half substitute Stefano Pinho, who was co-top scorer in last year’s Open Cup with NASL outfit Miami FC, crossed low in the 80th minute only for Sacha Kljestan – a runner-up last year with New York Red Bulls – to hit his off-balance shot straight at the Union keeper. And despite a handful of chances up the other end from the outstanding Picault, the score remained 1-0 all the way through the 90th minute and stoppage-time. The Union, losing Open Cup Finalists in 2014 and 2015, will now play Chicago Fire in the Semifinals in August.
Chicago Fire (MLS) 4, Louisville City FC (USL) 0
Louisville City, the lone remaining USL second-division side in the 2018 Open Cup Quarterfinals, gave good account of themselves in the first quarter-hour at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. But as last year’s MLS Golden Boot winner tends to do, Nemanja Nikolic broke hearts in the 16th minute. He headed home an inch-perfect cross from the left from Aleksandar Katai for his fourth goal of the tournament; he previous scored two against Columbus Crew and one against Atlanta United. And it was only the beginning for the four-time Open Cup champs from the Second City, who made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute. Nikolic, with nine league goals in MLS this term, was again involved – his blocked shot falling to Bastian Schweinsteiger alone in the penalty area. The FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions League winner took his time and picked out Katai, who hammered into the roof of the net after racing in off the left side where he was nothing short of dominant all night. Louisville City, led by a trio of player-coaches after the recent departure of James O’Connor and reeling in the dying moments of the opening period, were fortunate not to concede again before the interval.
Chicago were in the driver’s seat in the second half and only a sprawling save from Tim Dobrowolskikept Nikolic from making it 3-0 for the home side in the 58th minute. Lou City, defending United Soccer League champions from 2017, had little to offer in the way of possession or attack and were reduced to ten men in the 84th minute when Kyle Smith left a little on Tony Tchani in a midfield tackle. The wheels seemed to fall off for the second-division side after that, with Diego Campos making it 3-0 in the 90thminute when he chased the ball down and poked it off the toe of Dobrowolski, who dallied instead of clearing. Stoppage time saw another Chicago goal, a close-range finish from the lanky Elliot Collier, and another red card for Lou City – this time for Magnus Rasmussen who struck Tchani off the ball. In the end, the Fire were worthy 4-0 winners and will now move on to meet Philadelphia Union in next month’s Semifinal.
Houston Dynamo (MLS) 4, Sporting Kansas City (MLS) 2
A goal fest exploded in Houston between the Dynamo and last year’s Open Cup champion Sporting Kansas City with the Texas side ultimately prevailing 4-2 thanks to three-goal second half. Proceedings started off with a bang as Johnny Russell stole in behind the Dynamo defense on a long run out of midfield in just the second minute. Bearing down on goal, Russell coolly drew out Houston goalkeeper Chris Seitz before rolling a shot just past the netminder’s right leg and into the vacated net. It would be 30 minutes until the hosts responded but when they did through the first of Romell Quioto’s two goals it was most impressive. Having won a free kick just outside the center of the box, Quioto stepped up to curl a sumptuous set piece shot over the wall and into the top left corner, knotting the match a 1-1.
After the halftime interval, Quioto struck again to give his side the advantage in the 66th minute. Darwin Cerén played a long ball from his own half over the KC defense that Quioto chested down beautifully while in full flight. The balled dropped to his feet as he entered the box and he made no mistake, slotting past the onrushing goal keeper Tim Melia. Three minutes later Mauro Manotas scored what proved to be the game winner, eventually sending in a shot off Graham Zusi after nearly blowing the chance to convert a wide-open break away. He did far better his next time up to put the Dynamo over the hills and far away, heading home a fantastic cross from Eric Alexander into the top left corner in the 88th minute. Although Sporting KC pulled back a consolation goal in stoppage time, Houston was the clear victor and moves on to face LAFC in the Semifinals.
Los Angeles FC (MLS) 3, Portland Timbers (MLS) 2
If familiarity breeds contempt, it was not evident that either Los Angeles FC, in its first year of existence as a club, or Portland Timbers, whose roots in the American game date back to the glory days of the old NASL in the 1970s, held much for the other in the teams’ second match in four days and third overall. A hard fought match simmered all evening and as the shadows grew longer the tackles flew in harder as the Timbers would not relent despite trailing for the majority of the match after two quick strikes, one an own goal by David Guzman in the 33rd minute and the second, a low drive from Carlos Vela five minutes later, put the Portland side up against the wall.
The LAFC goals had come against the run of play, but the Timbers did not hang their heads – instead, center back Julio Cascante used his to bring the Rose City side back into the match just before the stroke of half time when he nodded home a set piece in first half stoppage time to make it 2-1 to the hosts. On the other side of the break, Marco Ureña struck just six minutes into the half with a nice redirection after he was left unmarked but held onside as Portland tried to clear a LAFC attack. In less than a minute however, the Timbers struck back through a rocket from left back Vytautas Andriuskevicius that got between LAFC goalkeeper Tyler Miller and his near post. Locked at 3-2 with over half an hour to play, either team could have turned the tied with another goal, but shoddy finishing from Portland’s Dairon Asprilla, who was dangerous all night, and a pair of tallies for LAFC that were ruled out for offside left the scoreline settled in LA’s favor after a contentious final 15 minutes saw numerous flash points ignite between the contestants. Ultimately, LAFC moves on to chase history and face Houston in the Semifinals, as head coach Bob Bradley looks to guide his second expansion team – he coach the Chicago Fire to an Open Cup title in the club’s inaugural campaign – to Open Cup glory in its first year of existence.
