Lamar Hunt US Open Cup 5th Round, First Results

The USCO provided a great night of action and heroics, in a fantastic display of American soccer.

Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

Philadelphia Union 2 – 1 D.C. United

All seemed doomed for the Union right at the start of the match, with 10 men and trailing 1 goal behind D.C. But the Union never gave up the fight, and prevailed at the end.

The match started as expected, with D.C. United, who are ranked top of the MLS Eastern Conference having the upper hand and seeming to be in control of the match. Things went from bad to worth for Philadelphia Union, ranked 7 in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference, when key striker C.J Sapong was shown the red card and sent off due to an elbow into United’s Kofi Apare (24’).

With 10 men in midst of the 1st half, things took a turn to the worse just 3 minutes later, with DC’s Jairo Arrieta scoring the first goal of the match. So, Philadelphia Union still trying to keep the game alive, and finishing the first half with 10 men, missing a key striker and trailing behind MLS counterpart D.C. United 1-0.
However, coming back into the 2nd half determined to fight, Philadelphia played fearsomely, and it paid off with Union’s Midfielder Eric Ayuk scoring the equalizer (55’). D.C. United didn’t show a sense of urgency, and continued to rest key players and give minutes to younger members of the squad.

Philadelphia Union kept on fighting and did not give up even when all seemed doomed, as team has been doing all throughout this MLS 2015 season, and substitute Fabinho, who just came on 12 minutes earlier (67’) scored the winner for Philadelphia (79’).

Orlando City SC 2 – 0 Columbus Crew SC

Orlando’s Adrian Heath declared that he sees the US Open Cup as one of his top priority, alongside success in the club’s 1st Major League Soccer season. Heath put his money where his mouth is, and played all of his top squad, with 9 changes from the last MLS Regular Season match against Real Salt Lake.

It did pay off, with Kaka scoring his 9th goal with MLS team Orlando (21’), and then another fantastic goal by Carlos Rivas (35’) – the first goal in his Major League Soccer career.

Although trying hard, creating opportunities, playing good defence and taking more shots than Orlando, things did not go well for Columbus, with their striker and record scorer this MLS season Kei Kamara absent, and having many games on the road this week vs. well-rested Orlando, Kaka and team won 2-0.

Chicago Fire 3 – 1 Charlotte Independence

Similar to their fellow MLS Eastern Conference team Philadelphia Union who struggled and showed patience and determination in difficult moments of the game, Chicago Fire also prevailed last night. Chicago that is currently struggling, and ranked bottom of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference, hosted United Soccer League side Charlotte Independence.

The start of the match was much less than Chicago hoped for, with Charlotte’s Forward Tomasz Zahorski putting the visitors in an early 1-0 lead (5’) in front of Chicago’s home crowed at Toyota Park.

However, MLS team Chicago Fire did not give up and continued to push and create opportunities. Chicago’s Forward Mike Magee, just returning from a hip surgery scored the equalizer later in the 1st half (37’).

Chicago kept on pushing on the 2nd half, with Lovel Palmer scoring a fantastic goal from 30 yards (50’). Charlotte did try to retaliate and created a few chances, but on the 82nd minute Mike Magee sealed the match with a second goal for him this match, ending at a 3-1 win for Chicago Fire.

Huston Dynamo 1 – 0 Colorado Rapids

Starting with a 48-minute weather delay, the pitch was waterlogged to the point where the match could have possibly been called off, but it went ahead anyway. And good thing it did, as we got to see a spectacular display from Colombian Mauro Manotas in his Huston debut. At the tender age of 19, Manotas is the youngest player to score for MLS Huston Dynamo in a competition.

Manotas created a few attempts early in the match, but finally got his goal, the only goal in the match, with a header at the last minutes of the 1st half (43’). Although only 1 goal was scored in this match, both MLS side created many chances, and Colorado nearly equalized a few times both in the 1st half, as well as a very close attempt by Rapids’ Charles Eloundou and Vincente Sanchez, with a full spirt and assist for a header respectively, but the ball went wide.

Visitors Colorado Rapids took 20 shots in total last night, with 8 on target, vs. hosts Huston with 17 shots but 9 on target. All in all, an eventful game despite of only 1 point.