The U.S. Open Cup final is set, and it will feature the Philadelphia Union and the Houston Dynamo.
The Union are no strangers to the U.S. Open Cup final, and they will return there for the third time in five seasons thanks to a 3-0 hammering of the Chicago Fire.
After a scoreless first half, Corey Burke scored twice and C.J. Sapong added an insurance goal to blow the Fire out of the Open Cup. Burke’s first tally came in the 59th minute and was the result of a fantastic series of one touch passes. The last of those was from Alejandro Bedoya, and it found Burke streaking into the penalty area from the right flank. He knocked the ball down and chipped it past a rushing Richard Sanchez for the first goal.
Bedoya provided the feed for Burke’s second goal 18 minutes later, and C.J. Sapong finished the scoreline in the 86th minute.
The Union will travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo, who squeaked past Los Angeles FC despite a Diego Rossi hat trick and giving up a late two goal lead. They prevailed in a dramatic eight round penalty shootout to reach their first ever Open Cup Final.
This match got off to a quick start. Rossi powered a shot through Houston goalkeeper Joe Willis in the sixth minute, and Andrew Wenger equalized with a tap in off a corner in the 12th. The Dynamo would put themselves in front with a nice finish from Mauro Manotas, who got through the LAFC back line to slot a shot home in the 25th minute.
Memo Rodriguez provided what looked like the game winning goal in the 74th minute on one of Houston’s many quick counter attacks. He finished with a well placed shot after cutting inside the penalty area from the left side.
But LAFC wouldn’t allow it to stand.
Rossi bagged his second of the game a few minutes later and scored the equalizer in the fifth minute of stoppage time with a dramatic floating header off an Aaron Kovar free kick to send it to extra time.
The match went to penalties after a fast-paced, but goalless bonus 30 minutes, where the Dynamo outlasted LAFC 7-6 in an exciting eight round battle.
The U.S. Open Cup Final between the Union and Dynamo will take place on September 26 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.
This is all Houston has to play for this year. My wish list for the rest of the year is Win the final and beat dallas to retain the canon (rivalry bragging rights).
Two Cents
Who is Philly?
Philly is the team that is one step away from winning the LH US Open Cup. If the others teams are jealous of the CCL spot. There is a simple solution.
lafc should have been more selfish. the winner of our historic open cup gets 300k plus a berth in the concacaf champions league next year.
why go all the way to the semifinal and then lose? lafc should have stuck the knife in and twisted it.
it’s hard to believe/imagine PHILLY representing the usa in the concacaf champions league. (the other clubs will be like, “who are they?”) but at the same time, i think it’s cool and exciting. should they beat houston, let it be and let the new philly soccer era usher in.
If anyone in MLS cared about the Champions League, they might care about the US Open Cup automatic birth, but they don’t so they don’t.