Open Cup: FC Cincinnati ends Riverhounds' Cinderella run with wonder goal

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jun 7, 2023

FC Cincinnati ended the Pittsburgh Riverhounds' Cinderella run in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup when it beat the USL Championship team, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.

The Houston Dynamo defeated the Chicago Fire, 4-1, in a battle of MLS teams. The Fire entered the match with a 13-1 record in Open Cup quarterfinal matches.

The Riverhounds knocked off two of the top teams in MLS's Eastern Conference, the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew, in the previous rounds, but FC Cincinnati, the runaway Supporters' Shield leader, proved to be too much.

The Hounds' hopes took an early hit when their top scorer, Albert Dikwa, suffered a shoulder injury on a hard foul by Cincinnati midfielder Obinna Nwobodo and had to leave the game in the 14th minute.

Cincinnati pulled away on second-half goals by Brandon Vazquez and Alvaro Barreal, the latter with a full volley from outside the penalty area into the top corner of the goal directly off Luciano Acosta's corner kick.



June 6 in Cincinnati
FC Cincinnati 3 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1. Goals: Vazquez 56, Barreal 71, Arias 90+2; Showunmi 90+4.
FC Cincinnati -- Kann; Gaddis (Barreal 60), Murphy, Miazga (Powell 80), Hagglund (Mosquera 46), Arias; Moreno, Nwobodo; Acosta (Arquímedes  Ordonez 75); Badji (Kubo 60).
Pittsburgh Riverhounds -- Waite; Biasi (Lopez 65), Dossantos, Farrell, Arturo Ordonez, Harmon (Showunmi 79);  Rovira (Osumanu 65), Etou, Griffin, Mertz (Forbes 46); Dikwa (Ybarra 14).
Att.: 16,613.

The Dynamo, winner of the 2018 Open Cup, jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first half hour on goals by Amine Bassi from the penalty spot and the first of two goals by Nigerian forward Aliyu Ibrahim.

The Fire, one of four MLS teams with four Open Cup championships, reduced the deficit on a goal by Frenchman Arnaud Souquet before halftime, but Ibrahim and Nelson Quinones later added to the Dynamo lead.

June 6 in Bridgeview, Ill.
Chicago Fire 1 Houston Dynamo 4. Goals: Bassi 12 pen., Ibrahim 31, 59, Quinones 74; Souquet 40.
Chicago Fire -- Richey; Czichos, Pineda, Souquet (Burks 46); M.Navarro (Torres 67), Gimenez (Koutsias 74), F.Navarro, Haile-Selassie; Gutierrez, Shaqiri; Kamara.
Houston Dynamo -- Tarbell; Escobar, Micael, Sviatchenko (Bartlow, 61), Gasper; Caicedo, Herrera (Franco 84), Carrasquilla (Baird, 61); Bassi (Artur 73), Ibrahim (Úlfarsson 72), Quinones.
Att.: 7,512.