[U.S. OPEN CUP] Cup competitions are supposed to be all about upsets, and the 100th U.S. Open Cup final produced a doozy.
The worst team in MLS, D.C.United, beat one of the league’s elite, Real Salt Lake, on the latter’s home field Tuesday night, 1-0. Midfielder Lewis Neal, whose crucial goallast year earned United a playoff spot, struck just before halftime to silence a noisy crowd at Rio Tinto Stadium and eventually etch another bleak entry into RSL’s history in big games.
“You scratch your head,” RSL coach Jason Kreis
By winning, United claims one of four U.S. spots in the 2014-15 ConcacafChampions League, which starts up next summer, despite a record of three wins in 30 MLS games (one less win than in its Open Cup campaign).
RSL can still qualify for that edition of theCCL by other means, but an Open Cup trophy is the most direct route and had been cited by Kreis as one of the team’s top priorities this season.
One-zero defeats at Rio Tinto in thesecond leg of the 2010-11 Concacaf Champions League final and the 2008 and 2012 MLS playoffs had darkened expectations among RSL fans, yet with the homefield advantage and staggering edge in pointsduring the regular season, 51-15, as well as every other metric, this game seemed RSL’s to lose. Which it did.
A spirited United effort posted a rare shutout with a defensivegrittiness marshaled by centerback Dejan Jakovic that blunted its superior foe and exploited the best chance it created.
United’s
RSL, which finished with a 19-6 advantage in shots and 69.4-30.6 percent edge in possession, did run into some bad luck, with two of its shots clanging off the woodwork. Butthere were squandered opportunities, too, such as striker Alvaro Saborio’s point-blank chance in the 81th minute that keeper Bill Hamid deflected. In the final minutes Hamid snagged a Devon Sandoval bicycle kick and escaped again when a Saborio header bounced off thecrossbar.
“You’re just left searching for answers a little bit,” midfielder Ned Grabavoy, who misfired on a good chance in the71st minute, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “You can’t find the words.”
United won its third Open Cup, adding to triumphs in 1996 and 2008. RSL was playing in its firstfinal after reaching the quarterfinals twice, in 2006 and 2011. It’s won just three league, but D.C. won five in a row – four against MLS opposition – to capture the cup.
“It’s been a lot of ups and downs this season, it’s been a very emotional year for all of us,” Hamid said. “We were underdogs, nobody expected us to win this game, but wejust came in and won it at RSL — a difficult place to play, a great team that possibly plays the best football in the league. We believe now. Now we know.”
Shame I couldn’t watch this on TV!GOL TV you suck almost as much as US Soccer. No way to stream this? I would have paid a fee to see it , even on a computer! Reminds me of 1996 when there was no internet, no Fox Sports World (Soccer) and no coverage of United’s 1st Open Cup Championship. We’ve come a long way. It’s time to make sell the Cup to Budwiser and make it the Budwiser U.S. Open Cup, so that US Soccer/GOLTV would have to show it somewhere the sponsor would feel like they are getting a return on there investment. Otherwise this is continues to be a low-budget affair. DC United fans will never get this moment back. Last place in MLS but US Open Cup Champions and we will be in the 2014 CONCACAF Champions League! I will be at RFK Friday night to get a T-shirt and congratulate the boys! Go United!
I agree with Mark. TV coverage of Soccer is shambles in this country with the chaos of multiple cable channels and multiple cable providers, but not doing what is necessary to get the Open Cup on channels where we can see it is nonsense. And not just the final, but a selection of all games. The one chance to highlight the fact that we actually do have a multi-tiered pro-soccer system that extends into all corners of the country, and what does US Soccer do — give the rights to GolTv, which for all practical purposes doesn’t exist. Bad on you, US Soccer.