Photo by DC United 2011
Last week, while recapping D.C. United’s 2-1 win over the Richmond Kickers, I told you guys about my affection for the U.S. Open Cup. I promised all of you that I’d follow that article with several other USOC related pieces. United would battle the likes of the Harrisburg City Islanders for some meager prize money and a berth in the Champions League, and you would read about it, whether you wanted to or not.
Oh well.
D.C. United played its Open Cup round of 16 match against the Philadelphia Union last night at the Maryland SoccerPlex, and the team blew it. In the 2-1 loss, DCU looked a lot more 2011 and a lot less 2012, forgetting much of what’s gotten them so far this season. A frustrated Ben Olsen summed it up perfectly in his postgame remarks to the media:
“We’ve been asking for this loss,” he vented. “We’ve got to realize that’s not a good enough performance. Too many guys were on their own page. We were cute all over the field. We thought it was going to be enough to step out here and beat a team because they’re a little down on their luck.”
United entered the match in first place at 8-3-4, while the Union entered the encounter near the bottom of the eastern conference. Fielding a near full-strength lineup, all United had to do was play with the same cohesion and grit they’ve been playing with all year, and they’d be through to the round of eight. But they didn’t. It doesn’t matter which MLS side you’re facing (alright, other than Toronto)—if you’re careless with the ball, you’re going to lose the game.
The loss is a blow to the teams hopes to qualify for CONCACAF Champions League play —the only other way in is to qualify for MLS Cup (both the winner and loser of that match get a berth) or win the Supporters Shield (awarded to the MLS side with the best regular season record.)
To make matters worse: had United managed to deal with the Union, they’d have faced a USL side at RFK in the round of eight, as the Harrisburg City Islanders ended up upsetting the Red Bulls last night. DCU would’ve had a fairly easy path into the semifinals of the tournament. Harrisburg will now end up traveling to Philadelphia for their next match.
Philly opened the scoring in first half stoppage time, as a Brian Carroll shot deflected off of United defender Emiliano Dudar. A frozen Bill Hamid was hopeless to keep the ball from rolling in. United would answer immediately, as Andy Najar, Nick DeLeon and Josh Wolff would combine for the equalizer. Neither side could find the winner in the second half, and it took a spectacular save from Hamid just before the whistle to send the game to extra time.
The Union found the winner two minutes into stoppage time, as former United player Freddy Adu played a through ball to rookie Antoine Hoppenot. Hoppenot—who has played just 26 minutes all year—found himself one on one with Hamid, and cooly slotted the ball around the United keeper.
The game was classic open cup. The refs were terrible in general and seemed to lose control of the match in its later stages—leading to matching red cards issued in the final moments of extra time.
“It was a typical Open Cup game,” said Olsen. “The referees were lousy—they always are—for both teams. Every Open Cup game, it just turns into an absolute circus. I don’t know if that needs to be addressed or not. Maybe that’s the fun of the Open Cup – that it’s an absolute zoo every game. But it gets old. Believe me, I’m not blaming the referees tonight, but it doesn’t help.”
United won’t have to wait long to exact revenge on their Northeast Corridor neighbors. Their next match is in Philly on June 16, and DCist will be there. Hopefully the black and red can put this one behind them quickly and get back to what REALLY matters: qualifying for the playoffs, and putting a fifth star above their crest.
Man though. What a bummer. I’ll be pulling for Harrisburg from here on out. We’ve already got enough Philly fans around here, for better or worse.
Enjoy the highlights from the match, and also Ben Olsen’s rant:
