Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

2022 US Open Cup Round 3: Nine-man Rochester NY FC survives after PK shootout vs. FC Motown

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Rochester New York FC celebrate after advancing 4-3 in penalty kicks (2-2 draw) against FC Motown in the Third Round of the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Rochehster NY FC
Rochester New York FC celebrate after advancing 4-3 in penalty kicks (2-2 draw) against FC Motown in the Third Round of the 2022 US Open Cup. Photo: Rochehster NY FC

“What can I say… A game full of emotions, a lot of things happened. A roller coaster of emotions.”

Rochester New York FC head coach Bruno Baltazar succinctly summed up an eventful Third Round Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match against FC Motown, an NPSL side from New Jersey.

Baltazar’s side, who finished the game with nine men, would eventually prevail 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout, despite FC Motown scoring a late equalizer in second half stoppage time. The game finished tied 2-2 after 120 minutes of play.

It was a dramatic penalty kick win for a club with a history full of dramatic moments. Rochester New York made a name for itself in the US Open Cup under the “Rochester Rhinos” moniker, where they reached the Open Cup Final twice. After falling short in 1996 to D.C. United, the Rhinos made history by upsetting four MLS teams en route to winning the 1999 US Open Cup title. They remain the only non-MLS side to lift the trophy since 1996.

Despite the colorful antics and rather full box score, the match started slowly. Similarly, the center official would end up casting a large shadow over proceedings but began the game by having a quiet word with Motown center back Hermanus Achterkamp rather than brandishing a card in the opening quarter hour.

RNY FC center back and captain Lamar Batista earned a booking in the 18th minute for clattering into one of the Motown players that had just sandwiched his teammate Ian Garrett. The referee had not called a foul on the initial play but deemed Batista’s retaliatory challenge worthy of a yellow card.

Rochester opened the scoring with a well-worked goal by Pedro Dolabella. Winger Jesus Batiz played a cross-field pass that Gibran Rayo cleverly dummied, allowing Dolabella to rush forward from midfield. The 22-year-old isolated Motown left back Jean-Ismael Voltaire before firing a left-footed strike past goalkeeper David Greczek in the 21st minute.

The visitors probed forward but did not threaten Philip Ejimadu in Rochester’s goal until after the home side doubled its advantage. Rayo chased down an over-hit through ball and recovered to pick out Dolabella in space in the area. The midfielder found Wilterlynd Inalien just inside the six-yard-box with his first touch and Rochester’s No. 9 did not miss from point-blank range in the 38th minute.

A minute and a half later, seven-year MLS veteran Dilly Duka pulled one back for the side from Morristown, New Jersey. Winger Ryan Peterson, another player with professional experience on his resume, controlled a long ball in the left-hand channel before finding Duka open at the top of the box. The former Columbus Crew midfielder cut left on Rochester center back Gustavo Rissi to create space before firing past Ejimadu in the 40th minute.

Just a few minutes into the second half, the screws starting to come loose for RNY. Batista came together with Motown right back Samuel Pompee and the visiting player went to ground holding his calf afterwards. The referee quickly reached for his pocket and showed Batista his second yellow card and subsequent red card in the 51st minute.

The match proceeded with neither team producing clear chances on goal until the referee was called upon. Just a minute after Motown had a penalty shout of their own, Rayo drew contact from Pompee in the area and hit the deck. Inalien stepped up to the spot attempting to give Rochester a commanding 3-1 lead in the 79th minute but Greczek had done his homework, diving low to his right and stopping the penalty to keep Motown within one.

In the 85th minute, Dolabella was shown a straight red card for connecting his arm with the head of Motown’s Federico De Oliveira in the middle of the field.

“It’s the first time in my career that I’m playing with two men down because of red cards,” Baltazar said.

In the second of five minutes of stoppage time, Kian Alberto hit a ball forward from deep in midfield towards striker Joe Fala. The former Red Bulls II defender saw his initial headed effort come back off the post but he was first to the rebound and tapped in from three yards out to send the match to extra time.

With the home side down two players, the amateur side appeared to be favorites during extra time but failed to break down a resolute Rochester defensive organization. In the 111th minute, a red card was shown to the RNY bench. After going down several times and receiving medical attention, starting goalkeeper Ejimadu was replaced by Caique in the final minute of extra time in order to face penalties.

The Brazilian shot-stopper validated the substitution by making two saves in the shootout. His opposite number, Greczek, also blocked two shots for Motown.

“Going into penalties, I told the guys ‘I have all the confidence in Dave Pekarek, our goalie coach,’” said FC Motown head coach Šaćir Hot. “He has studied them, he’s had countless hours spent watching their penalties.”

Ultimately Zack Perez shot over the bar for Motown in the sixth round of kicks and Milan Vanacker sealed the win for Rochester.

After the final whistle, victorious goalkeeper Caique ran straight to the Motown bench and required multiple teammates to pull him away from opponents. In the fracas, the referee showed him a red card.

Baltazar was introspective after the match, despite advancing after winning the shootout.

“I’m happy with the win, obviously. Happy to qualify for the next round. But unhappy with some stuff that happened in the game … especially about ourselves there are a few things that are not acceptable,” he said. “We can’t do these kinds of things.

“The last two games, we had two clean sheets and if we don’t concede goals we are closer to a win. And it was a really easy goal, we can’t concede this type of goal. With that goal Motown can come back into the game again.”

In the second half, everything started to fall apart with the red cards the Portuguese coach added.

“And after that it’s all about the sacrifice, the commitment, the passion that this team is building,” he said. “It becomes stronger today after this game. But we are still building it.

“They showed the organization, they showed the commitment, they showed the passion. It’s not easy. Motown is a good team, even if it’s coming from amateur levels. They have good players, players that could be on our team.”

Baltazar said that RNY is still far away from where they want to be, competing in their inaugural season in the new MLS Next Pro league, but they are getting there.

“Cup games are always tricky to play,” Baltazar said. “Motown is a team that likes to have the ball, that likes to play the game. And yeah, we created chances but we should have scored more goals. We scored two goals. Again, we conceded one goal in the first half that I can’t accept. We need to talk about that and we need to correct that.

“We had the penalty so we can kill the game at 3-1. I think it can kill the game but we didn’t manage to score and after that everything happened.”

Hot was philosophical about the result.

“There’s things we could have done differently if we had a second chance but you can say that about everything in life,” he said. “I think that I’m disappointed, yeah. But not necessarily heartbroken. Listen, everything we’ve done to this point is house money. This is already the farthest we’ve gotten in the Open Cup, Third Round.

“Before the game, I told everyone that we were going to live and die by the sword. Their first two goals, if you notice, we were man-to-man across the whole field. We could have been conservative and sat in but I said ‘no, you know what we’re gonna put on a show for the fans and for us and we’re gonna go out swinging.’ It’s easy to resort to sitting in, packing it in, and being boring but no one likes boring. We’re gonna play and we’re gonna have fun at the same time.

“At least we put on a show. We were always gonna put on a show.”

By taking Rochester to penalty kicks, FC Motown finishes as the furthest advancing amateur team and wins $25,000 in prize money. This broke the amateur team tiebreaker with North Carolina Fusion U-23 who also forced extra time in their match against the Richmond Kickers.

Rochester advances to the fourth round, facing New York City FC on May 11 at Belson Stadium (St. John’s University).

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