Under the lights of a cool spring evening, Sacramento Republic FC played host to Colorado Rapids in the Round of 32 of the 2023 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Heart Health Park.
Behind early goals from Rapids forward Jonathan Lewis and Michael Edwards, Colorado held on to knock out last year’s Open Cup runner up 4-2 in an entertaining, back and forth match.
With the win, Colorado erased a seven-game road losing streak in Open Cup play as well as the infamous ‘Curse of the Rhinos.” Since the Rapids lost the 1999 US Open Cup Final to the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they had failed to win multiple games in 17 straight tournaments. Tuesday’s win is only their sixth road win in the competition across 21 tournaments, and despite getting past Republic FC, they still have a losing record against second division teams in the tournament (7-8-1, 0-1 PK) and hold the record among MLS teams who have been upset 11 times by a lower division side.
“Obviously, happy to advance,” said Colorado manager Robin Fraser. “As I’ve been saying all week, we certainly intend to take this tournament seriously, and we’ve talked a lot about mentality, we talked about what it’s like to play in an arena like this. And were every bit as good as I thought they would be. After giving up a couple of early goals, they really applied a lot of pressure late in the game. I was certainly pleased with how we handled it, and then obviously, to relinquish the lead, and then come back in and find two more goals to win it. I was really proud of the group for that. But as I said, the bottom line is we’re happy to have gotten through and advance to the next round.”
Jonathan Lewis opened the scoring for the Rapids in the 4th minute following a nice through ball from Daniel Leyva to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. Eleven minutes later (15th minute), Rapids defender Michael Edwards slid under the Republic defense and headed in a corner from Alexander Gerbach to make it 2-0.
After the shock of going down two early goals, Republic FC were able to gain composure and work themselves back into the match. The effort would pay off in the 30th minute, when Sebastian Herrera pulled one back for the Quails on a beautiful cross from forward Keko Gontan on the right side capping off a solid build up of play.
Nicholson comes off the bench and slams home the rebound to give us the lead ????#SACvCOL | #USOC2023 pic.twitter.com/3EtrvzHmNM
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 10, 2023
Looking to level the match out of halftime, Republic FC got what they needed in the 52nd minute when Herrera got his brace after heading in a cross from defender Jack Gurr to send Heart Health Park into a frenzy. Unfortunately for the Republic, the excitement of fighting back to level at 2-2 would be short-lived.
Colorado regained the advantage in the 56th minute when substitute Sam Nicholson gathered the rebound following a blistering right-footed shot from Michael Barrios that hit the left post, ricocheted near the right post where Nicholson was crashing in. He calmly tapped it in to give the Rapids a 3-2 advantage.
Galván ???? Barrios
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 10, 2023
The nail in the coffin to advance to the Round of 16!!#SACvCOL pic.twitter.com/ZldFHOO7IN
The game would change when Republic defender Shane Wiedt picked up two yellow cards in a span of 90 seconds (61st and 62nd minute) and was sent off with 30 minutes left in the match. Down a man, Republic FC fought hard and continued to mount pressure and create chances, however, the game was put away in the 81st minute by Barrios off a cross from substitute Braian Galvan to make it 4-2, which is where the game would finish.
With the loss, Republic’s home unbeaten streak ends at 14 (second longest in the Modern Era). However, they still hold an impressive 18-2-1 (1-0 PK) home record in the Open Cup. For Colorado, Tuesday’s win means a trip to the Round of 16 and an opportunity to do something special in this tournament and change the direction of their history in the Open Cup. Lewis and his teammates are embracing the moment.
“If you tell somebody you can win a trophy in five or six games, then I think most people will take that,” said Rapids forward Jonathan Lewis. “You’ve got to win six games, so for us, it’s like that focus and that mentality right there to win or go home. And, you know, we have that in the back of our heads, and we know that this could be an opportunity, a tournament that we can actually win, so I think everybody’s just putting their head down. We know whoever we get next, again, it’s going to be just another game, but there’s going to be a lot more urgency in these games right now than even maybe an MLS game.”
