In a game that appeared to be headed to extra time, Chicago House AC scored a pair of goals in the final minutes to beat Valhalla FC, 3-1. With the road win, Chicago qualifies for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for the second year in a row.
When Chicago House arrived in Ohio on Nov. 18 for their fourth round Open Cup qualifying match with Valhalla FC, the skies were dark gray and rain was coming down. As the team stepped on to the field at Charity Lucas Stadium in Milford, OH to practice, returning players were happy to see lights surrounding the field after the 2022 “Brockton Blackout” qualification game. They wouldn’t need to come into play anyway as Saturday, Nov. 19 was a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day in Southern Ohio. Perfect conditions for an Open Cup qualifier.
Chicago House was coming into the match after a first-round bye and two tight wins over fellow Chicago teams Wisloka Chicago and Edgewater Castle. They hadn’t played a league game since July 22, so House Coach Matt Poland had to keep his team game ready with intense practices and the occasional scrimmage. Meanwhile Valhalla, a team created in 2018 with ambitions of high-level national competition, were coming off a convincing 10-1 win over Sahara Gunners FC (Buffalo, NY) in their Third Round Open Cup qualifier.
Absolutely incredible video by @attackmadcity of eliasmccloud ‘s GWG off a perfect corner by @jalzate10 to send @chicagohouse_ac back to @opencup tournament proper in March. #UpTheHouse ???????????? pic.twitter.com/OzRbGOn8Kz
— Jenn Jarmula (@JennJ74) November 19, 2023
The afternoon game began with the Cincinnati-based Valhalla FC playing two strikers up top, their midfielders sat deep, close to their defenders, and they kicked the ball up field directly to those two big forwards at every opportunity. In the 9th minute Fin Sallows of Valhalla should have put the Ohio men in the lead. A long ball, which House keeper Tony Halterman hesitated on due to bright sun, fell to the Valhalla striker. But he blazed the ball over the bar from inside the 6-yard box. The game then settled into a stalemate pattern of House trying to work the ball up the field with short passes and wide play, and Valhalla playing direct from back to strikers when they had the ball. In the 40th minute a House clearance on one of those long balls didn’t fully clear their defensive zone and Valhalla’s Connor Clark shot was deflected into the path of Andre Novakovich, who, despite House calls for offside, slotted past Halterman to put Valhalla up 1-0.
Being down a goal seemed to wake up House, and the Chicagoans began pressing for an equalizer before half. That goal came in the 45th minute from House forward Alejandro Mentasti. Ricardo “Kiki” Avalos smartly played a quick throw-in at midfield to Captain AR Smith, who gave the ball back to a streaking Avalos on the left wing. Avalos then played a dangerous cross which Valhalla keeper Ian McNamara could not hold. The ball bounced around the box before falling to Mentasti, who put it in the back of the net for 1-1 score at halftime.
The second half followed the first half pattern of House working the ball around the field with short passes and wide play, while Valhalla tried to be dangerous with direct passes from the back to their big frontmen. At any point, if a House defender had had any missteps one of Valhalla’s dangerous strike duo would have latched on to a long ball. House avoided making any mistakes and in the 89th minute House earned a late corner kick. Jhon Alzate swung in a dangerous ball which Elias McCloud, who had been standing in front of Valhalla’s keeper, stepped away from goal. He headed a shot past McNamara, and House were up 2-1 with only six minutes of stoppage time remaining.
A good ol’ @opencup victory on the road for @ChicagoHouse_AC. Time for the Open Cup Proper.#CHAC #YourCityOurHouse pic.twitter.com/32B5nART2N
— too little too nate (@natepthomps) November 18, 2023
In that stoppage time, Valhalla upped their direct play with more urgency and pushed their defenders higher up the field. Despite this home team pressure, and House looking to defend their lead for the final few minutes, this pressing Valhalla offense left their defense vulnerable to a House counter. In the 2nd minute of stoppage, one of those counters resulted in a Valhalla foul 20 yards from McNamara’s goal. It was then House’s Pau Mateo Chacon in the third minute of stoppage, who sealed the win with a classy, low free kick from 20 yards out to put House up 3-1 and the game out of reach for the home side.
In that “Brockton Blackout” game of 2023 qualifying, House dramatically won a 9-8 penalty shootout in Massachusetts darkness. While this 3-1, regular time House AC 2024 qualifying win might look as if it was a comfortable victory, that would be deceiving as, until the final moments of regular time, this match could have easily gone either way.
House AC made an impressive run to the US Open Cup third round proper last year, where they were ultimately defeated by MLS Chicago Fire at Seat Geek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL. On the way to that third round all-Chicago match, House had beaten fellow Midwest Premier League team Milwaukee Bavarians in the first round before upsetting USL One side Forward Madison in a thrilling Second Round match. With this final round of qualifying victory over a tough Valhalla FC side, House have given themselves an opportunity to make another exciting Open Cup run in 2024.
FULL MATCH VIDEO