It was a cold windy night in Leesburg, Va. as Northern Virginia FC hosted rivals Christos FC in the fourth and final Open Division Local qualifying round for the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. It was the visitors, Christos FC who would prevail on a late goal by Clement Blanc to win 1-0 and return to the Open Cup for the first time since 2018.
As the game progressed it became more and more obvious that these were two teams that knew each other well, as it became almost like a chess match with both sides having trouble breaking down the other.
“Anytime you’re at this level of the competition you know the team on the other side will be prepared but when it’s NoVa it means a little more,” Christos head coach Larry Sancomb said before the game. “They have an excellent coach, well trained players. They played well against us earlier in the year so we always make sure to respect our opponent.”
It was a game of few chances, the first half saw both teams struggle to get into any kind of rhythm. The best chance of the first half fell to NoVa’s left back KJ Nadeau. The opportunity was created by Eric Cavillo who did well to find Nadeau who was still tasked with a difficult finish as his shot ended up bouncing off of the post to keep the score all even at 0-0.
As the second half started so did the action as both teams started to grow into the game, the first fifteen was all NoVa as they started to string together passes and started to test Christos keeper Daniel McCleary. McCleary would have two big saves early in the second half as NoVa controlled the majority of the possession but could not find the opening goal.
Christos would find their footing as the second half carried on and would start putting NoVa keeper Tyler Back to work, each time he would be equal as he made multiple diving saves. The biggest though would come in the 75th minute as Christos was awarded a penalty and it looked like they’d finally break the deadlock. Cody Albrecht would step up for Christos and take the penalty, he’d shoot low and hard to the bottom left corner but the outstretched hands of Back would parry the ball out for a corner and keep the score all level.
It was starting to look as if these two teams would need extra time to decide the winner as neither could capitalize on their chances. Then, in the 85th minute it’d be heartbreak for NoVa and complete jubilation for Christos as what appeared to be an ordinary deflected shot in the air was anything but. Both the NoVa center back and keeper yelled out for the other to claim but the ball would fall in between them to Clement Blanc of Christos who made no mistake and fired the ball into the empty net. Blanc’s somersault celebration was the icing on the cake as it’d be the winning goal.
Christos will return to the US Open Cup proper which begins in March as they will try to recapture the magic from their Open Cup debut in 2017 when they put a scare into D.C. United of Major League Soccer. If they’re able to recreate that run or even go further is now in their hands.