In front of about 1,000 fans at Dudley Field in the 96-degree Rio Grande heat, it looked as if the El Paso Patriots’ Open Cup hopes were evaporating in the hot air in the opening ten minutes. For the remaining 80 minutes however, the visiting McCormick Kickers from St. Petersburg, Fla. cooled off and El Paso netted five unanswered goals the rest of the way for a 5-2 win in the First Round of the 1995 US Open Cup.
In the opening ten minutes, a pair of veterans gave the Kickers an early lead. Two of the team’s main offensive threats were Greg Bowden and Peter Ward, who made name for himself in England primarily with Brighton & Hove Albion (and also played for Nottingham Forest). Each player scored less than a minute apart to give the 1989 US Open Cup champs a 2-0 lead.
THECUP.US RESEARCH NOTE
If you know anyone who was connected to the El Paso Patriots or the McCormick (St. Petersburg) Kickers in 1995 or if you have any photos or video from this match, email us here. (We’re missing the scoring summary, lineups/subs for both teams, booking summary, game stats and referees who worked the game
“I think we expected more of them but with the heat, we came out flat and they jumped on us,” Patriots goalkeeper Jake Arrambide told the El Paso Times-Herald. “But that woke us up. Their goals turned it on for us and we came back.”
El Paso pulled even near the end of the first half, getting goals from Andre Passantino and David Stewart in the final ten minutes before halftime.
For the rest of the game, El Paso was in control, out-shooting the Kickers 12-3 in the second half. Raul Gomez scored on a free kick in the 50th minute to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead and Stewart added another goal to make it 4-2. Closing things out, the Patriots’ leading scorer Rito Delgado made it 5-2 in the final minute to put the game away.
“(El Paso) is a very good team and I think they were a little more fit than we were,” Kickers manager Jim DiNoble said after the game. “They were a little sharper that we were today. As the game went on, we got tired.”
The Patriots will travel to Colorado in July to face the A-League’s Colorado Foxes (who defeated Flamengo SC in the opening round) in the Quarterfinals.
