On a windy afternoon in West Des Moines, Iowa, the home team Des Moines Menace faced Union Omaha, a USL League One team in the Second Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. While the headlines entering Wednesday’s contest centered around the Menace who had assembled a roster full of former Major League Soccer stars, it was Union Omaha who spoiled the storyline with a 2-1 win.
It was the second year in a row, and the third time in the last four years that Union Omaha eliminated Des Moines from the competition.
The first half was dominated by the visiting team, with Omaha scoring two goals in the 17th and 33rd minutes respectively with Dion Acoff opening the scoring and Aarón Gómez following.
Although the Owls seemed to easily control the game, shortly after the start of the second half, the Menace got a penalty kick then scored by former Sporting Kansas City star Benny Feilhaber, which reopened his team’s hopes. The two-time US Open Cup champion (Sporting KC 2015 & 2017) scored to cut the lead in half.
On the penalty kick, Union Omaha player Brandon Knapp, received his second yellow card, thus leaving his team with ten men for the remaining 35 minutes of the match. Although control of the game shifted to the home team’s hands, the Owls would hold on for the 2-1 win.
The referee whistled the start of the game accompanied by the enthusiasm of the many fans of the Des Moines team who had come to the stadium for this match of their team against a higher-class formation. After 17 minutes of almost total possession, Union Omaha’s Acoff, launches his teammate Gómez toward the goal, to then collected the cross and turned it into the opening goal. The Menace continued to defend until in the 33rd minute Gómez, the author of the previous assist, again made his mark by scoring the second goal.
At the end of the first half, Des Moines Menace, who by now had nothing left to lose, took courage and appeared on a few occasions in the opponent’s half of the field before going to the locker room for halftime. Their chances of hanging with the defending USL League One champions took a blow 15 minutes into the first half when former MLS star Bradley Wright Phillips had to leave the game due to injury. Des Moines brought on some fresh legs at halftime and it gave them a spark.
The decisive moment, however, was at the beginning of the second half, when halftime sub Feilhaber, the Red Army’s No. 10, entered the field putting the captain’s armband on his arm. He scored from the penalty spot just eight minutes after entering the game. Shortly after the goal, Sacha Kljestan subbed out of the game. In the 69th minute, Kljestan would be sent off from the bench after arguing with the referee.
Now, in numerical superiority and with the confidence given by the penalty kick, the Menace increased the pressure. Des Moines maintained an orderly ball possession that, in the 80th minute, produced the best scoring chance of the game for Leroy Enzugusi, who came in to replace Kljestan. He found himself one-on-one with Union goalkeeeper Cole Jensen who made the save. After five minutes of stoppage time, the match ended with the Owls advancing to the Third Round for the fourth year in a row.
“As a player, you always feel like you are in it, especially once you get a goal, you are a man up with about 30 minutes left you think you have a chance,” said Feilhaber. “They defended very well, it becomes tough in those moments to find balls in between the lines but we had some chances, couldn’t convert any of them and they were deserved winners in the end.”
Feilhaber gave credit to his team, especially the younger players who gave everything to put the team in a position to win.
Union Omaha’s defense had to remain compact for almost the entire second half to avoid a Menace comeback.
“We did well in defending, staying together and not conceding the second, because it would have been difficult to go into overtime with a man down,” said Union Omaha defendere and captain Marco Milanese. “I’m very happy with how we defended and how we managed to bring home the result.”
With this victory, Uunion Omaha secures a spot for the Third Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup to be played the week of April 15-16. The draw will take place on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.