2007 Quarterfinals

2007 US Open Cup Quarterfinals: Revolution survive late scare, hold off City Islanders 2-1

August 8, 2007 by Josh Hakala

Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution scores a 17th minute goal past Harrisburg City Islanders goalkeeper Matt Nelson in a 2007 US Open Cup Quarterfinal match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Photo: Tony Biscaia

The New England Revolution returned to the US Open Cup Semifinals for the first time since 2001 with a 2-1 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders.

Andy Dorman and Taylor Twellman each scored early first half goals, but the underdogs from the USL Second Division would make it interesting in the final 15 minutes.

Bucking the trend of past years, the Revolution came out with a first rate lineup and it showed early in the game. Shalrie Joseph’s pass found Dorman in the box at close range, and he gave the home side the 1-0 lead just four minutes into the contest.

Less than 15 minutes later, Pat Noonan’s cross found the foot of Twellman to double their lead. New England controlled the majority of the play, but Harrisburg kept it close and refused to allow a third goal.

The Revs missed a handful of chances, including a Twellman header that was destined for the back of the net, but Harrisburg midfielder David Schofield cleared the ball off the line.

The Revolution, in front of a rather scarse crowd at Gillette Stadium (officially announced as 1,512), seemed to put the game into cruise control until the 78th minute. Matt Tanzini came off the bench as a second half substitute for the City Islanders and launched a 30-yard free kick into the upper corner of the goal, leaving New England goalkeeper Matt Reis with no chance of making the save.

However, any momentum that shifted toward the underdogs for the final 12 minutes was dashed in the 90th when Harrisburg’s Anthony Calvano was shown a straight red card for recklessly colliding with Reis. After that, the Revs were able to kill the clock and close out the game.

The Revolution will move on to the Semifinals where they will host the Carolina RailHawks of the USL First Division on Sept. 4. The last time New England reached the final four was in 2001 when they finished as the tournament runner-up, falling to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the championship game.

Scoring Summary
NER – Andy Dorman (Joseph) – 4th
NER – Taylor Twellman (Noonan) – 17th
HAR – Matt Tanzini (unassisted) – 78th

2007 Quarterfinals: FC Dallas need overtime to beat Charleston … again

August 7, 2007 by

Arturo Alvarez’s strike in the 95th minute broke a 1-1 tie and helped FC Dallas advance to the Semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Charleston Battery. It was the second year in a row that Charleston has lost to Dallas in the Open Cup after being tied following regulation (Dallas won on penalty kicks in the Fourth Round last year).

FC Dallas came out with a close-to-full-strength first 11, but Stephen Armstrong would open the scoring in the 17th minute from outside the penalty area. Clarence Goodson’s header in the 22nd minute leveled the score and the remainder of the half would be tightly-fought. The second half saw little in the way of eventful action and the game was destined to head to extra time.

The 1997 US Open Cup champions are making their sixth appearance in the Semifinals. Their last trip to the final four was in 2005 when they defeated the Chicago Fire 1-0, on their way to losing in the championship game to the Los Angeles Galaxy by the same scoreline.

FC Dallas will move on to play the Seattle Sounders at Qwest Field on September 4.

2007 Quarterfinals: Sounders hand Rapids worst-ever loss by MLS team

August 7, 2007 by adamspangler

The Seattle Sounders rolled past another Major League Soccer side Tuesday night, throttling the Colorado Rapids 5-0 at Qwest Field to return to the US Open Cup Semifinals for the first time since 1995.

Defenders Taylor Graham and Zach Scott scored on headers off set pieces in a two-minute span midway through the first half to set the tone for the Sounders, who earned a home match against FC Dallas in a Sept. 4 Semifinal.

The five-goal deficit is the worst defeat suffered by an MLS team in Open Cup history. The league’s worst loss to USL opponents prior to Tuesday night was three goals, which has happened four times since 1996. Of those four games, two of them involved the Rapids.

Josh Gardner and Sebastien Le Toux also found the back of the net for Seattle, both connecting after the Rapids were down to 10 men following defender Facundo Erpen’s second yellow card in the 49th minute. The goal for Le Toux was his fifth of the tournament, putting him alone atop this year’s scoring chart.

The Sounders had little trouble extending their overall unbeaten streak to 11 matches (10-0-1), posting their third convincing victory in four US Open Cup matches this year – Seattle has outscored its foes 14-3 in the competition, with a 2-1 win over USL First Division rival Portland in the Second Round the only close call.

Worst losses by MLS since 1996

2007 Quarterfinals: Seattle (USL-1) 5:0 Colorado
2005 Fourth Round: Minnesota (USL-1) 4:1 Colorado
2003 Fourth Round: Wilmington (USL-2) 4:1 Dallas
2001 Second Round: Charleston (USL-1) 4:1 Metrostars
2000 Second Round: Richmond (USL-1) 3:0 Colorado

Colorado, meanwhile, lost for the eighth time in its past 12 games overall (1-8-3).

The Rapids fell behind in the 23rd minute when the 6-foot-4 Graham was alone on the back post to knock a corner kick by Gardner past Colorado goalkeeper Zach Thornton for his first goal of the season.

Just 120 seconds later, Leighton O’Brien’s free kick from 30 yards out on the left side found Scott streaking in alone on the back post. Thornton had no chance on the wide-open header, as Scott’s second goal of the year quickly made it 2-0.

Thornton did well to save Roger Levesque’s shot in the 41st minute, but the ball bounced out and deflected off Rapids defender Ugo Ihemelu, who was rushing back to help, and into the net for an own goal and a 3-0 lead for the Sounders.

If the outcome wasn’t already decided, Erpen’s second booking in the the 49th ensured it. The Argentine was sent off after a harsh challenge on Levesque that saw his cleats planted into the back of the forward’s thigh, leaving Colorado a man down for the final 41 minutes.

Given more space with which to operate, Le Toux excelled.

The Frenchman picked up a poor back pass by Colorado’s Nico Hernandez and carried the ball forward before finding Gardner streaking down the left side. Gardner pounded a shot that Thornton got a hand on, but he couldn’t keep it from becoming Gardner’s second goal of the season and a 4-0 advantage in the 56th minute.

12 minutes later, Le Toux – the TheCup.us Player of the Round after scoring twice and setting up the other goal in a 3-1 win over Chivas USA in the third round – got one for himself. He dribbled around Ihemelu and beat Thornton for his 11th goal of the year to complete the rout.

Chris Eylander posted the shutout for the Sounders, including a top-notch stop on Herculez Gomez in first half stoppage time. That was one of two quality scoring chances for Colorado on the night, the other coming in the 20th minute when Jose Cancela’s cross was flicked on by Conor Casey and looked like it would bounce into the net before Seattle defender Danny Jackson cleared it off the line.

Scoring Summary:
SEA – Taylor Graham (Gardner) 23
SEA – Zach Scott (O’Brien) 25
SEA – Own Goal (Ihemelu) 43
SEA – Josh Gardner (Le Toux) 56
SEA – Sebastien Le Toux (unassisted) 68

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids – Zach Thornton, Brandon Prideaux, Ugo Ihemelu, Facundo Erpen, Colin Clark (Niko Hernandez 45), Jacob Peterson, Pablo Mastroeni (Jovan Kirovski 60), Jose Cancela (Dan Gargan 51), Mehdi Ballouchy, Conor Casey, Herculez Gomez (Daniel Osorno 64)
Substitutes Not Used: Bouna Coundoul, Terry Cooke, Nick LaBrocca

Seattle Sounders – Chris Eylander, Kevin Sakuda, Danny Jackson, Taylor Graham, Zach Scott, Kenji Treschuk (Nate Knox 79), Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Leighton O’Brien (Greg Howes 45), Josh Gardner, Sebastien Le Toux (Andre Schmid 71), Roger Levesque (Noah Merl 56)
Substitutes Not Used: Ben Dragavon, Adam West, Santa Maria Rivera

Misconduct Summary:
COL – Gomez (Caution) 29
SEA – Treschuk (Caution) 29
COL – Erpen (Caution) 38
COL – Cancela (Caution) 43
SEA – O’Brien (Caution) 43
COL – Erpen (Ejection, second caution) 49
SEA – Le Toux (Caution) 69

Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Referees Assts.: Jeff Hosking, Mike Rottersman
Fourth Official: Shahram Pourazari
Attendance: 6,619

2007 Quarterfinals: RailHawks swoop into the Semifinals, beat Richmond 1-0

August 7, 2007 by

In a rare all-USL Quarterfinal match, the Carolina RailHawks advanced to the Semifinals with a 1-0 win at home over the Richmond Kickers. Connally Edozien was the hero for the home side scoring in the 64th minute on a cross from Jonny Steele.

The Hawks will play the New England Revolution (Edozien’s former club) in the final four.

The Kickers, the defending Second Division champions, showed little fear, and at times, controlled the run of play against the First Division expansion side.

However, it was the home team that would break the scoreless tie, when Steele streaked down the right wing and sent a cross to the far post. The ball found the foot of Edozien who found net for his fourth goal of the tournament, tied for second in the competition behind Seattle’s Sebastien Le Toux (5).

Richmond nearly equalized in the 90th minute, but Carolina defender Frankie Sanfilippo made an acrobatic clearance off the line on a ball that was destined for the back of the net.

This was the third all-time meeting between two USL clubs in the Quarterfinals. The other two times included the 2004 Open Cup when the Charleston Battery edged the Rochester Raging Rhinos 1-0 and in 1999 when Charleston beat the Staten Island Vipers (A-League) 2-1.