Brian Ombiji

Osvaldo Alonso of Seattle Sounders, Danny Barrera of Cal FC take TheCup.us Player of the Tournament honors

August 28, 2012 by Gerald Barnhart

osvaldo-alonso-pk-vs-cal-fc — Osvaldo Alonso of the Seattle Sounders finished with four goals and two assists as he reached a record fifth straight US Open Cup Final. Photo: Seattle Sounders FC

In an open vote that saw six different players names selected on ballots for the TheCup.us Player of the Tournament, it was five-time finalist Osvaldo Alonso of the Seattle Sounders that received the honor while Cal FC’s Danny Barrera was an overwhelming choice as TheCup.us Lower Division Player of the Tournament as well as runner-up behind Alonso.

TheCup.us Player of the Tournament: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders)

Alonso, who was named the Player of the Round for last year’s Open Cup Final, was the main offensive reason that the Sounders returned to their fourth straight Final, a Modern Professional Era record fifth straight personally dating back to being a member of the 2008 Charleston Battery.

Alonso scored four goals, which tied for second in the 2012 tournament, and dished out two assists in four games before falling in the Final via a penalty kick tiebreaker where his miss in the shootout was perhaps his only blemish in another fantastic campaign. Alonso had a goal and an assist in their 5-1 Third Round win over the Atlanta Silverbacks (NASL), and also had a pair of goals in their 5-0 rout of Cal FC in the Fourth Round, including one from the penalty spot.

The Cuban defensive midfielder did not play in the team’s 1-0 Quarterfinal win at San Jose, but returned to the lineup in the Semifinals to assist on Eddie Johnson’s opening goal before adding another penalty kick to defeat Chivas USA, 4-1. His performance earned him his second career TheCup.us Player of the Round honor.

TheCup.us Lower Division Player of the Tournament: Danny Barrera (Cal FC)

In the debut of the honor, there was little debate as Barrera’s performance for the USASA entrant Cal FC was impressive. He also finished second to Alonso in the POTT voting, coming close to becoming the first lower division player to earn the honor since Chris Eylander won the award for leading the USL-1 Sounders to the Semifinals in 2008.

cal-fc-vs-psa-elite-2012-region-4 — Danny Barrera's journey to the US Open Cup Fourth Round began in the USASA Region IV tournament (with Chicago Fire jerseys), shown here playing PSA Elite in the Final. Photo: PSA Elite

Cal FC became the story of the 2012 tournament thanks to the play of Barrera. The Southern California club managed by former US international Eric Wynalda played every one of their games on the road and made a run all the way to the Fourth Round, becoming just the sixth amateur club and second from USASA to reach Round 4 in the Modern Pro Era.

The journey began when Barrera scored two goals in a 3-1 win against last year’s PDL champion the Kitsap Pumas. That performance earned Barrera TheCup.us Player of the Round recognition for the opening round. He would earn the honor again after traveling across the country and handing USL Pro’s Wilmington Hammerheads a stunning 4-0 drubbing. Barrera scored two goals in the game en route to repeating as TheCup.us Player of the Round, something no one else from a lower division team has done dating back to the debut of the honor in 2006.

The only previous repeat honorees were Pat Noonan, who was recognized following the Semifinals and Final of the New England Revolution’s run to the 2007 title, and Nate Jaqua, who was honored for the Seattle Sounders in the 2010 Quarterfinal and Semifinal wins en route to the team’s second championship. Both MLS players also went on to be named TheCup.us Player of the Tournament.

The personal recognition ended there for Barrera, but Cal FC’s headlines did not as they pulled off a shocking upset, knocking out Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers, 1-0, with Barrera leading the way once again. He delivered the game-winning assist to Artur Aghasyan in the 95th minute of extra time in the Rose City before the Cinderella run came to an end in Tukwila, WA as the Seattle Sounders dispatched Cal FC 5-0 in a game that Barrera played the full 90.

Danny sounders2-goalwa — TheCup.us Player of the Tournament Osvaldo Alonso of the Seattle Sounders knocks Danny Barrera of Cal FC, the Lower Division Player of the Tournament, off the ball during their Round 4 meeting.Photo: Wilson Tsoi | GoalWa.net

Barrera went on to sign with the Atlanta Silverbacks of the second division NASL in July during Wynalda’s interim management of the club, but has played only 181 minutes since, spending some time on trials overseas.

Voting

The award is voted on by the staff of TheCup.us and a select panel of members from the North American Soccer Reporters.

Other receiving votes for TheCup.us Player of the Tournament behind Alonso and Barrera were the duo of Jimmy Nielsen and Graham Zusi of tournament champion Sporting Kansas City. The list was rounded out by Seattle’s Zach Scott and Brian Ombiji of the Harrisburg City Islanders.

Though Barrera was the runaway winner of TheCup.us Lower Division Player of the Tournament honors, also receiving votes were Ombiji and Clint Irwin, goalkeeper of the Charlotte Eagles. Lower Division players are eligible to win both awards. The striker is the first to receive the newly-created award.

“We began discussing the idea of adding a Lower Division honor a year ago because we felt there were a number of players from clubs below MLS that had quality tournament performances that were being overlooked because their team did not win the championship,” said TheCup.us senior editor Josh Hakala. “It is natural to look at the tournament finalists when it comes time to vote for the event’s best player, but with those being almost entirely MLS clubs, that leaves outstanding play in the first three or four rounds when teams are playing opposition from higher flights out of the equation.”

Since the second-division Rochester Rhinos won the tournament championship in 1999, only the 2008 Charleston Battery have reached the US Open Cup Final from the lower ranks.

2012 TheCup.us Tournament Honors

Player of the Tournament: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders)
Lower Division Player of the Tournament: Danny Barrera (Cal FC)
Championship Player of the Round: Matt Besler (Sporting KC)
Semifinals Player of the Round: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders)
Quarterfinals Player of the Round: Jose Correa (Chivas USA)
Fourth Round Player of the Round: Sainey Touray (Harrisburg City Islanders)
Third Round Player of the Round: Artur Aghasyan (Cal FC)
Second Round Player of the Round: Danny Barrera (Cal FC)
First Round Player of the Round: Danny Barrera (Cal FC)

Past winners of TheCup.us Player of the Tournament

2012: Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders)
2011: Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders)
2010: Nate Jaqua (Seattle Sounders)
2009: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders)
2008: Chris Eylander (Seattle Sounders)
2007: Pat Noonan (New England Revolution)
2006: Andy Herron (Chicago Fire)

2012 US Open Cup Quarterfinals: Philadelphia Union prevail in intrastate battle over Harrisburg City Islanders

June 26, 2012 by Michael Berton

The US Open Cup magic finally ran out for the Harrisburg City Islanders against their MLS affiliates, the Philadelphia Union. The Union got three early goals and weathered a fierce Harrisburg comeback to eventually win 5-2.

“That was a tough game, a lot tougher than a 5-2 result,” Union interim coach John Hackworth said. “It’s a big deal for this club and this organization .” Just a few weeks ago, the two teams played a friendly in which Harrisburg prevailed 3-2 and was followed by the firing of manager Peter Nowak. Tonight, however, the Union attacked early and often to make sure that result would not be repeated.

Philadelphia looked to dominate the game from the opening whistle. Harrisburg had barely managed a touch when the Union’s Lionard Pajoy sent in a cross that was handled in the box when Harrisburg defender Stephen Basso slipped. Freddy Adu converted a 5th-minute penalty to give the Union the early lead.

Just five minutes later, the Union struck again. A long ball from the Union half of the field was misplayed by the Harrisburg defense. Jack McInerney pounced on the loose ball and slotted it past goalkeeper Nick Noble to double the Philadelphia lead in the ninth minute.

Philadelphia was not done, however. After the game had seemingly settled down to a more normal pace, Gabe Farfan made a run down the left wing and crossed the ball into the box. The pass found Pajoy, who calmly gathered the ball, manuevered through the defense and scored to give the Union a 3-0 lead in the 29th minute.

Harrisburg would not give up though, being no strangers to 3-goal deficits in Open Cup play. In the Third Round, the City Islanders were down 3-0 in the second half of overtime against the New England Revolution. They scored three times in eight minutes to tie the game, and they eventually advanced in a penalty kick shootout.

The City Islanders nearly replicated that feat on Tuesday night. Yann Ekra found Brian Ombiji in the box in the 51st minute. Ombiji powered his way past the Union defense and scored. Three minutes later, Ekra dished out another assist. This time, he found Morgan Langley open in the box. Langley converted the goal to make it 3-2.

“We came into the locker room up 3-0, and the first thing said was ‘They were down 3-0 to New England with way less time,’” McInerney said. “We stuck to it. We kept grinding it out…We started to put back on, and they couldn’t handle it.”

The Union managed to calm things down and reasserted its presence on the game. Philadelphia substitute Antoine Hoppenot provided an instant spark, running in behind the defense and earning a penalty kick in the 69th minute. Pajoy converted the spot kick to put the Union up 4-2.

Harrisburg pushed everyone forward to try and make yet another comeback, but Gabriel Gomez put the game away with an 81st-minute goal. On a counterattack, a pass was deflected right into the path of Gomez. He gathered the ball and chipped the onrushing goalie to make it 5-2.

Harrisburg’s magical run in the 2012 US Open Cup that included two upsets of MLS sides has ended, but Philadelphia’s is still going strong. The Union will host Sporting Kansas City in the Semifinals on July 11 at PPL Park.

The Union also become the first Pennsylvania club to reach the final four since the United German Hungarians, located just north of the city of Philadelphia, pulled it off in 1993.

Philadelphia Union 5:2 Harrisburg City Islanders
PPL Park – Chester, Pa.

PHI: Freddy Adu (PK) 5
PHI: Jack MacInerney (unassisted) 9
PHI: Lionard Pajoy (Gabe Farfan) 29
HCI: Brian Ombiji (Yann Ekra) 51
HCI: Morgan Langley (Yann Ekra) 54
PHI: Lionard Pajoy (PK) 69
PHI: Gabriel Gomez (unassisted) 81

Discipline:

HCI: Andrew Marshall (caution-60)
HCI: Morgan Langley (caution-74)
HCI: Jason Pelletier (caution-78)
PHI: Jack McInerney (caution-90+)

Lineups:
Philadelphia Union: Zac Macmath; Raymon Gaddis, Amobi Okugo, Porfirio Lopez, Gabriel Farfan; Brian Carroll, Michael Lahoud (Gabriel Gomez-69), Michael Farfan; Freddy Adu (Antoine Hoppenot-61), Jack McInerny, Lionard Pajoy (Jimmy McLaughlin-83)

Harrisburg City Islanders: Nick Noble; Stephen Basso (Tom Brandt-8), Dustin Bixler, Andrew Marshall, Bilal Duckett (Colin Zizzi-32); Jason Pelletier, J.T. Noone, Andrew Welker, Morgan Langley; Brian Ombiji, Yann Ekra (Garett Pettis-69)

Att: 4,313

2012 US Open Cup Round 3: City Islanders stun New England Revolution in PKs after wild 3-goal OT rally

May 30, 2012 by Gerald Barnhart

The Harrisburg City Islanders and the New England Revolution line up for the player introductions before their Third Round match in the 2012 US Open Cup. Photo: Harrisburg City Islanders

Could you script a more dramatic storyline than what unfolded at the Skyline Sports Complex Tuesday evening in Harrisburg, Penn.? Trailing by three with nine minutes remaining in overtime, the home club Harrisburg City Islanders rallied with three unanswered goals to force a penalty kick tiebreaker against Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution before prevailing from the spot, 4-3, with a saved attempt in the final round from US international Benny Feilhaber.

The win earns Harrisburg another home game in the tournament as they will host the New York Red Bulls next Tuesday at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa. It will be a re-match of the 2010 Third Round game where the City Islanders needed extra time to pull off a 1-0 upset over the MLS side.

Heading to Harrisburg, the New England Revolution knew full well what the City Islanders were capable of. The third division side had already earned three wins in previous tournaments against MLS opposition, including a 2-1 overtime decision against them in 2009.

HBurg-PhilBecher — It was a wet and wild night for Coach Becher of Harrisburg

Even with the Revolution losing Diego Fagundez to a red card in the 36th minute, it looked like the game was going to be another toss-up as the final whistle sounded and things were still in a stalemate. It was not for a lack of chances as New England’s Kelyn Rowe banged one off the crossbar off goalkeeper Nick Noble’s fingertip just two minutes into the match. Harrisburg was also denied by the woodwork when Sainey Touray put his effort off the crossbar three minutes into the second half.

Cut to overtime, where the story really gets wild. Despite playing down a man, the Revolution got their first goal five minutes into the extra session from Lee Nguyen worked through the midfield before sending Rowe behind the defense for a toe-poke tally past the charging Noble.

That seemed to the breaking point as the City Islanders gave up two more in the next eight minutes. Nguyen converted a penalty after Feilhaber was taken down in the box; and Feilhaber himself added the third by beating a defender and ripping a shot into the top of the goal.

Game over. Well, not quite.

Brian Ombiji put away a Tom Mellor cross from the left flank for what seemed to be a consolation strike. Then with three minutes left, Touray made matters anxious yet again with Harrisburg’s second goal.

On essentially the final play of the match, local favorite JT Noone, claimed hero status with a 20-yard effort inside the left post to send the game to penalty kicks. For Noone, he joined a select group of players who have scored goals in four consecutive Open Cup tournaments. His first came in 2009 with the Ocean City Barons (now Ocean City Nor’easters), and the last three seasons, he has scored at least one goal for his hometown City Islanders.

Unfortunately, that hero status did not last long as New England back-up goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth saved Noone’s opening attempt of the shootout. He was partially relieved of guilt the following round when Revolution goalscorer Rowe sent his effort off the crossbar.

And with the final kick of the shootout, Feilhaber’s effort was stopped by Noble, who came into the match with four consecutive shutouts, including last week’s Second Round 2-0 win against Long Island Rough Riders (PDL).

Harrisburg City Islanders 3:3 (4:3 APK) New England Revolution
Skyline Sports Complex (Harrisburg, Pa.)

Scoring Summary:
NE – Kelyn Rowe (Lee Nguyen) 95
NE – Lee Nguyen (penalty kick) 100
NE – Benny Feilhaber (Blake Brettschneider) 103
HAR – Brian Ombiji (Tom Mellor) 111
HAR – Sainey Touray (unassisted) 117
HAR – JT Noone (unassisted) 120

Penalty kicks:
HAR – Joseph Noone (save)
NE – Lee Nguyen (goal)
HAR – Stephen Basso (goal)
NE – Kelyn Rowe (miss – crossbar)
HAR – Bilal Duckett (goal)
NE – Mike Roach (goal)
HAR – Drew Yates (goal)
NE – Blake Brettschneider (goal)
HAR – Andrew Marshall (goal)
NE – Benny Feilhaber (save)

Lineups:

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth (GK), Tyler Polak, John Lozano, Darrius Barnes ©, Alec Purdie, Mike Roach, Fernando Cardenas (Benny Feilhaber 79), Kelyn Rowe, Jeremiah White (Lee Nguyen 63), Diego Fagundez, Jose Moreno (Blake Brettschneider 70) Substitutes Not Used: Tim Murray, Stephen McCarthy

Harrisburg City Islanders: Nicholas Noble (GK), Stephen Basso, Tom Brandt (Tom Mellor 100), Andrew Marshall, Bilal Duckett, Jason Pelletier, Andrew Welker (Drew Yates 64), Joseph Noone, Morgan Langley (Garret Pettis 76), Brian Ombiji, Sainey Touray Substitutes Not Used: Dustin Bixler, Bryan Holt, Adrian LeRoy, Colin Zizzi

NE STATS: Shots 10, Corner Kicks 5, Saves 6, Fouls 12 Offsides 5
HAR STATS: Shots 17, Corner Kicks 6, Saves 2, Fouls 20, Offsides 4

Misconduct Summary:
HAR – Sainey Touray (caution) 11
NE – Jeremiah White (caution) 17
NE – Diego Fagundez (ejection) 36
HAR – Jason Pelletier (caution) 45
HAR – Brian Ombiji (caution 89)

Referee: Ayodeji Obisesan
Assistant Referees: Albert Calise, Eric Weisbrod
Fourth Official: Jaroslaw Werel

Weather: Rainy and 80 degrees
Attendance: 441