FC America CFL Spurs of the United States Soccer League (formerly known as the National Soccer League) knocked off a third straight UPSL club to qualify for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for the first time. On Sunday night, they defeated one of the top teams in the league, Leg-AZ World FC, 4-1 to clinch a spot in the 109th edition of the tournament.
The Orlando area-based club originally registered as “CFL GOSA Spurs” but later changed their team name to “FC America CFL Spurs” prior to their opening game. They reached the “Win & You’re In” round after back-to-back clean sheet victories. The Spurs crushed their opening round opponents, with an 8-0 win over Florida-Central Division bottom-feeders Deportivo Lake Mary. Then a narrow 1-0 win over Harbor City, a team in third place in the same division. Leg-AZ World FC (Leg-AZ stands for Life Education Growth – Association of Friends) entered Saturday’s game in first place with a 7-1-1 league record.
“We are very proud to have qualified for the US Open Cup on our first try,” said FC America head coach Akeem Flemmings. “We are looking forward to working hard to keep it going.”
FC America hosted the game at Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Fla., just outside of Orlando. The home team wasted no time opening the scoring. Thirty seconds into the game, pressure by FCA created a turnover on the right wing. Then the ball was played on the ground to William Eyang at the top of the box. With two defenders on him, he received the ball and make a quick move to split the defenders and beat the keeper with a low driving shot.
In the 37th minute, Leg-AZ was putting pressure on the FCA goal and earned a throw-in deep in the home team’s defensive third. The throw came in to the penalty area and was headed clear and fell to an FCA player. He immediately played the ball up the field to the feet of Eyang who did a kick-and-run past the last defender near midfield and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper from 60 yards away. He dribbled all the way to the penalty area and beat the helpless netminder to make it 2-0.
Eyang, a former pro who was the UPSL’s golden boot winner in the 2021 Spring Season when he played for the Florida Tropics, has scored four goals in this year’s qualifying tournament for FC America.
Two minutes later, Leg-AZ struck back with a cross from the right wing that found an unmarked Phanor Shelby right in front of goal, who headed it past the goalkeeper to cut the lead in half.
In the 66th minute, the Spurs would extend their lead when Jayson Udom received a pass on the right side of the penalty area and fired a low shot to the far post, just out of the reach of the goalkeeper.
The match would remain 3-1 until stoppage time when a shot was blocked in the penalty area by a defender and the ball lofted into the air. Melvrik Fernandes was at the right place at the right time as he brought the ball down and beat the keeper. It was the second goal in as many games as Fernandes scored the lone goal in the win over Harbor City in Round 3.