Loudoun United FC

While the Richmond Kickers regular season is off to an inconsistent start — showing promising play but lacking solid results so far — the USL League One side grew into its Round 2 match against Loudoun United on Wednesday night. 

The Kickers’ Lucca Dourado, a late addition to the Richmond roster, has been promising on the attack and scoring goals. He did not disappoint in this Cup match, scoring deep into stoppage time in the second half to secure a 1-0 ‘Cupset’ win for the Kickers.

In a scoreless match after a full 90 minutes, the referee had called for eight minutes of stoppage time, but the game continued to the 101^st minute. When the ball rolled to Dourado for what would prove to be the game winning goal, Loudoun did bring their goalkeeper, Ethan Bandre, up into the box, but Loudoun remained unable to score until the end. 

Richmond will host the Columbus Crew on April 14 or 15. City Stadium has not seen an MLS team since 2013. This Round 2 victory is Richmond’s first win over a higher division team since 2015 when they beat the Jacksonville Armada of the NASL (Div. 2).

Richmond defender Hayden Anderson’s perspective on the win was that “we’re out here playing against a team a league higher there’s no reason not to fight for it every time … to keep fighting for each other.” 

Hayden points to two clean sheets already this year for the team. Goalkeeper Yann Fillion contributed his thoughts by highlighting defense as well “we have great leadership on the backline. Guys are really growing into their roles.” 

In the very first minute of the match, a long, hard strike from distance from Loudoun caused Richmond to concede a corner kick. This set the tone for the first 15 minutes until Josh Kirkland streaked down the left side with a shot on goal in front of the home supporters group, the Red Army, that many thought went in but that actually went into the far side netting. 

That attack and best chance on goal so far allowed the Kickers to grow into the game, but Loudoun still had promising attacks generated by accurate medium and long balls. The Kickers countered with their own medium and long range balls but not quite as accurate, direct, or fast as Loudoun’s were overall. 

Sam Layton, a new centerback for the Kickers, was the best defender of the night, stopping a promising attack in the 21^st minute by Loudoun with a sliding perfectly timed tackle in the Kicker’s final third. Fillion put his body – particularly his head – at risk sliding across the penalty box to snatch the ball from a Loudoun attacking player’s feet. Indeed, the defense for the Richmond Kickers is vastly improved from last year’s team. Loudoun’s Arquímides Ordóñez made several promising runs into the Kickers’ box but could not score or assist a goal. 

By the second half, both teams were making back and forth attacks deep into each team’s defensive third. When Darwin Espinal — one of the Kickers fan favorites attackers — went down for injury in the 68^th minute, it seemed that this back and forth flow might suffer. Espinal is speedy and can round defenders and score from close range or distance and had just returned from injury. Dourado replaced Espinal, and the danger of the Kickers’ attack did not diminish. 

Anderson had several long throws into Loudoun’s box in the 75-80th minutes (except for one attempted long throw that embarrassingly slipped and rolled about ten feet in front of Anderson). By this time, the referee was issuing final warnings to players on both sides. The referee was calling fouls equally but not issuing yellows until the 84th minute. As each team ratcheted up intensity, the game ended with four yellows issued, all after the 84^th minute.

Richmond conceded a dangerous foul just outside their box in the 90^th minute. The foul spot and subsequent free kick was a little close to the goal and would require special skill to get up and over the Kickers wall. Indeed, the shot hit the wall but Pedro Santos collected the rebound and fired a dangerous low direct hard shot through the wall – directly at Fillion’s feet. That should have been Loudoun’s moment – a little further to either side and the pace of that should’ve wound up in the net. Even a slight deflection would’ve resulted in a Loudoun goal, but it was not meant to be. 

Starting the match for Loudoun and lasting the entire match was 37-year-old MLS veteran and former DC United player Pedro Santos. Santos was a Designated Player for Columbus Crew in 2020 when Columbus won the MLS Cup. He proved through this game that he still has fight, spirit, and loves the game.