Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Union blank Fire to reach Open Cup final
CHESTER » Attendance wasn’t something to write home about for the Union Wednesday night. But there was one very important face in the crowd, and he saw the Union set an early agenda for him.
The man in question is Ernst Tanner, who according to reports will become the Union’s new sporting director Thursday and was, per sources, in attendance at Talen Energy Stadium. And the team he’s now in charge of is one win from its first piece of silverware.
Two goals by Cory Burke sealed a 3-0 win over the Chicago Fire in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night, a third win over the Fire this season. It sends the Union into the Sept. 26 final against the winner of Los Angeles FC and Houston.
Burke scored in the 59th minute, capping a beautiful tic-tactoe between Borek Dockal and Alejandro Bedoya, who floated a deft ball over the defense for the Jamaican to lash home. There was a touch of controversy on the goal — a second ball had rolled onto the field early in the buildup but didn’t affect the play, and Burke rode the offside line on Bedoya’s final pass.
Both were waved away by referee Ramy Tochan, who didn’t have the benefit of video review in the Open Cup and despite a mob of six Fire players confronting the young referee.
Burke doubled the advantage in the 78th minute, with Bedoya opening up a Chicago defense that went to a back three. Bedoya dished from the right wing to the middle for Burke to make no mistake, beating goalie Richard Sanchez with placement and power.
It’s Burke’s eighth goal to go with an assist and three drawn penalty kicks in eight starts in all competitions this season, perhaps the source of goals that the club has sorely missed this year.
The Union were the most dangerous side even after the deadlock was broken, with Fafa Picault firing wide once and smothered by Sanchez another time. But he got behind the defense and squared a ball for CJ Sapong to tap home in the 86th.
Burke’s form cushions the arrival of Tanner, last with Red Bull Salzburg’s youth academy in Austria, a club known for producing young talents through a global Red Bull pipeline, which includes the MLS side in New York. With the MLS transfer window closed as of midnight Thursday, Tanner won’t have the chance to augment his roster, which is one win from its first trophy and within striking distance of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
Chances were few and far between in the first half, with the visitors content to slow the pace at any opportunity, the Fire creating six corner kicks. The best chance came on a Bastian Schweinsteiger volley in first-half stoppage time, Andre Blake palming away the German legend’s shot. Schweinsteiger attempted a bicycle kick off one of the corners in the 36th, his effort sailing just high.
The defense was otherwise solid. Forward Nemanja Nikolic was neutralized by the center-back pairing of Jack Elliott and Auston Trusty, the latter stepping in for the injured Mark McKenzie. Nikolic was held without a shot, and winger Aleksandr Katai was also held in check.
The Union had nine shots in the opening half but few were of much quality. The best look came when Haris Medunjanin looked off the backline on a free kick from 35 yards out in the 17th minute, his curling drive hitting the crossbar. Burke was just wide with a header five minutes later, his redirect of Picault’s tantalizing long ball just errant of the post. Sanchez produced a sensational save on Bedoya, a reflex stop after David Accam’s deflected shot fell to him in the 54th.
But all the pressure resulted in goals for the Union, and now they play in a final for the third time in five years.