Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Manotas, Dynamo deny Union yet again in third Cup final loss
HOUSTON » The Union traveled to Houston with everything in their favor – recent form, ability to win on the road and midweek, even a win this season at BBVA Compass Stadium.
It took about four minutes for the tangible, talking-point items to disintegrate, right off the head of Mauro Manotas, and right into a place in the history books that no one wants.
Manotas scored twice, and an own goal clinched the Union’s 3-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final. The Union are the first MLS club to lose in three OC finals.
This one follows a loss in the 2014 final after extra time to Seattle and the 2015 final in penalty kicks to Sporting Kansas City. Both of those were at home; also unlike Wednesday, they included drama for longer than the first half-hour.
The Dynamo romped to a first Open Cup title. That’s the 10thplace Dynamo, which the Union beat 3-1 in Houston in July (though aided by a Dynamo red card). That the Union had just beaten Western leaders Sporting Kansas City or the team with MLS’s longest post-shootout winning streak, Seattle, in the last week meant little in the face of the Dynamo’s lethal counterattack.
“We had the ball but we knew that every counterattack could be dangerous,” midfielder Haris Medunjanin said. “They did a really good job, they have good attacking players, they can create from nowhere, and congrats to Houston, they deserved to win.”
The nightmare start actually started with what could’ve been a dream for the Union. Fafa Picault had the ball in the back of the net, but it was ruled offside as he and CJ Sapong were past the last defender when the ball was played over the top. Without video review in the Open Cup, the decision was final.
Within a flash, Houston cashed in, covering the field in a matter of seconds. Alberth Elis got to the byline and clipped a cross that Jack Elliott and Andre Blake both went for, neither getting a whisker on it. Manotas bent down to head it upward into the yawning cage and put the Dynamo up.
“(In the pregame huddle) I said that even if we go down 1-0, we went down 1-0 the last time we were here; that we could come back, it’s fine, don’t panic, play our game,” Alejandro Bedoya said. “But I wish we didn’t switch off on that goal that we thought Fafa scored. I don’t know how many guys were arguing with the referee, that side was open, I tried to cover and we get beat by a simple little dinker over the top.”
In the 25th, Manotas was at the double. Elis again got the assist, but the finish was all Manotas, cutting in from the left flank and blistering a left-footed shot past the flatfooted Elliott, off the left post and past a diving Blake. It’s the Colombian’s sixth goal of the competition, earning the Golden Boot and tying nine others for the most goals scored in an edition of the Open Cup in the modern era (since 1996). He’s up to 20 goals in all competitions in 2018.
The Union held 55 percent of the possession in the first half (it was 68 percent after 20 minutes), but had just one shot on target to show for it, an innocuous one from Medunjanin in the 19th. Their first real shot on target came in the 62nd minute when Cory Burke stung a half volley, but Joe Willis was easily equal to the task.
“I think how we started the game, a team with the kind of form we have, we cannot concede these kinds of goals, especially in a final,” Medunjanin said. “But I think we controlled the game.”
Three minutes later, the Dynamo made it three, via an Auston Trusty own goal. Keegan Rosenberry stepped up well to eliminate a threat, but the ball pinged back to Elis, whose shot Blake saved … right onto the foot of the rookie Homegrown defender, who buried a shot into the back of his own net.
“We just couldn’t get around them through the sides,” Bedoya said. “They crowded the middle. We knew we were going to get more possession, and I think we played the better soccer. But that’s what they’re all about, counterattacking and finishing their chances. They finished their chances and we didn’t.”
All that was left was the freshest dose of Open Cup heartbreak for a club that has quickly accumulated more of it than any other in the league.
“This is heartbreaking,” Curtin said. “This is hard for me to do. I feel sick. But at the same time, you have to be a leader about it. It hurts. I apologize to the fans again because they came out in big numbers to support us, and we let them down.”