Elmasnaouy’s goal ends Cinderella run
Dembor Benson sped toward the sideline at Hayward’s Pioneer Stadium, hurdled the wall, and was greeted in an embrace of yellow-and-blue balloons and vuvuzelas.
The small El Farolito fan contingent — mostly friends and family of the amateur side’s players — contested with the echoing drums and cheers of the Oakland Roots crowd all evening, but in that moment, the El Farolito fans were by far the louder.
Benson, a former Honduran pro who leads the U.S. Open Cup in scoring, put Cinderella-esque El Farolito on the scoreboard 11 minutes into their road match with the same Roots squad that took them out of last year’s Cup, but that was the only moment of joy Tuesday for El Farolito.
An extra-time tally from Oakland’s Ali Elmasnaouy — a Berkeley High alum — gave the Roots a 2-1 third-round win and ended El Farolito’s U.S. Open Cup run.
Ever the underdog, El Farolito played the final 40 minutes and extra time down a man following an early second-half red card, but a staunch, experienced defense kept them from unraveling. Frustration around an uncalled Oakland handball and a yellow card against Herlbert Soto also didn’t boil over despite tense moments.
“We proved we can accomplish great things,” head coach Santiago Lopez said. “We stuck together (throughout the Open Cup) and were a united team. Hopefully, we can overcome this and in the coming years prove we can achieve even more.”
El Farolito, led by Benson’s performance, defeated the Portland Timbers’ MLS Next squad 2-1 in late March, advancing them to the second round in which they toppled another pro team, the Central Valley Fuego. El Farolito, which plays in the semi-pro National Premier Soccer League, became the first amateur side to beat two professional clubs in this tournament.
The squad is named after the El Farolito taqueria franchise across the Bay Area, which Lopez’s father, Salvador, founded along with the team in the 1980s.
On Tuesday, Benson directed a header past Oakland goalkeeper Tim Syrel for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
The Roots tied it during first-half stoppage time on a goal from Memo Diaz, an alum of the NPSL. Oakland maintained momentum into the second half after El Farolito midfielder Edgard Kreye’s red card forced the underdogs to play shorthanded the rest of the night.
“It affected our energy,” Lopez said. “Going a man down, we had to put in more effort, and it was just a shock we even had to. It affected our game plan a lot, but the team showed a lot of character to fight with a man down.”
Benson, who scored two game-winners in the Open Cup run, was a professional in Honduras before he was recruited to El Farolito. The majority of their players are like him, scouted to join the elite amateur team. Some are more local, like goalkeeper Julian Escobar, a Bay Area native.
Benson, 28, leads the Open Cup with four goals overall. He lives in South Hayward now after years of trying to advance through the Honduran league, following years with the country’s youth national team.
Since January, El Farolito’s players have been training two nights a week between their various 9-to-5 jobs. The team, which brought back more than two-thirds of last year’s roster, displayed more chemistry than some of the pro teams have had the chance to build.
El Farolito’s NPSL schedule will continue Saturday with a home match against San Ramon. They are at the top of the table of the league’s Golden Gate Conference at 3-0-1 and Benson leads the team there with three goals.
“We managed to stay alive until the last minutes in the Open Cup,” Lopez said. “Even in losing, we managed to do a lot.”
The Roots had an automatic entry into the third round because of the structure of the tournament. They entered Tuesday coming off a 3-2 win against El Paso Locomotive in the USL Championship season, putting them back in the clear for playoffs.
Oakland played three 17-year-olds and a 16-yearold Tuesday night to give its amateur-level players some more experience.
The Cup’s round of 32 will be played in early May, when the eight MLS teams enter the fray. The Open Cup semifinal won’t be played until August, with the championship slated for September.