The magic of the US Open Cup is that hypothetically, any soccer team in the United States could win it. In reality, the only non-division one team to ever win is the 1999 Rochester Rhinos, but the possibility is there, and weird things happen every year. Last year, the Revolution under Brad Friedel crashed out in the first round where MLS teams entered the bracket (round 4 overall). Not only did they lose after assuring fans they were taking the Open Cup very seriously, but they did so to a lower division team. This year, they once again assured fans they were taking the Open Cup very seriously (every team does this every year), and (spoiler alert) did not lose in the first round to the New York Red Bulls.
They looked like they were going to lose. It started off well enough, with Juan Agudelo scoring in just the second minute to put the Revolution up a goal early. After that, besides a Juan Fernando Caicedo shot off the crossbar, they didn’t threaten the Red Bulls much while allowing two goals, one on either side of halftime. However, they didn’t roll over and give up, their standard mode of operation after surrendering leads during the past couple years. They stayed organized and didn’t look desperate, which usually leads to them pressing too high and too hard, rushing passes, shooting like they’re aiming for the next county, and letting the other team run up the score.
They still couldn’t get the tying goal, and things looked like they were on the way from bad to worse when Jalil Anibaba fouled a Red Bulls player in the box. Penalty kick awarded with no hesitation from the ref. But then. The Red Bulls player steps up to the ball. Takes the shot. And Matt Turner makes the save.1 Game on. The Revolution keep playing their game, and in the eighty-fifth minute, Teal Bunbury brings down a pass from Wilfried Zahibo nicely. His first touch takes him inside the defender. His shot doesn’t go out for a throw in, it’s on frame, and in fact it rolls nicely into the back of the net. Just like that, the game is tied and goes into extra time, but not before Luis Caicedo picks up a second yellow card in second half stoppage time, because otherwise this wouldn’t be the Revolution.
Somehow the Revolution come out of the break looking okay. There’s some truth that teams playing down a man are hard to break down because everyone defends more, so there is hope that they’ll take the game to penalty kicks. But this is the Open Cup, so in the 109th minute, Bunbury (yes, him again), collects a bad turnover from the Red Bulls and takes off down the left sideline. There’s a defender with him, and another defender makes it back to help out as Bunbury has the ball in the corner of the box. Neither defender moves to take the ball away from him. Naturally, he decides to chip the ball in between them both and over the goalkeeper to score the game-winning goal and send New England to the next round of the Open Cup. They would lose to Orlando in extra time the next week, ending their 2019 Open Cup run, but that night in New Jersey was a little bit of the magic the Revolution have been missing.
1The last time Turner made a penalty kick save was the 2018 home opener against Colorado. In that game, his save maintained a 1-1 game so that Chris Tierney, coming on as a substitute late in the game, could score the game-winning goal on a stoppage time free kick. It was Tierney’s last goal or assist as a Revolution player. Two months later, he tore his ACL, and retired at the end of the season. [Tierney is from Wellesley, MA, was selected in the 2008 Supplemental Draft, and played his entire eleven-season career for the Revolution. He was best known for his left foot and scoring the late goal in the 2014 MLS cup final against the Galaxy that sent the game into extra time. The fans like him.]
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