There’s a romance to the under-appreciated U.S. Open Cup I’ve especially appreciated since watching obscure Roma FC lose to the Galaxy a few years back (wonderfully named and stylish midfielder Quavas Kirk scored the winner, if I recall, with a beautifully struck shot that was the highlight of his brief Galaxy career) at the HDC Track & Field Stadium, the LA Riot Squad boozing it up behind one net in a fenced off beer garden.
(And I’ve still got the red Roma T-shirt I bought for $10 the club were selling to finance their cup run).
So while I was occupied with far more mundane matters Tuesday night, the Ventura County Fusion were scoring twice in the last 13 minutes to come from behind in battling FA Cup fashion in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup and dispatch Agoura Hills-based FC Hasental.
Classic. And in the next round the Fusion plays the LA Blues (of Orange County) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Titan Stadium.
Yeah, there were familiar names involved in games last night: the Sounders (whose David Geno became the stuff of cup legend with four goals in the U-23 teams’ win over Doxa Italia), Timbers, Red Bulls.
But there was the unfamilar, yet evocative, names too Tuesday that invoked the spirt of the tournament:
- The brother of wonderfully named Chicago Fire forward Dilly Duka, the even more wonderfully spelled Argjent Duka, scored a brace to lead the fantastically named Icon FC of the USASA over the excellently named Brooklyn Italians of the NPSL.
- The Dayton Dutch Lions thumped the River City Rovers (there just aren’t enough top American teams named Rovers) by a 3-0 scoreline.
- The meterologically named Ocean City Nor’easters found the perfect storm (!) to defeat the New York Red Bulls U-23 team 3-0.
I could go on. Or you could just click here for a full run down of the night’s action.
