Fans of the 106-year-old Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup live by its magic moments. And the Fourth Round of the 2019 competition tossed up a good few of those on June 11 and 12. Join ussoccer.com for a look back at eight moments of note from the 16 games, in which Teal Bunbury turned it on for the Revs, two underdogs showed their teeth and the Allianz Field in Saint Paul glittered onto the Open Cup’s main stage.
Now this... this is what #USOC2019 is all ABOUT! 👏
— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) June 13, 2019
After a hard fought battle, @NewMexicoUTD pullls of the #Cupset and topples MLS opponent @ColoradoRapids in penalties!
FINAL | 2-2 AET (4-2 PKs) |#USOC2019
📺 Highlights ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/UnIyXwY1in
We all want it. We crave it. We wait, every year, for these underdogs – whoever they are – to knock a big pooch off his perch. Saint Louis FC looked mean from the start against Chicago Fire. They pushed the four-time Open Cup winners back toward their own goal and deserved the 2-1 win their home fans reveled in. New Mexico United – a first year USL Championship team – had a tougher task out on the road at altitude against Colorado Rapids. Since they couldn’t watch their heroes play at their own home stadium, the New Mexico fans travelled in their numbers to the foothills just east of the Rocky Mountains. They thundered and drummed on their boys, outshining the tepid band of home supporters who bothered to show up. The roar that greeted Kevaughn Frater’s equalizer deep in stoppage time might well have been heard all the way back at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque.
Headed to the Round of 16 with the #Cupset win over @ChicagoFire in the 4th Round-
— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) June 12, 2019
It's @SaintLouisFC!🔥
FINAL | 2-1 STL | #USOC2019
📺 Highlights ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/2yW1FF7viZ
Teal Bunbury isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But Bruce Arena believes in him. He’s leaned on the striker since arriving earlier this year at the New England Revolution – a club that’s been on a sad slow slide toward obscurity. “He’s a good player and a great individual,” said Arena, who handed Bunbury the armband before the 2019 Open Cup Fourth Rounder against big rivals New York Red Bulls on the road. “When you’re in a situation like we’re in, you need someone with character.” He showed it when it counted too. Bunbury chased a ball up the left side. He had two defenders in front of him. The Revs were a man down deep in over-time and tied at 1-1. Time to go for the corner, right? Play for PKs? Be safe? Not this man. Look close and you can see him do the computations in his brain. The decision came in a split-second – chip the keeper from way out at a tough angle. He put the team on his back because leaders do what needs doing.
St. Paul, Minnesota’s Allianz Field saw its first-ever Open Cup game. Opened in April, it’s a post-modern pleasure palace with every comfort and stylish twist. It’s a million miles from the old Metropolitan Oval in NY, with its hammered dirt and iron rail around the pitch. It’s light years from the Rancho al Cienaga on LA’s outskirts, or Farcher’s Grove in Jersey, where slide tackles took half the flesh of your leg away and left a part of you to seed the hard ground. But it’s a part of a continuum – 106 years of a Cup open to all who want in. And Allianz, you did the old tournament proud. Your home team Minnesota United stormed through to win 4-1, with Darwin Quintero playing the kind of soccer that fills hearts. Sporting Kansas City and Peter Vermes – towering figures in the Modern Era of the Open Cup – were on the wrong side this day when the Allianz became an Open Cup giant of its own.
@HoustonDynamo are into the Round of 16 with a 3-2 win after surviving an early second half barrage by @AustinBoldFC. The defending champs will await Thursday's draw to see their next opponent #USOC2019
— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) June 12, 2019
📺 Highlights 👇 pic.twitter.com/wcXyNglKK8
Latif Blessing can be annoying. We won’t argue it. He’ll make you look bad. He’ll wriggle around you – hell even through you – and he’ll zig when he should zag. For a defender, he’s a drag. And when he’s hot, he’s pretty unplayable. The shortest man on the field, he scored the first goal in the Final for Sporting Kansas City in 2017 and he danced with the Open Cup trophy (it’s almost as tall as him) in the center circle after the final whistle. “I love Open Cup – you lose and you’re out, so you better not lose,” he said from his new home at LAFC where the Ghanaian set up one of three in a rout of Real Salt Lake. Such was the frustration he caused Donny Toia – an excitable fellow in the best of circumstances – the RSL defender grabbed Blessing around the neck and clotheslined him to the ground early in the second half. Toia was overwhelmed with chasing and spinning and anticipating. He stood over the little man, breathing hard, and shouted in his face to get up. Blessing’s smile told the whole story: I win.
