Three late goals in a five-minute burst ruthlessly completed the humiliation as the Sounders trounced Chicago 6-0 in front of a Starfire Sports Complex sellout of 4,361 Wednesday night to advance to the U.S. Open Cup final Sept. 16 against the Union in Philadelphia.
Backups in most MLS games, Andy Rose and Kenny Cooper took advantage of playing time by each scoring a brace. Cooper is the U.S. Soccer tourney’s leading scorer with six.
Replacing Clint Dempsey, who sat out, Cooper began the fireworks in the sixth minute of the semifinal with an assist, crossing the ball to Chad Barrett at close range, who went top shelf past goalie Sean Johnson.
In 33rd minute, Rose scored off a Marco Pappa corner kick from the left side. With space to leap for the header, Rose drove the ball down into the turf and inside the right post.
The Rose-Pappa combo struck again in the 58th minute, this time with a header on the left side of the box off a Pappa cross from the right.
Seattle poured it on down the stretch. Second-half sub Obafemi Martins was set up by Cooper with a goal in the 79th minute. Cooper scored in the 82nd and 84th minutes.
DeAndre Yedlin, who completed an agreement earlier in the day to transfer to EPL powerhouse Tottenham, played the full 90 against Chicago after sitting out Sunday’s home match against Houston.
Chicago, a four-time Cup winner and two-time runner-up, played without 2013 MLS MVP Mike Magee, who served a one-game suspension after receiving a red card during the Fire’s previous Cup match.
The Sounders will be in their fifth Cup final, winning three in a row from 2009-11. Philadelphia is making its first appearance in a Cup final after beating Dallas Tuesday 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout. The Union won a coin flip last week for the right to host.
The Sounders return Saturday to MLS play with an 11:30 a.m. game at Real Salt Lake.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, recognized as U.S. Soccer’s National Club Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer.
2 Comments
What an outstanding performance by all! Total domination! Bring on Philly! The Cup is ours!!
Luck is a big factor in knockout tournaments like this (and March Madness), but when a six-year-old franchise has failed to make the finals just once, that’s pretty darned impressive.