The 109th edition of the US Open Cup was completed tonight in Los Angeles with a fantastic and exciting final that stretched into Extra Time to find a winner between Los Angeles FC and Sporting Kansas City.
From the start, this game was full of energy and excitement. Both teams hyped this game up in the weeks leading up and it showed immediately. The game’s first ten minutes were hectic with multiple fouls on each end. Referee, Armando Villareal had his hands full from the get-go.
Goalkeeper for LAFC, Hugo Lloris kept out two long-range chances from Johnny Russell and Alan Pulido early on with two solid pushes over the bar. On the other side, LAFC created numerous opportunities, especially in set pieces. But SKC’s keeper, Tim Melia made multiple saves along with some big clearances by Logan Ndembe.
Despite chances on both ends, the first half did not hold much on the stat sheet. Only one yellow card to Russell on SKC and no goals on each end.
Kansas City’s coach, Peter Vermes was very pleased with how SKC defended in the first half but mentioned the team needed to string more passes together to create more chances.
The second half kicked off with LAFC heavily on the front foot. A quick counter found LAFC on a “numbers up” attack. This led to a through ball for LA attacker Mateusz Bogusz. He played a ball across the box and found French National Team star, Olivier Giroud who opened up the scoring for the night.
After LAFC scored you could tell they had the momentum. Frankly, they had been creating more chances leading up to the goal. Many fans could’ve assumed the floodgates would open for LAFC at this point.
However, a matter of seven minutes later, Erik Thommy found himself with a great chance coming from a cut-back ball from Daniel Salloi. Thommy slotted the ball home to level the match! Game on in Los Angeles!
The following few minutes were full of action on both ends. The game intensity was through the roof. Multiple heavy challenges on both ends beckoned tons of yellow cards.
An absolute perfect chance for LAFC came around the 75th minute. But, Tim Melia stood tall and came up with a massive save.
Substitutions came on for SKC in the 81st minute in hopes of pushing SKC to the win. Goal-scoring machine, especially in the US Open Cup, Willy Agada subbed on along with Tim Leibold. Former Sporting Kansas City star player, Ilie also subbed in for LAFC late in regulation.
After ninety minutes, the score was still level. This called for thirty more minutes of extra time to play. SKC legend, Kei Kamara subbed on for Los Angeles as extra-time started.
In the 102nd minute, LAFC’s Omar Campos put LA ahead with a beautiful goal cutting through the SKC defense and sending the ball into the bottom left corner. The stadium erupted in excitement. However, SKC did not let this faze them. Kansas City continued to maintain possession and create chances themselves prior to the end of the first half of Extra Time.
Kei Kamara just had to score. Kamara won the Open Cup in 2012 with Sporting KC and ended up sealing the game for LAFC in this year’s Open Cup against his former team. A fantastic cross found Kamara flying through the air to head the ball into the back of the net late in extra time putting LA ahead 3-1.
LAFC held on to their lead to hoist their first Open Cup trophy winning the match 3-1. Sporting Kansas City should be very proud of making it this far as their recent form has been lackluster at best. There are not many games left in the MLS regular season and it is unlikely to see Kansas City in the MLS Playoffs. LAFC will continue to be competing for good seeding and look to make a run in the playoffs.
