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U.S. Open Cup Preview

Seattle, Philadelphia Both Determined to Hoist Cup

A dominant Seattle Sounders team is in Philadelphia to face a resurgent Union squad in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final. ASN's Brooke Tunstall spoke to players on both teams about tonight's match.
BY Brooke Tunstall Posted
September 16, 2014
1:42 PM
THE TWO FINALISTS in tonight's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final (7:30pm ET; Gol TV) provide a study in contrasts.

The Philadelphia Union got off to a slow start in 2014—just one win and eight points through 11 games—and the club was still floundering after firing head coach John Hackworth when it entered Open Cup play in mid-June. But the team gutted out some wins over lower division competition and have used that momentum to turn its season around. The Union host tonight’s final riding a four-game unbeaten streak and are tied with Columbus for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Sounders, meanwhile, got off to a hot start and have been at or near the top of the Western Conference all season. The club currently has the best record in the league and is looking to become the first MLS team to win a treble—claiming the Open Cup, Supporter's Shield for the league’s best regular season record, and MLS Cup in the same season.

Tonight's contest marks the Sounders' fifth appearance in the Open Cup final since it joined MLS in 2009, while this is the first final of any kind for the Union, which joined the league in 2010.

“This is a great opportunity for our organization, our fans, and us as players to get a chance to play in the team’s first-ever final,” said midfielder Amobi Okugo, who has been with the Union since its first game. “It’s very exciting to be able to play this final before our fans and have this chance to make history for them.”

While Sounders players are keenly aware of the historic possibilities, for now their sole focus is on lifting a trophy tonight.

“One trophy at a time," Sounders midfielder Osvaldo Alonso said. “Now it’s the Open Cup and after that we can focus on MLS and the other trophies. I’m here to focus on the Open Cup and the game (tonight).”

For Alonso, this is his sixth time playing in the Open Cup final in just seven pro seasons in the United States after defecting from Cuba. He began his career here in 2008 with the USL’s Charleston Battery and led that team on a Cinderella run over several MLS teams before it fell to D.C. United in the final. Alonso joined the Sounders the following year and has since played in four more finals, hoisting the cup three times.

“This is my sixth final,” he said. “I’m happy to be here one more time in the final and hope (tonight) we can lift the trophy for Seattle.”

The Sounders advanced to the Open Cup final with an easy win over amateur side PSA Elite; got past the San Jose Earthquakes in penalty kicks; then had relatively easy wins over the Portland Timbers and Chicago Fire.

By contrast, the Union needed extra-time to get past the USL Pro’s Harrisburg’s City Islanders and NASL’s New York Cosmos; then it shut out New England before going to Dallas and advancing to the final on penalty kicks.

But in surviving and advancing, as Jim Valvano once said, the Union also learned how to win.

“Definitely, it helped us (in league games). Our first couple of games in the Cup were overtime games and we had to put everything into them just to come away with a win,” said veteran Conor Casey, who will be playing in his first Open Cup final.

“We weren’t getting results in the league," he continued. "We just had a coaching change. So we were able to get confidence from those results and then go and get some wins in the league. The game against New England here and the game in Dallas in the Open Cup gave the team a lot of confidence.”

F.C. Dallas hadn’t lost since May—a stretch of eight league games and four cup games—when it hosted the Union in the Open Cup semifinals last month, which made advancing more special for the Union.

“When we went down to Dallas they were playing really well,” said Okugo. “They were unbeaten in like 10 in a row or something and the game was really hot. So to go down in those circumstances and come back with a—well, we didn’t win but we won on PKs. That gives you a lot of confidence.”

If their prior regular-season matchup is an indicator, tonight’s game should be close. Playing at home on May 10, the Sounders needed a late goal from Chad Marshall to defeat Philadelphia 2-1.

“They’re such a tough team,” said Casey. “They’re so dangerous going forward. They have athleticism and experience, skill and size. You see why they have the most points in the league. It’s going to be tough to play against a good team playing well. But, we’re up for it and we and our team in general is quite a bit better (then when they played in the regular season). And with our fans, hopefully that makes a difference.”

For one Sounder, playing in the final holds a unique quality because of whom the tournament is now named after. The late Lamar Hunt owned, an original investor in MLS with Columbus, Kansas City, and eventually Dallas, also owned the Dallas Sidekicks in the original North American Soccer League. Among the players he signed in the early 1970s was a goalkeeper from Blackpool in England named Kenny Cooper.

Cooper was an All-NASL goalkeeper before becoming a professional coach in the indoor circuit. His son, of course, is Kenny, Jr., now a forward with the Sounders and looking to play in the Open Cup final for the first time.

“For me personally to be part of a competition that has Lamar Hunt’s name on the trophy is very special,” the younger Cooper said at a press conference yesterday. “Lamar brought my father here to the States back in the '70s, and he played his entire career for Lamar. … It would be very special for me to lift that trophy, and hopefully I’ll get that chance.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.

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