FC Dallas Defeat Houston
HOUSTON, Texas – FC Dallas topped Texas Derby-foe Houston Dynamo, 1-0, to advance to the the Semifinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the 9th time in club history. After playing 90 minutes of scoreless action, Fabian Castillo scored the lone tally, in stoppage time, to send FCD through.
The Dallas offense didn’t take long to get its first chance of the night, as Carlos Gruezo chased down a Dynamo clearance in the 3rd minute and found Michael Barrios on the edge of the penalty, but Fabian Castillo wasn’t able to bring down his cross from the right at the far corner of the penalty area.
Neither team was able to create any solid look at goal again until the 30th minute, when Barrios as Mauro Diaz sprung Barrios on a counter attack down the right side. The FCD winger tried to find Maxi Urruti behind the Dynamo line with a low cross into the box, but it was cleared out for the first corner of the match by a sliding Agus. The ensuing corner was easily punched away from danger by Houston goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Ten minutes later, it was Diaz once again with a long-arcing ball to
find Urruti on the left side. Urruti brought down the pass, headed it forward to himself and forced the first save of the match from Willis with a shot inside the penalty area.
It was Houston’s turn for a quick look at goal to start a half as the second 45 got underway. Abdoulie Mansally found Mauro Manotas on the doorstep with a cross from the left in the 49th minute, but the Colombian’s shot towards goal was blocked with a point-blank save from Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz for his first stop of the night.
In the 55th minute, Fabian Castillo layed a ball off for Urruti at the top of the penalty area with two defenders on his back, but Urruti’s first-touch attempt to chip Willis outside his goal mouth went over the crossbar.
The Dynamo got their best look to that point of the night in the 59th minute as Andrew Wenger won a duel back to Agus off a Dallas clearance, who found Maidana on a run down the right side. As Maidana turned his run to the center of the field, he played a ball through to Manotas on an overlapping run and the forward drilled a quick shot off the Dallas crossbar.
Atiba Harris was issued a yellow card in the 76th minute for a tackle on Giles Barnes, leading to a threatening Dynamo free kick just outside the corner of the penalty area. Maidana took the first touch on the ball, setting up a chance from Barnes and then got it right back from the forward, but Mauro Diaz charged forward out of the wall and denied any chance from Barnes.
It took until the first minute of stoppage time to break the deadlocked Quarterfinal, when Kellyn Acosta sent a long ball into the penalty area intended for Tesho Akindele. Dynamo defender Jalil Anibaba got a foot to the ball first, clearing it over his head and falling right to the feet of Castillo. The winger worked his way from the top of the 18 yard box around to the left of goal, and sent a low shot past the hands of Willis in net.
FC Dallas will face the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup semifinals on Wednesday, August 10th with the host to be determined on Thursday morning. In the other half of the bracket, the New England Revolution will face the Chicago Fire with the winners of the two matches facing off in the LHUSOC Final.
