2014 U.S. Open Cup final

The U.S. Open Cup is an annual American soccer competition open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer (MLS). The 2014 competition was the 101st edition of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States. For the third consecutive season, all American-based MLS teams earned automatic qualification into the third round proper. Previously, only eight teams from MLS could qualify for the tournament: six automatically based on the previous year's league results, and two more via a play-in tournament. Philadelphia Union Teams from Philadelphia and the surrounding region have had a successful history in the Open Cup: Bethlehem Steel F.C. won five trophies between 1915 and 1926, the Uhrik Truckers won in 1936, and the Philadelphia Ukrainians won four times during the 1960s. The Union's alternative jersey, worn throughout the competition, featured a large letter "B" in the lower left corner to honor Bethlehem. The Union began the MLS regular season with only 3 wins in 16 games. Their head coach John Hackworth was fired, and Jim Curtin was named as his interim replacement, a week before the first Open Cup match against their lower-league affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders on June 17. A successful run in the Open Cup had the potential to salvage the season, and Curtin said that the team was taking the home game "very seriously". Harrisburg plays in the USL Professional Division—the third division of American soccer—but Philadelphia still played several of its regular starters, and did not permit Harrisburg to use two previously loaned Union players. Philadelphia was almost eliminated, but Maurice Edu scored an equalizing goal in the 89th minute, and Andrew Wenger scored two more goals in extra time to advance the Union with a score of 3–1. On June 24, Philadelphia played at home versus the New York Cosmos of the second-tier North American Soccer League in what was only Curtin's second game as head coach. Overtime was again needed as the teams ended regulation tied at one apiece before Sébastien Le Toux scored the game-winner in the 115th minute. Shortly after the goal, a melee erupted between the teams that resulted in two Cosmos players and one Union player being sent off for pushing and shoving. Two of New York's assistant coaches were also ejected for their parts in the disorder. The team were at home against the New England Revolution of MLS for the fifth round, on July 8. They easily won with goals from Conor Casey and Le Toux. The latter's strike made him the modern-era Open Cup goals leader with a total of 14 scored in his career. Le Toux had a strong history with Seattle and the tournament before moving to the Union in 2009; he previously played for the second-division incarnation of the Sounders and won the 2009 Open Cup with the MLS side. He would later be named the runner-up to the year's Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. A dust storm accompanied by thunder and lightning halted the game for an hour after the 61st minute, but the Revolution could not recover from the two-goal deficit. On August 12, Philadelphia traveled to MLS side FC Dallas for the semifinal. Amobi Okugo scored a goal in the first half before Dallas equalized. The match went to kicks as regulation and extra time resulted in a stalemate. Goalkeeper Zac MacMath made diving saves of two Dallas attempts in the shoot-out to clinch the Union's place in the final—the closest the team had been to winning a trophy in its five-year history. Seattle Sounders FC The Seattle Sounders won the Open Cup in 2009, 2010, and 2011. They also reached the final in 2012 but were eliminated by a lower-level side early in 2013. In 2014, they drew amateur club PSA Elite, a developmental lower-division team that had already been victorious in its first three rounds of the tournament. Seattle hosts most Open Cup home games at Tukwila's Starfire Sports stadium. The ground holds about 4,000, which is much smaller than their normal home stadium, CenturyLink Field. Coach Sigi Schmid was quoted as saying "I think our guys thrive on the closeness of the crowd. It helps spur them on to good performances." Seattle was leading MLS entering the round on June 18, and easily won 5–0. Kenny Cooper scored twice in the victory. The Sounders hosted the San Jose Earthquakes at Starfire on June 24 and both teams scored in the first half. The Earthquakes second-string goalie, David Bingham, kept his team in the match by stopping three shots from Chad Barrett late in the second half. Neither team scored in extra time and the game went to a shoot-out. After the shoot-out ended 4–1, goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann celebrated by drinking a beer in front of the beer garden and the home fans. On July 9, Seattle went against its rival, the Portland Timbers, at Starfire for the quarterfinal. The Sounders went on top with an Osvaldo Alonso goal, but former Sounder Steve Zakuani assisted Darlington Nagbe to score a last-second equalizer for the Timbers in the 93rd minute. Extra time saw the ejection of Portland's Diego Chara while Cooper and Marco Pappa both found the back of the net to give the home team a 3–1 victory. The team's semifinal match was at home against Chicago Fire on August 13. The Fire were without 2013's MLS Most Valuable Player, Mike Magee, due to suspension. Cooper and Andy Rose each scored twice while Obafemi Martins and Pappa both had a goal apiece. Seattle finished the game with three goals in the final four and a half minutes in the convincing 6–0 victory. The first goal of the match was Cooper's last of the competition as he did not play in the subsequent final. He ended the tournament with a total of 13 career Open Cup goals, one shy of Le Toux's modern-era total of 14. Cooper netted six in 2014 alone, and he would go on to be named 2014's Player of the Tournament. ==Pre-match==

Venue selection The United States Soccer Federation determined the host of the final with a coin flip on August 4, 2014. The winner of the toss was whoever was victorious in the FC Dallas/Philadelphia Union semifinal, meaning that the game would take place at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was the eleventh time the greater-Philadelphia region hosted the final and the first since 1994. The Union marketed the game by publicly displaying the trophy at local restaurants, landmarks, and events. With a victory, the Sounders would tie the Fire with four overall wins by an MLS team. Player selection during the previous stages of the Open Cup was a challenge due to key personnel receiving call-ups for the World Cup. The Sounders had depth that could withstand losing players, and did not rest starters in the lead-up to the final game. The Union rested several starters during the previous weekend's league match. Defensively, Edu was Philadelphia's strongest player. Seattle also had a strong defense with young national team prospect DeAndre Yedlin, and eventual MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall. ==Match==

Kickoff was scheduled for 7:30 pm local time. Armando Villarreal was the referee and his assistants were Peter Manikowski and Corey Parker. The fourth official was Jose Carlos Rivero. There were no suspensions or injuries of note. The weather was cloudy with a temperature of . First half Sounders coach Schmid made adjustments to his usual starting lineup. Pappa did not start due to a recent return from international duty with Guatemala, while star striker Martins was on the bench as well. Although he won the Golden Boot for most goals scored, Cooper was primarily a bench player throughout the year and did not start the match. The Union increased its pace with Andrew Wenger playing wide on the left where he repeatedly got past Yedlin to get to the byline or cut back to shoot. Maidana and Le Toux strengthened Philadelphia's position by combining on the other side of the field to penetrate Seattle's defense. Wenger connected with Le Toux who took a shot, but Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei was quick enough to make the stop. The home team kept control of the first half and continued creating scoring opportunities. Although Philadelphia was pressing the attack, Martins scored in the 114th minute to put the Sounders up 3–1. Details Statistics ==Post-match==

Both teams had chances during the match with Philadelphia making an especially intense push in the final 15 minutes. While both defenses struggled throughout, Frei and MacMath combined for a total of seven saves (four and three, respectively). Schmid told the press after the final: "From a fans' standpoint, it was probably a very, very entertaining game." A writer for Sports Illustrated quipped that "Schmid's decision not to start Obafemi Martins and Pappa was confusing — and then looked like a stroke of genius", as both were integral to the Sounders offense in the later stages of the game. The Sounders received a $250,000 cash prize for winning the tournament. Seattle went on to win the MLS Supporters' Shield for having the best record in the league before being eliminated from the playoffs. The Open Cup win granted the team a spot in the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League. As runner-up, Philadelphia was awarded $60,000. Although the team missed the league playoffs, his performance was enough for the team to remove the "interim" tag from his title as head coach. GOL TV had broadcasting rights for the tournament between 2012 and 2014. The channel is not shown on many television packages, but Comcast picked up the feed in the Philadelphia area. Attendance at PPL Park was 15,256, the lowest for an Open Cup final in six years. A live stream was made available over the Internet for a fee, but the quality was so poor that refunds were promised after only 20 minutes. After the game, a writer for The Seattle Times panned the broadcast arrangements and low attendance at PPL Park, saying, "It's a shame so few were able to see it." ==References==