For the second straight year, the Houston Dynamo sent out a team of reserves to face the Charleston Battery in the U.S. Open Cup. And for the second straight year, the Dynamo left the Lowcountry of South Carolina with a defeat.
After playing to a 1-1 tie through 120 minutes, the match was forced to penalty kicks where the Battery defeated the Dynamo 4-3 in the shootout, in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Tuesday night at Blackbaud Stadium. Steve Wondolowski scored for Houston in the final minute of regulation after Marco Reda scored for Charleston.
Charleston will take on FC Dallas, a 2-1 winner against Miami FC, next Tuesday at Pizza Hut Park in the quarterfinals.
With a MLS game scheduled for Thursday against Real Salt Lake, the Dynamo fielded a team that look nothing like the team that has won the last two MLS Cups. Star players like Brian Ching, Dwayne De Rosario and Ricardo Clark were all left back in Houston to rest up for their MLS Primetime Thursday match against Real Salt Lake.
"Let's be honest, there's always a possibility for a game like this to get into overtime," said Houston coach Dominic Kinnear. "So, you could be looking at 120 minutes for some guys and 90 minutes again on Thursday night. That plus a long travel day makes it tough and I think you put some players health at risk. Because of our game on Thursday, this is the way we approached it."
The Battery actually had more players with MLS experience than the Dynamo. Seven of Charleston's starters have MLS experience with defender Nelson Akwari having the most with 78 games.
A year ago, facing a Houston team with just a handful of starters, Charleston midfielder Stephen Armstrong sent the Dynamo home with his penalty kick in the 108th minute in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup.
This time it took a Herculean effort from the Battery, which played two men down for most of the second half and overtime periods, and a save from Charleston 'keeper Dusty Hudock to get the USL First Division Battery past the Dynamo.
"What a result, what a finish," said Charleston coach Mike Anhaeuser. "You've got give all the credit in the world to the players. They left everything out on the field. We've got nothing left. The buried all four of our penalty kicks and got a fantastic result."
After more than 120 minutes of soccer, the game remained tied sending the match into penalty kicks. After the first two shooters from each team made their shots, Houston defender Geoff Cameron sailed his attempt over the crossbar. Then Darren Spicer and Tim Velton scored for the Battery, Hudock made a diving save on Franco Caraccio in the fifth round of the shootout to end the match.
"Honestly, I really don't have a strategy when it comes to penalty kicks," Hudock said. "I try to guess. Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I wrong. I try to get a read off of guys and that works sometimes. It's really kind of random. Honestly, I just try to keep the other team from scoring."
The win was all the more amazing as the Battery was forced to play the final 18 minutes two men down after midfielder Chris Corcoran received a red card in the 74th minute and Reda was ejected for his second yellow card in the 102nd minute.
Charleston grabbed a 1-0 lead on Reda's header in the 31st minute off a set piece. After Houston defender Erik Ustruck grabbed the shirt of Charleston midfielder Stephen Armstrong and the Battery was awarded a free kick from about 30 yards out. Alonso curled a ball into the box that midfielder Ian Fuller headed to Reda in the six-yard box. Reda easily beat Houston 'keeper Tony Caig for the score.
"Great ball into the box and Ian got his head on it and flicked it my way," said Reda, who played for Toronto FC last season. "I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The net was wide open. I couldn't have missed that one."
The Dynamo came out in the second half with a much stronger effort, dominating the ball for most of the final 45 minutes of regulation.
"We knew going into the match that we were going to have to match their attitude and fight and we didn't do that in the first half. We knew this was going to be a tough game," Kinnear said. "We just pointed out some things at halftime and let them understand there were some things we needed to do in the second half."
The Dynamo tied the game just before the end of regulation on Steve Wondolowski's header in the 89th minute. Chris Wondolowski served the ball into the six-yard box to Caraccio, who headed the ball to his right Steve Wondolowski. Wondolowski's header just beat Hudock for the score.
"The first half and second half were completely different for us," Kinnear said. "We came out with a totally different attitude in the second half. When we scored I thought we kind of relaxed for a minute. We went two men up and we couldn't get that clean look at the goal to get the game winner.
Andrew Miller is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
