Resilient is the word that defined the victory of Detroit City FC in their Open Cup match on Wednesday night in Texas. They came back twice to eliminate the 2023 Cup Champion, Houston Dynamo FC via penalty kicks. The USL squad overcame a 2-0 deficit in the first half and scored twice in the second half to tie 3-3 against the MLS team.
The hero of the match for the Michigan side was its goalkeeper. Mexican Carlos Saldana’s saves were crucial to keep his squad in the game after Dynamo tried in multiple ways to score the winner in regulation. Also and very importantly, after a long penalty kick shootout, Saldana scored the final PK to give his club a historic win against a MLS side and to seal their ticket to the round of 16 of the Lamar Open Cup for the first time in club’s history.
For the Dynamo and its fans this was a very disappointing night. Losing against a USL team, which on paper is inferior to a MLS club, started some concerns about the direction the club is going.
Normally in these first round Cup matches, MLS teams use alternative squads. However, for this match, coach Ben Olsen opted for including in the starting lineup players such as Sebastian Kowalczyk, Daniel Steres, and even Mexican Star Hector Herrera. Also, He decided to finish the match with players such as Artur, ‘Coco’ Carrasquilla, Amine Basi among other players who normally are starters.
The match started well for the home team as they scored only six minutes into the game. Griffith Dorsey scored the 1-0 for Houston after a good corner kick from Herrera. The Dynamo double their lead at the 31′ when Latif Blessing shot inside the box to beat Saldana.
Detroit scored the partial 2-1 after an impressive shot from outside the box by Ryan Williams.
On the second half, the Orange created many chances to score the third one. However, Detroit had different plans. The visitors surprised more than one when at 71′ tied the match after a great goal by Yazeed Matthews who beat Tarbell in the far post.
Carrasquila gave back the lead to Houston at the 77′ after a powerful shot from outside the box, but only 6 minutes later Maxi Rodriguez scored for Detroit the final 3-3 in regulation. Houston tried to scored in overtime, but the USL squad had a strong finish in defense.
Penalty kicks were needed to find the team that would advanced to the next round and after 11 penalty kicks for each team, Detroit came in victorious.
With the loss, Houston has lost their last three matches and they know they need to bounce back fast from this as they will be facing next Sporting Kansas City, Austin and Dallas in MLS action.
