DC United defeat Charleston Battery in US Open Cup extra time affair
DC United needed extra time, but a 96th minute golazo by Jacob Murrell and a goal by Jared Stroud in the 103rd minute were the difference in a 2-0 win over Charleston Battery in the US Open Cup Round of 32.
It was the first time in two years that the Black-and-Red had played in the US Open Cup, as in 2024 they were the only team in Major League Soccer to not have their first team or a reserve team participate in the tournament. So, it was a chance to begin anew in the nation’s oldest tournament as well as build upon last Saturday’s win in league play against the Colorado Rapids. Playing the Charleston Battery, it was a renewal of the Coffee Pot Cup rivalry, and the trophy was able to make its way to Audi Field after concerns that it would not be in attendance.
Lineups
DC United (3-4-3): Joon-Hong Kim; Matti Peltola (Jared Stroud – 82′), Garrison Tubbs, Kye Rowles; Derek Dodson, Brandon Servania, Boris Enow (Rida Zouhir – 64′), David Schnegg (Aaron Herrera – 46′); Hakim Karamoko (Randall Leal – 46′), Jacob Murrell, Hosei Kijima (Fidel Barajas – 73′)
Unused Subs: Jordan Farr, Christian Benteke
Charleston Battery (4-2-3-1): Luis Zamudio; Langston Blackstock (Nathan Dossantos – 91′), Michael Edwards (Johnny Klein – 109′), Joey Akpunonu, Nanan Houssou (Emilio Ycaza – 99′); Chris Allan (Mark Segbers – 85′), Aaron Molloy; Juan Torres, MD Myers, Diego Rodriguez (Douglas Martinez – 85′); Rubio Rubin (Cal Jennings – 61′)
Unused Subs: Christian Garner
There wasn’t a lot of action early in the match. Charleston got the first chance in the 13th minute, when Arturo Rodriguez fired a shot to the top left corner that prompted a save from DC United goalkeeper Joon-Hong Kim. Five minutes later, DC United got an opportunity off a David Schnegg free kick, who got the ball to Garrison Tubb. However, his free header went wide of the net.
The match was very tight at times, with both teams finding it difficult to create open space to work. Despite a couple of small chances on each side, the match went to halftime scoreless.
“It was a tough match, you know, and we knew it was going to be,” DC United coach Troy Lesesne said after the match. “You look at this competition and inevitably…a team from a lower division is probably going to knock off a MLS team. This happens every single year. And so what we talked about coming into the match was to not have the mentality of taking any kind of shortcuts tonight because a side like the Charleston Battery, who I have a ton of respect for and they showed themselves really well in this match…[they] made it difficult on us for a large part of the match.”
Aaron Herrera and Randall Leal subbed on for DC United to start the second half, and the match started to open up more. Both teams were able to get some opportunities, with Charleston pressing forward quite a bit in the hopes they could get the opening goal. A goal for Charleston in the 57th minute was immediately reversed for offside, with Rubio Rubin caught a few yards behind the last DC United defender.
Randall Leal was able to create some chances, including one in the 80th minute. From DC United’s own half, he fired a long pass up to Jacob Murrell, who got a touch on it from about 25 yards out before he was brought down by Charleston’s Michael Edwards. Edwards received a yellow card for the offense despite questions that it could have been a red card due to denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
The match continued, and DC United wasn’t able to capture anything. The nervy moments on defense became more confident, however. The team was able to withstand some late pressure from Charleston, and the match was still scoreless as the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of regulation.
DC United went to extra time and it felt like the wind was finally at their sails. It didn’t take long for them to capitalize. In the 96th minute, on a pseudo break. Murrell gets the ball, once again from a long Leal pass, and had the space to shoot. He launched a spectacular curling rocket from 25 yards that hit the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0 to the Black-and-Red.
“I [saw] space on the right side of the field…Randall picks it up and I’m running and kind of trying to get in behind us, so I’m making a hard run,” Murrell said, recalling the goal after the match in what was a very upbeat locker room. “I didn’t turn my head back and the ball’s coming at me, kind of hits me. [I] slow down, the defenders recover and I [made] a good move and a good shot.”
Charleston knew they had to go for it after the Murrell goal, and that meant more space for DC United to take advantage. Seven minutes after Murrell’s blast, DC was on the break once again off a defensive stop. Fidel Barajas corralled the ball and dribbled in space before sending the ball ahead to Randall Leal, who found Stroud with a lovely through ball. Stroud was able to calmly slot the ball past the keeper to make it 2-0.
“Randall, obviously, he put a great ball in there, and I just tried to run into a good space,” Stroud said after the match. “I don’t know who collected it, maybe Barajas and, you know, he gave it to Randall and did a good job securing the ball. Then obviously Randall played a great ball to me, and I saw the keeper kind of cheating a little bit to the other side. So I tried to stick it near post and it worked out, so [I’m] happy about that.”
Randall Leal’s two assists really helped the team, as he was able to find open passing lanes through tight spaces and at times with multiple players challenging him. His growing confidence after starting the year with some injuries is exactly what Troy Lesesne wished for him when the club brought him in during the offseason.
“This is why Randall has been a special player in the league,” Lesense said. “He has this type of talent, and he’s just had a few injuries in his career that have not allowed him to play consistently over the last year and a little bit…I really give him so much credit. He’s a constant professional that comes in every day to prepare himself. Whenever his opportunity is called on, and tonight it was he [shows] you exactly what special qualities he has with the ball because when he gets on it, guys start to come alive. They want to run because they know Randall’s going to deliver.”
Charleston had a couple more chances, including one in the 113th minute on a touch shot that bounced off the right post. However, their chances of an epic comeback diminished in the 115th minute, when Juan Torres picked up a straight red card for verbally lashing out at the referee over a play he thought was a foul. The match was a bit chippy in the final minutes, but DC United was able to preserve the clean sheet and win 2-0 after the referee blew for the end of extra time.
With the win, DC United moves onto the Round of 16, where they will host Charlotte FC on May 20th or May 21st after Charlotte beat North Carolina FC 2-1 in extra time. While they will have to wait a couple of weeks for that match, a date with Toronto FC in league play await them this weekend. And Lesesne thought this win was important for the club’s confidence.
“When you look at the last four matches, [we’ve won] three out of the last four now. We want to start to talk about our ability that way in terms of putting together that many wins, and we need that. I can’t say that enough because Saturday is going to be another tough test and we’re in a period of time now that we’ve progressed in this competition now we’re going to see Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, throughout virtually the entire month of May. And that’s any player wants that. That’s the best. So we’re looking forward to being able to turn the page to Toronto this weekend.”
For now, an upbeat locker room celebrated advancing in this important tournament and hope they can continue the great play as the season continues.
I was interested to see what kind of lineup DCU rolled out last night. Five starters were also starters Saturday, plus Rowles. The first half was really frustrating, and apparently 50% first-choice DCU isn’t enough to get past Charleston. The subs for Herrera and Leal had a noticeable effect, and the late addition of Stroud was good as well. Yet… it took all the way into extra time to get the win. . But a win nonetheless!
Always something interesting in the crowd for these games.
The folks behind me in the south stands remarked at how good the seats were, and then pivoted to remark on how small the stadium was in comparison to a certain other they had recently been to; yes, Bernabeu is a bit larger.
Also to the Charleston fan in the Heineken roof top in the extra time deciding to make fun of our keeper’s name, and thus encouraging his small son to do the same – stay classy, sir.
Speaking of keepers, it sounded like Zamudio was getting a lot of stick towards the end of the game. I’m not sure if it was because he had gone down and needed some treatment, and the fans thought he was time wasting, or if they were just saying “za-MU-dio” to welcome him back.
It was more than just the end of the game, but yeah, it started with the long break he took, just sitting down instead of playing the ball. It was booing. Not Za-MU-dio, and not Luuuuuuis. A few other players got similar stick because they cramped up. It
Obviously very good to get the win!
Just to be a wet blanket ahead of our match against Charlotte… since winning the Open Cup in 2013, we’ve only beaten one MLS club in Open Cup play. That was Philly in 2019. Beating Philly in 2019 was also the last time that the team has won an elimination match against MLS or Liga MX opponents, and the last time before THAT was the 2015 playoff match against New England. Hopefully we can buck our recent history and get back to our even older history.
How much are we pushing the 2013 parallels, I wonder 😉
If we win the Open Cup and get only four more points all season… Yeah, I’d probably be happy. It would suck, but I don’t honestly see this team doing too much in the regular season and having a trophy is always great. Though I wonder how good Galaxy fans are feeling this season after selling out for an MLS Cup.
I’d love to get our hands on the 2025 US Open Cup. It’s a fun and unique competition. There’s something, dare I say, cool about it.
I have a Spanish drinking buddy that won that with his semi-pro team in Atlanta in the 80s. ATL United recognized them on the jumbotron once (maybe ATL U was in, or won, an Open Cup final a few years back?)
As lacking in mid-to-high end talent as we are, I really doubt we finish out the season that badly. For all our complaints about Troy, he has shown willingness to adapt his game plan and sit guys who can’t do the basics well enough (at least when there are options). Already we’ve shown better even while missing starters. Playoffs are still way out of sight, but Open Cup and a decent finish with no locker room explosion would be a good season for how things have started.
VERY recently, he has adjusted, and I do appreciate that. We’re starting to incorporate a midblock at times and pressing from that. I’d like to do it more often, but it’s been less unstable. Perhaps Lesesne knows the powers that be will neither flog him nor help him out, it’s on him. He’s taken that responsibility, and that’s a plus in his favor.
Playoffs are a long time off, but are they way out of sight?
There are a few teams between DCU and the play-in and playoff lines — but looking at the 2 teams in the play-in slots, Orlando and New England, they play each other on Saturday. So, if DCU beat Toronto, they could be just 1 or 2 points away from one of those slots, especially in NYRB blow a home game against the Galaxy. Then, DCU have a stretch where they play 3 of 4 at home, against 3 of the teams they’re chasing now for playoff spots — home matches vs NYCFC, NYRB, and NE.
So, it could be there for the taking. They’ll have a road trip to Nashville mixed in there, and then a road match in Cincy after the NE match, and I don’t expect them to take any points in those two road matches, but there’s a 3-point chance after that, home against Chicago, before a trip to San Jose. Then, there’s home matches against Nashville and Atlanta, before there’s a chance for DCU to bring in a summer acquisition or two.
Hopefully, they win in Toronto. Then, it’s a stretch with 6 home games out of 9 matches. 3 points vs TFC + maybe 10 points out of those 6 home games — 2 wins and 4 draws, or 3 wins and a draw might not be unreasonable. That would leave DCU needing roughly 20 points out of their last 14 matches.
Thing is, the rest of DCU’s schedule is brutal. July and August could be miserable with DCU on the road 7 out of 9, and one of the 2 home matches is vs Miami. Their remaining home matches down the stretch will be tough, too — hosting Orlando, Charlotte, and Philly, around a trip to Miami. Their most winnable match in the last 14 matches will be a home match vs. Austin. but the rest of the schedule is…terrifying. A long stretch of games where DCU would be thrilled to walk away with a draw in any one of them.
So, if they win in Toronto, they’ll be in a position to challenge for a playoff spot, but they’ll need to do really great business in the next 6 weeks. 12 or 13 points out of those 6 home games, at a minimum, to be in striking range. But, given the quality of the opposition they will face down the stretch, I think they might have to get the 3 pts on road vs Toronto, plus at least 15 points out of the ensuing nine. If they could then somehow average a point a game over their last 14 matches, they might just sneak in, matching our 40 points from last year.
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