Oddity of the Open Cup: What can Real Salt Lake take from a 3-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC
Oddity of the Open Cup: What can Real Salt Lake take from a 3-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC
The "Magic of the Cup" became the Oddity of the Cup as RSL played to a scoreless draw through regulation, then netted three goals in a 3-1 win over Lights FC to snap an Open Cup losing skid.
LAS VEGAS — Promotion-relegation supporters and Open Cup romantics will often speak of the “magic of the Cup” when Major League Soccer clubs enter the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against lower-division opponents in American soccer’s annual equivalent of the FA Cup with a cash prize and bragging rights on the line.
But in Real Salt Lake’s 3-1 win over Las Vegas Lights FC of the USL Championship, magic became oddity and romanticism became quirkiness.
The two teams played to a scoreless draw through regulation before Damir Kreilach scored an extra-time brace in playing all 120 minutes to help RSL secure its first win since advancing on penalties in 2016.
“I remember playing in this tournament, and every game, you never know what you’re going to get,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said from just outside the dugout that housed Salt Lake’s locker room in the former Triple-A baseball stadium of Cashman Field. “Obviously, the dimensions of the field, the way they play on it, and then going down two center backs and ending the game with four outside backs on the field … There was a lot of adapting on the field.
“I think the guys showed a lot of resilience, and some good intensity and good effort. We knew we were going to have to match their intensity; this was a huge game for Las Vegas, and it was a huge game for us, as well.I felt like if we could mask that intensity, then our quality would shine through.”
Open Cup games are a chance for lower-division squads to make a name for themselves, especially against the top level of professional soccer in America in MLS. And though Las Vegas, which entered the match winless in USL play and 12th in the table, Wednesday’s midweek clash represented an opportunity.
Real Salt Lake players and coaches publicly admitted to being motivated to win Wednesday, including by last year’s humbling 1-0 home loss to USL League One outfit Northern Colorado Hailstorm, it was the Lights who had the strong foot for much of the contest.
Perhaps that can be attributed to a heavily rotated roster that included just 479 career MLS starts, with 308 of those starts coming from Kreilach and center back Justen Glad. Five starters had three or few MLS caps, including Diego Luna (3), Emeka Eneli (2), Ilijah Paul (1), Gavin Beavers (1) and Delentz Pierre (0), who debuted alongside Glad for the homegrown’s first appearance with the first team
But as the match wore on and the young group found its footing, the kids turned out to be alright — and Kreilach got more and more dangerous, charging up his shooter’s acumen wit h10 shots, five shots on target and 1.1 expected goals en route to his extra-time brace.
It was weird. It was gritty. It was one of the most unique games any RSL player has played in, when it finished with four defenders and no center backs after Erik Holt was forced off with an injury and RSL had to finish the match with Bode Hidalgo, Bryan Oviedo, Emeka Eneli and Bertin Jacquesson forming a make-shift back line.
“The Cup games are always fun to play in,” Kreilach said, giving credit to his teammates’ adaptability. “Even before the game, I said in the locker room that it was going to be a tricky game, especially when you play the teams in the league below you. The most important thing is to put the fight in, as well as communication and concentration, and then the quality is going to come out.
“But if you have to fight from the first minute until the 110th minute, it’s necessary. This is what we’ve done, and you have to have a little bit of luck from these games.”
In the end, for all its quirks — including the baseball pitch, the pregame llama and an Elvis look-alike named “Cash the Soccer Rocker” that welcomed the first-ever MLS team to Cashman Field in the Lights’ franchise history — it was kind of fun.
RSL will agree, at least after the squad snapped an Open Cup losing skid that dated back to 2016 and included its first-ever win on the road in the competition.
“It was just a really scrappy U.S. Open Cup game,” said Danny Musovski, who had close to 50 friends and family at the game from his days growing up in Henderson and starring at nearby Liberty High. “Everyone was battling for second balls, it wasn’t always pretty, and the pitch was a little difficult to play on. But I think we were ready for that, we were anticipating that, and we were able to get the win.”
Musovski also earned plenty from the match with a 120th-minute goal, his first in an RSL uniform, as the UNLV graduate finished off the scoring after Jacquesson’s initial attempt was saved and the man called “Moose” buried the put-back for the final margin.
“Any time as a striker if you can score, you’re happy with it,” Musovski said. “It’s been a bit of a journey, but that comes with anything and just being a professional. It’s not always easy;you have to push through some difficult times.
“But I’m happy that I got the goal, and that we got the win.”
RSL next turns its attention to a home match with Seattle Sounders FC, which advanced to the Open Cup fourth round with a 5-4 extra-time victory over the San Diego Loyal, on Saturday (7:30 p.m. MDT, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
And while it may be “just” the Open Cup, the club can take “a lot” from its sudden two-match winning streak as it prepares to face one of the top teams in the Wester Conference, Kreilach said.
“In years before, we’ve seen teams from leagues below beat MLS teams; it’s totally normal,” he added. “From a fan’s perspective, you think MLS teams should be in these games early. But that’s not it. These are very tricky games, and we have to take them very seriously. At the end of the day, we are building our confidence for the league moving forward, with Seattle in front of us and that great team.
“As long as we are playing our game, we know who we are and we know our identity. We’re going to go for it, and hopefully (win three in a row).”
Lineups
Real Salt Lake (3-5-2)
Starters (subs): Gavin Beavers; Justin Glad (Bode Hidalgo 59’), Erik Holt (Scott Caldwell 90’+7), Delentz Pierre (Bertin Jacquesson 76’); Emeka Eneli, Maikel Chang, Pablo Ruiz (Bryan Oviedo 59’), Braian Ojeda, Diego Luna (Andres Gomez); Ilijah Paul (Danny Musovski 75’) , Damir Kreilach.
Subs not used: Zac MacMath
Las Vegas Lights FC (4-2-3-1)
Starters (subs): Leo Diaz; Luke Stauffer, Zach Carroll, Marcelo Lage (Jordan Ayimbila 76’), Tyler Bagley; Jacob Bushue, Andres Jimenez; Tabort Preston (Manu Ledesma 76’), Justin Ingram (Danny Rios 102’), Andrew Carleton (Azriel Gonzalez 65’); Erick Torres (Botello Faz 76’).
Subs not used: Andre Zuluaga, Zander Romero
Discipline:
RSL — Erik Holt (caution) 61’
LV — Jacob Bushue (caution) 63’
LV: Andre Zuluaga (caution) 112’