By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Chester, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union have advanced to the Final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. They defeated the Chicago Fire, 3-0, on Wednesday night at Talen Energy Stadium.
“I think it’s clear that we’ve been a team that’s played pretty well this year,” Union head coach Jim Curtin argued. “We’ve played a lot better than we played tonight and have lost. And tonight maybe wasn’t our sharpest and we get a win.”
The Union will be playing in their third U.S. Open Cup Final since 2014. However, the Philadelphia franchise has never won it.
READ MORE: Click here for our latest Soccer coverage
The Union fell to Sporting Kansas City 1-1 (7-6 in penalty kicks) in 2015. In 2014, they were defeated 3-1 by Seattle Sounders FC.
Both of these final games were played at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
They will hope to change that on September 26th at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Houston Dynamo will host the finale against the Union.
The Dynamo defeated Los Angeles Football Club on Wednesday night. The game was tied at 3-3 after the second overtime. Houston won 7-6 in penalty kicks.
Neither the Dynamo or the Union have won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
This will be the fourth Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in the State of Texas. It is the first Open Cup in Texas since 2016 when FC Dallas defeated the New England Revolution.
This will be the first-time the final game will be hosted in Houston, Texas. It’s previously been in Frisco, Texas twice and El Paso, Texas.
After a lackluster first half, Cory Burke opened the scoring in the second half wick a goal in the 59th minute.
READ MORE: Click here for our latest Sports coverage
“So I was concerned at 1-0 when we missed 3 or 4 pretty good looks, [Richard] Sanchez made a good save on a couple, and you start to have that little bit of doubt creep in,” Curtin said. “And credit to our players again, they kicked the door down and broke down a Chicago team that obviously had a game also and put a lot of minutes in and pushed the tempo in the second half and maybe ran out of gas a little bit.”
He also added a goal in the 77th minute.
“I caught it perfectly,” Burke said. “Saw the keeper cheating a little, so I said, ‘Once I can hit this with pace [to] his near post, I know it will go in.’”
C.J. Sapong also contributed a goal in the 86th goal.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Tumblr, YouTube, and TruthSocial
Keep Independent Journalism Alive! Ad-free experience and Exclusive Premium-plus content. Join our Paid Substack for additional content for $10 per month. This is ad-free content. We believe that what you read matters and great writing is valuable. Through Substack, writers can flourish by being paid directly by their readers. © 2007-2023 The Capital Sports Report. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcasted, rewritten, or redistributed.
