Thursday, March 28, 2024

Union defeats Fire to advance to USOC Final

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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.”

Philadelphia Union Forward Cory Burke prays after reacting to a missed scoring opportunity in the second half during the game between Atlanta United
Cory Burke prays after reacting to a missed scoring opportunity in the second half during the game between Atlanta United (Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Union will be playing in their third U.S. Open Cup Final since 2014. However, the Philadelphia franchise has never won it.

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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.

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“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.

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Anthony Caruso III
Anthony Caruso IIIhttps://thecapitalsportsreport.com
Anthony Caruso III is the Publisher of The Capital Sports Report. He has been in the Journalism field since August 2002. Since that time, Mr. Caruso has covered many marquee events. This includes 13 Heisman Trophy ceremonies, 2 Little World Series events, and one Army-Navy College Football game.
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