US Open Cup: Le Toux, Philadelphia Union Doop New York Cosmos

By Jo-Ryan Salazar | Jun 25, 2014

Jun 24, 2014; Chester, PA, USA; Philadelphia Union forward Antoine Hoppenot (29) battles with New York Cosmos defender Hunter Freeman (2) during the second overtime period of the U.S. Open Cup match at PPL Park. The Union won the match 2-1 after two overtime periods. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

It was one of the wilder matches one will see in a U.S. Open Cup match. Giovanni Savarese’s New York Cosmos were forced to play down to nine men by the the time the final whistle blew as they fell, 2-1, to Jim Curtin’s Philadelphia Union at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. in the Fifth Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Alessandro Noselli opened up the scoring in the 56th minute of play but it was Sebastien Le Toux that did most of the damange, with goals in the 57th and 114th minute of play. However, things got real ugly late in stoppage time. Ayoze and Jimmy Ockford got sent off for the Cosmost, Michael Lahoud was sent of for the Union and the entire Cosmos coaching staff was tossed as well.

It shows the character of the group,” Curtin told MLSSoccer.com’s Dave Zeitlin. “Is the soccer perfect? No. I’m not going to sit up here and say we played a beautiful game or anything like that. But sometimes this competition isn’t about beautiful soccer. It’s not about stats or possession percentages and all of that other stuff. It’s about who wants it more and who wants to win a trophy.”

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“The Cosmos are not your regular NASL/USL team,” said the Union’s Amobi Okugo. “They’ve put a lot of effort and time into their team and organization. They really wanted to make noise in this tournament and we did a good job holding firm and getting the win.

“If you look at the teams that are successful in this league, they have the fight and they have the grittiness. The KCs, the Houstons when they’re on, Real Salt Lake, Seattle this year – those teams all fight for each other and fight as a team. And we’re just trying to bring that back.”

“No question,” Savarese told Empire of Soccer’s Dave Martinez. “I know so, clear. It was more PK that one then the one they gave for them. I don’t even think [Ockford’s foul] was a PK. So we been robbed and it’s shame because the Philadelphia doesn’t deserves it and the New York Cosmos doesn’t deserve it.

“It was a good game, two teams came to try to play, but the referee we saw very clearly that you don’t give a PK at that moment. We had another one questionable at the end of the game for our team. It was clear today that it was a show and the principle guy in the show was the referee.

“I know it was gonna be this type of game because we came here to try and play. We didn’t want to hide. We tried to utilize some of the things we could utilize. They had some good players that created difficult situations. We saw that their goal also was a quick counterattack and they were able to capitalize right after our goal.”

With the win, the Union host either the New England Revolution or Rochester Rhinos at PPL Park in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup on July 8.

Philadelphia Union Player Ratings

Andre Blake 6, Fabinho 5.5, Maurice Edu 6, Raymon Gaddis 6, Sheanon Williams 6, Amobi Okugo 7, Brian Carroll 6.5, Cristian Maidana 6, Danny Cruz 4.5, Andrew Wenger 5, Sebastien Le Toux 10, Leonardo Fernandez 4, Antoine Hoppenot 4, Michael LaHoud 1

New York Cosmos Player Ratings

Jimmy Maurer 2.5, Ayoze 1, Carlos Mendes 3, Hunter Freeman 3, Roversio 3, Danny Szetela 3, Hafop Chirishian 2, Joseph Nane NR, Sebastian Guenzatti 3, Alessandro Noselli 5.5, Mads Stokkelien 4, Dane Murphy 4, Jemal Johnson 3, Jimmy Ockford 1