It’s amazing when the weather goes from one extreme to another in these US Open Cup qualifiers. From a cold and dreary 40 degree night in early May against the Revolution to a sweltering 90 degrees against the Colorado Rapids. But both sides were going at each other to reach third round proper of the Lamar Hunt US Open cup & once again it was Woly Magic who came up big in the first half.

Nice combination play from Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Irving Garcia in the 11th minute. Ubiparipovic avoided a defender and saw John Wolyniec in an off-sides position, so he passed it off to Garcia and attacked near the area. A good cross towards Wolyniec and he slotted home his third Open Cup Qualifying Goal for the early one goal to nil lead. Late in the second half Tony Tchani fought off two Rapids defenders and sent a long ball towards Wolyniec who just got inside the area and ripped a solid shot past reserve keeper Ian Joyce for his second of the match in the 43rd minute & his 4th Qualifying Goal.

Conor Chinn added his third goal of qualifying in the 56th minute. Somehow he was able to get the ball after the pass was partially deflected & when he got into position, a weird strike from Chinn with plenty of power got past Joyce for clubs third on the night. After three matches of qualifiers and only giving up a single goal while putting in eight of their own, the New York Red Bulls have claimed one of two open spots inside Round three proper in the 2010 edition of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

For head coach Hans Backe it was a strange feeling to reach the MLS Round of the US Open Cup thru three qualifiers since in any other FA Cup all Division one or top division sides are already starting in the third round automatically. “I was surprised about that, because I thought we already reached the Quarterfinals after defeating the Revolution” said Backe. “It’s strange and different on how this tournament works than in other countries.”

For Colorado Head Coach Gary Smith he was a bit disappointed on how his team couldn’t finish their chances. “There were some important moments.” Said Smith “Wells Thompson has a fabulous chance before anybody finds their seat in the stadium, fails to hit the target. Even going in at two-nil, he has another fabulous chance, 10 yards from goal, and (Greg) Sutton makes a decent save, but reality is, he should finish first time, and suddenly we’re back in the game.” 

Colorado defender Drew Moor was also disappointed in his sides performance as well “You don’t want to go out of a cup this early.” Said Moor “It’s a good competition, there’s a trophy for the champion and I think we’re just disappointed with the way we played overall. There were times that both sides were suffering with the very humid conditions tonight as play slowed down at times, but still it was a good fight from both sides to reach that prize. Third round proper of the US Open Cup. But when both sides resume league action, the Rapids will host the Sounders while the Red Bulls travel to New England.

Special US Open Cup Re-Cap show
Thursday, May 27th 2:00PM EDT – 11:00AM PDT
Re-Capping Red Bulls 3-0 Win over Colorado Rapids
Quinny from Denver will be on.