There’s a magic to the U.S. Open Cup, the oldest national soccer competition in the country and the most egalitarian since it’s the only one open to every men’s team at every level.
Over the decades, amateurs have beaten pros, nobodies have beaten somebodies. It’s a tournament where there are no favorites and no underdogs, and that form held again for most of Wednesday’s final before LAFC turned back Sporting Kansas City 3-1 on extra-time goals from Omar Campos and Kei Kamara.
The victory, before a sold-out BMO Stadium crowd, was LAFC’s first in five tournament finals dating to the 2022 MLS Cup. For Kansas City, meanwhile, the loss was its first in five U.S. Open Cup finals dating back two decades. And the deciding goal came from a second-half substitute who had taken just two shots on goal this season.
The third one gave his team a trophy, with Campos running onto a Cristian Olivera pass at the top of the penalty area, dribbling across the top of the box to create space, then drilling a right-footed shot inside the far post.
Kamara, who came off the bench at the start of extra time, then put the game away with a header four minutes into the second extra-time period.
It shouldn’t have come down to that. LAFC (14-8-7) came into the game with the seventh-best record in MLS and its roster included two World Cup champions and the league’s reigning scoring champion.
Kansas City (8-16-7) came into the game already eliminated from MLS playoff contention and suffering through what likely will be its worst season since 1999, when it represented a different state under a different name. Its roster includes … well, players.
Yet for 101 minutes, the big fish and the minnows were even.
LAFC went ahead in the 53rd minute on Olivier Giroud’s first goal since coming to MLS, one which followed a strange buildup.
SKC’s Erik Thommy was stripped of the ball on a rough challenge at midfield and immediately began signaling for a foul. Although players on both sides appeared to pause, referee Armando Villarreal allowed play to continue and defender Sergi Palencia quickly pushed the ball ahead for Mateusz Bogusz on the right wing.
Bogusz’s low cross into the box found Giroud sliding between defenders Khiry Shelton and Robert Castellanos and he got just enough of his right boot on the ball to nudge it past SKC keeper Tim Melia. After a quick video review, the goal was allowed to stand.
However Thommy got his revenge seven minutes later, evening the score on by one-timing a centering pass from Daniel Salloi home from the center of the box.
LAFC had two chances to win in regulation, the first in the 75th minute when a ball ricocheted off SKC defender Robert Voloder to Bogusz in the center of the box. But Melia made a splendid save on Bogusz’s right-footed shot. A minute later Denis Bouanga‘s shot from a tough angle to the left of the goal bounced off the post.
Both teams had chances in a cautious but physical first half that featured five shots on target but no goals.
SKC’s best opportunity came in the ninth minute when Alan Pulido split a pair of defenders to run onto a long pass in the box, but his right-footed volley was pushed over the bar by a leaping Hugo Lloris. LAFC’s most dangerous try came four minutes before intermission when a perfect Bouanga pass found Giroud on the edge of the six-yard box, only to have Melia kick away Giroud’s left-footed deflection.
SKC isn’t the first team to salvage a terrible season by reaching the U.S. Open Cup final. In 2013, D.C. United set the modern-era MLS records for fewest wins (three) and most losses (24) while also rolling through the Open Cup unbeaten, claiming the only trophy it has won in the last 16 years.