Dynamo punched its ticket to the Open Cup Final and with that, they earned a spot at the next CONCACAF edition.
An intense battle between Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake in the US Open Cup Semifinal match saw the Texan team emerged victorious with a 3-1 final score after a hundred twenty minutes of action.
Yes, this battle needed overtime to decide which team advanced to face Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the final match that will take place on September 27th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The match started with both teams displaying their intention to dominate the possession of the ball at midfield to then create scoring opportunities. Real Salt Lake showed their strong defensive mindset, stopping Dynamo’s early attempts to break through. Despite Dynamo’s efforts to gain control of the ball, Hector Herrera, ‘Coco’ Carrasquilla and Artur were never able to establish their game at midfield. In other words, both teams neutralized each other leading to a very close match for the first 40 minutes of action.
However, in the last minute of the first half, Dynamo capitalized a defensive mistake inside Real Salt Lake’s box. Bassi recovered the ball to find Herrera, who put the ball in the back of the net for the partial 1-0 at the half.
In the second half, Real Salt Lake responded with a change in determination, pressing Dynamo’s defense to try to find the equalizer. On the other hand, the team created some chances to double their lead, but despite their attempts, the 1-0 prevailed.
At the 64th minute, RSL efforts paid off when Anderson Julio beat Houston’s goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell for a well-deserved 1-1.
As the clock ticked down, the game intensified. Real Salt Lake had a few dangerous counterattacks, but Dynamo’s goalkeeper made some crucial saves to keep his team in the contest. Also, the Orange had some chances to score the winning goal, but they could not finish them successfully.
With neither team able to break the tie, the match moved into extra time.
In extra time, the match remained intense and both teams were still trying to neutralize their counterparts.
However, just before the first half of extra time concluded, Dynamo’s resilience and determination to win the match was rewarded when Carrasquilla’s shot from outside the box found the back of the net for the partial 2-1.
The 3-1 came in for the home side when Bassi found Caicedo, whose goal sealed the victory for the Orange and secured its place at the US Open Cup final as well as the next CONCACAF Championship.
Next, both teams will face each other again, but this time in Utah as part of the MLS regular season.
“We talked about creating a winning culture. That is one of the three things we continue to speak about. For most of the night, we played at a high level, and created a bunch of opportunities, plenty opportunities to win the game.” Houston Coach Ben Olsen mentioned before the match.
Dynamo’s midfielder Caicedo said after the match: “Fans deserved the win because they have been with us supporting the club since the start of the season. That is why tonight we are both enjoying this moment.”
