The USL Pro Richmond Kickers knew it would be tough to defeat the MLS Chicago Fire on the road in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal. They may not have been successful, but that wasn't because of a lack of effort.
Playing a Chicago team deploying most of its regulars, the Kickers' season ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 defeat at Toyota Park. After going down 2-0 midway through the second half, a goal by midfielder William Yomby shaved the Chicago lead in half, but the Kickers could not get the tying score.
"Anybody who watched that game would not see much difference between those teams," Richmond coach Leigh Cowlishaw said. "That was a Chicago team that desperately needed to win that match, and I think that tells you what our team is all about and how we have played this season and what talent we have on the team."
The Kickers gave the Toyota Park crowd a scare in the 68th minute. Yomby was deep inside the box when he headed in a shot originally taken by midfielder Michael Callahan past Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in to give the Kickers some hope, but they were unable to come up with another quality scoring opportunity for the rest of the match as a steady rain began to fall.
"It was good for our boys to come back from 2-0 down and get a goal," midfielder Ryan Heins said. "It would have been nice to tie it and make it a better game."
Chicago took the lead in the 32nd minute of what was an evenly played first half when Fire forward Patrick Nyarko was tripped in the penalty box by Kicker midfielder Luke Vercollone, leading to a Chicago penalty kick. Nyarko deposited the shot into the right corner putting the ball by Kicker goaltender Ronnie Pascale.
Chicago took a two-goal advantage in the 61st minute, when VCU product Dominic Oduro broke just free of Kicker defender Yomby after taking a nice pass from Nyarko. From about 20 yards out, Oduro stopped and looped the ball just inside the right goalpost and by Pascale to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. There was a tangible touch of irony to that goal as Pascale was the assistant coach at VCU when Oduro played there as well.
The Kickers' offense had problems creating scoring chances as indicated by a mere two shots on goal. On the other side, Pascale finished with three saves.
Despite the defeat, Cowlishaw was pleased with the 2011 campaign.
"If you said before the season we would make the semifinal and be defeated by Orlando, the top team in the league, and then get to the U.S. Open Cup semifinal and play so well against the Chicago Fire's best team, you would say that is an impressive season for the Richmond Kickers."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement