Herculez Gomez scored the lone goal in the 25th minute to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-0 win over FC Dallas, and their second Open Cup title.
On September 28th, when Herculez Gomez of the Los Angeles Galaxy scored in the 25th minute, it would prove to be the final goal of a historic tournament that may go down as one of the most dramatic and exciting of the Modern Era. The Galaxy and FC Dallas squared off in the 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, both with hopes of lifting the trophy for a second time. After Gomez’s first half goal, the Galaxy held on for the 1-0 victory in front of 10,000 fans at the Home Depot Center, giving them their second Open Cup title in five years.
Every year, aside from the champion, what fans often remember are the cinderella stories and upsets. The San Francisco Bay Seals from 1997, the Mid-Michigan Bucks in 2000, and of course, the ultimate cinderella story, the Rochester Raging Rhinos of 1999. 2005 saw 10 upsets, 10 extra time matches, and a First Division team in the Semi-Finals for the second year in a row. If you are a fan of goal-scoring, this was your year as well. In the 41 games of the tournament, there was a Modern Era record average of 4.44 goals per game.
2005 marked the addition of two new MLS teams with Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA participating in their inaugural seasons. With the addition of those two teams, US Soccer added a “Qualifying Round” to this year’s tournament. Four teams (Two PDL, two USASA) participated in two “play-in” games to determine who would join the rest of the PDL and USASA teams in the First Round. By the end, this tournament may go down as one of the most dramatic in the Modern Era and it got started in the Qualifying Round with Salinas Valley Samba (USASA) upsetting the Cascade Surge (PDL) in penalty kicks and Dallas-based Roma (USASA) destroyed the Cocoa Expos (PDL) 7-2.
The PDL has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years. Last year, four PDL teams found themselves in the Third Round. This year, the Ocean City Barons and the Des Moines Menace were the tournament darlings out of the PDL, both making history in their own way.
After the Barons sent Greek American Atlas (USASA) home by a score of 3-0, they earned their first upset by dominating the Long Island Rough Riders, a traditional powerhouse in the Second Division. Ocean City was full of confidence heading into their Third Round matchup against the First Division’s Richmond Kickers. The weather didn’t cooperate and postponed the original match date, but when the two teams met the following week, they put on quite a show for the fans in Richmond, VA. The game looked like a typical thrashing of a top professional side against a lowly PDL side when the scoreboard read 4-1 approaching the halftime break. The Barons struck back with two goals on either side of halftime to change the game and cut the lead to 4-3 in the 54th minute. The Kickers would survive the onslaught and reestablished control with four unanswered goals. When Ocean City pulled one back late in the game, the two teams had scored a Modern Era record 12 goals.
It was an amazing year for the Des Moines Menace. Year in and year out, the Menace are one of the top teams in the PDL, but they always seem to fall short, playing in one of the toughest divisions in the league. 2005 saw the Menace earn three upsets, go toe-to-toe with a Major League Soccer club and win the PDL Championship on the road against the El Paso Patriots.
The journey started with a narrow penalty kicks win over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL Second Division. They followed that up with one of the biggest wins in club history by upsetting the Charleston Battery of the First Division 3-2. With Des Moines making a run through the tournament, it was only fitting that they knocked off the Battery, a team that made a run of their own last year by advancing to the Semifinals.
Even after two early upsets, there were still questions about the Menace going into Round Three. The first two wins were both at home. How would they perform when they traveled to Atlanta to take on the First Division Silverbacks? By the time the game finished, it was hard to tell which was the professional side. Des Moines thrashed Atlanta 5-1 in front of their home fans, earning them a Fourth Round showdown with the defending Open Cup champion Kansas City Wizards. The Menace would receive a 6-1 thrashing of their own in that game in Overland Park, KS, but any PDL team knows that to make it far enough to be on the same field with an MLS team is an accomplishment in and of itself. The Menace became only the second PDL team in the Modern Era to advance beyond the Third Round. In 2003, the Fresno Fuego won three games, including an upset of the First Division’s El Paso Patriots, on their way to an appearance in the Fourth Round where they lost to the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1.
You’ve already read about the 12-goal thriller in Richmond, and Atlanta being dominated by Des Moines. Those were only two games of what is now known as the greatest round in the US Open Cup Modern Era’s history. You can read about the matches in more detail by going to USOpenCup.com’s Third Round Recap (Part 1 and Part 2). In the interest of space, here is a quick summary of what happened:
(1) 12-goal thriller between Richmond/Ocean City, Modern Era record for total goals in a game.
(2) Des Moines thrashes Atlanta on the road 5-1 to earn themselves a date with an MLS team.
(3) Portland Timbers eliminated bitter rival Seattle 2-0, despite having their leading scorer sent off.
(4) Kirk Wilson scored in the 80th minute to give Rochester a 2-1 win against rival Virginia Beach.
(5) Western Mass played a tough home game against the Chicago Fire only to fall 3-1.
(6) Chivas USA (MLS) needed a late equalizer on the road against the Charlotte Eagles (USL-2) to send the game into overtime. In the extra frame, the Eagles were less than a minute away from going to penalty kicks, but Isaac Romo scored in the 120th minute to save Chivas USA from a distasterous first Open Cup game.
(7) FC Dallas took extra time to get revenge against the Wilmington Hammerheads, who knocked them out of the 2003 Open Cup. Carey Talley and Roberto Mina both scored in extra time to move on 3-1.
The eighth game of the Third Round was quite possibly the best of the bunch and involves the team that was the true cinderella story of 2005. The Minnesota Thunder, like Charleston last year, were sitting in the bottom half of the First Division table and were in danger of missing the playoffs. Somehow they were able to put their poor regular season form behind them to make Open Cup history.
The motivation to make the run that they did may have come from the sidelines. To add to the drama of Minnesota’s cinderella story, the only manager the club has ever known, Buzz Lagos, announced that this will be his 16th and final season roaming the sidelines for the Thunder. The boys in blue started off the tournament in the Second Round where they won 2-1 in a tightly contested battle with the Chicago Fire Premier (PDL). Their Third Round matchup against newcomers Real Salt Lake would produce their finest moment in front of their home fans.
The two teams traded goals and found themselves deadlocked at 3-3 after Melvin Tarley scored his second goal in the 66th minute. Jason Kreis put Salt Lake up 4-3 in the 70th and it looked like Real would survive their first US Open Cup game, but Aaron Paye equalized in the 88th minute for Minnesota and sent the game into extra time. The Thunder rolled in the overtime period with two goals to give them a 6-4 win and a date with another team from MLS, the Colorado Rapids.
Liberian international Melvin Tarley carried the Thunder into the Quarterfinals, scoring all four goals in a 4-1 victory over the Rapids. Tarley joined select company as one of five players to ever score four or more goals in an Open Cup match in the Modern Era (joining teammate Johnny Menyongar who scored four against the San Diego Gauchos in 2002).
Johnny Menyongar continued to shine for Minnesota in the Quarterfinals, scoring two of the Thunder’s three goals in a 3-1 win on the road against the Kansas City Wizards. By knocking out the defending champs, the Thunder became only the second USL club to defeat three MLS teams in one year. They would eventually fall one short of the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos who claimed four MLS scalps (Chicago, Dallas, Columbus, and Colorado in the Final) on their way to winning the title.
Tarley’s six-goals in three matches attracted some attention, especially from his opponents. So much, that Real Salt Lake, the club that he scored two goals against in the Third Round, bought him from the Thunder after the Kansas City game. Part of the agreement for the sale was that Tarley be allowed to play in the Semifinal match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Unfortunately for the Thunder, Tarley’s presence on the field couldn’t keep the dream alive as the Galaxy eliminated Buzz Lagos’ club 5-2 at the Home Depot Center.
To get to the Semifinals, the Galaxy had to overcome their two biggest rivals. They began Open Cup play in the Fourth Round where they thumped their in-stadium rival Chivas USA 5-2, and made two first half goals by Herculez Gomez stand up in a 2-1 win on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes. Gomez added two goals against Minnesota, combined with a score against Chivas USA, and his Open Cup winning goal in the Final against FC Dallas, he would tie Tarley with a tournament-best six goals.
Late goals, dramatic upsets, high scoring thrillers, cinderella stories…what more could a fan ask for? Thunder fans may ask for a couple more wins, but the 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was definitely one for the ages.