RSL's Joao Plata equalized with this PK in the second half.
The last time RSL took the pitch in the US Open Cup, it rained buckets as they defeated the Atlanta Silverbacks in extra time. It rained goals last night at the RioT, though the downpour started considerably later than most of the home fans would have liked. In the end the Claret and Cobalt came back and defeated a well organized Charleston Battery side 5-2, again in extra time, to survive and advance to the quarter finals of the Open Cup.
A lot of folks will complain about the "bunkering" strategy employed by the Battery through most of the match. Indeed, they had 9-10 men sitting in and just outside the penalty area almost from the first minute of the match. It was a classic defend and counter strategy. I won't blame them. The manager's job is to install the lineup and tactics that give his team the best chance to win. The plain fact of the matter is that for 45 minutes, those tactics worked just fine for the Battery.
The Battery struck first in the 16th minute. Defender John Wilson caught the RSL defense asleep at the switch and put a beautiful through ball into RSL's right flank on a counter attack. Dane Kelly took the pass, and Josh Saunders played it well, keeping his angle and forcing Kelly to go to the far post. Saunders' defensive help was nowhere to be found though as Kelly slapped the ball inside the far post to make it 0-1 to the visitors. Jason Kries's head nearly exploded just two minutes later when the Battery again caught RSL's defense napping. Quinton Griffith ripped a shot that bounced off the post, but the rebound easily fell to the Battery's Nicki Paterson, who tapped home with his right foot to make it 0-2.
After that RSL started to play a little bit better, but still had issues on the defensive side, especially against the counter attack. The Battery nearly iced the match in first half stoppage time. Somehow they ended up with a 2-1 break, the 1 RSL man being young Aaron Maund, who had been suffering through a rough night. Maund acquitted himself well here though, doing his best to challenge both Battery players where he could. In the end, he held it up long enough for Chris Wingert to catch up from behind and take the ball off of the Battery player, ending the the threat without a shot. To me, that was the most important moment of the night. If the Battery score there, they're up 0-3 going into the half and any momentum that RSL might have salvaged would have been totally shattered.
Coach Kreis started the second half with the same XI, which puzzled me somewhat. I thought for sure we'd see Chris Wingert slide into the middle for Maund and Lovell Palmer pop in at fullback. Instead Kreis showed some confidence in the youngster, which in the end wasn't a bad thing. I don't know whether the players got the blowdryer treatment or the silent treatment in the locker room, but things were immediately better in the second half. However the Claret and Cobalt still looked as though they were at a loss as to how to unlock the Battery bunker.
That changed in the 63rd minute when Joao Plata and Khari Stephenson checked into the match. Plata checked in for Maund, and RSL went to three at the back with the extra forward. Plata's speed quickly started to pull apart the Battery defense. Three minutes later, the home crowd was feeling it as the "Believe" anthem made itself spontaneously heard throughout Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL responded to it's fans' call as Tony Beltran served a ball into Devon Sandoval, who promptly slotted the ball into the net to make it 1-2 and totally bring the crowd to life. This was the point when I really started to think to myself, "yeah, we can do this."
RSL applied nearly continuous pressure to the Battery goal and it all came good in the 79th minute when Joao Plata was taken down in the area to earn a PK. He stood up to take the spot kick himself, drilling it into the top corner to equalize at 2-2 and grow his flourishing legend in the mind of RSL fans. However, despite the pressure, RSL was not able to net a winner in regulation and the match headed into extra time.
RSL's advantage was obvious going into the extra session. The Battery had a smaller roster, and they were playing their 3rd game in 7 days. The altitude had also been sapping them throughout the latter stages of the second half, they looked gassed while the RSL boys looked relatively fresh. In the 7th minute Plata crossed to Sandoval who easily rose over the Battery defense and headed in his second of the night to give RSL the lead for good.
Unfortunately for the Battery, wave after wave of Claret and Cobalt pressure proved too much as RSL decided to end any hopes they had of coming back and forcing PKs. A few minutes later Khari blasted an absolute golazo from 35 yards to make it 4-2, and Javier Morales added yet another PK right at the end of the first 15 to make it 5-2. The final 15 passed in an exhausted jumble and RSL easily cruised to the win from there.
The first half was absolute junk, and brought back nasty memories of last year's Open Cup defeat to the Minnesota Stars. I'm not going to say that I was sure that RSL was going to come back, that would be a lie. However, the team showed a ton of character in the second half, chipping away bit by bit and finally putting the match out of reach in extra time. Still, one thinks that if that match would have been played in Charleston, well things might have been very different.
So here are the three stars from last night's match:
THIRD STAR--Odisnel Cooper, GK/Charleston Battery--
Don't let the fact that the Battery gave up five goals fool you. One must remember that two of those were PKs against guys that Cooper had never seen before. One of them, Morales, a master of putting the ball right where he wants to every time. Cooper faced a ton of pressure with the Battery's bunker defense, and he made several key saves in both halves to keep the Battery in it and force extra time.
SECOND STAR--Joao Plata, F/RSL--
Plata's speed really changed the game in RSL's favor. The already weary Battery defense had no answer for him. Plata earned, then made the PK that equalized the match. He followed that up with the assist on the game winner. Both he and Khari Stephenson are really endearing themselves to the RSL faithful.
FIRST STAR--DEVON SANDOVAL, F/RSL--
Speaking of newcomers endearing themselves to the fans, how about this young man? Just a few months into his pro career he has tied Jason Kries as RSL's all time leading scorer in the US Open Cup. He is really taking advantage of the opportunities he's getting. Garth Lagerway has said that the only thing consistent about young players is their inconsistency, yet Sandoval has been remarkably consistent throughout the early season. He's humble, and he's HUNGRY. Last night he scored the first of match for RSL and the eventual game winner to send the Claret and Cobalt to the next round.
The Charleston Battery deserve a lot of respect for playing hard and staying classy. They did the best they could, but they were never going to be able to outlast RSL in that extra time. It really was a bridge too far. RSL will host the Carolina Railhawks, who beat Chivas USA last night, in the quarter final round of the US Open Cup.
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