The semifinals are set with two familiar faces and two teams new to the final four of the US Open Cup.
And then there were four.
The 100th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is down to its final four teams and it’s an all-MLS semifinal as three of the four home teams won in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
The Portland Timbers were the lone road victors, as they fell behind 1-0 early, but scored three unanswered goals to rally back to beat FC Dallas in the sweltering heat in Frisco, Texas. Je-Vaughn Watson opened scoring in the 15th minute and Dallas went into halftime toting a 1-0 lead that lasted through the hour-mark. Then Portland got three goals in 11 minutes from Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri and Frederic Piquionne. Blas Perez would pull one back in the 86th minute, but the Timbers held off the comeback effort and advanced to the semifinal for the first time in club history.
They will meet Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium in the semifinals as RSL trounced the Carolina Railhawks 3-0. Tony Beltran, Chris Wingert and Alvaro Saborio each scored and Josh Saunders finished with the clean sheet to put Salt Lake in their first semifinal as well.
In the other quarterfinal, two teams that combine for six U.S. Open Cup titles and 10 finals appearances between them will meet as the Chicago Fire will host D.C. United. Chris Rolfe scored in the sixth minute to get Chicago out to the early lead over Orlando City SC, but Orlando got the equalizer early in the second half. The final 31 minutes saw the Fire tally four goals, though, as Rolfe added another and Patrick Nyarko, Mike Magee and Joel Lindpere made sure there wouldn’t be a comeback from the USL-Pro side.
Chris Pontius scored just before halftime to give D.C. the lead, but they allowed an early second-half goal to Juan Toja and New England looked like they might stage a comeback. However, Dwayne De Rosario and Lionard Pajoy both notched late scores to put D.C. back in the semifinal for the first time since 2010, when they made their third consecutive semifinal appearance.
The semifinals will be played on August 7.
