Houston Dynamo vs. LAFC
U.S. Open Cup - Semifinals
BBVA Compass Stadium — Houston
August 8 - 8:30 pm ET
WATCH: USSoccer.com
Two Western Conference foes looking to reach the U.S. Open Cup final for the first time square off at BBVA Compass Stadium on Wednesday night when the Houston Dynamo host LAFC.
While LAFC are in unchartered waters in their first semifinal appearance in the U.S. Open Cup, coach Bob Bradley has twice won the competition with the Chicago Fire, including in that team’s expansion season in 1998.
The sides have met once in league play with Mauro Manotas and Philippe Senderos scoring deep in second-half stoppage time as the Dynamo rallied for a 2-2 draw July 3 at home. Latif Blessing and Mark-Anthony Kaye scored for LAFC.
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Houston Dynamo
This is the Dynamo’s fourth straight home game in this year’s USOC after defeating NTX Rayados and Minnesota United FC before knocking off defending champion Sporting Kansas City, 4-2 in the quarterfinals on June 18.
Romell Quioto and Manotas both struck for braces after Johnny Russell gave Sporting an early lead.
SKC got a measure of revenge Saturday night, winning 1-0 in a testy affair that saw the Dynamo finish with eight men after Alejandro Fuenmayor, Darwin Ceren and Alberth Elis were each shown red. Houston coach Wilmer Cabrera was also given his marching orders at halftime.
“This is the second time we come over here to play and we get really strange circumstances,” Cabrera said. “I cannot make any assessment about how we performed because we cannot perform with those circumstances. Right now what I would like is to go home and think how to prepare the next game to see if at some point it’s going to be normal for us to come to our own home and to try to play the game because we want to play.”
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: None
- International duty: None
- Injury Report: D - A.J. DeLaGarza (torn left ACL), M - Juan David Cabezas (left quad injury), F - Mac Steeves (left hip surgery), D - Philippe Senderos (right quadriceps injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Willis — Adolfo Machado, Jared Watts, Leonardo, DaMarcus Beasley — Eric Alexander, Oscar Boniek Garcia — Andrew Wenger, Tomas Martinez, Romell Quioto — Alberth Elis
Los Angeles Football Club
After defeating Fresno FC, Sacramento Republic FC and the Portland Timbers at Banc of California Stadium, LAFC take to the road for the first time in the USOC to meet the Dynamo.
In a 3-2 win over the Timbers, an own goal by David Guzman was followed by a Carlos Vela strike eight minutes later to put LAFC in front 2-0 late in the first half. Julio Cascante puled the Timbers back a goal with a stoppage-time goal. Marco Urena and Vytas scored one minute apart in the second half.
On Sunday, LAFC’s league winless streak stretched to four games following a 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls. Diego Rossi leveled for the visitors early in the second half, but Danny Royer netted his second goal of the game 10 minutes from full time as LAFC conceded late yet again.
“Hard-fought game. Difficult conditions,” Bob Bradley said. “I thought we did a good job to get back to 1-1 and really lost the game — we have a real chance now from our end, but we still make some mistakes. Bradley Wright-Phillips started running between Jordan [Harvey] and Laurent [Ciman], and we don't do a good enough job and I hate to see [that].”
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: None
- International duty: None
- Injury Report: OUT: GK - Quillan Roberts (right fibular fracture), M - Mark-Anthony Kaye (fractured ankle); QUESTIONABLE: F - Adama Diomande (hamstring injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Tyler Miller — Steven Beitashour, Laurent Ciman, Walker Zimmerman, Jordan Harvey — Lee Nguyen, Benny Feilhaber, Eduard Atuesta — Latif Blessing, Diego Rossi, Carlos Vela
All-Time in U.S. Open Cup
- Overall: Houston Dynamo 15 wins, 46 goals … LAFC 3 wins, 8 goals
- This is the first all-time meeting between Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Football Club in the U.S. Open Cup.
