House Advances To Fourth & Final Round Of Qualification
Chicago House A.C. has advanced to the fourth and final round of Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification for the second time in as many seasons with a win over MWPL foe, Edgewater Castle F.C. House came away with a 3-1 victory on a cool, rainy night playing with a man advantage for most of the match.
House opened the scoring early in the match with a goal in the 8th minute by striker, Alejandro Mentasti. The goal was set up when Bukky Abdulwahab stole a pass from a defender just a few yards out to the right of goal and sent a cross to the center of the net finding the foot of Mentasti for an easy put away.
“Early goals are extremely important just to start off on our front foot. In the training environment we worked on finishing the week prior, so it was really good to see the guys execute and be able to go up early in the match, so that was a positive in the game,” said Junior Gonzales acting head coach. “Then the fact that we continued to score two more goals shows that it puts the opponent in a position that they really have to get out of their formation and press the game, so I was really happy with that.”
In the 10th minute Edgewater’s Gabriel Cavalheiro was issued a yellow card caution for a reckless tackle on Pau Mateo-Chacon. Cavalheiro was then sent off with a straight red in the 23rd minute for an elbow to the head suffered by Jack Kramer. After the ejection, Edgewater made the first substitution of the match in the 27th minute replacing Aljosa Stankovic with William Acheampong.
Playing with a man advantage, House was able to create a few decent scoring opportunities, and before the halftime whistle increased their lead to 2-0, scoring in the 37th minute. The goal was set up when captain A.R. Smith fed a pass to Abdulwahab who took the ball the rest of the way before giving it back to Smith who put the ball into the back of the net from the right side.
“Our focus was just to keep the shutout, but we were not able to do that. We wanted to keep the shutout, keep compact, make sure we had our midfield line close to the back line because they were playing direct and very dangerous as opposed to pressing high, we opted to stay more compact in our defensive third and play in transition and get a third goal. That was our main focal point,” said Gonzales on the team’s second half adjustments.
The second half saw both teams using all their allotted substitutions. For much of the second half Edgewater played several players on the backline in an attempt to keep the score where it was while they looked for an opportunity to get on the board. They found that chance in the 74th minute when the referee awarded a free kick to the Rooks. Two former Chicago House players teamed up to put them within one when Keegan Thompson launched a free kick into the box and David Abidor headed it home.
House put the game out of reach when Smith sent a ball forward to Nico Williams who navigated past his defender taking a shot from about 20 yards out putting them up 3-1 in the 83rd minute. Williams, who came on in as a second half sub, created multiple opportunities late in the game.
Next up for House is a fourth and final U.S.O.C. qualifier versus Valhalla F.C. at Charity Lucas Field in Milford, OH on November 18th at 3:00 PM EST. The winner of the match will move-on to tournament proper in March of 2024.
"I wish we were hosting this round for our fans' sake. After the incredible run House had last year, while being forced to fly to multiple so-called 'regional' qualifiers, I would have hoped the organizers could have given us a home game," said House Managing Partner Peter Wilt.
"That being said, this is a resilient group, has faced and overcome adversity before, and I'm confident we will battle a very, very good Valhalla FC squad well on their home turf near Cincinnati," Wilt said.