House Falls to MUFC 2 In Round One

Chicago House A.C.’s 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup run came to an end Wednesday, March 20th at Langhorst Field at Elmhurst University after falling 3-nil to Minnesota United 2, in front of over 400 fans on a cold, early spring night.

House knew they had a battle ahead of them when they drew the third division professional MLS Next Pro side in the first round, unlike 2023 when they faced league foe Bavarian United S.C. in the first round. 

“Going into it you know it’s going to be a challenge playing against a professional team,” said head coach and technical director Matt Poland. “We didn’t play our best football, but the first half being able to keep it scoreless was good for us and we started the second half with high energy.”

Their first good scoring opportunity in the second half came in the 51st minute when striker A.J. Franklin played a ball into the middle of the field from the left side to Bukky Abdulwahab who advanced the ball into the penalty area battling two defenders before being taken down by Jonah Gasho, without being awarded a penalty by the referee.

“Obviously, we saw the call differently than how the referee saw it in terms of rewarding a penalty or not. Unfortunately, we let our emotions get the best of us and didn’t focus back in,” said Poland on the controversial decision. “Credit to them, they were able to counter and create a goal shortly after the no call. Anytime you are chasing a game against a professional team you have to take risks, and we created some more dangerous chances but taking that many risks pushing numbers forward we left ourselves exposed in the back and they finished the chances they created,” he continued regarding MUFC2’s goal scoring opportunities.

Minnesota took advantage of House still trying to regroup after the no call, scoring just a minute later in the 52nd minute when Jordan Adebayo-Smith notched his first of three goals on the night when he sent one into the back, right corner of the net.  The goal was set-up when Keith Romanshyn delivered a through pass to Adebayo-Smith with no one standing between him and House goalkeeper, Tony Halterman.

Adebayo-Smith, who came to Minnesota this season from the New England Revolution, is on a first-team contract and loaned to the MLS Next Pro side for the U.S. Open Cup Match.  His quality showed when he and took advantage of a House side who still hadn’t regrouped from the previous few minutes and scored his second goal in the 55th minute after splitting two defenders and blasted a shot right down the middle, just under the crossbar just over the fingertips of Halterman.

For the next 40 minutes, House was able to focus back in and put numbers forward to try and create more offensive opportunities, while keeping MUFC2 off the board.

“The fight in the second half was a lot better.  The response to me, when you have a better second half than the first, means we learned which is good,” said Poland of his team’s second half efforts.  “Obviously, the scoreline didn’t show that, but I think our play, our energy, our desire to look to break lines – all of that was a much better response and regardless of the score I was proud that guys continued to fight for 90 minutes which is the most important of piece in my mind,” he continued.

With nine second half substitutions and multiple cautions awarded, five minutes of stoppage time was added on to regulation, and Adebayo-Smith used that time to earn a hattrick, scoring his third goal of the match in the 95+ minute when he sprinted up the left-side beating his defender and rounding Halterman for an open look at the goal.

“He’s a young guy on a first team contract, he’s only 23, but he’s been in the professional leagues for three or four years already so he’s a quality striker.  Unfortunately, we got to witness his skills firsthand and I’m sure he’s going to have a successful, long career,” said the House boss on Adebayo-Smith’s performance.

Up next for House will be a second-round match, after receiving a first-round bye, in USASA’s Amateur Cup sometime in April or early May, ahead of their MWPL season that opens on May 14th v. Steel City S.C. in Joliet.

With this being just the start of the season, early training and competition can benefit the team if they learn from the match.  “The biggest thing to take away after the game, after having time to think about it, is that we, as a team, need to continue to focus on the details.  The details at the professional level are what is the difference – the starting positions, the movement, the rotations, doing the set pieces correctly that practiced in training and the timing of those – all of that stuff. Those details we need to be sharper at if we want to be successful this summer,” said Poland.

From an individual point of view, he believes there’s also a lesson for each of the players who are in pursuit of their own professional contracts.  “For the individual player on the team, I hope it motivates them. Seeing that some of those players are younger than they are and where they are technically, tactically and physically. Hopefully, it motivates them to continue to put in more work, to not get complacent and to desire for themselves a greater improvement to get to that next level,” continued Poland.

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