The US Open Cup dream is still alive for Chicago House Athletic Club as they defeated Metro Louisville 2-1 at the Woehrle Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Chicago opened the scoring very early on via a penalty kick from Seo-In Kim, but the scores were leveled before the break. The House retook the lead late in the second half, and this time they held on to their advantage until the end to book their spot in the 3rd qualifying round of the tournament.

Story of the match

The contest got off to a hot start as the House were awarded a penalty in the opening stages. An onrushing keeper took out the attacker, and the referee was left with no other choice than to point to the spot. Seo-In Kim stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick, and he converted it with a cool finish.

Louisville responded pretty well, and they started to control the contest while peppering shots at the opposition goal. They couldn’t make a breakthrough, though. 

That was until the half hour mark. The pressure was eventually too much to handle, and after some good play on the wing, a cross picked out an unmarked Metro player in the box. He made the most of the opportunity, slotting home before celebrating with a pretty average griddy.

Things got feisty before the half, and there was a bit of a scuffle between the two sides. A number of players got involved, and the altercation led to a red card by the end of it as a Chicago midfielder was sent off for a hand to the face. That itself was a fair decision, but it was weird to see no one else get punished for what happened.

Louisville came very close to taking the lead 10 minutes into the second half. The forward was able to hold off his marker and get quite close to goal, but his effort was saved by the goalkeeper, who came out quickly to make himself big. 

Then, at the hour mark, they went down to ten men. Erbin Trejo committed a pretty late foul, and he was booked as a result. Since it was his second yellow of the match, he was shown a red and sent off. All things considered the decision was a bit harsh, as it could have been a yellow, but it wasn’t necessarily enough to warrant a second booking.

That moment proved to be vital as the House jumped in front with about 15 minutes to go through their number 17, who got on the ball in a good spot before cutting inside and going for goal. His initial effort wasn’t bad, but it took a major deflection which guided it into the back of the net. 

The hosts knew they had little time to tie things up, so they quickly started sending the ball and bodies forward. It looked like they found an equalizer in no time, but an amazing reflex save from the Chicago goalkeeper denied them from close range.

That ended up being their last chance of the night, though, as the House did well to hold the ball and kill off whatever time was left. 

Takeaways

Even a US Open Cup qualifying match can't start on time. I despise American soccer sometimes.

It was an absolutely freezing afternoon in the Louisville area, and you could tell just by looking at the players. Almost everyone had some extra clothing, whether it was an undershirt, a pair of gloves, or even a neck snood. Someone even played in a balaclava. Vibes.

The Metro kits are real nice.

It felt like first half stoppage time went on for a year.

The officiating was not great for this contest, as the referee made a few odd decisions on the afternoon. It wasn’t utterly biased or anything, and his calls ended up affecting both teams, so it evened out by the end of the game. Still wasn’t ideal, though.

The House may be going through it off the field in terms of their finances, but this win could go down as a big one in the club’s history. It’s clear they have a plan with their team on the pitch, and head coach Matt Poland deserves a lot of credit for bringing everyone together and building a proper side. Hopefully this is just the start.