A Major League Soccer franchise is going to win the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
This is for sure now that the New York Cosmos have joined the Charlotte Independence as fifth-round clubs to depart from the tournament at the hands of a top-flight team.
So who joined Tuesday’s winning quartet of Chicago, Houston, Orlando City and 2014 finalists Philadelphia?
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The New York Red Bulls extracted a measure of revenge for last year’s loss at the hands of the Cosmos, and may’ve even brought a smile to the face of crosstown rivals New York City FC, the club dispatched by the Cosmos in the fourth round. Cosmos’ tournament hero Lucky Mkosana equalized Sal Zizzo’s early tally to make it 1-1 after 15 minutes, but the favored Red Bulls got goals from Sacha Kljestan, Mike Grella and Anatole Abang to record a 4-1 win.
Maybe Dom Dwyer felt some pressure to match the performance of his wife’s USWNT side from Tuesday night, because Sydney Leroux’s better have scored four goals in Sporting KC‘s 6-2 win over FC Dallas. Krisztian Nemeth scored on both sides of halftime to complete KC’s scoring, and Michael Barrios didn’t answer for Dallas until it was 5-0. Kellyn Acosta’s stoppage time goal supplied the final goal.
Sebastian Jaime scored in the 54th minute to give Real Salt Lake a lead against Portland, and Jaime Morales converted a PK in the 71st minute to give the Rio Tinto side a brief bit of comfort in closing out the Timbers.
The Los Angeles Galaxy struck just six minutes into the match against San Jose through Jose Villarreal. Both teams fielded weakened squads, and the Galaxy came out on top.
2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals
New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union
Chicago Fire vs. Orlando City SC
Sporting KC vs. Houston Dynamo
Real Salt Lake vs. Los Angeles Galaxy