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The just thing much better than one ‘Cupset’ is 2, as the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Birmingham Legion will bring the USL Championship flag into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup.
Bob Lilley led the Pittsburgh Riverhounds to a 1-0 triumph over the Columbus Crew, while the Birmingham Leigon beat 10-man Charlotte FC 1-0. The Riverhounds will receive the quarterfinals for the very first time because 2001, while the Legion receive the very first time in franchise history.
Following in the steps of Sacramento Republic, who made the Open Cup final last season, both groups have actually guaranteed that the USL Championship flag will fly in the quarterfinals.
Once Albert Dikwa opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, the Riverhounds hung on versus a turned Crew side which now follows Los Angeles FC of leading groups to fall out of the cup. Having knocked the New England Revolution out of Open Cup, Lilley’s RIverhounds are now on a seven-match unbeaten run in all competitors. They needed to hang on after Edward Kizza was sent in blockage time however had the ability to do it.
The Riverhounds end up being the very first USL Championship group to win back-to-back nothings over MLS sides. With the bracket set by area for the next round, the Riverhounds will deal with FC Cincinnati in the quarterfinals as they want to knock out 3 MLS sides in a row.
For Birmingham, it took up until Charlotte FC protector Adilson Malanda was sent in the 51st minute to score an objective, and it had some MLS taste with previous New England Revolution gamer Juan Aguedelo helping Prosper Kassim’s surface.
The Legion have actually been a club on the ups in USL under the management of basic supervisor Jay Heaps, and this is a landmark minute for the club. In the quarterfinals, they’ll deal with Inter Miami, suggesting that there is likewise an opportunity that Birmingham and Pittsburgh will square off to guarantee successive Open Cups with a USL Championship side in the last. It’s a testimony to the development in American soccer that second-division sides are going even more and even more in America’s longest-running soccer competitors.
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