Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

It was another ugly game as the Union once again needed extra time to come from behind and prevail over lower division opposition, defeating New York Cosmos 2-1 in Tuesday night’s US Open Cup game.

With the victory, the Union will host the winner of tonight’s game between New England Revolution and Rochester Rhinos on July 8 in the tournament quarterfinals.

Jim Curtin said after the win, “Was it perfect? No, definitely not. But at the same time I knew this was going to be an ugly game where it was about competing and winning second balls and fighting for long balls, it wasn’t going to be about short passes.”

“It shows the character of the group,” Curtin said of the win, adding, “Is it perfect, is the soccer perfect? No. I’m not going to sit up here and tell you we played a beautiful game, or anything like that. But sometimes this competition isn’t about beautiful soccer, it’s not about stats or possession, percentages, and all that other stuff, it’s about who wants it more and who wants to win a trophy.

Amobi Okugo said, “The Cosmos are not your regular NASL/USL team. They’ve put a lot of effort and time into their team and organization. They really wanted to make noise in this tournament and we did a good job holding firm and getting the win.”

Sebastien Le Toux scored both Union goals, putting him at the top of the US Open Cup goalscorers list for the modern pro era along with David Bulow, Johnny Menyongar, and Jaime Moreno.

Le Toux said after the game, “You play against lower teams who want to show they can play in the higher level. I know because I did it with Seattle, so I know they are very motivated to win these games. For us it’s kind of we have to find some motivation. For us, it’s easy to say we have some easy competition, but to go far we have to bring all the fundamentals into the game and that’s what we’ve done these past two times.”

Much of the talk after the game was about the poor officiating. Curtin said diplomatically, “It’s a tough job, it’s a thankless job, it’s not one that I would ever want.” HE added, “Was he perfect? No, but they often aren’t.”

Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese was blunt. “The referee ruined the game and it was very clearly that he put his hand on this game. And it’s a shame because our guys worked hard, and they worked hard –  the other team — and it could’ve been a much better game for sure with a better end. And I don’t think our guys deserve to have a mediocre referee.”

Recaps and reaction from PSP, Philadelphia Union, Philadelphia Inquirer, Delco Times, CSN Philly, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game, New York Cosmos (recap), New York Cosmos (reaction video), Empire of Soccer, Twice a Cosmo, MLSsoccer.com, The Cup.us, Soccerly,

Postgame video and quote sheet here at PSP. Photo gallery at New York Cosmos and USA Today.

Looking ahead, Curtin reiterated after the game, “There will be some reinforcements that come in after the World Cup, that is something that is in the works, and we’ll go from there. I still think that we have a group that can go on the road in two tough games in New England and Dallas and pull out results there in two tough places to play.”

Former Union goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon became the oldest player ever to appear in the World Cup when he was subbed on in the 85th minute of Colombia’s 4-1 win over Japan. The game also marked the first World Cup minutes for Carlos Valdes, who got his first start.

Local

Cristhian Hernandez and Jimmy McLaughlin received honorable mentions in the latest USL PRO Team of the Week.

Michael Bullock reports at Penn Live that, despite being in 12th place, the mood in the Harrisburg locker room is still good.

Ocean City Nor’easters are on the road today to face Baltimore Bohemians at 5:30 pm.

The Union’s series on area connections to the World Cup continues with Elmer Schroeder, manager of the 1934 US World Cup team, who also managed Philadelphia German Americans winners of the 1936 US Open Cup.

MLS

Five other US Open Cup games were played on Tuesday night in addition to the Union-Cosmos bout. For the third consecutive year, Carolina RailHawks defeated LA Galaxy, this time 1-0 thanks to a extra time goal in the 105th minute. Portland Timbers eliminated Kansas City with a 3-1 road win. A five minute brawl saw four players and both coaches ejected in Colorado as the visiting Atlanta Silverbacks defeated the Rapids, 2-1. Houston was defeated 3-2 at home in extra time by Dallas. Seattle advances on penalty kicks over San Jose after the scoreline remained at 1-1 following extra time.

Dallas now travels to face Carolina RailHawks in the quarterfinals on July 9, with Seattle hosting Portland the same day.

Two Open Cup games will be played tonight, the New England-Rochester game, with the winner facing the Union in the quarterfinals on July 8, and Chicago hosting Columbus. The winner of that game will travel to Atlanta to face the Silverbacks on to be determined day.

In league play, Vancouver hosts Montreal at 10 pm (MLS Live).

After his team’s loss to Dallas, Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said, “I think the first thing we should do is cut out extra time in this competition. I think it’s ridiculous. It’s insane the amount of minutes they put on these guys and I think US Soccer has to look at that and realize it’s stupid, just go straight from regulation to penalty kicks. To play an extra 30 minutes doesn’t make any sense.”

Chivas USA have signed Japanese international defender Akira Kaji from J-League Division 1 side Gamba Osaka.

The Washington Post on preparations being made on Thursday for the presentation of the DC United stadium plan to the DC city council. The hearing is scheduled to take place while the US plays Germany in the World Cup.

Is Columbus Crew considering a downtown stadium?

NWSL

Portland hosts Sky Blue FC tonight at 10 pm (NSCAA TV, YouTube).

US

No surprise, but Jozy Altodore is out for Thursday’s game against Germany.

The referee for Thursday’s game is Ravshan Irmatov, the Uzbekistan official who missed two penalty kick calls in the same play in the Mexico vs. Croatia game.

MLSsoccer.com on the mixed emotions Jurgen Klinsmann and Jermaine Jones feel facing Germany. More on the German-American storyline at ASN.

Soccer America has three keys for the US ahead of Thursday’s game.

From Dirty Tackle, a look at how “German bad boy” Jermaine Jones is shining at the World Cup.

Bloomberg Businesweek on how Americans in Germany are supporting the team.

Berti Vogts says Germany should thank Klinsmann for being “Germany’s best ambassador in a country with more 300 million citizens.”

At ESPN, Jason Davis looks back to the quarterfinal match between the US and Germany in the 2002 World Cup.

World Cup

FIFA have opened “disciplinary proceedings” against Uruguay’s Luis Suarez after he appeared to bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in Tuesday’s game.

Chiellini said, “Suarez is a slimeball who’ll get off without any problems because FIFA wants its stars on the field in this World Cup. We’ll see if they’ll have the courage to use video evidence against him. The referee saw the bite mark, but didn’t take any action.”

Suarez said, “There are things that happen on the field and you shouldn’t give them so much importance.”

Uruguay won the game against Italy 1-0 to finish second int he group. In the other Group D game, Costa Rica finished top of the group after a 0-0 draw with England.

In Group C’s final games, Colombia defeated Japan 4-1 to finish top of the group. Greece defeated the Ivory Coast 2-1 to finish second in the group.

Today’s games are:

12:00pm – Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Iran – ESPN2, UniMás, Galavison, ESPN3, Watch ESPN, Univision Deportes En Vivo, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM FC
12:00pm – Nigeria vs Argentina – ESPN, Univision, Univision Deportes, ESPN3, Watch ESPN, Univision Deportes En Vivo, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM FC
4:00pm – Ecuador vs France – ESPN, Univision, Univision Deportes, ESPN3, Watch ESPN, Univision Deportes En Vivo, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM FC
4:00pm – Honduras vs Switzerland – ESPN2, UniMás, Galavison, ESPN3, Watch ESPN, Univision Deportes En Vivo, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM FC

The AP reports, “A Swedish gambling company says a punter in Norway has won 5,600 kroner ($916) on a bet that Uruguay striker Luis Suarez would bite someone during the World Cup.”

Reuters reports, “German sportswear firm Adidas expects to keep its position as the world’s biggest seller of soccer gear as strong World Cup performances by the star players it sponsors fires demand for its shirts, boots and balls.”

Elsewhere

Reuters reports, “The Napoli fan who was shot during a fight in May between supporters of his club and those of Roma has died, a spokeswoman for Rome’s Gemelli hospital has said.”