User:IagoQnsi/sandbox/FC Cincinnati v Chicago Fire (June 2017)

On June 28, 2017, FC Cincinnati and Chicago Fire S.C. contested a match to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup. After a scoreless initial 90 minutes and extra time period, the game was settled in penalty kicks. Cincinnati goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt blocked three of Chicago's four shots to bring Cincinnati a 3–1 upset win in penalties.

The match was aired on ESPN, marking the first time the U.S. Open Cup has received a national television broadcast in a round earlier than the semi-finals. The match drew a crowd of 32,287, marking the second-largest crowd ever for a U.S. Open Cup match, and the largest for a non-final match (although both of these records were broken when Cincinnati hosted New York Red Bulls in front of 33,250 fans later in the same cup).

Route to the match
The U.S. Open Cup is an annual knock-out cup competition that spans all tiers of American soccer. All professional clubs (except those in lower divisions owned by a team in a higher division) automatically quality, while amateur teams have to endure a qualification process. Because FC Cincinnati and Chicago Fire are both professional teams—FC Cincinnati plays in the second division United Soccer League and Chicago Fire plays in the first division Major League Soccer—both teams automatically qualified for the 2017 U.S. Open Cup.

FC Cincinnati
Because FC Cincinnati is a second-division professional soccer team, they entered the Open Cup in the second round. For their first match, Cincinnati hosted AFC Cleveland on May 17. After a scoreless regulation period, the match almost went to penalty kicks, but a 117th minute goal from Cincinnati's Djiby Fall in extra time gave them the 1–0 victory. Cincinnati next faced their River Cities Cup rivals Louisville City FC at home. On May 31, they defeated Louisville after Fall again scored the lone goal in a 1–0 win. In the fourth round, they hosted Columbus Crew SC of Major League Soccer on June 14. Yet again, they emerged with a 1–0 victory after Fall scored a goal off a header in the 64th minute. They were one of just 3 lower-division teams to advance to the MLS-dominated Round of 16 (along with Miami FC and Sacramento Republic).

Chicago Fire
As a first-division professional team, Chicago Fire did not enter the cup until the fourth round. On June 14, they visited Saint Louis FC's Toyota Stadium to secure a 0–1 victory and advance to the Round of 16.

Venue selection
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Analysis
Discuss previous meetings between the two teams, recent form, and pertinant historical tournament/cup final statistics or records.

Match
The match attendance was 32,287, which set a new FC Cincinnati home attendance record for non-friendly matches. It was also the second-largest crowd for any U.S. Open Cup match (the largest crowd being the 2011 U.S. Open Cup Final), and the largest crowd for any non-final Open Cup match.

A few days before the match, it was announced that the match start time would be moved to 8pm and the match would air on ESPN2. However, due to the 2017 College World Series championship wrapping up in just two games, a timeslot opened up on the primary ESPN channel, and the soccer match was moved to the main channel. Nationwide, the match aired in 300,000 homes (0.11% of households). In the local Cincinnati area, it aired in 40,000 homes (5.0% of households).

First half
Chicago Fire dominated possession and attacking for most of the first half, maintaining 78% possession throughout the entire half. At the 15th minute, Chicago's Arturo Álvarez broke through the Cincinnati defense and made a well-placed pass to Bastian Schweinsteiger directly in front of the goal, but it was intercepted and narrowly cleared out of bounds by Cincinnati's Matt Bahner. At the 17th minute, a shot on goal by Chicago's Matt Polster was deflected just past the left goal post by Cincinnati's Harrison Delbridge. Cincinnati made their first real offensive threat in the 37th minute, when Danni König broke past Chicago's defense to make a shot on goal, forcing goalkeeper Matt Lampson to make his first save of the match. The match went to halftime scoreless.

Second half
Chicago continued to lead possession in the second half, but was less dominant than in the first, holding possession 60% of the time. At the 63rd minute, Chicago's Nikolić made a shot on goal from close range but was blocked with a diving save by goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt. One minute into stoppage time, a pass by Jimmy McLaughlin gave Corben Bone the ball past all of Chicago's defenders, but Bone was unable to get past goalkeeper Matt Lampson. The score remained 0–0 at the end of regulation, invoking two 15 minute periods of extra time.

Extra time
At the 104th minute, Nikolić made a shot on a nearly-open goal, but was blocked with a dive by Hildebrandt. At the 109th minute, Andrew Wiedeman managed to put the ball in the net off of a pass from Corben Bone, but the goal was not allowed as Wiedeman was ruled offside by the assistant referee. The match remained scoreless at the end of extra time, leading to a penalty shootout.

Penalty kicks
Cincinnati captain Austin Berry won the coin flip, and opted to use the goal at the north side of the stadium (where Cincinnati's supporter section, The Bailey, is located) for the shootout. Chicago Fire opted to shoot second. Cincinnati's Aodhan Quinn took the first shot, but sent it over the crossbar. Chicago's Nemanja Nikolić took the next shot, but was blocked by Mitch Hildebrandt. Cincinnati's next three kickers, Josu, Harrison Delbridge, and Jimmy McLaughlin, all made their subsequent shots, while only Bastian Schweinsteiger was able to score for Chicago. Cincinnati won 3–1 in penalty kicks after Hildebrandt successfully blocked Arturo Álvarez and Juninho.

Details
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Post-match
As a result of their victory, FC Cincinnati advanced to the Open Cup quarterfinals. In their first away match of the tournament, they faced Miami FC at Riccardo Silva Stadium. After the match was rescheduled due to bad weather, they finally faced off on August 2. FC Cincinnati won 1–0, with Djiby Fall scoring the lone goal in the 69th minute.

FC Cincinnati then advanced to the semi-finals round, in which they would host New York Red Bulls. On August 15, New York defeated Cincinnati 3–2 in extra time to advance to the final (which they would ultimately concede to Sporting Kansas City). Despite losing in the semi-finals, FC Cincinnati earned a $15,000 cash prize for advancing farther than any other team from the second division.

When Josu left FC Cincinnati in early 2018, his successful penalty kick against Chicago was cited as one of the biggest moments in his career with the club.