Indy Eleven players celebrate with fans after a 2-1 win over Atlanta United FC in the quarterfinals of the 2024 US Open Cup. Photo: Wade Wimberly | TheCup.us
The 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup arrived in Kennesaw, Georgia on Tuesday night with the quarterfinals between Atlanta United FC and visiting team Indy Eleven.
The Indy Eleven took the lead with a goal from Augustyn Williams in the first half and an own goal in the second half, establishing an advantage that the home team could not overcome as they applied pressure late in the game. The result was the Indy Eleven’s first Open Cup victory over an MLS rival and the franchise’s first ever appearance in the Open Cup semi-finals.
The win marked just the second time in the tournament’s 109-year history that an Indiana team has advanced to the Final Four. They are Indiana’s only semifinal team to do so, joining the 1992 Indianapolis Inferno.
The Indy XI will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City in the semifinals. Indy will be on the road for the match, which will take place the week of Aug. 27-28.
It was a night when the season destinies of both teams on the pitch seemed to be heading in opposite directions.
Atlanta United is currently in the midst of a midseason restructuring with a number of transfers and an interim manager, sitting just below the MLS playoff line. The changes this season have once again seen the home team lose their rhythm and find themselves lacking fluidity in all phases of the game.
The Indy Eleven are currently sitting third in their USL Championship campaign and have had great success away from home with a stable and solid squad lineup featuring proven USL players. Throughout the match, they made the most of their opportunities and were full of enthusiasm and energy until the very end.
The first half of the game was a back-and-forth affair with numerous fouls by both teams, with the big difference being that Atlanta’s fouls created dangerous free kick opportunities for the Indy offense, helping the visitors control the tempo of the game and launch opportunistic attacks to probe the Atlanta defense.
The breakthrough for Indy came in the 31st minute, when Douglas Martinez raced up the right wing and smashed a low ball across the penalty spot where Augustin Williams tucked it under Atlanta goalkeeper Josh Cohen for a 1-0 lead. Teams swarmed Williams at the corner flag, right in front of a group of very vocal and very happy Indy fans.
Atlanta rallied at halftime and started the second half very strongly, but again misplaced passes, poorly timed supporting runs and movement without the ball didn’t work for the home side. As Atlanta made substitutions and started to play more urgency and direct against the flow, Indy kicked the ball from the right wing into Atlanta’s penalty area in the 83rd minute, but the ball deflected off into an own goal.
Atlanta missed a golden opportunity just seconds after the own goal when a loose ball in the box blasted into the side netting, leaving United fans wondering what on earth could have happened.
Atlanta’s Nick Firmino picked up a loose ball in Indy’s box in added time and scored, but it was ultimately too late as the Five Stripes were eliminated in a USL Championship match for the second straight year in the Open Cup at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
Indy Eleven manager Sean McAuley praised his team after the game.
“We had to come out and show a little bit of confidence. If you go out there with a negative mindset, you can get sucked into just defending,” McCauley said. “We wanted to come out really strong at the basket. We wanted them to know we could hold our own in these situations, and we knew Atlanta was going to come out strong in the second half.”
“I remember a lot of players throwing their bodies in front of the ball, the goalkeeper putting crosses in at key moments to calm the game down and a lot of players running hard to keep what strength we had and get into the semi-final,” McCauley added.
Indy’s victory marked the 15th time a lower league team has reached the semifinals since MLS joined the tournament in 1996. Indy became the 10th lower league team to reach the final four in that span.
