After giving up a two-goal lead in regulation, playing 30 minutes of scoreless extra time and then facing elimination in an eight-round penalty shootout, the Houston Dynamo finally got to celebrate and advance to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final for the first time.
The Dynamo beat Los Angeles FC 3-3 (7-6) in a Wednesday night semifinal match at BBVA Compass Stadium. They will face the Philadelphia Union for the title on Sept. 26. The Union beat the Chicago Fire 3-0 in an earlier semifinal.
Diego Rossi’s hat trick kept LAFC in the match. His third goal came in the 95th minute to even the score and force extra time.
Rossi gave LAFC an early lead with a 6th-minute goal, but the expansion MLS club then trailed 3-1 late in the second half after goals from Houston’s Andrew Wenger (12′), Mauro Manotas (25′) and Memo Rodriguez (75′). Rossi followed those up with a 78th-minute score to narrow the gap and set up his dramatic equalizer.
During the penalty shootout, the Dynamo faced elimination first when Óscar Boniek García’s attempt was saved by LAFC goalkeeper Tyler Miller. After one more converted kick for each side, Houston keeper Joe Willis saved Laurent Ciman’s attempt to again bring the teams even.
The PKs continued to the eighth round, when Houston’s Philippe Senderos netted his chance and Willis saved Latif Blessing’s to finish off LAFC.
LAFC returns to MLS action Saturday with a 10:30 p.m. ET home game against Sporting Kansas City. Houston travels to face the Columbus Crew at 7:30 p.m. the same day.
Watch highlights of the match in the video above. A replay of the penalty shootout is below. And a full replay of the match can be seen here.