Loons crash out of U.S. Open Cup in 4-2 loss to San Jose

Minnesota United was in the driver’s seat with less than a half hour remaining in a U.S. Open Cup round of 16 match against San Jose on Tuesday.

But the Loons fell apart in the final stretch, coughing up a 2-1 lead in a 4-2 defeat to the Earthquakes at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif. The Earthquakes are off to one of the hottest starts in MLS history and built on it in the Open Cup.

“Really disappointing,” head coach Cameron Knowles said postgame. “We believed if we came here and were able to win, that would give us a really good chance to winning it (all). Take on one of the best teams in the league and we went toe-to-toe with them and for large parts of the match, I thought we had the better of it.”

Tomás Chancalay’s great finish from an acute angle in the 64rd minute provided a short-lived lead as San Jose scored three goals in an eight-minute stretch to catapult them into the quarterfinals of the national tournament.

Knowles felt momentum shifted when Jack Skahan’s shot took a huge deflection of Devin Padelford and beat goalkeeper Drake Callender to tie the game 2-2 in the 68th minute.

“It was a difficult one to give up,” Knowles said. “It gives them a little bit more belief. … At that time, we need to be calm and understand that we are going to get ourselves back in the game.”

The Loons had cut out many individual errors during its six-match unbeaten run in all competitions — which included a victory in the USOC round of 32 on April 14 — but Minnesota’s self-inflicted mistakes resurfaced and cost them a chance at a trophy.

“It’s really hard to point blame at any one person,” Knowles said, “because on the other side there were certainly chances that we could have scored that maybe change the momentum in the game, too.”

The equalizing goal on a recycled corner had Chancalay in a poor defensive position.

Earthquakes’ Beau LeRoux scored his second goal by beating Minnesota midfielder Nectar Triantis to a pass at the top of the Loons’ box and slotting a shot past Drake Callender in the 73rd minute.

Then fellow MNUFC midfielder Owen Gene was outraced and outmuscled on a duel with Ousseni Bouda, who passed it to Niko Tsakiris on a two-on-none breakaway for one of the easiest tap-in goals.

MNUFC controlled play in the first half, but trailed 1-0 at then half. Gene turned the ball over on a pass from Jefferson Diaz in their own box and LeRoux pounced on the giveaway in a terrible spot for Minnesota.

Minnesota had nearly 60% of the ball and better scoring chances in the opening half, but it was San Jose’s Beau LeRoux who scored in the 15th minutes.

The Loons surged to start the second half with an own goal from San Jose in the 59th minute; Triantis’ cross proved to dangerous to clear and then Chancalay’s go-ahead goal. Before taking the lead, Minnesota had a handful of quality chances, including Joaquín Pereyra and Nico Romero both hitting the woodwork with shots.

The Loons reached this round with a 12-round shutout win over Sacramento Republic on April 14. The Earthquakes got here with a 2-0 victory over Phoenix Rising on April 15.

MNUFC reached the semifinal of the Open Cup last summer, but have been bounced out of the tournament in the round of 16 in 2023, 2022 and 2018.

“Those guys (the players) are really, really, really disappointed about that,” Knowles said, “because they understand they could have come in here and we could have won that game. We had enough to beat this team.”

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