KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Minnesota United's run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup didn't officially end until the final whistle of a 2-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park on Wednesday.
Unofficially, though, it ended when United center back Cristiano Dias was shown a straight red card in the 50th minute after his elbow connected with the head of Sporting KC forward Dom Dwyer on a 50/50 ball.
Dias left the pitch, leaving his club down a man. United, with the help of some outstanding saves from goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt, gamely tried to hold on.
But Sporting KC's Soony Saad found the net from distance in the 76th minute, and Alex Martinez added an insurance tally in the 87th minute.
The tenor of the match changed with Dias' ouster, which wasn't lost on United manager Manny Lagos.
"I would say maybe a yellow. Maybe. The frustrating thing on that play is you have a kid [Dwyer] going down. It looked like a hard, honest challenge. Instead of the ref going over and seeing how the kid is, he just gets a straight red," Lagos said. "The next thing you know the kid's back in the game five seconds later, and it's a straight red?"
Lagos dismissively waved his hand at the notion.
"I think it was probably the worst time to get a red card like that," Lagos said. "We put a lot of energy in the game. This was our first hot night of soccer … but I'm very proud of the guys. Considering the call and considering the environment, I thought they really responded well."
