No Hollywood ending for United in 3-1 loss to LAFC

LOS ANGELES — The magic of Hollywood was not on New Mexico United’s side Wednesday night.

MLS Western Conference leader Los Angeles Football Club flashed a little of its star power and ended United’s U.S. Open Cup run with a 3-1 quarterfinal victory at BMO Stadium.

United stood toe-to-toe with the talented hosts for much of the night, trailing just 2-1 in the 77th minute. But LAFC had the better of things most of the way and ultimately came away a winner.

United coach Eric Quill and his players were hoping to pull off a significant “Cupset” over first-division power LAFC, but Quill could not fault his team’s effort or overall performance.

“I’m proud of them,” he said. “LAFC is a top-quality side with special players and they play great soccer here. We got a great goal and were able to quiet them for a while. I was hoping we could get there one more time and maybe put a little pressure on them, but we couldn’t quite do it.”

Things did not go New Mexico’s way in the first half, including a pair of rebounds off shots initially saved by United goalkeeper Alex Tambakis.

The first came in the sixth minute, when Mateusz Bogusz fired a shot from the left wing that Tambakis turned away on a dive.

The ball rolled to the feet of Timothy Tillman, who banged home the open shot for a 1-0 lead.

United held its own for the next half hour, nearly pulling even when Zico Bailey blasted a shot from the top of the box just over the LAFC crossbar. But the home team made it 2-0 in the 38th minute when David Martinez hit a shot off Tambakis’ chest that bounced right back to him for a rebound shot and goal.

“The bounces didn’t go our way, but they were high-velocity shots,” Quill said. “I wouldn’t say they were lucky because they created those opportunities and forced (Tambakis) to make tough saves. You can’t always control where a rebound’s going to go.”

United, which was outshot 11-5 and had just one shot on target in the first half, made things considerably more interesting in the 57th minute. Greg Hurst, NMU’s leading scorer on the season, collected a pass from Nannan Houssou just outside the LAFC penalty area, turned and fired into the lower right corner to make the score 2-1.

Suddenly the visitors had some momentum and Tambakis came up with a pair of big saves to preserve it over the coming minutes. United’s best chance to equalize came in the 71st minute, when second-half substitute Daniel Bruce forced a turnover on the attacking end and maneuvered for a shot from the left wing.

But goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, a former French National Team standout who has conceded just six goals in LAFC’s last 12 MLS matches, was able to snag Bruce’s tying attempt.

LAFC regained the upper hand when Bogusz capped a brilliant run through traffic by turning and snapping a hard shot into the right-side net for a 3-1 lead in the 77th minute.

“Their speed up front is special and we knew that,” Quill said. “When you turn the ball over especially, they do a great job taking advantage of it. Overall, I thought we did a good job turning balls away and forcing them to take tough angles, but they still had some moments and they took them.”

LAFC outshot NM 20-8 overall and advanced to an Open Cup semifinal matchup against MLS Seattle Sounders.

United’s impressive run in the Open Cup came to a close, but it remains in first place in the USL Championship Western Conference standings. New Mexico returns to action July 20 when it hosts Birmingham Legion FC at 7 p.m., and Quill believes his club’s run to the Open Cup quarterfinals will provide extra momentum.

“We wanted to win this tournament, but I think we can take a lot of positives away from the way we played,” Quill said. “This a special group of guys that never stops fighting. We’ll turn our focus to the second half of this season and I believe we can make it a special one.”