Two Late Goals Send Crew to Open Cup Final

The Columbus Crew staged a dramatic comeback to advance to the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final with a 2-1 victory over D.C. United Wednesday at steamy RFK Stadium. The Crew will travel to Seattle to face the Sounders in the title match on Oct. 5. Seattle defeated Chivas USA, 3-1, in the other semifinal Wednesday.

It marks the third time in club history that the Crew has reached the Open Cup Final, joining the 2002 squad that defeated L.A. to win the tournament and the 1998 team that fell to Chicago in overtime. The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer and is recognized as the federation's National Championship. The tournament has crowned a champion for 96 consecutive years dating back to 1914. It is the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer and Crew Founder Lamar Hunt.

D.C. took an early lead on a Pablo Hernandez penalty kick in the 13th minute, and that remained the game's only goal until the dying moments, when Marc Burch couldn't keep Andy Iro's 89th minute shot out of the net, deflecting it past United keeper Bill Hamid and sending the match to overtime. There, Guillermo Barros Schelotto rifled a penalty home for the game-winner on a sweltering night in the nation's capital.

In the 59th minute, Hernandez tangled with Danny O'Rourke at midfield and kicked out at the Crew midfielder as from a prone position and was shown a red card, forcing D.C. to play a man down for the rest of the way.

The Crew dominated possession in overtime and earned the penalty in the 98th minute. It was created by Steven Lenhart's sterling work along the endline as he maneuvered past Burch and surged deep into the box, where he was tripped by Carey Talley. Schelotto took care of the rest.

The Crew returns to league action this Saturday (Sept. 4) again at D.C., once again at 7:30 p.m. (ET) at RFK Stadium in a match that will be televised live nationally on FOX Soccer Channel.