I’m back in West Des Moines, Iowa, for the second Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match hosted by the Des Moines Menace this season. Tonight’s opponent is San Antonio FC, a club that plays in the same league as the Tulsa Roughnecks who were dispatched by the Menace 2-0 two weeks ago.

Just walking into the stadium, I already have a different feel about this game. The doubt vocalized by some of the fans prior to kickoff against the Roughnecks a fortnight ago doesn’t have that tangible feeling it did the last time I made this sojourn. Instead, there’s a belief that if the squad could turn the trick once against a professional side, they can do so again. The build up to this match has been palpable in the city, even getting a front page story about the tilt in the Des Moines Register.

San Antonio, for their part, reached the Third Round of the US Open Cup by dismantling National Premier Soccer League-side Corinthians FC of San Antonio, 3-1. SAFC are enjoying their first season as a club, having been formed this year by a group that includes the ownership of the San Antonio Spurs for the express purpose of accruing a Major League Soccer expansion team for the San Antone faithful.

At this point, I’ve seen more Des Moines matches live this summer than any other team, including my local club, Oklahoma City Energy FC. I’m okay with that; the Menace have been infinitely entertaining. That being the case, I may have become emotionally invested in the fortunes of this club in regards to this tournament, which is problematic given I might have to leave them at any point in the course of this tournament.

Just through warmups, there are already noticeable differences between this challenge and the one presented to our protagonists by the Roughnecks. With school released for pretty much everyone in the country at this date, a decent-sized group of San Antonio FC supporters have arrived to cheer on their boys in black to victory. The warmups also appear more organized and coherent. That being said, the Spurs have stagnated on offense of late, scoring three goals in their last four matches and not enjoying the taste of victory in just over a month. Des Moines is primed to take their second professional scalp of the tournament.

San Antonio starts with the ball, and ultimately come out on the front foot. Within the first five minutes of the match, Connor Korrigan is called into duty on the right side of defense. A shot by Jacques Francois is blocked at the last second by the desperately sliding defender. The ensuing corner goes nowhere, but the visitors’ statement of intent has been issued. It will be a scrap if Des Moines wish to advance yet again to face MLS opposition.

Christian Flath, a soon-to-be senior at Rider College in New Jersey, gives San Antonio a scare with a free kick in the ninth minute of action. An in-swinging ball sent in from 45 yards out enters the middle of the box and a scrum of players. One desperate SAFC defender heads the ball away sharply, nearly directing it into his own net, but instead the ball rockets out for a corner kick.

Flath is setting up to be the hero of this game. Tracking back soon after his dangerous free kick, he sells out on the defensive side after a low cross almost gives San Antonio an open look at goal. A sweeping clear extinguishes the threat, but SAFC continues to enjoy much of the possession in the early going of this match.

That possession leads to the first shot on goal of the match for either team, courtesy of the San Antonio FC’s Jason Johnson in the 15th minute of action. The forward’s shot from outside the box is initially a low and driven salvo, but slows as it approaches Nico Campbell’s goal. Campbell easily goes low to smother the shot. Not long after, San Antonio is continuing to put the screws to the Menace defense, hounding right back Austin Polster.

Victor Araujo gets off another shot in the box for San Antonio in the 17th minute of play. As he falls to the turf following a weak effort, he sees the ball deflect off Austin Ledbetter’s hand. Seeing as how Ledbetter’s hand was down at his side, the center official ignores Araujo’s protestations for a hand ball as it was clearly ball-to-hand and not the other way around. Either way, the Menace are scrapping for every bit of the ball at this juncture.

A lull in the action comes over the match for the next ten minutes. During this time, San Antonio possesses the ball for much of the duration, though a workman-like defense display from the Menace backline has kept SAFC from creating any real threats. That dogged display eventually shows a crack that Carlos Alvarez elects to take advantage of from 20 yards out. His curling effort clangs off the right post, keeping the affair knotted up at goose eggs despite beating a diving Campbell in the 27th minute.

The hosts begin working themselves into the match as the clock marches closer to the interval. Rising Valparaiso junior Ramone Howell has begun commanding the middle of the park and kick-starting the offense by winning the ball well in SAFC’s defensive third of the field. The pressure finally results in a ball searching for the head of player-coach Mark Heath-Preston. Heath-Preston gets on the end of the ball, but unfortunately it’s a second after Josh Ford has snagged it out of the air off his line. As Ford crashes to the turf following the mid-air collision, he drops the ball and a streaking Leigh Veidman crashes in from the left wing to poke the ball in. Half the crowd erupts, oblivious to the fact that the ref has been blowing his whistle, uninterrupted, for a solid minute.

Des Moines and San Antonio trade less-than-threatening blows to open up the second half of action in the Valley Stadium. Neither team seems likely to break the deadlock. This match looks likely headed to PKs thanks to two impressive defensive displays.

That all changes in an instance thanks to the free-kick stylings of Rider’s own Flath. The German makes sure his second opportunity is not wasted, sending another in-swinging shot at Ford’s goal. Skipping off the turf, the ball nestles in the bottom right corner in the 58th minute and the Menace are yet again on the upswing against a professional side. Exuberantly, Flath sprints, arms outstretched, towards the grandstand as the Red Army gleefully leads the 1,754 in attendance in singing his praises. Interestingly, the Menace have only scored when playing towards supporters groups, friendly or otherwise, during this edition of the Cup.

The joy nearly evaporates mere minutes later. A foul committed by Des Moines has set up Araujo with a free-kick opportunity in the Menace’s defensive third. However, Araujo pushes the shot just left of the post. Three minutes later, in the 64th minute, Ledbetter commits a foul that sets up San Antonio FC in nearly the same spot. Alvarez has the honor of taking this set piece, but just like his teammate, pushes a curling shot just to the left of Campbell’s goal.

After surviving a couple of near misses, the Menace are left ruing a missed chance to double their advantage. Eddie Cass, a six-foot, rising senior defender from Rocky Mountain College, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics team, gets his forehead on the ball and directs it towards Ford’s goal. The header just skims over the top of the crossbar, clanging into the still-erect football posts.

With a new lease on life, the visitors equalize in the 72nd minute. A questionable foul committed by Ledbetter just feet outside the box gives San Antonio another dangerous free kick to Campbell’s left. Alvarez chooses to whip the ball in on a cross this time instead of taking the shot, and his choice is reward as Sam McBride, a defender, gets his head to the ball who pushes it past a wrong-footed Campbell. To add insult to injury, Ledbetter receives a yellow for his actions leading up to the goal. All of this happened as I was informing a fellow spectator that it was Flath that had scored to put Des Moines up.

San Antonio, now having seized the initiative, presses their advantage. Francois, who had been kept bottled up by Polster after an enthusiastic start of the game, pushes the visitors out in front, 2-1, after he got a foot on a low, hard cross by Greg Cochrane on the left flank nine minutes after drawing level. An audible groan escapes the main stand, while the Red Army grows, if anything, more boisterous.

Heath-Preston, however, is not content to go down quietly, spurring on the Menace in the closing minutes of the match. Alone on the right wing, his cross is unfortunately cleared. A cynical foul by San Antonio follows, setting up a free kick for Des Moines as the 90th minute beckons, and the end of their Cup dreams. Campbell comes out of his box to send the ball in, but the play is blown dead as a skirmish erupts at the line drawn by San Antonio. Elvir Ibisevic, the young forward who emphatically slammed the door shut on Tulsa’s feeble comeback attempt two weeks prior, receives a straight red card for an elbow to the face of SAFC’s Bobby Moseley and marches off towards the locker room after the center ref and one of his deputies on the sideline held conference following the whistle. The same fan from earlier looks at me knowingly with a sad smile on his face and mutters, “Ibisevic, right?”

Campbell sends the ball in a second time, and the cross is cleared. It is now that the most magnificent moment of the game occurs. The keeper, Campbell, attempts a step-over! Sadly, this glorious feat is short lived as he is rammed into and the Menace awarded another free-kick.

Playing man down, Campbell is called upon to serve as an extra body in the box. The ball is close to perfection, but just sails over the heads of Campbell and Heath-Preston and out for a goal kick. It proves to be the death knell for Des Moines, who must now bow out having cast their stone just short in the Third Round.

Following the whistle, the Red Army sings defiantly in support of their local boys. A disconsolate and emotional Jack Griffin finds a friend a couple rows behind me on the steps and asks him what the foul could have possibly been that led to the first goal. I tend to agree with the Missouri State midfielder’s judgment, but I freely admit that I’ve lost emotional objectivity in this match in my quest to see another Cupset by an amateur team.

The journey ends for Des Moines, 2-1, at their home field. It was a magical run, but there were missed opportunities that fell in the weeks prior. They’ll undoubtedly be back for next year’s installment. The victors, the favorites from the Alamo City, as well as my new team, move on to the Fourth Round for the first time in club history, where they will put their unblemished 2-0 record in Open Cup play on the line against the Houston Dynamo of MLS fame on June 15th. All roads lead to Texas.

As I exit the stadium, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida poignantly plays over the public address speakers. We used to rule the world, indeed.