Omar Campos and Kei Kamara scored in extra-time on Wednesday as Los Angeles won the US Open Cup for the first time with a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City.
Olivier Giroud also scored for Los Angeles, who captured their fourth trophy since starting play in 2018. The club captured Major League Soccer’s (MLS) Supporters Shield as the top club in the regular season in 2019 and 2022, and then beat the Philadelphia Union in penalty kicks to win the MLS Cup in 2022.
It was Los Angeles’ first appearance in the Open Cup championship and snapped a run of four straight title matches across competitions without a victory. It was the 109th edition of the Open Cup, the US’ oldest national soccer competition.
Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn / USA Today
By advancing to the finals of the Leagues Cup and the US Open Cup, Los Angeles are on pace to play 46 matches in the regular season. They played in 53 matches last year, including advancing to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions League and the MLS Cup.
With Wednesday’s win, they are 48-25-21 in all competitions over the past two seasons.
Erik Thommy scored for Sporting Kansas City, who had won four previous Open Cup finals, with the most recent in 2017.
Photo: AFP
Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia made three saves that helped keep the game scoreless in the first half.
Giroud broke through for Los Angeles in the 53rd minute, catching Melia out of the goal and beating two defenders.
It was Giroud’s second goal in 10 matches for Los Angeles since joining the club early last month.
Photo: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images
Thommy tied it up in the 60th minute with a blast inside the near post off a cross from Daniel Salloi.
Campos, a second-half substitute, scored in the 102nd minute from atop the box for his first goal with Los Angeles.
Kamara, the second-leading goal scorer in MLS history, added an insurance goal on a header in the 109th minute.
Los Angeles are fourth in the Western Conference going into the home stretch of the MLS regular season.
Sporting Kansas City cannot qualify for the post-season.
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