After quite a battle, the Rhinos eventually won 2-1 in extra time to knock off RWB Adria to advance in US Open Cup play. In what was expected to be a game the Rhinos should handle with relative easy, they instead were given all they could handle by a very game amateur squad from Chicago. As I wrote before, RWB Adria featured Demarcus Beasley's brother Jamar, but also recently signed Lenin Steenkamp to fill a void in the midfield. The Rhinos took a 1-0 lead when Fitzpatrick converted a penalty earned by Diallo, but the amateur squad equalized in the 86th minute and the game went to overtime. Hamed Diallo scored early in the first overtime to put the Rhinos on top 2-1 and it was all they would need. The rest of overtime was not uneventful as the Rhinos have more scoring chances they failed to convert, and Scott Vallow was forced to make a one-on-one save to preserve the overtime win. It wasn't pretty, and we may groan at the prospect of barely avoiding elimination at the hands of an amateur team, but right now a win is a win, and the Rhinos are still going in search of another US Open Cup.
It should also be noted that the Rhinos signed Danny Earls, a 19 year old midfielder who has gained experience with the reserve squad for Aston Villa. The native of Ireland is also in his country's u19 national team player pool. Earls did play in tonights match, and my early reaction is that this is a very encouraging signing for the club.
It should also be noted that the Rhinos signed Danny Earls, a 19 year old midfielder who has gained experience with the reserve squad for Aston Villa. The native of Ireland is also in his country's u19 national team player pool. Earls did play in tonights match, and my early reaction is that this is a very encouraging signing for the club.
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