Royal Roundup: Magic of the Cup strikes RSL, Columbus, Orlando

American soccer is, on any given day, fairly predictable. But when the US Open Cup really kicks into high gear, in the fourth round, we get some really fun and wacky results.

Here’s what happened in the US Open Cup over the last two days.

MLS vs. Amateurs

• D.C. United beat Maryland amateurs Christos FC, 4-1, but that Christos free kick will be remembered for, well, forever by the team that scored it. This one featured some great camaraderie, which is just perfect. (Black & Red United)

MLS vs. USL

• FC Cincinnati beat Columbus Crew in the most-attended US Open Cup match outside of a final, edging them 1-0 in front of a 30,000-strong crowd (Massive Report)
• FC Dallas narrowly beat Tulsa Roughnecks, 2-1, but it took an own goal in stoppage time to do it. (Big D Soccer)
• Atlanta United beat Charleston Battery, 3-2, but only just — that match featured a long delay (nearly three hours) to its kick-off, and Charleston twice held the lead. (Dirty South Soccer)
• LA Galaxy finished off Orange County SC, winning 3-1 after scoring early in the first half (LAG Confidential)
• Chicago Fire beat Saint Louis FC, 1-0, despite a late red card. (Hot Time in Old Town)
• Houston Dynamo had no problem dispatching North Carolina FC, winning 3-0
• Colorado Rapids beat OKC Energy, 3-2, after going down 2-0 by halftime. (Burgundy Wave)
• Real Salt Lake lost 4-1 to Sacramento Republic, which still hurts us, but I guess it’s good for the MLS hopefuls or something (Indomitable City Soccer)

MLS vs. NASL

• Jason Kreis’s Orlando City SC lost 3-1 to NASL side Miami FC, with former RSL men Luis Gil and Josh Saunders involved (The Mane Land)
• San Jose Earthquakes beat San Francisco Deltas by a 2-0 scoreline.
• North Carolina FC (NASL) vs. Houston Dynamo (MLS) featured a delay and overtime, but the MLS side won out eventually (Dynamo Theory)

MLS vs. MLS

• New York Red Bulls beat their cross-town rivals (or is that cross-river?), New York City FC, 1-0, in a match that included a Tommy McNamara shot hitting the crossbar twice, bouncing off the ground each time before being cleared out (Hudson River Blue)
• Sporting Kansas City (shudder) beat Minnesota United FC by the biggest scoreline of the night, 4-0. Maybe that gives us hope for Saturday. (The Blue Testament)
• Seattle Sounders beat Portland Timbers, 2-1, in a match at the sometimes-maligned Starfire Sports Complex in which nobody tore up the referee’s book, sadly (Sounder at Heart)