It never went right for Mississippi Brilla FC on Friday night. The team apparently left their A, B, and C games on the bus as they stepped on the field at Soccer World Center to face the Houston Leones. From the opening whistle, the Leones controlled play while Brilla was always at least one step behind. At then end of the match, Brilla was on the losing end of a 3-0 score-line and eliminated from Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Qualifying contention.

Houston capitalized on their domination early when Erick Acevedo collected a Brilla giveaway, and found Antonio Chavez 12 yards in front of the Brilla goal. Chavez left Brilla ‘keeper, Jason Williams, helpless when he bombed it into the upper corner.

Houston wouldn’t wait long to add a second goal. Brilla conceded a free kick from 45 yards out and Jose Miranda connected with the head of teammate Miguel Hurtado who buried his header into the back of the net.

Brilla never found a rhythm and Houston was firing on all cylinders when Referee Ian Glasgow blew the whistle for half-time.

The second half was just as bad for Brilla. Houston scored again on an incredible strike from Houston midfielder Angel Hernandez. After a cross-field  pass from Erick Acevedo, Hernandez struck a left-footed volley that found the inside of the Brilla near post, just under the crossbar. Unfortunately, the end of the scoring wasn’t the end of Brilla’s misery.

In the 90th minute, Brilla defender, Dwyane Demmin, was sent off for bringing down a Houston attacker who only had the goalkeeper left to beat. Jason Williams saved the resulting penalty kick, which was the one bright spot for Brilla in the ninety-plus minutes of play.

Brilla coach, Steve DeCou said of the loss, “We have to learn from our mistakes tonight, and based on this match, we can learn a lot.”

Brilla can only lick their wounds and regroup as they visit the DFW Tornados on Sunday evening.