Diego Rubio came off the bench to score an extra time winner and send Sporting Kansas City through to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 with a 2-1 victory over Minnesota United FC on Wednesday night.
Benny Feilhaber and Christian Ramirez exchanged penalty kicks in the second half of a hotly contested match at National Sports Center Stadium in Blaine, Minn., setting the stage for Rubio’s decisive strike in the 109th minute.
Sporting Kansas City will continue its pursuit of a fourth U.S. Open Cup title on June 28 or 29 with the Round of 16 draw taking place at 11 a.m. Thursday to determine opponent, date and location.
If Sporting Kansas City is awarded the right to host, the match will be included in season ticket packages as Special Game A and single-game tickets will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. CT Friday.
Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes coached his 270th match on Wednesday, tying Bob Gansler as the club’s longest-tenured manager. His team began its U.S. Open Cup title defense with a strong lineup featuring two changes from the club’s last MLS match a fortnight ago. Goalkeeper Alec Kann made his second appearance of the season, while Soni Mustivar had returned from Copa America duty with Haiti to join a midfield trio alongside Roger Espinoza and Benny Feilhaber.
Facing just their third road test in the U.S. Open Cup since 2011 and visiting lower-league opposition for the first time since 2009, Sporting Kansas City created the first scoring chance of the evening.
Ike Opara’s long ball over the back line reached Dom Dwyer, who drove toward goal before firing a left-footed shot from the right side of the box. Minnesota center back Damion Lowe was well-positioned to make the crucial block, denying Dwyer a club-record sixth Open Cup goal.
Dwyer nearly broke the deadlock again in the 21st minute. Jimmy Medranda floated a brilliant ball over Lowe to Dwyer, who settled the ball with a sublime first touch, but his short-range blast was snuffed out by onrushing goalkeeper Sammy Ndjock.
Seven minutes earlier, Minnesota gave Sporting Kansas City its biggest scare of the first half. Justin Davis’ high-arching cross to the far post reached Danny Cruz, but the winger was unable to keep the ball inbounds along the byline.
An explosive second half plus extra time saw 11 different players receive yellow cards, seven of which from Minnesota United FC. Emotions escalated shortly after the restart when Espinoza, Ndjock and Lowe were all booked after a mass confrontation that stemmed from Lowe’s aggressive slide tackle on Dwyer.
Medranda proved a difference maker in the 63rd minute, spinning around one defender and cutting past three more before feeding Dwyer near the penalty spot. The forward’s shot was blocked by Brett Kallman, but the center back touched the ball with his hand when falling to the turf. Sporting Kansas City was awarded a penalty kick, and Feilhaber made no mistake slotting the ball low into the right corner for his third goal in 2016 across all competitions.
Seeking its second-ever win against MLS opposition, Minnesota seized attacking initiative after falling behind. With 10 minutes left in regulation, winger Danny Cruz raced down the right flank and was tripped on the edge of the box by Medranda. The tackle appeared to have occurred just beyond the penalty area, but the Loons were given a spot kick and a chance to level proceedings. Ramirez, the second-leading scorer during the 2016 NASL spring season, tucked his attempt low past Kann to restore parity.
High on momentum, the Loons nearly grabbed a match-winner before the end of regulation. Substitute J.C. Banks led a quick break downfield and picked out an open Stefanho Pinho on the left side of the box, but the reigning NASL MVP skied his shot high and wide of the target.
Both sides survived close calls in the final moments of the first extra time period. In the 102nd minute, an intricate buildup from the visitors culminated in Espinoza cutting the ball across the face of goal to Chance Myers, whose one-time blast was blocked. At the other end, Opara delivered the defensive play of the game by sliding at full stretch to block Ramirez’s blistering shot from point-blank range.
Rubio entered the match halfway through extra time and made a game-changing impact 11 minutes from the final whistle. Feilhaber made a superb run through the central channel and into the attacking third before splitting the defense with a clever pass to Rubio. The 23-year-old Chilean turned goalward and finished clinically, putting Sporting Kansas City ahead for good while notching his second goal of the campaign. Feilhaber extended his club record with a sixth career U.S. Open Cup assist.
Minnesota’s last-gasp bid for another equalizer nearly came to fruition in the 121st minute. A long, looping ball was played into heavy traffic where Lowe rose above the rest to glance the ball with his head, but it skipped inches wide of Kann’s righthand post.
Sporting Kansas City (5-8-3, 18 points) will resume its 2016 MLS regular season campaign on Sunday, as host of FC Dallas (8-4-4, 28 points) at Children’s Mercy Park. The match will kick off at 4 p.m. and a limited number of tickets, including standing-room only tickets, are available via Ticketmaster.com. ESPN and ESPN Deportes will broadcast the match live as eighth-place Sporting KC looks to gain ground in the Western Conference against their second-place counterparts.
– Story from Sporting KC