Sporting Kansas City continues its 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup campaign on Wednesday when it plays host to rivals Real Salt Lake in the tournament semifinals.
Fans unable to attend can watch the live stream on SportingKC.com beginning at 7:30 p.m. Additional coverage will be available on Sports Radio 810 WHB in English or on La Grande 1340 AM in Spanish.
The 2015 U.S. Open Cup boasted the largest field in the modern era (1995-present) with 89 teams competing for the title. The tournament has been held annually since 1914 and is open to all amateur/professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. This year’s winner will earn $250,000 and a berth in the 2016-17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
Sporting KC defeated St. Louis FC (USL), FC Dallas (MLS) and the Houston Dynamo (MLS) to advance to the semifinals of this year’s competition, while Real Salt Lake downed Seattle Sounders 2 (USL), the Portland Timbers (MLS) and the LA Galaxy (MLS).
Sporting KC opened the campaign with a 1-0 victory over St. Louis FC, marking the first time in the team’s history which they faced a team from St. Louis in a competitive match. Against FC Dallas, Dom Dwyer scored a club-record four goals with Krisztian Nemeth adding two more to help Sporting KC secure a 6-2 result. Sporting KC earned a 3-1 victory over the Dynamo in the quarterfinals with Dwyer, Nemeth and Benny Feilhaber each tallying a goal in the win.
Dwyer now has five goals in the 2015 Lamar U.S. Open Cup competition, one shy of equaling the modern era record. Peter Vermes is also on the verge of history, with his next victory breaking a tie with Bob Gansler for the most wins across all competition by a head coach in club history.
Real Salt Lake earned a 2-1 come-from-behind victory in their opening U.S. Open Cup match with two second half goals, one from Joao Plata and one from Javier Morales. Against Portland, Real Salt Lake saw more second half heroics with goals from Sebastian Jaime and Morales. In Salt Lake’s quarterfinal match, it was Aaron Maund leading the Claret and Cobalt to victory with an 87th minute header.
Wednesday marks the fourth meeting between Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake this year. Two of Sporting KC’s four losses in 2015 have come against Real Salt Lake, who is 1-5-5 all-time in Kansas City and have never won a road game in U.S. Open Cup competition. Wednesday’s winner will advance to face the Chicago Fire or Philadelphia Union in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.
In-game updates can be found online at SportingKC.com/GameOn and via @SKCGameday on Twitter.
Tickets are available for the match and can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.
– Story from Sporting KC