Sporting Kansas City will look to write another glorious chapter in club history on Sept. 20 when the New York Red Bulls visit Children’s Mercy Park for the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, slated for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
In our 21-day Countdown to Cup, SportingKC.com is visiting the most relevant storylines, historical narratives and statistical trends surrounding the Open Cup Final, U.S. Soccer’s National Championship.
Our second installment of the daily countdown examines Sporting Kansas City's balanced production during their run to the 2017 Final.
Scoring by committee.
It's an approach Sporting Kansas City has used to reach the big stage on Sept. 20, when they will share the national limelight with the New York Red Bulls at Children's Mercy Park.
Just two years earlier, the path Peter Vermes' men took to Open Cup glory looked a bit different. Riding a deluge of goals from Dom Dwyer and Krisztian Nemeth and half a dozen assists from Benny Feilhaber, Sporting Kansas City could point to an unquestioned power trio throughout their 2015 Open Cup run.
The narrative in 2017 has changed. To pick Sporting KC's player of the tournament at this juncture would involve any one of several candidates, all of whom have contributed valuably over the course of four matches.
The 10 goals, for instance, have come from six separate goal scorers — including two goals apiece from Latif Blessing, Gerso, Ike Opara and Daniel Salloi. Assists have been equally widespread, with Feilhaber and Jimmy Medranda topping the charts at two each, but Blessing, Gerso, Ilie, Kevin Ellis, Roger Espinoza and Graham Zusi have set up goals, too.
Do the math, and 12 players have scored or assisted during Sporting Kansas City's current Open Cup campaign.
In each match, a different cast of stars has propelled Sporting KC to victory. Gerso and Opara stamped their names on the first two fixtures — a 4-0 rout of Minnesota United FC and a gritty 2-0 result at the Houston Dynamo — by scoring in both games. The defeat of Minnesota also saw veterans Espinoza and Zusi tally assists.
The mesmerizing quarterfinal win over FC Dallas was characterized first and foremost by resolute team defending, as Sporting KC played a man down for most of regulation to force extra time with the score tied 0-0. Blessing then cemented his status as a folk hero with a late brace, while Salloi added his second goal in three Open Cup appearances just 10 days after opening his MLS scoring account.
Center forward Diego Rubio stepped up to the plate in the semifinals, finishing off a breathtaking 18-pass sequence to restore parity against the San Jose Earthquakes. The Chilean solidified his solid outing with a cooly taken penalty in the shootout, where goalkeeper Tim Melia made two decisive saves in what became his grandest contribution to the 2017 Open Cup cause.
And while supporters will remember the goals scored on this Open Cup journey, we would be remiss to forget the fact that Sporting KC has posted three shutouts en route to the championship. The patented back four of Zusi, Opara, Besler and Seth Sinovic have played their part, but so have fellow homegrowns Ellis and Erik Palmer-Brown.
Should Sporting KC be fortunate enough to lift another Open Cup title in 20 days' time, Vermes will undoubtedly be able to point to major contributions across the roster.
