U.S. Soccer announced on Monday that Ted Unkel will referee Wednesday's 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final between Sporting Kansas City and the Philadelphia Union.
Unkel, 37, is in his third season as a center referee for Major League Soccer matches after previously serving as a fourth official. In 31 career MLS matches, Unkel has shown 123 yellow cards and nine red cards.
Ted Unkel's MLS Match History
2013: 3 games, 11 yellow cards, 0 red cards
2014: 12 games, 290 fouls, 36 yellow cards, 3 red cards
2015: 16 games, 430 fouls, 76 yellow cards, 6 red cards
Two Sporting Kansas City matches have featured Unkel with the whistle: a 2-1 win at Toronto FC in the MLS regular season last July which featured eight yellow cards, including two to Sporting KC captain Matt Besler (watch), and a 3-1 win over Houston in this year's U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals (highlights). The latter saw Houston midfielder Luis Garrido sent off in the 30th minute, a penalty kick awarded in the 61st minute and a second-half altercation between Brad Davis and Roger Espinoza that resulted in a two-game suspension for the Honduran international.
Unkel, whose wife Christina is a National Women's Soccer League referee, worked his first professional match in the Women's Professional Soccer league in 2009. Last year, Unkel was assigned to the North American Soccer League's championship match -- Soccer Bowl 2014 -- between the San Antonio Scorpions and Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
