Sporting KC at Philadelphia Union
Wednesday, September 30 – 6 p.m. CT
PPL Park | Chester, Pennsylvania
English TV: ESPN2
Spanish TV: Univision Deportes
English Radio: Sports Radio 810 WHB
Game Notes | Media Guide | Game On | Social Media | MatchCenter | By the Numbers
Sporting Kansas City will take on the Philadelphia Union in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at PPL Park on Wednesday. The midweek match will be nationally televised on ESPN2 and Univision Deportes with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. CT. Fans can also listen to the match locally in Kansas City on Sports Radio 810 WHB.
Sporting Kansas City will welcome 1,000 supporters to PPL Park on Wednesday, and several lucky fans in attendance will receive a signed poster from the 2012 U.S. Open Cup championship team. For those unable to make the trip to Philadelphia, the club’s official watch party will be held at KC Live! in the Power and Light District. The championship match will be shown on the big screen in the courtyard.
Now in its 102nd edition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the oldest competition in American soccer history. The 2015 tournament included 89 teams, the largest field in the modern era (1995-present). The tournament 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 has previously hoisted the U.S. Open Cup title in 2004 and 2012, and six players that started in the 2012 final are still on the team’s roster. All but one will be available for selection by Manager Peter Vermes on Wednesday: Chance Myers, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic, Paulo Nagamura and Graham Zusi. Roger Espinoza remains sidelined with a fractured foot.
The Philadelphia Union are still seeking the club's first major trophy in club history and will host the U.S. Open Cup Final for a second consecutive year. The visiting team has won each of the last two U.S. Open Cup Finals and four of the previous eight, including Philadelphia's loss to Seattle Sounders FC at PPL Park last season.
In 2015, the Union earned their way back to the final by defeating the Rochester Rhinos and the New York Red Bulls in penalty kick shootouts and downing D.C. United and the Chicago Fire by one-goal margins.
Sporting KC defeated St. Louis FC (USL), FC Dallas, the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake to advance to the finals of this year's competition and accomplished several firsts during their run. In 2015, Sporting KC played a team from St. Louis in a competitive match for the first time in club history. Sporting Park welcomed 19,298 fans to that game, making it the largest fourth round crowd in the tournament's modern era. Also making history was Sporting KC's Dom Dwyer, who scored a club-record four goals in one match against FC Dallas. Dwyer currently leads the 2015 U.S. Open Cup Golden Boot race with five goals and is one goal shy of tying the single-season tournament record of six in the modern era.
In-game updates will be available online at SportingKC.com/GameOn or via Twitter @SKCGameday. The Final Whistle: Sporting KC Postgame Show will air immediately following the match on Sports Radio 810 WHB. Fans can join the conversation by calling 913-3-810-810.
