Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber felt his emotions got the best of him over the weekend in Toronto as his side picked up a much-needed 3-1 victory on the back of a makeshift lineup due to suspension and injuries.
Ahead of Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal clash against Real Salt Lake, an opponent Sporting KC is familiar with when it comes to testy battles, Feilhaber promises that won’t be the case – for himself or his team.
“I think smarter heads will prevail,” Feilhaber said after practice Tuesday. “Obviously you don’t want to get caught up in anything you can’t control. That goes first to me. I think especially last game I got frustrated with things I couldn’t control. For our whole team, and Peter (Vermes) has gone over this, we want to come out extremely hard and play tough, but we have to be smart and we can’t let things that could potentially frustrate us into our heads.
“I think we’ll have a good mindset going into the game tomorrow,” he continued. “We have to be the smarter team and the tougher team.”
The truculent history between Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake goes all the way back to 2011 in a preseason match that ended abruptly in a fist fight and includes off-the-field comments as well as a handful of last-ditch-effort goals.
In three matches across all competitions this season, Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake have combined for 68 fouls, 17 yellow cards and a goal differential of two. The meetings have been heated to say the least, but now there’s much more at stake.
A trip to the final. A chance to play for silverware.
“I think it’s going to be a good game. It’s a semifinal,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “I don’t care who you’re playing against; it’s going to be a good atmosphere no matter who you play against. Whether it’s them or any other team in the league, I would expect everyone to play at a high pace and with a lot to play for obviously. I just think it’s going to be a high-intensity game no matter what.”
One key Wednesday night could be how the officials manage the affair knowing the implications of a rivalry with a championship game up for grabs. Many believed enough wasn’t done to take control of Aug. 1’s rivalry game between Sporting KC and the Houston Dynamo. A repeat of that could prove foul in this case, though Vermes said avoiding it is as simple as the referees doing their homework.
“Listen, I think every game is the same,” Vermes said. “You have two teams coming in who want to win. From the referees’ point of view, I think they always have to know the style of play of the two teams, because it’s important to know that going in. They have to have a feel for what the game will be like. You also have to add in that it’s a semifinal. You have to add that into the mix. The referees have to have a good handle on that. My assumption is that they will, but I guess we’ll find out after the game tomorrow night.”
That they will. And despite being 90 minutes – or 120 minutes and penalty kicks, depending on the outcome – away from a second U.S. Open Cup final berth in three years, Sporting KC remains steadfast in their preparation for Real Salt Lake.
“I think we just know what the job at hand is,” Vermes said. “There’s no tie in this one. Someone has to win it. We understand that aspect that, and I think that’s really what we’re focused on, going to try and win the game so we can move on to the next round.
“What I would caution against is that the trophy is really further away than you think. You have to get past this round first before you have a shot at the next, so right now that’s not even a conversation. Right now we just have a game to play in front of us tomorrow night.”
