Sporting Kansas City’s upcoming opponent in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the club’s group stage pairings for the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League were set on Wednesday.
Sporting Kansas City will host Minnesota United FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on June 18 at Sporting Park as the two-time U.S. Open Cup champions enter the competition in the fourth round. Tickets, starting as low as $14, are available for the match online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.
Minnesota United FC advanced with a 1-0 victory over the Des Moines Menace (PDL) on Wednesday at Valley Stadium. League champions in 2011, Minnesota United FC currently sit atop the NASL (Division II) standings with a 5-1-1 record and two games left in the Spring Season. Prior to traveling to Sporting Park, Minnesota United FC must first make road trips to take on the Atlanta Silverbacks on May 31 and then the Tampa Bay Rowdies on June 7 with a berth inThe Championship postseason tournament on the line.
Also on Wednesday, CONCACAF conducted the official draw for the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League at the InterContinental at Doral in Miami. Sporting KC was placed in Group 2 along with Deportivo Saprissa and Real Esteli FC.
Deportiva Saprissa will be making their fourth appearance in the current format of the competition and first since the 2010-11 edition, when they reached the semifinal stage. The club has won three CONCACAF Champions Cup titles (1993, 1995 and 2005) and features five players on Costa Rica’s roster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Earlier this month, Saprissa claimed their 30th league title in the Torneo de Verano final and in doing so surpassed Alajuelense as the most successful club in the history of the Costa Rican Primera Division.
Real Esteli -- the reigning Clausura and Apertura champions in their domestic league – are the lone Nicaraguan side to have participated in the contintental championship and have qualified every year since the 2008-09 edition. Real Esteli will meet Sporting KC in the group stage for a second straight year after going 0-3-1 during the 2013-14 tournament, with the team’s lone point coming in a 1-1 draw at Sporting Park after suffering a 2-0 loss to Sporting KC in the home leg.
The 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League will feature the top 24 teams from the North America, Central America and Caribbean region competing for a berth in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup. The group stage divides the teams into eight groups of three and will be contested in a round-robin, home-and-away, four-game format from August to October with the eight group winners advancing to the knockout round in early 2015.
Exact dates and times, as well as single-game ticket information, for the group stage matches will be announced in the coming weeks. Both CONCACAF Champions League group stage home matches are included in Sporting Kansas City Season Ticket Member packages.
