Sporting Kansas City at Philadelphia Union
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 6:30 p.m. CT
PPL Park | Chester, Pennsylvania
Live Video: YouTube.com/SportingKansasCity
English Radio: Sports Radio 810 WHB
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Game Notes | Media Guide | U.S. Open Cup Bracket
Sporting Kansas City will play for a spot in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship when they take the field against the Philadelphia Union at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday at PPL Park in the tournament's semifinal round.
The match will be streamed live on the official YouTube channel of Sporting Kansas City (subscribe now) with Jake Yadrich and Callum Williams calling all the action on site. Sports Radio 810 WHB will also air the match commentary live in Kansas City and an audio stream will be available online at 810whb.com.
Sporting Kansas City supporters can also follow the game online via @SKCGameday on Twitter.
The oldest annual team tournament in American sports, the U.S. Open Cup celebrates its 99th edition in 2012 and is named after the club's original founder Lamar Hunt. After five rounds of single-elimination competition, Sporting Kansas City is one of four MLS teams remaining from the field of 64.
Sporting Kansas City makes their third all-time appearance in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup and first since 2004, when the team went on to win the tournament with a 1-0 extra time victory over the Chicago Fire at Arrowhead Stadium.
Sporting Kansas City has reached the semifinal stage of the tournament with victories over Orlando City SC (USL PRO), Colorado Rapids (MLS) and Dayton Dutch Lions (USL PRO), but will play on the road for the first time in this year's competition on Wednesday.
The team returns to PPL Park, where they have yet to win in three previous trips and suffered their worst loss of the season in a 4-0 defeat less than three weeks ago. The regular season meeting was the Union's first win in the series since entering MLS in 2010 and came under interim manager John Hackworth, who has led the club to wins in three of their last four MLS matches after Philadelphia started the season with only two wins in their first 12 regular season games.
Philadelphia are competing in the U.S. Open Cup for the first time this season and advanced with wins over Rochester Rhinos (USL PRO), D.C. United (MLS) and Harrisburg City Islanders (USL PRO). The Union have scored 10 goals thus far in the tournament with three coming from Freddy Adu and two from Lionard Pajoy.
Should Sporting KC advance to the Lamar Hunt. U.S. Open Cup Final, the club will host the semifinal winner between Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC on August 7 or 8 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.
