Sporting Kansas City did something Wednesday night that no team across any level of U.S. Soccer had been able to do in the last four years: Defeat the Seattle Sounders in the U.S. Open Cup.
Sporting Kansas City captured its second U.S. Open Cup in franchise history, outlasting the Sounders in penalties 3-2 after a 1-1 draw through regulation and extra time and ending the Sounders' hopes of becoming the first team to win four straight tournament titles. As a result, Sporting KC earns an berth into the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League in addition to pocketing $100,000 in prize money.
Seattle held a brief edge early in the shootout, with Michael Gspurning saving Roger Espinoza's attempt and Marc Burch giving the Sounders a 2-1 lead.
Gspurning was at the heart of the real turning point in the PK shootout, though, with the count at 2-2. He was whistled for coming off his line too early by referee Ricardo Salazar prior to saving Paulo Nagamura's attempt, and Nagamura went on to score the re-take. Eddie Johnson skied Seattle's final attempt on the ensuing kick to end the match and send the capacity crowd at Livestrong Sporting Park into a frenzy.
Osvaldo Alonso and Christian Tiffert also missed for Seattle, which converted its first two penalties before missing the final three. Sporting KC was marginally better, but had Graham Zusi attempt a Panenka only to chip it over the bar in addition to Espinoza's failed conversion. Espinoza, who just rejoined the team from his Olympic quest with Honduras and was playing with an injured shoulder, played all 120 minutes.
Sporting KC looked to be in position to capture the 99th Open Cup title in regulation, after Patrick Ianni was whistled for a handball in the box off a cross from Teal Bunbury in the 84th minute. Kei Kamara stepped to the spot and beat Gspurning to snap the scoreless deadlock.
Zach Scott answered for Seattle just two minutes later, though, heading home a well-placed free kick from Mauro Rosales to level the score and conjure memories of past Seattle-Kansas City matchups, during which Seattle scored in the final minutes to shatter SKC's hopes. This script had a different ending though, with Sporting KC emerging victorious and lifting the trophy for the first time since 2004.
Overall, the game was marked by physical play and a dearth of quality chances. Jimmy Nielsen came up big in the first half, denying Johnson of a goal-bound header that looked destined for the lower right corner in the 30th minute. Six minutes prior to that, Kamara hit the post with a dipping shot from distance, but neither side truly threatened until the final flurry at the end of regulation.
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What did you think of the match? Was Salazar's call on Gspurning too harsh? Excited to see what Sporting KC can do in the CCL next year?
Share your thoughts below.
You should also post screen caps of Alonso and Johnson’s shots – problem is the ball won’t be in the photo.
Blaming the ref seems a little bit dumb. If the ref is going to mess-up calls and he is, no matter who he is, the chances of the misses going 50-50 is zero.
Seattle lost it, doing something they have been TERRIBLE at for 4 years now. PKs.
I think that KC won it doing a great job of shutting down what other teams want to do and that is the reason for their success all year. It is beautiful while making the other teams look ugly at the same time.
Congrats KC and fans, it is a lot of fun. Enjoy it, next year my deep Sounders will make it 4 out of the last 5.
Love the jealousy
don’t hate because the Sounders try to win trophies, which is more than 75% of the teams in the league.
Taking advantage of the system that is there.
Apparently you have a short memory.
They have won on the road and won on the road at SJ in this run.
I don’t think the calls are comparable to the USA women’s game. Neilson was gaining the same advantage and no call was made. In the women’s game the USA was never ahead to have Solo be called for time wasting.
Congrats to KC.
Wow, GOL TV should use that in their marketing, not any worse than Fox Soccer.
Maybe “not any worse than cr@p” if they can’t use the Fox name.
+10000000000000000
Advantage definitely KC. But Seattle’s play wasn’t all that great either so probably the right result.
Gspurning had moved way off the line on previous kicks and the ref was silent. I think that this was, while still a good call, a little payback for all the movement.
5-0 proves it was poorly reffed. Quite one-sided. Shouldn’t have missed 3 pk’s though. Heart breaker.
SKC had Seattle pinned in its own end for almost the entire overtime period.
Granted they benefited from Salazar’s calls–especially since an unintentional handball just outside the area by an SKC player earlier in the game was waved off–but to say that this game was “even” doesn’t accurately reflect what went on. SKC clearly had the better of play.
This.
+1
You may be right, but it would be better to see pictures of when the shot was taken. The pictures sure look damning though right after it was taken.
I didn’t watch it super-closely, but I thought it was fairly reffed. The 2nd yellow to Ianni was easy to give for example as was the yellow to Alonso (I think) in the 4th minute. Both teams were playing VERY hard with harsh tackles. I don’t envy having to ref a game like that at all. The call on Gspurrning isn’t always made, but it wasn’t out of line either. Personally, I wish that was always called more closely. I say, move the PK spot back a yard and call it more closely on the keepers. I’m sure that will never happen of course, but it would make for better PKs. Also, PKs to decide a title just suck in every way!
It was a well well deserved yellow. Don’t blame Salazar for it. He should have gotten a yellow just for the tackle himself, but it looked like Salazar might not have given it until the dissent.
It’s because he started in front of the line and he did actually move forward a little bit before the shot. Not the worst I’ve seen called, but he didn’t even start on the line. I think, Ideally Salazar should have stopped the shot before it was taken and put him back on his line where he (and all goalies) know they are supposed to start. Just like in the Canada game, its a rule that keepers tend to just push and push until finally the ref has to call it.
The King is dead, long live the king (at least for a year). Seattle has had an amazing run. Yeah, bought home-field advantage. But the real lesson from the amazing Sounders run is that they took the US Open Cup seriously, they cared about it. More MLS sides should.
As for KC, they’d done an amazing job creating a new reality in that franchise. One of the most “American” of sides (with their commitment to domestic talent). Great stadium. Good coach. They’ve got a master plan. I really can’t complain about KC having a cup to boast about b/c they’re one of the good stories in MLS.
As for the complaints about the referring…
1. Bill Hamid once had that same call made against him TWICE in one game (and it wasn’t a shoot out). It happens.
2. And it’s always a bit fuzzy b/c honestly, no-one nails the GK to the line and so much of it is when the GK moves and it’s the AR that is watching the GK (and the CCR is focusing on the PK taker). And at that point in the match, the refs are tired (no excuse, just a reality…someone older than the players has run just as long and hard with no sub and is probably a bit slower with recognition and decision-making). So part of the lesson is that when you let it go to a shoot out, you really are gambling on a bunch of levels.
3. From what I saw, it seems like Salazar made fair calls. But I don’t have a dog in this fight.
Salazar just likes to hear about himself in the news, he is the only MLS ref I routinely hear mentioned which is not a good thing. He always make way to many calls that get him to involved in the game when there is no need. Also if you are going to call a goalie for coming off the line early a penalty shootout would never get done because they do it every single time.
If they decide to buy home field advantage 90% of the time, any good team could win 3 in a row. The Sounders remind me of a spoiled rich kid who can’t stand to lose a pick up game at his own birthday party.
Well guess what, the Open Cup tournament belongs to the entire country, not to the Sounders, and a bunch of noisy punks have crashed your little party! Lol.
Agreed. He make a hard tackle, didn’t get the ball, came up angry at the ref, yelled at him and then jerked away as the ref was trying to calm him down. The ref gets this look of, OK-if that’s how you want it…Here’s your card. The tackle was arguably a yellow. The dissent made it worse. You ignore that in the 4th minute, the rest of teh game will fall apart rapidly. Even with the early caution, it was a chippy game. BTW, I was a neutral observer hoping for a good game. I enjoyed everything except going to PK’s. Hate the PK.
And apparently, you can’t buy home field advantage for most of the tournament and expect to win anymore. I am soooo glad they didn’t get the final in Seattle AND that they lost. Enough with the buying of home games. That practice needs to be banned ASAP.
Regarding the penalty retake, if you watch the replay, you can clearly see Salazar and the sideline ref immediately decide that Gspurning was off the line. This wasn’t just Salazar making a call on his own, they both acknowledged right away that the keeper was off the line. As for GolTV, I’ve been watching the replay since I got home from the game, and while it isn’t great, it isn’t any worse than Fox Soccer broadcasts. Those are just as bad. Having said that, the GolTV contract needs to be scrapped right away and put back up for someone else with a wider distribution to air. The whole thing TV deal seemed like taking the first offer on the table without trying to get it on elsewhere.
Sporting fan here. I was at the game and I have to say we are all quiet because we are still in shock. I’ve never seen so many nervous people in one game. Especially a PK shootout that involved 5 balls not going in the goal.
When Eddie Johnson missed, everyone in the stadium broke down in a frenzy.
Sounders fans that were there represented well and from what I could tell everybody was respectful! Their fans were great and I want to come to a game up in Seattle at some point. The quality of the MLS teams and the US Open Cup has come a long way and tonight’s game was a testament to this. Unfortunately, it sounds like there were some major problems as far as GOLTV and getting this final on a credible network.
As a neutral, I would say the game was poorly officiated. But insofar as is possible, it was equally poorly officiated for both teams. I would have preferred a much tighter referee, who would have allowed the skilled players to show their talents without knowledge they would likely be hacked down with impunity. In general it was not an attractive match for neutrals.
Thus, IMO, there could have been more yellows. As for Alonso’s, he wouldn’t have gotten a yellow in the 4th minute except that he protested the referee’s decision and even grabbed the referee’s hand when the foul was given. Hence the yellow.
As for the PK’s, the off-the-line call was harsh, but not inconceivably so. Perhaps the ref warned both keepers he would be paying close attention to their feet; if so, Gspurning appeared to me to be more often further off his line at the time of the kick than was Nielsen. But as so many keepers do, both were infringing this rule. An unusual call, surely, but not quite wildly unfair.
haha +1
I did. He’s not a heady player. I wanted Scott or Rosales to take the kick.
Other thoughts:
Congrats KC. You have great fans and a great club. I feel no shame in losing to you. Worthy champions.
Salazar better not ref a Seattle match again for a while.
*trex1983
from tre1983 on twitter
http://imgur.com/iLwbm
the keepers, at the time of the kick, are in essentially identical positions
no more so thank Nielsen… therefore….
please stop promulgating this idea, all whom subscribe to it. The position of Nielsen’s back foot has absolutely nothing to do with the characterization of infringement. Nielsen’s front foot is as far if not farther than Gspurning at the same time, and the rule is written that BOTH feet (and the whole body) must remain at the line.
It’s perfectly reasonable to state that KC were worthy of the win, and I take nothing away from their ability to accomplish that.
To suggest that the PKs (or the officiating in general) represented equitable implementation of the rules of the game is false. To Suggest that Gspurning’s infringement was greater than Nielsen’s is, photographically, false.
Folks, Neutral here has a reasonable comment.
I figured there would be blinding streams of hate/regret from Sounds fans (and SKC fans are weirdly quiet considering their win), but… eh, you know, I’ve seen probably at least 6 other MLS matches this season with far worse officiating.
3 PK misses are what lost the match for SSFC. Eddie Johnson’s miss was perhaps the most astoundingly bad. Not sure anyone expected that poor a shot
I understand Ives’ point, but those pictures who two completely different stories.
Nielsen has one foot a few inches off the line. Likely just pushing forward as the ball is kicked.
Gspurning has both feet about a foot off the line. He couldn’t have started much closer to the line.
Sure, not called often, but the pictures aren’t your saving grace here.
So why would he call it at all, including the identical infractions (not called) on Nielson? You make zero sense…
Didn’t seem that poorly reffed to me as a neutral, I’d say normal MLS quality. Both saves Gspurning started a good 4-6 inches OFF his line, you could see the grass between him and the goal line. IMO, the twitpicks show nothing, as the ball was already kicked and goalkeepers are allowed to move, didn’t recall seeing Neilson that far off though, or maybe they didn’t show it. As for the yellow’s…Let’s be honest, what is Alonzo doing in the 4th minute reacting that way in the first place…I know Salazar does think he’s hard, but Alonzo has to realize that and adjust his game accordingly…We all know the game is for the players, the refs are just there to keep the flow, but such is the reffing situation in MLS right now and players are well aware of that
The 4th minute yellow card was the easy part. Alonzo made a cheap foul, then had some choice words in refusing to acknowledge the warning. Set the mood for him being a whiner all night
He was well off his line the previous 3 made, including Kamaras in reg time. You can’t consistently do it, it’s a risk
As a Sounders fan I congratulate KC for winning the Cup. I thought we had just as many chances (if not more) to not make it decided by a coin flip of PKs and certainly didn’t think KC had any more chances or were “clearly the better team tonight”. This match could have easily gone either way. Just wasn’t in the cards or coin flip for Seattle…Again, congratulations KC on taking the Cup!!
…keeping in mind that one of those “misses,” by the standard of the reffing, should have been re-taken.
Salazar — bought by – Gulati
Perfectly ok with that. I’ll take my back to back supporters shields and current MLS Cup title and laugh and laugh and laugh…
technically the sounders didn’t miss three in a row, because kc’s keeper was also well off his line on tiffert’s shot and we should have had a retake…but salazar decided not to call that one for some reason. here’s the comparison:
https://p.twimg.com/Az1HTivCIAAEJiN.jpg
total joke. but congrats kc. they played a better match overall. and the fans are effing fantastic. bitter sounders fan, but not unreasonable.
Sounders player to Salazar, “I hope you can sleep tonight and put on your SKC jersey because that’s who you played for tonight”
I’m a Sounders fan, so admittedly biased about the game… Asking viewers who didn’t have a stake in the game–did that seem like a fairly reffed match?
Gol TV…
a) Who pays for a sideline announcer (who looked like he was going to offer you candy to get into the unmarked van) to go to a game BUT NOT THE ANNOUNCERS? Great insight he had btw.
b) The quality…I’m no HD snob (read-don’t have it), but god, that picture was grainy.
c) Who is the black guy who seemingly runs Gol Tv by himself? I swear, he is in Colombia, the second Mexican division, the heartland, Spain, AND in the Hallo Bundesliga studio all at once, never showing his face.
d) Not one of those guys who doesn’t recognize Galavision has a contract with the league to air games that otherwise wouldn’t be aired at all nationally and thus hates all things Spanish, but really, what company thinks its a good idea to broadcast Spanish commercials for a game in English? Sure, there might be some people who are fluent enough, but that sure seems like a wide net to cast, even on a soccer channel…
e) from now on, I will only go to Gol TV for my economic insight-‘inflation, it keeps on going up, huh?” “Yup, hehe, it sure does!”
f) Serious question-how does Gol TV stay in business, especially now that it lost La Liga? I doubt Columbia and the second Mexican division are really keeping it going.
Better than Traffic I guess…
I predict that your team will never win the US Open Cup three straight times.
Gspurning was off the line, but if you’re going to call it on Gspurning, you need to call it on Neilsen too.
To be fair, I didn’t see the match, just read the box score, but who gives a yellow in the 4th minute for dissent? In a Cup Final? Seriously?
Salazar cut our legs out from under us at the beginning of this match.
Hartman looked like he was having a blast during PKs
I think your own images on twitter show how harsh it was. Off the line, yes, fair call no. Not calling the same thing at near the same distance a single penalty before is beyond unfair.
Have no idea what Salazar called on Gspurning, and I play keeper. Gspurning never moved forward before the ball was played so if Salazar wants to call Gspurning for being off his line then he shouldn’t have started the play to begin with.
That being said Sounders shouldn’t have missed 3 pk’s in a row. As much as it pains me to say it as a Sounders fan, KC were clearly the better team tonight. Just wish we would have actually lost the game as opposed to giving it away during PK’s
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
I will wake up and continue laughing tomorrow.
“Was Salazar’s call on Gspurning too harsh?”
It wasn’t in the realm of the Women’s Canada/USA call and while legal, was slightly harsh.
That said, you can’t miss 3 PK’s in a row and expect to win.