Photo by Peter G. Aiken/USA TODAY Sports
By SKYLAR ROLSTAD
Sporting KC advanced to the final of the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night by once again riding the hot feet of Benny Feilhaber.
Coming back from a one-goal deficit, Feilhaber provided a goal and an assist to help Sporting KC advance past Real Salt Lake and into the U.S. Open Cup final by way of a 3-1 win.
Feilhaber propelled Sporting KC with the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute. Dom Dwyer, however, did most of the dirty work on the goal by dribbling through two RSL defenders and hitting the post for Feilhaber to knock in the rebound.
Krisztian Nemeth sealed the win for the SKC in the 85th minute and exited the match one minute later.
Sporting started the game on the wrong foot when, in the 24th minute, Tony Beltran floated a pass into the box for Olmes Garcia, who raced past Kevin Ellis and beat Tim Melia for the early lead.
Soni Mustivar would draw Sporting KC level in the 35th minute. Feilhaber assisted that goal with service from a free kick, helping Mustivar’ finifh his first for Sporting KC in any competition.
Real Salt Lake entered the match with tired legs, having played on the road Saturday and in Guatemala in CONCACAF Champions League play the previous Tuesday, something that became much more of a factor as the game went on.
Although Sporting KC would control the game as a whole with 17 shots to RSL’s six, it took until the last ten minutes for the outcome to be decided when Feilhaber and Nemeth provided the go-ahead and insurance goal to book the teams spot in the final.
The win made Peter Vermes the all-time winningest coach in Sporting KC history, moving past Bob Gansler on the list.
With the win, Sporting KC moves on to the US Open Cup final in Philadelphia against the Union, which defeated the Chicago Fire 1-0 Wednesday night in the other semifinal.
Why is the final being held in Philadelphia? How did Philadelphia get home field advantage in this tournament?
RSL has absolutely no discipline now. It seems like a different player almost weekly is lashing out or sliding in studs up for a hope crushing red card. Yesterday it was Garcia who lost it.
We have to point to the coach and his staff for this. I’m convinced that Cassar isn’t an MLS quality coach and I’m starting to question the GM and definitely the owner. This RSL team at the top is out of their league and it never felt like that when Kreis and Lagerway instituted their own kind of “small ball.”
BTW it doesn’t help that our defense is rubbish either. Just piss poor defending left and right.
I hate watching them go backwards in terms of on-field quality. At their very best they are competitive, but they’re so wildly inconsistent that you’re lucky to see them play well for more than a 10 minute stretch in any given game. I’m done with Cassar and I think a change needs to made as soon as possible. RSL has almost no chance in my mind to make the playoffs, so start the transition now.
All I can say is the USMNT needs Feilhaber on the roster ASAP.
amen, truer words could not have been spoken….but it seems creative midfielders who can score and set up others to score aren’t needed on the USMNT unfortunately
+1
Yep, JK lives in a fantasy world.
All I can say is:
Dom Dwyer needs to hurry up and get his citizenship in, as we really need his services
When Benny Feilhaber is on his game few players in the USMNT pool can match him