Sporting Kansas City routs Union Omaha to reach Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals
Sporting Kansas City put an end to Union Omaha’s run through the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament Wednesday night with a resounding 6-0 victory at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.
Union Omaha, a USL League 1 team, had beaten a pair of Sporting’s Major League Soccer counterparts to reach the quarterfinals.
Union Omaha and about 700 of the team’s fans had traveled down I-29 in hopes of slaying a third giant. The away fans’ pre-game banner depicted death coming to Sporting’s door.
Sporting slammed that door shut to reach the U.S. Open Cup semifinals for the first time since 2017.
“I think the guys, today, they were hungry, they were organized and I also believe they gave the effort that they needed to,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “Sometimes in games you have the ball a lot or you get some chances and, next thing you know, you start to get antsy to score and you get out of position and you become unorganized. Which then the other team hurts you.”
Sporting KC’s semifinal assignment in the tournament named for Hunt, the late Kansas City sports icon, is the Sacramento Republic, a USL Championship team from California. That match will take place sometime during the last week of July.
On Wednesday, Daniel Salloi scored two goals, his second featuring a highlight-reel run, as did Felipe Hernandez. Salloi’s second goal broke Sporting KC’s record for goals scored in the US Open Cup with 7. Dom Dwyer previously had held the record.
“Records are there to be broken,” Salloi joked. “So I’m sure he’s happy for me.”
Both of Hernandez’s goals came in the second half. Khiry Shelton and Kortne Ford accounted for Sporting’s other two goals.
Ford’s header in the first half made it 2-0 and was the Olathe native’s first goal for Sporting KC. Ford was subbed off just before halftime after hurting his head.
Omaha came into the match having already knocked off two MLS teams on the road: the Chicago Fire on penalty kicks and Minnesota United in the round of 16.
The common denominator in those upsets? Underestimation on the part of the Fire and Minnesota United. They rested their stars, played mostly their bench players, and even called up MLS Next Pro players for their respective matches against the team from Nebraska.
Sporting KC, meanwhile, made a few tweaks to the lineup of personnel who played recently against Nashville, with no changes at all in the front line or midfield.
“I think that these are always really, really dangerous games,” Vermes said. “If you come with the effort and you have respect for your opponent and you understand that they want to win as well, and you go out and you play your game, then you give yourself a chance.”
Salloi praised the run that Union Omaha had through the U.S. Open Cup.
“Amazing run they had in the Open Cup,” Salloi said. “Congratulations to them. These are the games and the teams that open up the question of, ‘What would happen if you had relegation and promotion in America?’
“These teams are doing amazing, and the same with Sacramento, obviously. It would be interesting. We treated them as an MLS team and we went for it. Every minute of the game we were pushing it, and that’s the result.”
Notably, Sacramento advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 upset of the L.A. Galaxy on Tuesday night.
While Sporting KC awaits details about its next U.S. Open Cup match, the club returns to MLS action this weekend with a Saturday afternoon road game in Seattle.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City routs Union Omaha to reach Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals."