Sporting Kansas City are on the cusp of taking on lower league opposition for the second time in this competition as they host the Dayton Dutch Lions of the USL Pro.
This time last season a team from this exact same division, the Richomond Kickers, arrived in town and surprised the team, after a lengthy weather delay, in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup.
In the round of 32 of this year’s competition Orlando City of USL Pro came to Livestrong Sporting Park and went toe to toe with Sporting and left with a feeling of being hard done by of which was stated in their press release of the game on their website.
Dayton on the other hand is on the other side of the USL Pro table in comparison to Orlando City. Dayton is what Toronto FC currently is to their league, the cellar dweller. There is little chance for the team to progress this season in the league due to their position and number of games remaining. Also the fact that Orlando has some deep pockets for their level on competition doesn’t hurt things none.
What does that mean?
That Dayton looks at this game as a chance to redeem themselves in their own eyes and possibly for the fans to have something to cheer about. This makes them dangerous.
Sporting KC was just scalped 4-0 at the Philadelphia Union after playing Seattle on Wednesday and Toronto on Saturday. They will be facing Chicago at home on Friday so there is no time to rest weary legs. This is the moment for Sporting KC to show their depth and their determination.
Peter Vermes has talked about how this competition is a direct path to the CONCACAF Champions League, a competition that this club has not had a taste of since the re-branding of the competition and change up of how it is run and rewards those involved.
It seems like a good few years since the team was involved in the SuperLiga and a victory over Dayton will put Sporting in a position to win their first piece of serious silverware since the 2004 US Open Cup. With what is riding on this game look for the players to come out the gate with the mentality that we haven’t forgotten last year.
Prediction: Sporting dominate every possible statistical category in a 2-0 victory
Brian Sanders
Connect with GFT