
On Wednesday, two former division rivals will clash for silverware as the New York Red Bulls visit Children’s Mercy Park to take on Sporting Kansas City in the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final. To say both clubs prepared very differently would be an understatement.
In Sporting KC’s last match on Saturday, manager Peter Vermes used a starter-heavy lineup to take down 10-man New England, 3-1. Diego Rubio scored twice with the man advantage for the club’s first win since their last home match, Aug. 19 against FC Dallas.
Vermes has told reporters on numerous occasions he puts out the best lineup he can to win as many matches as possible.
“The fact that we played here tonight on Saturday and are playing here on Wednesday, there is no doubt we can manage that from a physical perspective,” Vermes said during his post-game press conference Saturday. “I actually like the fact that we are in the rhythm to play the next game. Tonight wasn’t easy. No matter how you look at it, the final was in the back of their minds and so I thought the guys did a good job of managing this game, getting the points and no understanding that our focus and or preparation has to be on Wednesday.”
Contrast that with the Red Bulls’ last match. In Sunday’s scoreless draw with the Philadelphia Union, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Tyler Adams and Sacha Kljestan played 71 minutes between the three of them, with Kljestan playing the most at 32 minutes. It’s a risk for New York, considering they’re currently in the last playoff spot in the East.
Considering the travel and having less recovery time, Marsch defended the decision after the match. “I think it’s the right decision,” Marsch said. “Given everything, we want to win the trophy and you don’t have a lot of opportunities to play a final; clearly around this club, very few.”
It would be fair to say both clubs are shuffling a bit. New York has struggled to close out games recently, giving up three one-goal leads in two of their last three games. Sporting KC, on the other hand, has only two wins since the end of July, but both were at home.

If you wanted to identify three key players for New York, you’d be hard-pressed to argue with Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan and Luis Robles. Wright-Phillips leads the club with 15 goals, including two game-winners. Kljestan is the team’s best helper with 14 assists, including two game-winners, and two goals of his own. Robles has 12 wins along with eight clean sheets this season in league play.
However, Jesse Marsch recently announced that it will be Ryan Meara who will start in goal in the championship game. As a backup to Robles, Meara hasn’t appeared in a league game since 2015, but the Open Cup has been an opportunity for him to shine. The Fordham University grad, who was a second round pick in 2012, has been the starting goalkeeper throughout the Red Bulls’ 2017 run to the Final. He has played in nine tournament games since making his tournament debut for the Red Bulls in 2012, and has a 5-3-1 (1-0 PKs) record, allowing 11 goals in those games.
The three players to watch for Sporting KC would have to be Gerso Fernandes, Graham Zusi and Tim Melia. In the absence of Dom Dwyer, Gerso has stepped up and now leads the team with eight goals on a club where goals seem to come from unexpected places. Zusi, enjoying one of his better seasons after moving to right back, leads the club with six assists. Melia, a former league pool goalkeeper, has 10 clean sheets in league play to go along with his three Open Cup shutouts. Melia also has three penalty kick saves in league play on the five spot kicks he’s faced.
Melia is on one of the best runs for any goalkeeper in the Modern Era of the tournament. He hasn’t lost an Open Cup match since the 2010 Quarterfinals, boasting a 10-0-2 (2-0 PKs) record during that span. He has taken part in four penalty kick shootouts in his career and has never lost.
Both goalkeepers have experienced, and won, a penalty kick shootout during this year’s Open Cup.
Home is a beautiful place to be if you’re Sporting KC. The club has 101 consecutive league sellouts at Children’s Mercy Park, where they’ve not lost since May 27, 2016, a 1-0 loss to DC United on an 86th minute goal by Alhaji Kamara (an 85th minute substitute). The unbeaten streak has now reached 23 regular season MLS matches (26, if you count three USOC wins this season), tied for third-longest streak in league history.

Not only do the hosts have their crowds on their side, but Sporting KC also a history in cup finals at home. In franchise history, the club has played three USOC finals (2004, 2012 and 2015), with 2004 and 2012 played in front of their home fans. All three have been tied at the end of regulation, and two have been decided by penalty kicks (2012, 2015). The closest New York has come to a title was a 1-0 loss in the 2003 Open Cup Final to the Chicago Fire.
To reach the Final, Sporting KC defeated Minnesota United (4-0), the Houston Dynamo (2-0), FC Dallas (3-0, AET) and the San Jose Earthquakes (1-1, 5-4 on PKs). New York’s road to the final included wins over NYCFC (1-0), the Philadelphia Union (1-1, 5-3 on PKs), the New England Revolution (1-0), and FC Cincinnati (3-2, AET).
There are several connections between the two clubs. Both Vermes and his assistant Kerry Zavagnin played for the then-MetroStars. In fact, the two were traded for each other, with Vermes going to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for Zavagnin. Current Red Bulls players Sal Zizzo and Aurelien Collin both played for Sporting Kansas City, with Collin winning the MLS Cup with Sporting KC in 2013. Collin was also named the MVP of the MLS Cup final.
While this is Marsch’s first USOC final as a manager, he and his assistant Chris Armas won three USOC titles with the Chicago Fire (1998, 2000, 2003), with Armas winning a fourth title (2006). They were also both on the field at Arrowhead Stadium for the Fire when Zavagnin won his only Open Cup title as a player in 2004.
If the Red Bulls win, they will become the first New Jersey-based club to lift the trophy since 1972 when U.S. international Walter Schmotolocha scored the lone goal in Elizabeth SC’s 1-0 win over Yugoslav SC.
The only Kansas-based club to win the US Open Cup is Sporting Kansas City (2012, 2015), which has represented the state of Kansas since the club built Children’s Mercy Park on the Kansas side of the border in 2011. The team was based in Arrowhead Stadium, located on the Missouri side, in 2004.
Will New York finally win its first US Open Cup (or first tournament of any kind)? Or will Sporting Kansas City become just the eighth club in history to win a fourth tournament title? We will find out on Wednesday night.
2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final
New York Red Bulls (MLS) at Sporting Kansas City (MLS)
Children’s Mercy Park – Kansas City, KS
BROADCAST: ESPN2 / ESPN Deportes / Watch ESPN app
Kickoff: 9 p.m. EST
New York Red Bulls Open Cup records
Overall: 21-17-3 (2-1 PK) | Home: 9-5-2 (1-1 PK) | Away: 11-11-1 (1-0 PK) | vs. MLS: 7-9-3 (2-1 PK)
Last entry: 2016 (Lost 2-1 at Philadelphia Union of MLS in Round of 16)
Best finish: 2003 Runner-up (Lost 1-0 vs. Chicago Fire of MLS)
Leading goalscorer: Bradley Wright-Phillips – 3 goals
How they got here
Round 4: 1-0 home win vs. New York City FC (MLS)
Round 5: 1-1 home draw (5-3 PK win) vs. Philadelphia Union (MLS)
Quarterfinals: 1-0 road win at New England Revolution (MLS)
Semifinals: 3-2 (AET) road win at FC Cincinnati (USL)
Sporting Kansas City Open Cup records
Overall: 25-13-6 (4-2 PK) | Home: 18-7-2 (2-0 PK) | Away: 7-6-4 (2-2 PK) | vs. MLS: 11-8-3 (3-0 PK)
Last entry: 2016 (Lost 3-1 at Houston Dynamo of MLS in Round of 16)
Best finish: 2004, 2012, 2015 champions
Leading goalscorer: Four players tied with 2 (Blessing, Fernandes, Opara, Salloi)
How they got here
Round 4: 4-0 home win vs. Minnesota United (MLS)
Round 5: 2-0 road win at Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Quarterfinals: 3-0 (AET) home win vs. FC Dallas (MLS)
Semifinals: 1-1 home draw (5-4 PK win) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)
US Open Cup Final history:
* A list of every US Open Cup Final (1914-present)
* US Open Cup Final All-Time Goalscorers
* 1923 US Open Cup Final: Paterson FC claims New Jersey’s “tainted” first title
* 2004 US Open Cup: How Sporting Kansas City won their first Dewar Cup
#USOC2017 coverage:
* 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup schedule, results
* 2017 US Open Cup Round 1 review
* 2017 US Open Cup Round 2 review
* 2017 US Open Cup Round 3 review
* 2017 US Open Cup Round 4 review
* 2017 US Open Cup Round of 16 review
* 2017 US Open Cup Quarterfinal review
* 2017 TheCup.us Player of the Round winnners
* 2017 US Open Cup bracket (TheCup.us)
* 2017 US Open Cup statistical leaders
* A map of all 99 entries for the 2017 US Open Cup
* 2017 Meet the Underdogs series
* 2017 US Open Cup qualifying Round 2 review: 14 more teams advance as Round 3 moved to next year
* 2017 US Open Cup qualifying Round 1: Scores and recaps from every game
#USOC2018 qualifying coverage
* 2018 US Open Cup qualifying begins this weekend (Sept. 23-24)
* Which NPSL teams will qualify for 2018 US Open Cup?
* Which PDL teams will play in the 2018 US Open Cup?
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