Alex Wiksell

With the help of a brace from Felipe Hernández and goals from Stephen Afrifa and Marinos Tzionis, Sporting KC cruised past FC Tulsa and into the Quarterfinals of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Tuesday night in Kansas City.

With the 4-0 win, Sporting advanced to the Quarterfinals for the 13th time in their history, which is the fifth most in the history of the tournament (1913-present). Kansas City, who hasn’t won the Open Cup since 2017, is seeking a record-tying fifth title.

They will know their next opponent after the draw for the next round will take place at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. Due to the geographic reasons, the club is expected to be placed in a group with Atlanta United, the winner of Indy Eleven and Detroit City FC and the winner of FC Dallas and the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Sporting came out with a strong lineup featuring starters from last round’s Open Cup game vs Omaha and usual starters, as well as rotational players like Hernandez, Tzionis, and Afrifa starting. Four players who played at the weekend, and also John Pulskamp who is looked at as their “cup keeper” as he has only started one MLS game in the last year. Dany Rosero also made his return to the pitch, after he missed time due to a quad injury. Sporting’s stars came off the bench with Alan Pulido, Daniel Salloi, and Johnny Russell making late contributions.

Tulsa also rotated as they made five changes from their weekend defeat to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Michael Creek was between the sticks as Tulsa likes to rotate him and Joey Roggeveen. Owen Damm saw his first start as an FC Tulsa player, after recently joining from Louisville City. Sebastian Sanchez and Alexander Dalou also appeared in the lineup for the first time since their first-round matchup vs Northern Colorado. Six players started from the weekend, rounded out by captain Phillip Goodrum. 

Sporting kicked off to begin the half, and their dominance began right away. KC controlled possession for the first three minutes of the game. They seemed to lean toward attacking on the left side as Stephen Afrifa became involved early and often. In addition, the antics began quickly for both teams as Philip Goodrum kicked the ball away in the 8th minute while Dany Rosero was on the ground. Rosero responded quickly as he fouled Goodrum and they began to attack only 30 seconds later. 

The first big chance for either team came at the 10-minute mark. Erik Thommy hit a quick shot that ricocheted off Afrifa and back to Thommy. He then curled a shot that was saved by Michael Creek, his first of many. That then fell to Jake Davis whose shot hit a sea of bodies and was cleared back to Sporting’s half. Another few big chances came soon after, with Creek saving a Thommy curler in the 17 minutes, and a close-range chance from Fontas was put over the bar at the 20-minute mark. The Sporting chances continue as a low-driven Thommy cross is put in the box and is cleared out at the last second. Just past the 25th minute, Afrifa swung a curling shot that hit exactly in the upper 90, easily the best chance up until then. Sporting attack continued as Camilo Ponce chopped down Jake Davis, leading to a yellow card for him, and for Patrick Seagrist, who was booked for dissent. 

Finally, in the 32nd minute, Camilo Ponce created the first chance for Tulsa as his header was just pushed wide by Pulskamp. However, it didn’t take long for Sporting to push right back, as Thommy dribbled past his defender and drew a foul right on the edge of the bottom left of the box. The ensuing free-kick was hit right in the danger area, deflected off of defender Rashid Tetteh, and into the left side of the net. 

Sporting continued to pile on the pressure as quickly after, in the 1st minute of added time, Hernandez whipped in a corner that was headed off the post by WIlly Agada and fell to the alert Afrifa who slotted home the second goal of the night. This was Stephen’s first goal for the first team and the first Canadian to score for the club this decade.

Going into halftime, Sporting out-shot Tulsa 15-1 and held 80 percent possession. Felipe Hernandez had created five chances and also had shown a lot of promise taking set pieces. Thommy dominated the ball too as he won eight duels in the first half alone. On the other side, Michael Creek did his best at controlling damage as he made five saves during the half.

Sporting brought off some key players as Thommy and the returning Rosero came for Memo Rodriguez and Robert Castellanos. Tulsa, on the other hand, needed to catch up and brought on Stefan Stojanovic and Edwin Laszo to bolster their attack, though this quickly became futile. Almost immediately, Patrick Seagrist dove recklessly into Jake Davis causing him to earn his second yellow and be sent off. Sporting used this advantage and it didn’t take long to begin to push forward yet again. Agada hit the post three minutes after the red and had another chance grabbed up by Creek and minutes after that.

Tulsa seemed to get back in it as a free kick that was headed toward goal by Stojanovic was saved by Pulskamp and rebounded out to Camilo Ponce who put the ball in the back of the net, but Stojanovic had fouled Pulskamp in the process, disallowing the goal in the 60th minute. Tulsa continued to try and put on pressure but it wasn’t enough. In the 63rd minute, Agada led a breakaway in which he played Hernandez through, where he finished and scored his second goal of the game, and Sporting’s 3rd.

Not too long after, in the 65th minute, a similar breakaway began as Afrifa played through Marinos Tzionis who finished into the far left side of the goal and made it 4-0, and gave him his second goal in two Open Cup games. By this point, Sporting was outshooting Tulsa 21-1. Tulsa had another great chance as Pacheco was played through and Pulskamp was just able to get his body in the way of the shot, maintaining the clean sheet.

Sporting surprisingly brought on more firepower as the game went on with Johnny Russell and Alan Pulido being brought on for Tzionis and Afrifa in the 76th minute.

“It’s always good when an attacking player gets a goal because it’s a little bit of a confidence builder,” Sporting head coach Peter Vermes said about Afrifa’s performance.

For Afrifa, he was happy to finally get on the scoresheet.

“I’ve been looking for this goal for a long time, and I’m finally glad that it’s here,” said Afrifa. “It feels good.”

Then, Tulsa seemed to wave the white flag as they brought off captain Philip Goodrum for another striker Santiago Sanchez. Sporting continued to press in the last 10 minutes getting chances from Pulido and Salloi back to back that forced a double save from Creek. 

No added time was added and Sporting KC convincingly defeated FC Tulsa 4-0. 

This was Felipe Hernandez’s 2nd brace for the club, his first came in 2022 vs Union Omaha in the Open Cup as well. Afrifa also recorded his first assist along with his first goal for the club.

“The intensity, the aggressiveness, the front footedness to go and take the game to them was there, I think that ruled the day,” said Sporting head coach Peter Vermes.