As in their victory against RSL, the key for Klimenta and his teammates will be to get on the front foot early and make sure they press home any advantage available.

“You’re going to have to go in with a different mentality in the sense that you know you’re playing an MLS team, and that’s obviously in your head, and not to be scared,” said Klimenta. “From the get-go, from the whistle you’ve got to be confident in yourself and in your team and you’ve got to attack and go at these guys.

“The older players that have played against MLS teams in the U.S. Open Cup and in general, I think we’re going to play a big part in the newer players playing the MLS clubs. Help them calm down, help them realize to just do your part, play your game and everything else will handle itself.”

Should Republic FC accomplish that, there’s no telling how far this run could go.

“Nowadays with soccer you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Anyone can win, anything can happen, and with this group of guys and how we have been playing lately and the belief we have in ourselves collectively and individually, we’re pretty confident we can win and we can continue on this Open Cup run that we’ve been on.

“Everybody’s confident, everybody’s comfortable, we’re just going one game at a time not really thinking about quarterfinals or semis or whatever the case may be. I’m really confident that this group of guys will get it done and we’re going to keep moving forward and keep giving our best.”