Philadelphia and Kansas City are both one game from glory but their motivations for victory are in stark contrast

Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City reached the US Open Cup final on Wednesday night, setting up a repeat of the 2012 semi-final, on an evening where the eliminated Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake saw their prospects for taking anything from disappointing MLS seasons diminish markedly.

Chicago lost on the road to the Union thanks to a 74th minute Sebastien Le Toux goal (Le Toux is now the leading goalscorer of the MLS era in the competition) and the one-time US Open Cup specialists now return to a domestic MLS campaign where they find themselves on the bottom of the Eastern Conference with games running out.

RSL too have found themselves outside of the playoff spots, and had put a big emphasis on the Cup this year – going so far as to heavily rotate their team to ensure the strongest possible selection for a competition some MLS sides regard as a distraction.

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It was an approach that briefly looked to have worked when RSL took an early lead over Sporting through Olmes Garcia, but the hosts rallied to a 3-1 home victory, thanks in part to a goal and an assist from the irrepressible Benny Feilhaber – who also had a role in ending Garcia’s night on a particularly sour note when the RSL forward was sent off for a foul on the Kansas City playmaker.

It was a typically fractious incident for this rivalry, which has simmered through a number of bad tempered encounters since a wild pre-season game a few years ago, as well as an epic (and freezing) encounter in the 2013 MLS Cup final, also won by Sporting.

Indeed RSL were not able to stop Feilhaber (or Krisztian Nemeth and Soni Mustivar who also scored) and buck the trend of recent history. This despite their strong emphasis on selecting a team dedicated to this competition – Nick Rimando had a valiant night in goal but ultimately could not stop Sporting from extending RSL’s record of never having won on the road in this competition.

Sporting, on the other hand have plenty of experience of doing just that. Their 2012 Open Cup win, that ended the sequence of Seattle dominance and marked the first trophy of the team’s Sporting KC incarnation, may have come at home, but it followed a victory on the road in Philadelphia in the semis – a feat Sporting will now have to repeat if they’re to take the trophy again.

Philadelphia will be determined to prevent that, and will be hosting their second consecutive final, after losing a tight game to Seattle in extra time last year.



In fact, in their short history the Union have put repeated emphasis on this competition – Philadelphia may be the fourth largest media market in the country, but the team’s resources and priorities tend to be more those of a small market team, and the Open Cup represents both a chance of a first ever franchise trophy in its own right and the easiest route to the Concacaf Champions League.

And with the Union just a point clear of Chicago at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, having played two games more, their progress in the competition has played a similar role in helping keep a stuttering season alive.

And of course there’s another recent historical precedent that all of these sides, with the exception of the perennially buoyant Sporting KC, will be keenly aware of – DC United.

DC won the competition in 2013, beating Philadelphia, Chicago and RSL along the way, in the midst of an otherwise wretched season. Winning the Open Cup allowed Ben Olsen to maintain some sort of mandate and blood a number of young players in the meaningless climax to their MLS season – an approach which paid off in the long term as that young core won the Eastern Conference the following year (they lead again this year).

In Philadelphia, then interim coach Jim Curtin may owe his permanent position to his team’s run to the final last year, and while the team have been somewhat patchy since, another inspirational Cup run this year, under the unofficial motto of “unfinished business” has helped strengthen his personal position in a club not known for stability.

They’ve done it the hard way – twice winning with 10 men, twice winning on penalties, and generally shredding the nerves of their fans. In that vein, a semi-final victory that allowed Chicago only two shots on goal, after a quarter-final where Philadelphia allowed the Red Bulls 34 shots, and 10 on goal, may have represented a similarly narrow margin of victory, but a rather more comfortable experience.

There’ll be little comfort for Philadelphia in the final however – any suggestion that Sporting KC might lose their way with their move to the tougher Western Conference this season has not been reflected in their steadily improving results. With games in hand, an Open Cup, Shield and MLS Cup sweep is not beyond them. Philadelphia’s ambitions for the year may be more modest, but no less intense, as they chase their first ever trophy.

US Open Cup results: Philadelphia Union 1-0 Chicago Fire; Sporting KC 3-1 Real Salt Lake



