Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Sporting Traveling North for US Open Cup Defense

Sporting Kansas City will start the defense of their 2015 US Open Cup championship up north against future MLS side Minnesota United. United qualified for the fourth round of the competition by beating St. Louis FC 2-0 tonight in St. Louis. The win avenges their 1-0 loss last year in the same round against St. Louis.

The match up on June 15th will be the second time that KC will face off against this version of a Minnesota minor league soccer team, but the fourth time overall. It'll be KC's first trip up to Minnesota since 2009 when the then Wizards went up and defeated the Minnesota Thunder 3-3 (4-2) on penalty kicks, with Boris Pardo being the hero in the penalty kick shootout.

This time though things will be a little different, United is building their roster for their entrance into MLS next year and will certainly be up for the task this year of knocking off the defending champions, especially in the form Kansas City is in right now. You'd have to think that Minnesota would be considered a close favorite in the early look at this game.

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