Sporting Kansas City at Minnesota United FC
Wednesday, June 15 — 7 p.m. CT
National Sports Center | Blaine, MN
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Sporting Kansas City is back in action this Wednesday night, going head-to-head with Minnesota United FC (NASL) to kick off the team’s 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup campaign. The game will take place at National Sports Center Stadium in Blaine, Minnesota, and will kick off at 7 p.m. CT. The match follows a two-week break in the team’s Major League Soccer regular season schedule for Copa America Centenario.
The Open Cup is a knockout-style competition has been held annually since 1914 and is the third-longest running open soccer tournament in the world. The winner of this year’s tournament will walk away with $250,000 and a guaranteed spot in the 2017-18 CONCACAF Champions League.
The fourth round of the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will see the 17 MLS clubs based in the United States enter the competition in the round of 32 on Tuesday and Wednesday. The fourth round winners will then be placed in a fixed, 16-team bracket and divided geographically (regardless of league affiliation) into groups of four. A random draw on Thursday will then determine the fifth round pairings within each group.
Sporting KC enters the fourth round of the tournament as reigning champions, having hoisted the last year’s trophy after defeating the Philadelphia Union in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. The team’s victory earned them a spot in the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League tournament. Sporting KC is a three-time winner of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, having also claimed the title in 2004 and 2012.
Minnesota United FC, on the other hand, hasn’t advanced past the round of 32 since 2013, when the club fell 1-0 to the Des Moines Menace. The Minnesota team is 1-2-0 against MLS teams in Open Cup play, having defeated Real Salt Lake by a two-goal margin in 2012 before falling to San Jose in the following round. This year, the team’s performance has been hindered by a string of injuries that include Sporting KC loan Bernardo Añor, who is out for several months after shattering his ankle in practice.
Live updates of the match will be available online at SportingKC.com/gameon, on Twitter @SKCgameday, and on the club's official mobile app Sporting KC Uphoria.
