Sporting Kansas City will look to write another glorious chapter in club history on Sept. 20 when the New York Red Bulls visit Children’s Mercy Park for the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, slated for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
In our 21-day Countdown to Cup, SportingKC.com is highlighting the most relevant storylines, historical narratives and statistical trends surrounding the Open Cup Final, U.S. Soccer’s National Championship.
Our ninth installment of the daily countdown revolves around New York head coach Jesse Marsch, who in 2000 and 2004 faced Kansas City in cup finals as a player.
When head coach Jesse Marsch takes his team into Children's Mercy Park on Sept. 20, he will have the opportunity to deliver the New York Red Bulls their first-ever U.S. Open Cup title.
He will also have his shot at revenge.
Almost 13 years ago to the day — Sept. 22, 2004, to be exact — Marsch took the field at Arrowhead Stadium for the 2004 U.S. Open Cup Final. The veteran midfielder was amidst a trophy-laden playing career with the Chicago Fire, where he won the 1998 MLS Cup and a whopping three Open Cups in 1998, 2000 and 2003.
A fourth Open Cup championship narrowly eluded his grasp, however, as the Kansas City Wizards prevailed 1-0 thanks to a 95th-minute golden goal from forward and folk hero Igor Simutenkov. It was the first of three tournament titles for a Kansas City side that went on to hoist the trophy again in 2012 and 2015.
SportingKC.com's oral history of the 2004 Open Cup Final, published two years ago, included remarks from Marsch, who started for the Fire on that fateful September evening. More than a decade after the match was played, he was able to provide a vivid recollection of the game's decisive moment.
Kansas City and Chicago had entered extra time after a scoreless stalemate through regulation, setting the stage for a Simutenkov free kick.
"I actually made a mistake at the top of the box on a corner kick that we had," Marsch told SportingKC.com in September 2015. "That allowed them to get a counter which got them a foul just outside the box."
Somehow, some way, Simutenkov's free kick found the back of the net to ignite celebrations inside Arrowhead Stadium and send Marsch and the Chicago fire home empty-handed.
"On that free kick, they hit it through the wall, and then it hit off our goalie and sort of just popped right up...and that was the winning goal," Marsch said. "I remember being very disappointed by how it all kind of fell apart, but Kansas City had a good team that year. Finals can be like that. One play can mean so much. That's why you've got to be ready for anything."
That night wasn't the first time Marsch's team had fallen to Kansas City in a cup final. Four years earlier, an explosive Chicago outfit approached the 2000 MLS Cup as heavy favorites against Defender of the Year Peter Vermes and the Wizards. Marsch started and played 59 minutes before exiting the match at sun-drenched RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. with his team trailing 1-0. The Fire were unable to muster an equalizer.
Fast forward to 2017, and Marsch is on the precipice of winning his second major trophy with the Red Bulls, having won the 2015 Supporters' Shield. He is also looking to become the third person, joining Ben Olsen and Tom Soehn, to win a U.S. Open Cup as a player and a head coach.
And, of course, he has the chance to exorcise any demons that might linger from the 2004 Open Cup Final defeat
