The Sporting Kansas City homegrowns may have stolen the headlines in Sunday night's 4-1 demolition of Minnesota United FC, but it was a pair of veterans who earned MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week honors for Week 14. Defender Graham Zusi was one of three defenders tabbed for the weekly honor, while midfielder Ilie was on the Team of the Week bench.
Zusi created two scoring chances, won six duels and completed 47 passes in Sporting KC's attacking half to help the hosts sweep aside the Loons in front of a capacity crowd at Children's Mercy Park. Ilie effectively pulled the strings from the midfield, completing 92 passes overall with nine duels won, eight recoveries and four interceptions.
Sitting atop the Western Conference table, Sporting KC will now prepare for pivotal two-game road trip that begins Wednesday with a trip to rivals Real Salt Lake in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round. Vermes’ men enter the tournament as reigning Open Cup champions and will begin their title defense in the round of 32, with kickoff set for 9 p.m. CT at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.
The club will then travel further west for the resumption of the MLS regular season, locking horns with the Portland Timbers at 9:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Providence Park in Portland.
