Sporting Kansas City will face rivals Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Semifinals of the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.
As the No. 1 seed in the West, Sporting KC will visit No. 6 seed Real Salt Lake in the first leg of the conference semifinals on Sunday at Rio Tinto Stadium. The match will kick off at 9 p.m. CT and air live nationally on FS1 and FOX Deportes, while ESPN 94.5 FM and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM will carry local radio broadcasts.
Sporting KC and RSL will then square off in the decisive second leg of the Western Conference Semifinals on Sunday, Nov. 11, at Children’s Mercy Park. Tickets for the game—Sporting KC’s first home playoff tilt since winning the 2013 MLS Cup against Real Salt Lake—are now available at SeatGeek.com.
Real Salt Lake posted a 3-2 road win over No. 3 seed LAFC in Thursday’s single-elimination Knockout Round. As the lowest-seeded playoff team still alive in the West, RSL will now play top-seeded Sporting KC for the fourth and fifth time this season in all competitions.
Led by MLS Coach of the Year finalist Peter Vermes, Sporting KC eliminated RSL from the 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 2-0 fourth-round win on June 6 at Rio Tinto Stadium. In regular season action, Sporting KC took a 4-2 road loss on July 4 before battling RSL to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 30 at Children's Mercy Park.
Sporting KC is 9-11-8 against Real Salt Lake in the regular season, including a 1-6-5 mark since 2014. The sides also met in the 2013 MLS Cup at Children’s Mercy Park, an epic encounter played amidst freezing conditions that saw Sporting KC prevail 7-6 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw through regulation and extra time.
The conference semifinals and conference finals of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs are conducted in a home-and-away, aggregate-goal format. If the teams are tied after the two-game series, the team that scored more goals on the road advances. If the teams remain tied after the away goals tiebreaker has been applied, they will play 30 minutes of extra time—divided into two 15-minute periods—followed by a penalty kick shootout if necessary.
