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MLS Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC Advances in Open Cup with 2-0 Win

June 7, 2018 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City opened the team's defense of the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title with a 2-0 road victory at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday inside Rio Tinto Stadium. Johnny Russell and Kharlton Belmar combined on both goals in the second half as Russell opened the scoring in the 47th minute with his team-leading sixth goal of the year and Belmar bagged his first goal in a Sporting KC uniform in the 74th minute.

Sporting KC, four-time champions in the competition (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017), now advances to the Round of 16 and will await the official draw to be conducted by U.S. Soccer on Thursday to set a fixed bracket for the remainder of the single-elimination tournament. Should Sporting KC receive hosting rights for the Round of 16, tickets for the match will be included in Sporting KC Season Ticket Member packages and single-game tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Friday via SeatGeek.com.

With MLS road trips ahead on Saturday for two teams that sit in the top three positions in the Western Conference, both sides rotated their rosters with a mix of first team regulars and young newcomers in the mid-week match - highlighted by brothers Nick Besler and Matt Besler squaring off on opposite sides. Belmar, the USL's leading scorer with eight goals for the Swope Park Rangers in 2018, made the most of his opportunity as he marked his first start for Sporting KC with a goal and game-winning assist.

Sixteen-year-old midfielder Gianluca Busio made his Sporting KC debut, becoming the youngest player to appear in a competitive match for the club. Busio took the field alongside fellow Sporting KC Academy products Jaylin Lindsey (18), Wan Kuzain Wan Kamal (19) and Daniel Salloi (21) as Sporting KC featured three teenagers and four Homegrown Players for the first time in the team's history.

Kuzain drew an early foul on the left flank in the second minute and the ensuing free kick from Johnny Russell found Amer Didic inside the box, however the centerback's header was wide of target.

Lindsey, starting at right back in a 5-4-1 formation, burst forward in the 23rd minute and beat his man along the endline before cutting the ball back to set up a first-time effort from Busio that rolled off frame.

Russell, on his return from international duty after playing the full 90 minutes for Scotland at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Saturday, produced the half's only shot on goal when he came close to opening the scoring in the 43rd minute. He did well to cut inside Taylor Peay on the dribble, but couldn't beat Connor Sparrow, a former goalkeeper at UMKC, from close range.

The hosts weren't without chances of their own in the opening 45 minutes, including their best scoring opportunity in the 18th minute when Jose Hernandez drug his shot past the left post.

Adrian Zendejas made his Sporting KC debut and was called into action in the 26th minute to push Aaron Herrera's cross over the bar. Moments later, Herrera let loose an ambitious long-range effort that sailed narrowly over the net.

Sporting Kansas City would break the scoreless stalemate just three minutes into the second half on a sequence that started with a foray forward from centerback Emiliano Amor. The 23-year-old Argentine played a through ball to Belmar, whose first touch kept the ball in play at the endline and delivered a pinpoint pass into the path of Russell to head home from eight yards out.

Real Salt Lake would look to respond with the game's next six shots, including an attempt from 25 yards out by Luis Silva in the 57th minute and later with a shot from distance by Alfredo Ortuno in the 86th minute that both forced saves from Zendejas.

However, it would be Sporting Kansas City that found the all-important next goal on an impressive dribble into the penalty area by Russell, who capped the run by driving a low cross into the goalmouth for Belmar to slide across the line.

Sporting KC will now travel further west to resume the MLS regular season at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday against the Portland Timbers FC at Providence Park. The game will be shown live on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO in addition to radio coverage on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and ESPN Deportes KC 1480 AM (Spanish). Sporting KC supporters are invited to attend the team's official watch party at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power and Light District with food and drink specials beginning 30 minutes before kick off.

QUOTES

Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes

On the introduction of three teenagers into the starting lineup...

It is very good to see the young guys come in and play the way that they played. Those kids are going to get a lot of chances. Every chance is hopefully going to be a step. The players made really good steps in the game. They were positives one so I'm happy about that.

On the combination play between Kharlton Belmar and Johnny Russell...

I thought that from Kharlton Belmar's perspective, his movement off the ball was really, really good. He put a lot of pressure on the two central defenders. He put them under a lot of pressure because of his movement. He's a powerful dude. He's athletic. He's strong. But at the same time, I think he's got good soccer instincts on the field.

On the 5-4-1 formation...

We just felt that for us going into another game this weekend, it was going to give us the best way to utilize the players that we were thinking about playing in this game and that it would give us the best chance to get the result while at the same time, not have to use all of our guys for 90 minutes ahead of the weekend. That was important to us.

On managing the match at the end...

I think we did what I think we're very good at and that is possession. We can knock the ball around and we can play. That gave us a lot of opportunity to be on the ball. We found the holes in between the lines really, really well.

On the team's ability to play multiple formations...

It's what we decided to do and who we wanted to use. It gave us the opportunity to use Johnny in a way that we think, at times, he can be very dangerous playing as an underneath forward. We felt that it was going to give us some efficiency in the game. When I say efficiency, we weren't going to have to expend a lot of energy - which I don't think we did - and it gave us the opportunity to also only put Roger on for 30 minutes or whatever he played. That was really good. Not having to play (Graham) Zusi, Ike (Opara), those guys right now was a big opportunity for us. The point is that playing the formation also gave us efficiency on the field with our energy.

On the play of Adrian Zendejas...

He was really good. I thought he managed the game well. He played with confidence. I think it's a very good step in a positive direction for him coming into the team like he has and playing the game like he did. He was good. He was smart. He was composed. It's good to see because that's something we've talked about quite a bit and something that we're trying to work on in training. I thought he was really good at that.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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