50/50 Ball USOC: #SportingKC – Orlando City 29MAY12
This was Sporting's first US Open Cup game of the season and they were looking to pick up where they left off last year, but hopefully with out the lost. Well they didn't disappoint as the entire team came out firing against Orlando City. Orlando City also wanted otherwise though as this was their biggest game. A USL Pro team playing against a MLS team? Who wouldn't play as hard as they could and possibly upset a MLS squad? This was an incredible match up as Orlando City is the top club in the USL Pro right now and if they were to play any other MLS Club (besides maybe Seattle) then they could of possibly been moving onto the next round. As it was it just about took everything Sporting had to beat Orlando City 3-2. Really it didn't seem that close, but Orlando City made some really good drives with the few amount of drives that Sporting actually gave them.
ORLANDO CITY
- Came out doing everything they could to possibly beat Sporting from the GK making some really incredible saves to Sporting's GK (Kempin) having to make some game saving blocks. Their offense especially stepped it up and really did try to score on several attempts and this game could of easily gone the other way.
- Despite how hard they tried they are just a USL Pro team and thus lack quite a bit of expensive. This team more so than others as Orlando City was really just founded in 2010 albeit from other club, but still they don't have a ton of experience on this team as most of the players currently on the team came from lower teams not MLS teams and are still just tying to play soccer somewhat professionally.
SPORTING KC
- Sporting put out a semi full squad from what they have been using regular season games but I really think that the whole team played like the MLS team that they have been and wanted to ensure that they got the victory for the 12,000+ crowd (Which is a huge number for a US Open Cup game on a Tuesday night) and didn't disappoint. Yes there were some moments that probably made everybody nervous, but Sporting stayed calmed and didn't let the pressure that Orlando was putting on them get to them even after they tied it up 1-1 and then later when they came back 2-3 against Sporting late.
- The defense I think really struggled in this game and made some really poor decisions in this match up. This game should not of been as close as the score indicated but for some reason the defense were struggling. That or Orlando City just has that good of an offense. Yes Orlando City has a decent offense, but Sporting's defense should be able to play a lot better then that especially since they started with three of the normal four starters and ended with four of the normal four defensive players.
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I think that this Sporting team could go really far and expect them to at least make it into the quarter-finals as they have to play Colorado Rapids next and this is sure to be another great game, but if Sporting can play like they did in this match up then it shouldn't be too difficult, but that is why the game is played right?
McBeth