The magical ride for Real Salt Lake will make a return trip to Children's Mercy Park on Sunday as they take on Sporting Kansas City in the Western Conference semi-finals of MLS.
RSL advanced to this stage after a nerve-wracking 6-5 win over the Seattle Sounders in a penalty shootout on Tuesday, while the Wizards took out the Vancouver Whitecaps last weekend 3-1.
Match preview
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For the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, KC are in the Conference semi-finals, as their experience seemed to serve them well against a side in Vancouver who came in with a ton of momentum.
Despite initially squandering their advantage on Saturday when Cristian Dajome scored from the penalty spot, Kansas City never looked rattled or out of sync and were able to retake the lead heading into the interval and then controlled the second half, slowing down the tempo to the dismay of their vibrant opponents.
Peter Vermes called his team's mentality over the weekend "fantastic", which perhaps we should have seen coming given how often this group have been in the postseason, plus the extra motivation provided by Caps coach Vanni Sartini, who said that his team would win, a quote that did not sit well with the KC players.
To beat the Wizards, a couple of things are abundantly clear, you need to minimize the damage that they can do to you, and you cannot go into half time trailing, as KC are 18-0-0 when scoring multiple goals and 12-0-1 when being in front after 45 minutes.
There were questions about how this team would perform in the playoffs with three straight defeats heading into the postseason, but they answered many of their critics last weekend.
Now, they will have to do it again versus a side who have shown a ton of spirit and fight to make it to this point of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
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Just when you thought things could not have got any more dramatic for RSL, who only made it to the postseason thanks to a 95th-minute strike from Damir Kreilach on Decision Day, they outdid themselves again on Tuesday, beating the defending Western Conference champions in a penalty shootout.
Their match on Tuesday was game number 7004 in MLS history, including the MLS is Back Tournament, and in all of those fixtures, only three teams have failed to record a shot, with RSL becoming the third side to do it as they only 37% possession versus Seattle.
Pablo Mastroeni appears to be quite content for his players to drop back with plenty of numbers behind the ball, while allowing the opposition to attack as Salt Lake possess some creative midfielders and some quality strikers who do not need a lot of chances to score.
Coming into this match, Claret and Cobalt have not conceded a goal in 255 minutes of action, an impressive statistic when you consider the fact that they are not a very stingy defensive side, conceding 54 goals in the regular season, which was tied for the fourth-most in MLS after 34 games.
If you attend a lot of RSL matches, you know not to leave early, or you might miss something brilliant, as they have scored nearly 35% (19) of their regular-season goals after the 75th minute, while they have also conceded 13 times with 15 minutes or less remaining in a game, which was tied for the second-most in the league this year.
Over their 34-match regular season campaign, they led the Western Conference in combined goals with 109 (55 goals and 54 assists) and also lost their share of one-goal games, dropping 11 of those by that narrow margin.
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Team News
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Graham Zusi scored on a beautiful long-range effort for Sporting KC to seal their victory in the second half on Saturday, and if he plays this Sunday, it will be his 20th career playoff appearance for the Wizards, which would make him only the fifth player in club history to reach that milestone, joining current assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin (23), along with Nick Garcia (23) and Prekki (20) in that category.
Nicolas Isimat-Mirin scored the winner versus the Caps, becoming the ninth player in their history to find the back of the net in their postseason debut, while MVP candidate Daniel Salloi had a pair of assists, becoming the third player for this club to do that in a playoff game.
Felipe Hernandez is still suspended and unlikely to be with the team no matter how long they last in the playoffs, while Jaylin Lindsey remains sidelined with a hamstring problem.
Justen Glad had quite the outing for RSL this week as he blocked a clear-cut scoring opportunity for Seattle in the 15th minute to keep the match scoreless and then proceeded to calmly fire home the winning penalty kick to send his side through to this stage of the competition.
Their lack of rhythm in the middle of the field could have had a lot to do with the fact that Albert Rusnak was absent due to COVID health and safety protocols, while Zack Farnsworth was the only other injury concern, as he remains out with an undisclosed issue.
David Ochoa became the first goalkeeper for Salt Lake since club legend Nick Rimando to appear in an MLS Cup playoff match since RSL joined the league in 2005, a span which lasted 2,550 minutes before Tuesday night as he was the hero, stopping a penalty from Kelyn Rowe in stoppage time, enabling Glad to notch the winner.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Zusi, Isimat-Mirin, Fontas, Martins; Walter, Espinoza, Kinda; Russell, Shelton, Salloi
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Ochoa; Brody, Holt, Glad, Herrera; Chang, Ruiz, Luiz, Julio; Kreilach, Rubin
We say: Sporting Kansas City 2-1 Real Salt Lake
RSL are quickly becoming the feel good story of these MLS Cup playoffs, having kept their season alive in the most dramatic of circumstances in their previous two games, but their defence has been shaky all year, and with the status of Rusnak very much up in the air, it is hard to see them being able to pull off another miracle.
A lack of attacking depth may be an issue for Salt Lake, but KC have that in spades as their top nine goalscorers have found the back of the net as many times (55) as the entire RSL team did in the regular season.
Joel Lefevre
