Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake will match up in the 18th MLS Cup Final on Saturday December 7 at 4 PM on ESPN along with a one hour pregame show. I have to admit, ESPN is really marketing the game to the general public and not just soccer fans. I’ve been seeing commercials on during other ESPN programming and on other networks that are and are not affiliated with ESPN so bravo to them. Hopefully that translates to more people watching, as the fans at Sporting Park will be showcased once again. There are some storylines, which will play a pivotal role in the game.
The most obvious factor to those who will be at the game in person, including yours truly, will be that it’s going to be cold. It’s going to be very cold. Reports have been varied but there is going to be a cold front along with bad weather throughout the region and into the northeast. The latest reports show that it’ll be a high of 24 with some wind. Neither team seemed to be too much affected by the cold in previous games. Both teams play in brutally cold climates so it’s fitting these two teams are playing in what will be the coldest MLS Cup Final yet.
Sporting KC has been powering through the postseason as a team but one seems to notice an anomaly. Where’s Claudio Bieler? Bieler is Sporting KC’s only DP and he has hardly made an impact in the past 3 months. He scored the final goal that sent Sporting past New England and to the Eastern Conference Final but he’s mostly been riding the bench. It definitely leads into speculation as to whether or not Peter Vermes will keep Bieler next season or stick with Dom Dwyer and Teal Bunbury as the strikers. Personally, I could go either way. Dwyer seems to be getting better every game and as much as I criticize Bunbury, he’s a capable sub if he can be healthy. Why have a player you’re never going to use and pay him more money than anyone on the team. If I’m Vermes and I had to make a decision on Bieler, it’s either play him or get rid of him because it doesn’t do anyone any favors if he’s on the bench.
Speaking of Dom Dwyer, the young 2nd year striker has been a tremendous surprise for Sporting KC. I’m sure when KC drafted him in 2012, they figure he would be a great player, I just don’t think they expected it now. He certainly blossomed when he was on loan to USL Pro affiliate and future MLS team Orlando City shattering scoring records in the lower league. Along with improving, Dwyer enters into an unusual situation for a soccer player. Dwyer has a chance to win the League Championship for two separate teams in two separate leagues and he will be an integral part of both squads. I’m not sure if this has ever happened but it’ll be an extremely rare feat of he can pull it off.
This game will pit one of the top offenses and one of the top defenses in the league. Real Salt Lake scored 57 goals in the regular season (1 short of leaders New York Red Bulls) and have scored 7 goals in 4 games in the playoffs. Sporting Kansas City on the other hand, led the league in fewest goals allowed with 30. Except for Portland allowing 33 goals, all the other teams were far behind. Salt Lake has already trounced one team who was a formidable brick wall and can do it again. Sporting better get even better if they want to prove that defense wins championships.
If you’ve been on MLS’ website in the past week or so, you have seen that Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake have a rivalry that has been the case for almost 3 years. I have to be honest, I don’t consider something a rivalry when most fans from either team had no clue there was one. I’m pretty sure this applies for both teams, they each have at least 5 or so teams they would put as bigger rivals than each other. It makes for good marketing but in Sporting’s case, they’re not playing against Houston.
The other thing that’s been happening in the past week has been the TicketMaster ticket fiasco people have dubbed “TicketGate.” Long story short, someone posted a code for a ticket event for Sporting season ticket holders and a sizable number of Real Salt Lake fans as well as some Sporting KC fans used the code to buy tickets. TicketMaster, well within their rights, revoked the tickets unless they were actually purchased by Sporting season ticket holders. It caused a complete fiasco with RSL fans blaming Sporting and TicketMaster for the mess even going as far as threatening a lawsuit. I’m not saying Sporting isn’t to blame because they share some responsibility in terms of the response time but RSL fans neglect to mention that the Real Salt Lake twitter account tweeted the code so they had just as much responsibility for this by pouring fuel on that fire. Looking back, this is the first time MLS has granted the team with the best record home field in the MLS Cup Final and it’s a 18,500 seat stadium with some standing room tickets. Obviously, there are going to be some snags and not everyone will get a ticket. I’m happy that demand is so high that tickets sold out within minutes and the secondary market prices are skyrocketed. You wouldn’t dare think that would happen the last time Sporting hoisted the Cup in 2000 as the Wizards. In the end, Sporting earned their spot, they deserve to host the Final and while I feel for those Salt Lake fans who made travel plans in the thought that they had a MLS Cup ticket and it got taken away, the code wasn’t theirs to begin with. I’ll admit, when I was buying tickets, I used the code because I didn’t want to be on the outside looking in just in case the tickets were still going to be valid. TicketMaster revoked the ticket and will reimburse the money so no harm, no foul. I wound up getting a ticket in the South Stand and will be freezing along with the rest of those in attendance.
As a Sporting KC fan who has seen the progress of the team through the last couple years, Saturday is going to be an important day in Kansas City much less the soccer team. If you haven’t read Robb Heineman’s open letter to Sporting fans yet, I suggest you do. That pretty much says it all and it’s better than what I could ever write. Whether you’re watching the game at the stadium or at home or at the bar, whether you’re a Sporting KC, Real Salt Lake or neutral fan, enjoy the game because it’s going to be a great spectacle.
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