Houston Dynamo FC return to Children’s Mercy Park on Wednesday to face Sporting Kansas City, this time with a berth in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on the line.
Houston opened a three-game road trip with a 3-0 victory over the LA Galaxy on Sunday in Southern California. Sebastian Ferreira scored the opening goal, his fifth of the regular season and tallied two assists in the match. Tyler Pasher scored the second goal of the evening with a long-range effort from outside the box. Houston’s final goal of the game came in the second half following a sequence of mesmerizing dribbles from rookie forward Thor Ulfarsson. The forward created space for a shot that beat Jonathan Bond at the near post for his first professional goal.
Houston earned their second road victory of the season on Sunday and their fifth clean sheet across all competitions. Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark played a key role in that after he finished with a season-high six saves against the Galaxy. Five of those saves came in the first half when Houston held a slight 1-0 lead. Additionally, Adam Lundkvist led the team with six interceptions and defender Teenage Hadebe led the team with 10 clearances. The Dynamo backline combined for 23 of Houston’s 28 clearances on Sunday.
This is Houston’s second match at Children’s Mercy Park this year and they look to split the series after they fell 1-0 on March 5. That was Houston’s first loss of the season, and they look to avenge that prior to the final meeting of the year on Sept. 10 at PNC Stadium.
Kansas City also earned a result on the road over the weekend when they played the San Jose Earthquakes to a 1-1 draw. Sporting KC earned three points in their last league outing at home with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on May 18 and they qualified for the Round of 16 by defeating FC Dallas 4-2 in extra time at home on May 10.
The winner of Wednesday’s match will host the winner of the Minnesota United and Union Omaha match tomorrow. That match will kick off at 7 p.m. CT and fans can follow all of the U.S. Open Cup action on ESPN +. The Dynamo close the three-game road trip on Saturday against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium.
- OPEN CUP RUN GOES DOWN FAMILIAR ROAD: This is the first road trip for the Dynamo in U.S. Open Cup play since 2017 and the first meeting between both teams in the tournament since Houston defeated Kansas City 4-2 at PNC Stadium in the quarterfinals of the 2018 edition of the Open Cup. Houston would go on to win the tournament for the first time that year and represent MLS in the 2019 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. The all-time series between Houston and Kansas City is tied at 2-2 (W-L) in the tournament, with both teams trading victories from 2015-2018. Both teams are even in the regular season series with a 13-13-13 record and Houston holds a 4-2-1 (WLD) edge in the postseason series against Kansas City.
- FERREIRA LIGHTS UP HOLLYWOOD: Sebas Ferreira’s performance on Wednesday earned him MLS Player of the Week Honors and the 24-year-old is the first Dynamo player to contribute to three goals in a single game since forward Darwin Quintero led the team to a 5-3 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Aug. 25, 2020. The forward is the first Dynamo player to earn the award since Erick “Cubo” Torres won the award in April 2017. Ferreira has scored three goals and tallied two assists in his last five outings for the team and has scored six goals across all competitions in his first year for the Dynamo.
