On Saturday, Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake will meet head-to-head for the first time in the Major League Soccer Championship. Both teams will be seeking their second MLS Cup.
Sporting Kansas City, the Eastern Conference Champions, defeated the New England Revolution in the conference semifinals by a combined score of 4-3 in two games. In the Eastern Conference Championship series, Kansas City tied the Houston Dynamo in the first game, before earning a 2-1 victory to advance to the championship game.
Real Salt Lake won their conference semifinal series against the Los Angeles Galaxy by a combined score of 2-1. After dropping the first game 1-0, they earned a 2-0 victory to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they met the Portland Timbers.
Real Salt Lake cruised past Portland with 4-2 and 1-0 victories for a series score of 5-2.
Sporting Kansas City won the MLS Cup in 2000, with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire. They also reached the championship game in 2004, but were defeated by the D.C. United 3-2.
Real Salt Lake earned their lone MLS title in 2009, when they defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy in a penalty shootout, after finishing regulation and 30 extra minutes tied.
Saturday’s game, which will start at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. The game will be broadcast in 161 countries around the globe, a new high for an MLS game.
The game will be broadcast across six continents and can be viewed in 60 African countries, 33 in North America, 29 in Asia, 22 in Europe and 11 in South America and Australia.
Sporting Kansas City will rely on a core group of six players–Jimmy Nielsen, Matt Besler, Aurelien Collin, Chance Myers, Seth Sinovic and Graham Zusi–who have started all nine of Kansas City’s playoffs games in the last three seasons.
Real Salt Lake will look to their all-time leader in playoff scoring, Robbie Findley, who has six goals in 13 playoff matches. He scored two goals during each game of the Western Conference Championship.
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mmontal1@ramapo.edu
