The congested schedule has led to some managers making tough decisions on who to play in the Open Cup. Some were able to play starters, some chose to rest their stars. Both of those happened between Sporting Kansas City and Minnesota United and it led to a 4-0 Kansas City win.
Sporting KC started nearly all of their first choice players, only Benny Feilhaber came off the bench from that list players. Minnesota had a much younger lineup. Cristian Ramirez, Sam Cronin, Miguel Ibarra and others were all sidelined.
From the outset SKC’s talent showed. They had 19 shots to Minnesota’s five, and they neutralized them in defense.