National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Houston Dynamo or Sporting KC that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's time to recharge all electronic entertainment devices for Sporting KC, who are travelling more than 1100 kilometers to play this game.
There’s little time for restitution or working hard at the training pitch these days, with both teams having played their last game less than four days ago.
Houston Dynamo form and stats
Houston Dynamo participated in US Open Cup the last season, where they reached the round of 16.The spoils were shared in Houston Dynamo's previous game, also at home. Visiting Real Salt Lake travelled back with a draw after a 0-0 scoreline. Goalkeeper Clark got the top rating on the team in that game; 8.32 out of ten. Clark topped it up with a clean sheet.
Before that one, a strong away win at Tampa Bay Rowdies. A US Open Cup game. The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Houston have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 14 games) they have won 3 times, drawn 6 and lost 5.
Some members of the home team might already be thinking of their next match, the Major League Soccer game versus Seattle Sounders in only three days. This game is also played here at BBVA Compass Stadium.
It's been an intense period of training leading up to this game for Houston Dynamo, who have participated in five training matches. Houston Dynamo have won 2 of these, drawn 3 and were beaten in 0 games.
Sporting KC form and stats
Sporting KC's mission in US Open Cup last season failed in the semi-finals.It's the second away game in a row for Sporting KC, but there's smiles all around after the 2-1 victory versus Seattle Sounders last time out. Midfielder Thommy was the best performer of that match, with a rating of 8.3. Thommy scored one goal, served one assist, hit one key pass and had 24 successful passes (of 25 total).
A loss against Montreal Impact was the result prior to that, in a Major League Soccer home game.Sporting KC are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is 4 wins, 3 draws and 11 defeats. From a total of 18 matches.
After this away game Sporting KC return home for a Major League Soccer game against Minnesota United. That game is only three sleeps after this.
Just as the home team, Sporting KC have been through a few friendly games in the intense training period that just finished. The results from these training matches are 1 Sporting KC win, 2 draws and 1 loss.
Head 2 Head
Sporting KC have pulled off a sequence of 5 consecutive matches without losing (4-1-0) when playing Houston Dynamo.Top Goalscorers
  A. Bassi 5 goals |  H. Herrera López 2 goals |  D. Steres 1 goals |
Houston Dynamo missing players
Sporting KC missing players
| Houston Dynamo | Sporting KC | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 11 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 10 | 7 | Won | W | 1 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Drew | D | 4 | 7 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Lost | L | 7 | 10 | ||
| 32 | 17 | Scored | S | 10 | 35 | ||
| 28 | 8 | Conceded | C | 18 | 33 | ||
| 88% | 82% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 75% | 84% | ||
| 76% | 64% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 58% | 64% | ||
| 52% | 45% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 58% | 60% | ||
| 20% | 27% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 17% | 32% | ||
| 4% | 9% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 20% | ||
| 56% | 36% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 48% | ||
| 40% | 64% | Clean Sheets | C S | 25% | 32% | ||
| 16% | 18% | Failed to Score | F T | 50% | 36% | ||
| 3.5 | 3.9 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5.3 | 5.3 | ||
| 5.5 | 5.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4 | 3.4 | ||
| 1.9 | 2.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.6 | 1.5 | ||
| 4 | 3 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 3 | ||
| 9.1 | 11.1 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.5 | 15.5 | ||
| 3.4 | 4.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.2 | 5.5 | ||
| 37% | 38% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 18% | 26% | ||
| 13.5 | 14.4 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 12.7 | 10.5 | ||
| 4.4 | 4.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 5.3 | 4 | ||
