Sounders lose Open Cup Final on penalty kicks

KANSAS CITY, Kansas – Sounders FC fell to Sporting Kansas City in penalty kicks, 3-2, in the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Zach Scott scored the lone goal in regulation for Seattle as the club’s attempt at a record fourth straight Open Cup title was denied.

—Sounders FC Press Release—

After Brad Evans and Marc Burch converted the first two penalty kicks, Sounders FC failed to convert their final three attempts. Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning appeared to save Sporting’s final attempt by Paulo Nagamura, but was whistled for coming off the line and Nagamura netted the retake.

Kansas City scored first in the 84th minute on a Kei Kamara penalty kick after Seattle was whistled for a hand ball in the box. Kamara converted low and to the left to give Sporting a 1-0 lead.

Just two minutes later, Seattle equalized when a Mauro Rosales free kick found Scott in the box, who rose in traffic and headed it into the back of the net. It was Scott’s first goal in 11 Open Cup games for Sounders FC and the first career assist in Open Cup play for Rosales.

Following 30 minutes of scoreless extra time, Seattle advanced to penalty kicks for just the second time in franchise history. Seattle defeated Portland, 4-3 in penalties, in the third round of the 2010 Open Cup.

Kamara converted Kansas City’s opening kick despite Gspurning getting his hands to it. Roger Espinoza’s low shot was smothered by Gsrpurning, Matt Besler converted, and Graham Zusi’s sailed high before Nagamura was able to convert his second of two chances.

Michael Gspurning’s penalty kick save was called back in the late stages of the shootout. He was judged to have moved forward off his line. (Corky Trewin / Sounders Facebook)

After Evans and Burch converted, Osvaldo Alonso sailed his shot over the crossbar. Sporting keeper Jimmy Nielsen then stopped Christian Tiffert’s low attempt, and Eddie Johnson blasted the potential game-winner over the goal.

The last Open Cup final decided by penalty kicks was in 1997 when the Dallas Burn topped DC United in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Gspurning made five saves in addition to not allowing an open play goal. In the 94th minute, Kamara got off a hard shot from outside the box on the left side, but the six-foot-five Austrian punched it away.

Sounders FC returns to action this Saturday when they travel to San Jose to take on the league-leading Earthquakes. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Scoring Summary:

KC – Kei Kamara (PK) 84′

SEA – Zach Scott (Mauro Rosales) 86′

Seattle Sounders FC: Michael Gspurning, Zach Scott, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose (Christian Tiffert 69), Alex Caskey (Brad Evans 69), Fredy Montero (Marc Burch 106), Eddie Johnson.

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Weber, Jeff Parke, Steve Zakuani, Sammy Ochoa.

TOTAL SHOTS: 8 (Johnson 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Johnson, Scott 1); FOULS: 19 (Alonso 5); OFFSIDE: 2 (Montero 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Rosales 3); SAVES: 5 (Gspurning 5).

Sporting Kansas City: Jimmy Nielsen, Chance Myers, Lawrence Olum, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic (Michael Harrington 100), Paulo Nagamura, Graham Zusi, Julio Cesar, Roger Espinoza, Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury (C.J. Sapong 88).

Substitutes Not Used: Eric Kronberg, Soony Saad, Neven Markovic, Jacob Peterson, Michael Thomas.

TOTAL SHOTS: 18 (Kamara 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Kamara 2); FOULS: 16 (Sinovic 4); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4 (Zusi 4); SAVES: 1 (Nielsen 1).

Misconduct Summary:

SEA – Osvaldo Alonso (caution) 4′

SEA – Mauro Rosales (caution) 57′

SEA – Patrick Ianni (caution) 73′

SEA – Zach Scott (caution) 93′

SEA – Patrick Ianni (caution) 119′

SEA – Patrick Ianni (ejection) 119′

Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Referee’s Assistants: Corey Rockwell, Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Michael Kennedy

Attendance: 18,863

Time of Game: 2:48

Sigi Schmid addresses his Sounders before the match. (Corky Trewin, Sounders Facebook)

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