Match Day USOC: KC Welcome a Familiar Rival

For the fourth time in five years, Sporting Kansas City welcome the Houston Dynamo to Sporting Park for a knock out game. This time the game is a US Open Cup quarterfinal match tomorrow night, with the winner hosting Real Salt Lake in the competitions semifinal.

Both teams come into the game having had a competitive game on the weekend, Houston was in Salt Lake for a league game against RSL. Houston put out the best lineup that they had available with injuries and call ups and ended up losing 2-0. They travel to KC for their second game in eight days in three cities when they come into Sporting Park tomorrow. They will have designated player, Erick Torres available for the game and he could make his debut for the Dynamo tomorrow night. With them having an important game against the Galaxy at home on Saturday, their lineup could be another mix, as much as they can.

KC is just as busy as Houston is, they're playing their second of three games in seven days tomorrow night before a trip to Salt Lake for a game this Friday. They're in a situation similar to Houston in the fact that they just don't have a lot of depth right now, although they're getting healthier with Paulo Nagamura and Chance Myers returning from injury and Marcel de Jong back from the Gold Cup. Two of those three I'd think would get the start tomorrow night and I wouldn't be surprised if all three of them start for KC tomorrow as Peter Vermes has to have a bit of an eye towards Friday and the trip to RSL, even if the Open Cup is a priority this year.

Melia

Myers - Ellis - Besler - de Jong

Mustivar

Nagamura - Feilhaber

Hallisey - Dwyer - Nemeth

Number to Remember - 29 - This is the number of times that KC and Houston will have played in all competitions after tomorrow's game. That's the most games against any team in the Dynamo's history.

Key Match Up - KC Defense vs Erick Torres - The former Chivas USA forward joined the Dynamo after Chivas ceased operations, but he's yet to play a game for the Dynamo as he's been on loan with Chivas Guadalajara as part of the deal that saw MLS permanently purchase his contract. He's not available to play for Houston and traveled with the club for this trip to Salt Lake and KC. If he plays tomorrow, KC's defense is going to need to be on top of their game to take care of business.

PREDICTION - Both teams are in an extremely busy part of the their schedule and both will probably need to use some of the depth that neither really has at the moment. Still, at home, with the home form that KC has shown this year, this is a game that KC should be able to win, they haven't had to travel from Saturday to today, they've gotten to stay at home. It may not be pretty tomorrow, but it's a game that KC should be able to take.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Feilhaber)
HOU - 1 (Davis)