Sporting Kansas City blasts FC Tulsa to advance to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals

On Tuesday night, Sporting KC faced another team from a lower division in U.S. Open Cup play.

This time, Sporting quickly and emphatically took care of business at Children’s Mercy Park.

Felipe Hernandez scored twice while Stephen Afrifa and Marinos Tzionis each added a goal, as Sporting knocked off FC Tulsa from the USL Championship division 4-0.

The victory marked Sporting KC’s first home win in any competition since March 16.

Ahead of the match, players and coach Peter Vermes discussed how meeting their opponent’s intensity would be key to avoiding a dreaded “cupset” from the lower-division side.

“From start to finish, we had good concentration,” Vermes said. “The intensity, the aggressiveness, the front-footedness to go and take the game to them was there. I think that ruled the day.”

Sporting KC was dominant from the first whistle, unleashing 18 shots in the first half, eight of which were on target. Tulsa goalkeeper Michael Creek made 10 saves to prevent a more lopsided score.

Vermes said he felt Sporting’s time in possession was much better, and not just because his club had possession for a whopping 74% of the match.

“When I talk about that, I don’t mean that from a percentage perspective,” Vermes explained. “I’m talking about the way that we move the ball and the correct decisions and the circulation.”

In total, Sporting took 34 shots, putting 14 on target. Four hit the post.

Hernandez put in his best performance for Sporting KC. Vermes said he felt Hernandez rebounded from a not-so-great outing against Omaha where he was undisciplined. Tonight, Vermes said, it was a complete turnaround.

“If you want to be successful, you have got to know what your strengths are and you have got to know how to play to those, and you have got to hide your weaknesses,” Vermes said. “Tonight, he did that, and he was an important player on the field.”

Hernandez got credit for opening the scoring in the 37th minute. His free kick was marginally on frame but went into the net off a Tulsa defender.

“I just tried to put the ball in a good area,” Hernandez said. “Things like that happen when you put it on frame, when you put a dangerous ball in.”

Afrifa, who hit the crossbar twice in the first 25 minutes, finally got one into the back of the net in first-half stoppage time, mopping up a rebound from a corner kick.

“It was a little frustrating just watching the ball hit the bar twice and then blocking Willy (Agada’s) shot,” Afrifa said. “I’m just glad that we finally got it working, and just happy for the goal.”

Vermes credited Afrifa’s performance as one of his best yet. And it came thanks to a slight tactical tweak.

Left back Tim Leibold usually makes more overlapping runs, pushing a player like Daniel Salloi further inside as a forward. Instead, Leibold was tucked in more centrally as part of three players in the back. That move isolated Afrifa against Tulsa’s right back and got him into more one-on-one situations.

“Obviously, a skill set of mine is (one-on-one situations), and being able to do that helped me a lot,” Afrifa said. “So (by) listening to Peter and understanding to be patient ... it all worked out.”

Just 30 seconds into the second half, FC Tulsa was reduced to 10 men when defender Patrick Seagrist picked up his second yellow card for a tackle on Jake Davis. Sporting quickly added two more goals.

Hernandez scored his second goal in the 63rd minute thanks to a pass from Willy Agada. Tzionis made the scoreline 4-0, thanks to a pass from Afrifa.

Sporting KC will learn its draw for the quarterfinal round on Wednesday night. The club’s next MLS match is Saturday night in Portland against the Timbers at 9:30 p.m. Central.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.