MLS Cup 2013, the 18th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was a soccer match which took place on Saturday, December 7, 2013, between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. The soccer match was to decide the winner of the 2013 season. Sporting KC were making their third appearance in the competition's final, having won in 2000 and losing in 2004. RSL were appearing in their second final, having won their only other in 2009.

It was the first MLS Cup final to be held at Sporting Park and the second time the championship match was not held at a predetermined neutral site. Sporting Kansas City won the right to host the match by besting Real Salt Lake in the regular season standings. This was the first time Kansas City hosted an MLS Cup final and the second final hosted at Sporting Park, the other being the 2012 U.S. Open Cup final.

MLS Cup 2013 was the coldest match in league history, with a recorded temperature of at kickoff, and broke a record set two weeks earlier by Kansas City in the Eastern Conference Final. The match was tied 1–1 after regulation time and extra time. The penalty shootout was won 7–6 by Sporting Kansas City, ending with the longest shootout in MLS Cup history at ten rounds.

Road to the final

Both teams qualified for the playoffs by finishing in the top five of their respective conferences at the end of the regular season. Sporting Kansas City then beat New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo to reach the final, while Real Salt Lake knocked out defending champions Los Angeles Galaxy and Portland Timbers.

Sporting Kansas CityRoundReal Salt LakeEastern ConferenceTeamNew York Red Bulls3417985841+1759Sporting Kansas City34171074730+1758New England Revolution34141194938+1151Houston Dynamo34141194141051Montreal Impact34141375049+149Regular seasonWestern ConferenceTeamPortland Timbers34145155433+2157Real Salt Lake34161085741+1656Los Angeles Galaxy34151185338+1553Seattle Sounders FC34151274242052Colorado Rapids34141194538+751OpponentResultLegsPlayoffsOpponentResultLegsNew England Revolution4–31–2 away; 3–1 homeConf. SemifinalsLos Angeles Galaxy2–10–1 away; 2–0 homeHouston Dynamo2–10–0 away; 2–1 homeConference FinalsPortland Timbers5–24–2 home; 1–0 away

Pre-match

The 2013 Cup was the first-ever small media market cup, with both Kansas City and Salt Lake City outside of the Top 10 media markets in the US (Kansas City is #28 and Salt Lake City is #32). The tickets for the match were the highest price for the MLS Cup in the past five years, coming in at an average of $302 on the secondary market. This made it the highest priced sports event in the Kansas City area in four years, with the exception of the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.

Match

Details

GK 1 Jimmy Nielsen (c)RB 7 Chance MyersCB 78 Aurélien Collin CB 5 Matt BeslerLB 15 Seth SinovicRM 6 Paulo NagamuraCM 20 Oriol Rosell LM 10 Benny Feilhaber RW 8 Graham ZusiCF 14 Dom Dwyer LW 17 C. J. Sapong Substitutes:GK 18 Eric KronbergMF 37 Jacob PetersonDF 23 Federico BessoneFW 16 Claudio Bieler DF 3 Ike OparaFW 9 Teal BunburyDF 13 Lawrence Olum Manager: Peter Vermes GK 18 Nick RimandoRB 2 Tony BeltranCB 6 Nat BorchersCB 28 Chris SchulerLB 17 Chris Wingert DM 5 Kyle Beckerman (c) RM 21 Luis Gil LM 20 Ned GrabavoyAM 11 Javier MoralesST 15 Álvaro Saborío ST 10 Robbie Findley Substitutes:DF 7 Lovel Palmer DF 44 Brandon McDonald GK 24 Jeff Attinella MF 12 Cole GrossmanFW 8 Joao Plata MF 26 Sebastián Velásquez FW 13 Olmes GarcíaManager: Jason Kreis

MLS Cup MVP: Aurélien Collin (Sporting Kansas City)

Assistant referees: Paul Scott Bill Dittmar Fourth official: Ismail ElfathMatch rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics +Overall Goals scored 1 1Total shots 24 12Shots on target 5 2Saves 1 4Corner kicks 9 1Fouls committed 19 21Offsides 4 3Yellow cards 2 3Red cards 0 0

Post-match

As MLS Cup finalists, both teams were supposed to be qualified for the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League. Sporting Kansas City (the champion) was to be placed in pot A, and Real Salt Lake (the runner-up) was to be placed in pot B. However, on December 13, 2013, CONCACAF accepted the US Soccer/MLS proposal to change the qualification rules, so that the spot reserved for the MLS Cup runner-up is instead awarded to the regular season conference winner that is not the Supporters' Shield champion, the Portland Timbers. Sporting Kansas City was not affected by this change.

References