The rain came down in sheets, more horizontal than vertical. A biting wind delivered temperatures hovering around freezing. None of that mattered.
On a chilly Wednesday night, a lively, sellout crowd of 18,565 braved the conditions to watch Sporting Kansas City unceremoniously dump the defending champion Colorado Rapids by the playoff wayside by a score of 2-0 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.
Sporting are officially on their way to the Eastern Conference final, earning the opportunity to book their ticket to MLS Cup in front of an ever-growing fanbase on Sunday against either Houston or Philadelphia.
“Tonight will be something that I never forget,” Matt Besler said. “I’m sure Sunday night is going to be the same thing. This team is kind of carving it’s own path and making history hopefully along the way.”
With the way Kansas City are playing, it’s getting harder and harder to deny this could very well be history in the making.
The weather may have been brutal and their opponents desperate but Sporting’s lead never looked in danger as they recorded a second-straight 2-0 postseason victory and preserved their hard-earned home-field advantage in the process.
Graham Zusi delivered two pinpoint free kicks that Aurelien Collin and C.J. Sapong dutifully headed past Matt Pickens on either side of halftime, and Kansas City’s defense recorded it’s fourth-straight shutout to seal a convincing 4-0 aggregate win.
Now, they’re looking ahead to Sunday, 90 minutes away from a trip to Los Angeles.
“It’s been that hot team in the playoffs that usually makes a good run of it,” Zusi said. “That’s what we are right now. We’re a hot team, and we’re tough to beat right now.”
Hot might be an understatement. Sporting is now unbeaten in eight and has lost just three times in their last 28 matches, compiling an 14-3-11 record after the 1-6-1 start that relegated them to last place.
And even though his season is over and his job up in the air, Colorado Manager Gary Smith took the time to acknowledge the quality on the other side of the field.
“You’re not in the postseason by luck, you’re in there because your record and your form suggests you’re a good team,” Smith said. "And this Kansas City team is a good team.”
Even Manager Peter Vermes, who had been loathe to admit his team had accomplished anything even as they made their run to the top of the East, said he told to his team afterward that, although there is still work to do, they should feel like they’ve finally arrived.
“I think now you can say we’ve achieved something,” he said.
Still, Vermes emphasized the real achievement would come should Sporting manage to knock off whoever advances in tomorrow’s Eastern Conference second leg between the Union and Dynamo.
Kansas City hasn’t lost to either side this season, drawing both matches with Philadelphia and taking four points from Houston, which included a 3-0 victory at LSP on September 10.
All they can do for now, though, is wait.
“I wish we could fly whoever it is in tonight and play in the morning honestly,” Davy Arnaud said. “We have a great feeling right now in the locker room…I know that Sunday is going to be special, and it can’t get here soon enough.”