Sporting Kansas City opened the team's defense of the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title with a 2-0 road victory at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday inside Rio Tinto Stadium. Johnny Russell and Kharlton Belmar combined on both goals in the second half as Russell opened the scoring in the 47th minute with his team-leading sixth goal of the year and Belmar bagged his first goal in a Sporting KC uniform in the 74th minute.
Sporting KC, four-time champions in the competition (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017), now advances to the Round of 16 and will await the official draw to be conducted by U.