by Cassie Florido, photo courtesy of MCT Campus

Sporting KC player Aurelien Collin celebrates after winning the MLS Eastern Conference championship over the Houston Dynamo Nov. 23.

The Sporting Kansas City soccer team will face Real Salt Lake in the Major League Soccer Cup at Sporting Park on Saturday. This marks first time the MLS Cup has ever been held in Kansas City.

While most of the sports focus in Kansas City in recent years has been placed on the Chiefs and the Royals, a win in the MLS cup could change the sports structure in Kansas City.

Junior Isabella Meisel said hopefully with a win in the MLS Cup people will start to take soccer and Sporting KC more seriously.

“Winning will hopefully bring Sporting [Kansas City] up to the level that the Chiefs and [the] Royals are at, with more fans and less criticism of the sport in general,” Meisel said.

By looking at the past records of the three professional teams in Kansas City, even though Sporting Kansas City is not the most recognized, it is one of the most winning teams.

Last season Sporting KC finished first in the Eastern Conference with 63 points. This year the team finished second with 58 points. It’s win in the playoffs against the New England Revolution Nov. 6 lead to the team’s third ever appearance in the MLS Cup.

Senior Kiley O’Toole, who closely follows Sporting KC, said Sporting KC has given Kansas City a chance to root for the same successful team.

“Until this year, the Chiefs and Royals were continually disappointing,” O’Toole said. “The only success KC saw was in their college sports teams, which has a divided fan base throughout Missouri and Kansas. Sporting has been winning games since they were re-branded in 2011. They have given us a team that everyone can come together and cheer for, without frustrating its entire fan base.”

Meisel said people who are Sporting KC fans give the team good attention. However, she said one of her biggest pet peeves is people who have never been to a soccer game and assume the sport is boring.

Senior Margaret Weiler said that she believes the team receives a lot of attention because they are in the MLS Cup.

“Sporting KC has come a long way and it is exciting that KC now has a professional team going to the championship,” Weiler said. “Sporting KC has a unique group of fans. Every game I have attended has been sold out and packed with people wearing blue and screaming ‘I believe that we will win.’ It gives me the chills just thinking about it.”

Weiler says winning the cup would prove to Kansas City that Sporting KC is no joke.

“We all love our Royals and Chiefs but I think it’s about time KC wins a national championship,” Weiler said.

By winning the MLS Cup O’Toole says it would bring attention to the program not only on a local standpoint, but from a national standpoint as well.

“Kansas City is growing into a soccer city and winning the [MLS] Cup, at home with a stadium full of fans would prove to the country that we are a genuine and long-lasting threat in the soccer community,” O’Toole said.