Daniel Salloi’s feelings for the Open Cup go deep.
“I’ve always loved this competition,” insisted the Hungary-born attacker, who became Sporting Kansas City’s all-time top scorer in U.S. Open Cup history with a pair of goals in our 2022 Quarterfinal Round. And he added to that record-breaking tally with another one last year.
Sporting KC, the four-time Open Cup champions from Kansas, are through to the Final of this year’s competition. It’s their first Final of any kind since 2017 when Salloi scored the winning goal in the 66th minute of a 2-1 win over a star-studded New York Red Bulls side, who would go on to win the 2018 MLS Supporters’ Shield.
That was the last piece of silverware the Kansans put in their trophy cabinet at Children’s Mercy Park – and it’s beginning to look a long way back in the inky past. “It’s longer than we’d like,” said Peter Vermes, the team’s head coach.
The Open Cup is likely to be the club’s only chance of a happy ending this year, as they’re mired four places outside the playoff spots in MLS’ western conference with only 28 points from 28 regular season games. With only six league games to go, it’s not a good position for Vermes, the longest-serving coach in MLS history, and his team.
If they do miss out on the Major League Soccer postseason, it will be the second time in the space of three years for an SKC side who were crowned MLS champions back in 2000 and 2013.
It’s safe to say that Sporting KC, who won the first of their four Open Cups as the Kansas City Wiz back in 2004 and are on the verge of an historic fifth, know the value of this country’s most historic tournament. And to watch Salloi’s involvement in the 111-year-old competition over the years is to see his condensed progress from talented teenager to top pro.
His love affair with the Open Cup began back in 2017 with an auspicious introduction.
“Whenever anyone asks I always say that it’s the top soccer moment for me,” the 28-year-old Salloi told usopencup.com thinking back on his winning goal in the 2017 Open Cup Final against NYRB – adding a capper to Latif Blessing’s headed opener in a 2-1 win in the 104th Open Cup Final. “It’s the top memory. Scoring a winning goal in a Cup final at home, you can’t match that.”
But Salloi, previously of Budapest side Újpest, who signed with KC as a pro in 2016 after an impressive year in the club's academy, wants to do just that. He’s yet to score in any of SKC’s four 2024 Open Cup games, but his opener in last year’s Third Round rout of Division II Tulsa Athletic was his eighth Open Cup goal in an SKC shirt.
The 2024 Final, against western conference high-flyers LAFC later this month, presents another opportunity for him to prove he’s a man for the big stage in his favorite competition.
Salloi, a hybrid striker-winger conspicuous for his elegance on the ball, has gone from gifted youngster to team leader. And he takes his contributions seriously.
While most players dismiss individual honors as unimportant in the grand scheme, Salloi is refreshingly honest. He sees his Cup scoring record as part of a continuum of progress.
“I chase these records,” said the attacker, who followed in the footsteps of his father, István Sallói – once a teammate of current Kansas City coach Vermes at Hungarian side Győri ETO FC – by earning his first of four international caps for Hungary in 2021.
“They’re small challenges you put in front of yourself and you see you’re making a mark and breaking club records,” added Salloi, who’ll be hoping his first goal of the 2024 Open Cup comes in the September 25th Final at BMO Stadium against hosts LAFC (LIVE and FREE on Apple TV)
“I hope I can set more records and score more goals,” added the 2021 MLS All-Star selection and Designated Player whose role in a wide position this season has limited his league goals tally to two. “This way the next guy who beats it [the record] will have a bigger challenge.”
“He’s [Salloi] taken a really big step forward,” Vermes, now in his 15th season coaching at the club, said back in 2022. “I think it has to do mostly with maturity.”
Salloi also desperately wants to keep the club’s reputation from deteriorating with the passing of trophyless years. “We don’t want to be talked about as a club that used to win; that used to have it,” he insisted, now one win away from lifting SKC’s first trophy since 2017. “We want to bring it back.”
“It [2017] was the last time we won something and before that it was more frequent,” said the struggling club’s last Cup-winning goal hero. “We don’t want it to run away from us.”
Maduro is a senior reporter at large for usopencup.com.