Riding hot start, Union Omaha looks ahead to U.S. Open Cup battle with Sporting KC

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - After grinding out a shootout win over the El Paso Locomotive, Union Omaha earned a chance to host an MLS squad next month.

The Owls will take on Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday, May 8 in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32.

“Look I think the guys are going to be excited to test themselves against a team from the highest level in this country first and foremost,” second-year head coach Dominic Casciato said. “You don’t want to take away from that. It’s tough for us to prepare because you don’t know if they’re going to rotate their team a lot or if they’re going to be at full strength. So we’re going to focus on being the best version of ourselves and hopefully that’s enough to get the result.”

Omaha previous met KC in the 2022 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, falling in a 6-0 decision.

“The U.S. Open Cup is like every minor league team’s dream to try and go as far as they can,” goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu said. ”We’ve been lucky enough previous years to go further and further. Sot it’s nothing different to us. And we’re really excited to play Sporting KC again.”

The Owls are off to a perfect start, winning all five of their matches, including Cup play. Casciato credited continuity for the early success.

“Obviously I was a first-year head coach last year and I think it took us a little bit of time to hit our stride,” he said. “Once we did that, you saw the results at the end of last year and thankfully we had a lot of guys that really bought into our ideas and are continuing that.”

Union Omaha continues with league play, hosting Charlotte Saturday at 2:00 p.m.