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Sandy • The road back to the U.S. Open Cup final goes through Sporting Park.

That was made certain Tuesday night when Sporting Kansas City overcame a lackluster first 70 minutes of its Open Cup quarterfinal match-up against the Houston Dynamo to score three goals in 18 minutes and punch its ticket to the semifinal round.

Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC will meet in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m. The rivals meet again Friday in Sandy for RSL's annual Pioneer Day home match. RSL is 1-0-1 against Sporting KC in 2015, having most recently won 2-1 on June 21, thanks to a deflected goal scored by forward Olmes Garcia in the 93rd minute.

Real rivalries revisit the disdain on their own, and this one is no exception. Prior to the June 21 match-up, Sporting KC Benny Feilhaber spoke to the Tribune about his feelings toward RSL over the years. Anytime Feilhaber, whose having as good of a year as any player in Major League Soccer in 2015, was on the ball the boo birds flocked.

"I think we all have to have that attitude right now to keep doing what we're doing: We've got to stay hungry, we've got to stay focused, we've got to stay a little bit PO'd and if we do that and we have a collective effort, we're going to be hard to beat," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said.

Luke Mulholland has only been a part of three RSL-Sporting KC match-ups in his two years at the club. He described the effort necessary to beat a team like Sporting KC:

"I think we learned they're ruthless and they're going to fight for every ball, all the way to the end," he said. "So it might take the same effort and it might take to the 93rd minute to score that game-winner. You've just got to battle all the way to the end."

Eighteen-year-old defender Justen Glad started against Sporting KC in that 2-1 win a month ago.

"I think we were mentally tuned in all 90 minutes and that's what it's going to take," he said. "Everyone has to be fighting for each other. You can't sleep at any one moment in the game, because they'll punish you for it."

The Dynamo slept the final 20 minutes of the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal Tuesday night, furthering Glad's point.

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» Injury updates: RSL hadn't sustained an injury to a key rotation player in several weeks until Jordan Allen pulled up lame in the final minutes of RSL's 2-0 win over Houston Saturday night. The 20-year-old started both games in central midfield last week in wins over L.A. and Houston.

"I think he'll be very questionable for this weekend, and we've got a really tough stretch coming up here with games and we want to make sure we get him right, too, because he's a big part," Cassar said.

Chris Schuler was not in the 18-man roster Saturday and has not trained the last few days. Cassar said Schuler's experiencing soreness in his surgically-repaired knee. He underwent meniscus surgery in late April and returned to the starting lineup on July 11, starting at Colorado and again against L.A. on July 14.

"If you continue to push him, it could get worse, so we're being really mindful of him, making sure we don't push him too hard," Cassar said. "Again, we've got a lot of games coming up and where he's at now from his past injuries, you can't keep pushing him all the time, you've got to be smart and pull him back and Chris has been fantastic. He's been on board with everything that we've been doing."

Lastly, Jamison Olave. The 34-year-old center back hasn't been mentioned much since injuring his quadricep muscle on June 7. He experienced a setback soon after and hasn't been seen at training — until Tuesday. Olave took light laps around America First Field and worked with the training staff for about an hour before exiting.

Olave is dealing with a third-degree quadriceps tear.

"To be honest with you, I don't know what his schedule is," Cassar said. "Putting a time on it right now isn't worth it. It's just making sure you get him right and then when he gets back he doesn't have any setbacks at all."

Another surprise Tuesday was the return of Demar Phillips. The 31-year-old left back returned to RSL after two weeks with the Jamaican national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Cassar said Phillips wasn't getting the necessary treatment he needed for his hamstring injury suffered the Saturday before he joined the Reggae Boyz.

"He left us not in the greatest condition," Cassar said. "I think he thought he was not as injured as he was and he'd be able to come back quicker and a lot of times when you're on those trips, you're not going to get the proper treatment you want and I think he wanted to get back with us and really start to take care of himself and move forward with our group."

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» The trip of all trips: So RSL's first 12 days of August goes something like this: At league-leading D.C. United on Aug. 1, at Municipal C.S.D. in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Aug. 4, at Vancouver on Aug. 8 and finally finishing the marathon on Aug. 12 in Kansas City, Kan., against Sporting KC in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal.

That trip exceeds 10,000 miles, and will require plenty of naps.

On paper, August is likely RSL's make-or-break month in terms of postseason contention.

After that grueling road trip, RSL hosts Portland on Aug. 15, Seattle on Aug. 22 and then hits the road to face FC Dallas on Aug. 29. Four regular-season match-ups against MLS Cup contenders coupled by two tournament matches on the road.

Make-or-break.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani