Sporting Fall to Colorado

A week that looked like it was starting out with such promise for Sporting Kansas City with a 3-1 win over New York City FC has come crashing down with a pair of 1-0 losses on the road after Sporting feel to the Colorado Rapids in Denver tonight.

The first half wasn't a great advertisement for the beautiful game as neither side really created much and the game really got bogged down in the midfield for both teams. Each side had good periods of possession but neither side was really able to do much with it as the two teams combined for just a single shot on goal in the first half, an easy save by Tim Howard on a shot from outside the box by Dom Dwyer.

The second half didn't improve things a whole lot for either side. KC got another injury blow as early in the half Brad Davis left with a calf injury, adding him to the injury list that includes a pair of probably starters for KC in Nuno Coelho and Graham Zusi. The game continued to drag out for both sides with Kansas City seemingly content to see the game go 0-0 and Colorado struggling to create going forward. In the 78th minute though things changed on a poor give away by Ike Opara on a pass. Dillon Powers collected the ball and fed it to Marlon Hairston (who'd made the initial interception) who dribbled at Opara and got him to bite on a touch to the outside. Hairston cut back inside and curled a ball into the far post to put the Rapids on top 1-0. Kansas City threw numbers forward again trying to find an equalizer but could only create a single shot on goal after going down a goal. Into stoppage time KC had a penalty shout that referee Drew Fischer decided not to call as Diego Rubio's leg got kicked out from under him by Jared Watts. The final whistle blew and while the missed call is certainly a big talking point, Sporting Kansas City's ineptitude on offense seems to have returned as has their penchant for shooting themselves in the foot defensively. After scoring six goals in two games, Kansas City seems to be back to the goal scoring form that saw them win just once in nine games before they went on a short unbeaten run.

Wizards Man of the Match - Roger Espinoza - Colorado really didn't get much going at all offensive tonight outside of a single giveaway by Ike Opara. A big part of that was due to Espinoza in the midfield. Colorado ended up playing a lot of balls over the top to bypass Kansas City's midfield and Espinoza.

Player Ratings: Melia 5, Abdul-Salaam 6, Opara 5, Olum 6, Medranda 6, Mustivar 6, Espinoza 7, Feilhaber 5, Davis 4, Dwyer 4, Peterson 3. Subs: Hallisey 4, Rubio NR, Mapp NR.