Gritty Rapids Upset Sporting KC 1-0 by Chris Brown
Colorado Rapids, the last place team in the Western Conference welcomed Sporting Kansas City, the top team in the West to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the second match up between these two sides in 2017.
The first meeting between the two rivals took place at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City and Sporting thumped Colorado 3-0 on a controversial evening that ultimately saw Tim Howard suspended for three matches following some inappropriate interaction with KC’s fans at the end of the match.
Kortne Ford and the Rapids celebrate after Ford scores his first ever MLS goal. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
Pablo Mastroeni opted to play Dominique Badji and Kevin Doyle together at the top of his line, in previous matches Alan Gordon paired with Badji but Gordon’s lack of pace seemed to hamper a Rapid side that played better on the counter attack, so Doyle is the better fit for a Colorado side that has been sitting deeper and deeper in defense and looking to spring forward when they win back the ball in defense.
For Sporting Kansas City, Head Coach Peter Vermes was still without Dom Dwyer as the forward has yet to return from a knee injury that’s held him out of the previous two matches.
Early in the match Sporting KC picked up where they left off last time they played Colorado by controlling early possession and keeping the ball deep in the Colorado half of the field.
In the 11th minute Colorado surprised the stadium and Kansas City when they took the lead against the run of play. A free kick from the left wing was sent in by Shkelzen Gashi found Kourtne Ford who rose to nod home his first ever MLS goal, beating Tim Melia to the bottom left corner of the Kansas City goal. Replays will show that Ford should have been shielded from the ball by the Kansas City defense, but somehow rose higher than the defender in front of him to give the Rapids a precious 1-0 home lead.
Kansas City responded well to the goal and kept their attacking tempo high to keep the pressure on Colorado’s back line. The KC attack was extremely impressive early on, moving the ball quickly across the field while also finding gaps in the Rapid defense to compress the Rapid midfield and defense into one scrambling unit as the Western Conference leaders looked to level the match.
Though Sporting took 23 shots Tim Howard was only called on to make two saves on the evening. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
As the first half progressed Colorado’s goal seemed more and more improbable as Colorado held barely any possession and could barely get the ball out of their own third, let alone their own half of the field. It felt like it was only a matter of time before Kansas City found a way to equalize.
In the 28th minute KC almost did just that when Colorado’s defense left Graham Zusi wide open on the right wing during the build up of attack and Zusi found himself through one on one with Tim Howard. Zusi attempted to chip/shoot the ball on Howard’s goal and though the ball beat the keeper, it didn’t beat Bobby Burling whose diving header cleared the ball off the line just in the nick of time to keep the Rapids in front.
At halftime the score was, improbably, 1-0 to the Rapids. Though Sporting was by far the superior side in the first half creating chance after chance through maintained attacking play they failed to find the final pass or shot in the absence of Dom Dwyer, and Colorado capitalized off a set piece in the 11th minute to peg back their Western Conference rival.
As the two sides came out from the half the Rapids substituted Eric Miller for Mike De Fonte at left back. Several times in the first 45 minutes Miller was caught out by the Sporting attack, which may have led to the substitution, but De Fonte is also better at moving forward than Miller and could help the Rapid counter attack moving forward.
Sporting KC kept up the pressure and attacking play they established in the first half, pinning Colorado deep into their own half. The only thing missing from the KC attack was a finish, but as the second half wore on and the pressure mounted on KC to find a breakthrough that seemed further and further away.
The visitors held so much possession it was almost surprising to the Rapids string together more than three or four passes at once, but with Colorado laying back extremely compact, Kansas City was forced to shoot from outside the Rapid box, the only attacking position that they were afforded space.
Benny Feilhaber looked like the most dangerous man on the pitch for a Sporting side that needed Dom Dwyer to add a focal point to all the attacking effort. Several times Feilhaber looked close to scoring and narrowly shot over Tim Howard’s crossbar as the match entered the final fifteen minutes.
Seth Sinovic’s last minute blast almost saved the visitors, only to be denied by the crossbar. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
Seth Sinovic had an excellent effort to try and grab a point in the dying moments of the match when he unleashed a screamer from around 30 yards away that fooled Tim Howard, who thought the ball was going well over the bar and didn’t push it over, but instead the shot careened off the top of Howard’s crossbar as Sporting came so close to tying the match.
It wasn’t to be and at the end of the match Colorado had persevered to grab a 1-0 home win despite being out possessed, out classed and easily out shot by the visitors.
The statistics after the match highlighted what an improbable win this was for the Rapids. Kansas City held over 70% possession and attempted 25 shots, compared to Colorado’s six. Kansas City also had eight corner kicks to the Rapids three, but failed to capitalize in the absence of their best goal scorer.
“The mentality has to be that – we have to be difficult to break down.” Said Pablo Mastroeni, talking about the defense mindset that allowed Colorado to win. “It has to be our forte because we’re not going to put four on the board. I think what this game does is it draws a line in a lot of different ways – going back to who we are as a group and believing in each other.”
