Sporting Kansas City fights through fatigue for a 1-1 draw at the Colorado Rapids

Playing a 90-minute soccer game one mile above sea level can be a tough ask.

Playing a 90-minute soccer game one mile above sea level with two early substitutes due to injuries and a red card is an even tougher ask.

But that’s what Sporting Kansas City had to deal with Saturday night in its 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids in Denver.

Both Roger Espinoza and Winston Reid were forced off with injuries within the first 40 minutes of the game. The two substitutes left Kansas City with just one substitution window in the second half as legs started to lag in the Mile High City.

But even as Kansas City played its third game in nine days against a rested Rapids team, a gritty performance allowed KC to leave the Centennial State with a point.

“We stayed organized throughout the game, we didn’t lose ourselves after they scored,” Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said. “We found a way to get back into the game and then to be able to close it out being a man down showed a lot of grit from the team. Which we needed to after last game’s performance.”

The Rapids’ Cole Bassett opened the scoring for Colorado on a rare KC defensive breakdown in the 57th minute. But just 10 minutes later Gianluca Busio scored a screamer from 25-yards out to level the score.

A second yellow card to midfielder Gadi Kinda in the 78th minute dropped Kansas City to 10-men, but a stalwart defensive effort allowed KC to hold on for the tie.

A trip to Denver is always tough for any team no matter the sport. The air gets thinner, the breathing gets harder and games always seem to turn into a slog as legs get heavy.

But even before kickoff Kansas City found itself at a disadvantage due to the rest days between the two teams.

While Kansas City played Tuesday night in a 5-2 loss to Houston, Colorado boycotted its Wednesday night game following the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer. So while Kansas City played its third game in nine days on Saturday, Colorado came in on seven days of rest.

“Obviously the legs are tired,” Busio said. “I think everybody feels it after playing so many games in such a short period of time, your legs are going to feel it a little bit. But I think, especially our team, we do well with recovery and being professional.

Espinoza was the first player claimed by fatigue after just 16 minutes. Espinoza, Kansas City’s veteran midfielder went down holding his hamstring and immediately signaled for a substitute, forcing Vermes to send out Felipe Hernandez as his first substitute.

And even as Kansas City controlled much of the first-half play, one of the few times center back Reid was called upon the New Zealand international injured himself in a challenge with Diego Rubio in the 40th minute.

Reid was making his third-straight start for Kansas City after not making a start in over two years due to a knee injury during his time with West Ham United. Roberto Puncec replaced Reid, who had signaled immediately for a substitute following the collision.

The two early substitutes posed a difficult situation for Vermes regarding second-half tactics. Although teams are allowed five substitutes in 2020 due to a compacted schedule, the substitutes must still be made within three windows plus halftime.

The two separate substitutions ate up two of those windows early on, leaving Kansas City with just one window for the final 50 minutes of play.

That final substitution window was used on winger Johnny Russell, who replaced Gerso Fernandes in the 64th minute as Vermes only used three of his available five substitutes.

Vermes was initially looking to sub off one or both of his wingers, as well as one of his center midfielders.

“It did change the point of view that I wasn’t going to sub two guys on the first sub and two guys on the second sub when they both happen in the first half,” Vermes said.

“So where it hurt us is it didn’t really give us a chance to use the other guys that we could’ve used just because we weren’t in position to do it.”

Colorado looked like they’d finally found daylight with a 57th-minute goal as Kansas City started to sit further back as weariness set it.

But it took just ten minutes for Busio to tie the game with a long-range effort. Picking up the ball at the edge of the box off a cleared corner, the young defensive midfielder took a quick touch before firing in at the near corner.

“Obviously when I’m out there, anything that comes out has to either go out of bounds or in the goal,” Busio said with a laugh.

“I think I have a good shot and I like shooting from outside the box, so as soon as I took my touch it was a good first touch and it got out of my feet so as soon as I took that touch I knew I was shooting,” he continued. “I knew if I just got it on target it had a chance of going in because of how many people were in the box.”

Busio’s goal means Kansas City has now scored in its first eight games of the regular season, making it the only team to do so this season.

But as if Kansas City wasn’t already in a tough position with 12 minutes remaining, midfielder Kinda headed for an early shower after picking up his second yellow card.

Kinda stamped on Rubio reaching for the ball and had no complaints as referee Armando Villareal showed him his marching orders.

Even the red card for Kinda is linked to the early substitutions. The Israeli has marked himself as a committed midfielder since arriving in Kansas City and with his first yellow coming one minute after Russell arrived in the game, Vermes had no option but to keep him on the field.

Typically a yellow card for Kinda would most likely see him heading to the bench for the remainder of the game.

But even with their backs against the wall, Kansas City managed to hold tight at the back and offered the Rapids’ little chances and gained a well-earned point in the process.

This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City fights through fatigue for a 1-1 draw at the Colorado Rapids."