Did Rapids player spit at Sporting KC’s Shelton in match? That’s what Russell alleges
Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell alleged that a Colorado Rapids player spat at teammate Khiry Shelton during a physical, scoreless preseason draw between Sporting and the Colorado Rapids Saturday evening.
The incident in question occurred in the 23rd minute. After Shelton caught Lucas Esteves in the face with his trailing arm while attacking a cross into the box, Esteves stopped at the top of the box and put his hand to his face, presumably showing the referee he was bleeding.
While the match stream cut to replays of the near goal, the feed came back live to an angry Russell talking to the referee and Esteves. Less than a minute later Russell and Esteves got into a shoving match after a late kick from Russell.
Both earned yellow cards, and the match carried on without incident.
A Rapids spokesperson issued the following statement to the Denver Post late Saturday night:
“This is a very serious accusation, which we do not take lightly as it goes against everything we stand for as a club. Spitting on an opponent is completely unacceptable. We spoke with Lucas after the game and he categorically denies spitting on his opponent. According to Lucas, he was struck in the face by an opponent during the run of play, which produced blood and led to him spitting to the side to demonstrate its presence. After reviewing footage of the incident from various angles, we have found no evidence to the contrary.”
Both teams played as close to a first-choice XI as they could in the first half, and Sporting dominated those 45 minutes. Sporting out-possessed Colorado and had more chances, though they couldn’t find the net.
Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes was happy with what he saw from that group.
“I thought physically they were good,” Vermes said. “I thought that things that we’ve been working on are for sure coming up in the game. At times we could have a little more patience, but that’s also part of the process of the preseason.”
The Rapids had a few chances to start the second half after Sporting subbed on a mix of homegrown academy products, Sporting KC II players and trialists.
Former Sporting striker Diego Rubio had a golden chance after a bad giveaway from Kaveh Rad, but Rubio could do nothing with it. The second-half squad was able to hold its own and keep the Rapids off the board, though, and showed Vermes some positive signs.
“They themselves even resembled some of the things that we’ve worked on in the last two weeks, which is a great step in the right direction for those guys,” Vermes said. “So that was really good. Some of those guys have made a little bit of an impression.”
Of note, Vermes gave Spencer Glass a start at left-back, and new additions Ben Sweat and Logan Ndenbe did not see the field. Ndenbe arrived at the team’s training camp in Phoenix late in the week, and Vermes stuck to his plan of bringing Sweat along slowly.
’s recovery along, which included holding Sweat out of tonight’s match.
Sporting’s preseason schedule continues next week with a scrimmage against the Portland Timbers on Thursday. Sporting will play four more matches in preparation for the 2022 MLS campaign, which for Sporting kicks off at Atlanta United on Feb. 27.
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Did Rapids player spit at Sporting KC’s Shelton in match? That’s what Russell alleges."