Down a couple of key players, Sporting Kansas City draws blanks at Colorado Rapids
Former Sporting Kansas City striker Diego Rubio got on the score sheet Saturday night as the Colorado Rapids took a 2-0 victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
Sporting KC stepped off the plane in Denver at a disadvantage, as Daniel Salloi and Khiry Shelton did not travel with the team due to injuries both sustained to their calves.
In their stead, Sporting (1-2) was forced to hand starts to Marinos Tzionis, who has only been with the team for three weeks, and Nikola Vujnovic, who has only been with the team for three days.
“It’s hard when we have all the guys out that we have out,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said following the match.
He went on to list the injuries the team has compiled just three weeks into its Major Leage Soccer season: Salloi, Shelton and Uri Rosell, along with Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido (who were already expected to be out during this stretch).
“Right now it’s just too many guys out and too many changes within the group,” Vermes said. “And there’s a lot of new guys who haven’t been here before. It’s difficult.”
Vermes indicated he didn’t want to blame the result on the absences, though.
Rubio opened the scoring against his former team in the 21st minute after a perfect through-ball from Lucas Esteves. Sporting’s Graham Zusi did not step with the rest of the backline and kept Rubio onside by a slim margin.
Felipe Hernadez had to come off in the 28th minute because of a shoulder injury, but Cam Duke infused some life off the bench. He nearly scored toward the end of the first half, but a vital block from Rapids defender Auston Trusty sent the ball out for a corner.
Sporting had six corner kicks in the first half but could not get anything out of those opportunities.
The second half started just as well for Sporting until a Colorado counter-attack earned the Rapids a corner in the 51st minute. A well-played corner kick routine stretched out the back line, and Mark Anthony-Kaye tapped home from close range to make it 2-0.
MLSSoccer.com, the league website, tracks a statistic called expected goals — a stat that presents the probability of scoring based on types and times of chances, and when/where they occur on the field.
That stat sat at 2.2 to 0.6 in favor of the Rapids after Saturday night’s match. While it doesn’t always match up with the final score, on Saturday night it was a good representation of how the match went.
Sporting took 13 shots and put three of them on target. The Rapids took nine and also put just three on target, but their chances were of higher quality and more clear-cut.
Vermes acknowledged that Saturday night’s performance just “wasn’t good enough.”
“We were disconnected and we didn’t have a good night,” he said. “There were too many people on the field that are getting indoctrinated to us, to the league, to everything. It’s too many new guys. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but I have no choices at the moment.
“That’s where we are.”
Sporting KC plays at Chicago next Saturday, March 19, at 5 p.m.
This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Down a couple of key players, Sporting Kansas City draws blanks at Colorado Rapids."