Sporting Kansas City at Colorado Rapids
2025 MLS Regular Season | Match 21
Friday, July 4 | 8:30 p.m. CT (8:40 kickoff)
DICK'S Sporting Goods Park | Commerce City, CO
Watch: MLS Season Pass or Apple TV+ | Pub Partners
Listen: 810 AM or 103.7 FM | SKC App | SportingKC.com
More: 5 Things | By the Numbers | Game Notes | MatchCenter
For a second straight year, Sporting Kansas City will visit the Colorado Rapids on the Fourth of July with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.
The Western Conference match-up will be available to watch with an MLS Season Pass or Apple TV+ subscription featuring English (Jessica Charman and Jalil Anibaba) and Spanish (Jesus Acosta and Carlos Suarez) commentary. Pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action, including a watch party at No Other Pub in the Kansas City Power & Light district, and live radio coverage will air locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB on 810 AM and 103.7 FM (Blake Aerni and Jon Kempin).
Sporting and Colorado have met 90 times across all competitions - making the Rapids the most frequent opponent in Kansas City history -- with the two MLS charter clubs now set to play for the first time since SKC's 4-1 victory on Sept. 18, 2024 at Children's Mercy Park. Erik Thommy bagged a brace in the win and the German playmaker was back on the scoresheet last weekend, providing the game-tying goal in a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake.
Thommy earned MLS Team of the Matchday honors for his performance, as did Sporting goalkeeper John Pulskamp after making seven saves in the stalemate. His counterpart in Colorado, Nico Hansen, recorded eight saves last weekend as the Rapids settled for a 3-3 draw in New England as the Revolution rallied from 3-0 down.
Hansen has filled in for U.S. MNT goalkeeper Zack Steffen (knee) since May, while the Rapids were also without Cole Bassett and Djordje Mihailovic last weekend due to ankle injuries. Mihailovic leads the team with eight goals and three assists after setting a team record last season with 25 goal contributions (11 goals, 14 assists), while fellow Designated Player Rafael Navarro - who tallied 15 goals and five assists in 2024 -- has six goals and an assist to date this season.
Sporting's own Designated Player duo of Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia enter Friday's fixture in fantastic form. Joveljic has a goal or assist in six straight games -- the longest active streak in MLS -- with goals in three straight road appearances. The Serbian striker ranks third in MLS with 11 goals on the year and leads all players with 32 goals in MLS play since the start of 2024.
Most Goals in First Season with SKC
1. Preki (18 in 1996)
2. Vitalis Takawira (13 in 1996)
3. Miklos Molnar (12 in 2000)
4. Dejan Joveljic (11 in 2025)
Garcia has assists in four straight games -- also the longest active streak in MLS -- and his nine assists rank third most in Major League Soccer. The Spanish midfielder has a team-best 33 key passes and he ranks among the league leaders in progressive passes (third), successful passes into the final third (third), successful passes into the penalty area (fourth), successful through balls (fifth) and goal-creating actions (eighth).
Most Assists in First Season with SKC
1. Preki (13 in 1996)
2. Johnny Russell (10 in 2018)
3. Mark Chung (9 in 1996)
3. Manu Garcia (9 in 2025)
Former U.S. MNT teammates, Sporting KC's Kerry Zavagnin and Colorado's Chris Armas will meet for the first time as head coaches on Friday. Zavagnin will be looking to snap Sporting's 11-game winless run at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park (0-6-5) in the past decade as SKC last won on the road against the Rapids in March 2014.
Both teams in SKCvCOL will have a player serving a one-game suspension as Colorado's Reggie Cannon (caution accumulation) and Sporting's Jake Davis (red card) are sidelined. Sporting will also be without three defenders -- Logan Ndenbe (hamstring), Dany Rosero (ankle) and Robert Voloder (clavicle) -- as well as midfielder Nemanja Radoja (quad).
