Recap: Nine-man Sporting KC falls 2-0 at Colorado Rapids

Sporting Kansas City (4-13-2, 14 pts.) fell 2-0 to the Colorado Rapids (8-10-1, 25 pts.) at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night. Sporting KC had a player sent off in each half as Kwaku Agyabeng and Moises Mosquera each received red cards while the Rapids claimed all three points off a pair of second-half goals.

Head coach Raphael Wicky made one change from the team’s last match two weeks ago as Shapi Suleymanov replaced the suspended Lasse Berg Johnsen with the team shifting into a 4-4-2 formation.

Sporting got away with an early scare as Georgi Minoungou dispossessed Mosquera inside his own area but blazed his effort over the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Sporting fashioned their first two openings of the match in quick succession as Calvin Harris – facing his former team – stung the palms of Nico Hansen from distance in the 28^th minute before Dejan Joveljic snuck in behind a minute later but his clipped effort was well saved by the Colorado goalkeeper.

Moments later, the Rapids rattled the woodwork when Paxten Aaronson’s free kick was tipped on the crossbar by Stefan Cleveland. Sporting created another chance in transition in the 37^th minute when Suleymanov forced a low save out of Hansen from just inside the penalty area.

For the second consecutive match, Sporting was reduced to 10 men in the first half when Agyabeng was shown the first red card of his professional career for a hard tackle on Miguel Navarro.

The second half began as the first ended with the Rapids piling on the pressure in search of an opener and almost found it in the 50^th minute when Wayne Frederick headed a corner off the crossbar at the far post before Cleveland beat away Dante Sealy’s goal-bound effort two minutes later.

The hosts finally made their numerical advantage count and found the breakthrough in the 65^th minute when Reggie Cannon headed home Youssef Maziz’s corner kick.

Sporting had a golden opportunity to steal a point late on when Taylor Calheira sprung Harris through one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Harris struck the outside of the post with his effort in the 87^th minute. It got worse for Sporting as Mosquera was shown a late red card for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity after bringing down Cannon on the break.

The Rapids went on to deliver the dagger in second-half stoppage time as star striker Rafael Navarro fired home the second goal of the game from close range to make the final score 2-0.

Sporting returns home for a big midweek showdown against cross-state rivals St. Louis at Sporting Park on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on FS1 and Apple TV, while the game will be air on the radio on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 19
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park | Commerce City, CO
Attendance: 15,088
Weather: 68 degrees and cloudy

Sporting Kansas City: Stefan Cleveland; Jake Davis, Moises Mosquera, Or Blorian (Wyatt Meyer 61’), Emir Karic; Shapi Suleymanov (Jacob Bartlett 42’), Kwaku Agyabeng, Zorhan Bassong (Ian James 46’), Capita Capemba (Jayden Reid 66’); Dejan Joveljic (C) (Taylor Calheira 66’), Calvin Harris

Subs Not Used: John Pulskamp, Jansen Miller, Manu Garcia, Stephen Afrifa

Colorado Rapids: Nico Hansen; Reggie Cannon, Rob Holding, Loic Williams, Miguel Navarro; Josh Atencio, Wayne Frederick (Youssef Maziz 56’), Paxten Aaronson; Dante Sealy (Darren Yapi 66’), Rafael Navarro (C), Georgi Minoungou (Hamzat Ojediran 84’)

Subs Not Used: Adam Beaudry, Noah Cobb, Keegan Rosenberry, Kosi Thompson, Alex Harris, Donovan Phillip

Scoring Summary:
COL – Reggie Cannon 1 (Youssef Maziz 1) 65’
COL – Rafael Navarro 10 (Paxten Aaronson 6, Hamzat Ojediran 2) 95+

Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Zorhan Bassong (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 30’
SKC – Kwaku Agyabeng (Red Card; Serious Foul Play) 38’
SKC – Shapi Suleymanov (Yellow Card; Dissent) 63’
SKC – Edu Rubio (Yellow Card; Dissent) 65’
COL – Josh Atencio (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 83’
SKC – Moises Mosquera (Yellow Card; Unsporting Behavior) 88’
SKC – Moises Mosquera (Red Card; DOGSO) 92+

Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Assistant Referee: Nick Uranga
Assistant Referee: Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Tim Ford
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR: Robert Schaap