Sporting KC falls 1-0 at Colorado

Sporting Kansas City wrapped up their two-game road trip with their second straight 1-0 loss. The Colorado Rapids Marlon Hairston pounced on a Sporting KC mistake and notched the game winner for the home team in the 77^th minute.

The Rapids have the league's best defense this season, giving up only 13 goals in 19 games and that showed in a slow first half for both teams.

The second half was another chapter in what has become a reoccurring story for Sporting Kansas City, out play (or at least equal) an opponent but come up short in the final score. Colorado did have a slight edge in possession (50.1%) for the game but Sporting KC dominated possession in the second half. Sporting KC again out shot their opponent, had more corners and generally made a decent effort to take the game to the Rapids.

Early in the season, every small defensive mistake was punished and Saturday brought that story line back. A normally error resistant Ike Opara passed a ball out of the back that was easily picked off. Hairston's interception was picked up by Dillon Powers who played it back to Hairston. A deft touch gave Hairston all the space he needed to curl a shot into the upper corner out of reach of Tim Melia.

Another persistent storyline that was repeated Saturday was at least one controversial call per game. In this case it was a non-call as Diego Rubio appeared to be fouled in the box by Jared Watts in the 92nd but referee Drew Fischer did not see it that way despite Rubio's appeal for a PK.

For the Rapids, they extended their club-record unbeaten streak to 14 games with an overall record of 10-2-7 and 37 points and Sporting KC drops to 8-10-4 and 28 points.

Sporting KC returns home to face Seattle on Sunday, July 24^th.