Sporting KC Wins 3-2 in a Wild Battle Against Colorado in the MLS is Back Tournament
LAKE BUENA VIST, FL – Graham Zusi scored in stoppage time to give Sporting Kansas City a wild 3-2 victory Friday night over the shorthanded Colorado Rapids in the MLS is Back tournament.
The Rockies battled with Sporting a good amount of the match down a man, and even down two men, facing KC with only 9 on the pitch.
Colorado’s Kellyn Acosta opened the scoring in the 6th minute when he put his first strike in with his left foot with assists from Cole Bassett, Nicolas Benezet.
From that point in the match, there was a lot of back and forth between sides.
Just to give you and idea, going into the 30th minute, there were less than 10 shots on goal. Just a lot of back and forth. There were Yellow cards issued for unsporting behavior to Diego Rubio and Benezet (after an elbow to the face of Zusi) from the Rockies and Gadi Kinda from Sporting KC
Things did pick up in the second half.
Khiry Shelton was sprinting toward the goal when Colorado’s Danny Wilson pulled him down . After a video review, Wilson was handed a red card and sent off in the 61st minute.
Minutes later, Shelton hit a shot from a difficult angle that sailed into the top of the net and into the far corner, evening the match.
Sporting’s Diego Rubio got a handball call and gave Pulido the penalty kick, which he buried to put Sporting up 2-1 in the 72nd minute.
Just moments later, Colorado’s Jack Price was sent off with another red card after it appeared he said something to the referee in the 73rd minute, leaving the Rockies with 9 men.
In the 84th minute, Jonathan Lewis, Jonathan Lewis equalized for Colorado when he blasted a shot from the left past Sanchez for a 2-2 tie.
In the 91st minute, Sporting was scrambling to put a ball in after a corner, when the ball bounced out to Alan Pulido, who blasted a shot into the group.
The ball deflected off of Zusi and floated just under the crossbar and over Yarbrough’s reach for the game winner.
Sporting KC’s next match is Wednesday, July 22 vs. Real Salt Lake at 9 am ET.
Colorado faces Minnesota also on Wednesday, July 22 vs. Minnesota United at 10:30 pm ET.
