Colorado vs Kansas

An American Independence Day rematch from last year will see Sporting Kansas City travel to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for a date with the Colorado Rapids in MLS action.

A 3-3 draw with the New England Revolution this past weekend has the Rapids sitting eighth in the Western Conference, six points above Sporting, who are 12th, after coming back to draw Real Salt Lake 1-1.

Match preview

It was a draw that surely felt like a loss for Colorado this past weekend as they squandered a 3-0 lead against the Revs, their fourth dropped point in league play this year when leading after 45 minutes.

So far this season rarely we have seen them drop points when leading at the half, going 4-1-1 in that scenario, but they have failed to win a game this year when they were behind at half time.

What Chris Armas’ side have done very well all year is find a way to win close games, with five of their seven league triumphs in 2025 being by just a single goal.

Those final 15 minutes of an opening half have been their Achilles heel, with the Burgundy Boys conceding 11 of their 28 goals this season between the 31st minute and the end of half number one.

Over the past two months, they have been either very sharp defensively or very poor in the attacking third at home, without a goal conceded in their last three home victories since May, while failing to score in their previous three home losses.

The Rapids have a 100% home record against SKC on the Fourth of July, winning all three of those prior meetings, including a 2-1 triumph in this exact fixture last year.

While the Burgundy Boys let one slip away last weekend, it was the opposite story for Kansas City, who came from behind to earn a result on Saturday for the fifth time in their last eight MLS affairs.

Kerry Zavagnin has adopted a more attacking approach since replacing longtime coach Peter Vermes, with this team scoring a combined 25 goals in 13 league fixtures since the start of April, the joint fourth-most in MLS over that span.

This team have netted multiple goals in eight of their previous 14 competitive matches after doing so just once in their last 13 games across all competitions before that.

The hour mark seems to be around the time they start to come to life in the final third, with nearly half of their goals in the regular season (15 of 31) occurring beyond the 60th minute of play.

SKC have points in three of their previous four regular-season affairs away from home and would match their longest losing run as the visitors under Zavagnin (two games), should they be defeated on Friday.

Sporting Kansas City have lost two of their last three meetings against the Rapids but won the previous encounter at Children’s Mercy Park a year ago (4-1).

Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer form:

Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer form:

Team News

Because of ankle issues, Colorado were missing Cole Bassett, Alex Harris and Djordje Mihailovic over the weekend, while Zack Steffen and Ali Fadal were sidelined with knee injuries.

Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro and Theodore Ku-Dipietro each found the back of the net versus the Revs, though an own goal by Samuel Vines kick-started the New England comeback.

Against RSL last weekend, Sporting did not have Robert Voloder available due to a clavicle injury, Daniel Rosero was sidelined with a sore ankle, Nemanja Radoja sat out with a quad strain and Jake Davis will miss this encounter because of a red card suspension.

Erik Thommy had the equalising goal for them on Saturday, with that goal coming just before the hour mark, the third of the 2025 MLS campaign for the German midfielder.

Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:

Hansen; Cannon, Maxso, Awaziem, Murphy; C. Harris, Larraz, Atencio, Ku-Dipietro; Navarro, Cabral

Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:

Pulskamp; Shelton, Miller, James, Ndenbe; Garcia, Bartlett, Rodriguez; Thommy, Joveljic, Salloi

We say: Colorado Rapids 1-2 Sporting Kansas City

There seems to be a little more momentum and consistency on the SKC side of late, which is why we project them to earn a rare triumph away from home against the Rapids on Friday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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