Reggie Cannon and Rafael Navarro scored, while Youssef Maziz and Paxten Aaronson added assists to lead the Colorado Rapids to a 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday in Commerce City, Colo.
Making his MLS debut as a second-half substitute, Maziz launched a corner kick to the back post in the 65th minute that Cannon headed inside the near post to give Colorado (8-10-1, 25 points) a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, Aaronson connected with Rafael Navarro, who sealed his defender and sent a left-footed shot into goal as the Rapids won their third straight home match.
Rapids goalkeeper Nico Hansen had three saves and turned in his fourth clean sheet of the season. SKC goalie Stefan Cleveland had two saves.
Colorado held 75% of the possession and racked up an 8-2 edge on corners over SKC (4-12-2, 14 points), which dropped its third straight match – all shutout losses.
SKC’s Kwaku Agyabeng was sent off with a red card in the 38th minute for a two-footed high challenge from behind on Miguel Navarro. Teammate Moises Mosquera was issued a red card in the second minute of second-half stoppage time for bringing down Cannon from behind on a clean run at goal.
In the 28th minute, Sporting KC threatened in transition when Calvin Harris ripped off a shot from outside the box that was caught by Hansen. Moments later, Dejan Joveljic attacked from the wing and fired a shot that pulled Hansen off his line to make the save.
Sporting KC’s Zorhan Bassong was issued a yellow card for a dangerous challenge on Rafael Navarro in the 30th minute.
On the restart from 30 yards out, Aaronson drove a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar. Rob Holding’s header on the rebound bounced out of bounds.
Harris had a 1-on-1 opportunity with Hansen to net the equalizer in the 87th minute after eluding the Colorado backline. Hansen came out to pressure Harris, whose shot hit the post and bounced out of bounds.
–Field Level Media
