Sporting Kansas City at Colorado Rapids
2023 MLS Regular Season | Match 2
Saturday, March 4 | 8:30 p.m. CT (8:39 kickoff)
Dick's Sporting Goods Park | Commerce City, Colo.
Broadcast Schedule:
Apple TV | MLS Season Pass
English Radio | Sports Radio 810 WHB
Spanish Radio | La Grande 1340 AM
Sporting Kansas City will continue the club's 2023 MLS campaign with a road trip to face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. The Western Conference Clash will kick off at 8:39 p.m. CT and stream live worldwide on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers with Nate Bukaty and Tony Meola on the call.
The MLS Season Pass subscription -- currently available at no cost for all T-Mobile customers - will feature every MLS match in 2023 and fans can watch on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes and game consoles as well as on the web at tv.apple.com.
In addition, local radio broadcasts of COLvSKC will be available on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with both stations streaming live through the Sporting KC app.
Saturday's showdown will be shown at each of the club's pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network. No Other Pub (1370 Grand Blvd.) in the Kansas City Power & Light District will welcome Sporting supporters for a happy hour starting at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The first 25 fans through the doors in Sporting KC gear will receive a free drink and the event will feature prize raffles - including tickets to the home opener on March 11 and SKC swag - every 30 minutes from 7:30 p.m. CT until kickoff. No Other Pub's matchday specials include $4 domestics, $5 wells and 50% off select appetizers. Fans can also receive a free appetizer with a pre-booked table for 4+ people by emailing info@nootherpubkc.com.
When Sporting and Colorado meet on Saturday, both teams will be looking to bounce back from season-opening shutout losses in the frigid Pacific Northwest. Sporting fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Portland on Monday while the Rapids were beaten 4-0 by Seattle on Sunday.
The Rapids' home opener comes in the friendly confines of Dick's Sporting Goods Park, where Colorado - aided by the altitude - has the fewest losses in MLS since the start of 2021 and hasn't been beaten in eight matches (5-0-3) since July 4, 2022. Sporting will be looking to snap a seven-game winless run on the road (0-4-3) dating back to the team's last away win on July 9, 2022 and SKC has historically struggled on the road in the regular season series (5-19-12), going winless in nine straight trips to Colorado (0-5-4) and winning just once all-time inside the venue since it opened in April 2007.
In the most recent meeting between the MLS charter clubs, Sporting claimed victory on May 18, 2022 at Children's Mercy Park by a 2-1 scoreline. Daniel Salloi scored both goals for Sporting -- and is set to make his first road appearance in Colorado on Saturday with five goals in six career regular season match-ups against the Rapids -- in a game that saw Colorado’s Auston Trusty sent off for a second yellow card in the 91st minute before a melee ensued in the 96th minute that saw Salloi and Andreu Fontas sent off along with the Rapids’ Lucas Esteves. Nine months have passed since the stoppage time drama and two-time MLS Referee of the Year Allen Chapman has been assigned for Saturday's rematch.
Sporting leads the all-time series (29-25-18) and are 4-1-3 over the last four seasons against the Rapids, who SKC has played more than any other opponent in club history. Manager Peter Vermes played for the Rapids from 1997-1999 before leading Kansas City to the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup double in 2000. Vermes was also teammates with Rapids head coach Robin Fraser on the U.S. Men's National Team for nearly a decade from 1988-1997.
While Colorado added nine players in the offseason - headlined by the addition of Designated Players Kevin Cabral and Andreas Maxsø - both managers will be missing key players on Saturday due to injury. Former Sporting KC striker Diego Rubio, who led the Rapids with 16 goals and seven assists in 2022, is sidelined with a knee injury while midfielder Jonathan Lewis (ankle) and Jack Price (back) are questionable on Colorado's player availability report. Sporting remains without club captain Johnny Russell (hamstring) and Designated Player Gadi Kinda (knee), as well as defenders Kortne Ford (Achilles) and Logan Ndenbe (hamstring). Forwards Khiry Shelton (adductor) and Alan Pulido (knee) are each questionable.
Amidst the absences, two players in COLvSKC have been constants in the starting lineup dating back to 2021. Sporting KC midfielder Remi Walter has started 43 consecutive regular season matches, while Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough has started in each of Colorado's last 42 regular season contests - two of the longest such streaks in MLS along with Jakob Glesnes (74), Darlington Nagbe (68), Sean Johnson (54) and Jonathan Bond (43).
