Wednesday night’s match did not go according to plan for Sporting KC. After Dom Dwyer’s second-minute goal was negated by an offside flag, the Chicago Fire scored 17 minutes later and held on for a 1-0 win at Toyota Park. But Peter Vermes’ side has little time to dwell on the loss as a weekend date with the Colorado Rapids awaits.
“Well, the unfortunate thing is we’ve been here before. Where decisions have hurt us in matches,” Vermes said after Wednesday’s controversial loss. “And unfortunately that’s the way it goes and there’s nothing much you can say about it. We have another game this Saturday so we’ll try to do something different there. Hopefully things will go well.”
Saturday’s match comes against one of the surprise teams in Major League Soccer. After winning a combined 17 games in 2014 and 2015, the Colorado Rapids have nine wins through 18 games in 2016 and are currently in second place in the Supporters’ Shield standings.
“This is a really big game,” goalkeeper Tim Melia said. “It’s a measuring stick against a top of the table opponent and we have to go out there and perform.”
For Sporting KC, this week will be another measure of the team’s depth with its third game in seven days. Vermes made four changes to his lineup from Sunday to Wednesday, including swapping the center back pairing of Lawrence Olum and Ike Opara for Nuno Coehlo and Matt Besler. Unfortunately, Coelho’s return from injury was short-lived as the Portuguese center back was forced out of the game on Wednesday with a left hamstring strain. With the back-to-back road games in the Midwest, Sporting KC will remain in Chicago on Thursday to train before departing for Colorado on Friday.
One player who could return for Saturday's match is winger Graham Zusi, who missed Wednesday's match with a right hamstring strain. Zusi scored his first goal of the season on July 3 in a 3-2 win over Columbus Crew SC.
“We just need to rest,” Melia said. “There’s no reason why we can’t be 100 percent by Saturday. We’re going to stay in Chicago, get rested tomorrow, train on Friday and get ready to head out and get ready for the game.”
