Sporting Kansas City vs Colorado Rapids Prediction, Preview and Odds - 8/28/21
Sporting Kansas City versus Colorado Rapids
Sporting Kansas City played to a scoreless draw on the road against Minnesota on Saturday even though the club played with one less after receiving a red card in the first half. Tim Melia came up big in goal for Sporting KC with 7 saves. Sporting Kansas City is unbeaten in each of his last three matches but two have ended in draws. On Saturday, Sporting Kansas City will play without Felipe Hernandez, Jaylin Lindsey and Nicolas Isimal-Minn.
Colorado defeated Real Salt Lake at home on Saturday 2-1 for its third consecutive victory. Real Southlake opened the scoring in the 51st minute but Colorado followed with a Diego Rubio goal in the 64th minute and Mark-Anthony Kaye scored the winner in the 71st minute for the Rapids. Colorado is unbeaten in each of its last five matches. The only player out injured for Colorado is Younes Namli.
Sporting Kansas City Remains Close to First Place
Sporting Kansas City is second in the Western Conference standings with a record of 11-6-4, 39 points and a +15 goal difference. Sporting KC is just three points adrift of first-place Seattle in the conference standings, but holds only a two-point lead over second-place Colorado and has played two more matches than the Rapids. Sporting KC has a single victory with three draws and one loss over the last five matches played across all competitions, while scoring four goals and allowing seven over that stretch, but six of the seven conceded were in one match in the Leagues Cup versus Leon.
Daniel Dalloi is the leading goal scorer for Sporting Kansas City with 12 and Alan Pulido has scored eight. Salloi is also the leader in assists with 5, while Johnny Russell has four and Graham Zusi and Gadi Kinda each have three. Tim Melia has appeared in 16 matches in goal for Sporting Kansas City and has allowed only 14 goals.
Colorado surging up Western Conference standings
The Colorado Rapids have won three straight matches and are unbeaten in each of the last five. Colorado has moved to third in the Western Conference standings with a record of 11-4-4, 37 points and a +10 goal difference. Although Colorado is 2 points adrift of second-place Sporting KC and five points behind first-place Seattle, the Rapids have two matches in hand having played only 19 compared to 21 for both of the others.
Colorado has four victories and one loss in its last five matches in the MLS and the Rapids back line and goalkeeper have had two clean sheets over those five matches while conceding only three goals. Michael Barrios is the leading goal scorer for Colorado with 5, while Diego Rubio and Andre Shinyashiki have each scored four. Jack Price is the leader in assists with 7
Pick: Colorado Rapids +320
In two matches played this season between these two Western Conference rivals, Sporting Kansas City has one victory and one ended in a draw. However, the loss by Colorado was on the road to Sporting KC and the draw was at home. Colorado is playing as well if not better than any other club in the MLS with a five-match unbeaten run including four victories. Sporting KC has an excellent back line and goalkeeper but has had its problems putting the ball in the net, as Sporting Kansas City has scored only a total of 3 goals in its last 4 matches with two of those matches ending in a 0-0 draw.
Total: Under
Each of Sporting Kansas City's last four matches have finished below the 2.5 goal per match threshold including a 0-0 draw on August 7 against Colorado. Sporting Kansas City has allowed only 21 goals this season for an average of 1.00 per match and Colorado is exactly the same allowing only 19 goals in its first 19 matches for an average of 1.00 per fixture.