Colorado Rapids opened their campaign in the Desert Diamond Cup with a 2-2 draw against Sporting KC on Wednesday night in Tucson.
It was a game of two contrasting halves. Rapids bossed the opening 45 minutes and led 2-0 at the interval. However Sporting KC dominated the second period and grabbed a quickfire brace after Francisco Flores was sent off in the 75th minute
Still, it will be the fluency of the first half that stands out on a night of many positives for the Rapids.
Pablo Mastroeni’s men were ahead in the 12th minute when Gabriel Torres was released into the area down the left-hand channel. He opened up his body nicely to slip the ball past the keeper.
Five minutes later it was 2-0. Lucas Pittinari intercepted the ball in the center circle and sent Vicente Sanchez free down the right. He kept his composure and squared to the unmarked Dominique Badji, who slotted home easily.
The goals were the pinnacle of a great first half for the Colorado side. They were first to the ball, stronger in the tackle and, when the opportunity arose, incisive in their passing. Keeper Zac MacMath was almost a spectator.
However this friendly would be two games within one and wholesale changes at the break sent the fixture into an abrupt U-turn.
Krisztián Nemeth shot over at the start of the second half as Sporting KC settled much the better to the alterations. The Hungary international striker would also fire into the sidenetting from a tight angle midway through the period.
By then the Rapids appeared to have doused their opponent’s early fire.
However the game would turn around inside three minutes. On 75th, Flores received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away. The game had barely restarted when Rapids conceded a penalty for a foul on Jimmy Medranda and Nemeth slotted home. Then 90 seconds later Bernardo Anor weaved in from the left and managed to squeeze home a shot at the near post.
MacMath made a couple of important stops at the end as Rapids clung on to their point.
BOX SCORE
Colorado Rapids 2-2 Sporting Kansas City
Desert Diamond Cup - Kino North Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Scoring Summary:
COL - Gabriel Torres (Lucas Pittinari) 12
COL - Dominique Badji (Vicente Sanchez) 17
SKC - Krisztian Nemeth (penalty kick) 77
SKC - Bernardo Anor (unassisted) 78
Misconduct Summary:
SKC - Dom Dwyer (caution; reckless tackle) 23
SKC - Paulo Nagamura (caution; tactical foul) 25
COL - Marcelo Sarvas (caution; reckless tackle) 29
SKC - Roger Espinoza (caution; reckless tackle) 3
COL - Francisco Flores (caution)
COL - Sam Cronin (caution; reckless tackle) 64
COL - Francisco Flores (ejection; delaying a restart) 75
Colorado Rapids:
Zac MacMath; Wes Knight (Francisco Flores 46), Bobby Burling (Shane O’Neill 46), Axel Sjoberg (Jared Watts (46), Michael Harrington (Marc Burch 46), Lucas Pittinari (Sam Cronin 46), Marcelo Sarvas (Ben Newnam 46) , Vicente Sanchez (Dillon Serna 46), Gabriel Torres (Dillon Powers 46), Carlos Alvarez (Oscar Montoya 46), Dominique Badji (Deshorn Brown 46).
Sporting Kansas City:
Luis Marin (Tim Melia 46); Kevin Ellis (Amadou Dia 46), Jalil Anibaba (Ike Opara 46), Matt Besler (Erik Palmer-Brown), Marcel de Jong (Seth Sinovic); James Marcelin (Servando Carrasco 46), Paulo Nagamura (Benny Feilhaber 46), Roger Espinoza (Jimmy Medranda 46); Jacob Peterson (James Rogers 46), Dom Dwyer (Krisztian Nemeth 46), Connor Hallisey (Bernardo Anor 46).
