Sporting Kansas City were aware of the acute need for a victory in one of the last MLS games for the regular campaign, but they were soundly beaten 2-0 by Colorado Rapids in front of their own supporters.
Defender Kevin Ellis admitted that the team came up short despite being aware of the need for three points. Kansas City still need three points in order to be sure of a place in the MLS cup play-offs. It does not get any easier since they will be against defending champions LA Galaxy in the final match. Even though LA Galaxy have not been in the best form themselves, Sporting Kansas City are clearly short on confidence.
The team has managed just three victories since the start of September and one of those victories was on penalties. There is a danger of San Jose Earthquakes overtaking them for the final play-off spot. San Jose are only one point behind Sporting Kansas and they are in a far better run of form as well. This dangerous situation has been created because of the recent 1-0 defeat against San Jose. It was clear that Sporting Kansas City were in deep trouble when they allowed Powers to score in the 78th minute. Marcelo Sarvas doubled the advantage a few minutes later despite a red card to Cronin.
“We knew what we had to do, and we didn’t get it done. That’s disappointing to us. Every guy in here is going to take responsibility for that, myself included. We didn’t do what we needed to do – whether we were lacking urgency or didn’t play the ball well, didn’t keep the ball, didn’t defend well, didn’t finish our chances. It’s everything, and every guy is going to take responsibility for that. I don’t think we had our best game today,” said the defender.