Ten Things To Know: Colorado Rapids vs. Sporting Kansas City

Thursday, August 27, 2020

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Our Rapids play-by-play announcer, Richard Fleming, is renowned for being detailed in his preparation when calling MLS games, and he is offering us a little insight into some of his pregame notes.

Find below, some things you may find useful ahead of the Rapids’ home game against Sporting Kansas City. There is coverage on Altitude and AltitudeNOW from 6.30pm on Saturday.

1. Kei Kamara remains on 349 MLS appearances. His MLS debut was for Columbus Crew SC on April 1, 2006, against then-named Kansas City Wizards. He scored on his debut in a 3-1 loss.
2. Kamara would spend four-and-a-half seasons with Kansas City, during which time he would score 38 goals in 113 appearances.
3. Diego Rubio spent three seasons under Peter Vermes at Sporting KC (2016-18), netting 15 goals in 51 appearances.
4. These two teams have met 65 times previously in the regular season, and home advantage has certainly helped. The Rapids are 18-5-10 at home, whereas SKC boasts a 20-6-5 record on their patch. (Previous meeting was on neutral territory in Orlando).
5. When the Rapids won 2-1 at Sporting Park on October 21, 2015 it was their first win at Kansas City since September 14, 2002.
6. From September 2009 to June 2015, the Rapids went 0-4-5 against Kansas City. From August 2015 to May 2017 they went 6-1-0, including a run of five wins on the spin.
7. Sporting KC won the previous game 3-2 during the MLS Is Back Tournament in Orlando. The Rapids finished the game with nine men, after Danny Wilson and Jack Price were sent off.
8. In seeing red, Price became the 100th dismissal in Rapids history. The first person sent off was head coach Bobby Houghton, for abusive language, in a 3-0 loss at the MetroStars on May 16, 1996.
9. Respective head coaches, Robin Fraser and Peter Vermes were voted MLS Defender of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Fraser in 1999 and Vermes in 2000. Both also played for the teams they now coach.
10. For the second home game in a row there will not be any fans inside DICK’S Sporting Goods Park on Saturday. When these two teams met on 4th July, 2003 there were 60,142 inside Invesco Field at Mile High to enjoy a 3-2 win for the Rapids. They played in front of 41,987 on the same date two years later, when the Rapids were again successful, this time 2-1.