Sporting Kansas City 1, Colorado Rapids 0 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

Dave Zeitlin

Sporting Kansas City returned to their winning ways and extended their lead in the Western Conference.

Led by a first-half goal from D aniel Salloi, SKC earned a hard-fought 1-0 home win over the Colorado Rapids at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday to move four points clear of second-place LAFC in the West.

SKC, which suffered a rare loss to New England last week, is unbeaten in eight of their last nine games.

Tim Howard kept Colorado in the game with four big saves but it wasn't enough to prevent Colorado's third straight loss as Dominique Badji missed a wide-open chance to score the equalizer in the 80th minute.

Goals

16' — SKC — Dániel Sallói WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: SKC did what you’d expect a first-place team to do at home, controlling the game both in terms of possession and scoring chances. If not for some nice goalkeeping from Howard, a goal-line save from Danny Wilson, and three shots that struck woodwork, the hosts easily could have turned the contest into a rout. Regardless, they’ll be happy to walk away from a physical game that featured 33 fouls and four yellow cards with three points in their pocket.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH
: The game’s only goal came in the 16th minute after
Ike Opara
headed a long ball from
Matt Besler
into the path of
Khiry Shelton
, whose header hit the post before Salloi banged in the rebound. It was a great buildup and timely finish from the 21-year-old Hungarian.

Daniel Salloi: "I think we created a lot of chances, and it was one of those days when you miss them. We're a good team, and good teams win, so if you have a bad day of finishing chances you can still win." #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/W8VGBvO6Fc
— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) May 6, 2018

MAN OF THE MATCH: On top of his second goal of the season, Salloi wreaked havoc on the left wing (while Johnny Russell did the same on the opposite side). Salloi’s finishing was a little bit off as only three of his eight shots were on target, but he continually found open space while making a few terrific centering passes and through balls that could have easily turned into assists.