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

Friday, September 25, 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 this weekend’s game at home to Sporting Kansas City. We have coverage on Altitude and AltitudeNOW from 6.30pm this Sunday.

1. The Rapids are one of the in-form sides in MLS, going 3-2-3 since emerging from the Orlando bubble. That includes a 3-1-2 run this month.
2. Sporting KC, meanwhile, are going through an up-and-down spell. They are 2-4-2 in the eight games since the MLS Is Back Tournament, and while the Rapids have won three of the last four, SKC has lost three of the last four.
3. In those three wins for the Rapids, they have kept a clean sheet on each occasion (at RSL, LA Galaxy, and home to San Jose). On Sunday, they face the last remaining side in MLS to be shutout in 2020.
4. With 13 goals in their previous four games, the Rapids now have 25 for the season. Only three teams in MLS have scored more - LAFC (31), Seattle Sounders (26), and Portland Timbers (26). The Rapids face all three of those teams in the coming weeks. SKC has 24 goals.
5. It’s clear, the Rapids push until the end. Of their 25 goals, nine have come in the last 15 minutes. Only Real Salt Lake have scored more, with 10 of their 19 netted in that period.
6. No team in MLS has scored more second half goals than the Rapids (18).
7. With his fifth goal of the season against San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday, winger Jonathan Lewis has equaled his career-high tally from 2019. Jack Price and Cole Bassett lead the team in assists (4). The next game-winning assist will be the 300th in club history.
8. Sunday will be the third meeting of the season. They will then meet at Children’s Mercy Park on October 24. It will be the first time since the 2004 season that these teams will have faced each other four times in a regular season.
9. The Rapids have not lost at home to Sporting Kansas City in the previous seven games (4-0-3).
10. All-time, the Rapids have an 18-5-11 home record over SKC, since their first meeting in Colorado on May 5, 1996. The Rapids won 4-0, for the first-ever shutout in club history, with first MLS goals for Scott Benedetti, Steve Trittschuh, Chris Henderson, and Richard Sharpe.

NOTE: Richard Sharpe was born in the English town of Wokingham, in the county of Berkshire, as was Richard Fleming.