by Brian Turrel
A brace of Daniel Salloi goals led Kansas City to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids Wednesday evening at Children’s Mercy Park.
The Hungarian forward got Kansas City on the board in the 24th minute with a great move in the middle of three Colorado defenders.
Uri Rosell made a quick restart after a Colorado foul and got the ball to Salloi, who zig-zagged past Lalas Abubakar and Jack Price. Austin Trusty tried to slide over to help, but couldn’t get there before Salloi put his shot inside the near post.
Lucas Esteves evened the score for the visitors five minutes later when Sporting couldn’t clear a cross in front of the Kansas City goal. Goalkeeper Tim Melia and defender Andreu Fontas collided and hit the ground on the initial attempt, leaving an open target for Esteves on the rebound.
Kortne Ford set up the winning goal by delivering a well-placed ball to Salloi in a pocket of open space 20 yards from goal on the left side. Salloi closed on goal quickly and knocked the ball inside the far post, past the dive from Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough.
Kansas City pressed for a third goal until settling into a low block late in the half. Marinos Tzionis’s speed and footwork baffled the Colorado defense, and he narrowly missed on a couple of scoring chances.
Stoppage time was marred by the ejection of four players, starting with Colorado’s Aaron Trusty, who picked up his second yellow card on a hard foul in the first minute after regulation.
Esteves was given a yellow card for another rough foul a couple minutes later, and then a straight red card in the 6th stoppage minute for pushing Daniel Salloi to the ground from behind.
Esteves’s push was in retaliation for Salloi sweeping Nicolas Mezquida’s plant leg as he tried a quick restart.
Fontas was then sent off for going after Esteves. Finally, after a video review, Salloi was ejected for the foul on Mezquida that started the chain reaction.
Play continued with both sides down to nine players, but mercifully for just a few seconds before the referee blew the final whistle.
Kansas City is in a stretch of seven games in 22 days that will test the durability and depth of the roster. The team will play on the road at San Jose on Sunday, then at home on Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo in a U.S. Open Cup match starting at 7:30 p.m.
