{"id":107441,"date":"2026-03-21T12:42:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/sporting-kc-eager-to-pick-up-steam-vs-rapids\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:42:49","slug":"sporting-kc-eager-to-pick-up-steam-vs-rapids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/sporting-kc-eager-to-pick-up-steam-vs-rapids\/","title":{"rendered":"Sporting KC eager to pick up steam vs. Rapids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<section id=\"0\" class=\" w-full\">\n<div class=\"xl:container mx-0 !px-4 py-0 pb-4 !mx-0 !px-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.deadspin.com\/tr:w-900\/28501851.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.deadspin.com\/tr:w-900\/28501851.jpg\" alt=\"MLS: Sporting Kansas City at LA Galaxy\" class=\"w-full\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\"\/><span class=\"text-0.8 leading-tight\">Mar 14, 2026; Carson, California, USA; Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Lasse Berg Johnsen (4) celebrates his goal during the second half against the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images<!-- --> <!-- --> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-1\">\n<p>With both teams led by first-year coaches, Sporting Kansas City host the Colorado Rapids on Saturday in Kansas City, Kan.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-2\">\n<p>After a last-place finish in the Western Conference table in 2025, Sporting KC (1-2-1, 4 points) hired Raphael Wicky to turn around the team&#8217;s fortunes. Kansas City picked up its first win under Wicky, a 2-1 decision at the Los Angeles Galaxy last Saturday. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-3\">\n<p>Dejan Joveljic scored in first-half stoppage time and Lasse Berg Johnsen netted what proved to be the game-winner in the 74th minute. The Galaxy found the back of the net in the 82nd minute.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-4\">\n<p>&#8220;In terms of togetherness, of trying to be a team when we are in possession, when we aren&#8217;t in possession, when we press high, when we are suffering together in a low block, we have to have everyone helping each other,&#8221; Wicky said. &#8220;When you have that foundation with talent you can win football games &#8230;We need to keep working on the culture and togetherness and what we want to do on the field.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-5\">\n<p>Meanwhile, the Rapids&#8217; two-match winning streak was snapped with a 3-1 loss at Eastern Conference co-leader New York City FC last Saturday. Darren Yapi scored off an assist from Rafael Navarro for Colorado.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/p>\n<section id=\"section-6\">\n<p>Goalkeeper Zack Steffen missed his second straight match with a shoulder injury, and is listed as day-to-day. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-7\">\n<p>Even though the Rapids (2-2-0, 6 points) maintained 59.3% of the possession, they couldn&#8217;t net the equalizer against NYCFC. Colorado coach Matt Wells said Rob Holding and Keegan Rosenberry used well-placed passes to set up midfielder Paxten Aaronson with transition opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-8\">\n<p>While he said Colorado arrived in better attacking positions than NYCFC, the Rapids&#8217; leading scorers, Navarro and Yapi, who each have two goals on the season, &#8220;weren&#8217;t able to find the right action.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-9\">\n<p>&#8220;We are an attacking team that is going to create numerous opportunities for our wingers and forwards because of the nature at which we play,&#8221; Wells said. &#8220;We attack with numbers; we attack with speed. Which is exactly the team we want to be.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-10\">\n<p>&#8220;I want more from both those guys (Navarro and Yapi) and will keep demanding it. They have incredible potential and great mindsets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"section-11\">\n<p>-Field Level Media<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/deadspin.com\/sporting-kc-eager-to-pick-up-steam-vs-rapids\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mar 14, 2026; Carson, California, USA; Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Lasse Berg Johnsen (4) celebrates his goal during the second half against the LA Galaxy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}