By Kurt Austin – SportingKC.com
Sporting Kansas City suffered a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Sporting Park.
Shapi Suleymanov scored the lone goal for SKC in the defeat as the visitors prevailed behind a brace from Paxten Aaronson to go along with a goal from fellow Designated Player Rafael Navarro and the first goal of Wayne Frederick’s MLS career.
The Rapids struck first in the 12th minute on a scoring sequence that started with a clever backheel from Navarro inside his own half to spring Darren Yapi down the left touchline. The 21-year-old Homegrown Player carried the ball forward from the halfline into the penalty area and squared the ball for Aaronson to set up a first-time finish from 12 yards out.
Yapi was involved again in the 19th minute with a pair of golden chances to double the Rapids’ lead, first being turned away by Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp in a one-on-one situation and then making minimal contact on the rebound as the ball bounced at the top of the six-yard box with an open net in front of him.
Sporting Kansas City would pull level in the 44th minute as Suleymanov scored his first goal of the season with a superb near-post finish past Zack Steffen. Calvin Harris, facing his former team, provided the primary assist and Lasse Berg Johnsen earned the secondary assist, giving the Norwegian international a goal and two assists in his first two appearances for the club.
The momentum from the equalizer was shortlived as Colorado regained the lead moments later in first-half stoppage time as a pair of Trinidad and Tobago internationals connected for the game-winning goal. Dante Sealy, the son of former Kansas City Wizards forward Scott Sealy, delivered a corner that came off the hands of Pulskamp and ricocheted off the crossbar before being pushed across the line by Frederick.
Colorado would seal the victory with a pair of second half goals just four minutes apart. Navarro, who led the Rapids in scoring each of the last two years, added his team-best third goal of the season in the 71st minute with a sliding finish from close range. Aaronson, a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2024 and Gold Cup squad in 2025, then scored his second goal of the night in the 75th minute on an assist from Navarro, who is one of only two players in MLS with three goals and three assists through the first five weeks of the season.
Saturday’s result snapped Colorado’s six-game road losing streak dating back to last August, while Sporting is now winless in six straight regular season home games – equaling the longest such run in club history – heading into the next week’s international break.
Sporting Kansas City will be back in action at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 4 with a road trip to take on Real Salt Lake at America First Field in Sandy, Utah. The Western Conference match-up will be available to watch live on Apple TV and the rematch of MLS Cup 2013 will be shown in pub partners across the Sporting Pub Network.
2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 5
Sporting Park | Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 17,037
Weather: 85 degrees and sunny
Sporting Kansas City 1-4 Colorado Rapids
| Score | 1 | 2 | F |
| Sporting Kansas City (1-3-1, 4 points) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Colorado Rapids (3-2-0, 9 points) | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Jake Davis, Jansen Miller, Ethan Bartlow, Wyatt Meyer (Kwaku Agyabeng 52′); Lasse Berg Johnsen, Jacob Bartlett (Taylor Calheira 85′), Manu Garcia; Calvin Harris (Justin Reynolds 85′), Dejan Joveljic (C), Shapi Suleymanov (Stephen Afrifa 70′)
Subs Not Used: Stefan Cleveland, Diego Borges, Pierre Lurot, Cielo Tschantret, Ian James
Colorado Rapids: Zack Steffen (C); Miguel Navarro, Rob Holding (Noah Cobb 70′), Lucas Herrington, Jackson Travis (Keegan Rosenberry 79′); Hamzat Ojediran, Paxten Aaronson (Alexis Manyoma 79′), Wayne Frederick; Dante Sealy, Rafael Navarro, Darren Yapi (Josh Atencio 61′)
Subs Not Used: Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Mamadou Billo Diop, Ted Ku-DiPietro, Alex Harris
Scoring Summary:
COL – Paxten Aaronson 1 (Darren Yapi 2, Rafael Navarro 2) 12′
SKC – Shapi Suleymanov 1 (Calvin Harris 2, Lasse Berg Johnsen 2) 44′
COL – Wayne Frederick 1 (unassisted) 45+2′
COL – Rafael Navarro 3 (unassisted) 71′
COL – Paxten Aaronson 2 (Rafael Navarro 3) 75′
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Manu Garcia (yellow card; delaying a restart) 5′
SKC – Jansen Miller (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 38′
COL – Lucas Herrington (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 39′
COL – Rob Holding (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 42′
COL – Miguel Navarro (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 60′
SKC – Jacob Bartlett (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 77′
Match Statistics
| STAT | SKC | COL |
| Shots | 8 | 18 |
| Shots on Goal | 3 | 9 |
| Expected Goals | 0.6 | 4.4 |
| Corner Kicks | 6 | 4 |
| Possession | 45.6% | 54.4% |
| Saves | 4 | 2 |
| Fouls | 17 | 21 |
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referee: Kyle Atkins
Assistant Referee: Corey Parker
Fourth Official: Edson Carvajal
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez
AVAR: TJ Zablocki
