Rapids’ home unbeaten streak ends
COMMERCE CITY» Yoshimar Yotun scored on a penalty kick and Cristian Higuita added his first goal since 2016 to help Orlando City beat the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Sunday for its franchise-record tying fifth consecutive win.
Yotun converted from the spot in the 77th minute to give Orlando City a 2-1 lead after he drew a foul conceded by Dillon Serna in the penalty area.
Colorado’s Dominique Badji slipped behind the defense, ran onto an arcing pass by Enzo Martinez — from well beyond midfield — and took a dribble before rolling it past sliding goalkeeper Joe Bendik from just inside the area to open the scoring in the 26th minute. Badji has five goals this season, tied for third most in MLS.
Cristian Higuita blasted a right-footer from just outside the area to tie it in the 52nd minute to make it 1-1.
“The first thirty minutes were good for us, we were on top of it, definitely, that’s when the game is easiest,” Badji said. “but you know when the game kind of went out of our hands and out of control, we kind of fell apart and got away from the game plan that we had coming in.”
The Rapids (2-2-2) had a seven-game unbeaten streak at home, which dated to August 19, 2017, snapped.
Bendik tied his season high with five saves and Mohamed El-Munir had a late block in stoppage time for Orlando City (4-2-1).
“I think it was such a good start and I think that mostly we played it well, scored a good goal,” Rapids coach Anthony Hudson said of his team’s opening 30 minutes. “I’ve said this before, that sort of then changed the mentality slightly. So yeah, it was a positive start to the game, and (then) we come in here and we’re disappointed. I think this is a game where we’ve thrown some points away.”
New York 3, Dallas 1.
YORK» David Villa scored two goals to help New York City FC beat FC Dallas.
Villa converted from the spot to give NYCFC (6-1-2) a 2-1 lead in the 36th minute after Reto Ziegler was called — after video review — for a hand ball in the area.
Jesus Medina also scored for New York City. Santiago Mosquera scored for FC Dallas (31-3).