Commerce City, Colorado, Oct 31: Teal Bunbury scored in the 49th and 59th minutes as Sporting Kansas City beat reigning MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids 2-0 on Sunday in the first match of their Eastern Conference semifinals series.
Colorado started without midfielder Jamie Smith, who injured his knee in a playoff win over Columbus earlier in the week, and lost Caleb Folan (knee) and Kosuke Kimura (foot) to injuries in the first half.
The Rapids must win away at Kansas City on Wednesday to have any chance of progressing to the conference final.
In other results Sunday, Houston Dynamo edged Philadephia Union 2-1 in the opening leg of the other Eastern Conference semifinal, while David Beckham helped Los Angeles Galaxy to a 1-0 win over New York Red Bulls in the Western Conference semifinals.
At Chester, Andre Hainault and Calen Carr scored in the first half to lift the Houston Dynamo to an away win.
Hainault opened the scoring with a header in the fifth minute, but Sebastien Le Toux canceled that out with an equalizer two minutes later.
Carr's goal in the 30th minute gave two-time MLS Cup champion Houston a one-goal cushion going into the return match on Thursday.
At Harrison, New Jersey, Mike Magee was in good position to tap in Beckham's long-range pass in the 15th minute for the only goal of the match.
Magee, who played for the Red Bulls before he was traded to LA in 2009, said there was no doubt he was on-side, despite protests from the New York defenders.
“The ball was a perfect pass,” Magee said. “I was 100 percent not offside. Besides, it wasn't called, so then it wasn't.”
