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Player Ratings: RSL suffers from absences, decision-making in 2-1 loss to Sporting KC

Douglas C. Pizac-USA TODAY Sport

Jeff Attinella - 6.5 Attinella did pretty well with the cards that were dealt to him. Losing a starting defender to a red card threw a wrench in the system and allowed Kansas City to really take control. Attinella can't be blamed for the two headers that went past him. RSL left men unmarked and paid the price.

Chris Wingert - 4.5 Wingert made what seemed to me to be crucial mental errors. The early foul he committed on Kamara was senseless, although I'm not sure if it was intentional. That was not the way you want to start a game because then Wingert was forced to be overly judicious in his defending. Then when he tugged the jersey of a breakaway KC attacker, that spelt real trouble for RSL. You could argue that he shouldn't have been given another yellow for that, but you could make an equally strong argument that Wingert put himself and the team in jeopardy early on.

Nat Borchers - 5.5 Borchers played pretty well but it seemed that the communication of the defense was lacking. Maybe that was due to the many changes in the defense, but Borchers is the leader back there, especially when Rimando is gone.

Aaron Maund - 5.5 Maund has shown himself to be worth keeping around especially in the face of all the injuries to the RSL back line. Problem is, he was to blame as well for the scorers not being well marked.

Lovel Palmer - 7 Palmer has gotten better and more confident in his position as the season has gone on and I thought he showed very well against KC. He made some very timely tackles when Sporting was looking to score and had what I thought was probably one of his best games of the year if not for those goals.

Yordany Alvarez - 6 Alvarez was a part of the defensive lack of cohesion even though he played pretty well overall. He is not nearly as involved as Beckerman is when he plays, but those are very big shoes to fill. Alvarez should assert himself a bit more in the offense though.

Luis Gil - 6.5 Gil is starting to show maturity in his decision making. He is making much wiser decisions with his passes and you can see his vision of the game improving all the time. I wouldn't be disappointed if he stays with RSL for years to come.

Ned Grabavoy - 6 Grabavoy fought hard and did as much leading as he could, but it seemed to me like without four of RSL's key players, the leadership of this team was getting tired.

Javier Morales - 7 Morales did well in the face of all the fouls committed against him. He made plenty of critical passes and held the ball up well when needed. His placement of the ball put it just out of reach for the KC's keeper and led to the Findley goal.

Joao Plata - 6 So many chances, so few goals. Plata is fantastic with the ball at his feet, but hasn't shown himself to be as capable at finishing in MLS play.

Robbie Findley - 7 Findley did well to get his goal. He had to exert himself to head that goal in and it put RSL in a nice position until the ref's inconsistency made things difficult for RSL and essentially negated the goal. Glad to see him put one in again and he is now in a three-way tie with Morales and Garcia for most goals on the club.

Substitutes

Olmes Garcia - 6.5 Olmes was unlucky not to have scored. He played as hard as he could and almost got one past Nelson with only 10 men on the field. I hope he stays under the radar for at least the rest of the season.

Abdoulie Mansally - 5.5 Mansally was put in at a time when things just got very complicated for RSL, so it isn't fair to be too hard on him. It is, however, fair to say that Mansally was as guilty as anyone when it comes to a goal being scored in the dying seconds of the game because KC players were not properly marked.

Khari Stephenson - 5.5 Stephenson didn't really have enough time to assert himself, but played well with what he had.