Swansea was defeated 2-1 in its first preseason friendly of the new season after a strong first-half display from the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, provided the goals needed to down the Premier League outfit.

Michael Laudrup's side fell behind to an early Andre Akpan goal as the Texan rose to meet Luis Zapata's pinpoint cross after four minutes, planting his header past Gerhard Tremmel.

Though the Swans came close to finding a reply via Leon Britton's long-range effort, the Rapids doubled their lead in impressive fashion as Kamani Hill drilled a 25-yarder in off the post on the quarter of an hour mark.

This kicked the visitors into life and though striker Danny Graham squandered two decent chances – the best a shot on the turn that was well saved by Steward Ceus – they went into the break 2-0 down.

The Welsh side started the second period far stronger, falling into its natural possession game quicker than it did in the first half but struggled to convert this into genuine chances in the first 15 minutes.

In the 72^nd minute Leroy Lita had Swansea's best chance as he met Ben Davies cross, but saw his powerful header into the ground bounce over the crossbar.

The improvement in possession saw some good work by Kemy Agustien, Luke Moore and Lita lead to a free kick for the Swans 25 yards out. De Guzman took responsibility for the set piece and fired an excellent curling shot into the far corner to pull Laudrup's team back into the game.

However with just 10 minutes remaining, Swansea couldn't find the second goal it needed to restore parity as the Rapids saw out the friendly to win 2-1.

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