"By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals" is a season-long series that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.
With wins in four of the club's last six matches, Sporting Kansas City will now prepare for one of its biggest battles of the season: a showdown with archrivals St. Louis City SC on Saturday at world-class Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com and live coverage on FS1, Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
After enduring a spring and early summer, Sporting has found its footing in recent weeks by advancing to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals and moving within seven points of the playoff line in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Their cross-state rivals, meanwhile, have dropped three straight games and fallen below Sporting in the table after winning just once since mid-May. The winner of Saturday's contest could take a big step forward in garnering momentum ahead of Leagues Cup and the final stretch of the 2024 MLS campaign.
With palpable excitement surrounding Saturday's fixture, we take a statistical look at the matchup in our newest edition of By The Numbers, presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting has a 3-2-1 record in the overall series, including two wins and one draw in three meetings at Children’s Mercy Park.
- The first meeting this season saw Sporting and St. Louis battle to a thrilling 3-3 draw at Children’s Mercy Park on April 20. Sporting had strikes from Alan Pulido and Erik Thommy while also benefiting from a St. Louis own goal. The visitors struck through Joao Klauss, Celio Pompeu and Tomas Totland.
- The six all-time meetings between the clubs have produced 26 total goals, an average of 4.33 goals per match. The six games have produced just one shutout, when St. Louis prevailed 4-0 in the inaugural meeting on May 20, 2023.
- Sporting is 1-2-1 in four regular season meetings against St. Louis, with the lone win coming on Sept. 2, 2023, in a 2-1 home victory at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting and St. Louis made the most of their inaugural year as archrivals by meeting five times across all competitions in 2023. Since Peter Vermes’ head coaching tenure began in 2009, Sporting has faced just four clubs five times in all competitions in a single season: Houston in 2013, Vancouver in 2016, Real Salt Lake in 2018 and St. Louis last year.
- Louis won two of the three regular season meetings in 2023 with convincing home wins at CityPark, a 4-0 result on May 20 and a 4-1 decision on Sept. 30.
- After St. Louis earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, the expansion newcomers were humbled by Sporting in a two-game sweep of the Round One Best-of-3 Series. Kansas City cruised 4-1 at St. Louis in Game 1 on Oct. 29 and prevailed 2-1 at home on Nov. 5 to complete the series victory.
- The playoff series between the clubs last fall marked the second time that teams from Kansas City and St. Louis have met in the playoffs across the five major men’s professional sports leagues in the U.S. (MLS, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), following the 1985 World Series in which the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has six goal contributions (two goals and four assists) in six MLS appearances against St. Louis, including one goal and one assist in each of the playoff meetings last fall.
- Sporting forward Alan Pulido has six goal contributions (three goals and three assists) in six MLS appearances against St. Louis, including a brace in Sporting’s 2-1 home win over St. Louis last September and a goal in the most recent meeting on April 20.
- Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has one goal and two assists in two regular season home appearances against St. Louis.
- Sporting forward Willy Agada has scored a goal or assisted a goal in each of the last two regular season meetings between the clubs.
- Louis forward Joao Klauss has four goal contributions (three goals and one assist) in three regular season appearances against Sporting, including one goal and one assist in the most recent meeting on April 20.
- Louis midfielder Eduard Lowen has four goal contributions (one goal and three assists) in three regular season appearances against Sporting, all coming in 2023.
- Louis midfielder Indiana Vassilev has three goal contributions (two goals and one assist) in four regular season meetings against Sporting.
- St. Louis forward Sam Adeniran has scored a goal in each of his last two regular season appearances against Sporting.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2024 MLS record: 6-14-5, 23 points (12th in West | 40 GF, 51 GA)
- 2024 MLS home record: 4-5-3 (25 GF, 25 GA)
- Last five matches: 3-2-0 (W-L-W-W-L)
- Sporting is at the end of a stretch that will see the team play seven matches in 22 days between June 29 and July 20. The team has four wins and two losses during this time, including three victories in as many home matches.
- With victories on July 7, 10 and 13, Sporting won three competitive matches in a seven-day stretch for the first time in club history. The winning streak was snapped in Wednesday’s 2-1 road loss at Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
- Sporting ranks seventh in MLS in non-penalty goals (40) and eighth in non-PK goals per match (1.6).
- Sporting’s 1.6 goals per match during the 2024 regular season are the club’s fourth most since the Peter Vermes era began in 2009 (SKC had more goals per match in 2018, 2020 and 2021).
- Sporting has gone 19 straight matches without a draw in all competitions, the second longest streak in club history. Sporting’s most recent draw was a 3-3 home result against St. Louis on April 20.
- Sporting has scored multiple goals in nine of 12 MLS home matches this season and in 11 of 14 home games across all competitions.
- Sporting has scored in 14 straight regular season home matches dating back to Sept. 23, 2023, totaling 30 goals during that stretch (2.14 per match).
- Sporting leads MLS with 15 different goal scorers during the 2024 regular season.
- Sporting has fielded 20 different starting lineups in its last 20 matches across all competitions. Sporting has utilized 24 different starting lineups in 28 total matches this season.
- Forward Willy Agada scored a goal in Wednesday’s 2-1 road loss at Vancouver—his first goal away from home since September 2023—and now has a team-leading nine goals in all competitions, including eight in the regular season. He has four goals in his last four matches.
- Eight of Agada’s nine goals this season have come at home. He has scored 16 goals in 16 regular season starts at Children’s Mercy Park since debuting for the club in July 2022.
- Agada ranks second in MLS in both expected goals per 90 minutes (0.75) and non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes (0.69). He also ranks fifth in total shots per 90 minutes (4.66) and eighth in total expected goals (9.8).
- Midfielder Erik Thommy scored Sporting’s opening goal in last Saturday’s 2-1 road win over the San Jose Earthquakes. He is tied for second on the team with five goals this season in all competitions, each coming in the regular season.
- Forward Johnny Russell has seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists) in his last nine MLS starts since May 18.
- Midfielder Memo Rodriguez leads Sporting with six assists this season.
- Midfielder Remi Walter started Wednesday against Vancouver, logging his first start since April 27 after overcoming knee and ankle injuries that forced him to miss 15 matches.
- Defender Tim Leibold has scored or assisted in three of his last four MLS appearances. He was the only field player to start in each of Sporting’s last three wins in all competitions.
- Defender Robert Castellanos ranks sixth in MLS with 73.9% of his aerial duels won.
- With a 2-1 extra-time win over FC Dallas on July 10, goalkeeper Tim Melia has prevailed in 11 of his 12 career Open Cup appearances for Sporting, including penalty shootout wins in the 2015 final and the 2017 semifinal (9-1-2 record).
- Melia is the only player to start in each of Sporting’s last six matches since June 29, playing every minute during that stretch.
St. Louis City SC
- 2024 MLS record: 4-10-10, 22 points (13th in West | 31 GF, 45 GA)
- 2024 MLS away record: 0-6-5 (17 GF, 29 GA)
- Last five matches: 1-4-0 (L-W-L-L-L)
- St. Louis has four league wins this season, tied with San Jose for the fewest in MLS.
- St. Louis began the 2024 season with a 3-1-7 record through May 11, but has just one win in 13 matches since then with a 1-9-3 record.
- St. Louis has won just four of its last 28 MLS matches since October 2023, posting a 4-14-10 record (including playoffs).
- St. Louis enters Saturday with three straight regular season defeats, tied for the longest regular season losing streak in the club’s two-year history.
- St. Louis is 0-6-5 way from home this season and one of two MLS teams without an away win (Dallas).
- Since winning 2-1 at Minnesota United FC on Sept. 23, 2023, St. Louis has gone winless in 13 straight MLS away matches (including playoffs).
- St. Louis has lost four straight regular season away matches, the longest road losing streak in club history. St. Louis last earned a point away from home with a 3-3 draw at Inter Miami CF on June 1.
- St. Louis has a -1 goal differential in the first half and a -13 goal differential in the second half this season. The team has been outscored 29-16 after halftime and outscored 21-10 after the 60th minute.
- St. Louis has scored six goals in the first 15 minutes of matches this season, tied for second most in MLS behind only Portland (seven).
- Eight of St. Louis’ 10 league defeats this season have come by multiple goals, including each of the last three.
- St. Louis leads MLS in total shot attempts (398) and has a shot discrepancy of +115, the largest in MLS (283 shots faced).
- St. Louis is 4-2-3 when scoring the first goal this season and 0-8-4 when conceding the first goal. Similarly, the team is 3-2-1 when leading at halftime and 0-6-2 when trailing at halftime.
- Forward Joao Klauss leads St. Louis with five goals this season and ranks ninth in MLS in shots (68).
- Midfielder Chris Durkin leads MLS in yellow cards (nine) and ranks second in fouls committed (54). He also ranks third in MLS in dribblers tackled (33), sixth in tackles won (37) and ninth in interceptions (34).
- Midfielder Indiana Vassilev is the only St. Louis player to feature in all 24 regular season matches this season.
- Midfielder Eduard Lowen ranks second in MLS in expected primary assists per 90 minutes (0.40). Despite missing 10 of the club’s 24 league matches this season, he is tied with Vassilev for the team lead in key passes (38).
- Defender Tomas Totland ranks third in MLS in interceptions (37). He leads St. Louis field players in MLS starts (22) and MLS minutes played (1,950) this season.
- Goalkeeper Roman Burki is tied for fifth in MLS with six shutouts this season.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Sporting is three shy of 500 goals scored in competitive matches at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Forward Johnny Russell has 99 career goal contributions (60 goals, 39 assists) in the regular season. He is one shy of joining Preki (169) and Graham Zusi (105) as the only Kansas City players to eclipse 100 goal contributions for the club in regular season play.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has 99 goal contributions (59 goals, 40 assists) for Sporting in all competitions, fourth most in club history.
- Forward Alan Pulido has 35 goals for Sporting in all competitions, tied with Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi for ninth in club history and six behind Kei Kamara in eighth.
- Midfielder Memo Rodriguez is one shy of his 250th professional club appearance.
