Beyond The Box Score: Toronto tamed as Tim Melia and Sporting KC stay stingy

Sometimes trends are just too hard to ignore.

Case in point: the start to Sporting Kansas City's 2017 campaign. With four games in the book, the club already has three goalless draws to its name. Despite scoring just twice through 360 minutes of action, Peter Vermes' men are amidst the third-longest unbeaten streak to start a season in team history.

A rugged midfield, organized back line and in-form goalkeeper are largely to thank for Sporting Kansas City's recent stinginess. After holding a potent Toronto FC side to a 0-0 draw in Friday's home opener at rainy BMO Field, Sporting KC became the 13th club to concede one or fewer goals through a season's first four matches. Of the previous 12 to do so, 10 ended up making the playoffs that year. The table below enlists those teams, with Sporting KC appearing a league-best four times.

Fewest goals allowed in first four regular season games
(MLS history)

“I think the fact that we can continue on in this place of being able to keep goals out of the back of the net, it’s a very important thing as we try and accumulate points over the course of the season, so I’m very pleased with that aspect," Vermes assessed after the match. "We created some good chances, especially on the road. I’m feeling very good about the progress that we’ve made. Obviously we’ve got a lot of games ahead of us and we’re racking up points which is important for us.”

If not for a last-gasp goal conceded to the San Jose Earthquakes on March 18, Sporting Kansas City could well be enjoying a six-game regular season shutout streak dating back to 2016. As previously mentioned, goalkeeper Tim Melia has played a pivotal role in thwarting opponents while stringing together arguably the best stretch of his eight-year MLS career.

On Friday, the 30-year-old became just the second Kansas City keeper to record three consecutive road clean sheets in the regular season. The other man to do so, of course, was former captain Jimmy Nielsen, who led the side to the 2013 MLS Cup and still boasts an MLS-best 0.99 career goals against average. For his own part, Melia is well on the way to having a phenomenal year between the posts: his 0.25 goals against average (minimum three appearances) and three shutouts lead the league.

Sporting KC's all-time longest road shutout streaks
(MLS regular season)

Friday was not only a continuation of strong defense, but a continuation of Sporting Kansas City's lengthy unbeaten streak against Toronto FC. Vermes' side has now gone eight straight meetings versus the Reds without a loss, winning six. The eight-game unbeaten run is one shy of tying Kansas City's all-time record versus a single opponent.

“Toront has certain movements with the way that they play, and styles that present challenges," captain Matt Besler said afterward. "They don’t play a typical formation, they have a lot of movement in the center part of the field with Giovinco checking back and finding the ball. Overall I think we limited their chances, so I think we can walk away happy with how we played.”

Sporting KC's longest unbeaten streaks vs. single team
(MLS regular season)

In each of the last three meetings between Sporting KC and Toronto FC, Italian phenom Sebastian Giovinco has been effectively silenced. The diminutive playmaker rattled the crossbar with a well-struck free kick near the hour mark of Friday's contest, but was unable to open his scoring account against Sporting KC. Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC are the only MLS clubs to have faced Giovinco at least three times and kept him off the scoreboard in every meeting.

"If you look at the end of the first half, it’s one of the reasons why things changed: (Giovinco) left the front line and was going back into space to try to find the ball and play from there. When he’s farther from goal, it’s good," Vermes said postgame. "In the second half we did a much, much better job in that we limited him again – not only his space, but I thought we kept him in places where he doesn’t like to go to, and that’s designed in having to go back for the ball and keep him further away from goal.”

To put Giovinco's prolific career into perspective, his 70 combined goals (39) and assists (31) from 2015-2016 were the most over a two-year period in MLS regular season history.

Sebastian Giovinco vs. MLS opponents
(Regular season, minimum 3 appearances)

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