"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 seven of the club's next nine matches away from home, Sporting Kansas City will begin a daunting stretch of the 2025 schedule by visiting the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday at PayPal Park. Kickoff is slated for 9:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV and Sports Radio 810 WHB.
San Jose has opened the campaign as one of Major League Soccer's most interesting teams, boasting an elite attack while also looking vulnerable in defense. Sporting, meanwhile, has bagged multiple goals in back-to-back games and will aim to secure its first road points of the season in a venue where they have experienced success in the past.
As anticipation builds toward Saturday, we take a statistical look at the Western Conference clash in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and San Jose first met on March 1 at Children’s Mercy Park. San Jose won the Week 2 showdown with first-half goals from Chicho Arango and Josef Martinez, while Dejan Joveljic scored his first goal in a Sporting uniform. The result snapped San Jose’s 11-match winless run at Children’s Mercy Park dating back to 2016.
- Sporting won both meetings against San Jose by a 2-1 scoreline last season. Sporting earned a comeback home win on March 16, 2024, with goals from Alan Pulido and Dany Rosero before prevailing at PayPal Park on July 13, 2024, with goals from Pulido and Erik Thommy.
- Sporting is 4-2-2 in its last eight visits to PayPal Park after going winless in 18 straight away matches at San Jose from 2000 to 2016.
- Sporting is 11-3-6 against San Jose in the last 20 meetings across all competitions dating back to September 2016.
- Since August 2004, the home team in the fixture is 27-6-8 across all competitions. However, the visiting team has won each of the last two meetings.
- In October 2023, Sporting and San Jose met in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth time as Kansas City won 4-2 on penalties following a 0-0 draw in the Wild Card Round at Children’s Mercy Park. San Jose prevailed in the 2003 conference finals before Sporting prevailed in the 2004 conference semifinals and the 2020 conference quarterfinals.
- Sporting owns a 33-29-12 record in 74 MLS meetings with San Jose (including a 1-2-2 record in five playoff matches), scoring 98 goals (1.32 per game) and conceding 93 goals (1.26 per game).
- Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic has nine goal contributions (seven goals, two assists) in 10 regular season appearances against San Jose. His seven regular season goals against San Jose are his most versus any MLS team.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has six goal contributions (four goals, two assists) in 11 regular season appearances against San Jose.
- Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has three goal contributions (two goals, one assist) in six regular season appearances against San Jose.
- Sporting midfielder Nemanja Radoja has recorded four of his eight career MLS assists against San Jose, including two in Kansas City’s 2-1 road win on July 13, 2024.
- San Jose forward Chicho Arango has eight goal contributions (five goals, three assists) in eight regular season appearances against Sporting.
- San Jose forward Josef Martinez has five goal contributions (three goals, two assists) in four regular season appearances against Sporting.
- San Jose winger Cristian Espinoza has five goal contributions (one goal, four assists) in 11 regular season appearances against Sporting.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 1-6-1, 4 points (14th in West | 10 GF, 16 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 0-3-0 (2 GF, 5 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 1-3-1, 4 points (T-L-L-W-L)
- Sporting generated a season-high 2.8 expected goals in Sunday’s 4-2 home loss to the Portland Timbers.
- Sporting fielded an unchanged lineup in Sunday’s match against Portland, deploying the same XI from the team’s win over St. Louis on April 5. Sporting had fielded 43 unique lineups in its previous 43 matches across all competitions dating back to April 2024.
- Sporting leads MLS in progressive passes (408) while ranking second in progressive dribbles (158). Progressive passes and dribbles are passes and dribbles that advance the ball at least 10 yards closer to the opponent’s goal line or into the penalty area.
- Sporting has won three penalty kicks this season, second most in MLS, after winning three penalties during the entire 2024 regular season.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic scored a first-half penalty in Sunday’s loss to Portland and now has a team-high five goals this season, tied for third most in MLS and one behind the Golden Boot lead.
- Joveljic has become the second player in Sporting history to score five goals across his first five regular season home appearances for the club (Preki in 1996). All five of his goals this season have come at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Joveljic has 12 goals in his last 10 MLS home appearances dating back to last season with the LA Galaxy, including playoffs.
- Joveljic had 1.94 expected goals in the loss to Portland, the third highest total of any MLS player in Matchday 8. His 1.4 expected goals against St. Louis led all players in Matchday 7.
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov leads MLS in fouls suffered (24) and progressive passes received (93) while ranking fourth in dribbles into the penalty area (17).
- Midfielder Manu Garcia ranks third in MLS in progressive passes (65), seventh in successful passes into the penalty area (18), eighth in goal-creating actions (five), ninth in successful through balls (four) and ninth in successful passes into the final third (54).
- Defender Logan Ndenbe leads MLS in progressive carrying distance (1,237 yards) while ranking third in progressive carries (36) and 10th in tackles won (14).
San Jose Earthquakes
- 2025 MLS record: 3-4-1, 10 points (9th in West | 16 GF, 12 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 2-2-1 (12 GF, 5 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 1-3-1, 4 points (L-L-T-W-L)
- San Jose leads MLS in set piece goals (six), shots per game (17.4) and shots on target per game (6.6) while ranking second in goals (16), goals per game (2.0) and expected goals per game (2.3).
- San Jose ranks second-to-last in MLS in expected goals conceded per game (2.1) while ranking 28th in shots faced per game (15.6) and last in shots faced on target per game (6.5).
- San Jose leads MLS in home goals scored (12) but has just a 2-2-1 home record at PayPal Park.
- San Jose has scored six goals after the 75th minute this season, two more than any other team.
- San Jose is 3-0-1 when scoring first and 0-4-0 when conceding first this season. Similarly, the Earthquakes are 3-0-1 when leading at halftime and 0-2-0 when trailing at halftime.
- Winger Cristian Espinoza leads MLS in assists (5), shot involvements (57) and key passes (31) while ranking second in goal involvements (7) and successful balls into the penalty area from open play (10).
- Forward Chicho Arango ranks second in MLS in shots (32) and completed through balls (six). He is tied for the team lead with four goals this season.
- Forward Josef Martinez ranks fourth in MLS in shots on target (12) and eighth in goals per 90 minutes (0.71). He is tied for the team lead with four goals this season.
- Six San Jose players have started all eight MLS matches this season: Espinoza, Arango, goalkeeper Daniel, midfielder Ian Harkes and defenders Dave Romney and Bruno Wilson. Espinoza, Romney and Wilson have played all 720 minutes.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Sporting is two shy of 1,600 goals scored in all competitions.
- Midfielder Jake Davis is 38 minutes shy of 5,000 regular season minutes played for Sporting.
- Defender Tim Leibold is one shy of his 50th regular season appearance for Sporting.
- Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of 50 career goals in the MLS regular season.
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov is one shy of 50 assists in his professional club career.
