"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.
Sporting Kansas City returns to the friendly confines of Children's Mercy Park on Saturday to host regional rivals Minnesota United FC in a nationally televised clash on FS1, FOX Deportes and MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. Kickoff is slated for 7:15 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com as a pair of familiar foes lock horns in the Heartland.
Coming off a frustrating 2-1 loss at D.C. United last weekend, Sporting is looking to bounce into the win column against a Minnesota side that has secured consecutive 1-0 victories behind the influential displays of star forward Kelvin Yeboah and a well-organized defense. The Loons have long viewed Children's Mercy Park as a house of horrors, losing in their first nine regular season visits to Kansas City from 2017-2023 before securing an elusive road win over Sporting last fall.
With Sporting hungry for three points and Minnesota seeking a third straight victory, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and Minnesota met three times during the 2024 regular season. The Loons won all three meetings, including two home victories as well as the club’s first regular season road win at Children’s Mercy Park on Sept. 21.
- The teams last met on Sept. 21, 2024, at Children’s Mercy Park. Minnesota won 2-0 behind second-half goals from Kelvin Yeboah and Bongokuhle Hlongwane, both assisted by Robin Lod. The Loons had lost each of their first nine regular season road games at Children’s Mercy Park prior to the win.
- The first two meetings last season took place at Allianz Field. The Loons prevailed 2-1 on April 27 with goals from Tani Oluwaseyi and Michael Boxall and 3-1 on June 1 with goals from Oluwaseyi, Robin Lod and Kervin Arriaga.
- Sporting won all three regular season meetings in 2023, including scorelines of 3-0 and 3-1 at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting and Minnesota have met 25 times in all competitions since the Loons joined MLS in 2017, the most of any opponent for both teams. Sporting has a 12-9-4 record in the all-time series.
- Minnesota’s active three-game winning streak against Sporting is the team’s longest in the series (all competitions). Sporting’s longest winning streak in the series spanned four games from September 2022 to October 2023.
- Sporting leads the all-time regular season series against Minnesota with an 11-7-4 record, including a 9-1-0 record at home.
- Sporting has outscored Minnesota 36-22 in the regular season series, including a 25-5 margin in 10 matches at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting has six shutouts in 10 regular season home matches against Minnesota.
- Sporting has scored three or more goals in six of 10 regular season home matches against Minnesota.
- Seven of Sporting’s nine regular season home wins over Minnesota have come by multiple goals.
- Sporting had won its previous four regular season meetings against Minnesota from September 2022 to October 2023 before losing the last three.
- Sporting forward Khiry Shelton has four goals and one assist in 14 regular season appearances against Minnesota. His four goals against the Loons are his most versus any MLS opponent.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has three goals and five assists in 18 regular season appearances against Minnesota.
- Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic has three goals and one assist in eight regular season appearances against Minnesota, all as a member of the LA Galaxy. Joveljic also had two goals and one assist in LA’s 6-2 thrashing of Minnesota in the 2024 Western Conference Semifinals.
- Sporting forward Mason Toye, who played for Minnesota from 2018-2020, scored a brace in his lone previous appearance against his former club as he helped CF Montreal to a 4-0 home win over the Loons on June 10, 2023.
- Sporting forward William Agada has two goals in four regular season appearances against Minnesota, having scored a brace in a 4-1 home win on Sept 17, 2022.
- Sporting midfielders Memo Rodriguez (15 appearances) and Erik Thommy (six appearances) both have one goal and two assists against Minnesota in the regular season.
- Minnesota forward Tani Oluwaseyi had two goals and one assist in three meetings against Sporting last season.
- Minnesota defender Michael Boxall has scored in two of the last four meetings between the clubs.
- Minnesota midfielder Robin Lon has one goal and four assists in 12 regular season appearances against Sporting, including two assists in his team’s 2-0 road win in Kansas City last September.
- Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair has a 3-5-1 regular season record against Sporting with one shutouts and a 1.67 goals against average. He was Minnesota’s keeper in the lone playoff meeting between the sides, a 3-0 victory for the Loons in the Western Conference Semifinals at Children’s Mercy Park on Dec. 3, 2020.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 0-3-0, 0 points (13th in West | 2 GF, 5 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 0-1-0 (1 GF, 2 GA)
- First Three MLS Matches: L 0-1 at ATX L 1-2 vs. SJ, L 1-2 at DC
- All three of Sporting’s MLS losses—and four of the club’s five losses in all competitions to open the season—have come by a single goal.
- Sporting ranks second in MLS in dribbles into the attacking third (43) and fifth in dribbles into the penalty area (16).
- Sporting will play four of its next five matches at home against fellow Western Conference opponents, a stretch running from March 15 to April 13. The team’s lone away match during that stretch is a trip to FC Dallas on March 29.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy scored the opening goal in Sporting’s 2-1 loss at D.C. United last Saturday. He has captained Sporting in each of the club’s first five matches this season in all competitions.
- Through Week 3, Thommy ranks sixth in MLS with 13 progressive carries (dribbles that advance the ball at least 10 yards closer to the opponent’s goal line or into the penalty area).
- Defender and midfielder Jake Davis assisted Thommy’s goal last Saturday, earning his first assist of 2025 after recording a career-high five assists during the 2024 regular season.
- Davis has started at right back in each of Sporting’s first five matches this season across all competitions. He ranked second on the team last year with eight assists in all competitions, including three assists in Sporting’s run to the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov earned a secondary assist on Erik Thommy’s goal last Saturday, his first assist since joining the club in February. Through Week 3, Suleymanov ranks third in MLS in progressive passes received (37) and fifth in carries into the penalty area (seven).
- Forward Dejan Joveljic’s goal in a 2-1 loss to San Jose on March 1 gave Sporting its first successful penalty kick since September 2023 after a run of five consecutive misses across all competitions.
- Dating back to last season with the LA Galaxy, Joveljic has scored seven goals in his last seven MLS starts, including playoffs.
- Through Week 3, midfielder Manu Garcia ranks third in MLS in both shot-creating actions (17) and successful take-ons (eight) while ranking eighth in successful passes into the penalty area (eight).
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is the only Sporting player to feature in all 270 minutes of the 2025 MLS regular season.
- Pulskamp is one of three Sporting players, alongside Jake Davis and Erik Thommy, to start in all five matches this season across all competitions.
- Defender Jansen Miller made his club and MLS debut for Sporting last Saturday at D.C. United, entering as a halftime substitute. He was selected by Sporting with the eighth overall pick in MLS SuperDraft 2025, becoming the club’s highest draft pick for a defender since longtime captain and U.S. international Matt Besler was taken eighth in 2009.
Minnesota United FC
- 2025 MLS record: 2-1-0, 6 points (4th in West | 2 GF, 1 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 1-1-0 (1 GF, 1 GA)
- First Three MLS Matches: L 0-1 at LAFC, W 1-0 vs. MTL, W 1-0 at SJ
- Minnesota has opened the 2025 regular season with a 2-1-0 record, with all three matches ending in a 1-0 scoreline.
- Minnesota has earned 1-0 wins over CF Montreal and the San Jose Earthquakes after opening the 2025 campaign with a 1-0 defeat at LAFC.
- Minnesota is on a 192-minute shutout streak dating back to Feb. 22, the third longest in MLS this season.
- Minnesota has conceded one goal through three matches, tied for the second-fewest in MLS behind only St. Louis City SC (zero goals allowed).
- Minnesota has finished each of the last two regular seasons with more away wins than home wins. In 2024, the Loons went 7-6-4 at home and 8-6-3 away. In 2023, the Loons went 4-4-9 at home and 6-9-2 away.
- The 2024 campaign saw Minnesota advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons since 2019. Led by first-year head coach Eric Ramsay, the Loons placed sixth in the Western Conference with a 15-12-7 record, beat Real Salt Lake in the first round of the playoffs, and suffered a 6-2 loss at the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference Semifinals.
- Forward Kelvin Yeboah has scored the winning goal in each of Minnesota’s last two matches. He ranks second in MLS with 2.3 non-penalty expected goals through Week 3 and leads the league in both shots (18) and shots per 90 minutes (6.64).
- Yeboah, who signed for Minnesota on July 27, 2024, scored nine goals in just 12 appearances for the club last season (all competitions).
- Forward Tani Oluwaseyi has recorded assists on both of Yeboah’s goals this season. Oluwaseyi had a breakout 2024 season with eight goals and six assists, although he has failed to score in each of his last 12 regular season appearances since July 20, 2024.
- Defender Anthony Markanich leads MLS with 12 blocks.
- Defender Morris Duggan leads MLS with 37 clearances.
- Defender Michael Boxall, who had the primary assist on Yeboah’s winning goal last weekend at San Jose, has played for Minnesota in each of the club’s nine MLS seasons since 2017. He is the club’s all-time regular season leader in appearances (215), starts (215) and minutes (19,187).
Milestones and Miscellany
- Defender Robert Voloder is one shy of his 50th regular season appearance for Sporting.
- Forward William Agada is one shy of his 200th professional club appearance.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic is one shy of 60 total goal contributions (42 goals, 17 assists) in MLS, including playoffs.
- Forward Daniel Salloi is tied for eighth in Sporting history with 257 appearances for the club in all competitions, one shy of passing former teammate Seth Sinovic for sole possession of eighth on the all-time charts.
