"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.
On the heels of a breakthrough win over hated rivals St. Louis City SC last weekend, Sporting Kansas City will play for another victory Sunday when the Portland Timbers visit Children's Mercy Park. The Western Conference clash will kick off at 1:15 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek.com and national broadcasts on FOX, FOX Deportes and MLS Season Pass via Apple TV. Sports Radio 810 WHB will also air the game locally.
Dejan Joveljic bagged two second-half goals in Sporting's euphoric 2-0 triumph against St. Louis, the first match in charge for interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin. The result has given Kansas City palpable momentum entering Sunday's matinee versus an in-form Portland side that has two wins and two draws in its last four games.
With anticipation building toward Sunday, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting leads the all-time regular season series against Portland with a 9-8-7 record, including a 5-1-5 record at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting is unbeaten in nine straight regular season home meetings against the Timbers, securing four wins and five draws since 2015.
- Portland’s lone regular season win at Children’s Mercy Park came by a 3-2 scoreline on April 27, 2013.
- Sporting has scored at least three goals in each of the team’s last three home matches against Portland, securing a 4-1 win on Aug. 21, 2022, a 4-1 win on May 28, 2023 and a 3-3 draw on April 7, 2024.
- Portland is 6-3-3 in the last 12 meetings between the clubs across all competitions, including both legs of the 2018 Western Conference Finals as the Timbers prevailed 3-2 on aggregate to reach MLS Cup.
- Neither team has enjoyed a winning streak of longer than two matches in the head-to-head series (including playoffs).
- Sporting forward William Agada has four goals and one assist in four regular season appearances against Portland, including braces at Children’s Mercy Park in August 2022 and April 2024.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists) in 13 regular season appearances against Portland.
- Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has scored a goal in two of his previous three home appearances against Portland.
- Sporting midfielder Memo Rodriguez has four goal contributions (one goal, three assists) in 12 regular season appearances against Portland.
- Portland forward Felipe Mora has four goal contributions (three goals, one assist) against Sporting. He has scored a goal in each of his three previous MLS appearances against Kansas City.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 1-5-1, 4 points (14th in West | 8 GF, 12 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 1-2-1 (6 GF, 7 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 1-3-1, 4 points (L-T-L-L-W)
- The 2-0 win over St. Louis on April 5 saw Sporting improve to 3-0-2 at home against their cross-state rivals and gave Kansas City its first win in the series since a 2-1 home victory in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Sporting’s opening goal against St. Louis—the first of two goals scored by Dejan Joveljic—was the result of a 20-pass buildup in which all 10 field players touched the ball. This was the second straight game in which Sporting had scored on a 20-pass buildup after doing so in a 2-1 loss at FC Dallas on March 29.
- The win over St. Louis saw Sporting generate a second-half xG total of 1.71, the team’s highest in a single half this season.
- Sporting has an 8-0-1 record in all competitions when scoring at least twice since June 29, 2024.
- Sporting leads MLS with 187 passes in the attacking third per game this season.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic scored a pair of second-half goals in Sporting’s win over St. Louis, earning a spot on the MLS Team of the Matchday. He leads the team with four goals this season, all of which have come at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Joveljic has 11 goals in his last nine MLS home appearances dating back to last season with the LA Galaxy, including playoffs.
- Joveljic tied his MLS regular season career-highs in shots (six) and shots on target (four) in the win over St. Louis.
- Joveljic had 1.4 expected goals in the win over St. Louis, the highest total of any MLS player in matchday 7.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp equaled a season-high with four saves in the win over St. Louis, securing his first MLS clean sheet since March 11, 2023, and the seventh shutout of his MLS career.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia assisted Joveljic’s go-ahead goal in the 71st minute for his second assist of the season, joining fellow newcomer Shapi Suleymanov for the team lead in assists.
- Sporting’s go-ahead goal was the second time the club’s two Designated Players have combined for a goal this season. Garcia first assisted Joveljic on the game-tying goal in Sporting’s 3-3 draw against Minnesota United FC on March 15.
- Garcia leads MLS with 32 passes in the attacking third per game while ranking third in progressive passes (58), seventh in successful take-ons (13), eighth in successful passes into the final third (46) and 10th in shot-creating actions (31).
- Defender Logan Ndenbe is second in MLS in progressive carries (34), second in progressive carrying distance (1,189 yards), tied for fourth in successful crosses into the penalty area from open play (five) and ninth in tackles won.
- Midfielder Jacob Bartlett covered 12.77 km in the win over St. Louis, the third most of any MLS player in matchday 7.
- Midfielder Jake Davis ranks third in MLS in total tackles (22) while ranking ninth in tackles won (12).
- Davis and Pulskamp are the only two Sporting players who have started in all seven MLS matches this season.
Portland Timbers
- 2025 MLS record: 3-2-2, 11 points (5th in West | 9 GF, 8 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 1-1-1 (3 GF, 2 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 2-1-2, 8 points (L-T-W-W-T)
- Portland is unbeaten in four matches, posting a 2-0-2 record since March 16 after opening the season with a win and two losses.
- Portland has outscored opponents 7-2 during the team’s four-game unbeaten run.
- Portland’s four-game unbeaten run is the team’s longest since going seven unbeaten from May 25 to June 29, 2024.
- Portland has conceded just two goals in three away matches this season, going 1-1-1 away from home.
- Portland has posted shutouts in consecutive away games. The Timbers have kept three straight away clean sheets just once since joining MLS in 2011, doing so in August and September 2021.
- Two of Portland’s three wins and both of the team’s losses have come by multiple goals this season.
- Portland is 3-0-1 when scoring first and 0-2-0 when conceding first this season. Similarly, the Timbers are 2-0-0 when leading at halftime and 0-2-0 when trailing at halftime.
- Portland attacking midfielder David Costa leads MLS with 44 progressive dribbles. He also ranks sixth in progressive dribbles into the box (13), ninth in attempted crosses from open play (41) and leads Portland with 11 key passes.
- Forward Antony has a team-best four goals on 2.02 xG. He is outperforming his xG by the fourth best clip in MLS.
- Defender Finn Surman leads MLS with 67 clearances.
- Midfielder Jimer Fory leads MLS with five yellow cards and will serve a one-game suspension on Sunday for caution accumulation.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Midfielder Manu Garcia is one shy of his 300th professional club appearance.
- Defender Robert Voloder is one shy of his 50th start for Sporting in all competitions.
- Defender Tim Leibold is one shy of his 50th MLS appearance for Sporting (regular season and playoffs combined).
- Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of 50 career goals in the MLS regular season.
