"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 defeat to Inter Miami CF in the Concacaf Champions Cup, Sporting Kansas City will now cast full attention on an MLS regular season campaign that continues Saturday with a highly anticipated home tilt against the San Jose Earthquakes at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with tickets available at SeatGeek and live broadcasts in English and Spanish on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.
Sporting showed plenty of promise in an admirable midweek loss to Lionel Messi and Miami in the Champions Cup, showcasing a newlook front four of Dejan Joveljic, Erik Thommy, Shapi Suleymanov and Manu Garcia. The quartet will look to translate chance creation into goals on Saturday as MLS action returns to Children's Mercy Park for the first time this season. San Jose, meanwhile, is hot off a 4-0 home win over Real Salt Lake and looking more than capable of making noise in the Western Conference under newly appointed veteran head coach Bruce Arena.
As excitement and anticipation builds toward Saturday, we take a statistical look at the contest in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting won both meetings against San Jose by a 2-1 scoreline in 2024, prevailing at home on March 16 and away on July 13.
- Sporting is 11-2-6 against San Jose in the last 19 meetings across all competitions since September 2016.
- Sporting has prevailed in 20 of 22 home matches against San Jose since August 2004, posting a 17-1-4 record with three of the four draws consisting of shootout wins in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup semifinals and the opening rounds of the 2020 and 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
- San Jose has one win in Kansas City since August 2004, a 5-0 victory in the regular season on Aug. 19, 2015.
- Since losing to San Jose in August 2015, Sporting has gone 7-0-4 at home against the Earthquakes in all competitions, including a 7-0-1 mark in the regular season.
- Since August 2004, the home team in the fixture is 27-5-8 across all competitions.
- San Jose’s last two appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs (2020 and 2023) have resulted in opening-round penalty shootout defeats to Sporting at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting owns a 33-28-12 record in 73 MLS meetings with San Jose (including a 1-2-2 record in five playoff matches), scoring 97 goals (1.33 per game) and conceding 91 goals (1.25 per game).
- The most recent meeting on July 13, 2024, saw midfielder Nemanja Radoja record two assists on goals from Erik Thommy and Alan Pulido to spark Sporting’s 2-1 road win.
- Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic has eight goal contributions (six goals, two assists) in nine regular season appearances against San Jose, all as a member of the LA Galaxy from 2021-2024. His six goals versus San Jose are his most against any MLS opponent.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has six goal contributions (four goals, two assists) in 10 regular season appearances against San Jose.
- Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has three goal contributions (two goals, one assist) in five regular season appearances against San Jose.
- San Jose forward Chicho Arango has seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists), in seven regular season appearances against Sporting, all as a member of either LAFC (2021-2022) or Real Salt Lake (2023-2024).
- San Jose forward Josef Martinez has four goal contributions (two goals, two assists) in three regular season appearances against Sporting, all as a member of Atlanta United FC from 2018-2022.
- San Jose winger Cristian Espinoza has five goal contributions (one goal, four assists) in 10 regular season appearances against Sporting.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2024 MLS record: 8-19-7, 31 points (13th in West | 51 GF, 66 GA)
- 2024 MLS home record: 6-7-4 (33 GF, 32 GA)
- 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs: Did not qualify
- Week 1 Result: Lost 0-1 at Austin FC on Feb. 22
- Sporting is 16-3-10 all-time in regular season home openers, including a 5-1-8 record at Children’s Mercy Park. The club’s last home-opening loss, and its only home-opening loss at Children’s Mercy Park, came against New York City FC on March 4, 2018.
- Sporting was eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup on Tuesday following a 3-1 loss at Inter Miami CF. The result gave Miami a 4-1 aggregate victory in the Round One series.
- Sporting outshot Miami 11-6 in Tuesday’s match at Chase Stadium. It was the first time Miami had been outshot in a competitive home match since Sept. 14, 2024.
- Tuesday marked Sporting’s third competitive match in seven days to open the season. The team had never previously played three competitive matches in seven days during the month of February.
- The month of February saw Sporting play its earliest competitive match in club history (Feb. 19) and its earliest MLS regular season match in club history (Feb. 22).
- Sporting’s next available cup competition is the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs. The team will not compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup or Leagues Cup this season.
- Sporting will play five of its next seven matches at home against fellow Western Conference opponents, a stretch running from March 1 to April 13. The team’s only road games during this period are at D.C. United (March 8) and FC Dallas (March 29).
- Midfielder Memo Rodriguez opened Kansas City’s 2025 scoring account with a second-half goal against Miami on Tuesday. Now in his second season with the team, Rodriguez led Sporting with six assists during the 2024 regular season.
- Midfielder Jacob Bartlett assisted Rodriguez’s goal on Tuesday, the 19-year-old becoming the youngest player in Sporting history to record an assist in an international match.
- Bartlett, who signed for Sporting as a Homegrown Player in January, is one of five players—alongside John Pulskamp, Jake Davis, Robert Voloder and Erik Thommy—to start in each of Sporting’s first three matches this season across all competitions.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia and forward Shapi Suleymanov earned their first starts for Sporting on Tuesday at Miami after making their MLS debuts on Saturday at Austin FC. Garcia and Suleymanov, a Designated Player and a TAM player, respectively, were acquired earlier this month in transfers from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki.
- Garcia has recorded 61 goal contributions (21 goals, 40 assists) in 293 professional club appearances, while Suleymanov has recorded 101 goal contributions (55 goals, 46 assists) in 325 professional club appearances.
- In his MLS debut last Saturday against Austin FC, Garcia completed 89% of his passes and led all Kansas City players in shot-creating actions (three) and progressive passes (five) despite only entering as a halftime substitute.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy has donned the captain’s armband in each of Sporting’s first three matches this season. He had seven regular season goals and eight goals in all competitions last year, both second most on the team behind William Agada.
- Newly acquired Designated Player Dejan Joveljic joined Sporting on Feb. 1 in a $4 million move from the LA Galaxy, marking the first cash-for-player trade in MLS history. He had 21 goals and eight assists last season in all competitions, including a league-best six goals in the MLS Cup Playoffs as he helped LA win MLS Cup.
- During the 2024 regular season, Joveljic ranked second in MLS behind William Agada in expected goals per 90 minutes (0.74).
- Forward William Agada led Sporting in each of the following categories last season: regular season goals (10), total goals (12), regular season goal contributions (13) and total goal contributions (16). Ten of Agada’s 12 goals last season came at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Homegrown defender Ian James was a second-half substitute on Tuesday against Miami, becoming the second-youngest player to appear in a competitive match in Sporting history at 16 years, 264 days.
San Jose Earthquakes
- 2024 MLS record: 6-25-3, 21 points (14th in West | 41 GF, 78 GA)
- 2024 MLS away record: 2-13-2 (23 GF, 46 GA)
- 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs: Did not qualify
- Week 1 Result: Won 4-0 vs. San Jose Earthquakes on Feb. 22
- San Jose opened the 2025 MLS campaign with a 4-0 home win over Real Salt Lake last Saturday in Bruce Arena’s club debut as head coach. It was San Jose’s largest MLS season-opening win in club history and the first time that the Earthquakes had scored four goals in an MLS season opener.
- San Jose’s 4-0 win last Saturday was the largest victory by any MLS team in Week 1.
- San Jose already has half as many shutouts this season (one) as it did during the entire 2024 regular season (two).
- San Jose has missed the playoffs in nine of the last 12 seasons, more than all but one MLS team (Chicago Fire FC missing in 11 of the last 12).
- The 2024 MLS regular season saw San Jose finish last in the league in points (21), wins (six), goal differential (-37) and goals conceded (78) while amassing 25 defeats, the most in club history.
- San Jose is seeking its first road win since prevailing 2-0 at Real Salt Lake on Aug. 24, 2024.
- San Jose went 2-15-2 on the road last year in all competitions, including a 2-13-2 away record in MLS.
- Last Saturday’s 4-0 win saw San Jose receive goals from two starters (Jamar Ricketts and Rodrigues) and two second-half substitutes (Ousseni Bouda and Vitor Costa).
- Winger Cristian Espinoza had two assists in last Saturday’s 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake. He was one of five MLS players with two or more assists in Week 1. Espinoza has recorded 13 or more assists in four of his six MLS seasons with San Jose since 2019.
- Espinoza has made 110 consecutive regular season appearances for San Jose dating back to Oct. 2, 2021. He has started in 107 of the 110 matches during his appearance streak.
- Daniel had seven saves in San Jose’s win over Real Salt Lake, the most of any MLS goalkeeper in Week 1.
- San Jose’s two newly acquired forwards—Josef Martinez and Chicho Arango—have combined for 169 goals in 278 MLS regular season appearances. Martinez has 116 goals in 185 games, while Arango has 53 goals in 93 games.
- San Jose head coach Bruce Arena has won a league-record five MLS Cups, two with D.C. United (1996, 1997) and three with LA Galaxy (2011, 2012, 2014). The four-time MLS Coach of the Year is the league’s all-time leader with 263 regular season wins. He also has the distinction of winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield with three different clubs (D.C. United, LA Galaxy and New England Revolution).
Milestones and Miscellany
- Defender Logan Ndenbe is one shy of his 50th regular season appearance for Sporting.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic is one shy of 50 total goal contributions (34 goals, 15 assists) in the MLS regular season.
- Forward Daniel Salloi is tied with former teammate Seth Sinovic for ninth in Sporting history with 210 regular season appearances for the club.
- Salloi has 84 goal contributions for Sporting (47 goals, 37 assists) in the regular season, tied with Chris Klein for fourth most in club history.
