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Another home battle awaits Sporting Kansas City when they welcome Austin FC on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. CT showdown at Children's Mercy Park. Tickets are available for purchase on SeatGeek.com and the match will be broadcast on 38 The Spot.
Sporting is looking to snap a four-match home losing skid against second-place Austin FC, a team they have found success against at home in their brief history. Former Sporting KC players, and Sporting Legends Josh Wolff and Davy Arnaud are the head and assistant coaches, respectively, of Austin FC and have their club in peak form in 2022. Manager and Sporting Director of Sporting Peter Vermes will have the boys prepared for their Western Conference combatants on Saturday night.
Here is a statical look at Saturday's matchup between Sporting Kansas City and Austin FC.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and Austin met three times during the latter’s inaugural MLS season in 2021, splitting the series 1-1-1.
- Sporting are 1-0-1 against Austin at Children’s Mercy Park, prevailing 2-1 on May 9 and drawing 1-1 on June 12 of last year.
- The most recent meeting saw Austin prevail 3-1 last November at Q2 Stadium. Sebastian Driussi, Julio Cascante and Jared Stroud scored for the hosts, while Johnny Russell scored for Sporting.
- Sporting outshot Austin 70-33 over the course of three meetings last year.
- Austin has outscored Sporting 5-4 across the three meetings. Each of Austin’s five goals came before the 60th minute, while each of Sporting’s four goals came after the 60th minute.
- Austin scored the first goal in all three meetings last season.
- Saturday is the first of two meetings between the clubs in the space of a fortnight. Sporting will return the trip to Austin on Aug. 13.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2022 MLS record: 5-13-5, 20 points (14th in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS home record: 3-5-2, 11 points (8 GF, 11 GA)
- 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs: Lost to Real Salt Lake in Western Conference Semifinals
- All-time Honors: Two MLS Cups (2000, 2013), four Open Cups (2004, 2012, 2015, 2017), one Supporters' Shield (2000).
- Forward Johnny Russell leads Sporting with eight goals in all competitions, while fellow winger Daniel Salloi ranks second with six.
- Russell has become the first player in Sporting history to score six goals in five straight regular seasons.
- Russell’s 77 combined goals (46) and assists (31) in the regular season are third-most in MLS since the start of 2018.
- Midfielder Felipe Hernandez leads Sporting with four assists in all competitions and has appeared in all 27 competitive matches this season.
- Midfielder Remi Walter leads MLS in distance covered (154.7 miles) and ranks third among field players in recoveries (177). His three goals are a career-high for a single league season dating back to 2013.
- Walter is the only Sporting player to start in all 23 regular season matches this year.
- Midfielder Roger Espinoza has become the third active MLS player to record an assist in 13 different MLS seasons alongside Kei Kamara and Dax McCarty.
- Two Sporting players earned their club debuts in a 2-0 home loss to LAFC last Saturday: midfielder Erik Thommy started and played 61 minutes, while forward Willy Agada entered as an 84th-minute substitute.
- Sporting are in the midst of a club-record four-game home losing streak in MLS play since May 28.
- Sporting suffered a shootout loss to Sacramento Republic FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals on Wednesday following a goalless draw. Sporting had won each of their previous eight Open Cup semifinal or final matches dating back to 2004.
- Sporting’s four domestic titles over the last 10 seasons are tied with Seattle for the most in MLS since 2012.
Austin FC
- 2022 MLS record: 12-5-5, 41 points (2nd in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS road record: 7-3-2, 23 points (20 GF, 16 GA)
- 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs: N/A
- All-time Honors: N/A
- Austin lead MLS in goals scored (45), goals per match (2.05), away goals (20) and assists (51).
- Austin has an MLS-best 7-3-2 road record. Their seven wins away from home are tied with the New York Red Bulls for the most in MLS.
- Austin are 4-3-4 when conceding the first goal this season.
- Austin leads MLS with 16 points gained from losing positions, consisting of four wins and four draws.
- According to Opta, Austin has outperformed its expected goals number by 10.35, nearly double that of any other team (45 goals, 34.65 expected goals).
- Forward Sebastian Driussi is tied for the MLS lead with 13 goals, while fellow attacker Maxi Urruti leads the league with five game-winning goals. Five of Urruti’s seven goals have been match-winners.
- Driussi also ranks second on the team with seven assists and has assisted in each of Austin’s last three matches.
- Midfielder Diego Fagundez is tied for seventh in MLS with eight assists.
- Midfielder Alex Ring is the only Austin player to start in all 22 regular season matches this year.
- Goalkeeper Brad Stuver has an 11-2-5 record as a starter this season with six shutouts and a 1.16 goals against average.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Johnny Russell ranks third in club history with 46 regular season goals and fourth with 51 goals in all competitions, one shy of tying Davy Arnaud for third.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has 12 career game-winning goals in the regular season, one shy of tying the club record held by Preki and Dom Dwyer.
- Midfielder Roger Espinoza has made 305 career regular season appearances for Sporting, one shy of tying Cobi Jones for third-most all-time among one-club MLS players.
