"By The Numbers" is a season-long series that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.
Sporting Kansas City’s home opener is on Saturday, March. 5 in a matchup against longtime rival Houston Dynamo FC at Children’s Mercy Park.
The long-awaited return of Sporting soccer in Kansas City is set for 2:30 p.m. CT with the match being broadcasted nationally on Univision and TUDN and available locally on 38 The Spot. The game will also air live on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish). Fans can purchase tickets at SeatGeek.com and reserve their seat for Saturday's match.
Sporting KC lost at Atlanta United last Sunday in the team’s season opener. Daniel Salloi picked up right where he left off, scoring Sporting’s lone goal in the 3-1 defeat at Atlanta. Head coach and sporting director Peter Vermes has the squads' attention turned to the season opener and another chapter in the storied history of Sporting and Houston’s disdain for one another.
Below, we provide a statistical preview of the home opener in another installment of By the Numbers.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting is 12-13-13 against Houston in MLS regular season matches and 17-19-14 against Houston in all competitions.
- Sporting is 7-3-2 in their last 12 regular season matches with Houston dating back to October 2017.
- The last meeting between these two sides came on October 3, 2021, with Sporting prevailing 4-2 over the Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park.
- In the three regular season meetings last season, the home team won all three matches.
- Over the last 10 years, Sporting has faced Houston four times in the MLS Cup Playoffs (2011, 2012, 2013, 2017) and five times in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
- Saturday serves as a Kansas City reunion for Houston’s first-year head coach Paulo Nagamura and assistant coach Jimmy Nielsen, both of whom knocked Houston out of the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs and won the 2013 MLS Cup as Sporting KC players.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2022 MLS record: 0-1-0, 0 points (12th in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS home record: 0-0-0 (0 GF, 0 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)
- Sporting boasts a 15-3-8 record in regular season home openers, including a 4-1-6 record at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting held Atlanta to 43.9% possession in Week 1, the club’s third-lowest possession in an MLS home match.
- Sporting ranks second in MLS with 14 successful passes into the penalty area.
- According to Second Spectrum, Sporting covered 10,008 meters at high intensity against Atlanta, the second-most in MLS last week.
- Since the start of 2021, Sporting is undefeated (18-0-0) when scoring twice or more in a match (regular season and playoffs combined).
- Over the last two regular seasons combined, Sporting has outscored opponents 39-20 after the 60th minute.
- Forward Daniel Salloi’s goal on Sunday made him the 11th player in club history with 50 regular season goal contributions (32 goals, 18 assists) and the seventh player in club history with 40 goals and 20 assists in all competitions.
- Left back Logan Ndenbe and winger Marinos Tzionis made their debuts for Sporting on Sunday, becoming the first Belgian and Cypriot, respectively, to feature for Sporting in a competitive match.
- Defender Andreu Fontas led MLS with 43 successful passes in the attacking half.
- Forward Khiry Shelton covered 961 meters at high speed in week 1, the fifth most in MLS.
Houston Dynamo
- 2022 MLS record: 0-0-1, 1 point (9th in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS road record: 0-0-0 (0 GF, 0 GA)
- 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs: N/A
- All-time Honors: Two MLS Cups (2006, 2007), one US Open Cup (2018)
- Houston opened the season with a scoreless draw against Real Salt Lake. It was the Dynamo’s first clean sheet since Sept. 29, 2021, and just their second clean sheet in 19 matches dating back to August 2021.
- Houston enters this match without a road victory in their previous 26 road matches dating back to August 2020.
- Houston currently leads MLS with 490 completed passes but was the only team in MLS without a completed pass in the penalty area.
- Houston made just five key passes in week 1, tied for the second-fewest in MLS.
- Defender Daniel Steres and Tim Parker lead MLS in successful passes. Steres completed 98 of 105 and Parker connected on 90 of 107 passes.
- Forward Fafa Picault ranked second in MLS in Week 1 with 23 duels, winning 10 of them. He ranked 6th in distance covered while sprinting at 428 meters.
- According to Second Spectrum, Houston covered only 5,890 meters at high intensity against RSL, the fewest in MLS last week.
- Since the beginning of the 2018 MLS season, Houston has the worst road record at 5-42-14 (19.7% win percentage) in MLS regular season matches.
- Houston’s last road win came at Children’s Mercy Park in a 5-2 win over Sporting KC in August 2020.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Graham Zusi is one start away from his 300th career start for Sporting in MLS competitions. Sunday, he became the second player in club history to surpass 30,000 minutes played in all competitions. Zusi is now the first player in league history to play 14 seasons with one club.
- Since signing with Sporting in 2015, Tim Melia has won 10 or more regular season matches in the past seven seasons. No goalkeeper in MLS history has ever won double-digit matches in eight straight seasons.
- Peter Vermes is 21 matches away from becoming the first coach in MLS history to coach one club for 500 matches (incl. all competitions).
- Sporting is tied for second in MLS history with 339 regular season wins and will look to become just the second club after the LA Galaxy to eclipse 350 victories.
