"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 will host Nashville SC at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday as the visitors continue their stretch of eight straight road matches before settling into their new home of Geodis Park in early May. Nashville makes its return to the Western Conference in 2022 after a quick stop in the east and is coming back to Kansas City for just the second time in the franchise’s brief history.
TV coverage of Saturday’s match begins at 7 p.m. CT on 38 The Spot with the Sporting KC pregame show. Fans can also stream the match via Sporting One through the Sporting KC mobile app or stream the contest online at sportingkc.com/live. Tickets are available for purchase at SeatGeek.com for Sporting's Saturday showdown with Nashville.
After opening the MLS season with four of six matches on the road, Sporting KC returns to Children’s Mercy Park for three of their next four. Sporting is 2-0 on the year in front of the home crowd with two 1-0 wins. The first came against Western Conference rival to the south Houston Dynamo FC and the second against rivals to the west Real Salt Lake.
Below, we provide a statistical preview of Saturday’s match between Sporting Kansas City and Nashville SC.
Head-to-Head
- Saturday marks only the second meeting between the two sides.
- Sporting prevailed 2-1 in the club’s only meeting on Oct. 11, 2020, at Children’s Mercy Park as Gerso Fernandes and Erik Hurtado scored second-half goals to spark an impressive comeback.
- This result was one of three losses Nashville has suffered when scoring first in the club’s three-year regular season history (18-3-6 regular season record when scoring first).
Sporting Kansas City
- 2022 MLS record: 2-4-0, 6 points (11th in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS home record: 2-0-0, 6 points (2 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) and one Supporters' Shield (2000).
- Sporting have recorded shutouts in their first two regular season home matches for the first time since 2013 when they had a clean sheet in their first three home games en route to an MLS Cup title.
- With a 2-0-0 record at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting are one of just two MLS teams with a perfect home record in 2022.
- Sporting leads MLS in successful passes in the attacking third (610).
- Sporting leads MLS in possessions won in the midfield (193) while ranking third in possessions won in the attacking third (38).
- Since July 2020, Sporting are 22-0-1 in the regular season when leading in the 75th minute.
- Midfielder Remi Walter leads MLS field players in recoveries (63) and tops the league in distance covered (43.4 miles).
- Defender Andreu Fontas leads MLS in passes (499), successful passes (440) and touches (573).
- Defender Graham Zusi ranks second in MLS in touches (555), second in passes (389), third in distance covered (39.9 miles), sixth in distance covered at high speed (2.51 miles) and fifth in recoveries in the defensive third (26).
- Midfielder Roger Espinoza ranks second in MLS with nine possessions won in the attacking third.
- Since the start of 2021, forward Daniel Salloi ranks second in MLS with 15 goals from open play in the regular season.
Nashville SC
- 2022 MLS record: 2-2-1, 7 points (10th in Western Conference)
- 2022 MLS road record: 2-2-1, 7 points (4 GF, 5 GA)
- 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs: Lost to Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Semifinals
- All-time Honors: None
- Since the start of 2021, Nashville is tied for the league lead with 15 shutouts in the regular season.
- Nashville SC has a 14-6-19 record in the regular season since the start of 2021. Their six losses are the fewest in MLS (excluding expansion side Charlotte FC) and their 19 draws are five more than any other team.
- Nashville ranks second-to-last in MLS with 49 shot attempts through five matches, however, they are even with their opponents with 17 shots on target.
- In their five road matches this season, Nashville have only trailed for a combined 64 minutes.
- Midfielder Hany Mukhtar is tied for second in MLS with three assists. The 2021 MLS MVP finalist had 19 goals and 12 assists in 34 league appearances last season (including playoffs).
- Defender Walker Zimmerman ranks sixth in MLS in clearances (30), fifth in possessions won in the defensive third (26). Zimmerman was the 2021 MLS Defender of the Year after anchoring a Nashville defense that led MLS with a 0.97 goals-against average last season.
- Midfielder Randall Leal had eight goals and nine assists last season but has just one assist through five games this year.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of his 100th start for Sporting in all competitions.
- Forward Johnny Russell is 23 minutes shy of 10,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
- Sporting are two goals shy of 700 home goals scored in the club’s regular season history.
- Sporting are four shy of 400 home goals scored at Children’s Mercy Park in all competitions (excluding friendlies).
