By The Numbers: Sporting KC vs. Seattle Sounders FC | March 25, 2023

"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.

Sporting Kansas City will host reigning Concacaf Champions League winners Seattle Sounders FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday as a pair of perennial Western Conference contenders lock horns at Children's Mercy Park.

Tickets for the Western Conference clash are available at SeatGeek.com and match coverage will be shown live on Apple TV for MLS Season Pass subscribers in both English and Spanish. Radio coverage will also air locally in English on ESPN 94.5 FM and 1510 AM, as well as in Spanish on La Grande 1340 AM, with all streams available in the Sporting KC app. 

Sporting have yet to bounce into the win column in 2023, but a recent upper hand over Seattle—not to mention homefield advantage in the Soccer Capital of America—will give Manager Peter Vermes' side plenty of confidence entering the weekend.

We take a statistical look at the matchup in our newest edition of By the Numbers, presented by Compass Minerals.

Head-to-Head

• Sporting have gone 9-4-3 in the last 16 regular season meetings against Seattle since 2015.
• Sporting have won five of the last seven meetings dating back to 2019. Sporting’s five wins over Seattle since 2019 are second most in MLS behind Portland (six).
• Sporting won the most recent matchup by a 1-0 scoreline on Oct. 2, 2022, receiving a first-half goal from Willy Agada at Children’s Mercy Park.
• Seattle prevailed in their first two visits to Children’s Mercy Park in 2011 and 2013, but the Sounders have gone just 1-5-2 in eight trips to the stadium since 2015.
• In 2021, Sporting became just the second MLS team to earn two regular season road wins at Seattle in the same year.
• The last nine regular season meetings between the clubs have produced 32 goals, a clip of 3.6 goals per match. The first 16 regular season meetings in the series from 2009-2017 produced just 29 goals, a clip of 1.8 per match.
• Sporting captain Johnny Russell has six goals and one assist in nine career regular season appearances against Seattle. His six goals against Seattle are tied for his most versus any MLS opponent.
• Seattle leads the all-time regular season series with an 11-10-4 record (including a 5-5-2 mark in Kansas City) and went 7-1-1 in the first nine meetings from 2009-2014.

Sporting Kansas City

• 2023 MLS record: 0-2-2, 2 points (13th in West | 1 GF, 3 GA)
• 2023 MLS home record: 0-0-1 (0 GF, 0 GA)
• First 4 Matches: 0-2-2 (L-T-T-L)
• Sporting are 6-0-1 in their last seven matches at Children’s Mercy Park, outscoring opponents 17-4 during that stretch. The club’s six-game home winning streak to end last season was snapped in a 0-0 draw against the LA Galaxy on March 11.
• Sporting lead MLS in shots (69), shots on target (29) and key passes (53) while ranking second in shooting accuracy (64.4%).
• Sporting have a +29 margin in shots (69) vs. shots faced (40), the second largest in MLS behind reigning champions LAFC (+33).
• Sporting lead MLS with a dribble success rate of 69.0%, completing 49 of 71 attempted dribbles.
• Midfielder Erik Thommy leads MLS in shots (19), shots on target (11) and corner kicks (26) while ranking second in chances created (12).
• Forward Daniel Salloi, who scored a goal in Sporting’s 2-1 loss at FC Dallas last weekend, ranks third in MLS in shots (17), second in shots on target (eight) and third in successful crosses from open play (five).
• Salloi and forward Willy Agada are tied for the MLS lead with 25 touches apiece in the opponent’s box.
• At age 21, John Pulskamp has become the sixth-youngest goalkeeper in MLS history to record six career shutouts in the regular season. His 319-minute shutout streak that spanned from Feb. 27 to March 18 is the second longest by any MLS goalkeeper this season.
• Midfielder Remi Walter has started 46 consecutive regular season matches for Sporting since Sept. 29, 2021. That is the third-longest active streak among MLS field players behind Jakob Glesnes (77) and Darlington Nagbe (71). He ranks eighth in MLS with 38 recoveries.
• Defender Robert Voloder ranks fifth in MLS with 19 recoveries in the defensive third, while defender Andreu Fontas is one behind with 18.
• Since the start of 2021, Fontas leads MLS in passes (5,027), successful passes (4,435) and touches (5,730). During that time, Fontas has completed more passes (4,435) than any other player in MLS has attempted passes (Michael Bradley at 4,427).

Seattle Sounders FC

• 2023 MLS record: 2-1-1, 7 points (3rd in West | 6 GF, 1 GA)
• 2023 MLS away record: 0-1-0 (0 GF, 1 GA)
• First 4 Matches: 2-1-1 (W-W-L-T)
• Seattle have conceded only one goal through four matches, boasting an MLS-best 0.25 goals against average. The Sounders are tied for the MLS lead with three shutouts.
• Seattle have outscored opponents 6-1 through four matches, with all six goals coming on home turf at Lumen Field.
• Seattle have failed to score in each of their last two matches, a 1-0 road loss at Cincinnati on March 11 and a 0-0 home draw against LAFC on March 18. The Sounders enter Saturday on a 212-minute scoreless streak, the longest active scoring drought in MLS.
• Dating back to last season, Seattle have lost five straight MLS road matches and are 0-9-1 in their last 10 regular season away games. All nine losses during this stretch have come by a single goal.
• The Sounders haven’t won an MLS road match since prevailing at Toronto on July 2, 2022, and haven’t won away from home on American soil since winning at Houston on May 18, 2022.
• Forward Jordan Morris is tied for second in the early MLS Golden Boot race with three goals.
• Midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro leads MLS with nine possessions won in the attacking third while ranking second with 81 successful passes in the attacking third. He also leads the league in possessions lost (90) and ranks fifth in chances created (11). Lodeiro is the only active MLS player with at least 40 goals and 70 assists in the regular season.
• Midfielder Albert Rusnak ranks fourth in MLS in passes (259) and passes completed (230).
• Midfielder Cristian Roldan ranks second in MLS with 41 duels won.
• Defender Alex Roldan ranks second in MLS in touches (358) and third in successful crosses from open play (five). He has accounted for both of Seattle’s assists this season.
• Excluding the center forward position, Seattle has started the same 10 players in all four MLS matches this season. At the striker spot, Heber (2), Raul Ruidiaz (1) and Fredy Montero (1) have all earned starts. Ruidiaz has scored 68 goals in 111 MLS appearances for Seattle (regular season and playoffs) since arriving in 2018.
• Seattle began their competitive season on Feb. 4, falling 1-0 to Al Ahly in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup second round as the first-ever MLS participant in the heralded international tournament. The Sounders qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the 2022 Concacaf Champions League, becoming the first MLS team to win the modern edition of the tournament.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Defender Graham Zusi is one shy of his 400th appearance for Sporting in all competitions.
• Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of his 150th regular season appearance and one shy of his 50th goal for Sporting in all competitions.
• Forward Johnny Russell is one shy of his 50th goal for Sporting in MLS competitions and two shy of 50 regular season goals for the club. His 48 regular season goals and 53 goals in all competitions are both third most in club history.
• Forward Khiry Shelton is one shy of his 100th regular season appearance for Sporting.
• Midfielder Roger Espinoza is tied with Benny Feilhaber for fourth in club history with 43 regular season assists, two shy of tying Chris Klein for third.