"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.
A heated rivalry in the Heartland is poised to stay simmering on Saturday as Sporting Kansas City welcomes St. Louis to Children's Mercy Park for the first of three meetings between the clubs in 2024. The highly anticipated cross-state showdown is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with a limited number of tickets available on SeatGeek.com and live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
St. Louis enjoyed a strong inaugural season in MLS last year, finishing atop the Western Conference table, but suffered a humbling emasculation at the hands of a ruthless Sporting side in the opening round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. With the sweet smell of brooms still lingering at Children's Mercy Park in the wake of Sporting's clean sweep of St. Louis last November, we offer a statistical previous of Saturday's battle in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and St. Louis made the most of their inaugural year as archrivals by meeting five times across all competitions in 2023. Since Peter Vermes’ head coaching tenure began in 2009, Sporting has faced just four clubs five times in all competitions in a single season: Houston in 2013, Vancouver in 2016, Real Salt Lake in 2018 and St. Louis last year.
- Sporting has a 3-2-0 record in the overall series, including 2-1 wins in both previous matches at Children’s Mercy Park—a regular season contest on Sept. 2, 2023 and a playoff game that ended St. Louis’ inaugural campaign on Nov. 5, 2023.
- Louis won two of the three regular season meetings in 2023 with convincing home wins at CityPark, a 4-0 result on May 20 and a 4-1 decision on Sept. 30.
- After St. Louis earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, the expansion newcomers were humbled by Sporting in a two-game sweep of the Round One Best-of-3 Series. SKC cruised 4-1 at St. Louis in Game 1 on Oct. 29 and prevailed 2-1 at home on Nov. 5 to complete the series victory.
- The playoff series between the clubs last fall marked the second time that teams from Kansas City and St. Louis have met in the playoffs across the five major men’s professional sports leagues in the U.S. (MLS, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), following the 1985 World Series in which the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
- The five meetings between the clubs last season produced 20 total goals, an average of four per game.
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi had two goals and four assists in five MLS appearances against St. Louis last season, including one goal and one assist in both playoff meetings last fall.
- Sporting forward Alan Pulido had two goals and three assists in five MLS appearances against St. Louis last season, including a brace in SKC’s 2-1 home win over St. Louis on Sept. 2, 2023. Midfielder Erik Thommy tabbed secondary assists on both of Pulido’s goals in that match.
- Louis midfielder Indiana Vassilev scored both of his 2023 regular season goals in a 4-0 home win over Sporting last May.
- Louis forward Sam Adeniran has scored a goal in each of the last two regular season meetings between the clubs.
- Louis forward Joao Klauss had a brace in St. Louis’ 4-1 home win over Sporting last September, a match in which Willy Agada bagged a late consolation goal for SKC.
- Louis midfielder Eduard Lowen had one goal and three assists in three regular season appearances against Sporting last year.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2024 MLS record: 2-2-4, 10 points (9th in West | 14 GF, 13 GA)
- 2024 MLS home record: 1-2-2 (10 GF, 11 GA)
- Last five matches: 2-2-1 (W-L-W-T-L)
- Sporting have scored two or more goals in five straight regular season matches for the first time since June 2000. The only time the club scored multiple goals in six consecutive regular season games was during its inaugural campaign in August 1996.
- Sporting have trailed for a total of 43 minutes this season, the fewest in MLS.
- Sporting have scored first in 24 of the club’s last 34 matches in all competitions dating back to 2023.
- Sporting are one of two MLS teams that have yet to trail at halftime this season (Vancouver).
- Sporting rank third in MLS with 5.6 shots on target per match.
- Last Saturday against Inter Miami CF, midfielder Erik Thommy scored two brilliant goals for his first professional brace since Nov. 19, 2016, when he played for German third-division side Jahn Regensburg.
- Thommy’s brace gave him three goals for the season, tied with forward Willy Agada for most on the team. Thommy scored twice last Saturday after Agada did so in a 3-3 draw with Portland on April 7.
- Thommy’s opening goal last Saturday came in the sixth minute, Sporting’s earliest goal of the season and the earliest by Sporting since Thommy scored in the fourth minute of a 3-2 win at Real Salt Lake on Oct. 7, 2023.
- Thommy, who leads MLS with 46 progressive carries this season, has appeared in 54 straight regular season matches since debuting for Sporting on July 23, 2022, the ninth longest streak in club history and one shy of entering a tie for seventh longest.
- Forward Willy Agada has 12 goals in 12 regular season home starts since joining the club in 2022.
- Agada has scored or assisted in three of Sporting’s last four matches since making his first start of the season on March 23.
- Agada ranks third in MLS in both expected goals per 90 (0.90) and shots on target per 90 (2.17).
- Defender Tim Leibold assisted Thommy’s opening goal last Saturday. It marked the first time in Sporting history that two German players had combined for a goal and an assist.
- Defender Jake Davis has started in each of Sporting’s last 35 matches in all competitions since May 28, 2023.
- Defender Dany Rosero has scored five of Sporting’s eight headed goals since the start of 2023, all coming off set pieces.
- Rosero, who ranks eighth in MLS with 37 clearances this season, has scored all five of his goals for Sporting off headers since joining the club in early 2023.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has appeared in 60 straight regular season matches for Sporting since June 19, 2022, the fifth longest streak in club history (Chris Brown 80, Mark Chung 74, Davy Arnaud 67, Ilie Sanchez 64).
St. Louis City SC
- 2024 MLS record: 2-1-5, 11 points (8th in West | 12 GF, 11 GA)
- 2024 MLS away record: 0-1-2 (6 GF, 8 GA)
- Last five matches: 1-2-2 (T-T-L-T-W)
- Louis has a league-high five draws in eight matches this season, already equaling its total from the 2023 regular season (17-12-5 record).
- Louis has just one loss through eight matches (2-1-5 record), tied for the fewest in the Western Conference alongside LA Galaxy. Philadelphia (3-0-4) is the lone remaining unbeaten team in MLS.
- Louis enters Saturday with shutouts in each of their last two matches, a 0-0 home draw against Dallas and a 1-0 home win over Austin. The team has posted back-to-back clean sheets for the third time in club history and has never previously earned three straight shutouts.
- Louis has a shot discrepancy of +52, the largest in MLS (128 shots taken, 76 shots faced).
- Louis has been outshot just once this season, in a Week 1 home draw against Real Salt Lake.
- Louis ranks second-to-last in MLS with a shooting accuracy of 27.8% (percentage of total shots on target).
- Louis has allowed 24 shots on target this season, the fewest in MLS (3.0 per match).
- Louis is tied for third in MLS with 2.0 goals per road match, having scored six goals in three away games (0-1-2 record).
- Louis has avoided defeat in all three matches it has conceded first this season (0-0-3 record).
- Louis rank second-to-last in MLS in passing accuracy (77.9%).
- Louis leads MLS with 31 tackles in the attacking third of the field.
- Louis leads MLS in aerial duel success rate (57.9%) and ranks second in the league in fouls committed (133).
- In 2023, St. Louis became the first MLS expansion team to finish atop the conference regular season standings.
- Goalkeeper Roman Burki and defender Tomas Totland are the only St. Louis players to start in all eight regular season matches this year. Burki is tied for the MLS lead with three shutouts this season, while Totland is tied for the team lead with two assists.
- Midfielder Chris Durkin leads MLS with 21 fouls committed.
- Midfielder Indiana Vassilev ranks 10th in MLS with 12 successful crosses.
- Midfielder Eduard Lowen scored or assisted in each of St. Louis’ first three games before missing the last five matches due to injury. During the 2023 regular season, Lowen led St. Louis in both assists (14) and total goal contributions (20) as well as shots on target (27) and key passes (37).
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Johnny Russell has 56 regular season goals for Sporting, one shy of tying Dom Dwyer for second most in club history.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has 96 goal contributions (58 goals, 38 assists) for Sporting in all competitions, one shy of tying Chris Klein for fourth most in club history.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy has appeared in 54 straight regular season matches, the ninth longest streak in club history and one shy of a tie for seventh (Chris Brown 80, Mark Chung 74, Davy Arnaud 67, Ilie Sanchez 64, Daniel Salloi 60, Remi Walter 57, Davy Arnaud 55, Chris Klein 55).
