By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #PORvSKC | June 19, 2021

"By The Numbers" is a season-long series presented by the Kansas Department of Transportation that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.
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1,878  The number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. where drivers had a BAC lower than 0.07% in 2018.

A compelling Western Conference showdown beckons on Saturday night as second-place Sporting Kansas City (5-2-2, 17 points) visits Providence Park to battle the Portland Timbers (3-4-0, 9 points) at 9:30 p.m. CT. Supporters can catch the action live on Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Midwest, BallySports.com and the new Bally Sports app as well as Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Sporting are unbeaten in four straight matches and will face a Portland side that has experienced an up-and-down start to the 2021 campaign. Manager Peter Vermes' men are no strangers to success at Providence Park, but the Timbers boast one of the best home atmospheres in the league, not to mention multiple game-changing players on their roster.

As both clubs prepare for what should be a hotly contested matchup, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By the Numbers, presented by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Head-to-Head

• Sporting are 5-2-5 with eight shutouts in their last 12 regular season meetings against Portland dating back to 2014.
• Sporting leads the all-time regular season series with a 7-4-5 record.
• Across all competitions, the home team in the series has won just four of the last 17 meetings.
• Sporting own a 4-3-2 regular season record at Providence Park, including five shutouts in nine trips to the stadium.
• The nine regular season meetings between Sporting and Portland at Providence Park have produced just 13 total goals.
• Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia has four shutouts in five regular season appearances at Providence Park, including a 2-1-2 record and a 0.40 goals against average.
• Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has three goals and two assists in seven career MLS appearances against Portland (including playoffs).
• In postseason play, Portland notably defeated Sporting in the 2015 Western Conference Knockout Round and the 2018 Western Conference Championship.

Portland Timbers

• MLS record:3-4-0, 9 points
• MLS standings: 7th in West
• MLS home record: 2-1-0 (6 GF, 3 GA)
• Last five matches: 2-3-0 (L-L-W-W-L)
• Last match: Lost 3-0 at Philadelphia Union on May 30
• Portland are 3-0-0 when scoring the first goal and 0-4-0 when conceding the first goal this season.
• Portland have been trailing at halftime in all four of their losses this season.
• Portland rank fifth in MLS with 11.3 chances created per game and fourth with 2.6 big chances per match.
• Portland have scored seven of their nine goals in the second half. They have been outscored 6-2 in the first half this season.
• Through seven matches this season, Portland has already started four different goalkeepers.
• Portland's nine goals have come from eight different players. Forward Felipe Mora is the only Timbers player with two goals.
• Portland's eight different goal scorers are tied for the most in MLS this season.
• Mora and midfielder Eryk Williamson are tied for the team lead with two assists apiece.
• Midfielder Diego Valeri is tied for 10th in MLS with a team-best 16 chances created. With 85 goals and 89 assists in the regular season since 2013, he is one of three players in MLS history with 80 goals and 80 assists in his career alongside Landon Donovan and Jaime Moreno.
• In 2020, Portland won the MLS is Back Tournament in Disney World and finished third in the Western Conference with an 11-6-6 regular season record.

Sporting Kansas City

• MLS record:5-2-2, 17 points
• MLS standings: 2nd in West
• MLS away record: 2-2-0 (6 GF, 6 GA)
• Last five matches: 3-1-1 (L-W-W-W-T)
• Last match: Tied 1-1 vs. Austin FC on June 12
• Sporting lead MLS with 16 goals scored and rank second with 1.78 goals per game.
• Sporting lead MLS this season with 13 points and four wins from losing positions. No other club has more than four points and one win from losing positions in 2021.
• Sporting lead MLS with 17.6 shots per game and rank third with 12.2 chances created per game.
• Sporting lead MLS with 27 big chances this season, six more than any other team.
• Sporting rank last in MLS with 9.4 fouls committed per game. Similarly, their 9.6 fouls suffered per game are second-fewest in the league.
• Sporting are the only MLS team to have three players with at least three goals this season. Alan Pulido has five, Daniel Salloi has four and Gadi Kinda has three.
• Pulido (5 goals, 1 assist) and Salloi (4 goals, 2 assists) are tied for third in MLS with six combined goals and assists this season.
• Since the start of 2020, Pulido leads MLS with 0.99 goals and primary assists per 90 minutes in the regular season. He led MLS during the month of May with five goals and six combined goals and assists.
• Salloi leads MLS with 55 touches in the opponent's box, eight more than any other player.
• Goalkeeper Tim Melia is 6-0-1 in his last seven regular season appearances dating back to Oct. 24, 2020.
• Forward Johnny Russell has become the eighth player in Sporting history to record 25 goals and 25 assists in the regular season. Russell ranks second in MLS with six big chances created.
• Defender Andreu Fontas leads MLS in passes (674), passes completed (605) and touches (764).
• Defender Luis Martins is the only Sporting player to play all 810 minutes this season. He ranks second in MLS with 45 crosses from open play.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Forward Khiry Shelton is one shy of his 50th regular season appearance for Sporting.
• Sporting has 327 regular season wins all-time, one shy of tying FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls for second-most in MLS history.

Recent #PORvSKC meetings

• Regular season record vs. Portland: 7-4-5 (18 GF, 14 GA)
• Regular season away record at Portland: 4-3-2 (6 GF, 7 GA)

Team Stats (2021 regular season)

(Source: Opta; MLS rank in parenthesis)