By The Numbers: Sporting KC at San Jose Earthquakes - Oct. 16, 2015

Sporting Kansas City’s drive to the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by Shawnee Mission Kia, continues Friday at 10 p.m. CT against the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium. The game will be televised locally on KMCI-TV 38 The Spot, across the Midwest on SKCTV and nationally on UniMas, while listeners can catch the match on 99.3 FM and 1340 AM.

Fourth-place Sporting Kansas City (13-9-9, 48 points) is one victory away from clinching a fifth consecutive postseason berth, while seventh-place San Jose is desperate for a win in order to jump above the red line and into playoff position. The Earthquakes had their way in the first meeting this year — winning 5-0 at Sporting Park on Aug. 19 — and haven’t lost to Sporting KC at home since August 2000, a run of 16 straight MLS matches including playoffs. We examine the pivotal clash in our By The Numbers preview…

Head-to-head

• The last time these teams met on Aug. 19, San Jose won 5-0 at Sporting Park. Chris Wondolowski and Cordell Cato bagged braces while Anibal Godoy netted the first goal of his MLS career.
• Prior to San Jose’s win on Aug. 19, the home side in the #SJvSKC series was unbeaten in 18 straight games across all competitions dating back to 2004 (16-0-2).
• Sporting KC has a 4-16-6 road record against the Earthquakes (including postseason) and hasn’t won in San Jose since Aug. 16, 2000, a run of 16 straight visits without a victory (0-11-5).
• Five of Sporting KC’s last six trips to San Jose have resulted in a one-goal defeat.
• Chris Wondolowski has scored in six of his last seven matches against Sporting KC dating back to 2009, including each of the last four fixtures played in San Jose.

San Jose Earthquakes

• 2015 MLS record: 12-12-8, 44 points (7th in West)
• 2015 MLS home record: 7-3-6 (16 GF, 11 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 1-1-3, 6 points (T-T-L-W-T)
• San Jose has one win in their last six matches (1-2-3) after winning four straight from Aug. 14-28.
• San Jose is last in MLS with 16 home goals scored, but their 11 home goals conceded are tied for the fewest in MLS.
• San Jose has been outscored 10-3 in the final 15 minutes of matches this season. Their three goals in the final quarter-hour are the fewest in MLS.
• San Jose is unbeaten (5-0-3) when leading at halftime but winless (0-6-1) when trailing at the break.
• San Jose has scored in 11 straight regular season matches, their longest such streak since 2012 (15 games).
• Matias Perez Garcia ranks fourth in MLS with 71 chances created, including a league-best 36 chances created from set plays.
• Chris Wondolowski leads San Jose with 16 goals this season. No other player has scored more than five.
• Wondolowski’s 102 regular season goals since 2010 are the most by any palyer of a six-year span in MLS history. He is the league’s first ever player to score double digit goals in six straight seasons.

Sporting Kansas City

• 2015 MLS record: 13-9-9, 48 points (4th in West)
• 2015 MLS road record: 4-8-4 (19 GF, 24 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 2-2-1, 7 points (L-W-L-T-W)
• SKC is the 10th team in MLS history (and just the third since 2003) to have three players scored double-digit goals in a single regular season (Dom Dwyer 11, Benny Feilhaber 10, Krisztian Nemeth 10).
• Matt Besler leads MLS with 202 clearances and has played (and started) a team-high 34 matches in all competitions.
• Benny Feilhaber is one behind the league lead with 14 assists, and he is one of two MLS players (Sebastian Giovinco) to reach double digits in goals and assists in league play.
• Since Sept. 30, Krisztian Nemeth has scored four goals in four games for club (two with Sporting KC) and country (two with Hungary).
• SKC is the only MLS team with a .500 or better road record since the start of 2012 (28-28-15), but has just four wins in 16 away games this year (4-8-4).
• SKC has earned five road shutouts in 2015, one behind the MLS lead.
• Friday concludes a 10-game span during which Sporting KC played eight road games.

Milestones and miscellany

• Matt Besler is one shy of his 175th career regular season start for Sporting KC since debuting as a rookie in 2009.
• Graham Zusi has started 162 games for Sporting KC in all competitions, one start shy of passing Jack Jewsbury for eighth place on Kansas City’s all-time list.

Team stats (2015 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (Opta stats as of Oct. 15)

Recent #SJvSKC meetings

• Regular season record vs. San Jose: 21-22-7
• Regular season road record at San Jose: 4-14-6