By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #SKCvCLB

"By The Numbers" is sponsored by The Kansas Department of Transportation. The Fourth of July is fun to celebrate with family, friends, food and fireworks, but all too often the festivities turn tragic on the nation's roads. Did you know that this iconic American holiday is also one of the deadliest holidays of the year due to impaired-driving crashes? Be safe and designate a sober driver.

Sporting Kansas City (6-8-4, 22 points) looks to extend its three-game MLS unbeaten streak on Sunday, hosting Columbus Crew SC (3-5-7, 16 points) at Children's Mercy Park. The match is set to kick off at 6 p.m. CT on FS1, FOX Deportes, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM, and a limited number of tickets are still available via Ticketmaster.com.

Sporting KC is 5-1-1 in its last seven games against Crew SC and faces a Columbus side that is winless in its last nine road contests dating back to last season. We take a statistical look at the matchup in our By The Numbers preview...

Head-to-head

• Sporting KC lost its most recent match to Columbus last August, a 3-2 setback at MAPFRE Stadium that snapped a six-game unbeaten streak against Crew SC that spanned from October 2012 to July 2014 (five wins and one draw).
• Sporting KC is 4-1-0 vs. Columbus at Children's Mercy Park with 11 goals scored and five conceded, including shutout wins in each of the last two meetings.
• Sporting KC holds a narrow 24-22-6 edge in the all-time regular season series, including a 13-9-2 mark at home.
• Sporting KC is 14-5-5 against interconference foes since the start of 2014.
• Sporting KC is 9-1-4 at home against interconference foes since May 2013.
• Benny Feilhaber has two goals and two assists in seven regular season appearances vs. Columbus.
• Jacob Peterson has three regular season goals vs. Columbus, including the game-winner in a 2-0 result in May 2014 at Children's Mercy Park.
• Graham Zusi has one goal and four assists in 11 regular season appearances against Columbus, including a goal in last year's 3-2 loss in Ohio.
• Columbus midfielder Ethan Finlay and Tony Tchani scored goals in the team's 3-2 home win over Sporting KC last August.
• Columbus midfielder Wil Trapp has two career red cards in his four-year MLS career, both coming against Sporting KC during the 2014 season.

Columbus Crew SC

• 2016 MLS record: 3-5-7, 16 points (9th in East)
• 2016 MLS road record: 0-4-3 (4 GF, 9 GA)
• Last five games: 1-1-3, 6 points (T-W-L-T-T)
• Dating back to 2015, Columbus is 0-6-3 in its last nine MLS road games (including playoffs).
• Columbus leads MLS with 54.2 percent average possession and ranks second with 82.2 percent passing accuracy.
• Columbus is last in MLS with 0.57 goals scored per road game (four goals in seven matches).
• Columbus has allowed nine goals after the 75th minute, most in MLS.
• Since making his first career MLS start on May 14, Columbus forward Ola Kamara is averaging 0.96 goals per 90 minutes, the second best rate in MLS during this time frame (minimum 300 minutes played).
• Midfielder Wil Trapp is second in MLS with 909 successful passes, while midfielder Federico Higuain is fourth in MLS with 39 chances created.

Sporting Kansas City

• 2016 MLS record: 6-8-4, 22 points (7th in West)
• 2016 MLS home record: 4-4-1 (11 GF, 11 GA)
• Last five games: 1-2-2, 5 points (L-L-T-W-T)
• Sporting KC is tied for the MLS lead with 179 chances created.
• Sporting KC is second in MLS with just 1.11 goals allowed per game.
• Roger Espinoza leads MLS with 121 duels won while ranking fifth with 40 tackles and 10th with 632 successful passes.
• Since May 20, Jimmy Medranda leads MLS with 26 tackles while raking second in interceptions (24) and third in duels won (34).
• Dom Dwyer is one of six MLS players with at least two multi-goal games this season. He is also second in MLS with 42 fouls suffered.
• Connor Hallisey has a 5-1-3 MLS record as a starter this season.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Matt Besler is one shy of his 200th MLS start for Sporting KC (including playoffs).
• Jacob Peterson is one shy of his 100th career substitute appearance in the MLS regular season. He would be the fifth MLS player to reach the century mark in regular season substitute appearances.
• Children's Mercy Park is expected to sell out its 80th straight MLS match (including postseason) on Sunday.

Team stats (2016 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (source: WhoScored.com)

Recent #SKCvCLB meetings

• Regular season record vs. Columbus: 24-22-6 (81 GF, 81 GA)
• Regular season home record vs. Columbus: 13-9-2 (41 GF, 38 GA)