"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.
After rallying for a dramatic 3-3 home draw against the New England Revolution last weekend, Sporting Kansas City is back on the road to face Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and 103.7 FM.
Sporting enters the weekend on the heels of three straight draws, including a six-goal thriller with New England that saw the hosts erase a two-goal halftime deficit with second-half strikes from Daniel Salloi, Dejan Jovejlic and Manu Garcia. Houston, meanwhile, has returned to Texas after a successful cross-country road swing that yielded a 3-3 stalemate with the San Jose Earthquakes on the West Coast and a 3-0 victory over New York City FC on the East Coast.
As Saturday's showdown beckons, we take a statistical look at the matchup in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting is visiting Shell Energy Stadium for the first time since tying 1-1 in Week 1 of the 2024 regular season on Feb. 24, 2024. Erik Thommy gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute before Gabe Segal equalized eight minutes later.
- Sporting and Houston last met on May 11, 2024, at Children’s Mercy Park. Houston prevailed 2-1 with goals from Hector Herrera and Ibrahim Aliyu, both of whom have since left the club, while Daniel Salloi scored for Sporting.
- Sporting is 4-1-3 in its last eight regular season meetings against Houston but won neither meeting in 2024, drawing 1-1 at Shell Energy Stadium and falling 2-1 at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Sporting is 9-4-4 in its last 17 regular season meetings against Houston dating back to 2018.
- Sporting is 0-3-3 in its last six visits to Shell Energy Stadium since 2021, including a 0-1-3 regular season record and 1-0 losses in both the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Sporting last won at Shell Energy Stadium by a 2-1 scoreline on Oct. 3, 2020.
- Sporting has faced Houston 48 times in all competitions since 2011, more than any other opponent during that time (19-16-13 record).
- The all-time regular season series is dead even through 44 meetings with both teams posting 14-14-16 records and scoring 60 goals (1.36 goals per game).
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has six goal contributions (three goals, three assists) in 16 regular season appearances against Houston.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 3-8-4, 13 points (13th in West | 22 GF, 27 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 1-5-2 (10 GF, 13 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 1-1-3, 6 points (W-L-T-T-T)
- Sporting erased a 2-0 halftime deficit last Saturday to claim a 3-3 home draw against the New England Revolution in the 250th MLS match played at Children’s Mercy Park (including playoffs).
- Sporting has trailed by two goals at halftime three times this season. On each occasion, Kansas City has rallied to secure a point. Sporting trailed 2-0 at halftime (and 3-0 in the 46th minute) of a 3-3 home draw against Minnesota United FC on March 15, 2-0 at halftime of a 2-2 road draw at St. Louis City SC on May 14, and 2-0 at halftime of last weekend’s 3-3 home draw against New England.
- Prior to this season, Sporting had lost 13 consecutive regular season matches when trailing by two or more goals at halftime.
- Sporting’s 0-0 draw at San Diego on May 17 was the club’s first road shutout since a 0-0 stalemate at LAFC on March 9, 2024. Kansas City is playing for consecutive road shutouts for the first time since August 2021.
- Sporting has drawn three straight regular season matches after drawing just three of its previous 37 regular season matches between April 27, 2024, and May 10, 2025.
- Sporting has scored 14 of its 22 MLS goals in the second half this season, a clip of 63.6%.
- All five of Sporting’s away losses this season have come by a single goal (1-5-2 road record).
- Sporting ranks second in MLS in touches in the attacking third per game (177).
- Sporting ranks second in MLS in progressive dribbles per match (19.3) and seventh in progressive passes per match (43.4). Progressive dribbles and passes are dribbles and passes that advance the ball at least 10 yards closer to the opponent’s goal line or into the penalty area.
- Sporting has won four penalty kicks this season after winning three penalties during the entire 2024 regular season.
- Kerry Zavagnin has a 3-3-3 record in nine matches as Sporting’s interim head coach since the start of April. Kansas City opened the 2025 regular season with five losses and one draw.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season in Sporting’s 3-3 draw against New England last Saturday, converting a penalty kick in the 59th minute to tie the game at 2-2. He is one of five MLS players with six or more goals in each of the last four regular seasons alongside Chicho Arango, Carles Gil, Josef Martinez and Hany Mukhtar.
- Joveljic is tied for second in MLS with three penalty kick goals this season. Six of his seven goals this season have come at home.
- Forward Daniel Salloi scored Sporting’s opening goal in last Saturday’s 3-3 draw against New England. With five goals and three assists this season, he already has more goal contributions in 2025 (eight) than he did during the entire 2024 regular season (seven).
- With a goal against New England, Salloi has now scored against 19 different MLS opponents and 22 different opponents across all competitions, both the most in club history.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia scored Sporting’s third goal in last Saturday’s 3-3 draw against New England, completing a turnaround that saw Kansas City trail 2-0 before taking a 3-2 lead.
- Garcia leads Sporting in assists (four) and key passes (25) while ranking fifth in MLS in progressive passes (121), seventh in fouls suffered (31), eighth in successful passes into the penalty area (32), ninth in successful passes into the final third (100) and ninth in successful through balls (seven).
- Midfielder Erik Thommy assisted Garcia’s goal last Saturday and now has three assists this season, all of which have come as a substitute. Four of Thommy’s five total goal contributions this season have come as a substitute (two goals and two assists as a sub, one goal as a starter).
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov ranks fourth in MLS in fouls suffered (36) and fifth in dribbles into the penalty area (27).
- At 19 years and 236 days (as of Saturday, May 31), midfielder Jacob Bartlett is the second youngest player to start at least 12 MLS matches this season behind only Philadelphia Union defender Frankie Westfield (19 years, 173 days). Bartlett has started in 10 straight matches for Sporting since March 29.
- Defender Jansen Miller has played the most regular season minutes (1,035) of any 2025 MLS SuperDraft selection this year. He has played every minute in each of Sporting’s last 11 games since March 22.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is the only Sporting player to start in all 15 MLS matches and all 17 matches across all competitions this season.
- Midfielder Zorhan Bassong recorded his first assist of the season last Saturday against New England. He has been named to the Canada Men’s National Team for the Canadian Shield, which will see the Reds host Ukraine on June 7 and Ivory Coast on June 10 in Toronto.
Houston Dynamo FC
- 2025 MLS record: 5-6-5, 20 points (9th in West | 21 GF, 22 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 3-4-1 (11 GF, 13 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 3-1-1, 10 points (L-W-T-W-W)
- Houston has scored three goals in back-to-back MLS matches after scoring two or fewer goals in each of the team’s first 14 games this season.
- Houston is 3-0-1 in its last four MLS matches, including shutout wins over Minnesota United FC on May 14, FC Dallas on May 17 and New York City FC on Wednesday.
- Houston completed an impressive cross-country road trip with a 3-0 win at New York City FC on Wednesday, four days after earning a 3-3 draw at the San Jose Earthquakes.
- Houston is tied for second in MLS with seven shutouts.
- All five of Houston’s league wins this season have been shutouts. Four of the team’s five wins have also come by multi-goal margins.
- Houston is 0-6-3 in MLS matches when conceding at least one goal this season.
- Houston has four home losses at Shell Energy Stadium this season (3-4-1 record), already more than the team’s total home losses in 2023 (two) and 2024 (three).
- Houston is 5-1-3 when scoring the first goal and 0-5-0 when conceding the first goal during the 2025 regular season. Houston is 2-1-3 when leading at halftime and 0-4-0 when trailing at halftime.
- Forward Gabe Segal marked his first start of the season with his first career MLS brace in Wednesday’s 3-0 win at New York City FC. His two goals on Wednesday equaled his season totals from 2023 and 2024.
- Midfielder Artur leads Houston in MLS minutes played (1,367) and is tied for the team lead in MLS appearances (16) and starts (15). He ranks eighth in MLS in interceptions (24).
- Defender Griffin Dorsey is tied for the team lead in MLS appearances (16) and starts (15) while ranking eighth in MLS with 10 successful crosses into the penalty area.
- Dorsey has a team-leading and MLS career-high six assists this season. He was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday earlier this week after recording a goal and an assist in Houston’s 3-3 draw at San Jose on Saturday.
- Dorsey has recorded one goal and one assist in each of his last two starts, including a 2-0 win at FC Dallas on May 17.
- Midfielder Jack McGlynn ranks third in MLS in key passes (42), third in progressive passes (142), third in crosses (133), fourth in shot-creating actions (76), fifth in successful crosses into the penalty area (11), sixth in successful passes into the penalty area (35), seventh in expected primary assists (4.7) and eighth in touches (1,151).
- Defender Obafemi Awodesu leads MLS with 118 clearances.
- Forward Ezequiel Ponce leads Houston with four MLS goals this season. No other player on the team has more than two.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Daniel Salloi is tied for seventh in club history with 224 regular season appearances, one shy of passing Nick Garcia on the all-time chart.
- Salloi has 40 regular season assists for Sporting, tied with former teammate Johnny Russell for sixth most in club history.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy is one shy of the 350th club appearance of his professional career.
- Defender Khiry Shelton is one shy of his 150th regular season appearance for Sporting. He ranks eighth in club history with nine game-winning assists in the regular season.
- Forward Stephen Afrifa is one shy of his 50th professional club appearance, having played 37 matches for Sporting and 12 matches for Sporting KC II.
