"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.
Following a 1-0 win over the reigning MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy at Children's Mercy Park, Sporting Kansas City will venture west this weekend to face the Portland Timbers on Saturday in the first of three road matches in an eight-day span. Kickoff at Providence Park is slated for 9:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and 103.7 FM.
Sporting has won three of five matches since the start of April, finding a rhythm under interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin and climbing within five points of playoff positioning in the Western Conference. Portland, meanwhile, has ascended to third place in the West behind a potent attack led by dangermen Antony and David Da Costa.
As anticipation builds toward Saturday, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.
Head-to-Head
- Sporting and Portland last met on April 13 at Children’s Mercy Park. The Timbers earned a 4-2 victory behind Kevin Kelsy’s brace, a David Ayala goal and an own goal, while Sporting struck through Shapi Suleymanov and Dejan Joveljic.
- Portland’s win in Kansas City on April 13 was the club’s first regular season victory at Children’s Mercy Park since April 27, 2013.
- The all-time regular season series between the clubs is dead even through 25 meetings. Both teams have nine wins and seven draws.
- Sporting has a 4-7-2 record in 13 regular season road matches at Providence Park. Kansas City last won at the stadium by a 1-0 scoreline on April 15, 2017.
- Sporting has lost five straight regular season road matches at Providence Park since 2019. Kansas City posted a 4-2-2 regular season away record at Portland from 2011-2018 before the current losing streak.
- Portland is 7-3-3 in the last 13 meetings between the clubs across all competitions.
- Portland has won each of the last two meetings dating back to May 25, 2024. Neither team has enjoyed a winning streak of longer than two matches in the head-to-head series (including playoffs).
- Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists) in 14 regular season appearances against Portland.
- Sporting midfielder Memo Rodriguez has four goal contributions (one goal, three assists) in 13 regular season appearances against Portland.
- Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has two goals in six regular season appearances against Portland.
- Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic has two goals in six regular season appearances against Portland.
- Portland forward Felipe Mora has four goal contributions (three goals, one assist) in four regular season appearances against Sporting.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 3-7-1, 10 points (12th in West | 17 GF, 21 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 1-4-0 (8 GF, 10 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 3-2-0, 6 points (W-L-W-L-W)
- In a 1-0 home win over the LA Galaxy on Sunday, Sporting became the first team in MLS history to win a match without recording a shot attempt. Sporting scored in the 13th minute on an own goal from LA defender Maya Yoshida.
- Sporting limited LA to one shot on target last Sunday, the fewest by a Kansas City opponent in a regular season match since Oct. 19, 2024.
- Last Sunday saw Sporting secure its first 1-0 win since Sept. 16, 2023, at Minnesota United FC. It was Sporting’s first 1-0 win at Children’s Mercy Park since Oct. 2, 2022, against Seattle Sounders FC.
- Sporting has won three of its last five matches since April 5 after a club-record 13-match winless streak across all competitions that began on Sept. 21, 2024.
- A victory against Portland on Saturday would give Sporting four regular season wins in a six-game stretch for the first time since September and October 2023.
- A shutout victory against Portland on Saturday with give Sporting consecutive shutout wins in the regular season for the first time since September 2021.
- Sporting has scored multiple goals in three of its last five matches since April 5 after scoring multiple goals just once during the club’s 13-match winless streak.
- Sporting has scored 11 goals in its last five MLS matches since April 5. The team scored just six goals in its first six league games.
- Sporting earned a 5-3 road win over the San Jose Earthquakes on April 19, scoring five goals in an MLS match for the first time since a 7-1 home victory over CF Montreal on March 30, 2019. It was the 13th time that Sporting had scored at least five goals in an MLS match and only the third time away from home, following a 5-0 win at Colorado in April 2000 and a 5-1 win at San Jose in September 2018.
- Sporting has utilized 12 different starting lineups in the club’s first 13 matches of the 2025 season in all competitions.
- Sporting had two wins and two losses this season during the month of April. Their two wins last month were more than the club had secured in April in the previous six seasons combined since 2019. Sporting had a 1-12-9 regular season record in April from 2019-2024.
- Sporting ranks second in MLS in progressive dribbles (209) and ranks sixth in progressive passes (499). 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 three penalty kicks this season, tied for third most in MLS, after winning three penalties during the entire 2024 regular season.
- Sporting ranks third in MLS in touches in the attacking third per game (183).
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp helped Sporting to a 1-0 home win over the LA Galaxy on Sunday, moving to seventh in club history in both shutouts (eight) and wins (12) in the regular season. Pulskamp is poised to make his 100th professional appearance on Saturday in Portland, having played 55 matches for Sporting and 44 matches for Sporting KC II.
- On April 19, Pulskamp marked his 24th birthday with the first assist of his professional career, setting up Daniel Salloi’s 20th-minute goal with a pinpoint long ball in Sporting’s 5-3 road win over the San Jose Earthquakes. Pulskamp became the sixth goalkeeper in club history to record an assist in an MLS regular season match and the first to do so since Bo Oshoniyi on April 2, 2005.
- Defender Robert Voloder earned MLS Team of the Matchday honors this week after a commanding backline performance in Sporting’s 1-0 win over the Galaxy. The center back won 100% of his tackles and ground duels, had 11 total defensive actions including eight clearances, and completed 28 of 31 passes (90.3%).
- Defender Jansen Miller also delivered a stellar performance in central defense on Sunday, finishing with a career-high and game-high 17 total defensive actions, 13 clearances (including seven headed clearances) and four accurate long balls.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia leads Sporting with four assists this season while ranking second in MLS in goal-creating actions (eight), third in progressive passes (91), fifth in successful passes into the final third (79), eighth in successful through balls (five) and ninth in successful passes into the penalty area (22). He also leads the team with 16 key passes, six more than any other Sporting player.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic leads Sporting with five goals this season, all of which have come at home.
- Joveljic has 12 goals in his last 11 MLS home appearances dating back to last season with the LA Galaxy, including playoffs.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has six goal contributions (four goals, two assists) in Sporting’s last eight matches since March 15 after totaling seven goal contributions (two goals, five assists) during the entire 2024 MLS season. Salloi also forced an own goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Galaxy as his driven cross was turned into the net by LA defender Maya Yoshida.
- With four goals on nine shot attempts this season, Salloi leads MLS with 0.44 goals per shot (minimum 0.4 shot attempts per game).
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov ranks third in MLS in dribbles into the penalty area (24), fourth in progressive passes received (106), fourth in fouls suffered (28) and ninth in progressive dribbles (41).
- Midfielder Zorhan Bassong came off the bench to score the first goal of his professional career in a 2-1 loss at FC Cincinnati on April 26. The goal saw fellow substitutes Erik Thommy and Andrew Brody record the primary and secondary assists, respectively.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy has three goal contributions (one goal, two assists) in his last three appearances, all as a second-half substitute.
- Five of Thommy’s last six regular season goal contributions have come as a substitute dating back to Sept. 18, 2024.
- Defender Logan Ndenbe ranks fourth in MLS in tackles won (20) and 10th in progressive dribbles (39).
Portland Timbers
- 2025 MLS record: 5-3-3, 18 points (3rd in West | 21 GF, 19 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 2-1-2 (9 GF, 9 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 2-1-2, 8 points (T-W-T-W-L)
- With 1.91 goals per game on 1.38 expected goals per game, Portland is outperforming its expected goal total by 0.53, the highest clip in MLS.
- Portland is tied for fourth in MLS with 1.91 goals per game. The Timbers have scored at least three goals in five of their last six games since March 22, including 4-2 road wins over Sporting (April 13) and the LA Galaxy (April 27).
- Portland is tied for fourth in MLS in goal scoring despite ranking 26th in shot attempts per game (10.7). The Timbers rank second in MLS in shooting accuracy at 46.6%.
- Portland ranks 26th in MLS in both shots (10.7) and shots faced (15.0) per game.
- Portland has conceded 1.73 goals per match, fourth most in the Western Conference. The Timbers have allowed multiple goals in four consecutive matches since April 13.
- Portland’s last four matches since April 13 have all produced at least five total goals.
- Portland is 5-0-2 when scoring the first goal and 0-3-0 when conceding the first goal this season.
- Portland is 3-0-1 when leading at halftime and 0-3-0 when trailing at halftime this season.
- Four of Portland’s five wins and two of its three losses have come by multiple goals.
- Portland ranks 26th in MLS in total distance covered per game (112.1km) but second in distance covered from sprints per game (2.57km).
- Winger Antony is tied for second in MLS with 10 total goal contributions (four goals and six assists). He also ranks second in goal-creating actions (eight), seventh in fouls committed (20) and eighth in successful take-ons (21).
- Antony is tied for second in MLS with six assists. He has recorded an assist in four consecutive games, the longest streak of any MLS player this season.
- Attacking midfielder David Da Costa has two goals and five assists in his debut MLS season. He leads the league in successful through balls (eight) while ranking second in progressive carries (61), sixth in goal-creating actions (seven), eighth in successful take-ons (21) and 10th in dribbles into the penalty area (18).
- Forward Felipe Mora leads Portland with five goals this season. Mora had a career-high 14 goals during the 2024 regular season.
- Defender Finn Surman leads MLS with 90 clearances. He is one of three Portland players to start all 11 regular season matches in 2025 alongside Antony and midfielder David Ayala.
- Defender Jimer Fory leads MLS with six yellow cards while ranking sixth with 21 blocks.
- Midfielder Diego Chara has made 408 regular season appearances for Portland since the club’s debut MLS season in 2011. His 408 appearances for Portland are the most by a single player for one club in MLS history.
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of 100 career goal contributions in MLS competitions (56 goals and 43 assists in the regular season and playoffs combined).
- Defender Khiry Shelton is one shy of his 200th career regular season appearance.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is one shy of his 100th professional club appearance, having played 55 matches for Sporting and 44 matches for Sporting KC II. Pulskamp is also 13 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
- Defender Robert Voloder is 10 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
- Defender Logan Ndenbe is 69 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
- 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.
