By The Numbers: Sporting KC at Portland Timbers - Oct. 3, 2015

The thrill and elation of winning the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship continues to resonate strongly among Sporting Kansas City and its supporters. But just 72 hours after lifting the trophy in Philadelphia, Peter Vermes’ side travels cross-country for a pivotal Western Conference clash at the Portland Timbers on Saturday.

The match at Providence Park will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT with live television coverage on 38 The Spot and SKCTV beginning at 9 p.m. CT. Sporting Kansas City (45 points) and Portland (44 points) currently occupy the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference table, but seventh-place San Jose lurks close behind on 43 points entering the weekend. We take a closer look at the #PORvSKC matchup in our By The Numbers preview…

Head-to-head

• Since the start of 2013, the home team in the #PORvSKC series is winless in five straight meetings across all competitions.
• Sporting KC has a 2-1-1 all-time record at Portland with just two goals allowed in those four matches.
• Sporting KC and Portland have combined for just five goals in four games at Providence Park all-time.
• Portland has failed to score in three straight MLS matches against Sporting KC, including two games at Providence Park. The last time Kansas City conceded a goal at Portland was a 1-0 loss in April 2012.
• Sporting KC and Portland have met twice previously this season, battling to scoreless draws on March 21 at Sporting Park and on Sept. 9 at Providence Park.
• Six of seven regular season meetings between the clubs have been decided by a goal or less.

Portland Timbers

• 2015 MLS record: 12-10-8, 44 points (6th in West)
• 2015 MLS home record: 7-2-6 (19 GF, 11 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 1-2-2, 5 points (D-L-D-L-W)
• Portland is unbeaten in 14 straight home games against Western Conference foes (6-0-8) since September 2014.
• Portland leads MLS with 12 shutouts, including a league-best eight at home.
• Despite leading the league with 11.0 chances created and 14.2 shot attempts per game, Portland is second-to-last in MLS with 31 goals scored.
• Portland has scored 14 of their 31 league goals after the 75th minute.
• Portland is 12-0-2 when scoring first (second-best mark in MLS) but 0-10-1 when conceding first (worst mark in MLS).
• Fanendo Adi leads Portland with 12 MLS goals. No other Timbers player has more than three. Adi has four multi-goal games this season, including Portland’s 2-1 win at Columbus last Saturday.
• Since the start of 2013, no MLS player has suffered more fouls (262) than Darlington Nagbe. He is the league’s only player to have at least 50 dribbles completed and a passing accuracy of at least 85 percent this season.

Sporting KC

• 2015 MLS record: 12-9-9, 45 points (5th in West)
• 2015 MLS road record: 3-8-4 (18 GF, 24 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 1-2-2, 5 points (D-L-W-L-T)
• Sporting KC has notched shutouts in three previous trips to the Pacific Northwest this season, tying Seattle and Portland 0-0 and defeating Vancouver 1-0.
• Sporting KC led MLS with 24 total road wins from 2012-2014, but has just three victories in 15 away games this season.
• After recording 10 shutouts in their first 19 games across all competitions, Sporting KC has one shutout in their last 16.
• Benny Feilhaber has 10 league goals and is tied for second in MLS with 14 assists, making him one of two players (Sebastian Giovinco) to reach double digits in goals and assists this season.
• Dom Dwyer’s 33 regular season goals since the start of 2014 are the most over a two-year span in Sporting KC history.
• Krisztian Nemeth’s 21 combined goals (14) and assists (7) in all competitions are the most by a Kansas City newcomer in team history (excluding inaugural 1996 season).
• Feilhaber, Dwyer and Nemeth have combined for 30 of Sporting KC’s 45 MLS goals and 42 of the club’s 59 goals in all competitions.
• Sporting KC is 2-0-0 in MLS matches immediately following Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championships (W 1-0 vs. COL in 2004; W 2-1 vs. DC in 2012).

Milestones and miscellany

• Graham Zusi is one shy of his 200th career appearance for Sporting KC in all competitions. Zusi is tied for second in club history with 54 assists (all competitions), one shy of passing Chris Klein.
• Benny Feilhaber is one shy of his 100th career start for Sporting KC in all competitions.
• Jacob Peterson is one shy of his 50th career start for Sporting KC in MLS (including playoffs).

Team stats (2015 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (Opta stats as of Oct. 2, 2015)

Recent #PORvSKC meetings

• Regular season record vs. Portland: 3-2-2 (8 GF, 6 GA)
• Regular season road record at Portland: 2-1-1 (3 GF, 2 GA)