Sporting Kansas City returns to Sporting Park on Saturday evening (7:30 p.m. CT, KMCI-TV & SKCTV) as they will host Real Salt Lake in a MLS Cup rematch. The two teams met last December for MLS Cup, a match in which Sporting KC won in a penatly kick shootout. The overall head-to-head series has been in Sporting KC's favor with eight victories in 16 regular season meetings including two shutouts at Sporting Park. Both teams are second place in their respective conferences and coming off victories last weekend.
Below is a closer look at the two teams in this match's By The Numbers preview.
A few notable stats
- Sporting KC are second in MLS with 41 chances created
- Kyle Beckerman leads MLS with 306 passes (79.41% accuracy)
- Sporting KC leads MLS with 257 duels won and 91 aerial duels won
- Nick Rimando leads MLS with 19 saves and eight from inside the 18 yard box
- Sporting KC has conceded one goal or less (two shutouts) in their last six MLS matches against Real Salt Lake
Head To Head (MLS regular season)
Overall: 8-5-3
- Home Matches: 5-1-2 (12 goals scored, 7 goals conceded)
- Away Matches: 3-4-1 (11 goals scored, 13 goals conceded)
Team Leaders (MLS regular season)
<u>Sporting KC</u> |
<u>Stat</u> |
<u>Real Salt Lake</u> |
Dom Dwyer 2 |
<strong>GOALS</strong> |
Alvaro Saborio 3 |
Zusi/Zizzo 2 |
<strong>ASSISTS</strong> |
Plata/Beckerman 2 |
Dom Dwyer 14 |
<strong>SHOTS</strong> |
Alvaro Saborio 14 |
Benny Feilhaber 11 |
<strong>FOULS</strong> |
Alvaro Saborio 12 |
Eric Kronberg 8 |
<strong>SAVES</strong> |
Nick Rimando 19 |
Eric Kronberg 1.00 |
<strong>GAA</strong> |
Nick Rimando 1.00 |
Team Stats (MLS regular season)
<u>Sporting KC</u> |
<u>Real Salt Lake</u> |
|
Shots (on goal) |
58 (19) |
48 (21) |
Fouls Committed (Suffered) |
73 (69) |
68 (53) |
Duels Success (Avg) |
51.20% |
48.12% |
Passes (Avg) |
407 |
424 |
Passing Accuracy (Avg) |
79.36% |
79.39% |
Possession (Avg) |
57.20% |
53.62% |
Recent regular season meetings
<u>Date</u> |
<u>Score</u> |
<u>Result</u> |
<u>Location</u> |
08/03/2011 |
2-0 |
W |
Sporting Park |
09/17/2011 |
1-0 |
L |
Rio Tinto Stadium |
04/14/2012 |
1-0 |
W |
Sporting Park |
07/20/2013 |
2-1 |
W |
Rio Tinto Stadium |
