By The Numbers: Sporting KC vs. Real Salt Lake - April 11, 2015

Following two straight wins over Eastern Conference opponents, Sporting Kansas City will host Real Salt Lake at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Sporting Park. The match will be televised locally on KMCI 38 The Spot and across the Midwest on SKCTV with three hours of coverage beginning at 7 p.m. CT. In addition, listeners can catch the match on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

Real Salt Lake is winless in four all-time trips to Sporitng Park (0-2-2) with just one goal in 390 minutes of action, including the 2013 MLS Cup final in which Sporting KC won a 10-round penalty kick shootout 7-6 after a 1-1 stalemate through 120 minutes. However, Jeff Cassar's side has yet to concede a road goal this season, switching to a 4-3-3 formation at the start of the campaign.

The Western Conference foes enter the match tied for third place in the division with eight points apiece, thanks in part to their playmaking midfielders. Sporting KC’s Benny Feilhaber leads MLS with four assists, while Real Salt Lake’s 35-year-old veteran Javier Morales has two goals and three assists. We examine the matchup in our By The Numbers preview.

Head-to-head

• Real Salt Lake is winless in four trips to Sporting Park (0-2-2) with just one goal in 390 minutes of action. The team is 1-5-4 all-time in Kansas City (including postseason).
• Nick Rimando has an 8-9-6 regular season record against Sporting KC with five shutouts and a 1.07 goals against average.
• Forward Alvaro Saborio has two goals in seven MLS matches against Sporting KC, most recently scoring at Sporting Park in the 2013 MLS Cup final.
• On July 20, 2013, Ike Opara scored the latest regular season goal in Sporting KC history, heading home a 97th-minute corner kick to give his team a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium.
• Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake are two of five teams to make the MLS Cup Playoffs each of the last four seasons.

Sporting KC

• Ranks third in MLS with 68 shots and second with 55 chances created, 22 more than they have allowed.
• Leads MLS with four headed goals, 19 chances created from set plays and five assists from set plays.
• Leads MLS in interceptions (146), duels won (327) and tackles won (96).
• Benny Feilhaber leads MLS with four assists. Feilhaber and Matt Besler are the only two players in MLS with two assists from set plays.
• Ike Opara leads MLS with 28 interceptions and ranks second with 25 aerial duels won.
• Roger Espinoza is second in MLS with 43 duels won.

Real Salt Lake

• Has yet to concede a goal on the road, posting two clean shees and a 1-0-1 record.
• Ranks second in MLS with three headed goals and 1.50 goals scored per game.
• One of two MLS teams without a loss in 2015 (New York Red Bulls).
• Ranks last in MLS with just nine corner kicks through four matches.
• Javier Morales is second in MLS with three assists 13 chances created.
• Jamison Olave leads MLS with 33 headed clearances and is third with 44 total clearances.

Milestones and miscellany

• Sporting KC captain Matt Besler is one shy of 150 MLS regular season starts for Sporting KC. He would become the seventh player to start 150 regular season matches in club history.
• Dom Dwyer is one shy of 30 goals for his Sporting KC career in all competitions. He is currently ninth on the club's all-time scoring chart, one behind Scott Sealy and two behind Vitalis Takawira.
• Roger Espinoza is 39 minutes shy of 10,000 minutes played in his Sporting KC career. He would be the fifth player on Sporting KC's current roster to reach the milestone (Matt Besler, Chance Myers, Seth Sinovic, Graham Zusi).
• Sporting KC is three shy of 500 home goals scored in the MLS regular season all-time.

Team stats (2015 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis

Recent MLS meetings

• Sporting KC vs. Real Salt Lake: 8-5-5* (24 GF, 21 GA)
• Sporting KC at home in series: 5-1-4* (13 GF, 8 GA)
  * includes 2013 MLS Cup, the lone postseason meeting between the teams