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Sporting Kansas City (6-8-3, 21 points) looks to continue its upswing Saturday against Montreal Impact (5-4-5, 20 points) at Stade Saputo. The interconference clash will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT with three hours of live television coverage starting at 6 p.m. CT on 38 The Spot and SKCTV. Listeners can also follow the action live on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Peter Vermes' men have dominated the series in recent years, winning the last four meetings by a combined 11-2 scoreline, and no player has scored more goals against Montreal than Sporting KC's own Dom Dwyer. We take a statistical look at the matchup in our By The Numbers preview...
Head-to-head
- Sporting KC has won four straight regular season meetings against Montreal and owns a 6-3-1 record in the regular season series.
- Sporting KC has won two straight at Stade Saputo, cruising 3-0 in May 2014 and winning 2-1 in July 2014.
- Sporting KC is 3-1-1 all-time at Montreal, scoring eight goals and allowing three.
- Dom Dwyer's seven regular season goals against Montreal are second most all-time behind Thierry Henry (nine). All seven of Dwyer's goals have come in the last four meetings.
- Benny Feilhaber paced Sporting KC's 2-1 win the last time the clubs met in July 2015 at Children's Mercy Park. He had a goal and an assist to Dwyer, while Montreal received a goal from Ignacio Piatti.
- Sporting KC's 10 regular season road wins in Canada are tied with D.C. United for most in MLS, and the club's .619 winning percentage in Canada (10-5-6) is the best all-time among American MLS clubs.
- Sporting KC is 9-3-4 on Canadian soil since 2011.
Montreal Impact
- 2016 MLS record: 5-4-5, 20 points (4th in East)
- 2016 MLS home record: 3-1-2 (11 GF, 7 GA)
- Last five games: 1-1-3, 6 points (D-D-L-W-D)
- After starting 4-2-0, Montreal has just one win in its last eight games (1-2-5). At the same time, the Impact have been hard to beat with just one loss in seven (1-1-5).
- Montreal has salvaged eight points when conceding the first goal this season (2-3-2), third most in MLS behind LA an RSL (12 each).
- Montreal has committed five errors leading to goals this season (per Opta), tied for most in MLS.
- Ignacio Piatti is third in MLS with eight goals, while his 11 combined goals and assists are tied for fourth most in the league.
- Ignacio Piatti, Didier Drogba and Dominic Oduro have combined to score 17 of Montreal's 22 goals this season. One of the three has scored or assisted in each of Montreal's last nine goals.
- Didier Drogba has 16 goals and five assists in 20 regular season appearances since joining Montreal last August. Drogba has scored in four of his last five games.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2016 MLS record: 6-8-3, 21 points (5th in West)
- 2016 MLS road record: 2-4-2 (5 GF, 7 GA)
- Last five games: 2-2-1, 7 points (W-L-L-T-W)
- SKC has allowed three shots on goal over its last three regular season games. That's the fewest over a three-game span from any MLS team this season and the third-fewest over a three-game span in club history.
- SKC has earned two straight shutouts after failing to keep a clean sheet in 10 straight league games from April 13 to May 27.
- SKC has allowed just seven goals in eight road games this season, the fewest in MLS.
- SKC's 1.06 goals against average is second best in MLS.
- SKC has failed to score in three straight MLS road games and currently has a 333-minute scoreless streak away from home.
- SKC is 4-0-0 when scoring multiple goals and 0-5-0 when allowing multiple goals.
- Roger Espinoza leads MLS with 118 duels while ranking fourth with 38 tackles and eighth with 597 successful passes.
- Connor Hallisey has a 5-1-2 MLS record as a starter this season.
- Since May 21, Jimmy Medranda leads MLS with 21 tackles while ranking third in duels (27) and fourth in interceptions (15).
Milestones and Miscellany
- Dom Dwyer is one shy of entering a tie for second in Sporting KC history on the club's regular season and all-competitions scoring charts. His 42 regular season goals are one behind Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff, while his 51 goals in all competitions are one behind Arnaud.
- Benny Feilhaber is one shy of passing Davy Arnaud for fourth on the club's all-time chart with 41 assists in all competitions.
- Jacob Peterson is one shy of his 100th career substitute appearance in the MLS regular season. He would be the fifth MLS player to reach the century mark in regular season substitute appearances.
Team stats (2016 regular season)
MLS rank in parenthesis (source: WhoScored.com)
<strong>Category (per game)</strong> |
<strong>Sporting KC</strong> |
<strong>Montreal</strong> |
Goals scored |
0.94 (18th) |
1.56 (6th) |
Goals conceded |
1.06 (2nd) |
1.43 (11th) |
Shots |
13.9 (3rd) |
12.9 (12th) |
Shots on goal |
4.1 (17th) |
5.1 (2nd) |
Passing accuracy |
76.8% (8th) |
79.2% (3rd) |
Possession |
53.0% (3rd) |
48.4% (15th) |
Tackles |
20.9 (5th) |
17.2 (18th) |
Interceptions |
19.2 (9th) |
20.0 (6th) |
Fouls committed |
12.3 (14th) |
12.9 (11th) |
Shots faced |
9.5 (1st) |
12.9 (11th) |
Recent #MTLvSKC meetings
- Regular season record vs. Montreal: 6-3-1 (17 GF, 8 GA)
- Regular season road record at Montreal: 3-1-1 (8 GF, 3 GA)
<strong>Date</strong> |
<strong>Result</strong> |
<strong>Stadium</strong> |
<strong>Competition</strong> |
04/19/2014 |
W 4-0 |
Children's Mercy Park |
Dwyer bags brace; Zusi, Peterson and Olum assist |
05/10/2014 |
W 3-0 |
Stade Saputo |
Dwyer scores twice, Nagamura adds third |
07/12/2014 |
W 2-1 |
Stade Saputo |
Dwyer nets second in 89th minute to win the game |
07/18/2015 |
W 2-1 |
Children's Mercy Park |
Feilhaber and Dwyer score; Piatto pulls one back |
