By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #VANvSKC | Feb. 29, 2020

"By The Numbers" is a season-long series sponsored by The Kansas Department of Transportation that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match.

13,633  Crashes in Kansas caused by driver distraction from 2013-2018.

With a long and restful offseason in the rearview mirror, Sporting Kansas City will open the 2020 MLS regular season on Saturday with a visit to Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BC Place. The Western Conference battle will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest Plus, FOX Sports GO, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.

This long-awaited Week 1 opener pits a pair of teams hoping to bounce back from 2019 campaigns that fell short of expectations. Led by Manager Peter Vermes, Sporting won four major championships last decade as a perennial title contender before finishing 11th in the West five months ago. Vancouver was rooted in the 12th-place basement under first-year head coach Marc Dos Santos, but a strong crop of offseason acquisitions has the Whitecaps believing better days are ahead.

Without further ado, let's take a statistical look at the matchup in our first 2020 edition of By The Numbers, presented by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Head-to-Head

• Sporting is 9-3-4 against Vancouver in the MLS regular season, including a 4-2-2 mark at BC Place.
• Sporting has earned a three-goal victory in each of its last two visits to BC Place, prevailing 3-0 in July 2019 and 4-1 in October 2018.
• Sporting has outscored Vancouver 14-2 across the last four MLS meetings, posting three wins and a draw.
• Midfielder Felipe Gutierrez and forward Gerso Fernandes scored in Sporting’s 3-0 win at Vancouver last summer, while forward Daniel Salloi bagged a brace in the 4-1 defeat of Vancouver in 2018.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

• 2019 MLS record: 8-16-10 (34 points, 12th in Western Conference)
• 2019 MLS home record: 5-7-5 (16 GF, 23 GA)
• Vancouver finished last in the Western Conference last year with 34 points, their fewest points in a season since their inaugural 2011 campaign (28 points).
• Vancouver was the only Western Conference team to finish with a losing home record in 2019, going 5-7-5 at BC Place.
• Vancouver went 3-2-1 during its 2020 preseason, finishing with consecutive wins over the New England Revolution and Minnesota United FC.
• Vancouver finished last in MLS in 2019 with 7.5 chances created per game.
• The Whitecaps are led by second-year head coach Marc Dos Santos, who previously led Sporting Kansas City II to a USL Championship Western Conference title in 2016.
• Veteran forward Fredy Montero is Vancouver’s top returning scorer, having bagged eight goals in all competitions last year. Returning midfielder Yordy Reyna placed second with seven goals.
• Newly acquired Canadian striker Lucas Cavallini scored in each of Vancouver’s final four preseason matches.
• In addition to signing Cavallini for a club-record transfer fee, Vancouver acquired three other players using Targeted Allocation Money: Colombian forward Cristian Dajome, Ghanaian midfielder Leonard Owusu and Argentine defender Erik Godoy.

Sporting Kansas City

• 2019 MLS record: 10-16-8, 38 points (11th in Western Conference)
• 2019 MLS away record: 3-10-4 (19 GF, 37 GA)
• Sporting’s 30 regular season wins against Canadian clubs (30-11-15) are the most in MLS all-time.
• Sporting’s 12 regular season wins on Canadian soil (12-7-9) are the second-most in MLS behind D.C. United’s 13.
• Sporting's 13 season-opening wins are tied with the LA Galaxy for the most all-time in MLS.
• Sporting advanced to the MLS Cup Playoffs in eight straight seasons from 2011-2018, the fourth-longest streak in league history, before falling short of the postseason last year.
• Sporting conceded 67 regular season goals in 2019, the most in club history and the second-most in MLS last year.
• Newly acquired striker Alan Pulido led Liga MX during the 2019 Apertura season with 12 goals for Chivas de Guadalajara.
• Forward Johnny Russell is the second player in team history to record nine goals and nine assists in consecutive regular seasons.
• Tim Melia’s 10 penalty kick saves since the start of 2016 are five more than any other goalkeeper in the MLS regular season.
• Russell, Salloi and Gianluca Busio were tied for the team lead with two preseason goals this winter in Arizona.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Goalkeeper Tim Melia is one shy of his 46th shutout for Sporting in the MLS regular season, which would pass Jimmy Nielsen for the most in club history.
• Midfielder Ilie Sanchez is one shy of his 100th appearance for Sporting in the MLS regular season.
• Saturday will mark the first time that either team has opened its regular season in the month of February or played a competitive match on Leap Day.
• Sporting has never before opened its MLS regular season campaign in Canada.

Recent #VANvSKC meetings

• Regular season record vs. Vancouver: 9-3-4 (33 GF, 18 GA)
• Regular season away record at Vancouver: 4-2-2 (15 GF, 10 GA)

Team Stats (2019 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (source: Opta)