By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals: Sporting KC at Portland Timbers | May 10, 2025

“By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals” is a season-long series that gives a statistical preview of every Sporting match. To visit the series archive, click here.

Following a 1-0 win over the reigning MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting Kansas City will venture west this weekend to face the Portland Timbers on Saturday in the first of three road matches in an eight-day span. Kickoff at Providence Park is slated for 9:30 p.m. CT with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Sports Radio 810 WHB and 103.7 FM.

Sporting has won three of five matches since the start of April, finding a rhythm under interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin and climbing within five points of playoff positioning in the Western Conference. Portland, meanwhile, has ascended to third place in the West behind a potent attack led by dangermen Antony and David Da Costa.

As anticipation builds toward Saturday, we take a statistical look at the fixture in our newest edition of By The Numbers presented by Compass Minerals.

Head-to-Head

• Sporting and Portland last met on April 13 at Children’s Mercy Park. The Timbers earned a 4-2 victory behind Kevin Kelsy’s brace, a David Ayala goal and an own goal, while Sporting struck through Shapi Suleymanov and Dejan Joveljic.
• Portland’s win in Kansas City on April 13 was the club’s first regular season victory at Children’s Mercy Park since April 27, 2013.
• The all-time regular season series between the clubs is dead even through 25 meetings. Both teams have nine wins and seven draws.
• Sporting has a 4-7-2 record in 13 regular season road matches at Providence Park. Kansas City last won at the stadium by a 1-0 scoreline on April 15, 2017.
• Sporting has lost five straight regular season road matches at Providence Park since 2019. Kansas City posted a 4-2-2 regular season away record at Portland from 2011-2018 before the current losing streak.
• Portland is 7-3-3 in the last 13 meetings between the clubs across all competitions.
• Portland has won each of the last two meetings dating back to May 25, 2024. Neither team has enjoyed a winning streak of longer than two matches in the head-to-head series (including playoffs).
• Sporting forward Daniel Salloi has seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists) in 14 regular season appearances against Portland.
• Sporting midfielder Memo Rodriguez has four goal contributions (one goal, three assists) in 13 regular season appearances against Portland.
• Sporting midfielder Erik Thommy has two goals in six regular season appearances against Portland.
• Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic has two goals in six regular season appearances against Portland.
• Portland forward Felipe Mora has four goal contributions (three goals, one assist) in four regular season appearances against Sporting.

Portland Timbers

• 2025 MLS record: 5-3-3, 18 points (3rd in West | 21 GF, 19 GA)
• 2025 MLS home record: 2-1-2 (9 GF, 9 GA)
• Last Five MLS Matches: 2-1-2, 8 points (T-W-T-W-L)
• With 1.91 goals per game on 1.38 expected goals per game, Portland is outperforming its expected goal total by 0.53, the highest clip in MLS.
• Portland is tied for fourth in MLS with 1.91 goals per game. The Timbers have scored at least three goals in five of their last six games since March 22, including 4-2 road wins over Sporting (April 13) and the LA Galaxy (April 27).
• Portland is tied for fourth in MLS in goal scoring despite ranking 26th in shot attempts per game (10.7). The Timbers rank second in MLS in shooting accuracy at 46.6%.
• Portland ranks 26th in MLS in both shots (10.7) and shots faced (15.0) per game.
• Portland has conceded 1.73 goals per match, fourth most in the Western Conference. The Timbers have allowed multiple goals in four consecutive matches since April 13.
• Portland’s last four matches since April 13 have all produced at least five total goals.
• Portland is 5-0-2 when scoring the first goal and 0-3-0 when conceding the first goal this season.
• Portland is 3-0-1 when leading at halftime and 0-3-0 when trailing at halftime this season.
• Four of Portland’s five wins and two of its three losses have come by multiple goals.
• Portland ranks 26th in MLS in total distance covered per game (112.1km) but second in distance covered from sprints per game (2.57km).
• Winger Antony is tied for second in MLS with 10 total goal contributions (four goals and six assists). He also ranks second in goal-creating actions (eight), seventh in fouls committed (20) and eighth in successful take-ons (21).
• Antony is tied for second in MLS with six assists. He has recorded an assist in four consecutive games, the longest streak of any MLS player this season.
• Attacking midfielder David Da Costa has two goals and five assists in his debut MLS season. He leads the league in successful through balls (eight) while ranking second in progressive carries (61), sixth in goal-creating actions (seven), eighth in successful take-ons (21) and 10th in dribbles into the penalty area (18).
• Forward Felipe Mora leads Portland with five goals this season. Mora had a career-high 14 goals during the 2024 regular season.
• Defender Finn Surman leads MLS with 90 clearances. He is one of three Portland players to start all 11 regular season matches in 2025 alongside Antony and midfielder David Ayala.
• Defender Jimer Fory leads MLS with six yellow cards while ranking sixth with 21 blocks.
• Midfielder Diego Chara has made 408 regular season appearances for Portland since the club’s debut MLS season in 2011. His 408 appearances for Portland are the most by a single player for one club in MLS history.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Forward Daniel Salloi is one shy of 100 career goal contributions in MLS competitions (56 goals and 43 assists in the regular season and playoffs combined).
• Defender Khiry Shelton is one shy of his 200th career regular season appearance.
• Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is one shy of his 100th professional club appearance, having played 55 matches for Sporting and 44 matches for Sporting KC II. Pulskamp is also 13 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
• Defender Robert Voloder is 10 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
• Defender Logan Ndenbe is 69 minutes shy of 5,000 minutes played for Sporting in all competitions.
• Forward Stephen Afrifa is one shy of his 50th professional club appearance, having played 37 matches for Sporting and 12 matches for Sporting KC II.