"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.
Sporting Kansas City will travel to the Pacific Northwest to face Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday night at Lumen Field. Kickoff is slated for 8:15 p.m. CT with live coverage on FS1, FOX Deportes, MLS Season Pass via Apple TV and Sports Radio 810 WHB.
Navigating a difficult stretch in the late-summer schedule, Sporting will look to bounce back into the win column against an upstart Seattle side that reached the Leagues Cup 2025 semifinals with a midweek victory over Puebla on home turf.
With Sunday's contest fast approaching, 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 Seattle last met on July 12 at Children’s Mercy Park. Jordan Morris, Alber Rusnak and Jesus Ferreira scored goals to give the Sounders a 3-0 halftime lead before Sporting responded with second-half penalties from Dejan Joveljic and Santi Munoz.
- Sporting and Seattle have met 30 times in the MLS regular season since the Sounders entered MLS in 2009. Seattle holds a narrow advantage with a 14-12-4 record.
- Sporting has won four of its last six away matches at Seattle since 2019, scoring multiple goals in each of those four victories.
- The teams split the 2024 head-to-head series with one win each. Sporting won 2-1 at Children’s Mercy Park with goals from Johnny Russell and Alenis Vargas, both of whom have since left the club. Seattle prevailed 2-0 last September at Lumen Field with first-half goals from Jackson Ragen and Paul Rothrock.
- Sporting has won seven of the last 12 meetings between the clubs since 2019.
- The away team in the series has won seven of the last 12 meetings since 2019.
- Sporting went 1-7-1 in its first nine MLS meetings with Seattle from 2009-2014. Since then, Sporting has an 11-7-3 record in the regular season series.
- Sporting and Seattle have gone 13 straight meetings without a draw. The most recent tie between the clubs was a 2-2 stalemate in April 2018 at Children’s Mercy Park.
- Since the Sounders entered MLS in 2009, Sporting and Seattle have met three times outside of the MLS regular season. Sporting beat Seattle in the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at Children’s Mercy Park, while the Sounders earned home wins over Kansas City in the 2009 Open Cup quarterfinals and in the Western Conference knockout round of the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs.
- Sporting forward Dejan Joveljic scored the game-winning goal to lead LA Galaxy to a 1-0 victory over Seattle in the 2024 Western Conference Final last November. Joveljic has three goals in seven MLS appearances against Seattle, including playoffs.
- Seattle forward Jesus Ferreira has nine goal contributions (seven goals and two assists) in 13 regular season appearances against Sporting.
- Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan has six goal contributions (three goals and three assists) in 18 regular season appearances against Sporting.
- Seattle midfielder Albert Rusnak has six goal contributions (one goal and five assists) in 16 regular season appearances against Sporting.
- Seattle forward Danny Musovski has three goal contributions (two goals and one assist) in 252 regular season minutes played against Sporting.
- Seattle winger Paul Rothrock has one goal and one assist across the last two meetings between the clubs.
- Sporting forward Mason Toye has two goals in seven regular season appearances against Seattle, each as a member of CF Montreal. Toye scored twice in Montreal’s 2-1 road win over Seattle on June 29, 2022.
Sporting Kansas City
- 2025 MLS record: 6-14-6, 24 points (13th in West | 37 GF, 50 GA)
- 2025 MLS away record: 3-8-2 (17 GF, 24 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 0-4-1, 1 point (L-T-L-L-L)
- Sporting in the midst of playing nine straight games against teams currently above the playoff line, facing Colorado and Seattle twice in addition to NYCFC, Vancouver, San Diego, Orlando and Austin between July 4 and Sept. 7.
- In each of the last two matches, nine of Sporting’s 11 starters have been age 26 or younger.
- Sporting has scored 49% of its goals after the 60th minute this season (18 of 37). Sporting’s 18 goals after the 60th minute are fifth most in MLS.
- Sporting has earned five results in the team’s last 10 away matches since the start of April after earning just two results in 18 away matches (1-16-1 record) from April 2024 to March 2025.
- Sporting is one of three MLS teams with a perfect record when leading at halftime this season alongside San Diego and Toronto.
- Sporting has an average shooting distance of 16.8 yards, the fifth shortest in MLS.
- Sporting ranks eighth in MLS with 23.7 touches in the opponent’s box per game.
- Sporting has received eight goals from substitutes this season, fourth most in MLS.
- Sporting has won six penalty kicks this season after winning three penalties during the entire 2024 regular season. Sporting’s five penalty kick goals this season are fifth most in MLS.
- Sporting has utilized 27 different starting lineups in the club’s first 28 matches of the 2025 season in all competitions.
- Forward Dejan Joveljic is tied for seventh in MLS with a team-leading 14 goals this season, including a goal in Sporting’s 3-1 loss at Orlando last weekend.
- Joveljic recorded a goal contribution in eight consecutive MLS appearances from May 14 to July 12, the third longest streak of any MLS player this season and tied for the second longest streak in club history.
- Joveljic has 35 MLS goals (including playoffs) since the start of 2024, second most in the league behind Lionel Messi.
- Joveljic’s 14 goals are the second most by a Kansas City newcomer in a single regular season. Preki had 18 goals in the club’s inaugural 1996 campaign.
- Forward Mason Toye assisted Joveljic’s goal against Orlando. He tabbed his first assist of the season in his first MLS start of the campaign, having previously made 12 substitute appearances in 2025.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp ranks second in MLS with 90 saves.
- Pulskamp has two assists during the 2025 regular season. He is the first goalkeeper in club history with multiple assists in a single MLS campaign and joins Tony Meola as the only goalkeepers with multiple regular season assists for Kansas City all-time.
- Pulskamp is the only Sporting player to start in all 26 MLS matches and in all 28 matches this season across all competitions.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has recorded six goals and four assists this season, hitting double-digit goal contributions for the fourth time in the last five MLS seasons since 2021.
- Salloi has 10 goal contributions this season, third most on the team behind Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia, after totaling seven goal contributions during the 2024 MLS campaign (two goals and five assists).
- Salloi ranks second on the team in both goals (six) and assists (four).
- Forward Santi Munoz has three goals and one assist this season, all of which have come as a second-half substitute.
- Forward Shapi Suleymanov is tied for second on the team with four assists. He ranks third in MLS in dribbles into the penalty area (44) and fifth in fouls suffered (50).
- At 19 years and 321 days (as of Aug. 24), midfielder Jacob Bartlett is the youngest player to start at least 20 MLS matches this season.
- Defender Jansen Miller has played the most regular season minutes (2,016) of any 2025 MLS SuperDraft selection this year. He has started in each of Sporting’s last 22 games since March 22.
- Defender Ian James earned his first career start for Sporting in a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake on June 28. At 17 years and 22 days, he became the youngest defender to start an MLS match and the second youngest player to start an MLS match in club history.
- Midfielder Erik Thommy has three goal contributions (two goals, one assist) in his last two appearances and has eight goal contributions (four goals, four assists) for the season, fourth most on the team behind Dejan Joveljic (16), Manu Garcia (11) and Daniel Salloi (10).
- With goals on June 28 and July 4, Thommy has scored goals in back-to-back MLS matches for the second time in his career, having first done so in April 2024. He has missed each of Sporting’s last five matches with a hip injury.
Seattle Sounders FC
- 2025 MLS record: 11-7-8, 41 points (4th in West | 43 GF, 36 GA)
- 2025 MLS home record: 6-4-3 (28 GF, 20 GA)
- Last Five MLS Matches: 2-1-2, 8 points (T-W-T-W-L)
- Seattle went 4-0-3 during an unbeaten seven-game stretch in MLS from June 28 to Aug. 10—scoring multiple goals six times during that stretch—before suffering a 1-0 loss at Minnesota last weekend.
- Seattle advanced to the Leagues Cup 2025 semifinals on Wednesday, defeating LIGA MX side Puebla 4-3 on penalties following a 0-0 draw at Lumen Field. Seattle, which won all three Leagues Cup group stage matches by a combined 11-2 scoreline, will visit the LA Galaxy in the tournament semifinals this Wednesday, Aug. 27.
- Seattle has played 37 games across four different competitions this year: 26 in the MLS regular season, four in Leagues Cup, four in the Concacaf Champions Cup and three in the FIFA Club World Cup.
- Seattle has an 11-1-6 home record in all competitions excluding the FIFA Club World Cup this season. The Sounders lost all three Club World Cup matches on home turf in June.
- Seattle has scored 27 goals in 12 MLS home matches, a clip of 2.25 per game.
- Seattle has scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of MLS matches this season, tied for the fewest in the league.
- Seattle is 9-0-4 when scoring first and 2-7-3 when conceding first during the 2025 MLS campaign. Across all competitions, Seattle is 12-0-4 when scoring first and 3-11-3 when conceding first.
- Seattle is 5-0-2 when leading at halftime and 0-5-2 when trailing at halftime during the 2025 MLS campaign. Across all competitions, Seattle is 6-0-2 when up at halftime and 1-9-2 when down at halftime.
- Forward Danny Musovski and midfielder Albert Rusnak are tied for the team lead with 10 MLS goals this season.
- Musovski’s 10 goals this season are an MLS career high, eclipsing the five goals he scored in 2020 and 2023.
- Rusnak is also second on the team with seven assists. Rusnak ranks ninth in MLS with a team-leading 68 key passes, 39 more than any other Seattle player.
- Midfielder Cristian Roldan leads the team with eight assists. Roldan ranks second in MLS in successful passes into the final third (227), second in tackles (72), third in progressive passes (205), fifth in blocks (42), fifth in touches (2,034) and eighth in interceptions (37).
- Winger Paul Rothrock ranks seventh in progressive passes received (203) and ninth in dribbles into the penalty area (39).
Milestones and Miscellany
- Forward Dejan Joveljic is one shy of 100 goals scored in his professional club career.
- Defender Andrew Brody is one shy of his 100th career start in the MLS regular season.
- Midfielder Memo Rodriguez is one shy of his 50th appearance for Sporting in all competitions.
- Midfielder Manu Garcia is one shy of 50 assists in his professional club career.
- Goalkeeper John Pulskamp is tied for sixth in club history with 15 regular season wins, one shy of passing Mike Ammann on the all-time charts.
- Forward Daniel Salloi has scored 66 career goals for Sporting in all competitions, fourth most in club history and one shy of tying both Dom Dwyer and Johnny Russell for second on the all-time chart.
