On April 20, 2018, Johnny Russell and Sporting Kansas City lit up Vancouver Whitecaps FC. And on Saturday night at 7 and 9 p.m. CT, Sporting fans can tune into FOX Sports Kansas City for a re-airing of the classic match.
In a scintillating Friday night performance at Children's Mercy Park, Manager Peter Vermes' men cruised to a 6-0 victory behind Russell's hat trick and additional goals from Jimmy Medranda, Cristian Lobato and Yohan Croizet.
By scoring a half-dozen goals without reply, Sporting tied its largest margin of victory in club history while delivering the Whitecaps their heaviest defeat ever. Vancouver never really stood a chance, as the visitors conceded three times within the first half-hour before midfielders Yordy Reyna and Efrain Juarez received straight red cards for violent conduct during a mass altercation at the end of the first half.
The memorable contest saw Sporting rewrite the record books in an offensive onslaught, tying single-game highs in shot attempts (34) and shots on target (14). Russell’s hat-trick was the eighth in Kansas City regular season history at the time — and just the second in 2010 — while captain Matt Besler moved into first place all-time on the club’s regular season charts in matches started (228) and minutes played (20,551).
