Two Sporting Kansas City players were honored on Thursday for their performances in the team's 1-1 road result at Minnesota United FC as Major League Soccer announced the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 20.
Centerback Nicolas Isimat-Mirin is one of three defenders - and the only defensive player from the Western Conference - named to the Team of the Week, while club captain Johnny Russell was chosen to the Team of the Week bench after coming off the bench for Sporting KC to score the game-tying goal against the Loons.
Russell, who now has three goals and eight assists in 11 regular season appearances against Minnesota, leads the team with eight goals in all competitions this season and ranks third in club history with 46 regular season goals since arriving to Kansas City in 2018. Over the past five seasons, Russell's 77 combined goals (46) and assists (31) in the regular season are third most in MLS behind Carlos Vela and Josef Martinez.
Isimat-Mirin led all Sporting KC players on Wednesday with an MLS career-high 10 duels won to stifle a red hot Minnesota attack that had scored three goals in three straight games. The Frenchman became the first Western Conference player in more than a year to record three interceptions, five clearances and 10 duels won in a regular season road match.
Team of the Week (3-4-3): Pedro Gallese (ORL); Kai Wagner (PHI), Maxime Chanot (NYC), Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (SKC); Randall Leal (NSH), Jamiro Monteiro (SJ), Ryan Gauld (VAN), Diego Fagundez (ATX); Ronaldo Cisneros (ATL), Cucho Hernandez (CLB), Jhon Duran (CHI)
Bench: JT Marcinkowski (SJ), Ruben Gabrielsen (ATX), Cristian Dajome (VAN), Johnny Russell (SKC), Hany Mukhtar (NSH), Brenner (CIN), Dejan Joveljic (LA)
Coach: Gonzalo Pineda (ATL)
