Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell's sublime free kick from a 1-1 home draw against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday is one of four nominees for AT&T MLS Goal of the Week.
The world-class strike is up against goals from LAFC's Brian Rodriguez, Columbus Crew SC's Lucas Zelarayan and FC Cincinnati's Ronald Matarrita. Fans can cast their vote in the Twitter poll below between now and Wednesday.
Russell now has four goals from direct free kicks as a Sporting player. All of which have come over the last three seasons, ranking second in MLS during that time behind only Columbus Crew ace Lucas Zelarayan.Â
MOST GOALS FROM DIRECT FREE KICKS SINCE 2019
(MLS REGULAR SEASON AND PLAYOFFS)
- 6 goals | Lucas Zelarayan | Columbus Crew SC
- 4 goals | Johnny Russell | Sporting Kansas City
- 3 goals | Eduard Atuesta | LAFC
- 2 goals | nine players tied
Russell’s impressive strike also moved him into a tie for ninth on Sporting’s all-time regular season goals chart. He and teammate Graham Zusi have bagged 29 goals apiece as the only active Kansas City players on the list below.
MOST GOALS IN SPORTING KC HISTORY
(MLS REGULAR SEASON)
- 71 goals | Preki | 218 appearances
- 57 goals | Dom Dwyer | 128 appearances
- 43 goals | Josh Wolff | 144 appearances
- 43 goals | Davy Arnaud | 240 appearances
- 39 goals | Chris Klein | 200 appearances
- 38 goals | Kei Kamara | 113 appearances
- 31 goals | Mo Johnston | 149 appearances
- 31 goals | Benny Feilhaber | 167 appearances
- 29 goals | Johnny Russell | 98 appearances
- 29 goals | Graham Zusi | 309 appearances
Russell and Sporting will now prepare for another marquee battle in the Western Conference as Manager Peter Vermes’ side visits LAFC (6-9-6, 24 points) on Friday night at Banc of California Stadium. The contest will kick off at 9 p.m. CT with live coverage on Bally Sports Kansas City Plus, Bally Sports Midwest Plus, UniMas and TUDN as well as ESPN 94.5 FM and La Grande 1340 AM.
