Sporting Kansas City forward Johnny Russell has been voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 13 of the 2019 MLS season.
Russell, one of Sporting’s eight MLS All-Star nominees, scored all three goals in Sporting Kansas City’s 3-2 win over the Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday at Children’s Mercy Park, becoming the second player in team history to record multiple regular-season hat tricks for the club and the second player in MLS to do so since the start of the 2018 season.
WATCH: Johnny Russell postmatch with Katie Witham and Carter Augustine
The Scottish international opened the scoring on Sunday in the 29th minute with his League-leading third goal from outside the penalty area as he tucked a shot inside the far post from 20 yards out (watch).
Russell doubled Sporting Kansas City’s lead on the cusp of halftime with a 30-yard dribbling display as he weaved through the Sounders defense before beating Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei with a clinical finish (watch). The sensational solo effort is one of five finalists for AT&T MLS Goal of the Week with fan voting open at MLSsoccer.com through 2 a.m. CT on Thursday.
Russell completed his hat trick in the 68th minute with a curling first-time strike into the lower left corner of the net (watch). The game-winner marked his seventh goal of the year, tied for the team lead with Krisztian Nemeth and tied for fourth most in MLS behind Carlos Vela, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney.
Russell claimed Player of the Week honors in April 2018, the last time a Sporting player won MLS Player of the Week, following his hat trick in a 6-0 victory over Vancouver during a debut campaign in which he tallied 12 goals and 13 assists across all competitions for Sporting KC.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting.
Sporting KC All-Time MLS Players of the Week
2019: Johnny Russell (Week 13)
2018: Tim Melia (Week 6) & Johnny Russell (Week 8)
2015: Paulo Nagamura (Week 24), Benny Feilhaber (Week 29) & Tim Melia (Week 31)
2014: Graham Zusi (Week 4) & Benny Feilhaber (Week 19)
2013: Graham Zusi (Week 10)
2011: Omar Bravo (Week 1) & Graham Zusi (Week 23)
2009: Josh Wolff (Week 5, Week 9 & Week 25)
2008: Claudio Lopez (Week 30)
2007: Eddie Johnson (Week 2, Week 8 & Week 9) & Scott Sealy (Week 24 & Week 29)
2006: Scott Sealy (Week 12), Davy Arnaud (Week 24), Josh Wolff (Week 27) & Jose Burciaga, Jr. (Week 28)
2005: Josh Wolff (Week 7 & Week 20)
2004: Davy Arnaud (Week 14)
2003: Chris Klein (Week 2 & Week 27), Preki (Week 9 & Week 12) & Igor Simutenkov (Week 15)
2002: Chris Klein (Week 4) & Tony Meola (Week 21)
2001: Chris Klein (Week 2) & Chris Brown (Week 3)
2000: Peter Vermes (Week 10) & Tony Meola (Week 15)
1999: Chris Klein (Week 19)
1998: Vitalis Takawira (Week 10)
1997: Preki (Week 12 & Week 14)
1996: Preki (Week 8) & Mark Chung (Week 12)
