Johnny Russell has been inevitable for Sporting Kansas City since arriving from Derby County back in 2018. The Scotsman earns the #100 spot, the first name off the list in this 100-day series. Russell has been a consistent force on the wing for SKC, from the moment he joined, to Matchday 28 of the 2023 season (in which he made MLS Team of the Matchday). The Glasgow-born attacker wasted no time getting settled, as he was named the club's Offensive Player of the Year in 2018. Russell contributed 10 goals and 10 assists to the Western Conference leaders, who finished with a record of 18-8-8. He became the fourth player in SKC history to hit both double digit goals and assists in the same season. In the playoffs, he started all four games prior to their elimination, a 3-2 aggregate loss at the hands of the Portland Timbers.
Fresh off a fabulous debut season, Russell almost matched his numbers of the previous year in 2019. Once again, he was named Offensive Player of the Year for Sporting. One highlight of his season was a breathtaking free kick to equalize Colorado at the death on March 17th. Perhaps it would have been the highlight of the season for Johnny Russell, had he not scored a hat trick of magical left footed curlers against Seattle on May 26th. Russell became the second Kansas City player to score two regular season hat tricks. His first came the year prior, in a 6-0 thrashing of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Despite another solid showing from Russell in 2019, SKC found themselves in the penultimate spot in the West, seemingly miles away from a playoff position.
Even in a shortened 2020 campaign, the Scottish winger made his presence known. He won team MVP with six goals and assists each. It was a bounce-back year for Sporting Kansas City, finding themselves back at the top of the Western Conference. The first round of the playoffs was a nervy one, as they drew San Jose 3-3 thanks to Chris Wondolowski heroics. The ensuing penalty kick shootout was much less nervy, as Russell and two teammates netted their pens, while all three Earthquakes shooters missed. It would all come crashing down less than two weeks later, losing 3-0 at home to Kevin Molino's Minnesota United.
Johnny Russell took his game to a whole new level in 2021, which was by far his best season in MLS. He scored 15 goals and assisted 8 for the third place team in the Western Conference. He won Offensive Player of the Year for the third time. Team MVP went to another breakout star of the season in Daniel Salloi. During this season, Russell became the highest-scoring Scottish MLS player of all time. In an absurd display towards the end of the season, Johnny Russell scored in eight consecutive games stretching from September 11th to October 27th of 2021. The playoffs got the best of SKC once again, it was another disappointing home loss to Real Salt Lake in the second round. Despite Russell's penalty goal to take the lead at 24', RSL struck back late. The playoffs have not treated Russell well at Children's Mercy Park during his time in KC.
The following season marked his clear least productive season, scoring 8 goals and assisting just one. He still won team MVP honors during an uncharacteristically abysmal season for the club. Only Houston and San Jose performed worse in their conference, they earned a total of 40 points. Russell played the most minutes he ever had in a season at 2,707, and was unable to produce his usual numbers, a telling sign of the state of SKC's season. The bright spot of the season was a run to the US Open Cup semi-finals, which could not have ended any worse. SKC destroyed Union Omaha 6-0 to advance to the semis against Sacramento Republic, a match many considered to be a free run to the final. Boy, was that sentiment wrong. Sporting managed 31 shots, just 8 on target, and failed to score. A 0-0 draw sent the match to penalties, where Sacramento won 4-3 to advance to the final.
Here in 2023, things have improved a bit for SKC. The 2023 season started just as it ended, but it hasn't looked half bad since May. Russell currently has 4 goals and 3 assists in 18 matches, counting the goal and assist last Saturday against San Jose. Alan Pulido has carried the goal scoring load this season with his 10 goals, Russell has seemingly taken a small step back so far. But, if there's one thing we know about Johnny Russell, the man can catch serious fire quickly. The aforementioned goal against the Quakes was something special. He will need to get it going if SKC plans on pushing into the wildcard spots of this year's new playoff format and get another attempt at the elusive MLS Cup Playoffs. The iconic Sporting Kansas City skipper kicks us off at #100 in the ranking of the top 100 MLS players of the last 10 years.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2023 | SKC | 1,173* | 4 | 3 |
2022 | SKC | 2,707 | 8 | 1 |
2021 | SKC | 2,221 | 15 | 8 |
2020 | SKC | 1,529 | 6 | 4 |
2019 | SKC | 2,115 | 9 | 9 |
2018 | SKC | 2,183 | 10 | 10 |
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