At Sporting KC’s media day, newly anointed captain mulls potential call-up to Scotland

When the Scotland national team qualified for its first major tournament since 1998 last November, dozens of locker-room celebration videos went viral.

International stars such as Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney featured front and center in the celebrations in the aftermath of Scotland’s qualification to the 2021 UEFA European Championship. Chants of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m On My Way’ reverberated across Scotland in response to the celebrations filmed by the players themselves.

But one celebrating player was unseen by the cameras.

Hidden away on a small iPhone screen, Sporting KC’s Johnny Russell was partying at his home in KC.

“Oli McBurnie and Kennie McLean Facetimed me — I’m really close to them in the squad,” the Scot said. “So I got to see them then and speak to them. It was a nice touch for them thinking about me, as well.”

Amid the celebration, there was a hint of longing for Russell.

After spending the first half of his career watching from the sidelines, Russell finally broke into the Scotland national team on a regular basis in 2018. He became an integral part of the squad heading into 2019 and was called up for eight of Scotland’s 2021 European Championship qualifying games.

He even scored his first international goal for Scotland in March 2019 in a 2-0 win over San Marino.

But just as Scotland’s Euro Championship campaign was finding its groove and Russell was becoming a mainstay, the pandemic hit.

Soccer worldwide was halted for months, but even when international competition returned, Russell couldn’t return with it because of travel restrictions at the height of the pandemic.

Unable to travel from the U.S. to Europe, he was therefore unable to help Scotland in the run-up to eventual qualification.

“I was involved in so much of the early build-up and qualifiers and then the last year I missed out with everything that went on,” Russell said Wednesday ahead of Sporting KC’s match against Orlando City FC on Friday. “That was hard for me to miss out on that special moment.”

As restrictions slowly ease and more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Russell is hopeful he can be back with the Scotland squad for its first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.

“I’m delighted for them, delighted for the country, but from a personal point of view, I want to be on that squad,” Russell said. “So it’s up to me to make sure I’m fit, I’m at the top of my game, and if I do that then I’m sure I’ll have a chance of being there.”

As if simply making the squad wouldn’t be enough for Russell, doing so would also give him a chance to play in one of the oldest sporting rivalries in the world.

Scotland and England have been drawn in Group D of the competition, signaling just the second time in 114 meetings that they will meet in a major tournament. The game will be played at London’s famed Wembley Stadium, setting the stage for a particularly fierce match right in Scotland’s backyard.

“Massive games. We’ve had a few of them over the years and everyone knows how big that game is,” Russell said. “Hopefully, for me, I can be involved in it, and hopefully, we can have fans back in it, as well.”

It won’t be easy for the Scot to leave SKC for a couple of weeks to play for his national team. The European Championships are scheduled to take place every four summers, when the European leagues are in their offseason. A call-up would mean Sporting loses its newly anointed captain for up to a month.

The 2021 Euros take place from June 11 to July 11, so Russell could miss at least four games if Scotland makes it deep into the tournament. Players traveling to Europe would also need to quarantine for two weeks ahead of joining the squad.

Including the time quarantining in Europe and any quarantine time following his return to KC, Russell could potentially miss anywhere from six to eight weeks. That could change, of course, if COVID travel restrictions are eased before June.

“It’s a major tournament that my country hasn’t been involved in since (Euros) 1996,” Russell said. “From a personal point of view, it would be massive for me to be there.”

“But I’m the team captain. My responsibility is to this team. Hopefully, they’ll change the rules and it’s not that long of a period.”

SKC gets $200K from Philly

Sporting KC has acquired $200,000 in MLS general allocation money, or GAM, for the 2021 season from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for a 2021 international roster slot. GAM can be used to, among other things, “buy down” a player’s “salary budget charge” as part of managing a club’s roster.

Sporting KC now holds seven international roster slots for the 2021 season, six of which are occupied by Andreu Fontas, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, Gadi Kinda, Luis Martins, Alan Pulido and Remi Walter.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 2:27 PM with the headline "At Sporting KC’s media day, newly anointed captain mulls potential call-up to Scotland."