Johnny Russell scores twice as Sporting Kansas City beats the Houston Dynamo in KCK

Whenever the name Preki comes up in conversation, it usually means good things.

That was certainly the case Sunday in Sporting Kansas City’s 4-2 win over the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park, when Johnny Russell scored a penalty in the 16th minute.

Russell tied a Sporting KC record by scoring in five consecutive games, matching a mark established by club legend Preki in 1996.

“Everyone knows how much of a legend Preki is at this club,” Russell said. “So to have your name up there with him in any stat is obviously something that you need to be proud of, especially the goals and assists he got here.”

A second goal from Russell, plus one each by Daniel Salloi and Gadi Kinda, rounded out the total for Sporting KC. Houston’s Fafa Picault and Darwin Quintero scored for the visitors.

Russell opened the scoring just after the quarter-hour mark after he was bundled down in the box by Sam Junqua to win a penalty. The Scotsman fired the spot-kick into the bottom right corner, beating Houston goalkeeper Michael Nelson with pure speed and power.

Russell’s goals were his ninth and 10th of the season and sixth in five games, with three coming from the penalty spot.

Russell’s flurry of goals has seen him return to the type of return that Sporting KC fans are accustomed to after a slow start to the season. The winger was returning from an injury at the start of the season and it wasn’t until his 12th game of 2021 that he finally found the back of the net.

“I wasn’t really contributing in that sort of way, which is what my job is, so when you’re not doing that then you obviously feel that you’re not doing enough for the team,” Russell said. “It was never a case of getting my head down. I’ve shown throughout my career that when I start scoring then they usually come in bunches.”

Yet despite a strong start that saw KC take a 2-0 lead, the home side certainly didn’t make the game look easy at times. In fact, over the course of the game, the Dynamo had three goals disallowed for offsides calls.

A straightforward first half saw Kansas City enter the halftime break with a 2-0 lead, holding the Dynamo to just a single shot that flew far wide of the right-hand post.

KC’s command vanished at the start of the second half. Five minutes in, Houston’s Picault managed to get goal-side of Graham Zusi and poke home a cross.

The Dynamo seemed to have tied the game five minutes later, when Picault headed home another cross that left Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia flat-footed.

But the Houston winger’s celebration was cut short by the linesman’s flag; a double-check by the Virtual Assistant Referee confirmed Picault was off.

“I think we were really good in the first half and had control of the game and I think we just took our foot off the gas pedal and made some bad decisions at times,” Sporting coach Peter Vermes said.

An equalizer still seemed imminent, but a timely goal from Kinda took the wind out of Houston’s sails. The Israeli international, who was to leave for international duty following the game, played a slick one-two with Salloi before rounding Houston’s Nelson and firing into an empty net.

The goal was Kinda’s fifth of the season. Salloi picked up his seventh assist on the strike.

It was a much-needed goal for Kinda. Vermes had recently prodded him about his production — scoring and creating chances for others to do the same. Salloi had also said Kinda needs to start finishing some of the chances Salloi’s creating.

“He needs to get assists, he needs to get goals, he needs to set things up on the field,” Vermes said, “and he did that today.”

Salloi’s goal in the first half was his 16th as he continues his chase for the Major League Soccer Golden Boot. His goal Sunday also tied a Sporting KC record for most non-penalty goals in a season, which Salloi now shares with Dom Dwyer, set in 2016.

“You don’t get many chances or many years when you get to challenge these records so that’s why I want to keep pushing,” Salloi said. “There’s a couple of games left, so get everything out and break the records you can.”

The Dynamo found the back of the net two more times after Kinda’s goal, but only one of those shots counted. Darwin Quintero pulled one back for the Dynamo with a back-post header, which counted, but Maxi Urruti was ruled offside on the other.

Russell put the game to bed in the 90th minute with one of his patented runs from the right wing followed by a slick finish into the bottom-left corner.

This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Johnny Russell scores twice as Sporting Kansas City beats the Houston Dynamo in KCK."