Five games into Sporting Kansas City’s 2022 season, club captain Johnny Russell has his first goal of the year.
His 81st-minute finish in Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Real Salt Lake came at a perfect time, too, ending a mini-slump for the perennial Western Conference contenders.
That it involved some luck after an attempted slipped-in ball to Khiry Shelton? The Scottish winger won’t complain one bit.
“It's about time we get a goal like that,” said Russell after returning from a hamstring injury. “I feel like a lot of teams get goals like that against us and we always seem to have to carve a team open to get a goal like that.
“ … It fell perfectly for me and that's just nice to get the first goal and get it out of the way and kick on from here. Most importantly, three points. It's been a bit of a difficult period for us, so to get a win and build on that is massive.”
SKC, marred by injuries, lost three of their first four games this year. That ignited questions of whether the Children’s Mercy Park side was due for regression with DP forward Alan Pulido out for the year, DP midfielder Gadi Kinda yet to make his 2022 debut and concerns bubbling around their No. 6 spot and veteran-heavy backline.
Those queries aren’t necessarily silenced after one result in the March international window and with RSL carrying a lengthy injury report, but SKC’s morale is up for the time being.
“I'm always interested when a team gets into a situation where we were,” manager and sporting director Peter Vermes said postgame. "We had a lot of injuries and how the reaction of the guys winds up being and how some people panic and then others keep their head. Just because you're losing doesn't mean you're lost. We weren't lost at all. We were just trying to get a routine and trying to get a bunch of guys still indoctrinated that still need time.”
Two first-half saves from goalkeeper Tim Melia proved crucial against RSL, the shutout highlighting his 200th regular-season appearance for SKC. Right back Graham Zusi also passed retired defender Matt Besler to become their all-time minutes leader, another milestone for the club.
And while SKC aren’t necessarily out of the woods just yet, there’s a definite upturn in confidence within the club after ending RSL's four-game unbeaten start.
“We've all been in the sport long enough,” Russell said. “We've lost games. You're going to go through tough periods in a season. Ours came early. A difficult start, not the start that we would like.
“Obviously, we would like to start the season flying and sort of build from there, but it's not happened like that. We have had a lot of guys out, a lot of new guys coming in as well. So it took a little bit more time than we had hoped but I feel we're definitely taking steps in the right direction.”
