Sporting KC v Vancouver Whitecaps: Retold in Pictures

Every time you see a story on The Blue Testament or SB Nation, it’s because some intrepid photographer (or our own Thad Bell) went to the game and supplied pictures to USA Today or Getty Images. So many of those pictures go by without anyone ever seeing them. Honestly, some aren’t worth seeing, but some really are and we just can’t write enough stories to justify their use.

Coming off a win like Friday’s by Sporting Kansas City over the Vancouver Whitecaps, there were just too many good photos to not use (especially with all those goal celebrations and that scuffle). So without further ado, here is the game retold in pictures.

Peter G. Aiken

Where the magic happens.

Peter G. Aiken

What would one of these be without Sporting KC’s weird lineup poses. The first for new center back Emiliano Amor. We are going to skip Vancouver because... who cares really.

Peter G. Aiken

Here is Johnny Russell thinking about how he is going to demolish the Vancouver defense tonight.

Peter G. Aiken

And the demolition begins. Pure joy as Russell celebrates his first of three goals on the night.

Peter G. Aiken

Russell gives a thank you hug to Roger Espinoza for such a good pass to set up his first goal of the night and Khiry Shelton once against thanks his winger for scoring the goals he can’t (sorry Khiry).

Peter G. Aiken

He did it again! Goal numbers two.

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Apparently Russell missed a chance. I don’t even remember this happening in all the madness.

Peter G. Aiken

I know we used this in a Matt Besler story already, but it seems worth using again. Bes flies through the air much higher than my six inch vertical leaping ability.

Peter G. Aiken

Espinoza deftly pokes the ball away while Brek Shea grimaces (I assume because it’s heading straight for his face).

Peter G. Aiken

A look at Graham Zusi focused on the ball. I’m not sure how I feel about the headband in his hair. It almost looks like a white guy fro even though we all know that’s not the haircut Zues is sporting.

Peter G. Aiken

Roger makes the best faces when he’s playing. He looks like he just saw a ghost.

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Jimmy Medranda makes it 3-0!

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There is no shot of the foul from Kendall Waston on Espinoza. This is the first one from the Confrontation at Children’s Mercy Park™. This is right after Yordi Reyna threw Russell to the ground by his neck (leading to the first red card — we think).

Peter G. Aiken

Here is just after Russell bursts back to his feet. It appears to be Jose Aja’s hand across the top of his chest/neck area, which didn’t earn a card.

Peter G. Aiken

Here is Efrain Juarez clearly shoving Russell in the face (or gouging out his eyes, hard to tell from this angle) which earned the second red card for the Caps.

Peter G. Aiken

You get a red card and you get a red card. Everybody gets red cards!

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Or technically just these two get red cards. As if the game wasn’t over with a 3-0 scoreline and the Whitecaps missing their best offensive player Kei Kamara, this is the moment we all knew it was over for sure.

Peter G. Aiken

There is strangely no pictures of Russell picking up his hat trick from USA Today (Getty apparently wasn’t there). So here is one of Cristian Lobato scoring his first goal of 2018 with an assist from Yohan Croizet.

Peter G. Aiken

And another of Croizet and Lobato with some cool blue smoke courtesy of the Kansas City Cauldron.

Peter G. Aiken

Because I can’t stop picking on Khiry (or maybe this is a compliment), here he is surrounded by defenders (which maybe is why everyone else is open to score goals?).

Peter G. Aiken

Visual evidence that Vancouver didn’t let every ball into the net (at least according to USA Today’s caption which said that Stefan Marinović was reacting to a save.

Peter G. Aiken

Felipe Gutierrez returns from injury to get some game minutes (to the chagrin of many SKC fans who really wanted Jaylin Lindsey to get his first MLS minutes).

Peter G. Aiken

Croizet finally opens his account! Pure joy (and some relief) from Yohan as he celebrates with the Cauldron. 6-0!

And that’s the game in photos. Who doesn’t love looking at pictures? Did you go to the game on Friday night? Share your pictures (or videos) in the comments.