Taking a five-game winless run into Friday's match against FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City was in need of a lift.
Benny Feilhaber provided just that.
The midfielder continued to piece together one of the best seasons in Sporting KC history on Friday, scoring twice to spark a 3-1 win over FC Dallas and strengthen the team's playoff position. His performance -- highlighted by an inch-perfect free kick that opened the scoring in the 65th minute -- earned him Team of the Week honors from MLSsoccer.com, SI.com and Bleacher Report.
Feilhaber has set MLS career highs in 2015 with 10 goals and 14 assists during an MVP-caliber season. He becomes just the third player in club history to reach double digits in goals and assists in league play, joining Josh Wolff (2005) and Preki (1996-98, 2003), while his 19 assists in all competitions are a single-season club record.
KC PLAYERS WITH 25+ COMBINED GOALS/ASSISTS IN ONE SEASON
(All Competitions)
<strong>Year</strong> |
<strong>Player</strong> |
<strong>Goals + Assists</strong> |
1996 |
Preki |
36 (22 G, 14 A) |
2015 |
Benny Feilhaber |
31 (12 G, 19 A) |
2003 |
Preki |
30 (12 G, 18 A) |
1997 |
Preki |
30 (13 G, 17 A) |
2014 |
Dom Dwyer |
25 (24 G, 1 A) |
"When he’s playing that way, he winds up contributing for us in many different ways in goals and assists and making sure he’s in a dangerous place on the field," Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes said of Feilhaber after the game. "He makes the other team have to make decisions that are imposed upon them because of what we’re doing, not because of what they decide to do. When he’s in the game and gets into the places he was tonight, he is a very good player."
The 30-year-old won MLS Player of the Month for April and received MLS All-Star honors for the first time in his career when he was named to the All-Star Fan XI and competed in the 2015 AT&T MLS All-Star Game on July 29.
