Albert Rusnak's late goal, good defense guide Sounders to victory over Minnesota

Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Albert Rusnak fires away for his goal in the 79th minute (Photo by Nate Koppelman)

By Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA – Minnesota United will continue to have nightmarish thoughts about Lumen Field, as the Seattle Sounders pushed their career head-to-head record at home against the Loons to eight wins and no losses. Seattle and Minnesota were locked in a scoreless battle for 79 long minutes in the cold and rainy Emerald City, before midfielder Albert Rusnak powered home a goal from the top of the box on a heads up play from teammates Alex Roldan and Fredy Montero. The victory also could not have been possible without the strong defensive play of Seattle who continued their streak of clean sheets at home, now five in a row to begin the 2023 campaign. Even despite missing numerous key contributors, the Sounders were able to use a next-man-up mentality and secure the three points in their own building.

Seattle Sounders players (from left to right) Obed Vargas, Kelyn Rowe, Alex Roldan, Nico Lodeiro, and goalkeeper Stefan Frei all brace for a ball near goal (Photo by Paul Kahl)

Protecting Lumen Field, and making it a fortress

Creating home field advantage can be a major aspect that factors into the way a team plays, whether that be the home team being able to have extra comfort in their own venue or a visiting team having outside factors to deal with when they hit the field. Lumen Field was previously considered one of the harder buildings to play in around the MLS, considering the success that the Seattle Sounders had seen in their existence in the league. Over the last few years, Lumen hasn’t been that spooky place to play in anymore as visiting clubs have been able to shock, stun, and just simply beat the Sounders at home. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei has preached several times in pregame speeches to his teammates about making Lumen a fortress, and it seems like that may truly be coming to fruition to begin the 2023 season.

A big note in preventing their opposition from getting on the board is to just simply maintain possession of the ball, and the Sounders did that throughout much of this match. Seattle sat at 68% possession through the first half and finished with 66% after the final whistle had blown. The Sounders had the ball and were able to play their game, limiting the Loons to only a trio of chances that presented any danger to Seattle and goalkeeper Stefan Frei. In addition to “playing keep away,” Seattle was able to win the duel battle and made a point of putting their body in the way, blocking six shots on the night. That sort of unselfish play, with the one goal of winning at the height of everything else, is a huge reason why the Sounders have seen this early season success and why they may be headed for another deep MLS Playoffs run, when we get there at least.

Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei helped the Sounders collect their fifth consecutive clean sheet to open up the season. (Photo by Nate Koppelman)

Albert Rusnak pulls through late

Slovakian midfielder Albert Rusnak has been on the end of plenty of unearned criticism throughout his time as a Sounder, but that generally doesn’t matter. Many fans won’t see the underlying impact and statistics that Rusnak brings to the table, often playing a huge role in the buildup of Seattle’s goals and working as an ultimate conductor in the Sounders midfield. A simple, somewhat topical way to view players is by the number of goals that they score, and how often they score. This shouldn’t be the case for Rusnak, who again is a facilitator and works best when he’s able to conduct with the ball, but tonight his goal scoring ability was needed as the match ticked on towards a potential scoreless draw.

The goal by Rusnak in the 79th minute began on an interesting throw-in play that Seattle seemed to have drawn up, triggered by teammate Alex Roldan on a throw-in. Roldan found Montero in the box, who simply redirected the ball with the outside of his right foot in the direction of the top of the box in Rusnak’s general direction. None of the Minnesota players were close to the part of the box, all congregating and congesting the middle of it in order to seemingly prevent a header of some sort. Rusnak took the opportunity and struck the bouncing ball on a low flying line drive to the far corner to beat goaltender Dayne St. Clair and give the Sounders the only lead of the match.

Seattle Sounders midfielder Joao Paulo had a highly rated match, and has given Minnesota nightmares in years past with his play against them (Photo by Paul Kahl)

What’s next?

The Sounders will take a quick detour away from MLS regular season play for their next contest, when they “host” San Diego Loyal SC of the USL Championship league. A relatively new side, San Diego Loyal didn’t begin play until 2020 after being founded back in 2019. Seattle and San Diego will meet for a third-round matchup in this year’s US Open Cup. Their match will be played on Wednesday, April 26th with a kickoff time of 7PM PST at Starfire Stadium down in Tukwila, Washington. The Sounders played a US Open Cup competition last season at Starfire, falling to the San Jose Earthquakes in penalties.