Late Rusnak rocket and strong defense propel Sounders to victory over Minnesota
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.
The scenes before the match between Minnesota United FC and our Seattle Sounders FC (Photos by Liz Wolter)
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.
The Seattle Sounders celebrate Albert Rusnak’s goal in the 79th minute, wearing their One Planet Kit, made entirely of Parley Ocean plastic. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
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.
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Albert Rusnak’s match through pictures (Photos by Liz Wolter)
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 FC defender Kelyn Rowe played in his 350th match across all appearances (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Seattle battles through numerous injuries to continue terrorizing Minnesota
The Sounders have been dealing with a few notable setbacks to players, including the big news out of training in the past few days that Peruvian forward Raul Ruidiaz will be out at least four weeks with a strained right hamstring. In addition to the Ruidiaz absence, midfielder Cristian Roldan remained out as he’s still in concussion protocol, defender Nouhou was out with migraines today, and forward Jordan Morris only played the second half of the match as he participated in a USMNT match in the past week. With Seattle being without two players who have overtaken the nine spot this year, the Sounders were able to pivot to Heber, who’s been a good contributor for them in the early going. Seattle has plenty of options in the midfield, and while they can’t entirely replace him, having that depth in that spot makes things a bit easier when Cristian isn’t able to participate.
Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei collected another clean sheet (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
The Sounders have still yet to concede at home so far in five matches this season and have pushed their record at Lumen Field to an unbeaten 4-0-1
Seattle has outscored opponents 10-0 in that span.
Seattle has run its record to 11-1-1 in 13 all-time meetings against Minnesota since the Loons entered MLS in 2017.
The Sounders’ .846 win percentage is the best for any single team against a single opponent it’s played at least 10 times in MLS history.
The Sounders also extend their perfect home record to 8-0-0 against the Loons, including a 3-2 comeback win in the 2020 Western Conference Championship.
Albert Rusnák scored his first goal of the 2023 MLS season and fourth of his Sounders career
The Sounders have set a new franchise record for consecutive shutouts at home with 5.
Seattle only had 4 home shutouts all of last season. They already have 5 in 5 matches this season.
Stefan Frei has moved into third all-time with 147 goalkeeper wins, passing Kevin Hartman.
Sounders defender and Federal way native Kelyn Rowe notched appearance 350 across all competitions in MLS in the victory.
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.