RENTON — Coming into this season, perhaps no Seattle Sounders player had more pressure resting on his shoulders than Albert Rusnák. Entering the final year of the Designated Player contract he first signed ahead of the 2022 season, Rusnák was expected to mostly fill the shoes vacated by club legend Nicolás Lodeiro.
After two years of playing whatever role the Sounders needed him in — most often as part of a double-pivot — Rusnák would be expected to be the focal point of the offense as the team’s No. 10.
The season did not start out how he or anyone else hoped. The day before the Sounders’ season opener, Rusnák sprained his ankle and he wasn’t able to start until the fifth game of the season.
Following the Sounders’ 0-0 tie with the LA Galaxy on May 5, almost exactly one-third of the way through the season, he had no goals and only three assists. Both he and the Sounders were struggling mightily.
Rusnák picked up an assist in a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers the following week. It kickstarted an impressive final two-thirds of the season for both Rusnák and the team. He finished the regular season with 10 goals and 16 assists, which tied Lodeiro’s club record. His 26 goal contributions were the second most in Sounders history and ranked 11th in all of MLS this year. Across all competitions, his 19 assists are also a club record and his 30 goal contributions are just two behind Obafemi Martins’ club record.
“The timing of injury wasn’t ideal,” Rusnák said this week. “It took me a few games to feel good and come back. I was in pain, I was taking painkillers just to play. I wasn’t healthy and being in the last year of your contract, you don’t want to spend too much time on the side with the physio. You have to find the right balance between pain tolerance and doing yourself a favor if you’re trying to play or are you hurting yourself. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice to play through the pain but I’m happy with where we are right now and my performances in the second half.”
Rusnák has been particularly effective on set pieces, where he leads all of MLS with nine goal contributions (3 goals, 6 six primary assists), according to American Soccer Analysis. He’s also formed a solid partnership with Jordan Morris, connecting with him on four of the striker’s 13 goals.
Whether it was during his slow start or now, Rusnák insists that he’s not so much focused on his stats as he is on how the team is performing.
“It’s nice to hear, nice to see you write about it,” Rusnák said about his place in the Sounders’ record books. “Maybe they’ll mean something more than they do now. There are more games where I can add to it and to win something. I’m not paying too much attention to what I’ve achieved. Maybe after the season it will mean more.”
It’s in a similar vein that Rusnák doesn’t really like to compare himself to Lodeiro. Although Lodeiro’s stats are impressive enough, what makes him a club legend is all the silverware he helped the team win. Rusnák takes far more pride in helping the Sounders win Concacaf Champions League than he does in any individual accolades.
“You can compare the position we play, but I think the way play is very different,” Rusnák said about Lodeiro. “That’s why we were able to play together as well. It wouldn’t have worked if we were the same. We won Champions League together.
“We are different players. What he’s done for this club, I’ve come nowhere near that and I’m not sure if I will.”
All of this comes at a particularly opportune time for Rusnák, who is set to become a free agent at the end of the season. Now 30 years old, this could be the last time he’s able to demand top dollar for his services.
He says conversations with the Sounders started about a month ago, but that nothing has been finalized. There’s little doubt that he’s done enough to demand a Designated Player contract, but the Sounders will likely explore the possibility of bringing him back on something less for the sake of added roster flexibility.
“The ideas are very similar, if not identical,” Rusnák said. “It’s a little bit easier of a situation to concentrate on games and figure that stuff out. Right now there is no timeline.
“We’re at the point where there are playoff games coming and that’s the most important thing.”
