RENTON – There are few MLS players who can reliably post goal-contribution numbers like Albert Rusnák.
Since joining MLS in 2017, the midfielder has registered 73 goals and 84 assists with at least 15 goals+assists in 7 of 10 seasons. After picking up two more assists in Saturday’s win over Minnesota United — giving him four goals and 12 assists — that now includes 2026. Since moving into the No. 10 role fulltime to start 2023, only nine players in MLS have more goal-contributions than Rusnák’s 55.
Informed that Rusnák recently moved into a tie for the league lead with 11 primary assists, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer reacted with some bemusement.
“He does a good job,” Schmetzer said. “He’s doing what he’s paid for.”
Rusnák, too, took the revelation in stride.
“The team’s doing much better,” he said. “We’re doing much better as a collective. I always say when the team is successful, you can have the individuals come through, whether it’s on the defending side or the attacking side. But unless the team’s doing well, there’s no one that’s going to really be in great form or for anyone to play up to their potential.”
To Rusnák’s point, he spent much of the year underperforming expectations which closely mirrored the Sounders’ struggles. After a 2–0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Aug. 16 that was the Sounders’ seventh straight game without a point, Rusnák had just three goals and four assists in 17 league games.
Rusnák picked up an assist in the Sounders’ next game – another loss – and then registered the assist on the game-tying goal the following match against FC Cincinnati that stopped the losing skid. Including those two games, Rusnák now has a goal and seven assists in his past eight games while the Sounders have gone 2–1–5 to climb back into a playoff spot for the first time since that loss to the Whitecaps. Most of that production came after he signed a contract extension through the 2028–29 season and removed his Designated Player tag.
As good as he’s been playing, Rusnák knows it will only matter if the Sounders can maintain this momentum through the end of the season. That starts with what is almost a must-win match against Sporting KC on Thursday before a two-game roadtrip that will test the Sounders’ contender status with games against the New England Revolution and FC Dallas.
“We’ve got eight games left before the playoffs,” he said. “We’re not guaranteed playoffs, so every game is almost like a playoff game. I think to hit our form toward the end of the season can be a good thing. We just want to make sure we keep it going.”
Ferreira ahead of schedule?
Jesús Ferreira has been a full participant in training all week and appears to be ahead of schedule for a return from an injury that was originally projected to keep him out 8–10 weeks. If he were to return for the New England Revolution match on Oct. 10, that would be about seven weeks after the injury.
Short-term help
Tacoma Defiance forward Mark Bronnik has been training with the first team throughout the week and with the Sounders still a bit thin in the attack, he could get a short-term call-up on Thursday. Bronnik, 19, recently concluded his first season with the Defiance in which he had 13 goals and four assists in less than 1,600 minutes of regular season play, with playoffs still to come.
