Albert Rusnák didn’t know what to expect when he took the field in the second half of Saturday’s match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
After a rugged first half that saw Real Salt Lake control much of the play through a driving and bitter-cold rain, he went into the locker room seeking a solution to the break the scoreless tie. But first seeking a solution to his freezing limbs. A dip in the hot tub and a dry jersey and he was ready to take to the field, but the weather had turned from rain to snow that covered the field.
“The rain was bad because it was really, really cold. I don’t know what I really expected,” Rusnák said on ESPN 700’s On Frame on Monday night. “I wasn’t even thinking about how it was going to be in the second half. Once we came out in the second half and the field was covered in snow, I was like ‘I don’t know where it’s going to go from here.’”
He adjusted to the new form of precipitation, then adjusted to the field, then scored his first goal since coming to Real Salt Lake in the winter on a transfer from Groningen in Holland. After adding two more assists in a 3-0 win for RSL, he was named MLS Player of the Week on Tuesday.
While the second half is what earned him the honor, the first half was a better indication of the damage he can do to opponents as he continues to adjust to MLS. Now five matches into his time with his new club, he has one goal and three assists – his assist total good for third in MLS.
Though he showed great promise on Saturday, he knows there is more to come as he continues to adjust to the new league, new team and a new coach last week in Mike Petke, particularly the physical demands of playing as a No. 10 in a high-contact league like MLS.
“I have to get used to the different style of play and the battle that there is going on in a game. I just have to adapt and play a little smarter,” he said. “I’m figuring out which positions to take offensively and defensively and looking to improve game-by-game.”
Last week was his first full week under Petke, who was elevated to RSL’s head coaching role after starting the season in the same post with Real Monarchs in the USL. While it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the team has done a 180 since he took over after the convincing result on Saturday, it was only minor adjustments that Petke made that were the difference. Elevating the demands and competition in training resulted in elevated play on the field in the first week.
“I think Mike showed in the whole week in preparation ahead of this game what he wants from us and that was to be energetic and play offensively and try to play combination football from the back,” Rusnák said. “It was just a great day. We played different than we played up to now and we can say that it was the first game of the season that we played as a team.”
RSL will take on the Colorado Rapids on Saturday from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (7 p.m. MT, KMYU)
To hear more from Rusnák and the On Frame crew, listen below.
