For the second time this season, Real Salt Lake had two players named to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week, as newcomers Albert Rusnák and Jefferson Savarino both earned honors following RSL’s 6-2 trouncing of the LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center on July 4.
Rusnák had one goal and two assists while Savarino had a stunning first goal in an RSL uniform and followed it up with a second to complete the brace in a thorough and dominating performance that halted a six-game road losing streak.
“They’re both phenomenal players and, obviously, both relatively new to this league. And, we have been talking about the excitement about those two being on the field together. We talked about them being centrally together, or one out wide and one centrally, like we did tonight,” RSL Head Coach Mike Petke said. “It was great to see those guys linking up, and it was magic.”
Rusnák, who celebrates his 23rd birthday Friday, has four goals and seven assists in 16 matches with the Claret-and-Cobalt while Savarino, 20, has two goals and two assists in nine matches after joining the squad in May.
Joining that tandem on Team of the Week were goalkeeper John McCarthy (Philadelphia Union); defenders Jake Nerwinski (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City) and Ryan Hollingshead (FC Dallas); midfielders Michael Barrios (FC Dallas) and Diego Fagundez (New England Revolution); and forwards Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), Josef Martinez (Atlanta United) and Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders).
For more on this week’s selections, click here.
Team of the Week
Week 4: Matt VanOekel
Week 6: Albert Rusnák and Yura Movsisyan
Week 7: Mike Petke
Week 13: Sunny
Week 16: Joao Plata
Week 19: Albert Rusnák and Jefferson Savarino
