Ahead of the Seattle Sounders’ crucial Western Conference match against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday (6:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360 AM), SoundersFC.com caught up with former MLS defender and current RSL broadcast analyst Brian Dunseth. [NOTE: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]
SOUNDERSFC.COM: These two teams look completely different than the last time they met at CenturyLink Field in May, a 1-0 Sounders win. How has RSL changed since then?
DUNSETH: I go back to the coaching change with Mike Petke coming in and replacing Jeff Cassar [in late March]. What Mike Petke has done is he has built the team from the inside out. He’s created a culture inside that locker room and on the training field day in and day out where there’s an accountability. All of that really comes together with no longer having to deal with long periods of international duty, suspensions and injuries. It’s a group that’s been decimated for long portions of the season, especially the first half of the season. It’s a reinvigorated locker room now based on the personality of Mike Petke.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: Have you noticed a newfound sense of confidence within the group?
DUNSETH: Absolutely. That was evident in the first couple days in their training sessions when Mike took over. [The Sounders] are a perfect example of that. Going from [Sigi Schmid] to Brian Schmetzer and just how quickly a different voice with maybe a few tweaks of how they see the game can give you a very quiet confidence. When the results start taking shape, you can create this weird kind of momentum, this psychological bond, and that’s exactly what’s happened to Real Salt Lake.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: New Designated Player Albert Rusnák leads the team with seven goals and 12 assists. What makes him so effective?
DUNSETH: Nobody is talking about Javier Morales anymore. Albert’s a young player, a 23-year-old, who was away for the Euro 2016 Under-21s, and has used his performances in Major League Soccer with Real Salt Lake and with the Under-21s to springboard into the full Slovakian national team. He came off the bench against England at Wembley a couple of weeks ago and played alongside Marek Hamšik from Napoli.
Rusnák plays the position quite differently from the way Javier played. He’s a tempo and a rhythm player, but at the same time, he’s a guy who likes to combine quickly and hit the big switch and hit the long ball. He’s been fantastic inside the locker room, and he’s a fantastic human being. Quite honestly, the question is how long can Real Salt Lake hold onto him after his performances in the summer and how quietly he’s put his name in for Newcomer of the Year? He won’t win that, but he’s surprised a lot of people with how consistent his performances have been.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: What are some of the matchups you’re looking forward to on Saturday?
DUNSETH: It’s always going to start in the midfield and the way Cristian Roldan has very quickly and seamlessly turned into not just an MLS starter, but a guy who is in the conversation for the U.S. men’s national team. I hope he’s a fringe player who makes it as a roster player in the World Cup. You’ve always got to be massively concerned about [Nicolás] Lodeiro and just the way he pivots in underneath and inverts himself.
The big question for me now is without the ability to stretch the field with Jordan [Morris’] injury, how does Will Bruin play the point of the attack and how does Clint [Dempsey] operate underneath? Any time you have guys like Lodeiro and Clint Dempsey on the field, you know in a split second they can turn the game on its head so you have to try and at least limit the damage of those two, but also focus on what the collateral damage could be as well knowing that there are so many options and so many pure athletes on the field for Seattle right now.
SOUNDERSFC.COM: A crucial three points are at stake in such a close Western Conference race. What is the biggest key to victory on Saturday?
DUNSETH: Capitalizing on mistakes. In the past, there have been mistakes made and teams couldn’t punish those mistakes. Very few teams could. Now with Targeted Allocation Money, you’re seeing much, much better players on the field who recognize when a mistake is made, how they can set up scoring chances, but also how they can capitalize on scoring chances.
With Seattle and the run of form that they’re in, in terms of not having lost a match for so long yet being in this weird run of form where they’re not exactly putting teams away and leaving points on the table, and then Real Salt Lake being at home, there’s going to be mistakes made. The question is which team can punish those mistakes?
