HERRIMAN, Utah (Tuesday, October 5, 2021) – Real Salt Lake midfielder Albert Rusnák has been named to the Slovakia National Team for its upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches against Croatia and Russia.
Slovakia will continue its quest to become one of the 13 European teams to qualify for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Friday, October 8 when it faces Russia at 12:45 p.m. MT and then against Croatia on Monday October 11 at 12:45 p.m. MT. Slovakia is currently in third place of Group H for UEFA Qualification. The first-place team from each of the 10 groups will automatically qualify for the World Cup, with the second-place team from each of the groups being allocated to a playoff scenario with the two best-ranked group winners from the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League to vie for the final three positions.
Slovakia has not qualified for the World Cup since 2010 where it made a run to the Round of 16 before falling 2-1 to the Netherlands.
In 2021, Rusnák has played a hand in 17 goals this season for RSL, recording seven goals and a team-leading 10 assists through 28 matches. Rusnák has featured in each of the club’s 28 matches this season as a starter and captain, totaling 2,505 minutes played. For Slovakia, Rusnák has scored five goals in 32 appearances and helped his country qualify for the 2020 UEFA European Championship.
Real Salt Lake is 11-11-6 (39 points) and fifth in the Western Conference entering the international break. RSL will return to action against Rocky Mountain Cup Rival Colorado Rapids on Saturday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. MT. The match will be broadcast live locally on KMYU and ESPN 700, with the live stream on the KSL TV app with tickets being available for purchase at RSL.com.
