Real Salt Lake’s Albert Rusnak Named To Slovakian World Cup Qualifying Roster

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Real Salt Lake midfielder Albert Rusnak has been named to the Slovakian World Cup qualifying roster, the club announced.

Rusnak will leave the United States to play in a trio of games starting on March 24 against Cyprus and will then head to Slovakia to face Malta on March 27 and Russia on March 30. The creative midfielder has scored 5 goals in 20 caps for his country.

“We are very excited for Albert to get this opportunity to help Slovakia qualify for the 2022 World Cup,” RSL General Manager Elliot Fall said.  “He has already had success in getting Slovakia qualified for the Euros this summer and this is a tremendous opportunity for him to earn the spotlight on a big stage.”

The 55 European FIFA-affiliated teams are broken up into 10 groups with Slovakia finding itself in Group H alongside Croatia, Cyprus Malta, Russia, and Slovenia. The winner of each group will earn an automatic qualification and the runner-ups will compete in a playoff for the remaining spots. Slovakia has not qualified for the FIFA World Cup since 2010.

RSL will begin its 2021 MLS campaign on Saturday, April 24 at Minnesota United and will return home the following weekend to take on Sporting Kansas City at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, May 1 at noon.