The Seattle Sounders drew LAFC 1-1 at Lumen Field on Saturday afternoon behind second-half goals from Albert Rusnák and Cristian Arongo.
The first 45 minutes were a back-and-forth affair with neither team able to find a breakthrough. The closest the Sounders came was in the 39th minute when Jordan Morris picked out Rusnák on the left side of the box, but his effort was over the bar. LAFC nearly took the lead in the 43rd minute if not for a kick-save from Stefan Frei.
The Sounders found the breakthrough in the 58th minute on a gift from LAFC. Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau’s attempted pass to Ilie Sánchez was picked off by Rusnák, who calmly deposited the go-ahead goal.
LAFC twice thought they had the equalizer in the 64th minute when Frei made a double save from point-blank range on Ryan Hollingshead and then Cristian Arongo on the rebound.
LAFC did find their goal in the 79th minute when Arongo headed a ball into the far corner.
Seattle, which saw the returns of Rusnák, Jordan Morris, Cristian Roldan and Nouhou to the starting lineup after being away midweek on international duty, returns to Lumen Field next Saturday for a date with Sporting Kansas City (12 p.m. PT; ABC, ESPN Deportes, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS).
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Rusnák opens Sounders MLS account
Fresh off traveling more than 6,000 miles back to Seattle from Kazakhstan earlier this week while with Slovakia for UEFA Nations League, Rusnák scored his first MLS goal with the Sounders. Rusnák had scored once before with Seattle in Concacaf Champions League, but he finally opened his league account on a heads-up defensive interception and finish in the final third.
Sounders still rolling
The Sounders have lost just once in their last six matches. Seattle is now on 20 points from 14 matches in MLS.
Homestand continues
The Sounders will finish June with two more games in their five-match homestand. Seattle has taken seven of nine points on offer so far and will look to extend that with matches against Sporting Kansas City and CF Montréal looming.
