Columbus Crew 0-4 Seattle Sounders: Rusnak hat-trick stuns MLS Cup champions

Albert Rusnak’s hat-trick propelled the Seattle Sounders to a shock 4-0 win over the 10-man Columbus Crew.

The short-handed Crew were dealt a huge blow when, in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, goalkeeper Abraham Romero saw red for a foul on Jordan Morris.

With regular goalkeepers Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen on international duty, Crew coach Wilfried Nancy had to turn to centre-back Sean Zawadzki.

But it took Seattle just four minutes to get the better of the stand-in, with Rusnak converting the resulting free-kick following Romero’s foul.

Morris doubled Seattle’s tally on the hour mark, with Rusnak then completing his hat-trick with a quickfire double.

Columbus are third in the Eastern Conference, while Seattle are fifth in the West.

Four goals in an un(four)gettable win #CLBvSEA Highlights pic.twitter.com/atO0Nllihx

— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) September 8, 2024

Data Debrief: Rusnak turns from provider to scorer

Rusnak had never scored a hat-trick before, but this one will be memorable for several reasons. It also came on the back of the midfielder creating six chances in last week’s loss to the Portland Timbers, which was the most by any Sounders player in a single regular-season game in over three years.

The defeat was just Columbus’ second at home in the space of 39 matches, though Seattle have now won six of their nine regular-season visits to Columbus, the highest winning percentage of any MLS team to have played the Crew eight or more times on the road.