A successful 'business trip': Reflections following Austin FC's third win in a row

In 2022, Austin FC started the season with a pair of big wins, and in its sixth match of the season, got their third win, a 1-0 victory over Minnesota on an unusual Maxi Urruti goal, getting the squad to 11 points on the young season.

As MLSSoccer.com pointed out, the win "gave Josh Wolff’s side three wins through six matches this season after needing 12 matches to reach that mark in their inaugural campaign."

They've now bested that "fast" start with a 1-0 win on Sunday in St. Louis — getting to 12 points in the same span.

And after Sunday's match, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez knew who to credit.

"He needs more time with us, he hasn't been with us, and we need to be patient with everyone, and also, understanding him, how he plays, and him understanding the others," he said of goal scorer Myrto Uzuni. "But he always put [in] a lot of effort. He gives everything. And when he had to make the difference today, he did it.

"And this is what we asked [of] these kind of players, and the difference between winning or not today ... is one of our top players — or two, because also Buka did a good job on that play," he added, highlighting Osman Bukari's assist on the play, before tracing who else contributed in the build-up. (It was Brad Stuver for getting off the first line-breaking pass, Brandon Vázquez for receiving that pass and finding Owen Wolff, and then Wolff finding Bukari down the flank to allow him to work his one-v-one magic.)

Given that Verde only got off two shots on goal all match — as did St. Louis, to be fair — Estévez was right to say that it boiled down to an Austin player making a play that a St. Louis player couldn't. The match's heat map shows where Verde spent much of their time during the match, as well as how possession went throughout the match.

All four Verde wins so far have been by economic one-goal margins, requiring the defense to defend the slimmest of leads for a combined 223 minutes without conceding an equalizer.

(So far this season, Austin's held just one two-goal lead, for eight minutes against San Diego.)

In response to my question on the defensive effort in the last half hour and the nervy nature of it, Estévez gave an expansive answer that touched on both teams' offensive paucity, the unpredictable nature of MLS each season (and the ability of any team to win it all, in contrast with big European leagues), how the game state against St. Louis asked them to defend, "being brave" and "having the courage" to do so in order to win, the weather delay in part contributing to that game state, and of course, the continuing need for teammates to learn each other's rhythms as new players in particular acclimate.

"We couldn't get out of our low block, as we did before, but we'll keep working," Estévez observed.

But also, the team did what it had to do. In a lengthy, comprehensive Spanish-language answer to another question about gutting out the win rather than making it more assured with multiple goals, Estévez offered platitudes like, "We want to keep fighting, keep believing, keep being there and winning because at the end of everything, it's three points and they add up and then we have solidarity."

And then, right after that, was an unmistakable two-word English phrase popping up amid the Spanish: "Business trip."

So many arrows!

The xG and shot chart show some encouraging signs. Six of eight Verde shots were inside the box, compared to nine of 16 for St. Louis. According to FBref, the highest xG chance was the 65th-minute Conrad Wallen blocked shot (at 0.24), but two of the next three highest were Uzuni's goal (0.20) and Vázquez's excellent chance just three minutes later (0.14).

A few post-shot xG numbers jump out to me here. (Reminder: This stat measures how likely a goal is to be scored based on where the ball is vs. where the goalkeeper is positioned.) Uzuni's goal was a 0.91, which is about as good as you can get, and the Vázquez shot in question had a 0.62 PSxG, which indicates a solid attempt.

That Marcel Hartel shot that Stuver saved? A 0.69 PSxG on that one. Nice save. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

This one shows the relative relentlessness of the Purina Gang vs. Austin (so many arrows!), along with a field tilt that wasn't as dramatic as what SDFC did against Verde the week before, but St. Louis did end up, by the final whistle, getting the ball in Verde's half more than Verde took it to St. Louis.

Expressing confidence

Uzuni showed a bit more (earned) swagger in his turn at the mic on Sunday than he had in media exchanges past.

"And in that moment, with Bukari, I was calling all the time to pass me the ball, because two times before, he shot the ball," Uzuni said regarding Verde's sole scoring play. "So I was telling him, 'Pass [to] me, show [me] the ball, because I'm alone. Don't put your head down, because I'm alone. And, Buka, listen to me because I see better ... I read the game better because I see everything. So Buka passed me the ball."

"This was a big win," Uzuni assessed. "To win three games in a row is not easy. I think we did great job, all the players. And I want to thank everyone for the support for the team, and I'm very happy."

As for the team's collective defending effort, Uzuni alluded that that intensity — being "ambitious and angry," in his words, was something that Estévez said would be needed to get the away win. (Delightfully, Uzuni refers to his head coach as "Mister.")

What's next?

So, the only thing better than winning three in a row is winning four in a row — something Verde did twice in 2022, with each of the last wins in those four-match streaks coming against Houston. Since drawing at Dallas on July 17, 2022, ending the win streak but winning Copa Tejas and then celebrating in a Frisco parking lot, Verde hasn't replicated that string.

Of course, they'll have to return to playing part of a match after sunset, after three straight weeks of afternoon matches. And they'll have to play Portland, who beat Austin on the strength of a late set piece goal in a 1-0 loss in Providence Park — arguably their least productive and most disappointing performance of the year so far.

Portland's also coming off a 3-1 win over a Houston Dynamo team that's suddenly looking a bit coach-hot-seaty. Ben Olsen's squad has four losses and two draws (and no wins) in their first six matches, and with two coaches already given the boot this young season – including SKC Coach for Life Peter Vermes on Monday morning ... no, couldn't be, right? A former head coach we know couldn't be readying to do what Estévez did in helming one Texas team for another, could he?

Meanwhile, Phil Neville — who some (including me) pegged as an early-season dismissal possibility, has his squad at 3-2-1 and 6th in the West. It's not outstanding by any means, but it's solid for this stage of the season.

(But, you know, not as good as Austin's doing right now.)

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