Who steps up now? Assessing Austin FC's prime goalscoring options now that Vazquez is out

At Thursday's media availability, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said all the right things that a coach in his position would say.

Talking about being there for designated player Brandon Vázquez as he sets upon the long rehab tourney following his ACL tear? Check. Talking about the players who will have the capacity and the opportunity to fill that sudden void. He did that, mentioning designated player Myrto Uzuni, MLS veteran Diego Rubio, and even Generation Adidas/SuperDraft selection CJ Fodrey.

But is this something we should necessarily believe? So far this season, in 20 regular-season matches, Austin FC players other than Vázquez have combined for just 10 goals — collectively, that's a goal every 180 minutes. Of the healthy upright Verde players on the team, it's a fullback, Guilherme Biro, who leads all with a pair of goals.

Let's take a little deeper dive into who might step up.

It's up to Uzuni?

Though Uzuni's a different kind of center forward than Vázquez, the mounting concern from him as the season has developed is that he was either ill-suited or uncomfortable with the left wing position in a 4-3-3 formation, and didn't seem much more comfortable as a second striker in a 4-4-2. There was even talk from some that Uzuni would best be deployed as a super sub to spell Vázquez — an unconventional way to utilize one of your most expensive players, admittedly, but possibly more effective than what happened before.

Here's what he's done in MLS so far, in chart form.

As a reminder, this is how he looked in his most recent season in La Liga.

Not a lot of passing from him back then, but certainly better in the scoring department than he is now. That he's statistically faring worse against MLS defenders compared to other MLS attackers — given the quality on the top La Liga teams alone — indicates that either we're witnessing a half-season anomaly (though he famously started his time at Granada on a goalscoring drought stretching 15 games) or that his game's fallen off a cliff. Being more of a focal point of the offense might bring some undue pressure, but it also might imbue him with a renewed sense of purpose. It'd be welcome to see some goals from him, to state the obvious.

Does Diego have one more run in him?

Diego Rubio has reached double-digit goals twice in his MLS career — with 11 in 2019 and 16 in 2022. It's now 2025, and if he's capable of doing this every three years, this should be the year, right? Of course, he's now 32 and likely toward the end of his MLS career, but he's per 90 numbers over the last 365 days — albeit with a limited sample size — are impressive.

With 3.46 shots per 90, 3.61 shot-creating actions per 90, and 0.49 non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists per 90, maybe it's time for him to see more 30-minute rather than 15-minute activations. It's also possible that the high-performance staff has deemed him more suitable for shorter time spans, given the easier strength of schedule in the last 14 games and the absence of Vázquez's starter minutes. As a result, perhaps we'll see Estévez rely on him more.

Is it time to get younger?

And then there's CJ Fodrey — who Estévez said on Thursday has been getting second-team minutes to stay active and confident for when he's called on to play with the first team. Like Uzuni, Fodrey doesn't look like a conventional left winger when he's playing the role – his college coach told me (as we revisited in a 2024 interview) that he's best an inverted left winger, being able to do a lot of things that a traditional center forward can do.

It's notable, as I write this on Friday evening, that Fodrey is not on the team sheet as Austin FC II prepares for a game at Parmer Field. That almost certainly means that Fodrey will be activated on the matchday 20 on Saturday night ... though he hasn't played more than 19 minutes in a match this year.

Or will it be someone we don't know yet?

With Vázquez going on the season-ending injury list, Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has another roster spot at his disposal he didn't have before, and though international spots are at a premium, perhaps there's a striker who needs a chance to showcase in the lead-up to the World Cup who could slot in for 14 matches, up to two Open Cup matches, and whatever might lie ahead in the playoffs?

It's admittedly a long shot that such a deal could be done, though we don't know what's already being worked on behind the scenes, including the possibility of current Austin players earning green cards, or current Austin players holding international spots being dealt in the summer transfer window.

We do know, however, that there are minutes to go around.

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