Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff didn’t quite say, “We had ‘em where we wanted ‘em” regarding Sunday’s 1-0 loss to St. Louis City SC at Citypark, but he did feel like the match was in the balance prior to Joao Klauss’ deciding 57th-minute goal.
“You want to generate more shots,” he began, before assessing, “I think we had plenty of opportunities where we arrive in good spots.”
He cited the team’s recent propensity for scoring at home, saying regarding those prior two matches, “We scored six goals at home; we could have had eight or nine. It shouldn't change based on venue, but it's always difficult operating in the opposition's space. Again, I thought from a standpoint of what you want this game to look like, going on the road to one of the more hostile difficult places, angling for the best record in the league last year at home, it's gonna be challenging our ability to compete duels, possess the ball, create corners.”
“We knew we weren't going to necessarily set up shop like we do at home,” he added, “but there were some clear pictures and opportunities, especially at the end of the first half, the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first five to 10 minutes of the second half, it was quite good. We're arriving in the box … we make poor decisions and poor execution … all those things change games. There's there's no two ways about it. The margins are too thin.”
He went on to assess that Austin largely neutralized St. Louis, claiming they only got five shots in the first 85 minutes, with most of their shots coming when it was more a transition game at the end. MLS’s game feed has it as five shots after the 85th minute for a combined 0.73 xG, including a whopping 0.5 for Hosei Kijima’s how-did-he-miss-it miss in the second minute of stoppage time.
That led Wolff to conclude, “There's still a lot of good in this game. One-zero, it's disappointing to go home with nothing. I think we played well enough to grab a point if not more.”
And yet, unless you can win a penalty, you have to put a shot on goal to score in soccer. With both teams being as anemic as they were offensively for most of it, even if you grant Wolff’s point of St. Louis getting chances toward the very end of the match, the best-case scenario is a 0-0 draw. That might have helped compared to where we arrived.
Where we arrived, ultimately, is a continuation of Verde getting thoroughly outplayed away from Austin in 2024.
How outplayed? Let’s do some math.
