In case you didn’t already surmise this, Austin FC players and coaches are not happy with the team’s recent run of bad results.
While goalkeeper Brad Stuver notes that the locker room’s “fine” heading into Wednesday’s match against D.C. United, the team’s ongoing 10-match winless run — going back to mid-July, counting Leagues Cup — is impacting them in their day-to-day lives.
“I think too many people think that when you don't win, like guys are just like skipping about town happy and whatever,” Stuver said. “This affects our daily lives. Like if you go ask any one of our families, our wives or partners, they'll tell you that we're pretty miserable. This affects us. Our jobs aren’t a nine-to-five where we can just shut off at 5 o’clock and just not think about it. This is a 24/7 gig. How we do in our games and where we sit in the standings affect us, just outside of everything.”
Forward Will Bruin, who had an epic miss in Saturday’s away loss to Colorado he believes was the difference between three points and no points, added, “No one in this facility is happy with how things are going. We know that we are a much better team than what our results and our points and our situation is. I mean, we're the ones that take complete ownership of that because we put ourselves in this position, you know, so to reiterate what Brad says. nobody's happy.”
Both of them noted, though, that there’s a determination among the players to shoulder the challenging task ahead of them right now. They’re aware that reaching the playoffs will likely require Verde to not only win out in their last three contests, but also to get friendly results from other teams to help them move up the table into at least 9th place.
And the match on Wednesday is more literally must-win than previous must-win matches have been. For the first time in the 2023 season, the MLS website’s matchday review column, that asks “Who can clinch playoffs or be eliminated?” has several scenarios in which Verde will be out of the 2023 playoff mix come late Wednesday night.
