It’s just one win, but defender Jon Gallagher sees last night’s 2-1 Austin FC win over FC Dallas — the team’s first of the 2024 season, and the first in eight matches going back to the tail end of last season — as a “stepping stone” to more wins.
“We've been so close and we've been kind of right there, almost getting that feeling,” Gallagher said after the match. “Today felt like a culmination of all the hard work. I thought we absolutely dominated them. I think it was well justified and earned results.”
Leave aside for a moment that Dallas fielded a depleted roster (most notably minus Jesus Ferreira) and didn’t seem to want much of the ball, leading to nearly 2:1 ratios for Verde in possession and total passes, a shot advantage of 16-9, and what looks to be an adjusted shots on target tally of 4-4 (it was 5-4 last night, but four shots on target still dramatically increases what Verde’s done to date … up to two shots on target per match).
Saturday’s performance was still the team’s best to date this season, and Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff had plenty of praise to dole out, starting with Diego Rubio and his own son.
“Diego works tirelessly. Owen was fantastic — very ball secure, very much involved in a lot of our attacks in the first half. He's been part of three goals this season, so he's got quality. He's a calm, technical player. Dani Pereira — that was a man’s performance from him, really organized. He's in that part of the field, there is risk with what he does, he's a a ball-handling center mid good as to get in the league, but certain games, there's bigger risks in the middle of the field. So I think today, [with] this opponent, we knew we'd be able to utilize his qualities. Brendan [Hines-Ike] and Julio [Cascante] were quite good.”
But then said something also matching the match’s eye test, especially when turned on Jader Obrian: “We created a boatload of chances. Two goals is nowhere close to enough. We had plenty on the doorstep, plenty that we didn't get on the end of.”
