# Verde All Day > Austin FC news, analysis, match recaps, interviews, press conference highlights, and transfer rumors from Phil West and Moisés Chiullán. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### About this site URL: https://verdeallday.com/about/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T15:28:32.000Z Verde All Day was launched by Phil West in August 2023 shortly after beloved soccer site [The Striker](https://www.thestriker.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) went on hiatus. Its aim is to provide the best and best-written Austin FC coverage. Its original home was on Substack, archived [here](https://verdeallday.substack.com/). Subscribe today at either the Standard or Premier tier, and you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. (Premium subscribers get some bonus content we're excited about launching.) Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Verde All Day to continue to exist. Thank you! ### --- ### ### Yes, Verde All Day has moved! URL: https://verdeallday.com/moved/ Last updated: 2025-01-25T19:53:52.000Z Hello! We've moved from Substack! Here's a quick checklist of things to do. - Go to the [sign in](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signin) portal. If you're in the system, you'll be able to put in your email, get a link via email to log in, and access all the standard paywall content (if you're a subscriber). - Go to your account. There's a bit of weirdness we're working through right now regarding levels. You're probably listed as "Just the First Team," which doesn't exist. You should either be "Standard," which is the $6 a month or $60 a year level you were on via Substack, or "Premium," a new $8 a month/$80 a year level that gives you access to a monthly roundup (with some fun bonus annotations providing perspective on the month that just transpired), plus a chance to share some feedback about past, present, and suggested future that we'll take seriously given that you're willing to pay a little more to offer it. - If you were a Founding-level member on Substack, please [email](mailto:bureauofverdeallday@gmail.com)! We've been grappling about things to do for donors at this level, so we want to gather your ideas before we relaunch this as a level that honors your generosity. - Be sure to bookmark the new site. Assuming the transition worked for you, [this article](https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-is-verde-and-a-heliocentric-no-10-is-probably-not/) should have come to your email the morning of Saturday, Jan. 25\. If it did not, [email](mailto:bureauofverdeallday@gmail.com) us so we can rectify it. - While we have content from the Substack ported over here, know that we're keeping the Substack up as an archive, much in the same way that [The Striker](https://www.thestriker.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) is preserved as an archive. Having known the pain of losing an archive once before that was beyond my control – ProSoccerUSA and my coverage of the Anthony Precourt/Austin City Council saga – I know how important it is for fans to have articles written in the moment about past events. It would be so useful now to be able to go back to those past articles. - Please share any articles you like on the new site on your social media channels. The impetus to move off Substack and on to Ghost is to help the Google robots recognize this site for the news source that it is. I just saw Google reward a site on Uzuni news with top placement; the site isn't locally connected AND spelled Brandon Vázquez with an S. That's shameful. - Speaking of social media, we're Team Bluesky. Here are all the Verde All Day-related accounts you should follow: - [Phil West](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) - [Moisés Chiullán](https://bsky.app/profile/moiseschiu.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) - [Verde All Day](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) - [Emergency Podcast](https://bsky.app/profile/emergencypodcast.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) - Have fun! This is a great soccer-loving community we have in Austin, and we're thrilled that Verde All Day and Emergency Podcast belong to it. ### Austin FC Media Landscape URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-media-landscape/ Last updated: 2025-02-05T18:18:42.000Z You're lucky to be an Austin FC fan. I believe we have the best and widest-ranging media coverage in MLS. Here's a tour through all the sources I can recommend that aren't Verde All Day. We recommend bookmarking all of these (and following them on social media). (Outlets are listed in alphabetical order.) ## The written word [Austin American-Statesman](https://www.statesman.com/sports/austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com): Colby Gordon provides Austin FC coverage and is one of the most consistent and present media reps, showing up at trainings and matches with good questions. [Austin Chronicle](https://www.austinchronicle.com/sports/the-verde-report/?ref=verdeallday.com): Eric Goodman, who also does Olympics coverage for NBC, brings sometimes-spicy questions and sometimes-spicy takes to the table, representing Austin's venerable yet still cavalier alt-weekly. [The False Nine](https://thefalse9texas.com/?ref=verdeallday.com): It started as a parody site poking good fun at *The Striker* and yet has outlasted *The Striker*. Though it's still humor-forward, it provides fan-facing insights and observations worth checking out. [Verde All Day](https://verdeallday.com/): You're here, so you already know what we do: Comprehensive coverage, including match coverage, highlights from media availabilities (at trainings and after matches), analysis, and features. ## The podcasts There's certainly no shortage of Austin FC podcasts. **Emergency Podcast** ([Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergency-podcast-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1742052077?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/04gqpbtL1e4O8qNLAl27aF?ref=verdeallday.com)): The audio arm of Verde All Day, with Moisés Chiullán and Phil West weighing in about Austin FC, Austin FC II, and MLS, with some pop culture thrown in just for fun. It's the only Austin FC podcast that uses a cold open, and it's got the best theme song of all the Austin FC podcasts. **Moontower Soccer** ([site](https://www.moontowersoccer.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), [Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moontower-soccer-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1517423541?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/0ldZVxZloiQnEg5az3o7uq?ref=verdeallday.com)): If it's Tuesday and you're a serious Austin FC fan, it's likely you're checking in to hear Landon Cotham say "Hello friends" and Jeremiah Bentley say "Hey, everybody, I'm Jeremiah Bentley." They've been podcasting together about Austin FC before it was officially a team, and their analysis, interviews, and well-reasoned points of view make them essential. Subscribing to the Moontower feed also gets you **Swoontower Soccer**, with hosts Steph and Mike Crugnola providing fit checks (what players wear into the stadium before changing into their kits), analysis of players' social media accounts, interviews with the club's various Mascots of the Match, and other fun observations on off-the field aspects of the team. (They also do match previews featuring content creators from opponents, which provide additional valuable perspective heading into a match day.) **The North End Podcast** ([site](https://www.thenorthendpodcast.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), [Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-north-end-podcast/id1640322472?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/3mWaf26XJnt7qMY208GBu9?ref=verdeallday.com)): This prolific podcast from Zac Graham and Ian Michaud brings match recaps and previews during the season, plenty of roster building talk, and what they like to term "the nonsense." During the preseason, they diligent sort through social media for clues to what's happening with trialists, first-teamers, and VerDos players, and they're unfailingly positive. **Suffering from Joy** ([Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/suffering-from-joy-podcast/id1653454522?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/7zJRFRaaZZQux9FIKTxC7f?ref=verdeallday.com)): A quartet of Austin FC fans chime in on a variety of Austin FC topics. While on an irregular schedule, they're knowledgeable and bring the occasional surprise (notably, a Michael Lahoud interview shortly after last season ended). **Top Flight Podcast** ([Patreon site](https://www.patreon.com/c/WeAreAustinTV/posts?ref=verdeallday.com), [Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/top-flight/id1561971043?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/6QLzhJ5bvdMOKukaqgtO6R?ref=verdeallday.com)): This bilingual podcast from We Are Austin TV features interviews, news, rumors, and match-related content. While it's not as fast and loose with opinions as the post-match Spaces they host, as they facilitate a forum for whatever fans are feeling (win, lose, or draw), they do bring their own takes to the larger conversation. **Vamos Verde** ([Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vamos-verde/id1730559916?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vamos-verde/id1730559916?ref=verdeallday.com)): KUT's Juan Garcia and Jimmy Maas launched this podcast in 2024 which goes in-depth with its player interviews and provides looks at Verde-adjacent culture as well as media insights. (I have been on to [try to demystify Leagues Cup](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/road-trip-austin-fc-winger-c-j-fodrey-writer-phil-west/id1730559916?i=1000664017008&ref=verdeallday.com).) **The Verdependent Podcast** ([Apple feed](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-verdependent-podcast/id1686334736?ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify feed](https://open.spotify.com/show/1uxAIgi4Rc61PWX00CSNBt?ref=verdeallday.com)): Hosts Logan (aka Lobar) and Paul maintain "we depend on the Verde & Black for our everyday vibes," and regularly go up with new content on Thursdays. ## Other notable outlets and independent creators In addition to the regular written and podcasting content, Austin's TV stations cover the team, though it's hard to know which stations will show up to any given press event. [KXAN](https://www.kxan.com/sports-general/austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com) still has a partnership with the club and plans to air (and stream) its Verde Lights preview show on Saturdays at 11 am, and it also does the best of the four major local stations at updating its website with Verde stories. A number of independent content producers, most notably Michelle Sanchez and Laura Gallo (aka Laura La Parce), take to social media to share player interviews and other content; Gallo's even become a regular presence at VerDos games. [Otra X Favor](https://www.otraxfavor.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), which also provides photos for Verde All Day, does [long-form video interviews](https://www.otraxfavor.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) on YouTube with a number of Austin FC community members, though it also branches out into covering Austin's Latino culture. ### Testing ground URL: https://verdeallday.com/testing-ground/ Last updated: 2025-02-07T19:12:29.000Z Something tells me this footnote might work. \[\[1\]\] \[\[1\]\]: Footnotes are magic. ### The 81 different possibilities: How the top four teams in the West can finish on Decision Day 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-decision-day-west-top-four/ Last updated: 2025-10-16T10:46:28.000Z For your Decision Day tracking pleasure, here are the 81 possible results that the top four teams in the West could muster on Saturday, and what finish that will result in. ## The scenarios Scenario 01: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 02: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 03: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 04: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 05: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 06: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 07: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 08: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 09: VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 10: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 11: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 12: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 13: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 14: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 15: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 16: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 17: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 18: VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 19: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD Scenario 20: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 21: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 22: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 23: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 24: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 25: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 26: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 27: VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 28: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 29: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 30: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 31: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 32: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 33: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 34: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 35: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 36: VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 37: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 38: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 39: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 40: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 41: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 42: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 43: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 44: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 45: VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 46: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD Scenario 47: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 48: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 49: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 50: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 51: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 52: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 53: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 54: VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 55: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 56: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 57: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L ; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 58: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 59: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 60: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L ; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 61: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 62: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 63: VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 64: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 65: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 66: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 67: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 68: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 69: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 70: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC Scenario 71: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 72: VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 73: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD Scenario 74: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 75: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN Scenario 76: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 77: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 78: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 79: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC Scenario 80: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D ; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN Scenario 81: VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L; Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN ## Tracking by who ends up No. 3 and facing Austin ### Opponent: LAFC VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN ### Opponent: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD ### Opponent: SD VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC ## If you're rooting for a particular table order ### Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN ### Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: SD, 2: VAN, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC ### Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: MIN, 4: SD ### Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: LAFC, 3: SD, 4: MIN ### Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: MIN, 3: SD, 4: LAFC ### Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=W | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=W | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=D | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=D | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=D | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN VAN=L | SD=L | LAFC=L | MIN=L | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: LAFC, 4: MIN ### Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=W | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=W | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=D | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=D | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC VAN=L | SD=D | LAFC=L | MIN=W | Table: 1: VAN, 2: SD, 3: MIN, 4: LAFC *Thanks to Chase Hoffman for guiding Python to do the math and integrating my formatting fussiness.* ### 2026 by the numbers URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-by-the-numbers/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T23:36:06.000Z As a public service from Verde All Day, we're going to keep tabs on some of the important stats and visualizations from the 2026 MLS regular season. All basic stats courtesy of FotMob and MLSSoccer.com, plus xPoints/goals added data plus visualizations courtesy of American Soccer Analysis. *Updated Aug. 18, following Matchweek 19.* ## Overall team performance ### Record 4W 10L 5D (17 points) ### Standings 14th in the West ### If the season ended today, Austin would ... ... miss the playoffs, badly. ### xPoints *This is a supermetric calculating how many points a team should have based on ASA metrics.* 16.96 (29th in MLS) ### Goals added differential \-15.82 (18.35 goals added, 34.18 goals added against) (29th in MLS) ### Game state, in minutes Leading: 383 (22.13%) Tied: 914 (52.83%) Behind: 433 (25.02%) Note: In 19 matches this season, Verde's been ahead in nine and behind in 11 (and, of course, tied in 19, since matches start 0-0). Proportionally, Verde's led most in three matches, been tied most in 11 matches, and been behind most in five matches. ### Rolling NPxGD The new playing style has perhaps contributed to an uptick in xG and a dip in xGA, but it's still in the negative. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Austin_FC_npxgd_2026-12-.png) ## Goals Total after 19 matches: 23 ### Goal leaders - Myrto Uzuni: 6 - Christian Ramírez: 5 - Jon Bell: 2 - Jayden Nelson: 2 - Guilherme Biro: 1 - Mikkel Desler: 1 - Owen Goal: 1 - Brendan Hines-Ike: 1 - Joseph Rosales: 1 - Ilie Sánchez: 1 - Ervin Torres: 1 - Facundo Torres: 1 ### Team xG - 18.8 (29th in MLS) ### xG (expected goals) leaders - Myrto Uzuni: 5.3 - Christian Ramírez: 2.5 - Facundo Torres: 1.9 ### xGOT (expected goals on target) leaders - Myrto Uzuni: 5.7 - Christian Ramírez: 4 - Facundo Torres: 2.5 ### Big chances - 28 (30th in MLS) ### Big chances missed - 16 (30th in MLS) ### Touches in opposition box - 367 (26th in MLS) ### Ends scored in (for home matches) - North: 9 (69%) - South: 4 (31%) ### Minutes scored in - 0-15: 6 (26%) - 16-30: 2 (9%) - 31-45: 3 (13%) - 46-60: 2 (9%) - 61-75: 1 (4%) - 76-90: 9 (39%) ### Means scored by - Open play: 13 - Set pieces: 9 - Penalty kicks: 1 ## Shot Chart ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Austin_FC_shots_2026-9-.png) ## Assists - Total after 19 matches (including secondary assists): 25 ### Assist leaders - Facundo Torres: 6 (tied for 22th in MLS) - Myrto Uzuni: 5 - Guilherme Biro: 2 - Joseph Rosales: 2 - Robert Taylor: 2 - Ervin Torres: 2 ### Key passes leaders - Facundo Torres: 44 (7th in MLS) - Joseph Rosales: 13 - Jon Gallagher: 12 ### xA (expected assists) leaders - Facundo Torres: 3.2 - Jon Gallagher: 1.9 - Joseph Rosales: 1.8 ## Passing Network Here's what it's looking like with the new formation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Austin_FC_passing_network_2026-5-.png) ## Defense ### xGA (expected goals against) - 40.03 (27th in MLS) ### Saves per match - 4.8 (1st in MLS) ### Interceptions per match - 7.5 (28th in MLS) ### Tackles per match - 12.2 (29th in MLS) ### Clearances per match - 23.4 (16th in MLS) ### Clean sheets - 4 (vs. DC, vs. LAFC, vs. Houston, vs. St. Louis) ### Own goals - Guilherme Biro: 1 - Oleksandr Svatok: 1 ### Minutes opponents scored in - 0-15: 3 (8%) - 16-30: 5 (13%) - 31-45: 5 (13%) - 46-60: 4 (11%) - 61-75: 5 (13%) - 76-90: 16 (42%) ### Means opponents scored by - Open play: 23 - Set pieces: 8 - Penalty kicks: 1 ### Ends opponents scored in (for home matches) - North: 8 (67%) - South: 4 (33%) ### Points dropped due to goals let in from winning or drawing positions at the 68th minute or later 17, and here's how: - Feb. 22, vs. Minnesota, goal allowed at 90' (turning 2-1 lead into 2-2 draw), two points dropped; - March 7, at Charlotte, goals allowed at 68' and 90' + 3' (turning 1-1 draw into 3-1 loss), one point dropped (three total); - March 14, at Real Salt Lake, goal allowed at 88' (turning 1-1 draw into 2-1 loss), one point dropped (four total); - April 4, at Miami, goal allowed at 82' (turning 2-1 lead into 2-2 draw), two points dropped (six total); - April 18, at Toronto, goal allowed at 88' (turning 3-2 lead into 3-3 draw), two points dropped (eight total); - April 22, at San Jose, goals allowed at 78', 83', 85', and 89' (turning 1-1 draw into 5-1 loss), one point dropped (nine total); - May 10, at Minnesota, goals allowed at 69' and 77' (turning 1-0 lead into 2-1 defecit), two points dropped (with Verde scoring goal at 79' to equalize) (11 total); and - May 17, vs. SKC, goals allowed at 79' and 82' (turning 1-0 lead into 2-1 loss), three points dropped (14 total) - Aug. 1 at Colorado, goal allowed at 90’+4’ (turning 0-0 draw into 1-0 loss), one point dropped (16 total) - Aug. 16, vs. Dallas, goal allowed at 73’ (turning 1-1 draw into 2-1 loss), one point dropped (17 total) [Subscribe and support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ## Posts ### On Facundo Torres' disallowed goal: A response from PRO URL: https://verdeallday.com/response-from-pro-facundo-torres-disallowed-goal-atxvsj-090526/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T20:24:54.000Z I have a quick addendum to [my post-match wrapup](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvsj-090526/) from earlier today, following Austin FC's [1-1 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsj-090526/) against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. Fan discussions around the disallowed goal scored by Facundo Torres in the 10th minute are swirling around two talking points: - The ball-on-arm contact that referee Sergii Boiko ruled to take place following video review was "incidental" and therefore shouldn't have been factored in (versus, say, [the handball](https://proreferees.com/2026/09/05/2026-the-definitive-angle-mls-matchday-23/?ref=verdeallday.com) called on Brendan Hines-Ike in the recent match in Portland, resulting in a PK, in which he "made himself bigger" by having an arm extended from his body when said arm made contact with the ball); and - The length of the video review and the inconclusive-to-some nature of the video evidence doesn't meet the "clear and obvious error" standard that was invoked as rationale for video review when it was first introduced to MLS a decade ago. I reached out to Chris Rivett, Director of Communications and External Relations for the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), which oversees refereeing and video review in MLS, for answers to those questions. Here's what I learned. ## A handball is a handball (when an attacker does it) Whether incidental or not, and whether an arm is flapping like a bird wing or pressed lovingly close to one's side, it doesn't matter as current handball rules are written. Per Rivett, if the ball strikes the attacker's hand or arm on an attacking play, in which that attacker scores directly or immediately after, it counts as a handball offense. Given that Torres' next touch on the ball is the one with his foot that scores the goal, that appears to have met that "immediately after" standard. (I don't like it either, and I'd like to see a distinction made between incidental and deliberate contact, but that's not the way the rule is written, as frustrating as it was to follow last night.) ## It's not necessarily about 'clear and obvious' The second facet involves when video review is invoked, and if the standard of "clear and obvious error" is really in play, or there's something in the understanding of the rules that gives VAR more agency. This is what Rivett said: “Clear and obvious as a concept is still the fundamental principle of video review, but over more than a decade, it has evolved towards being about clear video evidence. The referee will explain to the VAR what they saw in the moment. If, when the VAR checks the footage, they can provide clear video evidence that shows something different, then that is when you would expect a review to be recommended.” Perhaps you think "clear" is doing a lot of work in describing last night's "clear video evidence" of the goal. But the evolution that Rivett is referencing here allows you to see at least how VAR felt justified stepping in, to helpfully provide information that Boiko might have missed from his singular vantage point. The disallowed goal won't be the most talked about controversial referee call from Saturday night — imagine being a [Western Michigan](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/%5F/id/49843963/michigan-stuns-western-michigan-hail-mary-clock-controversy?ref=verdeallday.com) fan right now — but Jon Gallagher certainly sounded flummoxed by the decision in his post-match comments. He reporting that the referee told players, "It was about millimeters." He thought that it's hard to square "millimeters" and "clear and obvious," but unpacking it a bit more, it looks like those elements belong to different facets. The "millimeters" is about where the video footage showed the ball striking Torres, and the ability to get that video footage to the ref is where the "clear video evidence" standard comes in. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'I don't know what happened to clear and obvious': Austin FC rues 'two points dropped' but still sees path to the playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvsj-090526/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T14:51:05.000Z For Austin FC on Saturday night, playing against the San Jose Earthquakes, the match was shaping up like its previous home against Philadelphia — an early goal let in, followed by an equalizer just minutes later to recharge the home fans and bring life to the match. But then video review stepped in, taking what looked like a highlight-reel Facundo Torres goal and erasing it off the board. The equalizer would come for Verde — but not until the final minute of second-half stoppage time, more than 90 minutes after Beau Leroux's shocking opening goal, to arrive at [a 1-1 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsj-090526/). Jon Gallagher, characterizing the match as "two points dropped" rather than one point earned, reported from his vantage point on the field that he thought Torres' goal was legitimate. In the locker room, post-match, he pointedly questioned the handball call — for a ball that appeared to roll off the backside of Torres' upper arm incidentally – an arm as flush against his body as possible – en route to the athletic finish. "I didn't even know what they were looking for," Gallagher said. "I mean, the fact that it gets called is crazy. I don't know what happened to clear and obvious ... the guys said that the ref came over and he said 'it was about millimeters.' So if we're talking about clear and obvious, then millimeters and clear and obvious don't really align with each other." On the broadcast following the video review decision, Torres indicated to the referee where he believes the ball actually struck him; the commentators concurred that the reversal was unfair. ## A clear and obvious aside In a 2017 [MLSSoccer.com explainer](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/video-review-glossary-338100?ref=verdeallday.com) — on the video review process MLS pioneered in 2016 — a clear and obvious error is explained as: *a blatant, incorrect officiating decision. During a Video Review, the question asked by referees will be: "Was the referee’s original decision ‘clearly wrong?" as opposed to "Was the decision correct?"* Furthermore: *The International Football Association Board (The IFAB) has identified four incidents deemed to significantly influence the outcome of a match: goals, penalty kick decisions, straight red cards, and cases of mistaken identity. Under the IFAB’s protocol for Video Review, these four situations are the only events in which a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) can recommend a Video Review to the referee.* We have an ask out to the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) about whether "clear and obvious" standards have changed. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, San Jose Earthquakes 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsj-090526/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T14:29:03.000Z Going into Saturday night, the San Jose Earthquakes were winless in seven matches and had only one outright win in their last *13* match days. Austin FC kept San Jose on that track and trend, much to their chagrin. It took until the last touch of the game, but Austin got there, salvaging a 1-1 draw thanks to Guilherme Biro's heroics. An 8th-minute goal from Beau Leroux made it look like San Jose were taking September seriously, answered two minutes later by a Facundo Torres would-be goal that ended up disallowed after a three-minute-long VAR check for handball that no one on the Quakes asked for, it was so unclear and not-obvious. Most of the time leading up to the 30th minute hydration break found Verde trying to re-establish their promising pressing from the opening minutes of the match. Following Joseph Rosales drawing a promising corner at the 26th minute, Facundo Torres lofted it to no one in a deadly red zone spot. On the counter, Benji Kikanovic crossed it right-to-left in almost the exact same way (only he had someone ready to receive), and it almost turned into a second San Jose goal. Following a round of hydro shots on a tray during the cooling break, Austin executed multiple promising charges forward that led to equally promising crosses in ... but the promises kept failing to deliver despite solid effort. One such press resulted in a brain-melting tangle between "Sabo" and "JoRo" (due to Rosales just plain getting in the way) that resulted in a turnover that Ousseni Bouda almost drove right down the middle into the Quakes' second goal. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/09/IMG_3268-1.JPG) The Joseph Rosales left-footed strike from the right side that almost equalized in the first half. (Photo: Alex Rubio, CincoSoles Media)The goThe Tt Corner after corner after corner turned into 10 (five for each team) by the time six minutes of first-half stoppage time was announced. A left-footed strike from Rosales on the right side at 45+5' came the closest to fulfilling all the promise of the first half, just before it ended with no joy for Austin. Would a head-clearing halftime cool-off and recalibration break the door down after all that knocking? Fifteen minutes into the second half, Austin mad their first subs with a Žan-for-Jon Kolmanič/Gallagher swap and Jon Bell in for a bandaged-due-to-a-shiner Oleksandr Svatok. The door-knocking resumed on the other side of a double sub (Ramírez for Alastuey and Placheta in for Rosales) and especially after a final sub of Brendan Hines-Ike for Mikkel Desler at 75'. At 77', Facundo Torres narrowly missed a great chance in front of goal, and once play went dead, the Quakes exhausted their subs going for a triple dip to hold the 1-0 scoreline. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/09/IMG_3291.JPG) Literal shot. (Photo: Alex Rubio, CincoSoles Media) The promise of an Austin goal that counted *finally* came true at the death thanks to a glorious, exasperated strike from Biro at 90+6' after Brandon Vázquez headed down a bal for Christian Ramírez to tap across to the Brazilian sensation ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/09/IMG_3292.JPG) Celly chaser. (Photo: Alex Rubio, CincoSoles Media) ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) This had to be the combination play that *should have* been ruled a goal and changed the game in the 10th minute. This hurt Verde for the duration of the game not just on account of losing the equalizer that would have brought things back to neutral on the scorecard, but from losing crucial momentum and focus so early One of the longest VAR monitor reviews in recent memory didn't help. ## One thing you might have missed It was Luchador Night, and during halftime they ran footage from Verdisimo's successful title defense against somebody hailing from Medellín, Colombia whose name *I* missed. They ran footage of the match during halftime in the stadium. Yet another instance proving that Austin FC's video team is unparalleled in MLS for turning around not just TikTok-length highlights but a full on condensed match. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/09/VERDISIMO.jpg) Verdisimo executing a Spinebuster shortly before pinning and winning. (Photo: Moisés Chiullán) ## One nerdy tidbit In the same way that every Star Trek captain has their own way of telling their navigator to engage the warp drive, each MLS coach defines their own gameday fits. Tonight, Davy Arnaud added "button down chambray shirt" to his repertoire. At first glance, you may have thought it was denim, but even though they are similar, [denim and chambray are *not the same thing*](https://lafinchfabrics.myshopify.com/blogs/news/all-about-denim-and-chambray-fabrics?ref=verdeallday.com). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative [Based on what I wrote yesterday about the September campaign](https://verdeallday.com/wake-me-up-when-september-ends-austin-fc-table-climbing-outlook/), Austin needed this win as one of their three most-needed, not just for the points but to steer San Jose into a downward spiral. Thing is, it's survivable thanks to Results Elsewhere as of this writing breaking favorably for Austin (Colorado losing to Columbus, San Diego losing to Orlando). If San Jose stay glued to 4th place, then maybe they end up being that "solid 4th" team at the top of the stagnant Western Conference pond *instead* of a Dallas that went down early against SKC and only barely notching a 4-3 win at the end of that match . September is only 1/5 match days in. Could be worse for Austin, could be a little better. Midweek against the Rapids is even more crucial now. ## A question we have heading into the press conference What does this portend for a midweek match against a Colorado that got shut out 3-0 by Columbus (and approach a USOC Semifinal) before heading up to Vancouver next weekend? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Wake me up when September ends: Can Austin FC climb the table (and how do they)? URL: https://verdeallday.com/wake-me-up-when-september-ends-austin-fc-table-climbing-outlook/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T23:25:20.000Z In the effort to make the 2026 MLS playoffs, "win every game" is the most obvious course of action for Austin FC to take (and for fans to want), but what *else* helps? Investigating which "results elsewhere" will most improve Austin's playoff chances reveals a lot about the momentum of not only the Violet Crown kings, but the rest of the Western Conference. For now, we're looking at *mostly* the newly started month to come. Pour one out, because for the last time, September will transform the playoff race before it's over. With the schedule switch in 2027, we will retire the longstanding MLS idea/notion/saying that "nothing matters until September." As it stands, the current state of the table and, perhaps more crucially, *which* teams the current No. 4 through 13 clubs are set to face makes this a spicier September than normal. It's worth noting that 2026 is *also* the last season of "conferences" before a unified League table and divisional play change the late season playoff math and chase forever. We'll dip a tiny bit into October relative the team and situation. We're focusing on those teams above No. 14 Austin. The current top three (Vancouver, Houston, and LAFC) are considered beyond safe to the point that they *might just* end up top three going into the playoffs. We'll start with general things to watch for, then Austin's most-crucial wins (and why), and then blast through briefs on the ten teams between Austin and the aforementioned top three. ## Western table stakes The rest of the West (below the top three) has *not* been great this year. It's full of teams plagued by lots of draws and a general difficulty with winning matches outright. It would be *great* for Austin if the West keeps having those issues. Next, Verde fans want to see **Western Conference teams lose outright to others that pose *no threat* to Austin climbing the table**. The problem with West teams suffering outright losses to other West teams is that those stacks of three points help other teams Austin wants to leapfrog. You want to see Vancouver, Houston, and LAFC beat everyone they play who is not Austin. That leaves one wild card fourth team that will theoretically have a hot streak in September. It could be any of Dallas, St. Louis, or Colorado, from where I'm sitting. Most importantly, as a sub-point to the above, **you want to see West teams lose outright to any and every East team they play**, since that helps nobody else in the Western Conference. Based on the teams involved, losing to those East teams is likely, as we'll get into below. Oh, and you want Sporting Kansas City to improbably beat anyone and everyone they play, because no *realistic* scenario where Verde is in playoff contention involves SKC being able to catch them. ## Austin's September Starting the month on 24 points, Austin has five *very winnable games* in September. No, really. At home, they have San Jose in a slump, and Colorado who went big in the transfer window (both incoming and outgoing) and will be working out a new group dynamic. Vancouver host Verde just *three days* before playing a second leg against Montreal in the Canadian Championship, which the 'Caps definitely care about more than beating Austin. The Copa Tejas Revenge match against Dallas in a newly renovated stadium *could* finally break the curse of Toyota Truck Month. Verde catch San Diego at the end of a *hell* of a month for the Shiny & Chrome. The Austin that showed up the way they did against Toluca *can* win those five matches. Imagine being on 39 points in a month's time. Before you dismiss that as impossible, tell yourself a month ago that Austin would win all three Leagues Cup group games on top of beating Seattle and Portland away. The ones it hurts the least to lose or draw are Vancouver and Dallas. Results (and preferably wins) against San Jose, Colorado, and San Diego are essential to Austin's playoff chances. Verde winning their first two matches, in particular, both keep the dream alive and would put them at 30 points, just below Colorado's 31\. Beating San Diego gives Verde 33\. A conservatively optimistic projection of three wins and three draws puts them on 35 points by month's end. (*From Phil: That pulls their points per game up to 1.3, or around 44 for the season if the team retains that form. Getting to 35 points from where they were requires playing at 1.43 PPG since the World Cup break, even with three straight losses in there.*) A lot of West teams are going to have unpleasant, stagnant Septembers. If Austin can somehow hit their September potential ceiling of 39 points, it changes everything. ## From 13 to four, and 26 to 34 points The reason I think September will be more interesting for Austin fans than they may expect is that a *ton* of the teams in Verde's way to Kool-Aid Man-ning into the playoffs are ... *not in a great place*, in various meanings of the phrase. From teams suffering winless runs of form to full on "who are we?!" identity crises, there is a lot to realistically hope for in the "results elsewhere" world. Let's roll in reverse table order. Note that 13th and 4th places are only separated by 8 points, 26 and 34 respectively. Vancouver, RSL, and Seattle all have one match in hand. Everyone else has played 22 matches save LAFC and LA Galaxy, who've played 23 each. Everyone below plays five MLS matches in September except for RSL, who play six. ### No. 13: Los Angeles Galaxy, 26 points (with a ceiling of 41) One Austin win plus one loss by the Galaxy jumps Verde over the Carsonians (and probably Seattle). Galaxy have been red card magnets for a while now (four in their last 7 matches) and have only one MLS win since the World Cup break. Chucky Lozano is working out fine for now, but how long does that last? It would be great if they lose to the East's Revs this weekend (*Phil adds: perhaps a Diego Fagundez revenge match is brewing?*) before going away to Vancouver (they will lose), host Seattle (which will likely be a super boring draw), away to Minnesota, and then they host an ascendant Colorado. ### No. 12: Seattle Sounders FC, 26 points (with a ceiling of 41) They're winless in MLS since *before* the World Cup break. They are on a club history-redefining terrible slide. Red Bulls *ought* to beat them this weekend. Then they go away on back-to-back weekends against Galaxy and Colorado, probably losing at elevation. Then they host RSL and Minnesota to close the month, with all teams likely hungry to stem the bleeding. ### No. 11 Portland Timbers FC, 28 points (with a ceiling of 43) Having sent Kevin Kelsy out to Rangers, the Timbers need to figure out who is going to score under new coach Martí Cifuentes. They open the month hosting a Minnesota *bereft* from the loss of Khaled El-Ahmad (joking, or am I?) and a solidifying St. Louis before going away to Dallas, who are regrettably looking very stable and in the fight for top three/four. It would be *great* for Atlanta to whoop them at Providence Park in the East/West Turf Stadium Derby. They close the month on the worst pitch in MLS against San Jose in the first leg of a three-match run on the road (followed by SKC and Galaxy). ### No. 10 Real Salt Lake, 28 points (with a ceiling of 46) Winless in MLS play since May 16th, they really *needed* that Leagues Cup quarterfinal win much more than the other three MLS teams. They start September hosting LAFC after being stomped pretty decisively in their previous four matches. Then they go away to Houston and host NYCFC and Vancouver. They are going to have a *terrible* month. Even though Seattle are in arguably as bad or worse shape, I don't see RSL having momentum or focus to capitalize at Lumen Field like Austin did. They end the month hosting the Revs (who are good!) before starting October away against Philadelphia (who are also good!). *(Phil adds: They'll also be doing this all without Xavier Gozo, who is still third in minutes and second in goal contributions despite last appearing for RSL on July 25 ahead of his move to Crystal Palace.)* ### No. 9 Minnesota United FC, 29 points (with a ceiling of 44) They beat San Jose 5-1 a couple weeks ago, but they also started Season 2026-B losing 2-1 to SKC and that Quakes win is their *only* MLS win since the World Cup. Their September starts away/home/away with Portland/Dallas/St. Louis, who have all had better form of late than the Loons. Closing the month against Galaxy and Seattle is little comfort when you realize their October involves their second leg against a St. Louis that is figuring things out, home *and* away against an on-fire Houston, and at Colorado. Minnesota will have to go very hard to get back to just plain winning, which is what they need to do to not miss the playoffs themselves. ### No. 8 San Diego FC, 30 points (with a ceiling of 45) San Diego have not had the "cannot win" problem many teams under them have, but they are facing a *really annoying* schedule. In the span of a month, SDFC play *four* far superior East teams: Orlando away, Philly, Miami away, and Red Bulls away at the start of October. I sincerely believe that the "Curse of Chooky" will, indeed crash them out. They'll be without d-mid linchpin Jeppe Tverskov at Orlando this weekend (where they will lose) before hosting San Jose. I think they can beat the Quakes in San Diego. I do not think they can do the same against the Union, nor do I see them faring well in Miami. I fully expect them to be in points panic mode when they come to Austin at the end of the month. Then they go to New Jersey for Red Bulls before hosting Houston to kick off October. Their schedule lightens a bit going to Carson (or does it?) and hosting Seattle, but their season *actually* ends prior to Decision Day on the road against Vancouver and St. Louis. The former will be pushing for top seed, the latter likely in the fight to make top four. SDFC host SKC on Decision Day, and I do not expect it to "decide" anything for either team. ### No. 7 Colorado Rapids, 31 points (with a ceiling of 46) They made some big, important moves this transfer window, no doubt. They stole two points off of Austin at home recently. Their run of wins since the World Cup has been solid! But ... they start off September at Columbus (where the Rapids will lose) and come to Austin after that (where I think Austin win). After *that*, they host a Montréal that is figuring itself out and hungry for out-of-conference points. (A Montréal team, by the way, that just did this.) [Richard Méndez on Instagram: “GOLAZO de Dani Pereira en la Copa de Canadá”1,393 likes, 29 comments - richardgolmendez on September 3, 2026: “GOLAZO de Dani Pereira en la Copa de Canadá”.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/rzWiSjZRxk5-03c25a25-9154-4aa0-87f3-818727fdce72.webp)Instagram![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/792148230_18625472638009394_1439038825786593059_n-037ef8eb-a0ff-408a-aef7-46c81a4e9934.jpg)](https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dc2DKsctMZ3/?ref=verdeallday.com) Their next match after that is a U.S. Open Cup semifinal against St. Louis. They can coast on their last two September matches being against Seattle and Galaxy, but being *intensely* focused on Open Cup will definitely affect the preceding three matches. Home field advantage will go some of the way, but they need to stay healthy. *(Phil adds: I don't think, even with what they added, offloading Rafa Navarro to St. Louis helps Colorado, and makes the upcoming U.S. Open Cup semifinal between those teams especially interesting.)* ### No. 6 St. Louis City SC, 34 points (with a ceiling of 49) Speaking of that US Open Cup semifinal ... St. Louis has had a solid combination of wins and draws this year, and will be formidable against Colorado. The Puppy Chow Boys have a more unpleasant road to it than Colorado, with two road games against Vancouver and Portland followed by hosting Minnesota. Win or lose the semifinal, they face two East teams, hosting Toronto and RBNY away. I guess you could say the biggest favor any single team could do Austin would be for Red Bulls to go on a season record-defying run this month. ### No. 5 FC Dallas, 34 points (with a ceiling of 49) Prior to Leagues Cup and after the World Cup, the Friscans were winless. Vancouver squashed them 5-0 just two weeks ago. Prior to that, they *squeaked* out a 4-3 win against RSL (who are bad). I say this to note that their points total and table position relative other West clubs does not mean they are great and unbeatable, far from it. They do, however, host 4/5 of their September matches, starting with SKC, who they *ought* to demolish. Next week, they play their one away from home against the Loons, returning home for Portland, Austin, and LAFC. Would be kinda great if SKC found a way to rattle them, huh? Unlikely, but would be nice. They've had a solid season overall, and for a couple teams running, you've probably been wondering why I bothered with teams this far up the table, especially ones that are so solidly expected to be top eight in November. ## No. 4 San Jose Earthquakes, 34 points (with a ceiling of 49) San Jose has been winless in seven and lost 5-1 to Minnesota. They are my candidate for the most likely biggest fall from a lofty rung of the ladder. They could realistically *end* September on the same 34 points they start it on. They start with two matches on the road against Austin and San Diego, two hungry teams eager for momentum. They host their three remaining matches. The problem for the Quakes is that they are against Houston, LAFC, and Portland. *Then* they start October on the road against Colorado and RSL at elevation, coming home to host Nashville before hitting the road again against Dallas. They close the month ... hosting Colorado and RSL, who will both probably still be fighting for table position. ## This weekend's wish list, for reference - Austin beats San Jose - New England beats LA Galaxy - RBNY beats Seattle - Portland draws Minnesota - LAFC beat RSL - Orlando humiliate San Diego - Columbus wreck Colorado - Vancouver beat St. Louis - SKC shock the world and beat Dallas ...and only *one* of those is a draw. Austin need to stack up wins in September to have not just the points, but the momentum to carry them into a not-easy October. Austin leads off with a home rematch against 2025 Open Cup nemeses Nashville before heading to LAFC and then back home against Vancouver. Are those matches winnable? September will tell. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### The body of work: Khaled El-Ahmad's best moves for Minnesota United FC (plus a big puzzling one) URL: https://verdeallday.com/khaled-el-ahmad-best-moves-for-minnesota-united-fc/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T11:55:22.000Z To understand what Austin FC's getting in new chief sporting officer Khaled El-Ahmad, it helps to look at what he did during his time with Minnesota United FC. El-Ahmad was brought in to that club to be its sporting director and chief soccer officer in November 2023, following an 11th-place finish in the West that year. In the three subsequent years at the helm of the sporting operation, the Loons made the playoffs or (with 2026 still unfinished) were on track to make the playoffs. That's despite the tumult of bringing in one head coach — Eric Ramsay — who unexpectedly left to take a head coaching job in England after surprisingly arriving from his set piece coach position in England. In his time with Minnesota. El-Ahmad engineered some intriguing moves that shaped the squad and showed the club's ability to find and develop talent. Even today, as he begins his work with Austin and Loons fans deal with the sporting director transition (and lob a few criticisms his way), they can take solace (if they're prone to do that) that the team's four leading goalscorers this season all came over during KEA's time as CSO. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-03-at-05.56.59.png) We'll talk about three of them in a roundup of the best moves, but we should also mention that Tomás Chancalay, who I'm not even counting in his best five moves (considering both inbound and outbound), was a DP player with the New England Revolution that KEA then got in a $100,000 cash-for-player trade, albeit 18 months past an ACL injury. He might be underperforming his xG (as is primary goalscorer Kelvin Yeboah), but he's at worst competently eating moments for a team that's staying in the playoff hunt. And in consulting with [Jon Marthaler](https://www.jonmarthaler.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), who covers the Loons on a fresh new Substack after years of providing coverage for the *Star-Tribune*, he brought forth an additional slate of names — only one of which I cover below. > Nectarios Triantis, I think, will prove to be an awfully good move. Jefferson Diaz and Nicolás Romero have been good and under the radar. Anthony Markanich will go down as one of the best trades in MLS history, since the Loons basically got him for nothing from St. Louis, and turned him into an All-Star. Carlos Harvey came from the USL and has been quite useful for a small outlay. Owen Géne still could prove to be an excellent investment. Drake Callender is a good Dayne St. Clair replacement. > As far as outgoing moves go, I thought he did well to get value for both Joseph Rosales and Kervin Arriaga. And he got St. Louis to pay like two million dollars for Sang Bin Jeong. Admittedly it was from Lutz Pfannenstiel, as I recall, so it might not have been playing against the varsity, but that's still pretty good value. With all that in mind, let's look at the moves that jumped out to me during KEA's tenure as especially sound. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Austin FC brings in USYNT defender Chris Applewhite on loan from Nashville SC URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-usynt-defender-chris-applewhite-loan-from-nashville-sc/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T23:40:47.000Z Austin FC has a new center back — for now, and possibly for the long term. The club officially announced that Chris Applewhite, a U.S. youth national team center back who is part of a loaded-at-center-back Nashville SC team, will arrive on loan through June 2027 (with a purchase option), in exchange for $50,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money. The move comes on the final day of the summer transfer window — a window defined by the exits of Owen Wolff and Jayden Nelson, plus the loan of CJ Fodrey — and while it doesn't bring the roster closer to compliance, as Applewhite will be occupying a supplemental roster spot rather than a senior one, it does give interim head coach Davy Arnaud another option for his three center back formation. "Chris is a highly rated prospect at the center back position and we’re excited to welcome him to Austin,” Arnaud said by way of press release. “He is coming off an excellent tournament with the U.S. U-20 team, and we hope to foster his continued development within our environment over the next year.” Applewhite, who turned 19 last month, captained the U-20s during the recent Concacaf U-20 Championship, reaching the final before succumbing to Mexico, 2-0\. He had five appearances in MLS matches last season, plus two U.S. Open Cup matches, and has yet to appear in a match this season, largely due to injury battles. Ben Wright of SixOneFive Soccer, knower of all things Nashville SC, shared thoughts with us. "First off, he's a great kid. Hard to believe he's only just turned 19 when you talk to him," he said. "Really solid physically, good with the ball at his feet. He's not the fastest player and needs to clean up his positioning in some situations, but I think at minimum he projects to be a very solid career MLSer, with potential to develop into more ... I'd be surprised if Nashville want to lose him, but he really needs minutes." [Wright's article](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/sources-nashville-sc-loaning-chris-applewhite-to-austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com) added: *Applewhite is a high-upside young player with first-team potential, but needs regular minutes to develop. He's too good to play in MLS NEXT Pro and is capable of regular MLS minutes, but hasn't been able to break into a Nashville SC backline on pace for one of the best defensive seasons in MLS history, with players like Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, Jack Maher and Thomas Williams ahead of him.* *In Austin, Applewhite will get a chance to work with head coach Jim Curtin, who will take the full-time job in December. Curtin was the head coach of the Philadelphia from 2014 to 2024, under whom current Nashville SC head coach BJ Callaghan began his professional career as an assistant. Curtin is widely viewed as one of the best developers of young talent in MLS.* Applewhite likely won't be activated for Austin's upcoming match on Saturday against San Jose, but is theoretically available. Also, at Nashville, he wore No. 33 — theoretically available with Wolff gone, though league rules typically limit a number to one player per year regardless of midseason transfers. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'I'm so happy for him': Celebrating an unexpected hero in a somewhat surprising win URL: https://verdeallday.com/im-so-happy-for-him-celebrating-an-unexpected-hero-in-a-somewhat-surprising-win/ Last updated: 2026-08-30T14:53:18.000Z Oleksandr Svatok clearly was put into Saturday night's match against Portland Timbers FC to be a defensive reinforcement. That he turned out to score the match winner in Austin FC's [2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-porvatx-082926/) — after holding a late lead didn't work out for him and his teammates — was an unexpected bonus. "I'm so happy for him," said interim head coach Davy Arnaud. "It's funny because he can be kind of quiet, but you see how he competes on the field and he's funny. All the guys love him. ... Svatok's one of the guys that you root for because he is all about the team. He's all about the collective. He does everything the right way every single day. He doesn't complain. He goes about his business. He's a guy you root for. "So to see him have that moment for the team, and the celebration, obviously, it's the last minutes of the game, so the celebration, it's a huge moment, but you see how happy everyone is for him that he gets to have that moment. I think it says everything you want to know about Svatok." Svatok added his views on the magic moment during his portion of the post-match press conference. "I'm very happy because it's scored \[in the\] last minutes," he said. "We had very hard months, a lot of trips and games. It's not easy, but today we deserved to win, and it's a very important three points." Arnaud noted that the win was satisfying in a triangular and singular road trip to bring the team together, flying first to the Big Apple to take on Toluca in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal held for reasons in Harrison, N.J., and then setting out west for the road match in the Rose City rather than returning to familiar Austin. (And, might I point out, missing out on the first false fall evening of the year after a few grueling and hot weeks of Definite Summer.) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Portland Timbers FC 1, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-porvatx-082926/ Last updated: 2026-08-30T04:44:53.000Z On Saturday night at Providence Park, a roadtripping Austin FC — on its second road match and second coast in four nights — got an opening goal from Facundo Torres, gave up a heartbreaking penalty late, and then got a fortunate Oleksandr Svatok match-winner against Portland Timbers FC, to win 2-1\. Verde started without Myrto Uzuni in the roster let alone the starting lineup, even though he was visible in the club's social media photos prior to kickoff. Interim head coach Davy Arnaud did activate his other two designated players, though, getting both Brandon Vázquez and Facundo Torres in, along with Ervin Torres and Jorge Alastuey in key attacking roles. Both Brendan Hines-Ike and Oleksandr Svatok started as subs, with Jon Bell getting the starting nod at center back along with Guilherme Biro and Mikkel Desler. It took a little more than a minute for Verde to get their first shot on goal. It was a Besard Šabović shot from distance easily saved by James Pantemis, but it was more positive early play than the team managed against Toluca three nights prior. It took some time for Verde to get off another shot — not until the 19th minute, in fact — but then six minutes later, after some positive play from the visitors, Šabović slipped a pass to the top of the box where Joseph Rosales was, then he led F-Torres in between two defenders, and he got low to convert the pass into a goal for the lead. Cole Bassett finally got the Timbers' first shot in the 28th minute, but then momentum shifted over to the hosts, though it really only resulted in one additional shot before halftime. Verde came out of halftime finding its form again, getting some attacks into where the heart of the Timbers defense should have been. (See Best Verde moment that wasn't a goal.) The Timbers had a dangerous moment in the 58th minute — their most dangerous up to that point — with an Ari Lassiter free kick that sizzled in toward goal, though not so hot that Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver couldn't handle it. Timbers coach Martí Cifuentes saw fit in the 62nd minute to sub off starting striker (but not exactly first-choice striker) Gabe Guerra, while Arnaud counted getting Alastuey and Jon Gallagher off for Przemysław Płacheta and Žan Kolmanič. Several minutes later, the hosts won a free kick which Kristoffer Velde tried to bend around the wall, sending it wide. In the 69th minute — the start of the witching hour for late goals let in by the Verde defense leading to points dropped — David Da Costa got a shot off that Stuver had to cradle to safety. Rosales had an opportunity in the 73rd minute to double the lead, but Finn Surman slid in on the attempt to block it successfully. After that, several chances tipped to the Timbers for near goals, but Stuver and his defense hung tough. Arnaud decided it prudent late in the match to make defensive subs, following an earlier move to Brendan Hines-Ike on for Mikkel Desler, getting Svatok on for Jon Bell and Ilie Sánchez on for F-Torres. In the 85th, ironically, Antony's shot was blocked by Hines-Ike, though with an errant arm that — upon video review — was deemed a handball because Hines-Ike's arm was in an unnatural position when Antony's shot clanged off it. Antony took the PK and sent Stuver the wrong way. In stoppage time, Vázquez missed a tap-in chance in front of goal to win the match, but contributed a minute later on the corner kick play that Svatok was able to trundle in. The Timbers had two chances at the end of the match, with Ari Lassiter hitting the post with a shot in the final minute, and then the hosts winning a free kick from a Rosales foul that allowed them one more chance to put the ball in a dangerous area. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Šabović had a drive into the box for a 50th-minute shot that went awry, but the confidence on the drive and the willingness to go right into the center of the pitch was good to see. Less than a minute later, Rosales had a similar attack into the center channel resulting in a blocked shot. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) It was unfortunate, but an extended arm in the box is an extended arm in the box, BHI. ## One thing you might have missed Coming out of the halftime break, the commentators noted the Timbers had scored in 11 straight matches. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin's defense held Portland to just 0.03 xG in the first half, per Futi. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's just the second road win of the season for Austin FC — both against Cascadia teams — and it helps the squad's playoff cause. While still in 14th, the team's now just five points off the playoff pace and two points behind 13th-place LA and 12th-place Seattle. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We think we know what the answer will be about Uzuni not being put on tonight's roster, but we'll look at how sincere it is. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Cascadia FC's Jeremy Peterman URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-cascadia-fc-jeremy-peterman-porvatx-082926/ Last updated: 2026-08-29T18:40:49.000Z Austin FC travels to Portland's Providence Park on Saturday night to face a Timbers team that is currently just above the playoff line. The Timbers will also be Verde's Decision Day opponent, and it will take a few wins on Verde's part to be consequential, but it's possible that *both* teams will go into that match needing a result to make the playoffs. But here, in the present, Verde's 14th in the West on 21 points, seven points below the Timbers, making a win in this road match especially helpful in the quest for the playoffs. Other matches of below-the-playoff-line consequence before tonight's 9:30ish pm CT kickoff include (all times listed CT, team you're rooting for bolded): - Seattle Sounders FC vs. **Chicago Fire FC,** 3:30 pm - Sporting Kansas City vs. **Vancouver Whitecaps FC**, 7:30 pm - Minnesota United FC vs. **Orlando City**, 7:30 pm - San Diego FC vs. LA Galaxy, 9:30 pm (a draw is probably most helpful, unless you think SDFC is headed above the line and another team is headed below) To help us sort where the Timbers are at, we checked in with Jeremy Peterman of Cascadia FC, who dug into Verde's weird 2026 story from a Rose City lens in his [match preview](https://www.cascadiafc.com/portland-timbers-austin-fc-preview-8-29-26/?ref=verdeallday.com). We also touched on his contributions here on the just-went-up [Emergency Podcast episode](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-120-the-martin-luther-of-the/id1742052077?i=1000786683764&ref=verdeallday.com). To the questions! ### Kevin Kelsy is moving on to Rangers. That obviously changes the Timbers' attack heading into this match, but how specifically? It means that they only have one striker available! Vincent Janssen picked up a second yellow last weekend in LA, which leaves Gage Guerra as the only natural 9 who can start tonight. However, David Da Costa played as a false 9 against Puebla in Leagues Cup, so that option is also available. ### With Martí Cifuentes getting settled in as manager, what does he bring to the table, and how is he changing what the Timbers are doing? Cifuentes brings a consistent tactical identity built around high possession and high pressing. He's tightening up Portland's out of possession structure and making them more difficult to beat. However, due to the congested schedule, this past week was the first opportunity he's had to run a full training session. ### Right now, the Timbers are hovering just above the playoff line. What's the feeling among fans — will the Timbers make the playoffs, and if so, how far can they go (and how important is it really)? The expectation, here today on August 29th, is that the Timbers will make the playoffs and avoid the play-in game. I think they could win a first-round series, but their ceiling is a conference final appearance. There are serious roster needs (right wing, right back, center back, and striker) that need to get addressed before the window closes on Wednesday. If those additions aren't made in time, Portland's ceiling for 2026 is significantly lowered. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Dear Khaled El-Ahmad, these are our demands (for Austin FC) URL: https://verdeallday.com/dear-khaled-el-ahmad-demands-for-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T18:53:58.000Z Austin has a new Chief Soccer Officer as of Tuesday morning. What more appropriate time could there be for us to set our expectations for him as longtime watchers of the club (with tongue planted firmly in-cheek)? We’ll come up with more over time, I'm sure, but these are the most important ones off the tops of our heads, grouped into three categories: Roster Moves, Culture Moves, and Wild Card. ## Roster moves **Moisés:** I would love to see him move fast on renewing key contributors before they and their reps need to start fishing elsewhere. I made mention in Khaled’s opening press conference that he has some key players with deals expiring as (very) soon as December, which Brendan Hines-Ike noted in this week’s pre-Toluca presser and Christian Ramírez did in a mixed zone appearance recently. These deals in particular (and others with near-ish-term expiration dates) could very well already be in the works, and among moves that Majority Owner and Chairman Anthony Precourt referred to as not having Khaled’s “fingerprints” on them … but any of these would necessarily involve the new CSO having final signoff at this point. To take CEO Andy Loughnane at his word, El-Ahmad being the club’s top choice by far would make me assume he would definitely be *able to* veto anything he has strong feelings about. Thing is, that “first choice” status to me would also indicate him to be much more likely aligned with those sorts of decisions-already-in-process by Loughnane’s revised, “flattened” leadership org. Phil: I do believe, in retrospect, that Precourt discussing the moves in the works not being attributable to KEA was advance PR about the Owen Wolff move — which does sound like it's been developing for quite some time, as Wolff was apparently interested in a move out this past offseason, and SKC made their interest known to Austin in January. But now that Austin's cleared out some players and accumulated reserves via some outgoing moves — at least $6.6 million between Wolff and Dani Pereira, which was about as good as you could expect in 2026 for Austin's Perennially Two Most Movable Young Assets – the next two windows provide opportunities to use the amassed (or maybe still amassing?) warchest on new players that will work well in head-coach-in-waiting Jim Curtin's system. I am but a simple man. Here are my wishes for Austin FC additions: - A true destroyer-style No. 6\. I love Ilie, but Ilie is more of an organizer. In the Union's heyday under Curtin, Jose "El Brujo" Martinez was devastating in front of a back four, and then had moments like this on the offensive end — still one of my favorite goals ever anywhere. - A pure No. 10\. We've never had one. I want one. In fact, this is me when it comes to a true chance creator at the tip of a Curtinian diamond in a 4-4-2 diamond formation. - A 20-goal-a-season striker. (Verde's only now just achieved, if you count all comps, having a 10-goal striker. And I think Myrto Uzuni as a second striker in a Curtin system would be even better than he's been under Arnaud, now that he's reached that magic double-digit threshold.) I would even settle for a 15-goal striker, like Julian Carranza was in 2022 for the Union. (If he could give us at least one of these.) ## Culture moves **Moisés:** I would love to see El-Ahmad remove some of the performative mystery and obscuring of decision making we’ve seen since 2021, both inside the sporting operation and elsewhere. Based on his commitment to engage with the press off-the-record not only early but *often*, I’m thinking this is already in the cards. One of the things that has led former and never-colleagues to accuse credentialed ATX press of being anything from “propagandists” to “paid media” has been the club’s insistence on the condition that we not ever acknowledge that off-the-record conversations happen in the first place. I have no personal issue when there are conditions and *aspects* of meetings or conversations that need to remain not just off-the-record but “as if they never happened,” but there was previously this weird act of pretending like they never communicated with us off-record or on background. I should note that I wasn’t around for Claudio Reyna, so I can’t and won’t speak to what happened under him. My joining the press corps coincided with Rodolfo Borrell’s hiring and first solo press conference. During his tenure, press *did* have some organized or otherwise scheduled closed door, off-record access to Rodo. Many topics and aspects of those conversations and meetings (which weren’t that many) require us to continue to keep a lot of details in confidence. Other off-record conversations were extraordinarily spur-of-the-moment and occasionally led to wild misunderstandings of what was and was not reportable in different cases. Whoever of us was being told what we were being told would find ourselves conferring about “why the hell did or would he tell us *that*?” more often than not. The biggest problem as a result was that he would say stuff to one or multiple of us off-the-record … but then he would say the same stuff or *yet more* to fans in informal settings that those fans in turn would then *immediately* share with various of us in the press corps. That, my friends, then puts the off-record things *on* the record, and press get to scramble to figure out how or *if* to responsibly and ethically report it. I am fully convinced these sorts of issues were contributors to his dismissal, and I say that not based on any off-the-record nor background conversations with anyone still at the club. One of my favorite things at face value about the hiring of Khaled El-Ahmad is that I have *zero* expectation that these sorts of off-the-record conversations will be *remotely* as fraught as they were with Rodo. It’s also my distinct impression that many things have been *learned* over the last six years, two coaches, and two Sporting Directors. Those “learnings” have contributed not just to this hiring, but the revised org structure surrounding it. KEA leading with an insistence that he *needs* for us to have context and that both ends of the conversation need to *lead* with building trust? What a breath of fresh air and stark contrast to corralling us to bloviate, “Trust me, guys, I’m really fucking good at my job" (which Rodo said in my presence), or, "Trust me guys, I’m never getting fucking fired,” which he said to colleagues in another instance. That he said a version of the first thing in public was one thing, but the *way* he said it in private, in a manner transparently meant to intimidate and brush off the role of the press in the first place? I knew he was, indeed, gonna get fucking fired. KEA is already giving me my wish here from all indications, drawing down the temperature to what he will soon learn is the classic Central Texas style of how “low and slow” is the best way to make brisket. I can see a future where every slight rumor or move by the club does *not* have all of us who follow Austin in constant, "Oh, no, what’s happening now?!” mode. **Phil:** To expound a bit on what Moisés set up, what doomed the first two Austin FC sporting directors to ultimate failure also doomed Creon in the classic Greek tragedy *Antigone* — hubris, but in particular, hubris intertwined with fatefully bad decision making. To take you back into Austin FC's historical vaults a bit, here's an actual quote in a press release heralding a designated player signing: "He’s a winger with a lot of quality and experience competing in some of the top leagues around the world. His abilities are an excellent fit for our style of play.” You know what that is, right? That's former Austin FC sporting director Claudio Reyna praising Emiliano Rigoni, who seems to have been, when all the dust settled, Sebastian Driussi's friend signed as a favor to Sebastian Driussi. That might be reductive, but eventually, this is what the club said upon Rigoni's exit, less than two years later: *Austin FC announced on Tuesday that the Club has waived and exercised a Buyout of a Guaranteed Contract on winger Emiliano Rigoni. Rigoni will no longer occupy a Designated Player tag, and he will also no longer occupy a Senior roster spot and International Slot. Furthermore, Rigoni’s wages will no longer count against the Club’s 2024 salary budget.* No thank yous. No recounting of statistics or great moments. (He did not, shall we say, put up designated player-worthy numbers.) Just a link out to the roster rules to provide a helpful explanation of how a Buyout of a Guaranteed Contract works. Rodolfo Borrell discovering the clause in Rigoni's contract allowing him to be locked into another guaranteed year with just 12 appearances was perhaps the greatest service he performed during his time as sporting director. He did, to be fair, have a talent for moving players on club-unfriendly contracts (or unhappy players) to other teams. Stylistically, KEA is about as far from Borrell as you can get. Indeed, upon leaving the introductory press conference, I said. "He's the anti-Rodo." And I feel like that's intentional. Bluster and bravado are tolerable in a coach or CSO when the team's doing well and the signings are home runs. You know where things stood when Borrell left. "This is not a reset; it's an evolution," El-Ahmad said during his time on the mic Tuesday. This does feel to me like it's a reset. I just so happen to think a reset is welcome. ## Wild card **Moisés:** I want the “we are *one* club” CSO to push for rebranding the second team to remove the number from their name. Austin has unused tree metaphors galore to explore that don’t involve the inherent minimalization of the “2” moniker. Is this “important?" This longshot last wish/hope/demand comes from knowing El-Ahmad’s background includes a fair amount of work in branding and marketing, combined with his open show of respect for MLS Next Pro as a development league. This also may be out of Austin’s hands to control directly due to the shift in ownership/management of MLSNP. I have no idea. For all I know, they could be in the process of moving the way North Texas went from Arlington to Mansfield (more than 80 minutes from Frisco!). For the record, I hope ATX II *don’t* move, and that MLSNP move more games back to Fridays, but I know a CSO doesn’t control those things. The “one club” ethos sure works better with everyone training in the same building though. One of the early ideas for what to call Austin’s Supporters Section involved evoking “raíces,” the Spanish word for roots. Oakland Roots already exist in USL-C, so the word in English is already claimed by a pro club, but Austin’s ongoing dual-language identity would fit beautifully with “Raíces (de) Austin” or “Austin Raíces.” They can have that for free. It wasn’t technically my idea in the first place, the fans came up with it. In exchange, maybe the club could figure out how to submit to *three years* of requests from fans to make those “second team” jerseys available for sale since North Texas, Colorado Rapids 2, and other MLSNP sides have sold theirs. **Phil:** Based on my interactions with KEA on Tuesday after the press conference — and despite him shutting down my request for confirmation on the Jayden Nelson and CJ Fodrey exits — I'm looking forward to any opportunities to get a little more of a peek behind the curtain on the roster building and contract crafting process. What kind of birthday math goes into scouting U22 prospects and seeing how long they can be locked into a U22 contract for? What happens to all those contracts that were through a 2027 season that became a 2027-28 season with the schedule change? What data points figure best into player evaluation? Is g+ a nonsense metric or is there value to it? These are some of the questions rattling around in my head, dislodged during this very active week, and El-Ahmad seems like the kind of CSO who would be willing to answer these. How much on-the-record vs. off-the-record I'm able to get is another matter entirely, and it's one that I anticipating navigating in the coming weeks. But I feel like, with KEA, there's more of a chance to get a fuller picture of what it's like to build a roster in MLS. With Borrell, we got occasional glimpses into his dealmaking, portrayed in a light in which Borrell was executing a series of masterstrokes in the global football market. In this new era, I believe we'll get glimpses into the pragmatism and collaboration we've been initially promised. KEA will be the conductor, but he won't be the whole choir. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'I couldn't be more proud': On Austin FC going down swinging in Leagues Cup URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-tolvatx-082626/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T14:08:01.000Z Davy Arnaud's tenure as Austin FC interim head coach has brought its share of good moments so far. The team's first road win of the year in Seattle, using a heavily-rotated lineup to achieve it. Two wins to kick Leagues Cup off, including only the second hat trick in Verde history, arguably completing a Myrto Uzuni redemption arc. A penalty kick shootout victory against one of the titans of Mexican soccer, in which the first 11 takers were perfect and Brad Stuver was better than his foe on the 12th. And yet, Arnaud saved a superlative for his team following Wednesday night's Leagues Cup exit loss in Harrison, N.J. — a [2-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-leagues-cup-tolvatx-082626/) to Toluca FC, with a scoreline only doubled at the end when Verde were chasing a result and left themselves exposed. "This is probably the most proud that I've ever been in this group," he said post-match in his second straight truncated media availability. "Toluca is a very good team in a tough situation and a big game. To go down a man and respond the way that we did — I mean, if that doesn't give you pride in being a part of Austin FC and as a fan, if that doesn't give you pride in what the guys did tonight and belief that they're going to carry that going forward ... it was a big test and they responded in a great way, and it makes me excited for the rest of the year. "I know those guys," he added. "The guys are so disappointed in the locker room because they felt like we we we could have gotten something out of the game. But I said it's not always fair. You don't always get what you feel like you might deserve, and you can pour your heart into everything and do everything the right way. And sometimes it doesn't work out, but it didn't change their their attitude and their effort and their mentality, and it's the most important thing. That's what these guys are about, man, and I'm proud of them." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Toluca FC 2, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-leagues-cup-tolvatx-082626/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T02:44:20.000Z Austin FC is now out of the 2026 edition of Leagues Cup. In its quarterfinal match at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J., on Wednesday night, Verde went down a man late in the first half, gave up a PK goal less than eight minutes after the restart, and ultimately wilted at the end of a spirited fight by a 2-0 scoreline. With its available roster of players thinned by three outbound moves officially announced on Wednesday morning, interim head coach Davy Arnaud went to familiar players to start: Brad Stuver in goal, Joseph Rosales and Jon Gallagher flanking a back three of Brendan Hines-Ike, Oleksandr Svatok, and Guilherme Biro, a midfield two of Ilie Sánchez and Besard Šabović, and a front three of Myrto Uzuni, Christian Ramírez, and Ervin Torres. Toluca put Verde's defense under pressure early, and the partisan Toluca crowd wasted no time indulging in the discriminatory goalkeeper chant that continues to blight Mexican soccer – getting a first in around the five-minute mark and doubling down on it with a second slightly more than 10 minutes in. Toluca, in fact, got the first eight shots of the night off — doing so within the first 18 minutes, with two of those on target — but then in the 20th minute, Uzuni got off a shot deflecting off a Toluca defender to win a corner kick chance to tip the match a bit toward Verde. In the 28th minute, Stuver was forced into action, saving what looked like a long Alexis Vega pass into the box, but what turned out to be functionally a shot that troubled Verde's goal. Six minutes later, Uzuni troubled Toluca with what looked to be a diagonal pass across the goalmouth that didn't find a teammate, but was credited as a mishit shot. Rosales made a poor challenge on Federico Pereira in the 38th minute, which initially earned a yellow card, but was reviewed by referee Filip Dujic, and raised to a red card. To start the second half, interim head coach Davy Arnaud put Mikkel Desler on for Ramírez to return to the five-back look but without a striker. Four minutes into the half, Jesús Ángulo got past Svatok inside the box, and though Svatok tried to recover, he fouled Ángulo with enough verve for Dujic to call for the penalty. Helinho took the PK, and though Stuver guessed the right way and got a hand to the shot, he wasn't able to repel it, and Toluca took the lead. Stuver came up with a big save on Jesús Gallardo in the 65th to prevent Toluca from doubling the lead. Shortly after that heart-in-throat moment, Arnaud tried a double sub, getting Jorge Alastuey and Przemysław Płacheta on for Ilie and Gallagher. In the 73rd, Biro had an attempt on goal thwarted by Bruno Méndez; Biro thought it was worthy of a penalty, and when Dujic didn't entertain it, that set off Arnaud enough to get a yellow card and then Ilie (from the sideline) enough to get a red card. Five minutes later, Arnaud did a signature Torres-for-Torres save to get Facundo on, and Brandon Vázquez came on for Šabović. The two subs nearly made good on the corner kick they came on for, with Torres sending a ball to Vázquez, who headed it wide. In the 85th minute, Stuver sent a long free kick toward goal, and Hines-Ike got a head to it, but nodded it over. In the 89th, Płacheta had a chance go wide. Deep into stoppage time, Stuver got deep into Toluca territory on a corner kick to try to engineer a shot. Even later, Verde got countered on, with Jorge Díaz Price getting an insurance goal with the last play of the match. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) It's probably the ball from one DP to another with both freshly into the match. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) It's between the Rosales red and Svatok committing the penalty-worthy foul. ## One thing you might have missed Apple TV had a tunnel shot to capture Ilie's walk from the sideline to the locker room, which was as bleak as that description sounds. ## One nerdy tidbit 20 minutes in, Toluca had 75% possession. By the match's end, the stats that stood out most were Toluca having 24 shots to Austin's 10 and seven shots on target to Austin's one. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative With the loss, Verde's last best chance for glory is extinguished. Arnaud and his squad must now focus on a playoff race it's far behind in with a lineup depleted by roster-building ambition. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Did Arnaud think the red card was deserved? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions about Toluca FC with Leagues Cup writer Victor Araiza URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-toluca-fc-leagues-cup-victor-araiza/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T22:30:58.000Z As you're no doubt aware, Austin FC has never played Toluca FC before. That changes Wednesday night with the Leagues Cup quarterfinals at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J. That's not Toluca's home field, and it's certainly not Austin's home field — it's the field that organizers assigned to Toluca as the "home team" per the tournament's 67-page rulebook. While Toluca isn't technically one of the Liga MX "gigantes," its recent run of success has fomented a debate about a [new "Big Six"](https://en.as.com/soccer/liga-mx-fans-declare-mexicos-new-big-six-and-two-huge-names-didnt-make-the-cut-f202510-n/?ref=verdeallday.com) that includes Toluca. We don't have a Toluca reporter in our virtual Rolodex, but this match gave us the opportunity to reach out to Victor Araiza, currently writing for Leagues Cup (including this [wrap-up of Phase One](https://www.leaguescup.com/news/wrapping-up-phase-one-leon-roars-chicago-on-fire-austin-revives?ref=verdeallday.com) with nice things to say about Verde), who is always reliable for good Liga MX intel. Just a reminder that Verde will be down three players this match as they've been sent to other teams: - [Jayden Nelson](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-makes-jayden-nelson-move-to-bolton-official/) - [CJ Fodrey](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-loans-cj-fodrey-to-falkirk-fc/) - [Owen Wolff](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-moves-owen-wolff-to-sporting-kc/) It's been a wild Wednesday even before a ball has been kicked ... to the questions! ### Toluca is currently one of the most consistently successful teams. I'm guessing some of it has to do with playing home matches at extreme elevation, but what else contributes to their success? Toluca’s home-field advantage is certainly part of the club’s success. The Estadio Nemesio Diez is not only imposing because of its elevation (\~8,730 ft) but also because the atmosphere created by the home fans makes it one of the most intimidating places to play. Of course, having some of Liga MX’s top talents on your roster never hurts. That combination has helped make Toluca remarkably difficult to beat at home, with the club losing no more than once (if at all) in several recent campaigns. Given this match will be in Harrison, Austin FC catches a bit of a break, but Toluca will still be a handful. Toluca has held a level of success that has led it to 12 Liga MX titles, tied with Chivas for second-most behind Club America. They do not have the popular following of other clubs, but they’re consistently good. ### Based on what you've seen from Toluca in this tournament, do they have what it takes to win? If so, what's the case for it, and if not, why not? With a fully healthy squad, Toluca would likely be the odds-on favorite to win the tournament. The *Diablos Rojos* are missing their top goalscorer **Paulinho**, starting goalkeeper **Luis García**, Mexican national team midfielders **Erick Gutiérrez** and **Marcel Ruiz**, and forwards **Iván “Gacelo” López** and **Santiago Simón**. In short, you can almost complete a formidable XI just from their injury list. But the manager is not injured. **Antonio Mohamed** is one of Liga MX’s most successful coaches, winning five league titles with four different clubs (Tijuana, America, Monterrey). He led Toluca to back-to-back titles in the Clausura 2025 and Apertura 2025, and the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup just a few months ago. “We are going to play with the roster we have and with the players that are here,” [Mohamed said in his press conference](https://www.tolucafc.com/noticias/pese-a-lesiones-somos-favoritos?ref=verdeallday.com) on Tuesday. “With the injuries we have, and with the loss of players, we still consider ourselves favorites in any series we have to play.” Toluca is clearly battle-tested, and if they get past Austin, may have Paulinho back for the closing stretch of the Leagues Cup. ### Alexis Vega and Jesus Gallardo are the best-known names on the team due to their El Tri connections, but who are some X-factor players to watch? **Helinho** (No. 11) is one of Toluca’s must-see players and an undisputed starter. The Brazilian winger is capable of scoring in different ways, and is coming off a free-kick goal over the weekend to add a goal to his two assists in the Apertura 2026\. He also has one goal and one assist in Leagues Cup. Expect him to be involved in the attack. **Federico Viñas** (No. 16) is a recent arrival during the summer transfer window but no stranger to Liga MX. The Uruguayan was previously at Club America (2020–2023) and León (2023-2024), before being loaned to León’s sister club Real Oviedo in Spain. Viñas has returned to Mexico where he is currently filling in as a starter, at least until Paulinho is back to full health, and has three goals to his tally across all competitions. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC moves Owen Wolff to Sporting KC in massive cash trade URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-moves-owen-wolff-to-sporting-kc/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T14:44:35.000Z In a morning of way too much news involving Austin FC outgoing players, the club dropped a bombshell on Wednesday morning following two already-reported moves, moving homegrown U22 midfielder and U.S. Men's National Team hopeful Owen Wolff to Sporting Kansas City. Despite a 2026 season marred by injury following a breakout 2025 season, Wolff has long been considered Austin FC's most moveable young asset, and the in-league trade provides the windfall that roster-building-minded fans have been looking for. Austin FC receives $4.5 million and up to an additional $3.1 million in conditional performance-based incentives, plus the club retains a sell-on percentage of a potential future transfer involving Wolff, per the [club press release](https://www.austinfc.com/news/austin-fc-receives-up-to-7-6-million-from-sporting-kc-in-trade-for-owen-wolff?ref=verdeallday.com). Interim head coach Davy Arnaud's packaged quote reveals more of the club-in-transition messaging that he gave with his comments on the [Jayden Nelson trade](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-makes-jayden-nelson-move-to-bolton-official/), plus an unsubtle hint this is a move Wolff wanted. > *Owen is a terrific young player. He began his professional career here in Austin, grew a tremendous amount, and endeared himself to the fanbase. As the club’s first-ever homegrown signing and youngest-ever player, Owen will always have a special place in Austin FC history.* > *“While it is not an easy decision to part ways with a player of Owen’s caliber, there have been substantive discussions since December of last year whereby the club expressed willingness to grant Owen his wish of playing elsewhere if an agreeable solution were to materialize. Our leadership team, with the support of our ownership group, was willing to honor his wishes so long as the offer matched the quality and trajectory of the player. We feel that this is the right move for the Club as we continue to position ourselves for long-term success.* Wolff's packaged quote was more sentimental. "Austin FC will always be a special place for me. It’s where I began my career, and where I shared so many amazing moments with my teammates, my coaches, and the fans,” he said via press release. “I grew so much during my time here and I want to say thank you to everyone who played a part in that.” As a reminder, the summer transfer window closes next Wednesday. Tonight, Austin FC plays Toluca in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal match now down three players who were on the squad for their previous match. *This is a developing story.* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC makes it official: CJ Fodrey loaned to Falkirk FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-loans-cj-fodrey-to-falkirk-fc/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T14:00:39.000Z Jayden Nelson wasn't the only player seen saying goodbyes on Saturday night in the Austin FC locker room following the team's 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union. The only difference with CJ Fodrey's goodbyes, however, was the pledge, "I'll be back." Austin FC announced Wednesday, confirming a report that first came out Monday afternoon courtesy of the North End Podcast, that Fodrey is being loaned to Falkirk FC of the Scottish Premiership. Per the club, the loan agreement is through June 2027, includes a recall option for Austin in January 2027, and does not include a purchase option. That means, per the pending schedule change, that Fodrey could be brought in for the 2027 sprint season but would more likely be a roster decision for the 2027-28 season when the loan expires. Fodrey, who joined the club as a Generation Adidas player selected 13th in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, has an opportunity to get more playing time at a level more representative of his talents than MLS Next Pro offers him. In April 2025, the club signed Fodrey to a contract extension, locking him in for two additional guaranteed years, through the end of the 2027 season with options for 2028 and 2029 — before the 2027 season became the 2027-28 season. Fodrey is best known in club lore for scoring the winning goal in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup semifinal match against Minnesota United FC, bringing Austin FC to its first-ever tournament final — which it got to host at Q2 Stadium. Fodrey has appeared in 53 regular-season MLS matches during his career, though the vast majority came in short sub appearances. His last appearance with Verde was a start, though — in an unfamiliar wingback role against Seattle a week ago; that was also the most recent appearance for fellow outbound player Jayden Nelson This may not be the last of the summer transfer moves: Both Micah Burton and Riley Thomas have been in limbo lately, largely absent from both first-team and second-team rosters, and are perhaps destined for loans themselves. But also, for those encouraged by hints dropped in Tuesday's intro press conference for new chief soccer officer Kahled El-Ahmad that an incoming player might be on the way, the summer transfer window doesn't close until next Wednesday. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC makes Jayden Nelson move to Bolton official URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-makes-jayden-nelson-move-to-bolton-official/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T13:00:45.000Z Austin FC announced Wednesday morning — following his goodbyes to teammates on Saturday night and a Tom Bogert report on Monday — that Jayden Nelson is moving to Bolton Wanderers F.C. in the English Championship. The club clarified reports on the incoming money to offset the $1.25 million in General Allocation Money the club used to bring him over from Vancouver Whitecaps FC last December. Austin will get $1.1 million in guaranteed compensation and could receive up to $1.225 million in additional compensation, per the press release if certain conditions are met. Austin also retains a sell-on percentage of a potential future transfer involving Nelson. “Jayden expressed a desire to make a move to Europe at this stage of his career, and his transfer to Bolton is a great outcome for both clubs as well as for Jayden,” said Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud by way of press release. “We wish him nothing but the best for his time in England and our leadership group felt that accepting this offer continues our efforts to strengthen the club’s position as we look to the future.” As covered in [our Monday story](https://verdeallday.com/report-jayden-nelson-traded-to-bolton-wanderers-f-c/) highlighting the report, palpable tensions between Arnaud and Nelson and Nelson's limited post-World Cup minutes in Arnaud's new system — focused on wingbacks rather than pure wingers as wide players, and inverted wide players at that — hinted that Nelson might not be long for Verde. The quote's focus on being great for Austin as well as Bolton either hints that Arnaud feels this is an addition by subtraction move and wants that expressed with a veneer of diplomacy, or perhaps it hints that the funds will be used to secure a yet-to-be-announced inbound player who better fits the evolving new system. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'Extraordinarily pragmatic': Initial takeaways from CSO Khaled El-Ahmad's initial press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/extraordinarily-pragmatic-cso-khaled-el-ahmad-initial-press-conference/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T03:56:18.000Z Presenting Khaled El-Ahmad as Austin FC's new chief soccer officer and sporting director on Tuesday morning, club CEO Andy Loughnane declared him the "first choice" for filling the post vacated three months prior, with praise reminiscent of the head-coach-in-waiting he'll soon be paired with. "He is extraordinarily pragmatic," Loughnane said. "That is one of the things that stands out as part of our process, and, to me, that is an important characteristic." Club chairman Anthony Precourt revealed other facets of what made El-Ahmad stand out as as candidate. "I haven't met someone as thorough as him in terms of his planning," Precourt said. "He's just thought of every aspect; I was impressed from day one about how we're going to play, what type of culture we're going to have, what type of people are we going to have, how are we going to spend, how are we going to embrace analytics. He's very very prepared for this move to Austin and very confident about what he can do." In the press release that dropped minutes before El-Ahmad took the stage in Q2 Stadium's press conference room, the club noted: *In his new role, El-Ahmad will oversee all functions of Austin FC’s Soccer Operations, including roster construction and management, scouting and recruitment, player development, and the Club’s complete player pathway from the Academy through Austin FC II to the First Team. He will report directly to Austin FC Chief Executive Officer Andy Loughnane.* *El-Ahmad will lead Austin FC’s sporting leadership group, working closely with Andrew DiLallo, Dean Costalas and Ethan Finlay as the Club continues to build a modern, integrated Soccer Operations structure. Jim Curtin, previously announced as Austin FC’s next Head Coach, will report directly to El-Ahmad when he joins the Club following the conclusion of Austin FC’s 2026 MLS season. El-Ahmad will work closely with Curtin to establish a shared sporting vision and create an environment where coaching, recruitment and player development are fully aligned.* DiLallo, a longtime fixture in the Verde front office, and Finlay, who played at Austin FC between 2022 and 2024 and served as a rep for the MLS Players Association, will provide the brand of institutional knowledge that El-Ahmad would be important, while Costalas connects the 2026 edition of the club to Jim Curtin, who was named head coach in June but won't officially captain the ship until December. For the time being, El-Ahmad will work with interim head coach Davy Arnaud, who was also identified in Tuesday's press conference as the club's interim chief soccer officer — and theoretically the architect of two outbound moves that as of Tuesday were not yet confirmed. ## 'This is not a reset' "This is not a reset," El-Ahmad said of what his arrival represents. "This is an evolution. The goal is not for this to be a City Football Group 2.0 or a Philly 2.0 or a Minnesota 2.0\. This is how can we together, along with the fans, get the uniqueness of this community, the fans, the ownership, the colleagues to create Austin FC as we move forward. We should all dream big. I don't talk about winning because we're all in this to win, and that pressure is something that all excites us." As for his new co-workers, he had a similarly reassuring answer. "It's a collaborative model. But ultimately, the final decision sits with me," he said. "But if you have a good culture, there is no one-man decision. You come to a decision as a group. There should be tension because tension is good. That's what creates growth, in my opinion. I'm looking forward to both learn from Jim and Davy and Andrew and Ethan and Dean and everyone else to push this club forward. And we're going to have collaborative conversations. I'm kind of quite excited about that. I don't necessarily think we should all be aligned all the time. It's that the various experiences that I think are gonna make us very successful and powerful. As long as for me, fundamentally, are you surrounded by good people? And if that's yes, everything else will fall in place." And his statement about how he conceives the club was telling. "I'm super impressed with the people, the welcome we've received, and I just want to get going. I'm quite excited to keep meeting everyone and really aligning the club from top to bottom to make sure we achieve great things. And I've said this from day one, from when we first spoke. For me, there is only one thing, and that is Austin FC. "There is no first team, there's no second team, there's no academy, there's no business, there's no sports," he said. "We're all one club, one color, one tree, and I hope during my tenure everyone gets to feel that because I think that's my main responsibility: To get everyone to push in the right direction. When we do that, winning will come." ## Following transfer decorum I tested the waters to see if El-Ahmad would confirm the transfer rumors that the players in question unusually activated on Saturday night by saying goodbyes in front of Austin media members — Jayden Nelson, reportedly going to Bolton Wanderers F.C. in the English championship, and CJ Fodrey, rumored to be headed to Falkirk FC in the Scottish Premiership. "I like the question," he told me. "Means you're curious and interested in what the club does. Keep up that good job. But I think the club will have a policy that when a deal is done, it will first and foremost be presented on official club channels." (Keep that in mind if you're a subscriber checking your inbox or a lurker or internet preferer checking verdeallday.com about, let's say, 9 am on Wednesday morning.) (Also, perhaps Precourt hinted that inbound players could be coming in this window. We shall see.) ## How data figures in We know that El-Ahmad is a fan of data analytics and worked with [American Soccer Analytics](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2025/3/1/american-soccer-analysis-announce-minnesota-united-fc-as-analytics-consulting-client?ref=verdeallday.com) to provide insights about his players, opponents, and possible signings when he was steering Minnesota United FC. To him, data is important but not the whole ball of wax. "In general, I look at data as part of the decision-making process," he clarified. "It's not data versus no data. What's the most important is that we make the right decision, and so data is part of that process to get to the right decision. We are going to use and utilize the various physical data, on-board data, defensive data that will guide us into getting the best possible decision. "But it's not just data, and we sign a player because of that," he said. "It all has to come together. But I look at it from all perspectives. Injury records, how are we using data in terms of measuring the player loads ... and I don't want data just to be a word. What it is, it's part of the decision-making process. The most important thing is that we make the right decision." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### The road to a second star: Previewing Austin FC II's last four matches (and the playoffs to follow) URL: https://verdeallday.com/road-to-a-second-star-austin-fc-ii-last-four-matches/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T18:22:40.000Z In his introductory press conference, new Austin FC Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director Khaled El-Ahmad Made multiple references to a “one club” philosophy. From an early mention of the breakout talent of Ervin Torres to direct emphasis on the essential role of the player development pathway, El-Ahmad showed visible excitement over the state of Austin’s developmental side. KEA’s knowing smile at my making a reference to Minnesota United 2’s season-long nemesis status relative ATX II sealed it: this is a Sporting Director who does *not* see a “vast, *vast* gap in talent” between the first and second team players, in stark contrast to his predecessor, who was known for saying that ad nauseam. Austin FC II was the MLS Next Pro champion in 2023, and that championship season involved winning a lot of hard-fought victories on the road. Based on their season-long results in advance of their four final regular season games, VerDos have the potential to not only pick their choice of opponent as top seed in the first round, but also see guaranteed hosting rights in Austin throughout the playoffs. Following Sunday night’s victory against San Jose Earthquakes 2 (formerly known as The Town FC), Austin sit on 56 points. That puts them atop the Frontier Division, the Western Conference, *and* the MLSNP League tables. The MLSNP record for total points in a single season points is 66, a threshold set by a tie between Colorado Rapids 2 and Crown Legacy back in 2023, the same year ATX II put the first star over an Austin club crest. VerDos‘ remaining four opponents lead off with away fixtures against their next closest mates in the West table (Portland, aka “T2," on Aug. 30, and Dynamo Dos on Sept. 4), followed by a return home on Sept. 13 against already-eliminated Rapids 2, and then Dos-cision Day on Sept. 20 away in St. Louis. City 2 could be anywhere, from having safely clinched top eight to fighting for eighth place to already eliminated by Sept. 20\. The three teams under their current 39-point total (sixth in the table as of this writing) are tied on 33 points and *all* have a game in hand on them. Now that I’ve laid all of that out … none of it may matter by the time that match rolls around, and I mean that in the best way possible. *Regardless* of results elsewhere, if Austin gets a total of eight points across their next 3 games, it clinches the top seed in the league table (let alone the West), and are guaranteed hosting rights through the final. The next highest points ceiling in the West is Houston at 63\. Crown Legacy in the East are on 51 points right now and max out at 63, just like Houston. The MLSNP playoffs are a 16-team, single elimination knockout tournament that begins with the top three teams in each conference doing a “pick their opponent” selection from the bottom four teams in their conference. The fourth seed plays whoever is left. In 2023, this selection videoconference was made legendary by then-SKCII head coach Benny Feilhaber proclaiming “Scared money don’t make money” and selecting Austin, who knocked them out on their first stop on the road to historic hardware. The 2024 edition of the MLSNP playoffs featured the professional playoff debut of Cavan Sullivan, MLS’ latest anointed generational talent. I feel. it bears mentioning that Sullivan could not handle the Austin heat for longer than about 75 minutes on Saturday. That’s in contrast to Ervin Torres who went a full 90 … just saying. As alluded above, if VerDos have had a *nemesis* all season, it’s MNUFC2, who I’ve affectionately dubbed Mini-sota or The Twoons to their first team’s Loons. VerDos started their season at Parmer losing 4-2 to the Twoons, then *beating* them 3-1 in Minnesota, and then infuriatingly losing to them at home, 3-2\. With Minnesota currently sitting in 10th place on 31 points (maxing out at 46), head coach Jason Shackell may not be *able* to pick them as his opponent, since the Twoons might miss the playoffs completely. Mini-sota goes to Houston next weekend before hosting Colorado (eliminated already) and Vancouver (on the verge of elimination). Then they play Real Monarchs (Salt Lake’s second team) midweek before hosting LAFC2 on Decision Day. In a country with plenty of *completely absurd* club name constructs, “Real Monarchs” might just annoy me the most. Cosplaying Real Madrid energy in your branding as “*Real* Salt Lake” is one thing, naming your developmental affiliate side the “Royal Monarchs” is yet another (and silly), but not going Full Spanish with “Real Monarcas” is borderline infuriating. From a marketing perspective, at least. Anyway. All *that* said, the “2 Princes” of Salt Lake could *themselves* be eliminated by the time Minnesota go there, and with results elsewhere, *could* squeak into 8th place. MNUFC2 are neither mathematically eliminated nor worth counting out. I have to believe that Shackell must want his players to *have to* prove they are the better side to make a potential second star shine the brightest it can. Is it worth tempting the Fate of The Feilhaber, or is Shackell somehow warded against curses of years past? I guess we’ll find out what the Gods of Football have in store. Another angle I’m curious about is what happens in terms of potential play time for Ervin Torres and Jorge Alastuey in the MLSNP playoffs. They have mutually contributed greatly to ATX II’s successes that have led them to be the first team in the west to clinch. In 2024, Sam Sarver played a major role in North Texas SC’s victory over Philadelphia Union 2 in that year’s final while serving double. duty with. FC Dallas. There’s precedent within Austin too, with Damian Las as the number one for Austin‘s second team in their 2023 championship year while simultaneously bouncing from city to city as Brad Stuver’s backup for the first team. The new top Soccer man of “one Austin” emphasized a match by match methodology, so we won’t know for sure for at least a month, if not the day of that first playoff match … or maybe even the potential final. On *that* note, I’ve gotta believe a hosted MLSNP Final would move from Parmer Field to Q2, right? It was my understanding that’s where it would’ve been in 2023 had. the seeding been more favorable. Let’s look ahead without *getting* ahead of ourselves. Austin *could* clinch that top spot without outright winning three matches in a row, but most scenarios for these last four games require showing up solidly against Timbers 2 and DynaDos in enemy territory. T2 have been very solid of late, and Houston have been a bit up and down … but similarly have a lot to play for against the most dominant MLSNP side in Austin. Two tough opponents before the already-eliminated single-season joint record holder Rapids might mean it takes until that last away match against CITY2 ... …but it sure would be *cooler* for Parmer Night Lights devotees to see it happen live at home in just under three weeks. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Report: Jayden Nelson traded to Bolton Wanderers F.C. URL: https://verdeallday.com/report-jayden-nelson-traded-to-bolton-wanderers-f-c/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T19:15:02.000Z On Saturday night, media members in the Austin FC locker room saw Jayden Nelson saying goodbye to teammates, leaving them to wonder about the destination and the circumstances. With an official press release from the club still pending, the Athletic's Tom Bogert reported Monday that Nelson is heading to Bolton Wanderers F.C., in England's second-division Championship, on a deal worth at least $1 million. News of the move comes a day before a "special press conference" on Tuesday morning, which we presume to be the unveiling of [new sporting director Khaled El-Ahmed](https://verdeallday.com/report-khaled-el-ahmad-named-austin-fc-chief-soccer-officer/), though interim head coach Davy Arnaud was opaque about that when asked in Monday's press availability. Nelson, who joined the club in December 2025 (a week before Christmas), in advance of the 2026 season, came over in a trade with Vancouver Whitecaps FC — in part because Nelson was looking to get more playing time ahead of the 2026 World Cup. At the time the deal was announced, the club reported, "Austin sent $700,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM), $550,000 in 2027 GAM, and its 2026 MLS SuperDraft First Round pick to Vancouver. Vancouver may also retain a percentage of a future trade or transfer fee if the player is traded or sold above a certain monetary amount." Early-season injuries kept Nelson from getting the level of playing time he would have liked, and [told Austin media](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvdal-081626-davy-arnaud-jayden-nelson/) following the Aug. 16 loss to FC Dallas, "I was dealing with issues with my body I never experienced before." Ironically, even though Nelson was initially left off Canada's World Cup roster, it was [another injury](https://verdeallday.com/jayden-nelson-canada-world-cup-call-up-still-possible/) — an ACL tear suffered by Marcelo Flores — that opened the door for him. He scored a goal in a [key pre-World Cup tune-up match](https://verdeallday.com/jayden-nelson-scores-canada-vs-uzbekistan-world-cup-roster/) and became a late addition, getting sub minutes in Les Rouges' knockout round loss to Morocco. He added in Aug. 16 locker room exchange, "Now that I feel healthy, I'm ready to go. It's obviously hard to get into the squad right now with guys playing well, but I want to play really bad. So I'll say the ambition I got from the World Cup, knowing that I want more, knowing I can play with the best players in the world, I want to come back to Austin to really show that to the fans." However, six weeks after becoming the first Austin FC player to feature in the World Cup, he'll be leaving Austin FC. Nelson hinted in the Aug. 16 exchange that it was hard to get into the squad — part of that stemming with the switch from head coach Nico Estévez to interim head coach Davy Arnaud. Arnaud's newly implemented playing style utilizes wingbacks in a 5-2-3 formation, dispensing with the more traditional pure wingers that Estévez relied on in favor of two-way wingbacks playing as wingers on attack but dropping back to defend. Tensions between Arnaud and Nelson manifested during a July 25 away match at Houston, in which it appeared Nelson would enter as a late sub but then was sent back to the bench in favor of , with Arnaud [saying post-match](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-houvatx-072526-davy-arnaud-ilie-sanchez/) that Nelson "just wasn't in a good mindset to come into the game." Both Arnaud and Nelson gave assurances in media availabilities after the episode that it was a misunderstanding and that they were on good terms with one another. And yet, 30 days after that episode, Nelson is reportedly no longer with Austin FC. Nelson last appeared for Austin FC's in last Wednesday's win against Seattle, deployed more centrally in an attacking winger role than he typically does. He finishes his Austin FC career — assuming the report matches the club's confirmation, which we'll seek tomorrow should a press release not be forthcoming by then — with 13 regular-season appearances (including seven starts), two goals, and an assist. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'We're trying to plan for what's to come': Looking ahead to a showdown against Toluca URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvphi-082226-davy-arnaud-christian-ramirez/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T16:15:14.000Z In a little more than eight minutes, interim head coach Davy Arnaud dispensed of the last of his official Saturday night duties — answering 12 media questions in quick succession following Austin FC's [1-1 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvphi-082226/) against the Philadelphia Union — while acknowledging there's a next big midweek test at hand. "It's nice saying we don't play 'til Wednesday," Arnaud reflected. "That feels like, with the rhythm we've been in, it feels like it's a week now, because we've been playing so many games. But we'll take \[Sunday\] off, and I think it'll be good for the guys to get away for a day. But the staff will already be will be prepping for Toluca, and we understand it's a big game and a big opportunity for us to to get that Champions League spot — well, to win a trophy first of all, but give ourselves a chance to to get in Champions League." Should Austin beat the Liga MX powers in Harrison, N.J., on Wednesday, in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal match the team qualified for with two wins and a PK win in group stage play, that will beget more schedule congestion but also a chance at greater relevance. A semifinal match against the León-Real Salt Lake winner would follow a win over Toluca on Sept. 1 or 2, and a win there would qualify Verde for Concacaf Champions Cup (the official name of the federation's annual club tournament) plus a trip to the Leagues Cup final — very possible staged at Q2 Stadium — on Sept. 6, supplanted the next scheduled home match Sept. 5 against San Jose. Arnaud acknowledged that the Toluca match — and the match at Portland on Saturday — figured into Saturday night's rotation, which included Jorge Alastuey and Ervin Torres starting together (as they have in Austin FC II matches earlier this same season), with designated players Brandon Vázquez and Facundo Torres on the bench. "We're trying to to plan for what's to come and what we've done and the travel and all that stuff," Arnaud said of rotating nearly the entire starting roster for the third time in a week. "So all those things go into \[these\] decisions." That includes flying directly from the New York metro area to Portland for Saturday's match at Providence Park; he reiterated the point (now less mysteriously) that the team will fly five hours (clarifying it will happen on Thursday) and experience a three-hour time difference going from ET to PT. Last Wednesday's win over Seattle brought a wholesale change of 10 players from the prior match against Dallas, and the Union brought about nearly a whole squad change from that. Over those last three matches, Arnaud has utilized 21 different players from the squad into the starting XI. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Philadelphia Union 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvphi-082226/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T03:11:33.000Z On a hot Saturday night back home at Q2 Stadium in the midst of considerable schedule congestion, Cavan Sullivan and Brendan Hines-Ike traded first-half headed corner kick goals, then the teams dueled to an electric but ultimately frustrating 1-1 draw. Verde started with two start-of-the-season VerDos players — Ervin Torres and Jorge Alastuey — slotted into the starting lineup, while Facundo Torres and Brandon Vázquez started on the bench. Notably, Christian Ramírez started as striker, and Besard Šabović slotted next to Alastuey in the midfield, with Joseph Rosales and Jon Gallagher starting in non-inverted positions but often cheating high up the pitch. The Union shot first but errantly, with Milan Iloski punishing the ad board in the second minute. Verde got in a flurry of activity in the 14th, with Myrto Uzuni getting a shot from inside the box, forcing an Andre Blake save, with the rebound coming out to Gallagher. Gallagher's shot hit the post, and Uzuni's follow-up shot was blocked by 18-year-old wunderkind center back Neil Pierre. The teams then traded corner kick header goals in quick succession, with Sullivan getting his in the 18th for a short corner played back to original taker Iloski, whipping in a ball for a double header (with Hines-Ike trailing Sullivan on the fateful run in), and then Hines-Ike making up for it in the 21st, getting onto Rosales' curling corner kick in the goalmouth and nodding it past Blake. Ramírez had his first chance in the 34th, getting a shot following some more deft movement in the box involving multiple attackers, with Pierre stepping up with another block. Rosales frequently went to the sideline and down it to test Sullivan's defensive skills, and late in the first half, one of those moves led to Jose Bueno coming over to double team, clattering Rosales, and earning the first yellow card of the match. Pierre got a yellow card four minutes later to put an additional Union player in danger, but the teams wound down the last few minutes of the half (and five minutes of stoppage time) relatively uneventfully. Two minutes after halftime, Verde weathered both an attacking scare and an injury scare, as Bueno arrived at the top of the box for a potential shot, only for Uzuni to rush in and break up the play, getting stepped on by Bueno in the process. Uzuni was down for a moment and then got up under his own power. The Union were able to engineer some danger in the 52nd and 53rd minutes, most pronounced by Sullivan slipping in Danley Jean Jacques for a shot that whacked off the post. Two minutes later, Verde had their own dangerous moment started with an on-the-ground Alastuey winning a ball that Gallagher was able to get to Uzuni. Uzuni, in a good position to shoot, instead laid it off to a wide-open Rosales ... whose shot went well wide of the target. The Union made their first subs after that, getting off Bueno and Indiana Vassilev off for Quinn Sullivan – yes, Cavan's older brother, and Jovan Lukic. In the 62nd, Rosales had a chance at redemption, working in toward goal to get off a shot, but Pierre again snuffed out the chance. Interim head coach Davy Arnaud used his first subs in the 63rd minute to get supersubs F-Torres and Vázquez onto the field, taking off Alastuey and Ramírez. In the 71st, while waiting on a corner kick, Arnaud got Przemysław Płacheta on for a clearly-gassed Rosales, and Mikkel Desler came in for Hines-Ike, who had been tended to by a trainer on the turf to delay the corner. A minute later, the Union got off C-Sullivan and starting striker Bruno Damiani off in favor of a fresher pair of players, Ezekiel Alladoh and Agustín Anello. Two minutes after that, the infusion led to a chance from one of the earlier subs, Q-Sullivan, hitting a shot from beyond the 18 while lightly defended, bending wide of target but not by much. In the 83rd, Płacheta sent a ball toward the goalmouth that Blake spilled, but a defender was able to clear it before Vázquez, lurking near Blake, was able to pounce. A minute after that, Austin FC used its last sub to get Žan Kolmanič on for Gallagher. F-Torres and Vázquez nearly combined for a goal in the 86th, with F-Torres getting out on a breakaway and setting up Vázquez on a run down the right flank. He got a ball off from a tight angle that could have been an F-Torres goal on Earth 2, but on this one, a Union defender cleared it, and we were just left with the memories of nice interplay between two talented players. In stoppage time, we got another near Vázquez goal (on a hot ball in from Płacheta that just evaded the striker), a late Union sub for legend Alejandro Bedoya, and a near Uzuni goal that Blake did well to save. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The Gallagher shot off the Uzuni shot and Blake save was the product of the chaos in the box that Verde can generate when Arnaud's offense is working, and it was encouraging to see Uzuni trying to follow up with an additional shot of his own. That's Arnaud's new system at its best (even if it's not as consistent as we'd like). ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Rosales miss wasted a great opportunity that was particularly hard fought and well worked just to get. ## One thing you might have missed On the opening kickoff, the Union put four players on the right side of the center line as if they were going to run fly patterns for a Hail Mary pass. Instead, they congested the part of the pitch directly in front of their starting position — but that set the early tone for a lot of overloading the right to attack Verde's left-sided defense. ## One nerdy tidbit During a first half that was nearly even in xG created, this is perhaps why Verde didn't score more. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/IMG_4121.jpg) We're seeing a future potential USMNT star tonight, and I'm not talking about Sullivan (though he certainly might be one as well). Very curious to see the arc of Pierre's trajectory in the coming months. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative A draw is better than a loss, to be sure, and given the Union's recent form, this is a decently positive result. However, home draws won't get Verde to the playoffs as far back as they are. But then again, a huge Leagues Cup match looms on Wednesday. ## A question we have heading into the press conference There's got to be a different way to ask about the rotations that are keeping two designated players off the field, and about Vázquez's continued struggles to score ... I get to figure out in the next few minutes how to do that. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Can Austin FC get to the playoffs? Looking into 2026's crystal ball URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2026-playoffs-crystal-ball/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T15:10:02.000Z After Wednesday night's 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC, Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud [made a case](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-seavatx-081926-davy-arnaud-facundo-torres/) for his team being able to make the playoffs. Part of that was predicated on how the squad is learning and mastering his new style of play — and that involves the *whole* squad, given how heavily rotated Wednesday's winners were compared to other post-summer break lineups. Part of that was also predicated on somewhat suspect math. While Arnaud was generally spot-on that a two points at home plus one point away match average would result in 51 points for a 34-match season — a number consistently above the playoff line — he also figured in two Leagues Cup wins and a draw into a post-break home record to inflate the sample size with results against mostly inferior (or at least unprepared) foes, and didn't fully account for the hole that his team is in trying to get to those thresholds. Verde have played 20 matches in 2026 and have accumulated 20 points — that's an average of 1 PPG, with 1.55 PPG at home (0.45 PPG off the target pace), and a dismal 0.55 PPG away (which is also 0.45 PPG off the target pace, but with a less forgiving ratio). Here are the mathematical realities facing Austin FC heading into its final 14 matches of 2026 — not counting the one to three Leagues Cup matches that present an opportunity for a title but also congest the immediately approaching portion of the schedule: - 9th-place Portland is on 1.35 PPG and 10th-place LA Galaxy are on 1.19 PPG. Extrapolating that out, the playoff line as it stands falls between 40.5 and 46 points. The easiest way to annually conceive the line is 45 points, but it actually varies from year to year. - Ergo, the line in 2025 was 41, the line in 2024 was 47 (though Austin's 42 would have qualified in the East, with Verde supplanting Atlanta in that multiversal option), and 2023 was 44\. This season is looking more like 2024, when the West teams had higher point totals in the just made/just missed spots than the East. - There's a logjam of teams directly above Austin, with two teams on 24 and two teams on 25 below the playoff line. One of those teams, the dramatically plummeting Seattle, was seven points ahead of Verde at kickoff Wednesday and are now just four points ahead, so it's possible to chip away at the teams above Austin, but there are only so many matches involving teams below the playoff line. (And Portland's on 27, so to get to the playoffs, Verde need to do eight points better than Portland — or seven points while making up 15 goals worth of goal differential.) So let's go ahead and predict that it takes 45 points to make it. Moisés and I will take you through our match-by-match predictions. ### Saturday, Aug. 22: hosting Philadelphia Union - 20 points (5W 10L 5D) - Form in last five: WWWWL **Phil says:** If you just look at the overall record, you might think that this is a gettable three points. But much of this record was assembled under Bradley Carnell before his firing in late May. They went from 1 W 10L 4D with him at the helm (and his uberdemanding style in operation) to 4W 0L 1D without him. That, plus the return of Kai Wagner (one of the best playmaking fullbacks in MLS) makes this Union way more dangerous. I think Austin heat and Verde vibes help the hosts, but not enough for a win. - Draw, moving Verde up to 21 points **Moisés says:** Austin's last home game for two weeks (before returning to Q2 against San Jose on Sept. 5, probably — more on that in a bit) has to be a statement win against a resurgent Philly. Austin now boasts Philadelphia's former head of Soccer Strategy, who knows a lot of these players *very* well (including the Sullivan brothers). Davy Arnaud and the players are not going to "punt" on any game, especially a home game. - Win, moving Verde up to 23 points _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Union Soccer Blog's Joe Tansey URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-union-soccer-blog-joe-tansey-082226/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T12:00:47.000Z It's been a month of "we don't see *you* very often." Following a trio of Leagues Cup matches at Q2 Stadium, Austin FC will welcome the Philadelphia Union on Saturday (8 pm CT) for a cross-conference matchup. This season, the Union have taken on special significance for Verde fans, as it was the launching pad (and longtime home) for current Austin FC head-coach-in-waiting Jim Curtin. This season's been strange for the Union so far. Coming off a Supporters' Shield-winning year (and then a bizarre offseason in which sporting director Ernst Tanner offloaded a few key players), the Union started 2026 with six straight losses, then a single win, then another eight winless matches. During that time, Tanner was suspended by MLS following its "investigation into allegations of inappropriate and insensitive comments," and to start the midsummer break, the Union parted ways with head coach Bradley Carnell. (Yes, like Austin FC, the Union dumped both a sporting director and head coach partway through 2026.) Ahead of the match, we checked in with Joe Tansey of [Union Soccer Blog](https://unionsoccerblog.substack.com/), the first person we turn to when we have Union-specific questions (like, "What is Jim Curtin like as a coach?"). We had — as we customarily do in these situations — three. To the questions! ### Since parting ways with Bradley Carnell, the Union responded with four straight wins and then this most recent draw against Miami? How do you explain the resurgence? Honestly, just not having Carnell around. The team was a shell of itself to start 2026 after the veteran players were sold and the club was essentially stripped of its identity. \[Interim head coach\] Ryan Richter focused on re-building the culture within the locker room when he was named interim boss and that's very clearly been on display since MLS play resumed. ### We thought we weren't going to see Cavan Sullivan play on Saturday due to the late red card on Wednesday, but the league did the Union a solid and rescinded it. What has Cavan meant to the team as the season's progressed? He's taken a huge step forward in every game since the World Cup break. He's the team's best chance creator, and while the goals haven't come yet, there have been signs in the last few games that his chemistry with his brother and Milan Iloski is strong and he'll finish a handful of them soon. Without him, the Union definitely would still be at or near the bottom of the table. (Just my two cents: he shouldn't play Saturday, or at least shouldn't start. He's already a career high in minutes, has played a lot in a short span in August and the heat could just zap everything out of him in Austin) ### While we wait for Jim Curtin to officially arrive, we do have Dean Costalas officially in as Austin FC's new Senior VP of Soccer Strategy. How integral was he to the Union while he was there, and what do you think he'll bring to Austin in this weird interim period we're in? I know Dean more personally than I do for what he did on a day-to-day basis. Very nice guy. I'll think he will have success with Jim in 2027\. Everyone that was there in front office roles during Jim's time as head coach really worked well together. I think it's important to have someone that Curtin trusts be involved in the roster building process. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Report: Khaled El-Ahmad named Austin FC Chief Soccer Officer URL: https://verdeallday.com/report-khaled-el-ahmad-named-austin-fc-chief-soccer-officer/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T23:22:45.000Z Following the hint from a source with knowledge last week that Austin FC was close to naming a Chief Soccer Officer, The Athletic's Tom Bogert [reported Thursday afternoon](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7527622/2026/08/20/sources-austin-fc-set-to-hire-minnesota-uniteds-khaled-el-ahmad-as-chief-soccer-officer/?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.61A.IKlu.iiFXUoriOxiP&source=emp%5Fshared%5Farticle&smid=ta-ios-share) that Khaled El-Ahmad, currently Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director with Minnesota United FC, will take a similar role in Austin. El-Ahmad, 45, who has been with the Twin Cities club since 2023, was born in Lebanon to Lebanese and Czech parents, and raised in Sweden, per his [MNUFC bio](https://www.mnufc.com/club/technical-staff/khaled-el-ahmad?ref=verdeallday.com). His experience includes serving as Chief Executive Officer and Sporting Director at Barnsley F.C. in England from 2021 to 2023, and was with City Football Group during the prior six years, where he was Concacaf and Scandinavia Scouting Lead for CFG, and supported roster construction and recruitment for NYCFC — which means he coordinated with original Austin FC sporting director Claudio Reyna. "As part of the newly announced leadership structure, the club’s next appointed Sporting Director will serve as Austin FC’s Chief Soccer Officer and will oversee all functions of Soccer Operations, including roster construction and the club’s player development pathway, and will report directly to Loughnane," Austin FC said in its Aug. 11 press release announcing Loughnane's elevation to CEO. "The club's ongoing search for its next Sporting Director continues collaboratively among Precourt, Loughnane, and Austin FC Alternate Governor Matt Hulsizer alongside Excel Search & Advisory," that press release continued – perhaps setting the table for an announcement that a source hinted was due for official announcement as soon as this coming weekend. "I think it’s a fascinating move for Austin," said longtime MNUFC observer and seasoned soccer writer Wes Burdine, who also owns the [Black Hart of Saint Paul](https://www.blackhartstp.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), the spiritual home for Loons fans. "Minnesota has punched above its weight for some time, while at the same time entering real doldrums. Both the praise and blame for that can be put at KEA’s feet. "He signed \[head coach\] Eric Ramsay, a pretty bold move," he continued. "But his biggest player signings, like Kelvin Yeboah and Dominick Fitz, have been underwhelming. But I suspect his argument is that, overall, his record has been good without resources and with a big checkbook he can shine." Burdine's recent [Substack article](https://substack.com/inbox/post/212001169?ref=verdeallday.com) decried the Loons' stagnant progress compared to MLS' elite teams. > "They have never found themselves in a cycle where they’re overburdened by multiple long term contracts from players who are flopping. They’ve made the playoffs five out of the last six seasons. Okay, low bar, but I think generally they’ve never been DC United dogshit," he observed. > "But we find ourselves in this place. We find ourselves with a team that isn’t bad, *definitely* isn’t good, and for sure isn’t interesting at all. There are a lot of pretty good players. Some of those players like \[Joaquin\] Pereyra are exceptional, but he’s a player who needs a star around him to draw him to that higher level. He needs to be the 3rd best player, not the best, if he’s really going to shine." > He went on to observe, "I also don’t think getting rid of KEA and the sporting department is necessarily the answer. I think that while there have been massive misses in player acquisition, this is pretty par for the course in MLS (every team has Dominick Fitz level flops). And I think you could probably make the argument that the team has done better than average with its resources." Austin FC is a team that hasn't been afraid to spend, though its hit rate on designated players and U22 Initiative players has been mixed. Per a source, El-Ahmad has a keen interest in advanced soccer data and analytics to aid in player evaluation, and could place additional emphasis on that should he officially arrive, partnering with head-coach-in-waiting Jim Curtin and newly arrived senior vice president of soccer strategy Dean Costalas. Bogert reported that El-Ahmad will be replaced at Minnesotea by the team's current head of recruitment, Hank Stebbins, taking an interim CSO role. *This is a developing story.* [Sure, we'll roll out this special deal one more time](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'We've had to make a lot of changes': Reflecting on Austin FC's rotated squad getting its first road win of 2026 URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-seavatx-081926-davy-arnaud-facundo-torres/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T14:00:36.000Z If you watched Sunday's Austin FC loss to FC Dallas, you likely noticed that players who'd been asked to go match after match were tired. Ahead of [Verde's 2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-seavatx-081926/) over Seattle Sounders FC on Wednesday, interim head coach Davy Arnaud noticed it as well. "We've had to make a lot of changes," he said. "Guys just physically can't perform game in, game out, three games a week for multiple weeks on top of the travel. So we've known that we were going to have to make these rotations. Against Dallas, we pushed some guys playing that were getting close to that edge of maybe being too tired, but it was something we had to do. "Coming here, man, we said it," he continued. "It doesn't matter who's playing for us. We felt like coming here that we had a group that was ready to win the game, and we were all excited about the game. Honestly, I think you saw some guys get opportunities that haven't had as much playing in slightly different roles, and, man, I'm so proud of them. They did a great job." That included goalkeeper Damian Las, who got his first start for the first team to interrupt a Brad Stuver start streak that went back four years. "Damian, obviously, we wanted to get Damian a game, and we talked about getting him a game in Leagues Cup. It didn't work out like that, but Damian's earned his opportunity, so it was a good chance for him to to get a chance to show what he can do. And I thought he had a very good game tonight." It was a 90th-minute set-piece goal from a teenage center back that kept Verde from registering its first clean sheet since May 3, when they dispatched St. Louis at home ahead of this current 2W 6L 1D stretch. For the second time this season, Verde broke a three-match losing streak by beating a depleted Sounders team — a luxury they won't have the rest of this season. And for the first time in 2026, Austin FC traveled to a stadium and won — something it may need to do again should playoffs stay on the list of squad goals. "There's time for us, and one thing that I do know, and I'm sure about with this group, they're gonna pour everything that they can into every single game, and our club is going to do the same, and the coaching staff is going to do the same," he said. "We're pouring everything that we can into those last 14 league games to try and get us in the playoffs ... we have a belief inside of our group that that we can achieve that. We know it's going to be difficult. We know we started in a very tough position, but we're not dead yet, and we're there and we're fighting. And I think tonight's performance, especially coming off of a result we were disappointed about against Dallas, for us to respond in that way, I think speaks for itself." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Seattle Sounders FC 1, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-seavatx-081926/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T03:42:41.000Z You wanted rotation? You got rotation. And it worked. Austin FC, only retaining one of the 11 starters from Sunday's 2-1 loss to FC Dallas (and not the one you'd guess), went to Seattle with an emphatically rotated lineup against the Sounders. One of the starters, Facundo Torres, scored his first goal for the club in four months, and Guilherme Biro found a game-winning set piece goal, outlasting the hosts 2-1 at Lumen Field on Wednesday night. Only captain Ilie Sánchez remained a constant in a rotated lineup that included the first-ever start for goalkeeper Damian Las, a welcome start for speedsters Jayden Nelson and Przemysław Płacheta, potentially confidence-building starts for midfielder Jorge Alastuey and nominal striker CJ Fodrey (playing as a left winger), and a homecoming for center back Jon Bell, who played with the Sounders last season. After some early uncertain moments in the heavily rotated lineup — but looking to be playing a 3-4-3 variation of the system interim head coach Davy Arnaud instituted — Verde got their first real chance in the 19th minute, with Nelson trying to feed Brandon Vázquez with a pass that was a bit beyond him. In the 26th minute, after additional aborted chances with Nelson and Alastuey in playmaker roles, Vázquez collected a pass — as it turns out, in a slightly offside position — and hit a shot that pinged off the post. Four minutes later, the Sounders' Albert Rusnak had a shooting opportunity that was aptly blocked by Ilie, saving a potential goal. Płacheta engineered a 32nd-minute corner kick opportunity, but that only resulted in a Vázquez header attempt that went over the bar. The Sounders, plagued by injuries, had another concerning one late in the first half when Jackson Ragen went down with a (mostly) non-contact knee injury, but got the sideline under his own power and returned. (Ragen would eventually come off in the 69th.) Nelson was able to earn a free kick near halftime, and that play turned into two consecutive corner kicks — the second resulting in an Alastuey shot that banged off the post, followed by a Žan Kolmanič shot collected by Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas. In first-half stoppage time, Rusnak had another go from distance that went just wide — but the teams went into halftime scoreless. Seattle came in with one halftime sub, bringing in Snyder Brunell — a starter in Seattle's prior match against Austin — for Sebastian Gomez. In the 53rd minute, Płacheta won a corner kick but should have won so much more, absorbing a rough challenge from Nouhou that could have resulted in a dangerous free kick placement just outside the box. Two minutes later, Paul Rothrock got off one of the Sounders' most dangerous chances of the night, which Las was able to handle. At close to the hour mark, Arnaud made his first sub, putting in Guilherme Biro for Fodrey, which moved Kolmanič out to wingback. Las was tested again shortly after that sub, with Danny Musovski forcing Las into a diving save. At this stage of the match, Nelson and Płacheta also had chances from distance but were unable to get enough power on their shots to trouble Thomas. Finally, in the 66th, Verde broke through, with Nelson playing Kolmanič down the line with a pass, who then sent a cross into a wide-open Torres, who was able to sidefoot his shot past Thomas for the opener. Mikkel Desler made his return to play at the 70-minute mark in a double sub with Ervin Torres, spelling Nelson and Płacheta. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi had a near-goal in the 76th, getting off a shot that just went wide. Two minutes later, Rothrock went wide with a shot even closer and more dangerous. After Kolmanič absorbed hard contact, it appeared his night was through, so Arnaud opted for a pair of vić subs, getting in Mateja Đorđević and Besard Šabović in for Kolmanič — which make Biro the match's third left wingback — and Ilie. Pressure continued to mount for Verde with an 85th-minute Rusnak shot that stung Las' palms, but then E-Torres got his own scary shot a minute later threatening Thomas — helping secure a corner kick that resulted in Biro's wild karate kick putaway, assisted by Vázquez. In the 90th, though, Rusnak was able to play a free kick into 19-year-old Stuart Hawkins, who lost his defender, rose up to meet the ball, and headed it in to give the Sounders life. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Alastuey's near-goal just before halftime was the most decisive play any Verde player managed all half. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 8th minute, Kolmanič decided to test the keeper — his own, sending a hard, fast pass his way that very nearly turned into an own goal disaster. Fortunately, Las was able to recover the ball and kick it out of danger. But that was very nearly a terrible way to spot the hosts an early goal and go down 1-0\. ## One thing you might have missed A replay of the winning goal showed that Vázquez may have been offside before he sent the assist into Biro. That's a VAR oops if so, but also, an indicator that Vázquez still has to work on his timing. ## One nerdy tidbit It took until the first minute of stoppage time for Austin to get its first shot on target. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative The win halts another three-match losing streak — with the prior three-match losing streak also ending with a win over Seattle. There won't be any more matches against Seattle, though — Verde will need to find other opponents it can beat. Perhaps more significantly, it's Verde's first road win of 2026 — better late than never. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why all this rotation? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Sounder at Heart's Jeremiah Oshan URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-sounder-at-heart-jeremiah-oshan-081926/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T16:43:08.000Z It's been less than a month since we last talked to Sounder at Heart's Jeremiah Oshan about Seattle Sounders FC, but we don't make the schedules, we just follow them. Since we last spoke, the Sounders' dire situation has gotten even worse, as this rolling NPxGD (non-penalty expected goal difference) chart shows. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Seattle_Sounders_FC_npxgd_2026.png) However, Austin FC's form (minus the three Leagues Cup matches that at least temporarily lifted vibes around the club) has been even more worrying, though the current gulf is not as wide as it is for the Sounders. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Austin_FC_npxgd_2026-12--1.png) Now, the team that's lost nine of its last 10 in all competitions — with a rash of injuries and head coach Brian Schmetzer on an unfamiliar hot seat — hosts the one team in MLS this season without a road win. How this match goes (slated to start at 8:40 pm CT on Wednesday night at Seattle's Lumen Field) is perhaps more up in the air than you'd expect of Austin at Seattle — it's conceivable either team could win or they could (in a perhaps more likely scenario) grind to a desultory draw. My Opposition Scouting Report contribution – analogous to Verde All Day's Foreign Exchange series — is [now up](https://www.sounderatheart.com/2026/08/opposition-scouting-report-austin-fc-3/?ref=verdeallday.com) on Sounder at Heart. We've also updated our 2026 By the Numbers page on the site; Verde are still leaguewide bottom or near-bottom in a number of key categories, and with the points dropped via goals given up after the 68th minute from winning or drawing positions now at 17, your concerns about late-game defending are justified in persisting. (Verde's also gone eight matches in league play without a clean sheet, though given the state of Seattle's offense — in which a starting No. 9 hasn't scored all season in MLS play, though it did happen in Leagues Cup against Querétaro — that could be attainable Wednesday night.) [2026 by the numbersThese stats help put 2026 into focus.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-e7210513-1dd2-484d-9f52-0d039e0e87bf.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/gallagher-goal-assist-celebration-b1d89b15-ae50-42ea-a799-8a629faf9a63.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/2026-by-the-numbers/) To the questions! ### When we last spoke, the Sounders were in a bad place, and now they're in a worse one, having lost nine of their last 10 in all competitions. You wrote about how the front office might need to [bring in better players](https://www.sounderatheart.com/2026/08/postgame-pontifications-out-of-answers/?ref=verdeallday.com) – how likely do you think that is? I think the Sounders are definitely trying to make some moves but with each passing day that they don’t, I become more skeptical they’ll actually get it done. They’ve already gone an unprecedented four straight summers without an external signing and fans here are definitely worried they’ll make it a fifth. Either way, they’re not going to have anyone new players for the Austin game, so nothing you’ll need to worry about! ### On this topic, where might the Sounders need to shore up the squad? On the latest Soccerwise, they made much ado of needing an upgrade at left wing (between Pedro de la Vega's injuries and Paul Rothrock's limitations), and were down on fan favorite (is he still that?) Nouhou ... The most glaring need is probably a winger, but they’re also looking for a forward. Truth be told, they probably need upgrades at a host of positions, but those are the two they seem most focused on addressing. What was once a very deep roster suddenly has issues all over, which is a product of two things: they probably got a bit too aggressive in moving the players who were deemed surplus and then this injury crisis has hit much harder than anyone would have reasonably expected. Among their ideal starters, only Nouhou and Rusnák have played in at least 60% of the available minutes. ### Given that it's a 14th-in-the-West Austin coming to Seattle, is the general vibe around this match that it's a winnable match and it can set the Sounders right, or is there enough doom and gloom to have fans feeling this will bring more of the same? I would say the Sounders look at this game as winnable but there’s no way anyone is taking anything for granted. If the Sounders can’t stop their losing skid against Austin there’s a very real chance that they could challenge the MLS record of 12 straight losses, as no upcoming games are nearly as winnable as this one, on paper at least. That's pretty amazing when you consider this team was openly talking about making a run at the Supporters’ Shield in the final games heading into the World Cup break! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'There's a lot for us to manage': Given Austin FC's 1-6-1 form in MLS play, were those three Leagues Cup matches just a mirage? URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvdal-081626-davy-arnaud-jayden-nelson/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T22:00:23.000Z Interim head coach Davy Arnaud liked what he saw from his Austin FC squad against Club América last Thursday — so much so that he retained nine of 11 players from that starting lineup for Sunday's match against FC Dallas, only leaving underperforming designated players Brandon Vázquez and Facundo Torres on the bench. He did bring them both on — and their quality and difference-making was evident — but it wasn't enough to stave off a 2-1 loss, dropping their form to 1W 6L 1D in the last eight regular-season matches. "It's a fine line, because you do want to keep a level of rhythm and consistency with the group that's had success, while trying to to make some changes, and we knew we were going to have to make some of those changes regardless at some point in the game," Arnaud said of his lineup decisions. "I thought the guys that came in at halftime brought real energy. I thought they changed the game in a really positive way. I thought, \[in\] the second half, you started to see who we were. "We lacked energy. We lacked speed of play, and I don't know if it's necessarily from an energy standpoint, because \[in\] the first 45 minutes, that shouldn't be an issue," he said of his team's flat first-half performance. "I think it was more from an emotional standpoint. I think it was an emotional week with the Leagues Cup, and we just weren't there. We weren't ourselves in the first half, and I thought you saw a much better version of us in the second half." The second half did bring an Ervin Torres equalizer, with the 19-year-old's first goal for the senior squad continuing one of the season's happiest subplots, and the midfielder was one of Verde's better players on the night. But it also brought a Petar Musa goal that made the difference for FCD, and added to Austin FC's tally of points dropped due to goals let in from winning or drawing positions after the 68th minute. Verde's now dropped 17 points in that way — and they only *have* 17 points on the season. Were they to have not ceded those late goals and retained all those points, they would be on 34 points, tied for third in the West with LAFC on points, rather than the 14th-place doldrums they currently find themselves in. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, FC Dallas 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvdal-081626/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T02:46:50.000Z Resuming MLS league play after a successful three matches in Leagues Cup, Austin FC returned to Q2 Stadium for a Copa Tejas match against FC Dallas Sunday night. While Ervin Torres scored his first goal for Austin FC's senior squad, becoming just the second teenager in club history to do so, the hosts gave up goals to Lalas Abubakar and MLS Golden Boot race leader Petar Musa, losing 2-1 to continue an unsavory league play trend. Once again, Verde showed out in the new violet crown kits, with two designated players missing from the roster. Only Myrto Uzuni featured from the trio, with Christian Ramírez in place of Brandon Vázquez and the preferred-of-late Torres, Ervin Torres, in for Facundo Torres. Otherwise, Violet rolled out with the other nine starters from the most recent match against Club América — including goalkeeper Brad Stuver and close-to-every-position Jon Gallagher, honored by Chairman Anthony Precourt and CEO Andy Loughnane just before the match with framed jerseys commemorating each player's 200th appearance. Violet also started in the inverted wingback formation that interim head coach Davy Arnaud has rolled out in recent weeks, with Gallagher on the left and Joseph Rosales on the right. The first real moment of danger came in the sixth minute, when FC Dallas sliced through Violet's defense, ending with Bernard Kamungo getting one-on-one with Stuver, and Guilherme Biro arriving just in time to disrupt Kamungo's concentration, sending the shot wide. Then, in the 12th minute, Santi Moreno had a go from distance, forcing Stuver into a save. Violet struggled to get things going offensively, but had its first truly dangerous moment in the 28th minute, sprung by Uzuni finding Rosales with a long diagonal pass that he was able to chase down before it went out of bounds, then sending it into the box, with Gallagher getting free for a shot, blocked by Osaze Urhoghide before it could truly manifest as a chance. Some rivalry manifested late in the first half, with FCD captain Ramiro getting a yellow card, shortly followed by Mateja Đorđević getting one of his own. Then, in a dispute somehow involving Urhoghide knocking the ball out of Stuver's hand while attempting to throw the ball out of the penalty area, and then jostling Besard Šabović with a few pseudo-punches before the rage semi-subsided. (Weird sequence.) In the second minute of stoppage time, Dallas had its inevitable breakthrough from a corner kick following a Petar Musa shot that Stuver had to kick save away. Moreno lofted a ball in the general realm of the far post, and Abubakar — who previously tormented Verde as a Colorado Rapid — elevated over two flatfooted players in the vicinity (Šabović and Guilherme Biro) for the opener. Facundo Torres and Przemysław Płacheta came on as halftime subs for Ilie and Rosales to try to change the energy. Płacheta earned a corner kick in the first three minutes, which F-Torres took, but that only resulted in an Absolute Chimneys shot by Šabović after a Dallas defender got to him. Over the next few minutes, the tide turned, in part thanks to a long ball lofted by Oleksandr Svatok — who'd jammed his wrist minutes before, requiring wrapping — that Płacheta got an attempt on. In the 57th, Violet finally got its opening goal, with E-Torres getting the ball near the top of the box, and even though he got a heavy first touch on it, was able to weave through the defense to hit a hard, direct shot inside the post closest to him that sent Dallas goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois flailing. Arnaud sought additional subs in the 63rd minute, getting Vázquez on for Ramírez and Žan Kolmanič on for Gallagher. In the 73rd, though, the tide turned again, with Musa getting a ball slipped into him at the top of the box. Biro gave him too much time and space, and he hit his shot off the far post and in to recapture the lead. In the 78th, Vázquez nearly had his first goal of the season, with F-Torres sending in a ball that led him goalward but just missed his head. Arnaud put in Jayden Nelson for Biro in the 82nd to shift to a more traditional four-back look. Uzuni nearly had a goal in the 87th, bending a shot just wide of target, and in the jumble of late-game activity, we had two instances of Urhoghide catching Vázquez in the face with an errant hand, with no satisfactory response from the referee. But he did gift the match 10 minutes of stoppage time, which started with Šabović getting fouled near the top of the box and setting up an Uzuni free kick. But that didn't amount to anything, and stoppage time carried its share of frustration with it as the match ground down to its inevitable end. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) While there's not one isolated moment, there were a few different instances in which crosses from the right flank — primarily from Uzuni and Płacheta — nearly found runners. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) At one point a few minutes after F-Torres came on, Mateja Đorđević attempted to get a pass to him, and miscommunication led to it being turned over, with Torres subsequently carping, and Đorđević responding by carping back. It was a moment of disunity that went beyond just the mishit passes that were foiling the hosts at points throughout the match. ## One thing you might have missed At the 23-minute mark, Stuver scooped up a free kick from Moreno and then ran around the penalty box with the ball, seeking out Musa to give him a playful pat on the back. Stuver goofing with the league's elite forwards doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's a treat. ## One nerdy tidbit This was Futi's overview at halftime. Sure didn't look good for Austin in the first 45\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-16-at-8.38.30-PM.png) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Austin FC is, for all of its good Leagues Cup form, 1W 6L 1D in its last eight league matches going back to early May. Part of that came in the waning days of the Rodo/Nico era, but this now makes three losses in a row, with only the Seattle win the thin sliver of meat in a suck sandwich, with three-match losing streaks as hefty slices of bread on either end. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why the lack of rotation to start the match? The subs made sense, but they came with the team already in an energy deficit and down a goal. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Forget Leagues Cup: Looking at Austin's forthcoming four MLS opponents URL: https://verdeallday.com/forget-leagues-cup-austin-fc-forthcoming-four-mls-opponents/ Last updated: 2026-08-16T19:44:18.000Z Forget Leagues Cup. Or, rather, forget Leagues Cup *itself*, while considering what Austin FC's recent participation in the three 2026 Phase One matches portends for Austin's fortunes against its forthcoming four MLS opponents. Does the remainder of this regular season require the boys in Verde to suit up superheroically, or are they already poised and prepped to do so? Face forward, True Believers, and let's look ahead to the first quartet out of this final Sinister Sixteen MLS matches facing the club. That opener is best read if you can hear the voice of Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee narrating it, for what it's worth. ## FC Dallas (home, Sunday, Aug. 16) Here's how the frisky boys from Frisco experienced Leagues Cup. First, they were unable to score against Querétaro until the second half of a game played in North Texas SC's mostly empty new stadium in Mansfield. Their second goal of a 2-0 final scoreline did not come until after the 80th minute in a match that required subbing in a rotated-out Petar Musa. They went on to beat Chivas 1-0 in unfriendly territory at PayPal Park in San Jose on Saturday. in advance of heading to yet-more-unfriendly territory against Toluca in Mexico. Dallas endured the 8,750-foot elevation of Toluca’s Bombonera before bouncing out of Leagues Cup. Not seen in [yesterday’s Foreign Exchange](https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-big-d-soccer-drew-epperley-atxvdal-081626/) was the fact that Eric Quill played Petar Musa for a full 2/3 of that match. Dallas got an extra day of rest as compared to Austin, but Musa and other key starters playing significant minutes *that hard* at elevation ought to be a factor in Sunday’s Copa Tejas derby. ## Seattle Sounders FC (away, Wednesday, Aug. 19) As of this writing, Seattle has only *just* broken a seven-games-in-all-comps losing streak, in part driven by Austin welcoming them back to Q2 Stadium with a kick to the proverbial nethers. By the time this match happens at Lumen Field, that losing form could very well return. Breaking that streak happened thanks to running into a massively rotated, already-eliminated Querétaro — which the beleaguered Sounders ran through like tissue paper. While Seattle won, it came at the cost of a quad injury to Pedro de la Vega that required him to head straight into the tunnel from the field — in his first appearance back from injury. The Sounders' third Leagues Cup match was against Chivas, who were eliminated by Dallas before Seattle's "we are both already out, let's be real" game against Querétaro kicked off on Sunday afternoon. Seattle needed the pride and confidence of breaking the worst losing streak in Sounders history … but at what cost? For its ostensible improvements over the "too many matches nobody cares about" old format, the new LC format still results in a bunch of "nothing to play for" third matches between mutually eliminated opponents. Even if Seattle *had* gotten a result against a better-than-Querétaro Chivas (Sounders lost 1-2), they still had to *endure* that match prior to a home game against also-beleaguered rival Vancouver. The Whitecaps are mentally in a much better place than Seattle. This is despite the ongoing 50/50 uncertainty surrounding the club's possible relocation, relatively troubling run of form, and having transferred key piece Sebastian Berhalter to Middlesborough. (Not to mention finishing last in the MLS Leagues Cup table with just a single point, albeit against Tigres.) It is most likely that they will do Austin a good favor in some form or another in a Cascadia rivalry match that *both* teams want and need to win. ## Philadelphia Union (home, Saturday, Aug. 22) Philly has had an upswing since dismissing former head coach Bradley Carnell, but its roster is still a mess, and its match against Cruz Azul showed some regression to their 2026 average in various ways. Cruz Azul are a favorite to go far in Leagues Cup and the Snakes held them to just one goal. The Union went into that match on a three-game heater putting away Red Bull, Seattle, and Atlanta ... but all three of those teams have had *at best* up-and-down seasons if not pronounced big slides. Against Cruz Azul, on paper at least, the Sullivan Brothers *ought* to have been a major threat right out of the gate. That a non-MLS side neutralized them so well should be concerning to Philadelphia. The biggest takeaway from that match for me wasn't the "should it have been a PK" handball at the end of regulation. It's that Philadelphia should not have been *needing* to bank on an unexpected last-minute PK to equalize in the first place. Necaxa's Leagues Cup 2026 legacy (thus far) was being the first of two teams (again, *so far*) to see their manager sent off with a red card. Against Necaxa, the Union showed a return to their solid, goal-scoring form of late. Cavan Sullivan returned to his generational talent average, scoring in the 53rd minute. The Union figured some stuff out again, but they still let one in during the 79th minute. The Thicc L'il Dragons gave Necaxa more opportunities than they should have though, with nine of 15 shots on target. Philly, like Vancouver, had their own "Who gives a shit? Neither of these teams is going through" third round match against also-eliminated Santos Laguna, who played Philadelphia off the field. The Union regressed to their pre-Leagues Cup form and set off various alarm bells for fans who thought they might be escaping the need for a generational rebuild. Before coming to Q2, Union have to go away to NYCFC and then play at home against Miami. That's one of the least-ideal two-match swings an Eastern Conference team could hope for on the other side of a 2-0 Santos drubbing before coming to face an Austin side that now boasts their own club's newly former head of Soccer Strategy. ## Portland Timbers (away Saturday, Aug. 29th) This one is furthest out, and on the other side of Austin playing Toluca in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal up in Harrison, N.J. Portland’s decisive loss against Club América before new manager Martín Cifuentes took over for its third LC match against Tijuana sets up a weird series of questions about their status quo. Portland had a better match and better opportunities than the final scoreline reflects against América. To something Davy Arnaud said about Austin’s discipline and focus in Verde’s second half against Puebla falling off applies to what I saw across the entire match when rewatching POR-CA. The Timbers showed a lack of discipline and focus on tactics that *were working* when they locked in on them. The 5-1 scoreline against Seattle could and arguably should have been 6-0 or even 7-0 had interim Jack Cassidy kept them on course. The *way* that Cassidy openly dismissed any notion of wanting to work as an assistant under Cifuentes was eyebrow-raising. “I’m a head coach,” he said. That says to me that he did not do much if any work preparing the way for the new gaffer, and there could be a weird short (or long) term run of form if, as it seems, Cifuentes is very much having to start from scratch with guys who don’t even know what to be varying levels of bought in to *do*. Cassidy was auditioning for a different theoretical job somewhere else that he’s annoyed Portland did not give him after they fired Phil Neville. Davy Arnaud has bluntly declared his interest in staying at Austin and serving in whatever capacity they need his Good Soldier skills, whether as an interim or assistant or whatever else. The Timbers beat Tijuana 3-1 … but Tijuana rotated heavily, and managed to score 19 minutes in. It took until the 40-minute mark for Kevin Kelsy to equalize, and Portland’s remaining pair of goals took until 64’ and 77’, respectively. These players are only just getting to know their new manager and vice versa, with that acclimation process progressing in a very packed schedule. Before Austin go to Providence Park in a week and a half, the Jimbo Joeys (nobody calls them this) play Chicago away, San Diego at home, and away again at LAFC. Chicago are the top MLS seed in Leagues Cup and in great form overall otherwise, San Diego have finally rid themselves of the Curse of Chucky, and LAFC is as LAFC as ever. That is a hell of an unideal trio of matches to have to play. Cifuentes may be dealing with any number of “getting to know you” variables after a rolling start racing through only four short-turnaround matches. He’ll be going up against Arnaud, who has a fully bought-in squad that’s ground through nine games plus a full preseason. Granted, Arnaud has to play that Portland match on short turnaround after a Leagues Cup Quarterfinal match … but what if it’s a further emboldening win against a formidable Red Devils side that further refines things we already see working well? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Big D Soccer's Drew Epperley URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-big-d-soccer-drew-epperley-atxvdal-081626/ Last updated: 2026-08-15T22:58:18.000Z Austin FC returns to MLS play on Sunday night, facing rivals FC Dallas at Q2 Stadium in a match that could give the winner (if there is one) the inside track in the 2026 Copa Tejas race. While each team is currently on three points by virtue of each having one once, the Dynamo have played three matches while Verde have played two and FC Dallas has played a single one. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-15-at-17.42.51.png) The match comes following a Leagues Cup Phase One that both Austin and Dallas played; Dallas lost 3-1 to Toluca at 8,700 feet of elevation to bow out of the tournament, whereas Austin remains in it after two wins and a PK shootout, and will start a five-matches-in-14-days run that includes a trip to New Jersey to face Toluca. It's been a while since we've peeked in on our neighbors to the north, so we checked in with Big D Soccer's Drew Epperley, and sent him questions. In return, we [answered questions](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/opposition-research-austin-fc-verde-all-day/?ref=verdeallday.com) for him, and that gave us opportunity to brag on Myrto Uzuni's recent performances. If you want to help Uzuni feel the love after this went public earlier this week: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-15-at-17.51.04.png) Make sure he sees this snippet: *Myrto Uzuni has four goals in the last two matches, and those four goals were from a physics-defying free kick that bent around a wall, a perfectly timed run getting onto the end of a Christian Ramírez backheel pass, an empathic volley from the far reaches of the penalty box left alone on a corner kick, and an emphatic top-bins shot from the far reaches of the penalty box for a much-needed equalizer against Club América. (I'll just say it: I'm very excited with this version of Myrto Uzuni.)* And then, after positive things to say about some other players, I added this aside. *(Confidential to FC Dallas coaches: It is TOTALLY FINE to leave Uzuni unguarded 15 to 20 yards from goal. That's absolutely the way you should play him.)* To the questions! ### We're on the other side of the World Cup break, and Petar Musa is still an FC Dallas player! Do you think he'll stay in Frisco, and if so, how important is he to the team's playoff aspirations? Out of the three FCD guys who made their respective World Cup rosters, I weirdly never felt too worried about Musa being sold or leaving this summer. The price tag from the Dallas front office was likely going to be too high for most clubs. I actually had midfielder Lucious Don Deedson as the prime guy to be sold after the World Cup (and there are reports out there suggesting that could be the case). The next couple of weeks are always going to be interesting when we get to the back end of the transfer window. I know a couple of Liga MX teams have been claiming they’re interested in him, but I think he’s showing that he wants to be here in Frisco. Which is a good thing, because there is no way Dallas does anything of note to get into the playoffs or even make noise in the playoffs without him. He’s the focal point of the attack for a reason, and while guys like Logan Farrington and Santiago Moreno have been stepping up, they both need Musa. ### How was Leagues Cup for FC Dallas? You're part of the reason we're playing Toluca in New Jersey, though you got to witness seeing your team play Toluca at 8,700 feet ... I wrote a couple of times how I don’t care for the Leagues Cup, but the one good part for FC Dallas was finding their form against teams like Querétaro and Chivas. I’m not going to worry or stress too much over the Toluca loss; a 3-1 showing there felt like the result we expected to see going into the game. Head coach Eric Quill was able to begin to land on a solid rotation for his roster and now has a good 15 to 18 guys that he can rotate through. Defensively, the team seems to have settled in with Jonathan Sirois landing the main keeper spot (thanks to Daniel picking up an injury that will likely keep him out until October). Homegrown defender Nolan Norris has emerged as one of the club’s best defenders, alongside veterans Osaze Urhoghide and Shaq Moore. Quill has also found a system that appears to be working for him and his players. They’re bought in and as he would put it, “fight for everything” in each game. It’s been several years in Dallas since we had a group that truly plays for the badge. ### You recently wrote [a great article](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/fc-dallas-transfer-window-eric-quill-daniel-collodi/?ref=verdeallday.com) talking to head coach Eric Quill about the team's quiet transfer window and how that might be a good thing because of where the team is ... do you think the roster is in a good place, or would you make a move were you to be granted sporting director powers? The roster still needs a bit of work, mostly in the midfield. I think any Dallas fan will tell you right now that the group needs a bit of help on the attacking side. If I were Andre Zanotta for the day, I would be going after an attacking midfielder to help give Musa and Farrington some help. Moreno and Joaquin Valiente have added a little bit of a spark to the attack this season, but getting a true number 10 is probably one of the areas that is keeping this team from being a bigger contender in the Western Conference. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC will head to New Jersey for Leagues Cup quarterfinal match against Toluca URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-heads-to-new-jersey-for-leagues-cup-quarterfinal-against-toluca/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T23:43:33.000Z From the official club press release: > Leagues Cup today announced the full schedule for the tournament’s 2026 Quarterfinal Round, including Austin FC’s quarterfinal match against Liga MX side Toluca FC. Austin will face Toluca at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey on Wednesday, August 26, with kickoff at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT. Verde won’t have to go to elevation to face Toluca FC, but the Red Devils drew a significant crowd in Harrison, N.J., last year for Leagues Cup (12,000, to hear friend of the site Seth Rau tell it). If you are “Verde Hasta La Muerte,” it’s time to quickly see which airline you have miles on can get you there in just under two weeks’ time. The trip to the Greater New York area will give Austin a wild week and a half of travel, away to Seattle, home against Philadelphia, to Harrison for a quarterfinal, and then back out to Cascadia against Portland on the same coast where it started to end a span of 11 days. Verde All Day was aware that at the end of the night yesterday, the final three candidates were the Galaxy’s home in Carson, Kansas City (probably former SKC Captain Davy Arnaud’s preference), and the home of the Red Bulls where it ended up. It’s better than 8,700 feet, but Austin players will be hoping for as many Wednesday Warriors with flexible work and family schedules to come see them as possible. This is the kind of thing where it would behoove the club to try to organize a “send off” event for fans who can’t travel to charge up the players’ batteries. Just a thought. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'They're hungry to win': Reveling in a PK win against América (and unclear where Leagues Cup takes Austin FC) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-amevatx-081326-leagues-cup/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T13:59:13.000Z Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud wants fans who showed out for the team at Q2 Stadium on Thursday — though obscured by a thicket of yellow-clad Club América fans — to know that he saw and heard them. "There were a lot of América fans, but there were a lot of Austin FC fans also, and the Austin FC fans were just as loud and just as into the game, and we could feel them," he said. "Obviously, there were more probably traveling fans than we're normally used to, but the job that our fans did tonight, man, that inspires you. It inspires the team and inspires the group and inspires the whole club ... I thought they did a great job tonight." That was especially evident in the penalty kick shootout following the 1-1 draw — a hallmark of MLS Next Pro that's been adopted by Leagues Cup to add a layer of literal tiebreaking to the complex set of tiebreakers that allow organizers to winnow two groups of 18 teams into an eight-team quarterfinal pitting four Liga MX teams against MLS opponents. With two wins and a penalty kick win, Verde have transformed the season narrative from 14th in the West and having fired a head coach and sporting director midseason to a team that's three wins (and here, PK wins will count as wins) from the first silverware\[\[1\]\] in Austin FC's history. Of course, come Sunday, the league competition resumes, and FC Dallas' presence will remind everyone there's still a hill to climb to get to the annual baseline goal of making the playoffs that all MLS teams share. "This is great, and we love it, and we're so excited," Arnaud said about what happened Thursday night. "But we have more to do, and we need to have that mindset, and these guys will, man. You can see they're hungry. They're hungry to win. They're hungry to win, and they're in a good way right now. And we want to keep that going." [To celebrate this milestone, we're bringing this special back for just today](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) ## Uz-ing confidence Though it was a true team effort in the PK sequence, with all six Verde players making their penalty kicks and goalkeeper Brad Stuver getting a save to see it out, it was Myrto Uzuni who got the team to this place, scoring in the 67th minute. For the second straight match, a Liga MX opponent inexplicably left him wide open toward the edge of the box, allowing him to uncork the sort of shot that mocks a goalkeeper going in. "The first thing that I see Myrto do, and the thing that he always does, is Myrto leaves everything on the field," Arnaud said. "He gives absolutely everything. He runs. He covers ground, and he's a DP, right? He's a goal scorer. But the first thing I think about Myrto is the work that he does for the team. You see him covering for people. We talk about cover to help when someone needs help. You see him down recovering balls for us, running past guys to get down. His desire to win is is super high. So that's the first thing I think about with him. "The role he's playing now is one of these attacking midfielders," he continued. "I think it suits him well. He's a late arriver in the box. He does that well. He receives the ball well between lines and dribbles and drives the last lines really well, and I think you see his quality in the box. So when he gets chances in and around the box, he can finish, and he's finishing well right now." Asked to expound further, Arnaud was only too happy to oblige. "I love Myrto; I do," he said. "I love the way that he plays, and I love his intensity ... he can be fiery at times, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. It's a passionate game ... to play at a high level, you've got to be on that line, and he is. And he can disagree with certain things or not be happy with his performance, but he never doesn't work for the team ever. And I have so much time for that. I have so much respect for that, because to me, there's nothing more important." Stuver also shared admiration for the Albanian. "When you come in as a DP, and you come in as the record signing money-wise, there's a lot of expectations from you from the minute that you touch down," Stuver said. "Obviously, we've had some disappointing signings in the past ... so fans are already kind of prone to seeing the worst of things and not giving time for fans to gel and players to live up to what they're capable of. "So Myrto is a guy that feeds on confidence," he added. "He's a guy that feeds on belief, and so this leads to ... you can see that the belief that the guys are giving him, the belief the coaching staff is giving him, is giving him confidence to go into these performances, and obviously he's rewarding us. He's rewarding himself with the goals that he wants to score ... He's all about just having that belief in him, and for us, it's just about feeding him and knowing that to get the best out of him, he's going to work his ass off for us no matter what, and to get the best out of him, we just have to know the right way to motivate him." ## 'You just saw the whole team lift' Speaking of players with newfound confidence, Arnaud saw Besard Šabović's entry into the match as a turning point, coming 12 minutes after Austin went down 1-0 on a fluky own goal in which a Kevin Álvarez cross pinged off Jon Gallagher's heel and into goal. (Gallagher, asked about the play post-match, questioned whether the play would stand as an own goal against him, but as of this morning, the MLS site had not amended the designation.) "You saw Šabović tonight," Arnaud said. "He was disappointed he wasn't in the lineup. It's a big game, but I talked about this after in the locker room — the way that he came into the game tonight in the second half. He injected energy, and you just saw the whole team lift when he came in the game tonight. And that's what we need — guys, when they come into games, whether they're starting or not, to come in and provide everything and raise the level of the group. "Again, I think we're still ... what is our best central combination? I think we're still looking for that a little bit. We're trying out some different things. I think you see guys that can play lower and they can also play higher. So we're still kind of toying with some of that stuff, but whoever it is, it doesn't change the roles and the responsibilities, right? So we're consistent in that. So no matter who it is, they have the same job." Arnaud acknowledged that Club América provided challenges that made for a trickier game state throughout, but was buoyed that his team managed it. "It's a difficult game against a good opponent," he assessed. "They're very good. They had a ton of individual quality. They cause real problems. They press after they lose the ball really well. It's not always going to be perfect, and in these types of games, you have to show that you can win games in different ways. And I thought tonight we had some good moments being us with the ball, and I thought we had some moments where we just had to grind it out. We had to defend. We had to block shots. We had to defend corners in the right moments. We had to have big players make big plays like Myrto did. "I thought you saw, as the second half went on, once we kind of slowed the game down a little bit, we allowed ourselves to get more of a rhythm. We gained a little bit of territory where we could move up and actually set up the attack where we didn't lose the ball quickly after we regained it. I think that helped us, and I think we saw once we did that, the game went more as we would want it to." Then, he explained his ebullient mood. "I'm smiling because I'm so happy. I'm so happy for the players. I'm so happy for them ... I'm happy for everybody, the club and the fans. But I'm so happy for the guys in the locker room. Not everyone sees what these guys do every day and the work that they put in and how they buy in and how they challenge each other. They take it on and they showed real personality tonight." ## The quarterfinal quandary We know a few things about the 2026 edition of Leagues Cup, and we have some level of clarity, but are also left scratching our heads about some of it as well. We know that Austin FC plays Toluca sometime between Aug. 25 and 27, with dates and times to be announced by organizers. In a normal tournament world, Austin, as the No. 2 seed from the MLS half, would host Liga MX No. 3 Toluca and then face the No. 3 MLS-No. 2 Liga MX winner (Columbus-América) in the semifinal. But no. Here's the bracket: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-14-at-08.24.10.png) As you can see, Austin's paired with Liga MX No. 1 and MLS No. 4 RSL, meaning that a rematch against América or an origin story showdown against the Crew in the final is a possibility. Alternatively, Austin could wind up in a final against Chicago and former head coach Nico Estévez, who is now a Gregg Berhalter assistant. The complication for the quarterfinal site has to do with this part of the 67-page [rulebook](https://images.mlssoccer.com/image/upload/v1780618808/assets/lc/documents/2026%5FTournament%5FRegulations%5F-%5FLeagues%5FCup%5FFinal%5Fbq4wrf.pdf?ref=verdeallday.com). *Toluca FC (Liga MX Champions) will have host privileges through the Semifinal other than for Matches against Inter Miami CF in the Final or Third-Place Match.* The question — which a club spokesperson said would be settled between today and Monday — is: What does "host privileges" mean? It seems that, taking that literally, being the higher seed means nothing\[\[2\]\] and Austin FC will need to trek to Toluca, sitting at 8,700 feet of elevation, to a stadium nicknamed "The Chocolate Box" or "Hell." It could also mean — possibly ensuring the best crowd and smoothest organizational sailing — that the match is played in Austin and Toluca is the home team in the way that América was Thursday night. (Toluca does have a fan base in the U.S., though not on [América's level](https://en.as.com/soccer/liga-mx-fans-declare-mexicos-new-big-six-and-two-huge-names-didnt-make-the-cut-f202510-n/?ref=verdeallday.com).) The third possibility — unconfirmed, but shared by a source who wished to remain off the record — is that Toluca hosts in a neutral-site U.S. stadium. While I can't share details at present on how this will be determined, the actual location for the match could surprise and aggrieve you. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) \[\[1\]\] I am aware that Copa Tejas exists, but no, just no. Also, MLS Next Cup, but we're talking about what the first team earned. \[\[2\]\] It was LAFC's higher seed *entering* the 2024 tournament which allowed it to host the Round of 32 match against an Austin FC team that had just won its group by beating Monterrey and Pumas. Leagues Cup is weird. ### At the Whistle: Club América 1(5), Austin FC 1(6) URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-amevatx-081326/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T02:55:51.000Z At an unusual Q2 Stadium match in which Austin FC were the visitors — both per Leagues Cup's official designation and with Verde fans outnumbered by yellow-clad Club América fans — the normally-hosts gave up an unfortunate own goal shortly after a scoreless first half, equalized on a Myrto Uzuni goal, and then bested the Liga MX voyagers, 1(6)-1(5), after going a perfect six-for-six in their shootout. With the result, Austin FC advances to the quarterfinals in the 2026 edition of the tournament — just three wins (with PK wins possible in there) from a trophy. Verde — or should we call them Violet for this one? — rolled out in a 5-3-2 formation, again deploying the inverted wingback look with Joseph Rosales and the right and Jon Gallagher on the left, flanking a Guilherme Biro-Oleksandr Svatok-Mateja Đorđević center back trio. It took less than four minutes for Violet to force its first yellow card, with Myrto Uzuni progressing the ball and coaxing Alan Cervantes into a foul meriting more than just a whistle. Violet's defense held tough early, weathering various shots that weren't on target, though Isaías Violante's 13th-minute shot had some sizzle on it — coming after a sequence in which multiple Austin FC players displayed some sauce with their on-ball skills. The first shot on target came when Rosales got sprung forward on the left flank, putting in a shot that didn't particularly trouble Rodolfo Cota, but showed that there was space for Violet in the final third. Goalkeeper Brad Stuver then had to be activated, taking a dangerous ball off Brian Rodriguez's foot as he made a dangerous move into the box, and then scooped up Alejandro Cárdenas' on-target header before it crossed the line. Uzuni engineered a 30th-minute chance by getting onto a Gallagher cross in a good in-box position, but his header popped up gamely to allow Cota another routine save. While neither team seriously threatened heading into the half, Brandon Vázquez had a semi-credible appeal for a penalty in stoppage time, catching an inadvertent elbow to the face as a ball got sent into Vázquez's part of the box. Three minutes after halftime, Violet let in a fluky goal, with América's Kevin Álvarez sending a cross in that Gallagher attempted to block. He got a piece of the ball with his heel, which then sent it just inside the far post past Stuver. That led to a period of decided momentum shift for América (see Worst Verde Moment), but then Violet showed some life subbing on Besard Šabović for Facundo Torres, followed by Gallagher winning a free kick a minute later with a run deep into América territory drawing an Érick Sánchez yellow card, and then a Rosales free kick testing Cota. Then, in the 67th, Ervin Torres sent a pass into Vázquez that Cota blocked, but right to an open and still-red-hot Uzuni, who launched the ball past Cota emphatically. That got the stadium newly energized and the chaos meter ratcheted up, with Sebastian Cáceres missing on a point-blank header at one end a moment after that, followed by Uzuni going wide with his first attempt at a brace. Christian Ramírez spelled Vázquez, and América threw numbers forward and more subs on to try to tip the scales for a go-ahead goal. Ramírez very nearly got the go-ahead goal for Violet in the 83rd, with Ervin Torres sending in a ball that Ramírez got to but couldn't cleanly strike. Violet proceeded through the ugliness — including increasingly audible instances of the homophobic chant that continues to sully Mexican soccer fandom — with fresh legs including Jorge Alastuey (who came on for VerDos running partner Ervin Torres) and Brendan Hines-Ike (relieving Biro). Violet saw out the draw, meaning penalty kicks in the North End, which was the de facto América end of the stadium in this bizarro world version of Q2\. In the PK sequence, Rosales, Šabović, Ramírez, Uzuni, and Alastuey all made theirs, matched by América's five takes. In the sixth round, Ilie made the smart choice on his shot (sorry, couldn't resist), and Stuver saved Cristián Borja's attempt to close out the drama. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Check out that stretch around the 12th minute on the replay. It's a really nice little slice of soccer. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Shortly after the own goal, Ervin Torres committed a foul just outside the box that possibly saved a goal (or at least an attempt on goal), but led to a very nervy free kick, leading to a few minutes of decided momentum shift. Also, though, it was hard to watch Cáceres getting outmuscled and outdueled by Vázquez — an indication that Vázquez, for all the praise he's been earning from interim head coach Davy Arnaud for his hold-up play, is not yet 100% the player he was prior to last year's injury. ## One thing you might have missed Right around the half-hour mark, Violante ushered Biro out of bounds and put in a fairly forceful arm motion that missed Biro — had it connected, it might have been enough for a red card. Instead, it merely won him a consultation with the referee. ## One nerdy tidbit Per MLS, the teams each headed into the half with xG values of just 0.3, even though the match felt like it had more in it in the first 45\. (The jumbotron actually had it as a 0.3-0.27 advantage for Austin.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Regardless of how the knockout rounds go, getting to this echelon provides a boost for fans and perhaps gives the team a boost in its remaining 16 MLS regular season matches — starting Sunday at a more friendly (and once again violet-tinted) Q2 Stadium. ## A question we have heading into the press conference How did the squad prepare for the inevitability of penalty kicks? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC over Club América? There's a case to be made for it URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-over-club-america-case-to-be-made-leagues-cup-match-preview-amevatx-081326/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T15:00:26.000Z I think Austin beats Club América on Thursday night. This not due to some sort of overly optimistic vibes-based calculation. I’m certain that they *can* based on some analysis Phil and I have worked on over the last few matchdays of Leagues Cup. The question is whether Verde *do* by sticking to the buy-in that has shown them to be formidable in the last two matches (and, arguably, various portions of five competitive matches since returning from midseason break). Since the Seattle win, I’ve believed it *could* be possible, then doubted, and then swung back to believing, and that’s backed by data on top of eyeballing. If you don’t believe they can topple the titans of Concacaf, let me try to convince you. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 2026 Leagues Cup update: What to watch and who to root for in the final three days of 'Phase One' URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-leagues-cup-update-what-to-watch-who-to-root-for/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T12:00:58.000Z With its impressive [3-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvpue-080926/) against Puebla, Austin FC found itself at the top of the MLS side of the Leagues Cup table on Sunday night once all results were in. Even though [they *look* tied with Charlotte](https://www.leaguescup.com/standings/?ref=verdeallday.com), Verde won out on the 5th (and next-to-last!) tiebreaker of Fair Play points thanks to only accumulating three yellow cards to Charlotte's four. I guess we should be glad Myrto Uzuni kept his shirt on last night! So let's say you care more about Austin's Leagues Cup run than you did 24 hours ago and want to know what to watch (and why) while you wait for Thursday's historic first meeting between Verde and the Águilas of Club América. That matchday is the end of the final three days of what organizers are calling Phase One, rather than "the group stages," which is what this portion of the tournament really is, as you know it from the World Cup you just watched. We've saved you a lot of annoying Table Math and broken it down by day for you. Note that all of this is curated relative just what an Austin-focused viewer cares about, *specifically* relative Verde securing one of the top four spots. I realized something interesting while compiling this such that I've included an interesting trail of breadcrumbs I promise will pay off if you follow them. We are not treating any teams below 8th place in the MLS table as realistic contenders, despite MLS teams nine through 16 not being mathematically eliminated just yet. What it would take for any of those teams to stay in is so superhuman that I hope Leagues Cup is looking at how they need to further tweak their format because of how this table looks. Here's how the table looks by the way (for the top eight MLS teams). It looks like it's alphabetically arranged, but we promise it's not: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-10-at-14.49.41.png) Take a breath in advance and lean into the expectation that Austin can and must beat Club América. A day ago, did you think you'd be basking in the afterglow of a Myrto Uzuni hat trick win? ## Tuesday, August 11 There are three matches that are must-watches or must-monitor for results and a later one that is the longest shot in the Top 8...and one more to maybe watch if you're already staying up. **At 6:30 pm CT**, you'll want to dual-screen **Charlotte-Pachuca** and **Columbus-Pumas**. Starting at **7 pm CT**, add **FC Cincinnati-Atlas** if you have the ability to Multi-screen or MultiView (more on this in a bit). All three of these MLS sides are on the same six points and two wins that Austin is on. The best-case scenario is that all three of them lose — but that's unlikely, because they are all playing against Liga MX teams that have already been 100% mathematically eliminated, on top of all these MLS sides being in really good form. The good news is that even *if* they all win outright *and* surmount necessary tiebreakers to jump even an Austin that topples the Gigante of Gigantes to hit nine points, do not assume these teams winning means Austin is in some new sort of trouble. Austin always had to go through Club América, and they've been preparing for exactly this. Sure would be *cool* if these teams all encountered rough sailing, but don't bet on it and hope for a nice surprise. If you *want* ... **at 8:30 pm CT, long shot No. 8 (per the MLS table) Real Salt Lake kicks off against Liga MX No. 2 FC Juarez**. For RSL to have a realistic chance, Juarez would have to have a crazy collapse and all seven teams above RSL on the MLS side would have to have wildly improbably bad third round games, including the three above. It's likely that this game won't matter for RSL by the time it kicks, but it ought to be a good one to watch if you stay up a little late on weeknights. If you *do* really want to be a sicko and watch RSL/Juarez...maybe turn on **Tigres-Vancouver when it starts at 9 pm CT**. Tigres will be in "play for their lives" mode (but could still luck into the knockout rounds). ## Wednesday, August 12 Two late-night games will tell most of the remaining "results elsewhere" story in advance of Austin's big Thursday showdown, and I think one is *way* more interesting than the other. For reasons I'll get into in a bit ... **consider watching Miami-León at 6:30 pm** **CT** while you wait for the Austin-impacting matches to kick off. It has nothing to do with helping Austin advance or not directly. Maybe even ... **Nashville-Monterrey at 7 pm CT**? If Tuesday's results put Charlotte, Cincy, and Columbus all on nine points, you really do not *need* to watch either of these next two... ...unless, that is, you enjoy the prospect of watching Dallas suffer in advance of coming to Q2 on Sunday. Regardless of how Tuesday's results affect the table and make these more important (or pointless) for Austin's needs, these matches overlap, so if watching one, you might as well dual-screen or MultiView them. **9 pm CT** finds **FC Dallas playing Toluca *in Toluca***. Half an hour later at **9:30 pm CT**, expect **LAFC to demolish Querétaro**, who are already eliminated. Dallas are the lowest of the "six pointers" in the MLS table at 6th place, and may be facing a yet-steeper hill based on Tuesday's results or an abruptly easier ladder to climb if things get nuts. They don't have any Goals Against, which helps them ... but they are two behind all other teams above them in Goals For. Toluca are on only three points and again, will be playing for their lives at home for pride at bare minimum. If Miami beats León earlier this same evening, Toluca would need nothing less than a win plus stacking on Goal Differential. Dallas winning this in México at elevation would be the upset of the tournament *by far*. Resting at 8,750 feet above sea level, Toluca's home stadium is alternately nicknamed "La Bombonera" ("The Candy Box") or "El Infierno" ("Hell"). When inside your stadium live two nicknames, one is meant for your fans and the other, your unfortunate opponents! ## Thursday, August 13 At **8 pm CT** (half an hour after Austin kicks off), we have 3rd place tablemates **Chicago Fire and Cruz Azul facing off**. This is one of the bigger question marks, and if it ends up screwing over Austin, we can thank Santos Laguna for not having held onto their early 1-0 lead against the Fire on Sunday night. Had that held, Chicago would be in the "no way in hell" three-point range like *way too many* MLS teams and no threat to Verde's knockout hopes. ## Austin could *knock out* Club América on Thursday There, I said it. If some totally plausible results fall in line, Austin FC would knock the tournament favorites out prior to the knockout stage even starting. This could be a truly insane week to be an Austin fan. Here's what it would take in what I consider the Best Case Result: - IF Austin wins outright against Club América ... AND three out of the following happen - Juarez draw or win outright against RSL (Tuesday, 8:30 pm CT) - Tigres win outright against Vancouver (Tuesday, 9 pm CT) - León draw or win outright against Miami (Wednesday, 6:30 pm CT) - Monterrey win outright against Nashville and outdo Club América's goal differential (Wednesday, 7 pm CT) - Toluca win outright against Dallas and outdo Club América's goal differential (Wednesday, 9 pm CT) - Cruz Azul draw or win outright against Chicago (Thursday, 8 pm CT) Those draws aren't contingent on winning or losing the PK shootouts from those draws, either. Monterrey and Toluca making up that goal differential are the least-likely of those scenarios as they look now, but could happen. CCC qualification means a lot for the Mexican teams who don't already have it like Monterrey. América, Cruz Azul, Tigres, and Toluca have already qualified (hat tip to Seth Rau for reminding me of this dynamic at play). There are also scenarios in which other results mean that Austin could draw Club América and then win *or* lose a PK shootout and advance on eight (or seven) points, with some combination of Juarez/Tigres/León/Cruz Azul results breaking the right way, but we said we were avoiding Table Math, so we'll cross that bridge as we head toward Thursday. One last thing on watching multiple matches simultaneously... ## How to MultiView (with and *without*) an AppleTV 4K "box" I told you to maybe consider watching multiple things at once, and you may be able to do this and not have any idea you could have been all along. If you already live that MultiView life on your Apple TV or iPad, you're done reading! One of my favorite features of the Apple TV 4K "set top box" is that on multi-match nights where the games overlap, I can put two to four matches on my TV all at once and hot-swap between them. If you have one of the last few iterations of Apple's "Apple TV 4K" box that connects to your TV, it supports this, and MultiView is *awesome*. In addition to just putting up to four live games on screen at once, it lets you move around which match is where, and even rework the size and shape of your little boxes based on what you want to focus on to make the best use of as much of your screen as possible. [Here is Apple's annoyingly formatted article](https://support.apple.com/guide/tv/control-video-playback-atvb7944597f/tvos?ref=verdeallday.com) for how to navigate it if you have one of these little TV-connected things. The great news is that if you don't have Apple's little TV box thing, but *do* own an iPad ... you can do MultiView on an iPad. [Here is the support article for how to do it on an iPad](https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/watch-multiple-live-sports-streams-ipadeb07ab65/ipados?ref=verdeallday.com). You might be saying, "Oh, I have Apple TV right; that's what I use to watch MLS." Here is where I have to emphasize that I come not to bury Apple TV, but to praise it. "Apple TV" is one of the most needlessly confusing names for too many things in Apple's entire product ecosystem (and that's saying something!). So yes, to have access to MLS games, you have a subscription to a streaming service called "Apple TV," right? "Apple TV" is the same thing they call a little black box they sell that one plugs into a flatscreen TV set (not made by Apple) to watch Apple's streaming service called "Apple TV" (and myriad other streaming things). Also it is the name of an app you may use on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or an Apple TV box connected to your TV. You could be "watching Apple TV" and mean the physical box, MLS matches or episodes of *Ted Lasso* on their streaming service, or something on a completely non-Apple streaming service that you subscribe to *through Apple Channels in the Apple TV app on your Apple TV physical box*. Apple thinks this isn't a problem, and I think it's bonkers. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'I think it can be a big night for the club': For Austin FC, the knockout round starts Thursday URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvpue-080926/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T18:31:51.000Z With Myrto Uzuni's hat trick performance leading Austin FC to a [3-0 victory](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvpue-080926/) over Puebla on Sunday, what was looking to be a big match for the club on Thursday just got even bigger. Given this year's Leagues Cup format, which winnows 18 MLS teams and 18 Liga MX teams into a four-on-each-side quarterfinal bracket, it's likely that Verde will need a win against formidable Club América to advance. Other teams have an easier path to get from six to nine points, but with a win on Thursday, Verde would likely have the most compelling storyline going into the Aug. 25-27 commencement of the knockout rounds. "It's a really big game," said Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud, when I asked him about what's looming. "We know that it's against a massive club, so we knew it was going to be a big game already, but now being in the position that we're in, we're in position now to advance to the quarterfinals if we have a positive result on Thursday night "You could feel it was already going to be a big game and a big atmosphere, but I think where we're at now it makes it probably bigger," he added. "And if we can get the result that we're that hoping to get, I think it can be a big night for the club." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, Club Puebla 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvpue-080926/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T03:05:21.000Z Looking to build upon momentum from its first Leagues Cup match of 2026, Austin FC jumped out early with a pair of Myrto Uzuni goals in the first eight minutes (en route to a hat trick), leading to a 3-0 win over Club Puebla on Sunday night at Q2 Stadium to move to the top of the MLS half of the tournament table. Austin FC started out with only three changes from Thursday's starting lineup, with Facundo Torres, Christian Ramírez, and Owen Wolff starting instead of Mateja Đorđević, Brandon Vázquez, and Ilie Sánchez. Ervin Torres got another start in a switch to a 4-4-2 formation with fullbacks Joseph Rosales and Jon Gallagher in non-inverted spots. It didn't take long for Uzuni to score — twice. His first came in the 4th minute on a free kick, bending it around the wall and just inside the post following Sergio Sanabria fouling Wolff. Then, in the 8th minute, Ramírez bore down on goal and then backheeled a pass to a trailing Uzuni for the clinical finish. In the 34th minute, after winning a corner, Facundo Torres sent a long looping diagonal ball to an unmarked Uzuni — what ya doin', Puebla? — who volleyed in his third goal of the match. That was only the second hat trick in club history, though not as efficient as original hat-tricker Moussa Djitté, who scored three goals within 22 minutes of entering the 2022 match against Real Salt Lake to clinch Verde's first-ever playoff berth. The first half had its share of physicality, with Puebla earning multiple yellow cards and making contact with Verde players throughout, including Sergio Sanabria, who was already on a yellow when he appeared to catch Besard Šabović in the eye with a stray elbow on a play in which Šabović was whistled for the foul — though Šabović was able to finish out the match. Verde started the second half with Sánchez spelling Wolff, and again looked ready to resume its scoring ways. In the 53th minute, F-Torres hit a shot that went wide and thought there was a handball on the pass from Uzuni to Biro at the far post that got to him. The play went to video review but was not deemed worth of a penalty kick. In the 62nd minute, interim head coach Davy Arnaud made a triple sub, getting on Jayden Nelson, Brendan Hines-Ike, and Przemysław Płacheta for Rosales, Oleksandr Svatok, and E-Torres. Nelson showed some flashes with a couple of electric runs into the penalty area, including one resulting in a 77th-minute penalty kick that went for naught. Brandon Vázquez came in for Ramírez in the 78th minute to get some reps, and then three minutes later, appeared to get his first goal of the season, only for Płacheta to be offside collecting the ball before his would-be assist. Late on, Puebla looked the more likely side to score, but Verde was able to close out the shutout win. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) It's perhaps cheating because it's a moment that led directly to a goal, but that Ramírez backheel on Uzuni's second goal — which may not have even been the assist of the match, considering what F-Torres did — is now my favorite assist of the year. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Joseph Rosales committed a yellow card foul in the 28th minute. That's all I've got. ## One thing you might have missed Around the 29-minute mark, a Puebla player sent in a cross and Stuver made a basketball-worthy one-handed catch. (If there was only a hoop behind him so he could finish with a dunk.) ## One nerdy tidbit At the half, Verde had four shots on goal. Only one of those – Ramírez's 18-month shot — was saved. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Is a 22-pound trophy in this club's future? With two wins in two Leagues Cup matches, it's conceivable that Verde could be one of four teams to advance from the MLS throng, though they have a tricky match against Club América on Thursday to test them. (And then, should that go well, they'll face one of the four sides emerging from Liga MX when the tournament resumes.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference What is this formation? And fullbacks not playing inverted? I'll have to ask, because I'm puzzled, but delighted. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Is it working? Exploring Austin FC's new playing style via numbers we were invited to dissect URL: https://verdeallday.com/is-it-working-austin-fc-new-playing-style-analysis-pre-atxvpue-080926/ Last updated: 2026-08-09T14:07:40.000Z In Wednesday's pre-match press conference — preceding Austin FC's [2-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvtij-080626/) over Tijuana on Thursday night to start its 2026 Leagues Cup jersey on a positive path — interim head coach Davy Arnaud discussed the new style of play he's having the team adopt. "We're trying to put them in the best position to be successful and trying to do that in a really clear way, give them clear roles and responsibilities, where you can hold everyone accountable for what we're trying to do, and this is the way that we think suits our guys and their quality," Arnaud said in confirming that he'll stick to the 5-2-3 formation deploying inverted wingbacks who become wingers when the team transitions from defense to offense. "For us to go away from that, it wouldn't be the right thing," he continued. "I think that would be going away from what they actually do well, just because it maybe serves us better or the message better, but for me, I think that what you need to do ... to stick to it based on the quality of the guys," adding that it shows bravery and insisting "we're all on the same page." I followed up asking about how he would gauge the team's progress, hopeful that data would back up whatever eye test and gut-level assessments were going into Arnaud's evaluation. "It's what we see, specifically with the ball," he said. "It's how many times we're breaking the last line. It's how many numbers we're arriving in the red zone with. It's how many balls we're getting into the box, and we have good arrival in the red zone. It's where we're controlling transition and how we're doing that. It's how many corners we're generating, how many deep free kicks we're generating. "So we gauge success by different things, and we've been talking the last couple days about what defines success for us against teams that are different like \[Tijuana\]. What defines success for us is having balls in the box and having arrival in the box and generating all those things that we talked about. So there are ways that we measure that and ways that we look for that, and that's not going to change." So, let's look at some of that. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'They took it on': Austin FC finds initial Leagues Cup success URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvtij-080626-davy-arnaud-sebastian-abreu-jon-gallagher-brad-stuver/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T13:27:05.000Z Is it working after all? It was just one night — and a Leagues Cup competition night at that — but Austin FC's 2-0 win over Club Tijuana on Thursday showed interim head coach Davy Arnaud's 5-2-3 inverted wingback system of play at its most effective since getting its public rollout 16 days ago. Consider, for starters, that both goals were scored by inverted wingbacks – Joseph Rosales early in the match, led via a Mytro Uzuni diagonal switch, and Jon Gallagher right before halftime, benefiting from an Ervin Torres pass served into his path by a Tijuana defender trying to deal with the danger. Arnaud, while happy, indicated that the work to adopt the new system isn't yet done. "We're continuing to see progress," he said. "I thought tonight was another good step against a good team. They make it really tough. They defend deep at times with a line of six. So it's tough to break down. But, overall, I think we saw good progress in some of the things that we're working on. I thought we were better with the ball. I thought we were better on the ball back to Brad in our buildup from goalkeeper phase. It's something we talked about, and I thought we did a good job tonight, so yeah, we're seeing good progress. But the final version ... we're still working toward that, and we'll continue to do that." Tijuana coach Sebastián "Loco" Abreu, responding to my question during his turn at the mike post-match, said the team was prepared for the new-look Austin and fared better than the result showed. [Last chance to commit for $24 a year](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Club Tijuana 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvtij-080626/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T03:11:18.000Z Austin FC, opening its 2026 Leagues Cup campaign on Thursday night, got a relatively early goal from Joseph Rosales and a goal from Jon Gallagher just before halftime, which was enough for a 2-0 win against Club Tijuana. That vaulted Verde into the top eight of MLS teams in Leagues Cup at the final whistle — with only the top four of 18 teams advancing to the knockout rounds. The teams tested each other in the first 15 minutes, getting some balls in dangerous places but not able to test either keeper with a shot on target. That included starting center back Mateja Đorđević getting his head onto a set piece and nodding just over. That changed in the 16th, when Myrto Uzuni, with appreciable space in the middle of the pitch, lofted a diagonal switch pass to the right flank, where Rosales timed his run well and got behind the Xolos defense. Even though he initially misplayed the pass and had to come back to the ball, he had enough time to calmly regather and hoof a shot past Tijuana goalkeeper Antonio Rodríguez. Verde tried their luck again with the same type of pass several minute later, determining a weakness in the Xolos defense they looked to exploit, but couldn't quite pull it off. Dangerous moments followed in an action packed two minutes around the half-hour mark, with Adonis Preciado getting in a close range shot that Stuver kick saved, Jon Gallagher taking a Rosales pass into the box and forcing a Rodríguez, and then Preciado getting out on a break past Ervin Torres and into a one-v-one situation with Stuver — which Stuver got the best of by diving and palming Precaido's shot wide of goal. Precaido then got chopped down by Oleksandr Svatok trying to break from deep in his own end, and stayed down for several minutes before the referee showed yellow; from the replays, a case could have been made for a red (and, if there were orange cards, this would be in the zone). Gallagher doubled the lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, getting onto an Ervin Torres pass deflected by a Tijuana defender straight to him; he then calmly settled and shot what was close to a mirror image of the opening Rosales goal. Two minutes past halftime, Precaido went down on what was clearly (to us) a Đorđević sliding tackle, but because it happened right in front of Svatok's position, the ref initially flagged Svatok with a second yellow. After a VAR check, the referee rightfully rescinded Svatok's second yellow and assigned it to Đorđević. Following that drama, Gilberto Mora – the Tijuana star who became the youngest Mexican player to enter a World Cup match at the recent tournament — stepped up to hit a free kick and sent it just wide of a diving-anyway Stuver. In the 63rd minute, interim head coach Davy Arnaud made his first subs, bringing on Brendan Hines-Ike for Đorđević and Owen Wolff for Besard Šabović, who put in a serviceable shift. Three minutes later, Alan Vega scored an apparent goal, but the referee was ushered to the VAR monitor, determining Precaido was offside in the buildup to the goal. Reactions to both the goal and the callback gave indication of how many Tijuana (or at least Mexican soccer) fans were in the building. Then, in the following controversy that came, Tijuana's Ivan Tona got sent off for what appeared on the broadcast to be Tona bumping the referee while getting uncomfortably confrontational. That allowed Arnaud a little more play-the-new-arrivals luxury, getting Przemysław Płacheta on for Oleksandr Svatok while Jorge Alastuey got ready to come in. That necessitated a shift in which: - Ilie Sánchez moved to center back; - Rosales shifted to defensive midfield; and - Płacheta moved over to right wingback. Alastuey then came for Uzuni in the 83rd minute, and Žan Kolmanič spelled Gallagher as part of a final double sub. The assembled players were then able to weather the eight minutes of stoppage time to ride out the shutout. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Stuver's two saves on Precaido were match-saving stops and allowed Verde the cushion to find a lead-doubling goal. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 56th minute, Uzuni fed Brandon Vázquez with a pass in front of goal that he couldn't get his feet right on, muffing the chance. Coming after shots and passes on target, the evidence for being concerned about Verde's DP No. 9 is growing. ## One thing you might have missed Tijuana started the match with two triple-digit players — an indicator of younger academy players getting elevated to the first team. (Joban González was No. 202, and Alejandro Magallón was No. 188\. Vázquez was once a similarly-numbered Tijuana player when he was preparing his pro career. ## One nerdy tidbit Verde finished the first half with 10 touches in its opponent's box — more than they managed the entire match against Colorado. (And two of those touches were successful shots.) Also, it took a cup competition to do it, but Jon Gallagher is now the first Austin FC player to score in each of the team's first six seasons. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative In 2024, Verde put a disappointing season on pause to get two big wins against Monterrey and Pumas in the Leagues Cup group stage to temporarily buoy the fans paying attention — though the team did inexplicably, due to how the tournament was designed, have to travel to LAFC to start (and end) the knockout rounds. Beating Tijuana in 2026 isn't quite the same, but it shows that this team is still capable of a convincing home win. ## A question we have heading into the press conference What about this match allowed inverted wingbacks to look so good when they haven't in prior matches? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'We have to wake up': Preparing for an attitude-adjusting Leagues Cup URL: https://verdeallday.com/we-have-to-wake-up-match-preview-atxvtij-080626-leagues-cup/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T12:55:30.000Z Following Austin FC's latest disappointing outing, veteran defender Brendan Hines-Ike noted that the 2026 Leagues Cup — starting Thursday night for the club as it hosts Tijuana at Q2 Stadium (8 pm CT) — gives the team "a perfect chance for us to attack a completely different element of our season." On Wednesday, in an early morning media availability ahead of the match, leading goal scorer Myrto Uzuni indicated it gives the team a chance to show a better version of itself. "We can't wait to play," Uzuni insisted. "First of all, we have to respect ourselves, our city, our jersey, what we are wearing ... this year is not good enough." Noting that Verde fans deserve better, he added, "I believe truly in this locker room, in every player, the quality we have. But sometimes, the quality is not enough if we don't have the desire to win every ball and to fight for each other. So we have to wake up ... because we have to turn things around. Because I think this city doesn't deserve this. This team doesn't deserve to be in this place ... so we're going to try and we're going to give everything." Leagues Cup has an unforgiving format this year: 36 teams enter, with 18 from MLS joining all 18 Liga MX teams, with just four from each league advancing to knockout rounds following this week-plus glut of matches. Already, just two days in, teams including Vancouver, Nashville, Monterrey, Pumas, and Seattle have been dealt losses putting them on the brink of elimination. Unlike some other teams in the tournament — namely FC Dallas, which opened its tournament last night in North Texas SC's remote home stadium in Mansfield preceding road matches in San Jose and Toluca — Verde get all three Leagues Cup matches at Q2 Stadium, even though the final one might be as away as a home match can get. Verde is technically is the away team (per Leagues Cup designation) next Thursday against the immensely popular Club América. "If we were playing away, we \[wouldn't\] have like so many chances," Uzuni assessed. "But the moment we play \[at\] home with our fans, I think everything is possible to win these three games." In three matches following the midseason break — a home win against Seattle followed by a pair of road losses to Houston and Colorado — media and fans have been energized (or, perhaps more aptly, agitated) by interim head coach Davy Arnaud's decision to implement a 5-2-3 formation with inverted wingbacks, accompanied by philosophical shifts that Arnaud appears emboldened by and determined to make succeed. For those looking to blame Arnaud for the continuation of the team's sub-playoff pace, Uzuni suggests that blaming the coach deflects from who is ultimately accountable. "The problem is we are playing," Uzuni said. "Davy's putting the players on the pitch, so we are the guys who are executing," adding that while Arnaud is setting the plan up, it's up for the players to follow through. "It's a good system," he added, assessing the blueprint activated eight weeks ago. "I have more space, I can see more balls. I can go inside, so I like it. But, also, everyone is adapting with a new system, and I think we have to improve. We have a lot of things to improve." ## 'We gauge success by different things' Assessing how the new system is working, Arnaud confirmed the team is combining at least some level of data analysis with old-fashioned eye-test evaluations as it moves through the second half of the season. "It's what we see, specifically with the ball," he said. "It's how many times we're breaking the last line. It's how many numbers we're arriving in the red zone with. It's how many balls we're getting into the box, and we have good arrival in the red zone. It's where we're controlling transition and how we're doing that. It's how many corners we're generating, how many deep free kicks we're generating. "So we gauge success by different things, and we've been working on it the last couple days, about what defines success for us against teams that are different like this," he said, nodding to Tijuana and its tendency to sit in low blocks and defend. "What defines success for us is having balls in the box and having arrival in the box and generating all those things that we talked about. So there are ways that we measure that and ways that we look for that, and that's not going to change." I let Arnaud know, following that answer, that he gave me the assignment for my next article. This weekend, ahead of Sunday's match with Puebla, look for me to dig into an array of stats measuring those facets of Verde's offense. A preliminary look helps me understand why Arnaud considers the 3-0 loss to Houston better than the 1-0 loss to Colorado — at least, in how he envisions the new system improving play — even though the latter match was tantalizingly close to a hard-fought road point while the former was decided within the first half hour. Arnaud also continued to advance the narrative that this new style of play is decoupled from head-coach-in-waiting Jim Curtin's input, when I asked specifically about how what Arnaud is teaching and drilling aligns with the "[non-negotiables](https://verdeallday.com/jim-curtin-introductory-press-conference-non-negotiables/)" that Curtin expressed in his opening press conference in June. "Everyone has different ways to go about it, or different language, or different ways that you say things," he said. "But I think there are principles that apply, no matter the team, right? You want compactness between lines defensively; certainly, you want to defend the box, defend the red zone really well with good numbers and have a clear way you want to do that and vice versa. You also want to arrive in the red zone, you want to get numbers in and around the box ... there are things are obviously going to align and there are things that are going to be slightly different once Jim's in here, but I think those key ones are pretty universal." Arnaud insisted he hadn't discussed those universal principles with Curtin, despite using the "red zone" term Curtin coined to describe the portion of the penalty box outside the six-yard box, where the vast majority of MLS goals are scored. He then turned to how the players are adapting to the new style. "I said before the Colorado game, I thought we were progressing really well, and I really feel it," he said, then depicting the Rapids as a "super high-pressing team. They make it very intense. They make it really tough on you. So, in a way that we're trying to play and developing that, you have to make decisions faster. Some of these tools that we're using to to give us the ball or stop their press, we didn't do a good job of that. And ... when teams high press you like that and make you make decisions faster, we didn't do a good job. We just didn't. But I think we're going to keep hammering the same things, and it was a good lesson for us. We understood it. It let us know some of the things that we need to continue to work on, some of the things that we need to keep emphasizing." He credits the players for embracing the challenge of switching systems midseason. "The thing that reinforces something that you're doing is always winning," he said. "Winning will always reinforce and give confidence ... I said that from the beginning. Our challenge is to continue to be brave, to try and do what we do, commit to it. Don't shy away from it if it doesn't go well. That's the key, and you have to keep sticking to it. You have to keep believing in it, and I believe when you're doing that and the process is right, it's going to lead to where you want to be. It's going to lead to results. It's going to lead to consistency in how you're trying to do things. "And you have to be brave," he continued. "We have to be brave as a staff to stick to it, even when the result isn't what we wanted. And the players have to be brave to stick to it and believe it as well. And they do. You can see we've had good discussions about it. We've had really good moments in it." ## Injury update It's been harder to institute the new five-back system without center back Jon Bell and fullback Mikkel Desler available, and while you shouldn't expect them on the roster Thursday night, Arnaud did provide an update Wednesday that hinted Bell could make the roster by the final Leagues Cup Phase One match next Thursday. "I think Jon Bell is getting closer," Arnaud said. "He started yesterday — it's the first time he's been back with the group in a training session. He'll train today with the second team to get a good session in." Desler is making some progress from an Achilles tendon injury that the club has been vague about, but his return is likelier on the other side of the three Leagues Cup matches. "No real timeline right now," Arnaud said regarding Desler's return to the roster. "He's back on the field. He's working out. I don't know the exact timeline. He'll be back, we're hoping in the next week or two. He's back on the field with the team, and then available after that." There's still a level of crypticness about that answer; I'm reading "available" to mean available for full training participation given the context of what Arnaud was saying, so in a best-case scenario, Austin's home match on Philadelphia on Aug. 22 could be a match in which he's rostered, though the following Saturdays (at Portland on Aug. 29, hosting San Jose on Sept. 5) could be more likely. Keep in mind that if he's to make a proof-of-life appearance ahead of a possible move — not impossible, given that the club's in a transitional time and he's been hampered by injury throughout his time at Austin — the current transfer window closes Wednesday, Sept. 2\. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Austin FC releases official 2026 Leagues Cup roster URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-releases-official-2026-leagues-cup-roster/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T18:00:07.000Z Ahead of Thursday's opening 2026 Leagues Cup match against Club Tijuana, Austin FC released its official roster on Monday in concert with all other 35 teams in the two-league-tournament. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/08/ATXF2026LeaguesCup.jpg) Notably, it includes several Austin FC II players (including dual first-team/second-team players), some of who will inherit new jersey numbers for the duration of the tournament: - Riley Thomas - CJ Fodrey - Jorge Alastuey - Jules Bery - Djakaria Barro - Ibrahima Sall - Ervin Torres - Charlie Farrar The roster also includes Nicolás Dubersarsky, who is now on loan to Argentine club Tigre, but was on the roster on July 20 when roster submissions were due. The club told Verde All Day that up to three changes can be made to the roster, so expect a Dubersarsky replacement to be named before Thursday. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Your brief but thorough guide to 2026 Leagues Cup URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-leagues-cup-guide/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T13:30:18.000Z The 2026 edition of Leagues Cup begins on Tuesday, with the slogan, "Three countries, two leagues, one champion," and a streamlined format. You may be asking, "So how does it work *this time*?" about the tournament that has changed parts of its format each time it has been played. In under 250 words, here are the most important things to know. It takes six total matches to go home with hardware and a spot in Concacaf Champions Cup (plus additional berths for the runner-up and third-place finisher). Only two rounds (the semifinal and final/third-place match) even *can* be played against a team from one’s own league. The rounds progress as follows: ## Phase One (starts Tuesday) - Every team plays three teams from the other league; - Austin FC plays Tijuana, Puebla, and Club América (in that order), all at Q2 Stadium; - Austin is "home" against Tijuana (Thursday, Aug. 6) and Puebla (Sunday, Aug. 9), and "away" against Club América (Thursday, Aug. 13); - There are no ties; draws result in PK shootouts, and the winner gets an extra point (two rather than one) in the standings; and - The top four MLS and top four Liga MX teams (based on total win/loss/draw/PK-winning-draw points) advance to the quarterfinals. ## Quarterfinals (Aug 25-27) - Matches will still be MLS vs. Liga MX; and - Draws result in a PK shootout with no extra time to determine the winner. ## Semifinals (Sept 1-2) - This will be the first time in the tournament that an MLS team *can* play another MLS team (or a Liga MX team *can* play another Liga MX team). ## Final and Third Place Match (both on Sept 6) - Winner, runner-up *and* third place qualify for Concacaf Champions Cup; and - Winner gets a bye straight into the CCC Round of 16. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### 'Tonight was not progress for us': Assessing an almost-draw in almost-Denver URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-colvatx-080126-davy-arnaud-brendan-hines-ike/ Last updated: 2026-08-02T15:18:08.000Z By the end of Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud's portion of the post-match Saturday press conference, following his team's [1-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-colvatx-080126/) to the Colorado Rapids, it was clear he was not happy with what had transpired in the match. "I don't want you to think that I was saying tonight was good," he said of the match in Commerce City, Colo.'s Dick's Sporting Goods Park, marking the start of the second half of the 2026 season. "Tonight was not progress for us," he continued. "What I saw through the preseason matches, plus the first two league matches, that was good progress for us in terms of how we want to do things. Tonight was not progress. We didn't make steps in the right direction in terms of how we want to play. But we're going to get right back to it, and we're going to get right back on the horse, and we're going to believe in what we're doing." What the team is doing — playing in a 5-2-3 formation with inverted wingbacks — appears a style that the team is committing to for at least the rest of the 2026 season, as Brandon Hines-Ike confirmed with his post-match comments about the preparations that have taken Verde from the midseason break to this point. With the team through three matches with the new look, it has one point per match and a -2 goal differential to show for the work it's done — but Hines-Ike believes it could pay dividends down the road. [Click, support, and then continue reading](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Colorado Rapids 1, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-colvatx-080126/ Last updated: 2026-08-02T03:43:31.000Z Austin FC, aiming to get its first road win of 2026, took a 0-0 draw into stoppage time, but gave up a late costly penalty that Rafael Navarro converted, ultimately falling 1-0 to the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. on Saturday night. Verde started much like they did against Seattle in its last home match 10 days ago, with only Mateja "Hot Dog" Đorđević in place of Oleksandr Svatok and Owen Wolff in place of Ilie Sánchez. They also started in a back three, utilizing Đorđević, Brendan Hines-Ike, and Guilherme Biro while Jon Gallagher and Joseph Rosales started high up on the wings. The hosts brought danger early, turning a Hamzat Ojediran shot into three dangerous corner kicks in a row, and gathering an early 4-0 shot advantage in the first five-minutes-plus. Myrto Uzuni had Austin's true first moment of danger in the 19th minute, getting on the ball inside the box after a long throw in led to the attempt, but his attempt to finesse the ball into goal went just wide. Three minutes later, Uzuni won a free kick just outside the top of the box, and Besard Šabović was able to get the resultant kick past the Rapids' wall but not past goalkeeper Nico Hansen. It was then Paxton Aaronson's time to shine, with two successive shots around the half-hour mark that busied Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver. The Rapids had one more significant chance before halftime, getting a set piece ball to Wayne Frederick at the far post headed just wide — though, had it gone in, Stuver would have had a good case for getting interfered with on the play. It didn't take long for the Rapids to engineer danger coming out of the break, with Georgi Minoungou running in on goal and getting a shot that Stuver blocked, with Biro clearing the blocked ball off the line before it squeaked into goal. The Rapids found another shot via Frederick a minute later that went wide. Verde nearly turned a cross into a goal several minutes later, with Gallagher sending in a cross that got to Brandon Vázquez's head but wide of the target. Two minutes later, Facundo Torres made a run upfield and sent a long shot wide of goal, though with not enough on it to trouble Hansen had it been on target. Following three Rapids players subbing in to freshen Matt Wells' side, Verde interim head coach responded just after the hour mark by putting Ervin Torres in for Facundo Torres (again fond of the Torres-for-Torres sub), and Ilie in for Wolff. Yellow cards, long wanting in this match, finally were issued around the 70th minute, but for E-Torres (just minutes into his shift) and Rosales. Arnaud then sought to get fresh speed on the field, taking off Gallagher and Šabović for Jayden Nelson and Przemysław Płacheta in the 74th minute. Christian Ramírez then got pulled into the match in the 80th to try to affect it; three minutes later, E-Torres passed to Ramírez, who drew a foul in a dangerous free kick area, but Rosales hit an absolute chimneys shot well over the bar. Navarro had a Vázquezian bit of bad luck in front of goal in the 88th minute, heading corner kick service wide of the post after it optimally reached him in front of goal. With four minutes of stoppage time gifted the teams, Darren Yapi hit a shot in the first minute, and the rebound from the Stuver save bounced wide out to Navarro, who was upended by Płacheta. He took his own PK and sent Stuver the wrong way to eke out the victory. Verde had one more late chance at the death, but Hansen's save of Uzuni's last gasp shot (in the ninth minute of four minutes of stoppage time, but that's what penalty kicks do) preserved the Rapids' victory. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The first part of Šabović's free kick looked promising, especially squeaking through the wall and staying on frame. Between this and his corner kick assist to open the scoring against Seattle, maybe he needs to be used more in dead ball situations. Also, the Gallagher-to-Vázquez play looked great until it left Vázquez's head. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Rapids' first corner kick was particularly terrifying; Verde were fortunate not to give up an early goal in that sequence, and it hinted at some defensive disorganization that would plague the visitors throughout the match. And then, of course, the late penalty given up. ## One thing you might have missed I'm not saying it's a quiet crowd in Commerce City, but you could hear Arnaud yelling "Myrto! Myrto!" audibly during one point midway through the first half. ## One nerdy tidbit Shout out to Travis Allison for pointing this out: At halftime, per Fotmob the Rapids led in the "touches in the opposing box" category 24 to 2\. (By match's end, it was 47 to 8.) One I noticed per Futi: the Rapids led in passes 269 to 90 at the half. (By match's end, it was 490 to 255.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It looked as if Verde would tough out a gritty road draw, but with the loss, the team's now 1W 5L 1D in its last seven, and the late goal now means Verde's dropped 16 points let in from winning or drawing positions at the 68th minute or later, reviving a storyline from the first half of the season. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Clearly, the three center back, two inverted wingback approach seems here to stay — but it appears to be leaving the midfield disconnected from the front line, manifesting in the dearth of touches in the box. What can be done to remedy that? (And please let the answer not be more crosses from wide areas.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Eamon Shaw of Burgundy Wave URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-eamon-shaw-burgundy-wave-colvatx-080126/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T14:02:00.000Z It's a Denverde Saturday! One of the most lively away matches of the year for Austin FC fans is the trip to Commerce City, dubbed "Denverde" back in 2021 when it was just the club's second away match (indeed, second-ever match, in the days leading up to Q2 Stadium's opening), first goal in club history (courtesy of Diego Fagundez), and first win in club history. To get some insights on the matchup between the current 13th and 14th-place teams in the West, we checked in with Eamon Shaw of Burgundy Wave — or, more precisely, he reached out to us as we were looking to check that off our to-do list. ([Our answers](https://burgundywave.com/2026/07/31/colorado-rapids-vs-austin-fc-preview-with-verde-all-day/?ref=verdeallday.com) to his questions is already up.) We'll also have some additional insights woven into our latest episode of [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergency-podcast-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1742052077?ref=verdeallday.com), up later today. To the questions! ### Rafael Navarro leads the team with 12 goal contributions, but he's also been the subject of transfer rumors in the past. Is he still a player who could move for a hefty sum, or is he more of an anchor for the team going forward? Rafael Navarro has settled in nicely for Colorado. In the past seasons, he's played extremely well and at a very high level, which has garnered him plenty of attention from outside of the MLS. If you were to ask me this question last season, or the year before, I'd say Navarro could definitely be a player to leave for a hefty sum. Now, I disagree and have started to view him as an anchor for the team going forward. He served as captain several times this season, and he's established himself as an experienced leader for the burgundy boys. ### How is Matt Wells working out as head coach? The Rapids are 13th in the West, but is that attributable to him, or are there other factors to point to in explaining a less-than-ideal place in the table? Yes, Colorado sits 13th in the West, a less than ideal position more than halfway into this season. I would say that Wells has worked out well so far for the Rapids. It's been difficult to judge. He's come into the head coach position leading a very young MLS side, and attempting to bring a new culture and identity to the Rocky Mountains. That feat is always going to be a difficult one. Tactically, he demands much more from Colorado than we have seen in the past. It's been an up and down season for the Rapids. They looked exceptionally well early on in the season, and were attacking with threat, bringing unpredictability, and pace. It seems this way has come to a bit of a stall. Whether that's due to Wells, or teams just simply finding more solutions to the danger that Wells brings, it's up for debate. I do appreciate the mentality and culture he has brought into the club, but with a young squad, a bit of an overhaul needed, and culture changing, results won't be automatic. Who is an "X factor" player we should look for to impact Saturday's match, and why? As far as an "X" factor player, I would look no further than Paxten Aaronson. Although he's been a bit out of form this season and not creating or impacting as much as Colorado fans would like, he can change the game in a snap of the finger. Aaronson is dangerous in the pockets and bringing the ball forward. Keep an eye out for him playing and creating dangerous opportunities. If he is on against Austin, it could spell trouble. Unfortunately, Aaronson hasn't been able to find such consistency yet this season. *Well, of course he's the X factor! He even has an X in his name!* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Now that Jorge Alastuey is a first-teamer, how should Austin FC use him? URL: https://verdeallday.com/jorge-alastuey-first-team-how-austin-should-use-him-analysis/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T01:27:17.000Z The news that Verde All Day's been waiting for dropped Friday morning: Austin FC is rolling the dice on Jorge Alastuey. The club, in signing the 23-year-old midfielder to a contract with an unusual pairing of roster spots attached — supplemental *plus* international — has committed to him for this second half of the 2026 season with options for the 2027 sprint season (comprising 14 matches plus playoffs) and the 2027-28 season. “I’m very happy to sign a contract with the first team and I want to thank the club, and all my coaches and teammates, for their support and belief in me,” said Alastuey via press release. “I got a first taste of what MLS is like in making my debut earlier this season, and I’m hungry to keep improving and to help the team achieve its goals this season.” Indeed he got just a taste in the two matches he appeared in as a short-term call-up (per MLS' limiting second-team-to-first-team rostering rules), playing 31 minutes as a sub at Real Salt Lake in a 2-1 loss (and on the field when the final decisive goal was scored), and then starting in a 5-1 loss at San Jose (with the bottom falling out about 10 minutes after his 66th-minute sub out for Mikkel Desler, with his team tied 1-1). Whether he'll get significant minutes in this second half of the season depends on interim head coach Davy Arnaud and the tactics he'll employ. This move corresponding with Nicolás Dubersarsky's loan to Argentina's Tigre means that Alastuey could be relied on to take midfield minutes Dubersarsky would have had — except that Dubersarsky's a different type of midfielder, decidedly more of a defensive 6, while Alastuey can play as an 8, higher up as a 10, or as a wide playmaker as he effectively did in his lone start this season. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'We were happy with what we did against Houston': Austin FC prepares for Denverde, then Leagues Cup, with optimism URL: https://verdeallday.com/colvatx-080126-match-preview-davy-arnaud-besard-sabovic/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T14:06:16.000Z Judging from what Davy Arnaud said in his Thursday morning media availability, you wouldn't think his team just [lost 3-0](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-072526/) to Houston to remain 14th in the West at the halfway point of the season. "We have a clear way that we want to do it and we want to play," Arnaud told the assembled media (both of them\[\[1\]\]), ahead of Saturday's match at Colorado, which leads into a 15-day pause in league action to allow for Verde's three Leagues Cup matches. "We're continuing to get better every single game, and we look at the process of what we're doing. We assess the results obviously, first based on the result, but from an attacking standpoint, with the ball, we were happy with what we did against Houston. "We arrived in some really good positions," he explained. "We had 21 crosses in the game, which was the fourth most in the league this week. We arrived with three or four arrivers consistently in the box. We broke their last line. We're so close to getting two goals in that game. I know we don't score, but we're in so many positions. If we play that same game again, and we arrive in the positions we did," highlighting chances that Jon Gallagher, Brandon Vázquez, and Przemysław Płacheta had, "we're arriving in positions to score goals, so the process of what we're doing doesn't change. We believe in what we're doing and how we're attacking. And again, we have to keep getting better and now executing the final action." He did grant that his team needs to be "more controlled" and "give a little less space behind our back line" than it did against Houston, while also diagnosing where the offense ran into issues. "We really challenge these guys to consistently get a minimum of three players in the box, when we get in wide areas to cross balls, to serve balls, to provide service to the guys who are in there," he said. "It's hard in Houston. You know they sit low with a lot of numbers below the ball. It's not easy to generate goals against teams that defend like that. Having said that, again, we were happy looking at it with the chances we did generate, being on the road against a good team. We don't get the goal, but we have to look at it from the perspective of 'Did we arrive in good areas? Did we arrive with good numbers? And did we get good chances?' Which I thought overall, for a road game, I thought overall we did." One key attacker — winger Jayden Nelson — was left on the bench for the last two matches, including a dramatic turn of events Saturday in which Nelson appeared ready to enter the match, before Arnaud sent the now-World Cup veteran back to the bench for not being "[in the right mindset](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-houvatx-072526-davy-arnaud-ilie-sanchez/)," in favor of Žan Kolmanič. According to Arnaud, whatever friction emerged late in that loss between he and Nelson is in the past. "Jayden and I had a really good conversation a couple days after the game," he said. "Listen, this is an emotional game that we play, and I've also been a player too. I understand Jayden wants to play, he wants to help the team, and there's certain frustrations, but I have zero doubt about Jayden and his buy-in. Jayden is an awesome guy. Jayden's about the team. Jayden, I have no doubt, is going to keep helping this team. He's fully bought in, and, again, there are certain guys that you could maybe worry about, or past teams I've been on ... it's zero of an issue with Jayden." ## Who will play? Arnaud will also be down an additional midfielder heading into the annual match that Austin FC fans know as Denverde — a series of away matches that has included Austin FC's first-ever goal (from Diego Fagundez), a goal by Rafael Navarro in a 2-0 loss in 2024, an own goal by Rafael Navarro in a 2-0 win in 2025, a goal by former DP center back Andreas Maxsø in a 1-0 loss in 2023, and a 3-0 loss in September 2021 to offset the 1-1 draw in the initial Denverde match. Overall, factoring in the matches at Q2 as well as Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Austin FC is 4W 5L 2D lifetime against the Rapids, heading into this season's initial installment, with the hosts just above Verde at 13th in the West table. On Thursday morning, Arnaud confirmed the veracity of reports that U22 Initiative player Nicolás Dubersarsky was off to Argentine side Tigre on a year loan with an option for Tigre to buy; by evening, that was declared finalized via press release. While it opens up a U22 spot and an international spot on the roster through the 2027 sprint season, it also leaves Arnaud with just Ilie Sánchez to slot in at the base of the midfield as a "natural" six, though perhaps it allows Joseph Rosales to play more centrally rather than drifting there as an inverted wingback. (It also could give a little more sustenance to the rumor that Uruguayan defensive midfielder Emi Martinez could be coming over from Palmeiras to Austin, though his contract and transfer fee would likely require a designated player slot — which Austin currently does not have.) Arnaud also confirmed that Jon Bell's pubis injury and Mikkel Desler's Achilles injury remain issues, leaving the back line thin for Saturday. However, come Leagues Cup, the tournament's roster rules will apparently allow for several second-team call-ups\[\[2\]\], including midfielder Jorge Alastuey — a player that some (including Verde All Day) have been advocating for Arnaud to activate to see how he fares against MLS competition (and, with Leagues Cup factored in, Liga MX competition). "As far as Jorge goes, we're very pleased and proud of what Jorge's done in the last year and a half here," Arnaud said. "He's out here in training with us pretty often, as much as he is with the second team, and we're hoping to use him as needed in training. And then how things progress from there, we'll still see. We're still working on a few things, but we're happy with what Jorge's done." *\[Note: Less than a half hour after publishing this story, the club announced it signed Alastuey to a first-team contract. Thanks for listening to us!\]* ## 'I really want to win games with Austin' One player who looks like he could have more midfield opportunities, Besard Šabović, was chosen for Thursday's media availability — a sign that he'll at least be on the roster come Saturday. "They're a difficult team at home," Šabović said of the Rapids. "They have some advantage with altitude stuff that we are not maybe used to. But other than that, it's a good team, and we have to respect them for what they're good at, and that we have been working on since the last game. So we are well prepared." While acknowledging the defensive lapses that cost Verde the match at Houston, he's with Arnaud in seeing positives from the performance. "When you have two, three mistakes and they punish you at those moments, it's very tough, and that set the tone for the whole game, but I don't think the result was like an equal picture for the game," he observed. Šabović noted that despite a challenging season for he and his teammates, Arnaud as an interim head coach and the midseason break provided a needed reset — and in Arnaud, he sees a coach with a very defined playing style. "It was a really tough start of the season for me and for the team. Me not playing as much as I wanted, and maybe when I played, not contributing the way I wanted to contribute, and of course very frustrating if it does not goes well for you and for the team. So I think the short break we had was very well spent for me, focusing. Obviously, David being the new head coach gives you a new energy and more hunger to show and to be ready. So, \[I've\] just been training a lot and putting in the work, trying to show that I really want to play and I really want to to win games with Austin. "We're playing a different type of style now in offense and defense," he continued. "I think David has a clear picture and we try to do the same things and become good at our Austin FC identity, rather than to play against or to manage too much of the opposite teams. Like how they play, we want to focus more on our play and how we're going to play rather than how they are playing, and how we can like be ready to be against them more than they should be willing to play against us." That said, he also acknowledges there's room for improvement. "We have to become better as a collective because we have goals as a team, and to reach those goals, we have to win games. And for that to happen, we have to put the work in here every day to have the results in the games," he said. "I've really been trying to push myself, and I think a lot of players have been trying to push themselves., because nobody is happy at where we are right now, and we are really trying to change things around. "We're really more keeping each other accountable, but in a good way," he added. "Like, if you're a close friend or brother \[and\] something's messing up, you can tell him straight away, straight up, not \[behind\] his back. So I think we have to have, I don't know how you say it in English, but like a high ceiling, so we can tell each other things, but take it in the right way. Because at the end of the day, we all want to win the game together, and we're all trying to reach the same goal. So we're not against each other. We're all with each other. So you have to take when somebody says something, you have to take in a good way, because he wants you to do good and not bad." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* \[\[1\]\]: Including Verde All Day's Moisés Chiullán! \[\[2\]\]: There's some confusing wording in those rules about players needing to meet MLS roster rules, and the limit on second-team short-term call-ups that Alastuey has already met ... but in conferring with the club, and remembering Valentin Nöel's case when he was with the club, we're reasonably sure Alastuey can be part of the Leagues Cup squad. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Has Austin FC converted to inverted? How using inverted wingbacks can help (and hurt) an MLS team in limbo URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-inverted-wingbacks-experiment-analysis/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T15:32:44.000Z During Wednesday night's [3-1 win over Seattle](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsea-072226/), astute observers noticed something different about the way Austin FC was playing under interim head coach Davy Arnaud. It then got talked about in the [post-match press conference](https://verdeallday.com/atxvsea-072226-morning-after-davy-arnaud-ervin-torres-brad-stuver-jon-gallagher/) — inverted wingbacks in a new-look back five formation, with right-footed Jon Gallagher playing on the left and left-footed Joseph Rosales playing on the right in order for them to both cut inside and direct passes as de facto midfielders. In Saturday's match at Houston, Arnaud similarly deployed inverted wingbacks, but the result was far less effective, with the Dynamo finding success in lofting long balls over Verde's high press. The wingbacks couldn't keep up with Houston's attackers — and the center backs couldn't either — which led to a [3-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-072526/) and [questions](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-houvatx-072526-davy-arnaud-ilie-sanchez/) about whether the new look is a necessary element to learn as the team transitions from Arnaud to incoming head coach Jim Curtin or an experiment that Arnaud is trying to both improve the team he's leading and to make a name for himself as a potential head coaching candidate at season's end. Not to mention questions about whether inverted wingback deployment makes the team better or worse. Come with me on a journey. [All access to Verde All Day at a deep discount](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'It doesn't change how we're going to approach next week': Processing an away loss to Houston (and Austin FC's concerning lack of away wins) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-houvatx-072526-davy-arnaud-ilie-sanchez/ Last updated: 2026-07-26T14:46:49.000Z It's becoming one of the defining statistics of Austin FC's 2026 season. Now officially halfway through the 34-game schedule, following its [3-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-072526/) to Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday night, Austin FC remains the only team in MLS this season without an away win. "Yeah, I didn't know we didn't have a road win," interim head coach Davy Arnaud said when I put the stat into question form to lead off Saturday's post-match press conference. "I mean, listen, any game on the road in our league is difficult. Against a rival playing at home in a big game, it's going to be a difficult game. We understand that playing in Houston is always a tough game. They're a good team. We're going to approach next week on the road the exact same way. We're going to come out to win the game as as we did tonight, and it didn't work out for us tonight for various reasons. But it doesn't change how we're going to approach next week, and we're hoping that first win on the road comes in Colorado." Austin FC's road record of 0W 6L 3D, coupled with a more palatable 4W 2L 2D home record, equates to Verde being 14th in the West, now back to six points below the playoff line following positive results for some bottom-dwelling teams steepening the mountain they'll have to climb to get back into playoff position. Indeed, that match against the Rapids next Saturday could steer Verde closer to "mathematically possible" postseason chances territory, given that a win would vault the Rapids (the current 13th-place team in the West) five points above them. Captain Ilie Sánchez was more contemplative in fielding the road win drought question. [Just $3 for a month's worth of full access](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Houston Dynamo FC 3, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-072526/ Last updated: 2026-07-26T02:42:57.000Z Saturday night was Austin FC's Hell in the Shell. Giving up three goals in the first 32 minutes — two to Mateusz Bogusz, and one to Guilherme — Austin FC followed up Wednesday's promising 3-1 win with a deflating 3-0 loss to Houston Dynamo FC at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night. Despite Verde having some encouraging moments in the earliest phases of the match, the Dynamo scored first, taking just 12 minutes to do it. They got numbers forward in transition and ending up with Bogusz putting a Ezequiel Ponce-served ball past Brad Stuver after Guilherme set the opportunity up with a deft pass of his own. Three minutes later, the Dynamo nearly got a second goal, again moving the ball around the box with ease before Ponce headed the ball, from close range, just wide of the target. Verde's few attempts in front of goal in the next phase went awry — most notably, Ilie Sánchez's attempted bicycle kick, which caught Dynamo defender Lucas Halter in the face, leading to Ilie getting a yellow card and a good deal of Halter stink-eye. The Dynamo — and specifically, Bogusz — would get a second shortly after, with a long lofted ball by Guilherme allowing Bogusz to evade Guilherme Biro and bear down on Austin's goal in the 29th minute. Not to want to miss out on the fun, Guilherme got on the end of a long ball from Agustín Bouzat three minutes later, similar to the one he served up for Bogusz's second. That resulted in the Dynamo going up 3-0 and Guilherme doing a nifty sideline dance in celebration. Brandon Vázquez got off a shot from beyond the 18 in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, but Dynamo keeper Jonathan Bond was able to comfortably parry it away. Verde came out unchanged to start the second half, but close to the hour mark —after a portion of the match most defined by Jon Gallagher attempts — interim head coach Davy Arnaud put his imprint on the match by taking off Przemysław Płacheta and Ilie to put on Joseph Rosales and Besard Šabović. Arnaud couldn't resist another Torres-for-Torres sub, putting Ervin Torres on for an ineffective Facundo Torres in the 70th, while also taking off Oleksandr Svatok for Mateja Đorđević. Despite one additional sub, Verde wasn't able to get much going the rest of the match, save for a few chances in stoppage time. With Houston's win, the Copa Tejas race now gets a little more interesting, with each team on three points. [Get tomorrow's match quotes and analysis (and the next seven) for $3](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Honestly, it's tough to come up with one ... perhaps the Vázquez shot near halftime, which was an appreciable proof-of-life moment from him? ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Almost allowing a goal to Ezequiel Ponce, who famously hasn't scored this season — and only being saved that indignity because he headed a beautiful would-be Hector Herrera assist wide — doesn't exactly pad the resume. ## One thing you might have missed In the 81st minute, the Apple TV commentators mentioned that Jayden Nelson looked as he was about to come on, but was ordered back to the bench to sub in Žan Kolmanič for Jon Gallagher in the 82nd minute instead. ## One nerdy tidbit At halftime, Futi thought Verde was more worthy of winning than the Dynamo. Go figure. ![Graphic showing Austin FC the better team over Houston Dynamo in the first half](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-25-at-8.41.18---PM.png) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative The loss means that Verde's lost four of its last five matches and has won just one of its last six. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Austin FC is the only team in the league without a road win. Why? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Bayou City Soccer's Dustyn Richardson URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-bayou-city-soccer-dustyn-richardson-houvatx-072526/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T15:15:38.000Z The return of the MLS season brings the return of Copa Tejas with it. On Saturday night, Austin FC travels to Houston to face Houston Dynamo FC (on something called H-Town Night, where "fans can look forward to an exclusive Trae the Truth collaboration shirt in the Team Store and delicious Houston cuisine offerings") for its second Copa Tejas match of the year. Back in April, Verde beat Houston 2-0 in Austin with goals from Jayden Nelson and Myrto Uzuni to bring their all-time record against the Dynamo to 9W 5L 1D. To help prep you, we checked in with Dustyn Richardson over at [Bayou City Soccer](https://www.bayoucitysoccer.net/?ref=verdeallday.com), who answered questions for us. We returned the favor; [that's up now](https://www.bayoucitysoccer.net/dynamo/previewing-houston-dynamo-at-austin-fc-with-verde-all-day-2?ref=verdeallday.com) if you're interested in the intel we're providing our rivals. Sadly, this is the last match the Dynamo will play before their new [back-of-the-jersey sponsors](https://www.houstondynamofc.com/news/houston-dynamo-fc-announces-dude-wipes-as-club-s-first-ever-official-back-of-jersey-partner?ref=verdeallday.com) become the talk of the league. The resulting mirth for Verde fans will thus be deferred to next year, though [we got in our guffaws](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-113-an-undignified-jersey-sponsor-alert/id1742052077?i=1000777876162&ref=verdeallday.com) on Tuesday. To the questions! ### What is the general mood around the Dynamo this season? From the outside, it seems like it's a team that's likely going to make the playoffs but isn't quite yet built to get into the conference final let alone win an MLS Cup. How does that lineup with how fans regard them? I think there is a lot of hesitation around the fan base for what you mentioned. They're a pretty good team, but are they good enough to win trophies? The answer to that, at least right now, seems to be no. A lot of fans would love to see the club move Ezequiel Ponce, if possible, and free up a designated player spot, but we'll see if that happens. For now, I think the overarching mood around the team is cautiously optimistic with a little bit of hesitation. ### The front office recently added Duncan McGuire — what will that do to change the team (and does this mean Ezequiel Ponce is on his way out)? If there is a way to move Ponce, I think they will do everything to get that done. He has no league goals this season and on a DP salary, it will be tough to find a suitor to take him. It's a bit like the Sebastian Ferreira situation all over again. McGuire is a similar profile to Ponce in that he's a physical striker but Ben Olsen and the coaching staff really like his ability to run in behind defenses and stretch the lines. If he's able to do that and regain the scoring acumen he had early on in Orlando he should open things up for Guilherme and Jack McGlynn and make the Houston offense much more dynamic. ### The Dynamo started its 2026 Copa Tejas campaign with two losses ... is Copa Tejas even a focus for the team this year given that slow start, or is there belief they can get a win on Saturday to get back into the race? (They'd need to win Saturday, and hope Dallas and Austin take points from each other, even if that's just drawing once, to set up an Oct. 17 match hosting FCD to decide it.) I think publicly they would say it's something they want to win, but deep down they probably know that ship has sailed, and honestly, they have bigger fish to fry. Beating Austin is something they will want to do for the rivalry and for the fans , but they desperately need a win after the midweek draw against D.C. Olsen and the front office has talked about being a top four team in the West this season and they need to win games like this, derby or not, if they still want to accomplish that goal. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Report: Sexual abuse investigation involves Austin FC Academy players URL: https://verdeallday.com/report-austin-fc-academy-players-sexual-abuse-investigation/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T01:30:31.000Z As first reported by [*The Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/24/austin-fc-academy-investigation-sexual-abuse-mls?ref=verdeallday.com) on Friday, and additionally reported by [KXAN](https://www.kxan.com/investigations/police-investigating-youth-on-youth-misconduct-among-austin-fc-academy-players/?ref=verdeallday.com), Austin FC Academy players are under investigation by the Austin Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over sexual abuse allegations involving interactions between players. The [club's statement](https://www.austinfc.com/news/message-from-austin-fc-academy?ref=verdeallday.com), issued on Friday shortly after *The Guardian*'s story broke, confirmed that the club "became aware of allegations of youth-on-youth misconduct occurring among a group of Academy players" in December 2025, and "after learning of these issues from concerned Academy families," took a series of steps to address the situation, including: - Reporting these allegations to local enforcement; - Notifying the U.S. Center for SafeSport and MLS; - Initiating an internal investigation of the alleged youth-on-youth misconduct, in coordination with MLS; - Providing U.S. Center for SafeSport resources to parents and families and encouraging anyone with concerns to contact law enforcement; - Suspending all activities for the affected Academy age group while these issues were initially investigated; and - Suspending and expelling players, in coordination with MLS and law enforcement. The club did not elaborate on what the alleged misconduct entailed. Per the U.S. Center for SafeSport's website, "the [Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017](https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534?ref=verdeallday.com) codified the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, as the nation’s safe sport organization. It gave us the scope and authority to resolve abuse and misconduct reports for more than 11 million individuals throughout the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement — from whom we are fully independent." A broad array of sports organizations providing umbrella oversight for youth sports, including the U.S. Soccer Federation, are under the U.S. Center for SafeSport's purview. The organization provides education for adults and minor athletes on topics such as mandatory reporting, sexual misconduct, emotional and physical misconduct, and abuse prevention. "We continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement throughout its ongoing investigation," the club said via its statement. "Throughout this process, Austin FC Academy and MLS took decisive actions guided by our unwavering commitment to the health, safety and well-being of our youth players and will continue to do so." The club parted ways with Rodolfo Borrell, who oversaw sporting operations at the time of the alleged incidents, in May, though the club made clear to *The Guardian* that the allegations did not figure into Borrell's dismissal. The Austin FC Academy director at the time of the alleged misconduct, Yago Aguilar Azón, who boarded during Borrell's tenure, is not listed on the Austin FC Academy website's [staff page](https://www.austinfc.com/academy/staff?ref=verdeallday.com) as of this writing — suggesting that he's no longer with the club. However, Aguilar Azón still claims to have that role [per his LinkedIn page](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yago-aguilar-az%C3%B3n-2147b057/?locale=en&ref=verdeallday.com). *The Guardian* also reported that though the investigation is still ongoing, no Austin FC Academy staff members have been disciplined. *This is a developing story.* ### 'Ervin's earned the opportunity': How an 18-year-old homegrown player delivered a signature win URL: https://verdeallday.com/atxvsea-072226-morning-after-davy-arnaud-ervin-torres-brad-stuver-jon-gallagher/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T15:14:45.000Z It was a substitution that some of us have dreamed of for months for more whimsical reasons, but on Wednesday night, it turned out to be vital. When Davy Arnaud made the club's first ever Torres-for-Torres sub in the 84th minute, deadlocked at 1-1 before Verde broke away for a [3-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsea-072226/) over Seattle Sounders FC, it appeared a bit of a dice roll. After all, Arnaud was taking out two designated players – Facundo Torres and Brandon Vázquez — and replacing them with Ervin Torres, an 18-year-old homegrown academy-to-first-team player who has played limited sub minutes, and Christian Ramírez, a player picked up on waivers less than five months ago. The move manifested in a goal less than two minutes later, with Ervin Torres driving into the box and slipping a pass to the lone designated player left on the field, Myrto Uzuni. Five minutes later, he found a pathway to an assist again, this time finding his fellow sub with a pass in front of goal; Ramírez then moved from his posted-up position to notch the insurance goal. As Arnaud explained, it was evidence of the work the teenager's done to get to this point. [Read on for just $3 (for your first month of all-access Verde All Day)](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, Seattle Sounders FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsea-072226/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T23:51:51.000Z Returning to Q2 Stadium for the first time in more than two months, Austin FC got an early set piece goal from Ilie Sánchez, let in an equalizer scored in a characteristically opportunistic way by Paul Rothrock, and then found late goals from Myrto Uzuni and Christian Ramírez (with a surprising player on both the assists), beating Seattle Sounders FC, 3-1, to resume the 2026 MLS regular season on a hot and stifling Wednesday night at Q2 Stadium. The last time Verde played in this stadium, they lost 2-1 to Sporting Kansas City in a franchise-defining loss; the club responded to that performance and the poor ones preceding that by dismissing head coach Nico Estévez and sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. Under interim head coach Davy Arnaud — getting to showcase what tactics he was able to implement during a midseason break — Verde came out in what at first looked like a distinct 4-3-3 formation, with Brandon Vázquez, Myrto Uzuni, and Facundo Torres all effectively parallel. Joseph Rosales was deployed as a right back to start the match, while Jon Gallagher started as what eventually revealed itself to be a left wingback in a 5-2-3, though he played the first phase of the game so high up the field that he looked like a left winger in a 4-3-3\. The Sounders, meanwhile, made the best of its compromised-by-injury lineup choices, going with a roster that included Verde Enemy No. 1 Jesus Ferreira and folk hero Paul Rothrock. Verde made good on its first chance in the 11th, winning a corner kick when Rosales sent in a diagonal cross from the right flank that Sounders defender Peter Kingston headed out just past the far post. Then, on the resulting corner, Besard Šabović sent in a curler that Ilie Sánchez was able to get his head to, redirecting it enough to get past Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas for the early lead. Five minutes later, Uzuni nearly got Austin's second, getting onto an errant Thomas pass and just overhitting an attempted chip from beyond the 18\. Despite Verde looking dominant, the dreaded costly defensive lapse came in the 26th minute, with Sounders players assembling around the box, Snyder Brunell charging into the right channel to hit a Kingston cutback pass off the post – which caromed to Rothrock, lurking behind Rosales with plenty of space to run onto the rebound unchallenged. Austin FC next looked threatening in the 34th minute, getting numbers in the Sounders box for a Vázquez shot Thomas repelled, and then after the Sounders momentarily wrested control, Verde got it back for Uzuni to flub a first-touch chance but got a second chance at goal, forcing Thomas to collect. In the second half, the Sounders started to increase its momentum and possession, prompting a triple sub just after the hour mark to get Przemysław Płacheta and Owen Wolff on for Šabović and Rosales to get some more offensive spark (and to deal with the yellow card that Šabović earned moments before), and then Mateja Đorđević to spell Brendan Hines-Ike, who we learned Monday wouldn't be 90-minutes-ready heading into this one. Verde created a decent chance in the 69th, with Torres sending over a cross that Vázquez headed toward goal, though Thomas was able to deal with it easily. Less impressive was a 73rd minute free kick, which Torres landed in a dangerous but unoccupied area; Uzuni got to it first, and with a narrow angle at goal but a pathway to draw defenders and perhaps get a cross back in, he instead it hoofed it out of bounds to kill off the chance. In the 80th minute, the Sounders worked the ball in front of goal, with Ferreira making an unselfish pass to an open Albert Rusnak, who hit a dangerous top-bins shot that Brad Stuver got fingertips to, keeping Austin from going down. Then, after some shots from Płacheta and Jon Gallagher went wanting, Arnaud made a Torres-for-Torres sub (with Ervin coming on for Facundo), and a Superman-for-Superman sub (with Ramírez on for Vázquez). That paid dividends almost immediately; in the 86th, Verde had one of its best in-the-box sequences of the match, with the younger Torres feeding Uzuni for the go-ahead goal. Then, to seal the deal, Torres got his second assist in the first minute of stoppage time, finding Ramírez in front of goal with a pinpoint pass; Ramírez then contorted his body to get a bit more power behind the shot, which had enough on it to nestle inside the far post. Uzuni had a chance for a breakaway goal deep into stoppage time, but Jackson Ragen saved it with a foul earning him a second yellow card and a sendoff. [Get tomorrow's match quotes and analysis (and the next seven) for $3](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Stuver's save on Rusnak's 80th-minute shot preserved the draw. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Verde All Day photographer Alex Rubio captured it well. This shot from Brunell led to the goal, but for a moment, the outcome is suspended in the ether of possibility, with Stuver unsure if it will go in, sail harmlessly wide, or carom off the post to an unmarked Rothrock just waiting to score. Joseph Rosales watches right along with it, seemingly having it not occur to him to slide over closer to Rothrock. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/stuver-watches-shot-original-ratio.png) If you remember Jim Curtin's discussion of the red zone from his [introductory press conference](https://verdeallday.com/jim-curtin-introductory-press-conference-non-negotiables/), he described it as the area of the field where, if you connect the six-yard box to the top of the 18, that's where 87% of goals are scored in MLS." He then said, "We are going to defend that with our lives. You'll see it painted on all our training grounds now on the field, where that red zone is something that we protect and defend with our lives." That did not happen on this play. ## One thing you might have missed The seemingly mild-mannered Brian Schmetzer got a yellow card from his spot in the technical area in the 41st minute. ## One nerdy tidbit I'm going to lean on Futi a lot in the second half of this season, I can tell. Here's an interesting end-of-match graphic. Aside from the "deserved win" meter, which went even after being decidedly on the Sounders' side for a good portion of the match, look at the transition xG. (Austin's in green.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-22-at-10.41.52-PM.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-22-at-10.42.25-PM.png) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative With the win, Verde stopped a four-match winless streak that dates back to May; their previous win was May 2 over St. Louis City SC. ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm curious to know what Arnaud sought to implement in the midseason break — was it was how the wingbacks were deployed? — and how successful he felt that was. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Sounder at Heart's Jeremiah Oshan URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-sounder-at-heart-jeremiah-oshan-atxvsea-072226/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T12:38:26.000Z Austin FC is back, and so is the call for opponent spotlights! For the Wednesday night match against Seattle Sounders FC — meaning the team that brought us Five Teenagers Night in Verde lore is part of Brad Stuver Bobblehead night — we turned to Jeremiah Oshan of the essential [Sounder at Heart](https://www.sounderatheart.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) for some reflections ahead of the 8:30 pm CT showdown. To set the scene, here's an excerpt from [an opinion piece](https://www.sounderatheart.com/2026/07/sounders-leadership-needs-to-listen-to-fed-up-fans/?ref=verdeallday.com) he just went up with: *It has now been about five days since the Seattle Sounders hit what we can only hope is rock bottom. The 5–1 loss to the Portland Timbers at home wasn’t just humiliating; it was so bad that it has forced a lot of conversations about prior assumptions among folks like myself who have normally been staunch defenders of this roster build.* *I’ve covered this team for all but one of the Sounders’ 17 MLS seasons and I’m not sure I remember the reaction to a result being more frustrated and fed up than this one. I don’t think it’s just because it was arguably the worst performance in club history. I think it’s more that there’s an encroaching sense of doom around this team, one that has been building for several years.* *I’m sure some will see this as a sense of entitlement. How can a team that has made the playoffs in all but one season, has won more trophies than any MLS team in that time, and remains on pace to finish with one of its highest point totals ever, have such negativity around it?* So, how you likely felt after the May loss to SKC is how Sounders fans are feeling right now ... though it's hard to imagine both their head coach and sporting director being dismissed as a result. (Also, though it's not up yet of this writing, I provided The State of Things for the site's Opposition Scouting Report feature, so expect that closer to kickoff. There's also a [new Emergency Podcast up](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-undignified-jersey-sponsor-alert-and/id1742052077?i=1000777876162&ref=verdeallday.com) that not only has our thoughts on Wednesday's match, but the thoughts of Austin FC captain Ilie Sánchez.) To the questions! ### How are the Sounders looking to you at this juncture of the season? They're currently sixth in the West and would face LAFC in the playoffs were they to start today, yet they're coming off what you called "an embarrassment for the ages," losing 5-1 at home to Portland. Emotionally, they are not in a good place. Beside the aformentioned face-plant, they had lost the two games heading into the World Cup break. The Sounders aren’t used to three-game losing streaks and haven’t ever lost four in a row since Brian Schmetzer took over as head coach a decade ago. That gives some hope for a bounce-back result but the mood around the fan base has turned decidedly sour, the memories of one of their best 10-game starts ever far in the rear-view mirror. ### Between Cristian Roldan making the U.S. men's national team and Seattle being such a good and vibrant host city during the World Cup, what can the Sounders take from its role in the World Cup into the rest of this season? (Are there at least good vibes from new engaged fans?) There’s some good vibes in the city but you’d be hard-pressed to find any around the Sounders. Great as it was for Roldan to make the World Cup team, he got hurt before he could get on the play and is now one of the only players in USMNT history to make two World cup rosters and not get on the field. We’re having a beautiful summer, though! ### Unfortunately for Verde fans, Austin FC has been a bit of a "opponent that will help you cure what ails you" this season. What will the team's mindset be heading into what could be a gettable three points away? The Sounders desperately need to put the Timbers game in the past and they should be entirely focused on Austin, a place they’ve had a fair amount of success over the years. But they also should know they can’t take anything for granted. Expect some light rotation from Thursday, but with so many players still on the injured list, Schmetzer simply can’t change out as many players as he’d like. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-1.png) ### 'We are all in': Davy Arnaud and a (mostly) healthy Austin FC will push for a playoff place URL: https://verdeallday.com/we-are-all-in-davy-arnaud-przemyslaw-placheta-match-preview-atxvsea-072226/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T13:24:19.000Z Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud knows what it's like to be traded. Specifically, he knows what it's like to be traded from a place he'd become comfortable as a player over multiple years *to Montréal*. So, on Monday, in talking about the Dani Pereira trade as part of a press conference looking both backward and forward, Arnaud shared thoughts on a player with whom he's had a years-long relationship. "Dani obviously means a ton to this club," Arnaud said. "He's been here since day one. He means a lot to the players in here. I know he means a lot to the fans and the community. He certainly means a lot to the staff. And to me personally, Dani means a lot. We've had a good relationship for a long time. What I will say is, it is a part of this business that that has to happen sometimes, right? "So, from personal experience, I was playing in Kansas City for 10 years. I was drafted there. I was captain in Kansas City, and during the expansion draft, after 10 years, a place that I thought I was going to be my whole career, I was traded to Montréal," he said, recalling the November 2011 trade that led to him becoming the first goalscorer in the then-Impact's MLS history. "So I was in the same situation as Dani, so I understand the feelings that he was going through, and maybe some of the disappointment that he had to leave," Arnaud continued. "But again, these was things that were talked about in the offseason, even about we need to find ways to generate a little bit of money to help us with the roster, and Dani, being a good player that he is, and the value that he has, we said if the right price comes for Dani, the club's going to have to take it." Pereira's departure, perhaps the biggest offseason news for the club not involving new head-coach-in-waiting Jim Curtin, takes a major chess piece off Arnaud's board for the remainder of the 2026 season, restarting Wednesday night against Seattle Sounders FC at Q2 Stadium (now moved to 8:30 pm CT, likely for heat concerns as midsummer start times typically are). Most everyone else is available for selection, though, save for Mikkel Desler, battling an Achilles' tendon issue, and Jon Bell, with an unspecified injury. Desler sat out Saturday's open practice at the stadium, while Bell participated in individual drills. Brandon Vázquez, who triggered some concerns Saturday with his individual workouts, did so because of a slight ankle issue following the team's mysterious closed-door scrimmage against Charlotte FC last week, but Arnaud declared him available. Similarly, Brendan Hines-Ike, who is recovering from a hamstring injury that left him unavailable during May's nadir. [Support what we do (at a deep discount)](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) ## 'We're ready for a real game' Arnaud's shifted his perspective on having this extended break from his appearance before media after the loss in St. Louis, when he said he was eager to get the team back on the field. He says that over the past five weeks, the team has enjoyed what he characterizes as "a long spell now to really implement the way that we want to play." "I think I said at the start of the break that I wish our game was next week, and I said that after the game because when you lose, you want to play immediately again," he explained. "But reflecting on that now ... the break came in a really good time for the group to start to work on some different things." Arnaud said that the scrimmages — also including a 1-0 loss to Liga MX team Querétaro and a 4-0 win over USL Championship side Sporting Jax — allowed him to implement some new elements to the squad's playing approach, which helps contextualize the extreme secrecy the club maintained around the matches. "We've seen some things that we're really excited about," Arnaud said. "The hardest thing about the break, going five weeks without playing a real game, you get to the point where their guys are ready to start kicking other people and stop kicking each other so much. I'm ready for the same thing. These guys are out here training every day to put it into games and compete in games and the club the same way. And I know the fans are the same way. We're ready for a real game." Whether it involves Jorge Alastuey remains to be seen. While Arnaud didn't give any indication the club would spend its remaining international roster slot for 2026 on the promising midfielder, he didn't rule it out as a possibility either. "Jorge, in particular, is one of those guys that has come up and he's done a really good job every time he's been a part of it. When he's played the first-team games, he's been really good. He raises the level of training every week. With that international spot, we're looking at different ways that we can occupy that, and there are some different things that we're looking at. But just as other as international players are open for that, we're also open to second-team players becoming part of the first team, so everything's kind of open at this point." Arnaud seemed genuinely surprised by a comment Curtin made during his introductory press conference, which we assumed would have gotten back to him by now, that Arnaud doesn't punt on anything — but confirmed that Verde remains committed to angling a playoff place despite its lowly place in the current Western Conference table, and needing to leapfrog five teams to get there. "I appreciate that from Jim. That's nice. That's a nice comment, and and it's accurate," Arnaud acknowledged. "For me, we're attacking the second part of the season head on. We are all in. We are fully committed to getting ourselves in a position to be in the playoffs. There's no part of myself, the staff, the club, the players that's ready to say that the season is done. It is quite the opposite." ## Call him 'Plachy' Austin media also got to meet Przemysław Płacheta, the team's newest player, who debuted (in a sense) at Saturday's open practice, and could see his first MLS action on Wednesday. While he's still new to life in Austin — and still on the lookout for Polish food — he's getting acclimated to his teammates while learning the new wrinkles along with everyone else. "I'm here \[in my\] third week, so I'm still learning," he said. "I'm still learning new things and what was in the games. The only positive it was just to be to be a team in those games to get to know each other, to start to know each other on the pitch, how everyone is behaving, how everyone moves. So we just needed to work on that. Obviously, create chances and be also aggressive after losing balls ... those kind of things are quite important." He also displayed awareness of the team's current predicament — and a willingness to embrace it. "You just need sometimes breaks," he said. "Sometimes you just need one training. Sometimes you just need one month to work on some things which are not working. And obviously, this is the past now. Now we concentrate on on the future, what is in front of us, and we will make sure that we stick together as a team, as a whole club, and we're gonna turn things well." Though "Shemmy" is the default nickname that people have been using, taking Przemysław (pronounced shem-i-suave) to its logical diminutive, he said he actually prefers fans to call him "Plachy," which is what happens when you impose English on Płacheta (actually pronounced pwa-het-uh) and then make that diminutive. So, if he ambles over to your section of the stadium on Wednesday after the match, and you're trying to get his attention to share some pierogi intel, you now know what to call out. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-1.png) ### World Cup wrap-up, and what's next for Verde All Day URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-wrap-up-whats-next-for-verde-all-day/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T13:30:01.000Z This graphic from [Futi](https://futi.live/?ref=verdeallday.com) sums up Sunday's World Cup final nicely — especially the "deserved win" feature. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-7.22.47-AM.png) Dominant in shots and chances throughout the match, Spain got an extra-time goal from sub Ferran Torres and withstood the brand of late flurry Argentina traded on throughout the knockout rounds, winning 1-0 in Sunday's final and closing out a fantastic tournament. It was grueling, as finals can be, and Argentina showed a new level of thuggery in this match (particularly Leandro Paredes, who deserved a second yellow for multiple fouls in the match's final phases, and got a red after the match for attempting to fight victorious Spanish players). It was perhaps fitting, though, that after the joyous 10-goal third-place match, we got this counterweight in the final. (Though I still contend the final would have been more fun with France in it.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-14-.png) [Try Verde All Day for just $3](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) ## Now, Austin FC is back My sister-in-law asked me about an hour after the match what I'm going to do with myself now that the World Cup's over. The answer's simple: Austin FC plays again on Wednesday! Today, Austin media gets its first chance to check in with interim head coach Davy Arnaud about preparations for the second half of the season — which we got a glimpse of with Saturday's [open practice](https://verdeallday.com/jorge-alastuey-belongs-austin-fc-open-practice-july-18-2026/). Then, Wednesday night at Q2 Stadium, with new Brad Stuver bobbleheads procured by some, fans will take in Verde taking on Seattle Sounders FC, who already started their second-half journey with a shocking 5-1 home loss to Portland last Thursday. Of course, Verde will be without the recently-traded Dani Pereira, and how Arnaud manages the midfield will be foremost in my narrative building as I watch the match unfold. Then, Copa Tejas returns, with Verde going down I-10 to face the Dynamo. By virtue of a 2-0 win over Team Orange in April, Verde leads the [Copa Tejas standings](https://copatejas.com/mls-table?ref=verdeallday.com), and a win away would effectively make the race between Austin and Dallas — which has happened before, but is not entirely on-brand for the sometimes-chaotic tournament. And then, a week later, Austin will travel to Commerce City, Colo., taking on the Rapids in a crucial six-pointer, with both teams looking to claw out of the West basement in the next few weeks and legitimately back into the playoff race. Also on the horizon: Leagues Cup, which will certainly in danger of being an afterthought after the North American-hosted World Cup, also represents a chance for Verde to get a fresh start in a cup competition following their Open Cup disaster earlier this year. For those of us who care about Austin FC's fortunes, we're collectively back. [A welcome back offer](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-1.png) ### World Cup Daily: July 19, the final URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-19-final-spain-argentina/ Last updated: 2026-07-19T14:00:19.000Z Whether yesterday's France-England game was "good" is a matter of semantics-driven debate. Any game that features goals like England's third goal (and the farcical French defense on that play) make it hard for me to qualify it as good. Highly entertaining, though? I'll absolutely say that! And I like that Kylian Mbappé likely sealed up the Golden Boot race in the process. Following England's 6-4 win over France — we were one goal away from the Three Lions blowing a 4-0 lead! — we get what will likely be a cagier, tighter, and dare I say less fun final today. If you want Spain to win, and I begrudgingly do, you're looking for a similar boa constrictor performance that La Roja had against France. If you believe Argentina is a cat with multiple expendable lives, given their knockout round performance so far, you're looking for just enough time and space remaining for Lionel Messi to make a difference. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-13--2.png) ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **Spain 2, France** **0** ### Wednesday, July 15 - **Argentina 2, England 1** ## Third-place match ### Saturday, July 18 - **England 6, France 4** ## Final ### Sunday, July 19 - **Spain vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## Where to watch Brad Stuver invites you to one of the two [Victory Lap locations](https://www.instagram.com/p/Da50xmtpE4H/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) in town for a World Cup watch party where you can buy a frozen Bomb Pop drink or a Big Mac Pie (big 'Merica energy for both of those) to benefit the Brad and Ashley Stuver Foundation. ## What to read The vice president of the U.S. Soccer Federation has [things to say](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/gianni-infantino-donald-trump-fifa-world-cup-comment?ref=verdeallday.com) about FIFA president Gianni Infantino. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad-1.png) ### Jorge Alastuey belongs, and other takeaways from Austin FC's open practice URL: https://verdeallday.com/jorge-alastuey-belongs-austin-fc-open-practice-july-18-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-19T13:22:55.000Z Though it was much warmer and considerably less attended than Austin FC's first open practice, Saturday's training session for season ticket holders (and media) provided some helpful glimpses into the squad heading into the resumption of the 2026 MLS season on Wednesday. Interim head coach Davy Arnaud was briefly mic'd up to let attendees know that the team was getting ready for its game — a rather obvious aim of practice, but an additional reminder that the Sounders (fresh off a 5-1 home loss to its Timbers rivals) are coming to Q2 Stadium on Wednesday. Brandon Vázquez said in a post-match interview, alongside Jayden Nelson, and MC'd by Austin FC communications head Cameron Koubek, that during his summer break, he "got to recharge and got the knee back 100%." Yet both Vázquez and Jon Bell didn't participating in team drills or scrimmages — certainly something to ask Arnaud about ahead of Wednesday. Here are my three takeaways from watching grown men exercise on Saturday. [A welcome back special offer! ](https://verdeallday.com/welcome-back-special) ## Jorge Alastuey belongs Certainly, no one in a Verde training session is more eager to prove himself than Jorge Alastuey. Having expended his short-term call-ups already, the only way he can play for the first team is if the club signs him to a supplemental deal and uses an international slot. The first is doable — the club has done it this season already with Riley Thomas and Ervin Torres — but the second is unusual. But Alastuey could be worth the international slot expenditure this season to give him the minutes to showcase him and allow him to get first-team experience. In drills and in scrimmage, he displayed crisp passes and goalkeeper-beating shots, and looked comfortable and confident. Yes, he's 23 and La Masia-trained, so you'd expect a degree of confidence from him, but he's also in the weird spot that Valentin Nöel was in while starring for Austin FC II — but even more so. Nöel has settled into USL Championship — in fact, he's now Kipp Keller's teammate at New Mexico United (along with another former Austin FC player, Sofiane Djeffal, and former Arsenal player and USMNT hopeful Gedion Zelalem). While that's evidently Nöel's level, Alastuey's might be higher — but there's really only one way to find out. ## Is Shemmy ready? This was the first glimpse fans got of Przemysław Płacheta in action for Austin, and while he looked at times like a player who hasn't been with these new teammates this long – especially in two-on-two drills involving quick passes and shooting on small goals — he showed some of his reputed speed in the scrimmage, and had one particularly delicious half-volley finish for a goal late in the scrimmage. How he'll be deployed and how often he'll be utilized are good questions for Arnaud to perhaps answer during Monday's media availability — the first in more than a month for a coach who told us he wanted to keep playing matches after a 3-0 loss to St. Louis City SC ended 11 of the worst days of Austin FC's existence. This squad is now down a midfielder — and a significant one — with the departure of Dani Pereira, and to make room for Płacheta before the Pereira move, the club bought out Robert Taylor, who promptly moved to the LA Galaxy and actually appeared as a half-hour sub in their 3-0 loss to LAFC on Friday. Płacheta is more a winger than a central midfielder based on reputation, but Arnaud will need to figure out rotations and sub patterns minus a key piece. Based on what we saw Saturday, he might not instantly, seamlessly fit in with everything Verde does, but he'll have a role. ## Stuver is still elite In large part because of their role in the 2026 World Cup, Matt Freese and Maxime Crépeau are All-Star goalkeepers alongside Nashville's Brian Schwake. That does not seem particularly fair or right, especially when Brad Stuver remains in MLS. Yes, he's let in 31 goals this year — though Crépeau has let in 38 — with a defense that's an especially troubled first 15 matches in front of him. But he's once again among the league leaders in saves, and on Saturday, showed his form well with some strong saves against his teammates. Damian Las is on a trajectory to be a starting goalkeeper on an MLS team, but given what Stuver showed Saturday compared to Las, it may not be with Austin FC. Stuver showed that he's more than capable to remain the Verde goalkeeper, and it might be prudent for a new sporting director to move Las to a club where he can get a true opportunity to start and the club can get something in return for developing him. [Try Verde All Day out for just $3](https://verdeallday.com/try-it-out-welcome-back-special) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Austin Telco Federal Credit Union banner ad](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Verde-All-Day-Newsletter-Banner-Ad.png) ### World Cup Daily: July 18, the third-place match URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-18-france-england-third-place-match/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T13:30:39.000Z Saturday's match is unique among all 104 matches in the 2026 World Cup. The teams involved have been eliminated and can't advance, but they're playing all the same. But, unlike other third-place matches in the past, this is the first to feature two top-five teams, and in an alternate universe, France-England might have been an engaging final. There *is* still a Golden Boot race on the line, with Kylian Mbappé definitely in contention, and Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, and Ousmane Dembélé all just a hat trick away from making things interesting. 4 pm CT. Soccer's better than no soccer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-13--1.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **Spain 2, France** **0** ### Wednesday, July 15 - **Argentina 2, England 1** ## Third-place match ### Saturday, July 18 - **France vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. ## Final ### Sunday, July 19 - **Spain vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## Where to watch Since you might be making it a day with Austin FC via the open practice, you may want to take in [Inn Cahoots](https://www.austinfc.com/soccercelebration?ref=verdeallday.com) as it winds down. ## What to read Ryan Rosenblatt has some [really interesting ideas](https://thinkoutsidetheball.substack.com/p/world-cup-day-37-ideas-for-format) for improving the World Cup. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Storylines and MLS matches(!) for July 16 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-mls-matches-july-16/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T14:00:20.000Z It's not coming home. Just minutes from closing out a 1-0 victory and a crucial step closer to its first World Cup title in 60 years, England met the fate of Cabo Verde, Egypt, and Switzerland before them. Namely: Argentina finds a way to win in the end. This time, it was Lionel Messi assisting on goals by Enzo Fernández (at 85') and Lautaro Martínez (at 90'+2') to complete the shocking 2-1 win on Wednesday in the 2026 World Cup's second semifinal. Now, it's Spain vs. Argentina in Sunday's final — which, based on the evidence, I think Spain will win, but based on what Argentina does late in matches, I just don't know – and England consoling itself with another trip to Miami to face France on Saturday. (There's a Golden Boot trophy still in play, and the third-place game counts toward it, so don't be surprised if Kylian Mbappé gets that as a consolation prize for France, who based on England's fresher and crueler heartbreak, seem more positioned to win.) In the meantime, as the ad implores you to do, and as covered on the most recent [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-112-rudi-garcia-is-using-a-bic-multipen-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000776684189&ref=verdeallday.com), you *can* kick it. MLS resumes tonight with four matches, all on Apple TV, and compelling narratives (with some pale shades of Verde in there) persist: - **CF Montréal vs. Toronto FC**, 6:30 pm CT, which will very likely be Dani Pereira's debut for his new team. It will most definitely be disorienting to see him in black and blue stripes and wearing No. 7, but it's a thing to get used to. - **Chicago Fire FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC**, 7:30 pm CT, which not only puts two of the five best team in the league (by current standings) in the same match, it also gives us Gregg Berhalter coaching against a team featuring his son, former Austin FC midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, fresh off his World Cup appearance and heading for his second straight All-Star appearance. - **St. Louis City SC vs. Sporting Kansas City**, 7:30 pm CT, which seems the lesser of the two 7:30 pm matches, but as an Austin fan, you'll have a rooting interest in this one — an SKC win would bring SKC up to 14 points, and tied on points with Verde in the basement, but would also keep St. Louis just two points ahead of Austin, within easier reach for Verde's long attempted slog back to the playoff places. - **Seattle Sounders FC vs. Portland Timbers FC**, 9:30 pm CT, which allows you to freshly associate Lumen Field with something other than the USMNT's ignoble exit from the World Cup, but also, a Seattle win keeps Portland tied with Austin on points and that much more able to be toppled should Verde find life. We get two more matches on Friday (Atlanta-Nashville and an El Tráfico in Carson), and then we're back to the World Cup for one last glorious weekend. ![2026 World Cup bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-13-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **Spain 2, France** **0** ### Wednesday, July 15 - **Argentina 2, England 1** ## Third-place match ### Saturday, July 18 - **France vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. ## Final ### Sunday, July 19 - **Spain vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## What to read [Per Defector](https://defector.com/you-have-to-kill-argentina-dead?ref=verdeallday.com), "You have to kill Argentina dead." And here's [a finger pointed](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7442975/2026/07/15/thomas-tuchel-england-world-cup-argentina/?ref=verdeallday.com) at England manager Thomas Tuchel, the least popular person in England today. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Match and storylines for July 15 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-15-england-argentina/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T14:00:26.000Z Je suis triste. I've made my love for France pretty clear throughout the World Cup, so Tuesday was gut-wrenching. Spain brought a particularly constrictive, stultifying defense to the party in Arlington, won a PK when Lamine Yamal took advantage of a Lucas Digne lapse, and then scored Pedro Porro one of the best-set-up goals of this (or maybe any other World Cup), effectively cruising to a 2-0 win. From appearances, Spain looks the prohibitive favorite heading into Sunday's final, playing whoever emerges from today's Argentina-England semifinal. My hunch is that Argentina finds a way, but no matter what happens, we know three things for sure: 1. The third-place match on Saturday will actually be compelling! It will either feature the 2022 finalists or a rivalry dating back centuries. 2. This was official once Argentina beat Switzerland on Saturday night: We will not get a ninth World Cup champion this time around. All three teams remaining in the field have won at least one, with two of the three attempting to get a second star. 3. Cabo Verde may end up having the best performance, scoreline-wise and vibes-wise, of any of the teams playing Spain. Only three matches left in the tournament ... but MLS is back! (We'll have more about that tomorrow, including whatever we can learn about Austin FC's match against Charlotte FC taking place later today.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-12-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **Spain 2, France** **0** ### Wednesday, July 15 - **England vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, Atlanta ## Third-place match ### Saturday, July 18 - France vs. Argentina-England loser, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. ## Final ### Sunday, July 19 - Spain vs. Argentina-England winner, 2 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## Where to watch With heavy thunderstorms in the forecast today, a trip inside is likely in order. I'd expect Haymaker (2310 Manor) to be packed, and if you're at all south, Koko's Bavarian (3003 S. Lamar Blvd., Unit F 105) might be your vibe even though it is neither English nor Argentine. ## What to read A [post-mortem](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7446303/2026/07/14/france-out-of-world-cup-how/?ref=verdeallday.com) on what went wrong for France, and [an assessment](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7446014/2026/07/14/spain-world-cup-final/?ref=verdeallday.com) that "Spain are not covered in stardust." Plus, here's a deep dive on Austin's Ismael Elfath, who will be [head referee](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7444183/2026/07/14/ismail-elfath-england-argentina-world-cup-semi-final/?ref=verdeallday.com) for Wednesday's match. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Match and Storylines for July 14 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-14-france-spain/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T11:42:43.000Z France vs. Spain. Kylian Mbappé vs. Yamine Lamal. The tournament's best front four vs. the tournament's best-possessing team. After two days of no soccer, the 2026 World Cup resumes Tuesday afternoon with a semifinal match that could be a final (and might have been had the brackets been arranged differently, though this is what the organizers had in mind opposite Argentina-England on Wednesday). While I'm still forecasting France to advance, I'm openly worried for Les Blues. Spain has let in just a single goal all tournament, and they're getting clutch late goals to advance. It should be tense and amazing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-11--1.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **France** **vs. Spain**, 2 pm, Jerryworld ### Wednesday, July 15 - **England vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, Atlanta ## Third-place match ### Saturday, July 18 - France-Spain loser vs. Argentina-England loser, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. ## Final ### Sunday, July 19 - France-Spain winner vs. Argentina-England winner, 2 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## Where to watch I'm just going to keep promoting Justine's (4710 E. 5th) for France games. It's a singularly fun and elevated experience even if you're not rooting for France. (But don't come there in Spain gear to soil the mood. Spain fans have Lou's on Barton Springs, 1608 Barton Springs Road, as its watch headquarters.) Also, if you're thinking about Inn Cahoots (1221 E. 6th) or any other outdoor watch party set-up, check the weather first — flood watches are in effect this morning, as it's expected to rain through the first half. ## What to read "Lamine Yamal turned 19 on Monday with diamonds around his neck, mischief in the family and the biggest match of his life ahead but the Spain forward's ​clearest message before the World Cup semi-final against France was not about goals, gifts or ‌fame." That's quite the start for this [Reuters profile](https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/lamine-says-football-must-unite-spain-prepare-france-semi-final-2026-07-14/?ref=verdeallday.com); you can't help but like the young Spanish star. That said, here's a [more sobering read](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/13/sport/kylian-mbappe-racism-paraguay-le-pen-cec?ref=verdeallday.com) on Mbappé and the racism he and other players on the wonderfully diverse French team face from less enlightened pockets of *L'Hexagone*. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### The streak is over: Austin FC II's 15-match unbeaten streak ends (and comes full circle) URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-report-austin-fc-ii-2-minnesota-united-fc-2-3-streak-ends/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T12:46:35.000Z Through 17 matches this season, Austin FC II has looked like favorites to win a second star over its crest in 2026\. That didn't really change on Sunday, though VerDos did what it did to start the season — lost to Minnesota United FC 2\. VerDos' 3-2 loss to the Twoons at Parmer Field on Sunday night broke a 10-match win streak and 15-match unbeaten streak. Its 2026 season started with a loss to the Twoons on March 1, 4-2, despite a pair of goals from Jorge Alastuey. Sunday's loss, in an eerily similar bookend to the season opener, featured a pair of goals from the 23-year-old Alastuey to give VerDos the halftime lead (bringing his season total to nine), after the Twoons' Mamadou Dieng shocked the home faithful with a goal less than three minutes into the match. The 22-year-old Dieng, who is on the Minnesota United FC first-team roster as a supplemental player, following earlier USL Championship success with Hartford Athletic, got the winning PK in the 74th minute after Luke Hille tied up the match 10 minutes prior. Even with the loss, Austin FC II remains atop MLS Next Pro, with a 12W 2L 3D record, with one shutout win, good for 41 points. The regular season ends Sept. 20 at St. Louis, with playoffs to follow. With an Austin FC-in-transition on pause for another nine days, and Austin FC II still sitting atop the West and league standings, the MLS Next Pro team has been a welcome feel-good story for the club. VerDos will next get to attempt returning to winning ways on July 22 in Vancouver against Whitecaps 2 — the very night that Verde resumes play against Seattle Sounders FC. Meanwhile, if you're missing Q2, let me remind you that the open practice for season ticket holders is still on for this Saturday, July 18, with details forthcoming. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Storylines for July 12 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-12-france-spain-england-argentina/ Last updated: 2026-07-12T14:00:04.000Z The final four teams in the 2026 World Cup are set. And after all this ... it's the top four teams in the world. Argentina and England both advanced with extra time victories, with the Three Lions getting past Norway, 2-1, with a pair of Jude Bellingham goals after Andreas Schjelderup surprised everyone with one of the goals of the tournament. Both Harry Kane and Erling Haaland were held without goals in what turned out to be an engaging contest. Argentina and Switzerland was less of a slog than some feared, but still stretched on into two-hour territory despite the Swiss going down to 10 men on Breel Embolo's mistaken identity/dive second yellow card 72 minutes in. Alexis Mac Allister got the opener on a set piece 10 minutes in, Dan Ndoye equalized just five minutes before the sendoff, and then Julian Alvarez scored in the 112th and Lautaro Martinez sealed it at the 120th plus first minute mark. Yes, Lionel Messi did not score, but took the corner kick assisting the opener, and was still a presence at points. A France-Argentina repeat final seems our destiny, but both Spain and England look capable of supplanting that narrative. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-11-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **England 2, Norway 1** - **Argentina 3, Switzerland 1** ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **France** **vs. Spain**, 2 pm, Jerryworld ### Wednesday, July 15 - **England vs. Argentina**, 2 pm, Atlanta ## What to watch With no games on for two days, you might consider [Austin FC II](https://www.austinfc.com/austinfcii/news/match-preview-presented-by-lexus-austin-fc-ii-vs-minnesota-united-fc-2-july-12-2026?ref=verdeallday.com) tonight, going for an 11th straight win in a quite phenomenal MLS Next Pro run, playing Minnesota United FC 2 at Parmer Field at 7:30 pm. ## What to read Swiss coach Murat Yakin [makes his feelings known](https://www.beinsports.com/en-us/soccer/fifa-world-cup-2026/articles/yakin-slams-absolutely-incomprehensible-embolo-red-card-after-switzerlands-world-cup-exit-2026-07-12?ref=verdeallday.com) about the sending off of his star striker. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 11 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-11-england-norway-argentina-switzerland/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T14:30:13.000Z One semifinal match is set, and it'll happen in Texas. On Tuesday, France plays Spain in Jerryworld, thanks to Spain getting another late goal from closer Mikel Merino to outlast Belgium 2-1\. (If anyone has a ticket or a spot in a suite to offer me, I'm amenable!) Saturday brings us the other semifinal matchup, culled from three UEFA teams and titleholders Argentina. First, it's England vs. Norway in Miami, which is more fans-will-broil coded than the Mexico-Brazil match that this quarterfinal could have been, and there's a [new wrinkle](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7437726/2026/07/10/trump-golf-harry-kane/?ref=verdeallday.com) to the England story that might just bode well for Norway, if Game 3 of the NBA Finals and the U.S. Round of 16 match against Belgium is any indication. Then, Argentina faces Switzerland, which deprived us of the Argentina-Colombia match that could have been, but there's a non-zero chance that Lionel Messi's World Cup run ends in Chiefs Kingdom. Look for Switzerland, assuming Johan Manzambi won't play as reported, to be less fun and aim to play 120 minutes of scoreless soccer to get us to PKs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-10-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina 3, Egypt 2** - **Switzerland 0(4), Colombia 0(3)** ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain 2, Belgium 1** ### Saturday, July 11 - **Norway vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - **Argentina vs. Switzerland**, 8 pm, Kansas City ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **France** **vs. Spain**, 2 pm, Jerryworld ### Wednesday, July 15 - England-Norway winner vs. Argentina-Switzerland winner, 2 pm, Atlanta ## Where to watch There are many different viewing options, given this is a Saturday with 4 pm and 8 pm kickoffs, but perhaps consider [Scholz Garden](https://www.scholzgarten.com/calendar/?ref=verdeallday.com) (1607 San Jacinto) if you want something with a large outdoors to approximate with England and Norway fans might be feeling. ## What to read While I'm a bit sideeye-prone to link to Ladbible, how can I resist [a story](https://www.ladbible.com/news/science/england-norway-world-cup-weather-report-humidity-miami-740005-20260709?ref=verdeallday.com) with this headline? "England stars could lose over eight pints of sweat in humid World Cup clash vs Norway." Also, *The Sun* (I know, I know, more sideeye) is letting us know one South Florida weatherman has issued a "[swamp ass warning](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/39707686/england-norway-world-cup-time-weather-warning/?ref=verdeallday.com)" ahead of Saturday's match in Miami Gardens. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 10 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-10-spain-belgium/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T14:00:23.000Z Vive la France! France, behind goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, weathered a lopsided (shots-wise) but uneasy and scoreless first half to get past Morocco 2-0\. France now moves to a semifinal against the winner of Friday's Belgium-Spain match in the Southland. That match is in Arlington; [some tickets are available](https://seatgeek.com/fifa-world-cup-tickets/international-soccer/2026-07-14-2-pm/17385150?ref=verdeallday.com) but approaching mortgage territory and more for a single ticket. Spain has not conceded a goal in this tournament, but after a slow start in the group stages, and throughout 85 minutes of its Round of 32 match, Belgium has exploded for a combined seven goals against Senegal and the U.S. in 125 minutes. Don't be surprised if we get a Battle of the Flanders instead of a Battle of the Pyrenees in the semifinal. ![2026 World Cup Bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-9-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France 2, Morocco 0** ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain vs. Belgium**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Saturday, July 11 - **Norway vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - **Argentina vs. Switzerland**, 8 pm, Kansas City ## Semifinals ### Tuesday, July 14 - **France** vs. Spain-Belgium winner, 2 pm, Jerryworld ### Wednesday, July 15 - England-Norway winner vs. Argentina-Switzerland winner, 2 pm, Atlanta ## Where to watch [Mort Subite](https://belgianbaraustin.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) (308 Congress) is a Belgian bar in downtown Austin with a Spanish-Belgian food truck. ## What to read Red Devils head coach Rudi Garcia believes that Belgium has "millions and millions" of new fans [for reasons](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/10/belgium-rudi-garcia-world-cup-quarter-final-spain?ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Sources say Austin FC got its first win in over two months URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-reports-austin-fc-4-sporting-jax-0/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T02:40:39.000Z The great in-the-dark midseason friendly series rolls on for Austin FC, but Verde All Day confirmed via two sources that the team won its Wednesday scrimmage against Sporting Club Jacksonville, a new USL Championship team, 4-0\. The St. David's Performance Center match, first reported on by We Are Austin TV's [Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/p/DajfICsDrb5/?ref=verdeallday.com), featured Facundo Torres, who per their recounting had a goal and assist. Goals also came courtesy of Joseph Rosales, Jon Gallagher, and to close things out, an own goal. While Sporting Jax (as they are known) are without a win so far this season — 0W 11L 4D through 15 inaugural-season matches — they have some familiar faces, including former Rangers, Colorado Rapids, and (more marginally) Liverpool defender Danny Wilson, as well as former Austin FC II regular and first-team drifter Antonio Gomez (of Sal and Tony's Pizza, Pasta, and Emergency Center Back Roster Activations fame in the waning days of the Josh Wolff era), and right back Harvey Neville, son of once and perhaps future MLS coach Phil Neville. Verde's last win before Wednesday came May 3 — a [2-0 home triumph](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvstl-050326/) over St. Louis City SC featuring second-half goals from Christian Ramírez and Myrto Uzuni, though it's also the match in which Guilherme Biro tried to get away with slapping the ball into goal with his hand. Since that win, Verde had a 2-2 draw at Minnesota United FC, a 5-0 loss at San Diego, a 2-1 home loss to Sporting Kansas City leading both head coach Nico Estévez and sporting director Rodolfo Borrell to be dismissed, and then a 3-0 loss at St. Louis to wilt into the midseason caesura. Verde also [lost to Querétaro](https://verdeallday.com/070326-match-recap-austin-fc-0-queretaro-fc-1/), 1-0, to start their run of three friendlies ahead of the resumption of the 2026 season on July 22 against Seattle. Once again, Austin FC declined to put out a post-match press release as is their custom for regular-season and tournament matches, and the social media channels were silent. Similarly, Sporting Jax — who you think would have wanted to pump up challenging an MLS side on its socials — was conspicuously silent, making clear by now that the club's wanting radio silence around the three midseason matches. (Though it's also on brand for the Liga MX team to be "I do what I want.") *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 9 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-matches-july-9-france-mexico/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T14:00:38.000Z The quarterfinals are upon us! And while a number of fan bases are disappointed to not be in the mix — certainly all three host nations are ruing what could have been, and Egypt and Colombia in particular are smarting from still-fresh heartbreaking exits — there's also an intriguing mix of expected entrants and surprise quarterfinalists remaining (though it is all tipping a little too heavily UEFA for many people's tastes, perhaps). Here on Thursday, we start with the quarterfinal that could have been a final: France, fulfilling all the pre-match projections they would win it all with five wins in five matches, against Morocco, which met France in the 2022 semifinals and would return to the semis for a second straight cycle with a win. With their World Cup performances being what they are in the ever-shifting rankings, France is now the best team in the world, having leapfrogged Argentina, while Morocco is No. 6\. This has all the makings of a classic. Then, we get one match on Friday and two on Saturday to set up the final four. It's getting good, but it's also almost close to over. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-8-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France vs. Morocco**, 3 pm, Foxborough, Mass. ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain vs. Belgium**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Saturday, July 11 - **Norway vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - **Argentina vs. Switzerland**, 8 pm, Kansas City *Semifinals are Tuesday, July 14 and Wednesday, July 15.* ## Where to watch This could be your last shot at a [Justine's](https://www.instagram.com/justinesbrasserie/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) watch party, and there's also a watch party at [East End Ballroom](https://ma.to/event/world-cup-france-morocco-east-end-09-july-2026?ref=verdeallday.com) practically next door; [Easy Tiger at the Linc](https://www.easytigeraustin.com/location/north?ref=verdeallday.com) has been for the French fans throughout the tournament as well. ## What to read Egypt has an argument about [its match](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5887063/egypt-complain-world-cup?ref=verdeallday.com) with Argentina, including an allegation of racism that's alarming. [Not everyone](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7430665/2026/07/08/egypt-argentina-world-cup-var-goal-ziko/?ref=verdeallday.com) agrees with Egypt's concerns, though. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### MLS announces very World Cup-coded All-Star roster (with no Austin FC players on it) URL: https://verdeallday.com/mls-announces-world-cup-coded-2026-all-star-game-roster/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T03:00:03.000Z In case you were wondering if MLS will lean into the 2026 World Cup being in the league's two nations for its All-Star Game, Wednesday's roster announcement provided a resounding yes. The 29-player roster — partially set by voting from fans, players, and media announced June 4 — features 13 players who featured on 2026 World Cup rosters and an additional player who featured on a previous notable World Cup roster — Thomas Müller, an essential member of the 2014 champions from Germany who very nearly won the Golden Boot. MLS' press release on the team included an ominous line to indicate the league's thumb on the scale: "The 15 coach selections were a collaborative effort by MLS All-Star head coach Dean Smith and Major League Soccer." As you likely expected, no Austin FC players made the roster, after the year in which Verde hosted and ended up with three total players, though one (Brandon Vázquez) was unable to play due to injury, and one (Guilherme Biro) was selected very late but got minutes, as did the more normally-chosen Brad Stuver. The World Cup influence is most pronounced at the goalkeeper position, where Canada's Maxime Crépeau – who has let in 38 goals in 14 matches for Orlando City so far this season, making 62.4% of his save opportunities — was awarded a spot. (Stuver, by contrast, has made 71.8% of his save opportunities and leads the league in saves.) Matt Freese of NYCFC and the USMNT also got a roster spot, announced two days after his muffed clearance proved pivotal in the U.S.' 4-1 loss to Belgium, knocking the co-hosts out of the World Cup. Charlotte has three players representing: Defender Tim Ream (who captained the U.S. team), midfielder Pep Biel (instrumental in Charlotte's March 7 win over Verde), and midfielder Ashley Westwood. Here's the full roster: ### Goalkeepers - **Maxime Crépeau**, Orlando City (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, Canada* - **Matt Freese**, New York City FC (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, U.S.* - Brian Schwake, Nashville SC (Voted in) ### Defenders - Max Arfsten, Columbus Crew (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, U.S.* - Lucas Herrington - Colorado Rapids (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, Australia* - Richie Laryea - Toronto FC | Commissioner's Pick / *2026 WC, Canada* - Anthony Markanich - Minnesota United FC (Voted in) - Mbekezeli Mbokazi - Chicago Fire FC (Voted in) / *2026 WC, South Africa* - Steven Moreira - Columbus Crew (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, Cabo Verde* - Daniel Munie - San Jose Earthquakes (Coach's selection) - Andy Najar - Nashville SC (Voted in) - Jackson Ragen - Seattle Sounders FC (Coach's selection) - Tim Ream - Charlotte FC (Voted in) / *2026 WC, U.S.* ### Midfielders - Sebastian Berhalter - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (Voted in) / *2026 WC, U.S.* - Pep Biel - Charlotte FC (Coach's selection) - Rodrigo De Paul - Inter Miami CF (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, Argentina* - Evander - FC Cincinnati (Coach's selection) - Carles Gil - New England Revolution (Coach's selection) - Zavier Gozo - Real Salt Lake (Voted in) - Hany Mukhtar - Nashville SC (Voted in) - Thomas Müller - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (Coach's selection) - Ashley Westwood - Charlotte FC (Coach's selection) ### Forwards - Hugo Cuypers - Chicago Fire FC (Voted in) - Anders Dreyer - San Diego FC (Coach's selection) - Julian Hall - Red Bull New York | Commissioner's Pick - Son Heung-Min - LAFC | Voted In / *2026 WC, South Korea* - Lionel Messi - Inter Miami CF (Voted in) / *2026 WC, Argentina* - Petar Musa - FC Dallas (Coach's selection) / *2026 WC, Croatia* - Sam Surridge - Nashville SC (Coach's selection) The All-Star Game will take place Wednesday, July 29\. ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 7 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-7-argentina-egypt-switzerland-colombia/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T14:15:29.000Z The United States' 2026 World Cup run is over. By now, you're aware that the U.S. lost 4-1 to Belgium on Monday night, once again stopping progression at the Round of 16\. The expansion to 48 teams this year means that the U.S. did win a knockout round match — as did fellow Concacaf teams and co-hosts Mexico and Canada — but there will be no quarterfinal match against Spain. It's Spain, because La Roja scored in stoppage time (via Mikel Merino) to dispatch Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, 1-0, to advance. Spain will now face Belgium in another all-UEFA quarterfinal for the right to play the France-Morocco winner. Today, we get representatives from three different federations vying for two quarterfinal spots. Argentina emerges from its scare against Cabo Verde to meet Egypt — which survived a PK shootout with Australia — in the penultimate Round of 16 match. Then, to close things out, Switzerland meets Colombia in Vancouver to set up a Saturday night showdown. ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Spain 1, Portugal 0** - **Belgium 4, United States 1** ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France vs. Morocco**, 3 pm, Foxborough, Mass. ### Friday, July 10 - **Spain vs. Belgium**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Saturday, July 11 - **Norway vs. England**, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - Argentina-Egypt winner vs. Switzerland-Colombia winner, 8 pm, Kansas City *Semifinals are Tuesday, July 14 and Wednesday, July 15\.* ## Where to watch If you have the freedom to spend the day soccer watching and daydrinking, [consider Hotel Vegas](https://ma.to/event/world-cup-on-the-patio-07-july-2026?ref=verdeallday.com). ## What to read ESPN's Sam Borden rues [what could have been](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49293165/usmnt-look-back-2026-world-cup-missed-opportunity?ref=verdeallday.com) for the U.S. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 6 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-6-united-states-belgium-spain-portugal/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T20:38:21.000Z There's now one guaranteed European team going to the 2026 World Cup semifinals. On Sunday, two Western Hemisphere powers — Brazil and Mexico — fell to their European opponents to further shape the quarterfinals with a North Sea battle and a Mediterranean Sea battle. First, in the Brazil-Norway match, Bruno Guimaräes was stuffed on a penalty attempt less than 15 minutes in, then Erling Haaland scored in the 79th and 90th minute to power Norway to the win. Neymar got a consolation PK conversion late to get Brazil on the board, but there wasn't enough time for an equalizer at that late stage. Then, Mexico and England played a truly wild match that saw England go up 2-0 on a pair of Jude Bellingham goals, Julián Quiñones getting one back for Mexico, and then English defender Janell Quansah getting a red card for an out-of-control slide tackle early in the second half. The teams would trade PK goals a bit later, but Mexico couldn't find an equalizer, and went out in the Round of 16 once again. On Monday, Spain plays Portugal to advance another European team to the quarterfinal, and then the U.S. plays Belgium in a repeat of the 2014 Round of 16\. A bizarre development unfolded on Sunday; Folarin Balogun's red card in the Round of 32 match, that was going to keep him out of Monday's match, was not quite rescinded, but put on pause for a year's probationary period, and the Trump Administration seeming;y took credit on Truth Social, while multiple media outlets reporting they actually did get involved. (Which is quite unusual.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-7-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Norway 2, Brazil 1** - **England 3, Mexico 2** ### Monday, July 6 - **Portugal vs. Spain**, 2 pm, Jerryworld - **United States vs. Belgium**, 7 pm, Seattle ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France vs. Morocco**, 3 pm, Foxborough, Mass. ### Friday, July 10 - Portugal-Spain winner vs. United States-Belgium winner, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Saturday, July 11 - Norway vs. England, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - Argentina-Egypt winner vs. Switzerland-Colombia winner, 8 pm, Kansas City ## Where to watch There are U.S. watch parties all over town, but if you're backing Belgium, [Celis Brewery](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaaveukAgTg/?ref=verdeallday.com) can be your headquarters. ## What to read The ever-cheerful Thomas Tuchel is [grousing about the refs](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13560838/england-beat-mexico-in-world-cup-thomas-tuchel-hits-out-at-referees-after-three-lions-thrilling-win?ref=verdeallday.com) even though it's his team that advanced over Mexico. ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 5 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-5-brazil-norway-mexico-england/ Last updated: 2026-07-05T14:27:01.000Z Soccer has been more beautiful than it was on Saturday, and depending on the heated takes I'm seeing so far, perhaps you'd say more beautiful than the new leaked Austin FC third kit (which I'm leaning toward liking). First, Canada had more chances — at one point besting Morocco 51% to 1% on Futi's amusing "Deserved Win" match meter — but let in a goal starting a downhill slide and an eventual 3-0 loss, followed by an alarming Jesse Marsch post-match press conference in which he asserted Canada was the better team. (Also, Alphonso Davies wasn't activated for this match, though Jayden Nelson did get on as a late sub to show off his speed and skill.) Then, on a Philadelphia afternoon with 95-degree temperatures and humidity in the 42% range, France met a Paraguay team thoroughly committed to uglying it up, and Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev was thoroughly committed to letting them. Astonishingly, France beat Paraguay 3-0 in yellow cards, including one to Michael Olise for being near Matias Galarza as Galarza threw himself to the ground as if Olise had struck him. Tantashev did award a penalty kick, however, for a blatant ankle kick in the box, and Kylian Mbappé converted for what would stand as the lone goal in the 1-0 win. Now, France and Morocco get to relive their 2022 semifinal showdown on Thursday. Today, Norway and Brazil get the action started mid-afternoon, and then Mexico and England play (possibly as thunderstorms loom) in the evening. The winners of those contests play Saturday in the quarterfinals. To prepare, English sandwich chain Greggs has [discontinued its Mexican-themed sandwiches](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49274751/fast-food-chain-greggs-benches-mexican-sandwich-ahead-england-world-cup-match?ref=verdeallday.com) ahead of Sunday's showdown (but resuming them on Monday). That'll show Mexico! ![2026 World Cup bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-6--1.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Morocco 3, Canada 0** - **France 1, Paraguay 0** ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil vs. Norway**, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico vs. England**, 7 pm, Mexico City ### Monday, July 6 - **Portugal vs. Spain**, 3 pm, Jerryworld - **United States vs. Belgium**, 7 pm, Seattle ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver ## Quarterfinals ### Thursday, July 9 - **France vs. Morocco**, 3 pm, Foxborough, Mass. ### Friday, July 10 - Portugal-Spain winner vs. United States-Belgium winner, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Saturday, July 11 - Brazil-Norway winner vs. Mexico-England winner, 4 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - Argentina-Egypt winner vs. Switzerland-Colombia winner, 8 pm, Kansas City ## Where to watch This seems like a good day to [get to Takoba](https://www.instagram.com/takoba%5Fatx/?ref=verdeallday.com). ### What to read Here's a debate about [Paraguay's antics](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7422674/2026/07/05/paraguay-france-tactics-cheating-commitment-debate/?source=athletic%5Ftheathleticfc%5Fnewsletter&campaign=18730787&userId=237111). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### If Verde lose behind closed doors, do they make a sound? (Austin FC 0, Querétaro FC 1) URL: https://verdeallday.com/070326-match-recap-austin-fc-0-queretaro-fc-1/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T14:18:40.000Z On Friday, in a behind-closed-doors match at St. David's Performance Center in which news was principally coming from the visitors' side, Querétaro FC beat Austin FC, 1-0, to start a three-match midseason warmup ahead of the season's resumption July 22 against Seattle Sounders FC. 22-year-old Alí Ávila scored the match's lone goal per [Querétaro's Twitter account](https://x.com/Club%5FQueretaro?ref=verdeallday.com), in a match spanning two 45-minute halves. The visitors' Instagram account provided the most [proof-of-life evidence](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaVvgMZFYGM/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) of the match, with Myrto Uzuni, Guilherme Biro, Jorge Alastuey, and Mateja Đorđević among the visible Verde players. This might be selective on Querétaro's part, but two of the photos showed Verde players grabbing visiting players eluding them while dribbling. Curiously, the club didn't feature the match on its social media channels, possibly hinting at Wolffian secrecy from interim head coach Davy Arnaud, nor did it offer a post-match press release for media. Austin FC resumes its midseason friendly schedule with a Wednesday, July 8 match against USL Championship side Sporting Club Jacksonville — the first day without World Cup action in nearly a month — and concludes that with a match at Q2 Stadium the following Wednesday at Charlotte FC. Fans will get the opportunity to see the team in action, as it were, in a July 18 practice session at Q2 Stadium for season ticket holders. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 4 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-4-france-paraguay-canada-morocco/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T14:00:27.000Z Oh, Cabo Verde. So close. So heartbreaking. Despite Argentina getting the go-ahead goal in the second half of extra time, scratching out a 3-2 win that went down to the final whistle, with chance after chance falling just short, the post-match talk was not about the Albiceleste's inevitable march to the final, but rather, Cabo Verde's incredible run inspiring the non-Argentina part of the globe. Also, in the process of this World Cup, I have my new favorite phrase which I know I'll end up using in future Austin FC coverage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-at-08.35.35.png) Australia had some ABSOLUTE CHIMNEYS moments in a PK sequence that saw them fall to Egypt after bringing Mo Salah's team to its third 1-1 draw of the tournament. Don't be shocked if Argentina-Egypt is 1-1 after the 90\. (I can't guarantee what happens after that.) Colombia, meanwhile, closed out the Round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Ghana. The Jhon Arias goal came early, but not as early as injury subs for either team. Then more soccer happened. Today, the Round of 16 starts with my two non-U.S. favorites in action. First, Canada makes history and sets out to make more, playing a Morocco team that had to dispatch Netherlands in the Round of 32, while France continues its seemingly inevitable march to the final (or at least the semis, where very possibly the U.S. or Spain await), playing a Paraguay team that upset Germany (and deprived us of a France-Germany Round of 16). The winners of Saturday's matches will face each other in the quarterfinals. Yes, a battle for my French-Canadian soul is in the works (and what I'm rooting for, though a rematch of the 2022 France-Morocco semifinal seems more likely, and quite enticing). For the next four days, we get two elimination matches a day, with some incredible matchups, with potentially at least several more on the horizon. ![2026 World Cup bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-5-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)** ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1** - **France 3, Sweden 0** - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0** - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1** - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0** ### Friday, July 3 - **Argentina 3, Cabo Verde 2** - **Colombia 1, Ghana 0** - **Egypt 1(4), Australia 1(2)** ## Round of 16 ### Saturday, July 4 - **Canada vs. Morocco**, noon, Houston - **Paraguay vs. France**, 4 pm, Philadelphia ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil vs. Norway**, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico vs. England**, 7 pm, Mexico City ### Monday, July 6 - **Portugal vs. Spain**, 3 pm, Jerryworld - **United States vs. Belgium**, 7 pm, Seattle ### Tuesday, July 7 - **Argentina vs. Egypt**, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland vs. Colombia**, 3 pm, Vancouver *Quarterfinals run July 9-11\. Set all your appointments and meetings and schedule all your errands for Wednesday, July 8.* ## Where to watch If I were in Austin, I'd go beer + poutine at Haymaker for Canada and then take a rideshare to Justine's for France. If you can get to New Orleans by noon, meet me at Bayou Beer Garden! ## What to read I'm getting a bit misty reading this from a [Cabo Verde fan](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/07/03/world-cup-cape-verde-soccer-football/90754961007/?ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 3 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-3-australia-egypt-argentina-cabo-verde-colombia-ghana/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T13:12:10.000Z Thursday was a good day to be a UEFA supporter. In five of the six cases in the day's World Cup action, we knew a European team would come out on top, and with one surprising twist in the tale, the day went pretty much as predicted. Given how the Portugal-Croatia match ended, I'm not going to say it was a *boring* tournament day, but if you were going to set upon a road trip to New Orleans and spend a terrifying half hour fearing you were going to be stranded in Jennings, La., before a friendly mechanic let you know your increasingly tempermental 2019 Volkswagen Atlas has a turbo underboost issue but is still driveable (and which now, given more driving is turning out to be a weirdly intermittent turbo underboost issue), well, Thursday was the day for that. But enough about me (writing here on a Friday morning with the St. Charles streetcar rolling down Carondelet); let's review the action. Spain dispatched Austria 3-0 behind a brace from Mikel Oyarzabal. Portugal went behind early to Croatia, got a PK equalizer from the insufferable Cristiano Ronaldo, went ahead in stoppage time (with C-Ron watching from the sidelines) with a Gonçalo Ramos goal, and then hung on as Croatia's apparent equalizer at the death was controversially ruled offside. Switzerland sent Algeria the way of other fun-but-fated African teams in the Round of 16, winning 2-0 in the late match behind Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye goals. Friday has promise as the final Round of 16 day. First, at 1 pm CT, Australia faces Egypt in one of the more evenly matched (but lower-ranked) Round of 16 contests. Then, at 5 pm, March Madness meets the World Cup as underdog fans around the globe coalesce around Cabo Verde as they face Argentina. Finally, to close out this stage, Colombia and Ghana meet at the why-not time of 8:30 pm. The Round of 16 is very nearly set. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-4-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** (Canada will play Morocco in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** (Brazil plays Norway in Round of 16, July 5, in East Rutherford, N.J.) - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** (Paraguay plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)**, (Morocco plays Canada in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1**, (Norway plays Brazil in Round of 16, July 5, in East Rutherford, N.J.) - **France 3, Sweden 0** (France plays Paraguay in Round of 16, July 4, in Philadelphia) - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** (Mexico plays England in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** (England plays Mexico in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** (Belgium plays United States in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** (United States plays Belgium in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain 3, Austria 0**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (Spain plays Portugal in Round of 16, July 6, in Jerryworld) - **Portugal 2, Croatia 1**, 6 pm, Toronto (Portugal plays Spain in Round of 16, July 6, in Jerryworld) - **Switzerland 2, Algeria 0**, 10 pm, Vancouver (Switzerland plays winner of Colombia-Ghana in Round of 16, July 7, in Vancouver) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16, July 7, in Atlanta) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16, July 7, in Atlanta) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays Switzerland in Round of 16, July 7, in Vancouver) ## Round of 16 (what we know so far) ### Saturday, July 4 - **Canada vs. Morocco**, noon, Houston - **Paraguay vs. France**, 4 pm, Philadelphia ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil vs. Norway**, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico vs. England**, 7 pm, Mexico City ### Monday, July 6 - **Portugal vs. Spain**, 3 pm, Jerryworld - **United States vs. Belgium**, 7 pm, Seattle ### Tuesday, July 7 - Argentina-Cabo Verde winner vs. Australia-Egypt winner, 11 am, Atlanta - **Switzerland** vs. Colombia-Ghana winner, 3 pm, Vancouver *Quarterfinals run July 9-11\. Set all your appointments and meetings and schedule all your errands for Wednesday, July 8\.* ## Where to watch If you want to be with other Argentina fans and you live way out west, there's a watch party at the [Buenos Aires Cafe Galleria](https://ma.to/event/argentina-vs-cabo-verde-03-july-2026?ref=verdeallday.com) in Bee Cave. The event poster's actually pretty nice. ## What to read Portugal manager Roberto Martínez [appreciated all the reffing decisions](https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/portugal-manager-martinez-praises-referee-after-world-cup-win-over-croatia-2026-07-03/?ref=verdeallday.com) on Thursday. I'm sure he did. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Dani Pereira traded for GAM: Initial thoughts on what it means URL: https://verdeallday.com/dani-pereira-traded-for-gam-cf-montreal/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T19:01:36.000Z It turns out the rumors of Dani Pereira going to CF Montréal were true after all. On Thursday, the club announced that Pereira — one of the remaining players from the 2021 inaugural season, selected in the prior offseason's MLS SuperDraft as its No. 1 pick — moved to the Canadian club for $2.1 million in guaranteed General Allocation Money (GAM) and a possible additional $250,000 in conditional GAM. Conventional wisdom heading into the season held that only one of two Austin FC players — Pereira and Owen Wolff — could fetch the amount of GAM that would help then-sporting director Rodolfo Borrell meaningfully transform the roster. But conventional wisdom also held that the player leaving from GAM would go to a European destination, rather than an interleague trade commanding one of the largest GAM-for-player swaps in league history. (Leo Campana's [2024 trade](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/new-england-acquire-leo-campana-from-inter-miami-in-blockbuster-trade?ref=verdeallday.com) from Inter Miami CF to the New England Revolution was for a reported $2.5 million in guaranteed GAM, possibly upped to $3.25 million.) ## What Dani Pereira said (per the press release) *I want to say thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey here in Austin in the last six years: all the teammates that I’ve shared the locker room with, the coaching staffs, everyone in the front office, and the owners. Everyone helped make me who I am today. Austin FC as a whole changed the life of a kid from Caracas, and I will always be grateful for it.* *“I want to share a special thank you to the fans for their unconditional love toward me and my family. You guys welcomed us to Austin with open arms since the first moment I got drafted. You all are the best in the league and please don’t ever change that. Thank you, and I’m going to miss the 512.* ## What interim head coach Davy Arnaud said (per the press release) *Dani has meant a great deal to this club since joining as its first-ever draft pick. He represented Austin with pride and established a genuine connection with the community here. We’re proud of his development over the last six years and we wish Dani nothing but success in this next phase of his career.”* *This type of decision is always difficult for both the club and the player. While emotionally we are sad to see him go, coming into the season, we knew we would only let go of a player of Dani’s caliber if doing so positioned the club for even greater long-term success. I, and our ownership team, felt that this move met that threshold and we executed a plan that was established at the start of the season.* ## What it means for Pereira The 25-year-old Venezuelan international is moving from one bad team to another, one might say dismissively, as CFM is currently 11th in the Eastern Conference and is on its second head coach of the season, interim caretaker Philippe Eullaffroy. But this also cements Pereira's status as an MLS lifer, and with an opportunity to build upon the six goal and 23 assist tally he compiled in 165 Verde appearances, he could parlay several good years in Québec into a bigger contract elsewhere in the league. ## What it means for Austin FC If yesterday's announced signing of [Przemysław Płacheta](https://verdeallday.com/przemyslaw-placheta-official-austin-fc-player/) is the last roster move of the Rodolfo Borrell era, and we should regard that as being the case, this is the first roster move of the Jim Curtin era — with Arnaud at least the face of front office moves while the club transitions to whoever the new sporting director might be. It also shows that the club isn't afraid to make moves while in between an official head of the technical side of it. To speculate for a moment, it seems far more likely that the CFM front office saw opportunity in the transition and approached the Verde front office about its receptiveness to the move — or perhaps this has been in the works since before Borrell left and Arnaud was there to finalize a deal that Borrell somehow initiated. But certainly Curtin has to have been consulted prior to Verde agreeing to the move, giving an indication of either what he doesn't want in the midfield going forward — or if you subscribe to the view that there's far too much overlap between Wolff's skill set and Pereira's skill set, what he doesn't want *too much of* in the midfield going forward. ## What it means for Austin FC fans Clearly, the Verde faithful lose a player who they've seen literally grow up with the club over five-and-a-half seasons. Though occasionally sidelined with injuries, Pereira's been reliable enough to be a regular starter, an able contributor, and refreshingly candid in his dealings with media. He also was stepping up in community involvement, launching his [A 2 Toques Foundation](https://a2toquesfoundation.org/?ref=verdeallday.com) last year, with a mission of "support\[ing\] underserved communities by helping students and their families navigate the educational system, providing one-on-one college readiness mentoring, and connecting them with academic, athletic, and professional opportunities that help them pursue higher education." (He was also a presence in various Austin FC-adjacent ad campaigns, including the banner ads for this site from Austin Telco Federal Credit Union.) And, with increased time on the Venezuelan national team, fans have had an additional team to keep an eye on during World Cup qualifying and tournaments. (And still theoretically could, in the way that they're rooting for Sebastian Berhalter with the U.S. now.) We'll miss you, Dani. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-2-spain-austria-portugal-croatia-switzerland-algeria/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T14:00:19.000Z It's like 2014 all over again. Thanks to Belgium getting the tournament's first extra-time goal — after being down 2-0 to Senegal in the 85th minute yet tying by the end of the regulation — and thanks to the 2-0 U.S. win over Bosnia and Herzegovina you're no doubt aware of by now, the 2014 Round of 16 matchup is the 2026 Round of 16 matchup. On Monday, in Seattle, the U.S. will try to propel the dream forward, though without the services of Folarin Balogun, who was sent off with a controversial red card after scoring a goal earlier in the match, being the first player to get both a goal and a red card in a match since France's Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 final. Also of note on Wednesday: Harry Kane scored a brace in the final 16 minutes of regulation to lead England over a DR Congo team that looked, for a while at least, on course for one of the bigger upsets of this World Cup. Your Thursday of World Cup watching includes a mostly European slate, though Algeria faces Switzerland in the nightcap to continue the recently-emerging Europe vs. Africa trend of Round of 32 matches. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-3-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** (Canada will play Morocco in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** (Brazil plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** (Paraguay plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)**, (Morocco plays Canada in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1**, (Norway plays Brazil in Round of 16, July 5, in East Rutherford, N.J.) - **France 3, Sweden 0** (France plays Paraguay in Round of 16, July 4, in Philadelphia) - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** (Mexico plays winner of England-DR Congo in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England 2, DR Congo 1** (England plays Mexico in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) - **Belgium 3, Senegal 2** (Belgium plays United States in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) - **United States** **2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0** (United States plays Belgium in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain vs. Austria**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - **Portugal vs. Croatia**, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Austria in Round of 16) - **Switzerland vs. Algeria**, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rdFr place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Algeria in Round of 16) ## Round of 16 (what we know so far) ### Saturday, July 4 - **Canada vs. Morocco**, noon, Houston - **Paraguay** vs. France-Sweden winner, 4 pm, Philadelphia ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil vs. Norway**, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico vs. England**, 7 pm, Mexico City ### Monday, July 6 - Portugal-Croatia winner vs. Spain-Austria winner, 3 pm, Jerryworld - **United States vs. Belgium**, 7 pm, Seattle ## Where to watch A quick Googling tells me there's an all-day watch party happening at Rustic Tap (613 W. 6th), where Austin FC was announced by a former U.S. international now getting pilloried by Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović nightly. ## What to read All 48 teams' anthems, [ranked](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7352499/2026/06/19/world-cup-national-anthems-ranked-rated/?ref=verdeallday.com), with the author coming so close to getting No. 1 right. (Though he positively nails No. 48) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for July 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-july-1-united-states-bosnia-herzegovina-belgium-senegal-england-dr-congo/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T14:00:04.000Z France and Mexico look like real contenders. Following convincing wins on Tuesday, it wouldn't be altogether surprising for El Tri to join the tournament favorites in the semifinal round. While there might be healthy debates about whether getting to this Round of 16 really does constitute a "quinto partido" (because it technically is, but it's not the quarterfinal round that fans have been clamoring for), Mexico looked solid in its 2-0 win over Ecuador to close out a day of action that also had France break through the force field in front of Sweden's goal for most of the first half. With a brace to lead the way, Kylian Mbappé moved into the Golden Boot race lead over Lionel Messi. (Both have six goals so far, but Mbappé has two assists as well, whereas Messi has none.) Also in there on Tuesday: Norway got goals from Antonio Nusa and (of course) Erling Haaland to get past Côte d'Ivoire, and will now face Brazil, making for curious cuisine at whatever joint watch parties spring up. Caipirinhas and lutefisk, y'all! On Wednesday, U.S. fans brace for the Round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina; should the Yanks get past that hurdle, they'll face the Belgium-Senegal winner which will be determined by the time all us Central Time people will be getting out of work (or, if it goes to extra time, while in transit). Also on deck to start the day: England vs. DR Congo, with the winner facing Mexico in the Azteca. Much was made of the atmosphere that El Tri fans brought, and rightly so, though there's a [concerning persistent issue](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mexico-fans-homophobic-chant-during-023507685.html?ref=verdeallday.com) that FIFA seems to just be ignoring, even though this would be the setting in which it could be done away with once and for all. (Or, at least they could try.) Let's get caught up. ![2026 World Cup knockout round bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/07/WC-2026-2-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** (Canada will play Morocco in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** (Brazil plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** (Paraguay plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)**, (Morocco plays Canada in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Norway 2, Côte d'Ivoire** **1**, (Norway plays Brazil in Round of 16, July 5, in East Rutherford, N.J.) - **France 3, Sweden 0** (France plays Paraguay in Round of 16, July 4, in Philadelphia) - **Mexico 2, Ecuador 0** (Mexico plays winner of England-DR Congo in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England vs. DR Congo**, 11 am, Atlanta (winner plays Mexico in Round of 16, July 5, in Mexico City) - **Belgium vs. Senegal**, 3 pm, Seattle (winner plays winner of United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. (winner plays winner of Belgium-Senegal in Round of 16, July 6, in Seattle) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain vs. Austria**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - **Portugal vs. Croatia**, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Austria in Round of 16) - **Switzerland vs. Algeria**, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rdFr place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Algeria in Round of 16) ## Round of 16 (what we know so far) ### Saturday, July 4 - **Canada vs. Morocco**, noon, Houston - **Paraguay** vs. France-Sweden winner, 4 pm, Philadelphia ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil vs. Norway**, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico** vs. England-DR Congo, 7 pm, Mexico City ## Where to watch Are you hungering to watch the U.S. match on a 30-foot inflatable screen on a lawn with "mature trees" over you and outdoor drum fans blowing air on you? You might consider the [French Legation's watch party](https://thc.texas.gov/events/world-cup-watch-party-july-1-usa-vs-bosnia-herzegovina?ref=verdeallday.com) then. Note that attendance will be limited to 250; plan accordingly. ## What to read The Athletic has [reranked](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7329359/2026/07/01/world-cup-2026-teams-ranked/?ref=verdeallday.com) all 48 World Cup teams. Mexico is now 6th. The U.S. is slightly lower. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Przemysław Płacheta is officially an Austin FC player URL: https://verdeallday.com/przemyslaw-placheta-official-austin-fc-player/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T16:00:17.000Z Get ready to copy and paste, Austin FC media and fans. As expected based on past rumors, the club announced on Tuesday that Polish international winger Przemysław Płacheta (pronounced SHEM-i-suave PWA-het-ah) has signed with the club, occupying the senior roster spot recently vacated with the [Robert Taylor buyout](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-exercises-buyout-on-robert-taylor/). Per the club's official release, "Płacheta has received his P-1 visa and can begin full team training on July 1 when his contract with Austin FC officially begins." He signed back in March as his contract with Oxford United of England's Championship was winding down, making him the final signing of the Rodolfo Borrell era. Among the feathers in his cap: 12 Premier League appearances while with Norwich City in the 2021-2022 season, and seven appearances with Poland's senior national team. According to [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.com/przemyslaw-placheta/profil/spieler/383109?ref=verdeallday.com), he can play both left and right wing as well as left-sided midfielder. While he'll provide appreciable depth for Verde at multiple positions, and will reportedly be one of the speedier players on the team, questions remain as to how he'll fit in new head coach Jim Curtin's system — as Płacheta was brought in by Borrell with then-head coach Nico Estévez in mind. “I’m really excited to begin a new chapter of my career in Austin,” said Płacheta in the press release announcing his arrival. “I can’t wait to make my debut and do everything I can to help the team make a push in the second half of the season. I also hope to use everything I learned during my six years in English football to help the team and make a positive impact in MLS.” Płacheta will wear the No. 77 jersey — the same workaround-for-No.-7 that Emiliano Rigoni wore in his debut season for Austin. He wore No. 7 with Oxford, but has worn [a host of numbers](https://www.transfermarkt.com/przemyslaw-placheta/rueckennummern/spieler/383109?ref=verdeallday.com) through his career, even rocking a No. 41 at one point. Płacheta's first chance to appear for Austin comes Friday in a friendly against Querétaro F.C. as part of Verde's midseason slate of warm-up games, prior to resumption of the 2026 MLS season on July 22 against Seattle Sounders FC. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 30 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-30-ivory-coast-norway-france-sweden-mexico-ecuador/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T14:01:19.000Z It was a bad day for traditional colonial powers on Monday. First, in one of the more anticipated Round of 32 matches, Brazil beat Japan 2-1 on a Gabriel Martinelli stoppage-time goal to advance in a tournament where no one quite knows where they'll finish. Then, in the most shocking result of the day, Germany lost its first penalty shootout in its storied World Cup history ... to Paraguay, who earlier lost 4-1 to the U.S. and somehow still managed to eke in to the knockout rounds. Paraguay now gets the winner of France-Sweden, part of today's lineup. Then, in a Round of 32 match that really could have been much further along in the tournament had Morocco been a Pot 1 rather than a Pot 2 team, the Atlas Lions needed a stoppage-time goal from Issa Diop to offset a Cody Gakpo goal 20 minutes earlier. Then, after a sometimes-lackluster extra time sequence, in a penalty shootout for the ages, a literally bloodied Ismail Saibari made his kick after some amazing misses and stops. Relive it (including the utter anguish of a Morocco fan at the 6:19 mark): Today, Côte d'Ivoire and Norway start proceedings with a noon kick, then France looks to avoid the colonial elimination trend (though they are playing Sweden), and then Mexico faces Ecuador, with the winner of that Round of 16-worthy match playing either England or DR Congo. ![2026 World Cup knockout round bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/06/WC-2026-1-.png) ## Round of 32 ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** (Canada will play Morocco in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil 2, Japan 1** (Brazil plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Paraguay 1(4), Germany 1(3)** (Paraguay plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Morocco 1(3), Netherlands 1(2)**, (Morocco plays Canada in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Côte d'Ivoire** **vs. Norway**, noon, Jerryworld (winner plays Brazil in Round of 16, July 5, in East Rutherford, N.J.) - **France vs. Sweden**, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. (winner plays Paraguay in Round of 16, July 4, in Philadelphia) - **Mexico** **vs. Ecuador**, 8 pm, Mexico City (winner plays winner of England-DR Congo in Round of 16) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England vs. DR Congo**, 11 am, Atlanta (winner plays winner of Mexico-Ecuador in Round of 16) - **Belgium vs. Senegal**, 3 pm, Seattle (winner plays winner of United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round of 16) - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. (winner plays winner of Belgium-Senegal in Round of 16) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain vs. Austria**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - **Portugal vs. Croatia**, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Austria in Round of 16) - **Switzerland vs. Algeria**, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rdFr place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Algeria in Round of 16) ## Round of 16 (what we know so far) ### Saturday, July 4 - **Canada vs. Morocco**, noon, Houston - **Paraguay** vs. France-Sweden winner, 4 pm, Philadelphia ### Sunday, July 5 - **Brazil** vs. Côte d'Ivoire-Norway winner, 3 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. ## Where to watch Again, for a France match, you're really just going to have to experience Justine's for yourself once in your life. Also, for the Mexico match, don't forget the Los Verdes party at Hopsquad. ## What to read The Athletic provides some [solid analysis](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7400918/2026/06/29/germany-penalty-world-cup-breakdown/?ref=verdeallday.com) of what went wrong for Germany. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 29 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-29-brazil-japan-germany-paraguay-netherlands-morocco/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T14:00:17.000Z We only got one match on Sunday, and it was a somewhat frustrating watch (especially for fans of Canada, scoring, and competent refereeing), but it worked out in the end, as Stephen Eustáquio delivered a stoppage-time laser to allow Les Rouges to get out of Los Angeles with a 1-0 win. Next stop? Houston on July 4 to face the winner of Netherlands-Morocco. If they survive that, they get one of France, Germany, Paraguay or Sweden — in other words, probably France. It doesn't get easier from here. Speaking of not getting easier, Brazil faces Japan at noon (why we couldn't have had that match as part of a Sunday doubleheader, I would ask FIFA), Germany squares off against Paraguay at the sure-why-not time of 3:30 pm, and then at 8, Netherlands-Morocco with the chance to upend a co-host on the other side. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/06/WC-2026.png) *Note: All times CT* ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada 1, South Africa 0** (Canada will Netherlands-Morocco in Round of 16, July 4, in Houston) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil vs. Japan**, noon, Houston (winner plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Germany vs. Paraguay**, 3:30 pm, Foxborough, Mass. (winner plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Netherlands vs. Morocco**, 8 pm, Monterrey (winner plays winner of Canada-South Africa in Round of 16) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Côte d'Ivoire** **vs. Norway**, noon, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Brazil-Japan in Round of 16) - **France vs. Sweden**, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. (winner plays winner of Germany-Paraguay in Round of 16) - **Mexico** **vs. Ecuador**, 8 pm, Mexico City (winner plays winner of England-DR Congo in Round of 16) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England vs. DR Congo**, 11 am, Atlanta (winner plays winner of Mexico-Ecuador in Round of 16) - **Belgium vs. Senegal**, 3 pm, Seattle (winner plays winner of United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round of 16) - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. (winner plays winner of Belgium-Senegal in Round of 16) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain vs. Austria**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - **Portugal vs. Croatia**, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Austria in Round of 16) - **Switzerland vs. Algeria**, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Algeria in Round of 16) ## Where to watch Lustre Pearl East, which had Austin FC's World Cup party hosting last time around, is [still showing matches](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-cup-watch-parties-tickets-1991242785775?aff=erellivmlt&ref=verdeallday.com), including all three today. ## What to read Some solid breakdown of Canada's win from The Athletic is [here](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7404626/2026/06/29/canada-south-africa-world-cup-tactics-analysis/?ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 28 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-28-canada-south-africa/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T14:00:33.000Z We made it. Group stage play is done, capped off by a draw (not entirely surprising) but with goals traded in stoppage time (that part was definitely surprising) between Algeria and Austria that cruelly knocked Iran out of the competition as the first third-place team out. There was also an Argentina-Jordan match that Argentina won handily, capped off by Lionel Messi coming on a sub and scoring on a free kick that extended his lead in the Golden Boot race. Africa continued to qualify teams (nine out of 10!) in what has turned out to be an excellent tournament for that continent, and Asia finished with only Australia and Japan advancing of the nine teams it sent. (Australia is part of Asia for soccer purposes.) Meanwhile, Concacaf's three co-hosts all advanced while the other three teams from the wildest federation did not, and Europe sent 13 of its 16 teams through. South America, meanwhile, sent five of six through, with only Uruguay going home, reportedly on [commercial flights](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2026/06/27/uruguay-charter-canceled-players-fly-commercial-world-cup/90724164007/?ref=verdeallday.com) after its federation cancelled its charter flights. Only one match happens on Sunday: My beloved Canada aims to advance, playing South Africa in Los Angeles' massive SoFi Stadium. After that, we get three consequential matches a day for the next few days. ## Group A ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Mexico (9) / **Winner: Mexico** - Projected runner-up: South Korea (31) / *Runner-up: South Africa* - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (48) / *3rd-place team: ~~South Korea~~* - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (54) /*4th-place team: ~~Czechia~~* ## Group B ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Canada (32) / *Winner: Switzerland* - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (16) / *Runner-up: Canada* - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (62) / **3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina** - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (61) / **4th-place team: ~~Qatar~~** ## Group C ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Brazil (5) **/ Winner: Brazil** - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) / **Runner-up: Morocco** - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (41) **/ 3rd-place team: ~~Scotland~~** - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (88) **/ 4th-place team: ~~Haiti~~** ## Group D ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: United States (15) / **Winner: United States** - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (32) / *Runner-up: Australia* - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (25) / *3rd-place team: Paraguay* - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (37) / *4th-place team: ~~Türkiye~~* ## Group E ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Germany (12) / **Winner: Germany** - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (24) / *Runner-up: Côte d'Ivoire* - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (30) / *3rd-place team: Ecuador* - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (82) /**4th-place team: ~~Curaçao~~** ## Group F ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Netherlands (7) / **Winner: Netherlands** - Projected runner-up: Japan (17) / **Runner-up: Japan** - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (36) / **3rd-place team: Sweden** - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (59) / **4th-place team: ~~Tunisia~~** ## Group G ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Belgium (10) / **Winner:** **Belgium** - Projected runner-up: Egypt (26) / **Runner-up: Egypt** - Projected 3rd-place team: Iran (21) / **3rd-place team: ~~Iran~~** - Projected 4th-place team: New Zealand (86) / ***4th-place team: ~~New Zealand~~*** ## Group H ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Spain (3) / **Winner: Spain** - Projected runner-up: Uruguay (18) / *Runner-up: Cabo Verde* - Projected 3rd-place team: Saudi Arabia (58) / *3rd-place team: ~~Uruguay~~* - Projected 4th-place team: Cabo Verde (64) / **4th-place team: ~~Saudi Arabia~~** ## Group I ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: France (2) / **Winner: France** - Projected runner-up: Senegal (19) / *Runner-up: Norway* - Projected 3rd-place team: Norway (22) / *3rd-place team: Senegal* - Projected 4th-place team: Iraq (60) / ***4th-place team: ~~Iraq~~*** ## Group J ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Argentina (1) / **Winner: Argentina** - Projected runner-up: Algeria (29) / *Runner-up: Austria* - Projected 3rd-place team: Austria (22) / *3rd-place team: Algeria* - Projected 4th-place team: Jordan (73) / **4th-place team: ~~Jordan~~** ## Group K ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Portugal (8) / *Winner: Colombia* - Projected runner-up: Colombia (11) / *Runner-up: Portugal* - Projected 3rd-place team: DR Congo (46) / **3rd-place team: DR Congo** - Projected 4th-place team: Uzbekistan (57) / **4th-place team: ~~Uzbekistan~~** ## Group L ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: England (4) / **Winner: England** - Projected runner-up: Croatia (13) / **Runner-up: Croatia** - Projected 3rd-place team: Panama (42) / *3rd-place team: Ghana* - Projected 4th-place team: Ghana (65) / *4th-place team: P~~anama~~* **Total:** 28 of 48 correct (58.3%) ### The knockout rounds: What we know We've got the potential for amazing Round of 16 matches, including a possible rematch of the 2014 match between U.S. and Belgium, Spain vs. Portugal, France vs. Germany, and England vs. Mexico, though upsets are also a distinct possibility. ![2026 World Cup knockout rounds bracket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/06/WC26.png) Here's the Round of 32 bracket *Note: All times CT* ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada vs. South Africa**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Netherlands-Morocco in Round of 16) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil vs. Japan**, noon, Houston (winner plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Germany vs. Paraguay**, 3:30 pm, Foxborough, Mass. (winner plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Netherlands vs. Morocco**, 8 pm, Monterrey (winner plays winner of Canada-South Africa in Round of 16) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Côte d'Ivoire** **vs. Norway**, noon, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Brazil-Japan in Round of 16) - **France vs. Sweden**, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. (winner plays winner of Germany-Paraguay in Round of 16) - **Mexico** **vs. Ecuador**, 8 pm, Mexico City (winner plays winner of England-DR Congo in Round of 16) ### Wednesday, July 1 - **England vs. DR Congo**, 11 am, Atlanta (winner plays winner of Mexico-Ecuador in Round of 16) - **Belgium vs. Senegal**, 3 pm, Seattle (winner plays winner of United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round of 16) - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. (winner plays winner of Belgium-Senegal in Round of 16) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain vs. Austria**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - **Portugal vs. Croatia**, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Austria in Round of 16) - **Switzerland vs. Algeria**, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - **Colombia vs. Ghana**, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Algeria in Round of 16) ## Where to watch [Inn Cahoots](https://www.austinfc.com/soccercelebration?ref=verdeallday.com) might be the move today? (I'll be watching this one from home.) ## What to read Here's a look at why the Trionda is performing the way it is from [before the tournament](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-surprising-math-and-physics-behind-the-2026-trionda-world-cup-soccer-ball/?ref=jason-davis-soccer-eagle.ghost.io), as well as how it might be [messing with goalkeepers](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/25/goalkeepers-beware-trionda-world-cup-ball-hits-crisis-point-at-certain-speed?ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 27 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-27-argentina-jordan-algeria-austria-colombia-portugal-dr-congo-uzbekistan-england-panama-ghana-croatia/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T14:15:57.000Z Cabo Verde is on to the knockout rounds! I repeat, Cabo Verde is on to the knockout rounds! Think back to 2026 years from now, and unless you don't have a heart, you'll think fondly of the small archipelagic state off the African coast, with about 1500 square miles of land and 560,000 people, which drew all three of its group stage matches — against No. 2 Spain and then No. 18 Uruguay for starters. Cabo Verde will now face Argentina in the Round of 32, which is not a great reward for finishing second in a group, but it's impressive nonetheless. (And you know the Blue Sharks will have a literal several billion people rooting for them.) In other news from Friday, the Golden Boot battle between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland fizzled a bit, as Mbappé failed to score and Haaland didn't even play, as Norway's coach decided to do a U.S.-style 10-man rotation. However, Ousmane Dembélé entered the Golden Boot conversation with a hat trick in 32 minutes — the fastest ever in World Cup history. And Norway's Jørgen Strand Larsen missing a penalty, though depriving me of hitting on my 4-2 score prediction exactly, allowed me my best dad joke moment of the tournament: "Norway was that going in." If you stayed up late, you saw 15 of the most exciting minutes this World Cup, with Egypt and Iran trading goals and Iran missing a penalty in there as well. That match eventually settled into the 1-1 draw it started as, while Belgium rolled on to a 5-1 win and after starting the day third in the group standings, not only won the group, but locked in as the United States' likely Round of 16 opponent, assuming chalk. Also, Spain beating Uruguay (and Ismail Elfath doling out a red card to Uruguay's insufferable Agustín Canobbio, who then took issue with that in a way that will test FIFA's disciplinary committee) means that the Marcelo Bielsa-coached team that thought it was too good to take Austin FC's Facundo Torres with it is now out of the tournament entitrely, whereas Senegal recovered from losses with France and Norway, via a 5-0 win over Iraq, to recover its chances of getting into the knockout stages. Today is the last day of group stage games, and the last day you can gorge on six games in a single day. The knockout rounds start Sunday with Canada and South Africa in Los Angeles. ## Group A ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Mexico (9) / **Winner: Mexico** - Projected runner-up: South Korea (31) / *Runner-up: South Africa* - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (48) / *3rd-place team: South Korea* - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (54) /*4th-place team: ~~Czechia~~* ## Group B ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Canada (32) / *Winner: Switzerland* - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (16) / *Runner-up: Canada* - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (62) / **3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina** - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (61) / **4th-place team: ~~Qatar~~** ## Group C ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Brazil (5) **/ Winner: Brazil** - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) / **Runner-up: Morocco** - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (41) **/ 3rd-place team: Scotland** - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (88) **/ 4th-place team: ~~Haiti~~** ## Group D ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: United States (15) / **Winner: United States** - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (32) / *Runner-up: Australia* - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (25) / *3rd-place team: Paraguay* - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (37) / *4th-place team: ~~Türkiye~~* ## Group E ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Germany (12) / **Winner: Germany** - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (24) / *Runner-up: Côte d'Ivoire* - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (30) / *3rd-place team: Ecuador* - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (82) /**4th-place team: ~~Curaçao~~** ## Group F ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Netherlands (7) / **Winner: Netherlands** - Projected runner-up: Japan (17) / **Runner-up: Japan** - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (36) / **3rd-place team: Sweden** - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (59) / **4th-place team: ~~Tunisia~~** ## Group G ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Belgium (10) / **Winner:** **Belgium** - Projected runner-up: Egypt (26) / **Runner-up: Egypt** - Projected 3rd-place team: Iran (21) / **3rd-place team: Iran** - Projected 4th-place team: New Zealand (86) / ***4th-place team: ~~New Zealand~~*** ### ## Group H ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Spain (3) / **Winner: Spain** - Projected runner-up: Uruguay (18) / *Runner-up: Cabo Verde* - Projected 3rd-place team: Saudi Arabia (58) / *3rd-place team: ~~Uruguay~~* - Projected 4th-place team: Cabo Verde (64) / **4th-place team: ~~Saudi Arabia~~** ## Group I ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: France (2) / **Winner: France** - Projected runner-up: Senegal (19) / *Runner-up: Norway* - Projected 3rd-place team: Norway (22) / *3rd-place team: Senegal* - Projected 4th-place team: Iraq (60) / ***4th-place team: ~~Iraq~~*** **Running total:** 22 of 36 correct (61.1%) ## Group J ### Predictions - Projected winner: Argentina (1) - Projected runner-up: Algeria (29) - Projected 3rd-place team: Austria (22) - Projected 4th-place team: Jordan (72) ### Past matches - *Argentina 3, Algeria 0 (June 16, Kansas City)* - *Austria 3, Jordan 1 (June 16, Santa Clara, Calif.)* - *Argentina 2, Austria 0 (June 22, Jerryworld)* - *Algeria 2, Jordan 1: (June 22, Santa Clara, Calif.)* ### Today's matches - **Jordan vs. Argentina: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Jerryworld)** - **Algeria vs. Austria: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Kansas City)** ### Most compelling narrative It's been two matches for Argentina so far, and all five goals have been scored by Lionel Messi. Given that the Albiceleste have wrapped up their group already, and play a Jordan team already eliminated, and Messi is pushing 40, I wonder how many minutes he'll actually get — possibly enough to add to his Golden Boot lead, now that Kylian Mbappé has been held scoreless for a match — and whether anyone else on this Argentina team can score in this World Cup. (Look at the replay of Messi's most recent goal and you'll especially wonder that along with me.) ### Player to watch Julian Álvarez has started twice already, and if anyone on this team other than Messi can score, I'd look to him. ## Group K ### Predictions - Projected winner: Portugal (8) - Projected runner-up: Colombia (11) - Projected 3rd-place team: DR Congo (46) - Projected 4th-place team: Uzbekistan (57) ### Past matches - *Portugal 1, DR Congo 1 (June 17, Houston)* - *Colombia 3, Uzbekistan 1 (June 17, Mexico City)* - *Portugal 5, Uzbekistan 0: (June 23, Houston)* - *Colombia 1, DR Congo (June 23, Guadalajara)* ### Today's matches - **Colombia vs. Portugal: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Miami)** - **DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Atlanta)** ### Most compelling narrative With a win — and depending on how decisive a win — Colombia, which started this tournament 14th in the world, could overtake Portugal in the world rankings. (And they started the World Cup in 5th.) ### Player to watch Luis Diaz has only scored once in this World Cup so far, but he's looked one of the most goal-dangerous players so far. And he's been singularly able to supercharge the superchargable Colombia fans with his on-field exploits. ## Group L ### Predictions - Projected winner: England (4) - Projected runner-up: Croatia (13) - Projected 3rd-place team: Panama (42) - Projected 4th-place team: Ghana (65) ### Past matches - *England 4, Croatia 2 (June 17, Jerryworld)* - *Ghana 1, Panamá 0 (June 17, Toronto)* - *England 0, Ghana 0 (June 23, Foxborough, Mass.)* - *Croatia 1, Panamá 0 (June 23, Toronto)* ### Today's matches - **Panamá vs. England: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.)** - **Croatia vs. Ghana: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (Philadelphia)** ### Most compelling narrative After Harry Kane failed to score against a Ghana team now very much in the mix, how will he (and the rest of the Three Lions) fare against a Panamá team that might provide even more of a low-block defensive challenge than Ghana did. ### Player to watch Adalberto Carrasquilla hasn't played a minute of the World Cup yet, but his presence seems essential to any upset. Most eyes will rightly be on Kane, but I'll be looking at the starting lineups intently to see if the former Dynamo player shows up on it. ### The knockout rounds: What we know Sound the klaxon now: We have potential U.S.-Belgium, Canada-Netherlands/Morocco, Mexico-England, and France-Germany matches in the Round of 16, whereas Argentina's glide path to a possible matchup against Portugal in the quarterfinals (though this could also be Colombia, though Messi vs. Ronaldo would be a ratings bonanza) includes Cabo Verde in the Round of 32 and Egypt in the Round of 16. *Note: All times CT* ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada vs. South Africa**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Netherlands-Morocco in Round of 16) ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil vs. Japan**, noon, Houston (winner plays winner of Côte d'Ivoire-Norway in Round of 16) - **Germany vs. Paraguay**, 3:30 pm, Foxborough, Mass. (winner plays winner of France-Sweden in Round of 16) - **Netherlands vs. Morocco**, 8 pm, Monterrey (winner plays winner of Canada-South Africa in Round of 16) ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Côte d'Ivoire** **vs. Norway**, noon, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Brazil-Japan in Round of 16) - **France vs. Sweden**, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. (winner plays winner of Germany-Paraguay in Round of 16) - **Mexico** vs. Group C/E/F/H/I third place, 8 pm, Mexico City (winner plays winner of Group L winner-Group E/H/I/J/K 3rd place in Round of 16) ### Wednesday, July 1 - Group L winner vs. Group E/H/I/J/K 3rd place, 11 am, Atlanta (winner plays winner of Mexico-Group C/E/F/H/I third place in Round of 16) - **Belgium** vs. Group A/E/H/I/J 3rd place, 3 pm, Seattle (winner plays winner of in United States-Bosnia and Herzegovina in Round of 16) - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. (winner plays winner of Belgium-Group A/E/H/I/J 3rd place in Round of 16) ### Thursday, July 2 - **Spain** vs. Group J runner-up, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. (winner plays winner of Group K runner-up-Group L runner-up in Round of 16) - Group K runner-up vs. Group L runner-up, 6 pm, Toronto (winner plays winner of Spain-Group J runner-up in Round of 16) - **Switzerland** vs. Group E/F/G/I/J 3rd place, 10 pm, Vancouver (winner plays winner of Group K winner-Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place in Round of 16) ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** **vs. Egypt**, 1 pm, Jerryworld (winner plays winner of Argentina-Cabo Verde in Round of 16) - **Argentina vs. Cabo Verde**, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. (winner plays winner of Australia-Egypt in Round of 16) - Group K winner vs. Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place, 8:30 pm, Kansas City (winner plays winner of Switzerland-Group E/F/G/I/J 3rd place in Round of 16) ## Where to watch This Ghana-Croatia and Colombia-Portugal [double feature](https://www.austintexas.org/event/double-feature%3a-ghana-vs-croatia-%26-colombia-vs-portugal-%e2%80%94-world-cup-watch-party/396085/?ref=verdeallday.com) at [Riviere Austin](https://riviereatx.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) (1501 E. 7th) features a live caricature artist. (That's what the big Easy Tiger on E. 7th turned into, by the way.) ## What to read The Athletic will help you [Nelson laugh](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7389573/2026/06/26/spain-uruguay-world-cup-analysis/?ref=verdeallday.com) at Uruguay, if that's a thing you want to do. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) By[Phil West ](https://verdeallday.com/author/phil/)Updated on Jun 26, 2026[world cup](https://verdeallday.com/tag/world-cup/) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 26 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-26-france-norway-senegal-iraq-belgium-new-zealand-egypt-iran-spain-uruguay-cabo-verde-saudi-arabia/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T14:00:14.000Z This is great! This isn't so great! Oh, this really isn't great! Okay, this is looking okay ... I would have taken this result at the start of the tournament, to be honest. Oh no, what happened there? That's ... kind of a disaster! I'm now openly worried. Just taking you through my reactions to each of the five goals in the United States' 3-2 loss to Türkiye on Thursday night. While entirely inconsequential to the USMNT's relatively easy path to the quarterfinals, the match gave fans reason to fret about our development as a soccer nation again, with questionable squad depth and creeping inconsistency sullying the good vibes that the first two group stage matches brought. Elsewhere, Paraguay and Australia managed a scoreless draw, Netherlands won and Japan and Sweden drew to sort that group out, and both Ecuador and Côte d'Ivoire won (with Ecuador handing Germany its first loss and looking like the dark horse darlings pundits loved after two disappointing early matches. Today, we get the anticipated France-Norway matchup to settle that group's winner and runner-up, while Senegal attempts to get its first points of the tournament against Iraq and make a case as one of the eight best third-place teams (which, as you know by now, is what it takes to get into the knockout rounds). We also get Spain-Uruguay, with Cabo Verde playing Saudi Arabia in Houston as an X factor for a group that may not be the Spain first, Uruguay second scenario we expected. We also find out what happens with Belgium, Egypt, and Iran, in a group in which Belgium's currently third but could still emerge as group winner (though second to Egypt is the more likely scenario). You care, as a U.S. fan, because the Group G winner is the USMNT's most likely Round of 16 opponent should the USMNT get past Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is now officially the Round of 32 opponent even though there are more third-place spots to be settled. ## Group A ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Mexico (9) / **Winner: Mexico** - Projected runner-up: South Korea (31) / *Runner-up: South Africa* - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (48) / *3rd-place team: South Korea* - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (54) /*4th-place team: Czechia* ## Group B ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Canada (32) / *Winner: Switzerland* - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (16) / *Runner-up: Canada* - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (62) / **3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina** - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (61) / **4th-place team: Qatar** ## Group C ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Brazil (5) **/ Winner: Brazil** - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) / **Runner-up: Morocco** - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (41) **/ 3rd-place team: Scotland** - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (88) **/ 4th-place team: Haiti** ## Group D ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: United States (15) / **Winner: United States** - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (32) / *Runner-up: Australia* - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (25) / *3rd-place team: Paraguay* - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (37) / *4th-place team: Türkiye* ## Group E ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Germany (12) / **Winner: Germany** - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (24) / *Runner-up: Côte d'Ivoire* - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (30) / *3rd-place team: Ecuador* - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (82) /**4th-place team: Curaçao** ## Group F ### Predictions - Projected winner: Netherlands (7) / **Winner: Netherlands** - Projected runner-up: Japan (17) / **Runner-up: Japan** - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (36) / **3rd-place team: Sweden** - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (59) / **4th-place team: Tunisia** **Running total:** 14 of 24 correct (58.3%) ## Group G ### Predictions - Projected winner: Belgium (10) - Projected runner-up: Egypt (26) - Projected 3rd-place team: Iran (21) - Projected 4th-place team: New Zealand (84) ### Past matches - *Belgium 1, Egypt 1 (June 15, 2 pm)* - *Iran 2, New Zealand 2 (June 15, Inglewood, Calif.)* - *Belgium 0, Iran 0 (June 21, Inglewood, Calif.)* - *Egypt 3, New Zealand 1 (June 21, Vancouver)* ### Today's matches - Egypt vs. Iran: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Seattle) - New Zealand vs. Belgium: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Vancouver) ### Most compelling narrative As mentioned above, the Group G winner is the likely Round of 16 opponent for the U.S., on Monday, July 6, 7 pm, in Seattle. Will that be Egypt? Or will the combination of an Iran win and Belgium running up the score on New Zealand set up a rematch of the 2014 Round of 16? If so, can we bring back 2014 Tim Howard for that one? (And leave 2014 Chris Wondolowski at home?) ### Player to watch Jérémy Doku missed the previous match for Belgium for the birth of his first child. Judging from the first two matches, he's essential for sparking the Red Devils' creativity, though Romelu Lukaku is how their scoring happens. Facing an opponent like New Zealand could change our perceptions of all that, but it's been a bit of a baffling tournament for Belgium so far — but as Ecuador and Türkiye have shown, one match can change perceptions if not places in the standings. ## Group H ### Predictions - Projected winner: Spain (3) - Projected runner-up: Uruguay (18) - Projected 3rd-place team: Saudi Arabia (58) - Projected 4th-place team: Cabo Verde (64) ### Past matches - *Spain 0, Cabo Verde 0 (June 15, Atlanta)* - *Saudi Arabia 2, Uruguay 2 (June 15, Miami)* - *Spain 4, Saudi Arabia 0 (June 21, Atlanta)* - *Uruguay 2\. Cabo Verde 2 (June 21, Miami)* ### Today's matches - Cabo Verde vs. Saudi Arabia: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Houston) - Uruguay vs. Spain: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative If you think it's possible for Spain to draw Uruguay and Cabo Verde to beat Saudi Arabia, then you've got a scenario in which Cabo Verde ties Spain on points ... but most likely gets second on goal differential, since Spain and Cabo Verde drew. The winner gets whoever gets second in Group J between Algeria and Austria ... while second in the group gets Argentina. It would take Uruguay beating Spain to upend the current table and send Spain into a Round of 32 match against Argentina ... but imagine that for a second. (Thanks to a surprising Cabo Verde, there's a delicious amount of chaos in this group.) ### Player to watch 2026 Spain with Lamine Yamal is so much better than 2026 Spain without Lamine Yamal. He's an incredible difference maker. ## Group I ### Predictions - Projected winner: France (2) - Projected runner-up: Senegal (19) - Projected 3rd-place team: Norway (22) - Projected 4th-place team: Iraq (60) ### Past matches - *France 3, Senegal 1 (June 16, East Rutherford, N.J.)* - *Norway 4, Iraq 1 (June 16, Foxborough, Mass.)* - *France 3, Iraq 0 (June 22, Philadelphia)* - *Norway 3, Senegal 2 (June 22, East Rutherford, N.J.)* ### Today's matches - Norway vs. France: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Senegal vs. Iraq: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Toronto) ### Most compelling narrative France-Norway has been circled on calendars for a while, and with Norway's win over Senegal running a bit counter to world rankings, this becomes a battle for top of the group. A Norway upset would slot France into a match against Ivory Coast at Jerryworld, instead of a match against a third-place team at MetLife. Just something to think about. ### Player to watch France-Norway's also a consequential match in the Golden Boot race, so look for Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland to score — they each have braces in their first two matches. ## The knockout rounds: What we know *Note: All times CT* ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada vs. South Africa**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil vs. Japan**, noon, Houston - **Germany** vs. Group A/B/C/D/F 3rd place, 3:30 pm, Foxborough, Mass. - **Netherlands vs. Morocco**, 8 pm, Monterrey ### Tuesday, June 30 - **Côte d'Ivoire** vs. Group I runner-up, noon, Jerryworld - Group I winner vs. Group C/D/F/G/H 3rd place, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico** vs. Group C/E/F/H/I third place, 8 pm, Mexico City ### Wednesday, July 1 - Group L winner vs. Group E/H/I/J/K 3rd place, 11 am, Atlanta - Group G winner vs. Group A/E/H/I/J 3rd place, 3 pm, Seattle - **United States** **vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina**, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. ### Thursday, July 2 - Group H winner vs. Group J runner-up, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. - Group K runner-up vs. Group L runner-up, 6 pm, Toronto - **Switzerland** vs. Group E/F/G/I/J 3rd place, 10 pm, Vancouver ### Friday, July 3 - **Australia** vs. Group G runner-up, 1 pm, Jerryworld - **Argentina** vs. Group H runner-up, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - Group K winner vs. Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place, 8:30 pm, Kansas City ## Where to watch When it comes to Austin and France matches, nothing beats [Justine's](https://www.instagram.com/justinesbrasserie/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) (4710 E. 5th Street). ## What to read Don't worry, U.S. fans; [Brad Guzan](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/why-usa-fans-should-take-deep-breath-after-loss-vs-turkiye?ref=verdeallday.com) is telling you to take a deep breath. And, perhaps counter to what you might expect, [Matt Doyle](https://tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/player-ratings-which-of-the-back-ups-helped-themselves-most-vs-turkey/?ref=verdeallday.com) will help you feel better about the loss. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 25 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-25-united-states-turkiye-australia-paraguay-germany-ecuador-ivory-coast-curacao-netherlands-tunisia-japan-sweden/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T14:00:42.000Z Two fan bases potentially involved in the first knockout game of the 2026 World Cup were disappointed by losses yesterday. First, Canada lost 2-1 to Switzerland, and the lackluster performance sent them to the track that goes through L.A. for a Round of 32 match and what looks to be a Round of 16 match against the winner of Netherlands-Morocco, instead of the Round of 32 match in Vancouver against a third-place team to likely face the winner of the Portugal-Colombia match in a Round of 16 match also in Vancouver. Then, South Korea just needed a result to get to L.A. for that Round of 32 match against Canada, and if you've seen how the LAFC crowds turn out for Son Heung-min — who didn't even start Wednesday's match – it had the potential to be a true away match for Canada. But thanks to South Africa scoring an upset, in what Rodger Sherman [astutely pointed](https://bsky.app/profile/rodger.bsky.social/post/3mp3aqjwwis27?ref=verdeallday.com) out was the first directional World Cup matchup in more than 50 years, the first match of the knockout rounds will be Canada-South Africa instead. That was (to me at least) the biggest unfolding storyline with surprise in it, as Brazil and Morocco both won, with Brazil winning Group C on goal differential (dooming Scotland to possible elimination as a now-weaker third-place team, and Mexico had already wrapped up Group A (though it also awaits its third-place opponent, while knowing it's playing on June 30). Today, the U.S. plays its final group stage game, as does Germany (against Ecuador), Netherlands (against two-coach Tunisia), and Japan (against Sweden). That will help us figure out more matchups, as right now, we only know one. ## Group A ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Mexico (10) / **Winner: Mexico** - Projected runner-up: South Korea (28) / *Runner-up: South Africa* - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (48) / *3rd-place team: South Korea* - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (54) /*4th-place team: Czechia* ## Group B ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Canada (31) / *Winner: Switzerland* - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (17) / *Runner-up: Canada* - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (62) / **3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina** - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (61) / **4th-place team: Qatar** ## Group C ### Predictions vs. Reality - Projected winner: Brazil (5) **/ Winner: Brazil** - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) / **Runner-up: Morocco** - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (41) **/ 3rd-place team: Scotland** - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (88) **/ 4th-place team: Haiti** **Running total:** 7 of 12 correct (58.3%) ## Group D ### Predictions - Projected winner: United States (14) - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (32) - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (25) - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (37) ### Past matches - *United States. 4, Paraguay 1 (June 12, Inglewood, Calif.)* - *Australia 2, Türkiye 0 (June 13, Vancouver)* - *United States 2, Australia 0 (June 19, Seattle)* - *Paraguay 1, Türkiye 0 (June 19, Santa Clara, Calif.)* ### Today's matches - Türkiye vs. United States: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Paraguay vs. Australia: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) ### Most compelling narrative Which U.S. players with yellow cards will be held out of the lineup? Which one will play, and will they evade suspension for the Round of 32? With possible lineup rotation, which players will get rotated in, and from that, how much action will Gio Reyna see? And will Christian Pulisic see the field? ### Player to watch That's all based on the lineup that U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino rolls out. ## Group E ### Predictions - Projected winner: Germany (9) - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (29) - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (30) - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (81) ### Past matches - *Germany 7, Curaçao 1 (June 14, Houston)* - *Côte d'Ivoire 1, Ecuador 0 (June 14, Philadelphia)* - *Germany 2, Côte d'Ivoire 1: (June 20, Toronto)* - *Ecuador 0, Curaçao 0: (June 20, Kansas City)* ### Today's matches - Curaçao vs. Côte d'Ivoire: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (Philadelphia) - Ecuador vs. Germany: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) ### Most compelling narrative Ecuador was unbeaten in 19 matches heading into the tournament, and has managed just one point and zero goals in two World Cup matches. Will the matchup against Germany even approach the hype that was building pre-tournament, or will Ecuador be eliminated before the knockout rounds? (As it stands right now, and assuming Côte d'Ivoire handles Curaçao — though maybe that's not a thing to assume! – Ecuador stands to finish as one of the weaker third-place teams, having to wait out results from all the other groups. ### Player to watch Deniz Undav has come off the bench in both Germany matches and has three goals and two assists, including a brace to bring Die Mannschaft back from the brink for a 2-1 win over Côte d'Ivoire to ward off what was developing into one of the tournament's biggest upsets. Perhaps he'll start? (He's also fun to watch; a solidly-built 5'10" tank of a player rolling downhill to goal.) ## Group F ### Predictions - Projected winner: Netherlands (8) - Projected runner-up: Japan (16) - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (36) - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (57) ### Past matches - *Netherlands 2, Japan 2 (June 14, Jerryworld)* - *Sweden 5, Tunisia 1 (June 14, Monterrey)* - *Netherlands 5, Sweden 1 (June 20, Houston)* - *Japan 4, Tunisia 0 (June 20, Monterrey)* ### Today's matches - Japan vs. Sweden: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Jerryworld) - Tunisia vs. Netherlands: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Kansas City) ### Most compelling narrative The Netherlands' win over Tunisia seems preordained, so ### Player to watch If Sweden is to win, it will be up to the still-quite-new striker partnership of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres to outscore Japan. I expect a lot of goals in this one (including from Ayase Ueda for Japan, who I do expect to emerge victorious despite missing key players). ## The knockout rounds: What we know *Note: All times CT* ### Sunday, June 28 - **Canada vs. South Africa**, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. ### Monday, June 29 - **Brazil** vs. Group F runner-up, noon, Houston - **Germany** vs. Group A/B/C/D/F 3rd place, 3:30 pm, Foxborough, Mass. - Group F winner vs. **Morocco**, 8 pm, Monterrey ### Tuesday, June 30 - Group E runner-up vs. Group I runner-up, noon, Jerryworld - Group I winner vs. Group C/D/F/G/H 3rd place, 4 pm, East Rutherford, N.J. - **Mexico** vs. Group C/E/F/H/I third place, 8 pm, Mexico City ### Wednesday, July 1 - Group L winner vs. Group E/H/I/J/K 3rd place, 11 am, Atlanta - Group G winner vs. Group A/E/H/I/J 3rd place, 3 pm, Seattle - **United States** vs. Group B/E/F/I/J 3rd place, 7 pm, Santa Clara, Calif. ### Thursday, July 2 - Group H winner vs. Group J runner-up, 2 pm, Inglewood, Calif. - Group K runner-up vs. Group L runner-up, 6 pm, Toronto - **Switzerland** vs. Group E/F/G/I/J 3rd place, 10 pm, Vancouver ### Friday, July 3 - Group D runner-up vs. Group G runner-up, 1 pm, Jerryworld - **Argentina** vs. Group H runner-up, 5 pm, Miami Gardens, Fla. - Group K winner vs. Group D/E/I/J/L 3rd place, 8:30 pm, Kansas City ## Where to watch I'm venturing over the river today to [ABGB](https://theabgb.com/events?ref=verdeallday.com); it looks like Drag Bingo will segue into the U.S.-Türkiye match? Perfect. ## What to read ESPN's article on [South Korea's disappointment](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49172230/south-korea-brink-wc-exit-wrong-son-gamble?ref=verdeallday.com) scrolls right into its article on [Canada's disappointment](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49168179/canada-qualify-world-cup-knockouts-miss-chance-top-group-switzerland?ref=verdeallday.com). ### ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 24 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-24-canada-switzerland-bosnia-herzegovina-qatar-mexico-czechia-south-africa-south-korea-morocco-haiti-brazil-scotland/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T23:42:41.000Z Today, we reach a turning point in the 2026 World Cup. Group stages will conclude for three of the 12 groups today, as we shift into six matches a day for the next four days, though they'll necessitate a two-screen solution as each group's two-match closers will be played simultaneously. A few questions will get answered in the 2 pm Group B matches. Will Canada win the group and get the chance to play in Canada through the Round of 16? Will Bosnia and Herzegovina finally rid us of Qatar and emerge as the U.S.'s opponent in the Round of 32? (And yes, there's still a chance for Qatar — despite a 6-0 loss with just one pass into Canada's box in that blowout — to advance.) Mexico's won its group but should get a good warm-up for the knockout rounds playing Czechia, while Morocco plays Haiti and Brazil plays Scotland to decide a very much still up in the air Group C. It's going to be an eventful day. Hydrate! ## Group A ### Predictions - Projected winner: Mexico (12) - Projected runner-up: South Korea (24) - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (43) - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (61) ### Past matches - *Mexico 2, South Africa 0 (June 11, Mexico City)* - *South Korea 2, Czechia 1 (June 11, Guadalajara)* - *Czechia 1, South Africa 1 (June 18, Atlanta)* - *Mexico 1, South Korea 0: (June 18, Guadalajara)* ### Today's matches - Czechia vs. Mexico: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm (Mexico City) - South Africa vs. South Korea: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm(Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative There's still a chance Czechia could surpass South Korea for second in the group, but it'll require Czechia to beat Mexico, for starters. How much firepower will Czechia bring? ### Player to watch Mexico's defense hasn't allowed a goal yet all tournament; how will Edson Álvarez, Johan Vásquez, and a back-from-suspension César Montes fare against Czechia? Can they keep the shutout streak alive? ## Group B ### Predictions - Projected winner: Canada (29) - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (17) - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (65) - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (56) ### Past matches - *Canada 1, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (June 12, Toronto)* - *Switzerland 1, Qatar 1 (June 12, Santa Clara, Calif.)* - *Switzerland 4, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (June 18, Inglewood, Calif.)* - *Canada 6, Qatar 0 (June 18, Vancouver)* ### Today's matches - Switzerland vs. Canada: Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Vancouver) - Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Qatar, Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Seattle) ### Most compelling narrative A draw or a win seals the group for Canada, which makes the difference between playing in Vancouver on July 2 or playing in L.A. on June 28\. After a dominating performance against Qatar, but losing Ismaël Koné to a broken leg, are they up to the task to beat a higher-ranked opponent? ### Player to watch Nathan Saliba will likely get the nod to replace Koné, but will we see Alphonso Davies? Perhaps there's an opportunity for Jayden Nelson to get some minutes ... ## Group C ### Predictions - Projected winner: Brazil (5) - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (40) - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (87) ### Past matches - *Brazil 1, Morocco 1 (June 13, East Rutherford, N.J.)* - *Scotland 1, Haiti 0 (June 13, Foxborough, Mass.)* - *Morocco 1, Scotland 0 (June 19, Foxborough, Mass.)* - *Brazil 3, Haiti 0 (June 19, Philadelphia)* ### Today's matches - Scotland vs. Brazil: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Miami) - Morocco vs. Haiti: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Atlanta) ### Most compelling narrative Brazil and Morocco are two of the top six teams in the world per the rankings, and one of them is getting drawn into a runner-up position to play Netherlands (most likely) ... this will likely be a goal differential duel, with Morocco looking to run up the score against Haiti. ### Player to watch Given that need for goal differential, how unleashed will Morocco's Ismael Saibari be? He's scored a goal in each of his team's two prior matches. ## Where to watch We'd be remiss to not highlight the Los Verdes watch party for Mexico vs. Czechia ~~at~~ [~~Hopsquad~~](https://www.hopsquad.com/?ref=verdeallday.com)~~, with Panini sticker trading starting at 6:30 pm~~ now at Bon Aire (9070 Research Boulevard, near Pluckers and Soccer Post in that strip mall at 183 and Burnet that you know). ## What to read Michael Caley is [doing work](https://www.expectinggoals.com/p/even-more-world-cup-projections?ref=verdeallday.com) on World Cup projections. (H/T to Trevor Allison for pointing to this one.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 23 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-23-england-ghana-panama-croatia-portugal-uzbekistan-dr-congo-colombia/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T13:59:59.000Z Monday presented a couple of endurance tests for fans. First, the France-Iraq match set a record for longest-ever start-to-finish World Cup match thanks to a 131-minute weather delay that led Fox to show the first half of the U.S.'s match against Australia once Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović glowering at Alexi Lalas grew stale. Then, for the truly hardy (or West Coasters), Algeria outlasted (and eliminated Jordan) 2-1 in a match starting at 10 pm CT. Jordan still has to play Argentina, who beat Austria 2-0 to start the day, with Lionel Messi missing a penalty — not as unusual development as some would have it — and then setting the men's World Cup scoring record and surpassing Marta's 17 on the women's side with two very Messi goals. Here on Tuesday, speaking of goals, Harry Kane will try to reinsert himself into the Golden Boot conversation, and Portugal will continue to explore whether starting Cristiano Ronaldo brings wins. (It did not against DR Congo.) ## Group K ### Predictions - Projected winner: Portugal (9) - Projected runner-up: Colombia (12) - Projected 3rd-place team: DR Congo (43) - Projected 4th-place team: Uzbekistan (54) ### Past matches - *Portugal 1, DR Congo 1 (June 17, Houston)* - *Colombia 3, Uzbekistan 1 (June 17, Mexico City)* ### Today's matches - Portugal vs. Uzbekistan: Tuesday, June 23, noon (Houston) - Colombia vs. DR Congo: Tuesday, June 23, 9 pm (Guadalajara) ### Future matches - Colombia vs. Portugal: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Miami) - DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Atlanta) ### Most compelling narrative Cristiano Ronaldo started against DR Congo and did not look like he should have started against DR Congo. Will Portugal manager Roberto Martínez stick with the player vying to score in his sixth World Cup, or take it in a different direction? ### Player to watch Whether you like to watch him or like to hate-watch him, it's pretty clear that eyes will be on C-Ron for the noon match. ## Group L ### Predictions - Projected winner: England (4) - Projected runner-up: Croatia (15) - Projected 3rd-place team: Panamá (40) - Projected 4th-place team: Ghana (65) ### Past matches - *England 4, Croatia 2 (June 17, Jerryworld)* - *Ghana 1, Panamá 0 (June 17, Toronto)* ### Today's matches - England vs. Ghana: Tuesday, June 23, 3 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Panamá vs. Croatia: Tuesday, June 23, 6 pm (Toronto) ### Future matches - Panamá vs. England: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) - Croatia vs. Ghana: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (Philadelphia) ### Most compelling narrative Aside from England, this has become one of the most challenging groups to predict. Talent-wise, it should be Croatia, today facing a Panamá team that liverd by the Concacaf and ultimately died by the Concacaf against Ghana. Ghana vaulted eight places in the world rankings with that win but is still the lowest-ranked of the four teams, and that's fixin' to go down facing the Three Lions. ### Player to watch Kane made it impossible to not watch him in the match against Croatia with his performance, starting with a penalty kick that he had to take twice to ultimately convert. ## Where to watch [Do512 informs us](https://do512.com/events/2026/6/23/world-cup-england-vs-ghana-tickets?ref=verdeallday.com) that not only is the ABGB doing a watch party for England-Ghana, but they have four soccer-themed boilermaker combos to help you (checks notes) get toasty at 3 pm on a Tuesday. ## What to read The Athletic has a [bookmarkable forecast page](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/interactive/fifa-mens-world-cup-2026-tracker/group-knockout-team-by-team-forecast/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSmDRdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeieE68VV9Xw8el6pLgzv66aflAjEuJ7TRVVWDOVqyGrqi0dzMUI54I5RUbuE%5Faem%5F7DsP4-AU3qytPt1VytEm3A&ref=verdeallday.com) that currently shows Uruguay, Iran, Ecuador, and Czechia more likely to be bounced after the group stages end, as opposed to moving on as previously forecast. You can also see who is definitively out and chances for teams to win their groups or finish second. ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 22 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-22-france-iraq-norway-senegal-argentina-austria-algeria-jordan/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T14:00:03.000Z Belgium could only draw against Iran, Egypt got control of that group with a decisive win over New Zealand, Spain reasserted itself with a decisive win against Saudi Arabia, and in my favorite match of the day, Cabo Verde continued its incredible World Cup run getting an opportunistic goal off a ... *throw-in turnover?* ... to draw Uruguay and put itself into contention to get second in the group — getting them the "reward" of facing Argentina in the Round of 32! That was Sunday at the World Cup; Monday brings us Golden Boot race drama as France, Norway, and Argentina all see action, meaning more opportunities for Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Lionel Messi to score. ## Group I ### Predictions - Projected winner: France (2) - Projected runner-up: Senegal (17) - Projected 3rd-place team: Norway (27) - Projected 4th-place team: Iraq (60) ### Past matches - *France 3, Senegal 1 (June 16, East Rutherford, N.J.)* - *Norway 4, Iraq 1 (June 16, Foxborough, Mass.)* ### Today's matches - France vs. Iraq: Monday, June 22, 4 pm (Philadelphia) - Norway vs. Senegal: Monday, June 22, 7 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) ### Future matches - Norway vs. France: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Senegal vs. Iraq: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Toronto) ### Most compelling narrative The Senegal-Norway match looks to be crucial to determine second in the group, assuming France is able to continue its dominance. With France, I'm just curious about what kind of goal differential will get banked against Iraq. ### Player to watch Based on the opener, I'd like to see more of Bradley Barcola. ## Group J ### Predictions - Projected winner: Argentina (1) - Projected runner-up: Algeria (29) - Projected 3rd-place team: Austria (21) - Projected 4th-place team: Jordan (68) ### Past matches - *Argentina 3, Algeria 0 (June 16, Kansas City)* - *Austria 3, Jordan 1 (June 16, Santa Clara, Calif.)* ### Today's matches - Argentina vs. Austria: Monday, June 22, noon (Jerryworld) - Jordan vs. Algeria: Monday, June 22, 10 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) ### Future matches - Jordan vs. Argentina: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Jerryworld) - Algeria vs. Austria: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Kansas City) ### Most compelling narrative I'm still waiting to see who aside from Messi will step up for Argentina. The opener was very much the Messi show, though he was close to a [tournament-changing red card](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/alexi-lalas-clarifies-why-lionel-165757300.html?ref=verdeallday.com). ### Player to watch Aside from Messi, I've got a feeling Lautaro Martínez will manage something special today. ## Where to watch It's Monday, so probably in your office ... though [Justine's](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZfs11kmQk3/?ref=verdeallday.com) is doing its France watch parties again. Free champagne at halftime and at the final whistle if France is winning/wins, so probably free champagne. ## What to read If you've been enjoying the sparring between Thierry Henry and Alexi Lalas on Fox, [you're not alone](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/21/thierry-henry-alexi-lalas-fox-world-cup?ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 21 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-21-spain-saudi-arabia-uruguay-cabo-verde-belgium-iran-new-zealand-egypt/ Last updated: 2026-06-21T14:00:39.000Z Considering transitive properties, with Netherlands beating Sweden 5-1, and Sweden beating Tunisia 5-1, Tunisia must be pretty bad in this World Cup. Of course, if you stayed up late and watch Japan dismantle Tunisia — Hervé Renard's Tunisia – by a 4-0 scoreline, you got that on your own. That's part of what happened Saturday, which necessarily muddied Group F and put some outsized importance on the upcoming Japan vs. Sweden match. Also, in Group E, Denis Undav came through as a supersub with a pair of goals — one quite late — to foil Ivory Coast's upset draw bid. And Curaçao! Thanks in large part to former Columbus Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room, the tiny island nation — with its anthem declaring it "a boulder in the sea" — drew Ecuador 0-0\. That's right: the hipster dark horse pick of this World Cup has one point and no goals whatsoever through two matches. Here on Sunday, we get Spain and Belgium trying to shake off opening draws and the glory of the continuing Cabo Verde story. Also, Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! (With my father having passed away during the previous World Cup, just days removed from the U.S.'s whimpering exit from the tournament, I'm grateful to have such a joyous World Cup now to offset those memories, and that a World Cup is once again part of Father's Day rather than during a desultory winter.) ## Group G ### Predictions - Projected winner: Belgium (10) - Projected runner-up: Egypt (28) - Projected 3rd-place team: Iran (22) - Projected 4th-place team: New Zealand (83) ### Past matches - *Belgium 1, Egypt 1 (June 15, 2 pm)* - *Iran 2, New Zealand 2 (June 15, Inglewood, Calif.)* ### Today's matches - Belgium vs. Iran: Sunday, June 21, 2 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - New Zealand vs. Egypt: Sunday, June 21, 8 pm (Vancouver) ### Future matches - Egypt vs. Iran: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Seattle) - New Zealand vs. Belgium: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Vancouver) ### Most compelling narrative All four teams drew in their opening matches. Can Belgium rise above by beating Iran, or will another team get the inside track with a win? ### Player to watch Romelu Lukaku came on as a sub against Egypt and instantly transformed the match. How much of an influence will he have on Sunday's match against Iran? ## Group H ### Predictions - Projected winner: Spain (3) - Projected runner-up: Uruguay (18) - Projected 3rd-place team: Saudi Arabia (59) - Projected 4th-place team: Cabo Verde (63) ### Past matches - *Spain 0, Cabo Verde 0 (June 15, Atlanta)* - *Saudi Arabia 2, Uruguay 2 (June 15, Miami)* ### Today's matches - Spain vs. Saudi Arabia: Sunday, June 21, 11 am (Atlanta) - Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde: Sunday, June 21, 5 pm (Miami) ### Future matches - Cabo Verde vs. Saudi Arabia: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Houston) - Uruguay vs. Spain: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative Spain could not score against Cabo Verde; presumably, La Roja will be able to against the Saudis, though they've been tough against better-on-paper opponents. ### Player to watch Lamine Yamal got limited minutes in the opener. How much will he be needed, and how much of a difference will be able to make? (He looked lively in his time against Cabo Verde, but couldn't deliver a goal.) ## Where to watch I may see you at [Meanwhile](https://www.meanwhilebeer.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) if you venture out there. ## What to read Here's a [good breakdown](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7372984/2026/06/21/tunisia-japan-world-cup-takeaways/?ref=verdeallday.com) of the Japan-Tunisia match, including an obligatory Hervé Renard in white button down with buttons left unbuttoned photo, just how close Japan was from scoring a second goal in the 10th minute, and details on what completely insane and fun Round of 32 matchup might be awaiting Japan. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 20 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-20-netherlands-sweden-japan-tunisia-germany-ivory-coast-ecuador-curacao/ Last updated: 2026-06-20T14:00:10.000Z The U.S. not only won its match on Friday — beating Australia 2-0 with a frenetic first half and two fluky goals followed by 45 minutes of outlasting the Soccerroos' 'housery — but ended up winning its group by the end of the night, thanks to Paraguay getting a banger of a goal 65 seconds in and then hanging on against Türkiye. (That's despite Miguel Almiron getting sent off for saying God-knows-what to an opponent with his hand covering his mouth, violating a new rule known as the Prestianni rule; there's a [good explainer](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7378095/2026/06/20/miguel-almiron-red-card-why-world-cup/?ref=verdeallday.com) here. In two matches, between his blatant dive in the opener against the U.S. and this incident, Almiron has gone from adorable MLS darling best known for his heart goal celebrations with former teammate Josef Martínez to full wrestling heel in a match and a half.) In other tournament news, Haiti officially got knocked out as Brazil cruised to a 3-0 win, and still has to face Morocco, which beat Scotland 1-0 on a second-minute goal. (Yes, weird that this happened in two matches on the same day. Here on Saturday, Groups E and F get into sorting. ## Group E ### Predictions - Projected winner: Germany (9) - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (28) - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (30) - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (83) ### Past matches - *Germany 7, Curaçao 1 (June 14, Houston)* - *Côte d'Ivoire 1, Ecuador 0 (June 14, Philadelphia)* ### Today's matches - Germany vs. Côte d'Ivoire: Saturday, June 20, 3 pm (Toronto) - Ecuador vs. Curaçao: Saturday, June 20, 7 pm (Kansas City) ### Future matches - Curaçao vs. Côte d'Ivoire: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (Philadelphia) - Ecuador vs. Germany: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) ### Most compelling narrative Ecuador *was* unbeaten in 19 matches, going back to September 2024, before Côte d'Ivoire scored a mildly surprising 1-0 win with a very late goal. Will Ecuador bounce back against Curaçao? Or will it be a scoreless draw? (I don't see Curaçao winning, but I could see that team finding their inner Cabo Verde.) ### Player to watch Côte d'Ivoire's Elye Wahi is currently caught up in a gambling scandal for getting a heavily-bet-on yellow card in a recent match involving his club team Nice. He initially didn't get a visa to enter Canada for this match but then reportedly did. Will he start? Will he play? How impactful will he be? How much will commentators dwell on it? ## Group F ### Predictions - Projected winner: Netherlands (8) - Projected runner-up: Japan (17) - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (34) - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (54) ### Past matches - *Netherlands 2, Japan 2 (June 14, Jerryworld)* - *Sweden 5, Tunisia 1 (June 14, Monterrey)* ### Today's matches - Netherlands vs. Sweden: Saturday, June 20, noon (Houston) - Tunisia vs. Japan: Saturday, June 20, 11 pm (Monterrey) ### Future matches - Japan vs. Sweden: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Jerryworld) - Tunisia vs. Netherlands: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Kansas City) ### Most compelling narrative With Sweden winning its first match and Netherlands and Japan drawing, this group is truly up in the air. It could come down to the final day with Netherlands and Japan on four points and Sweden on three ... or Sweden could seize control of the group with a win. ### Player to watch It's not a player but a coach here ... Hervé Renard takes over Tunisia after Sabri Lamouch was dismissed after one match. Certainly, he will be handsome. But will he be good? ## What to read Barney Ronay's [assessment of Brazil](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/20/brazil-haiti-world-cup-match-report?ref=verdeallday.com) is one of the most entertaining reads I've had all tournament. ## Where to watch Victory Lap has two locations, and the West Campus one has a Saturday feature it is calling "Kegs on the Lawn." There's also a Rainey Street location. I will likely not venture to either of these for the tournament, but perhaps this is your speed. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ## ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 19 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-19-united-states-australia-turkiye-paraguay-brazil-haitli-scotland-morocco/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T14:00:21.000Z Canada and Mexico got wins on Thursday in very different ways ... and now it's the U.S.'s turn to make it three for three for the co-hosts in second group stage matches. On Thursday, Canada got its first World Cup win ever with aplomb, beating Qatar 6-0, all but guaranteeing advancement to the knockout phases, and upping Switzerland in goal differential, which will be helpful should they draw in their final group stage game. The result (plus Switzerland beating Bosnia & Herzegovina 4-1 earlier in the day) renders the Qatar-Bosnia & Herzegovina in Seattle on June 24 the most meaningless of the tournament. One big caveat, though: Ismaël Koné was victimized by Assim Madibo, whose tackle from behind broke Koné's leg and ended his tournament prematurely. Madibo clearly looked shaken when he fully realized what he'd done, and with his yellow card rightly changed to red, Madibo's tournament is likely over as well. But for a team that has been bit disproportionately by injuries, the loss of Koné is just one more injustice heaped upon this likable team. Mexico, meanwhile, benefited from Kim Seung-gyu's howler, with Luis Romo cleaning up the spill for the lone goal in the co-hosts' 1-0 win over South Korea, making Mexico the first team to clinch advancing to the knockout round. On Friday, in addition to the U.S. playing Australia for control of Group D (in Seattle, giving me the thrill of seeing my formative hometown in occasional aerial shots, plus the majesty of Pier 62), No. 5 Brazil and No. 6 Morocco play opposite each other after their opening draw to help shape which formidable second place team will face the Group F winner — right now, up in the air among Netherlands, Sweden, and Japan — in one of the tastier Round of 32 matchups. One cautionary note on the U.S., even though you might be feeling good about their prospects: They've won one, drawn one, and lost one in each of their last two World Cup runs. You have to go back to 2010 to find a World Cup in which the Yanks didn't lose a group stage match (with two draws and a quite famous win, before falling to Ghana in the first knockout game, which is also a solidifying pattern). Oh, and one apology to issue; the autopublishing for Thursday's previews glitched, so [here it is](https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-18-mexico-south-korea-czechia-south-africa-canada-qatar-bosnia-herzegovina-switzerland/) if you want to see our three immediate takeaways from the first group stage matches, which concluded Wednesday (plus previews of yesterday's matches, to see how prescient we were). And happy Juneteenth! Perhaps I'll see you out at Inn Cahoots. ## Group C ### Predictions - Projected winner: Brazil (5) - Projected runner-up: Morocco (6) - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (37) - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (85) ### Today's matches - *Brazil 1, Morocco 1 (June 13, East Rutherford, N.J.)* - *Scotland 1, Haiti 0 (June 13, Foxborough, Mass.)* ### Today's matches - **Scotland vs. Morocco: Friday, June 19, 5 pm (Foxborough, Mass.)** - **Brazil vs. Haiti: Friday, June 19, 7:30 pm (Philadelphia)** ### Future matches - Scotland vs. Brazil: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Miami) - Morocco vs. Haiti: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Atlanta) ### Most compelling narrative Currently, Scotland's winning the group, and though that's about to change, it's very possible that Scotland does enough to win one of the third-place spots to advance to the knockout rounds, That assumes, of course, that Brazil and Morocco wrest away the top two spots with wins on Friday — be sure to watch for whether Brazil can run up enough goal differential against Haiti to carve out a substantial advantage. ### Player to watch Vinicius Júnior had one of the best goals of the tournament, though his teammates didn't seem particularly full of attacking ideas in the opening match. How much of a load will he have to carry on his own? ## Group D ### Predictions - Projected winner: United States (15) - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (26) - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (22) - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (42) ### Past matches - *U.S. 4, Paraguay 1 (June 12, Inglewood, Calif.)* - *Australia 2, Türkiye 0 (June 13, Vancouver)* ### Today's matches - **United States vs. Australia: Friday, June 19, 2 pm (Seattle)** - **Türkiye vs. Paraguay: Friday, June 19, 10 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.)** ### Future matches - Türkiye vs. United States: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Paraguay vs. Australia: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) ### Most compelling narrative Okay, there's a real Golden Boot race on now, and Folarin Balogun's in the middle of it. The narrative American fans will be following is, of course, Christian Pulisic's calf and who might replace him in the starting lineup, but I'll be seeing how many goals Balo can rack up against Australia's big back line. ### Player to watch Did you know Australian center back Harry Souttar is 6'6"? ## What to read More about the [U.S.-Australia matchup](https://www.thailandoriginalmade.com/product/177278/2023-24-thailand-national-team-thai-football-soccer-jersey-shirt-away-red?ref=verdeallday.com) here, and our friend Jon Arnold did well to put the [Canada win](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2026/06/19/canada-world-cup-ismael-kone-injury-jonathan-david/90617545007/?ref=verdeallday.com) in perspective. ## Where to watch As mentioned, it's time to try out [Inn Cahoots](https://www.austinfc.com/soccercelebration?ref=verdeallday.com), me thinks. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 18 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-18-mexico-south-korea-czechia-south-africa-canada-qatar-bosnia-herzegovina-switzerland/ Last updated: 2026-06-19T13:30:41.000Z We're back around to the co-hosts playing again! Mexico and Canada are back hosting matches again, as the second group stage matches start up on Thursday. For Mexico, it's about taking the momentum of beating South Africa and beating a similarly-named (but not similarly-constituted) South Korea. For Canada, it's about trying to get a first win in its World Cup history, looking like its winning-the-group aspirations were doomed following its opening draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina, only for Qatar to bail out Les Rouges with a very late equalizer against a Switzerland team that let Qatar hang around. As a Canada fan, I'm hoping Jesse Marsch takes the lessons of the first group stage games into practical application. ## Three things we learned in the first group stage matches - Cabo Verde is our new favorite team. - Most of the goalscorers we thought would come through (Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Kane, and yes, Balogun) came through with at least a brace in their respective games. - Cristiano Ronaldo is washed. (And that draw against DR Congo could doom them to a Round of 16 match against Spain, unless *its* draw against Cabo Verde doomed it.) ## Group A ### Predictions - Projected winner: Mexico (12) - Projected runner-up: South Korea (22) - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (44) - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (61) ### Past matches - *Mexico 2, South Africa 0 (June 11, Mexico City)* - *South Korea 2, Czechia 1 (June 11, Guadalajara)* ### Today's matches - Czechia vs. South Africa: Thursday, June 18, 11 am (Atlanta) - Mexico vs. South Korea: Thursday, June 18, 8 pm (Guadalajara) ### Future matches - Czechia vs. Mexico: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm (Mexico City) - South Africa vs. South Korea: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm(Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative With clear winners and clear losers established in Group A, what Mexico does against what is clearly the toughest team in its group on Thursday will go a long way to determining whether Mexico will play its Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches in Mexico City or get shunted off to Los Angeles and then Houston. ### Player to watch Raúl Jiménez scored in the opener and it appears that as he'll go, so will El Tri. However, Brian Gutierrez played relatively well in the midfield, and I'm curious to see what level of spark the Berwyn-born ball progressor will give his team in the upcoming matches. ## Group B ### Predictions - Projected winner: Canada (32) - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (19) - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (63) - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (49) ### Past matches - *Canada 1, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (June 12, Toronto)* - *Switzerland 1, Qatar 1 (June 12, Santa Clara, Calif.)* ### Today's matches - Switzerland vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Thursday, June 18, 2 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Canada vs. Qatar: Thursday, June 18, 5 pm (Vancouver) ### Future matches - Switzerland vs. Canada: Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Vancouver) - Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Qatar, Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Seattle) ### Most compelling narrative Again, it's how far Canada can go. Does this team have a World Cup win in it? Is winning the group something it can muster? As with Mexico, winning the group vs. finishing in second is the difference between starting the knockout rounds in its home country vs. moving to American stadiums. ### Player to watch Perhaps the two most important players for making Canada mobile — Ali Ahmed and Alphonso Davies – were sidelined with injuries for the first match. It looks like Ahmed will get the nod Thursday while Davies is still unable to go, but if he can at all, depending on game state, I have a hunch we might see him in limited minutes. ## Where to watch Canada plays; [Haymaker](https://haymakeraustin.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) (2310 Manor Road) serves poutine. In lieu of an official Canada watch party, this seems a good default. ## What to read Here's how [Nigeria is influencing Canada](https://africa.espn.com/espn/story/%5F/id/49096230/canada-stars-point-nigerian-influences-les-rouges-seek-first-fifa-world-cup-win?ref=verdeallday.com) this time around. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 17 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-17-england-croatia-ghana-panama-portugal-dr-congo-uzbekistan-colombia/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T14:00:58.000Z Wednesday marks the last day of first group stage game, as Groups K and L get going — which means, the day after Lionel Messi put up his first hat trick in a World Cup game, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane get their 2026 World Cup stories started. Portugal is in a truly international group, with Colombia, DR Congo, and Uzbekistan (can you name all their capitals without Googling), while England is in a group with Croatia, Ghana, and Panama, which is not quite as far-flung as Portugal's but decently diverse. After Wednesday, we'll start in on the second matches and get a better sense of how the tournament is shaping up — initially for the hosts, but then for some of the favorites. ## Group K ### Predictions - Projected winner: Portugal (5) - Projected runner-up: Colombia (14) - Projected 3rd-place team: DR Congo (45) - Projected 4th-place team: Uzbekistan (50) ### Today's matches - **Portugal vs. DR Congo, Wednesday, June 17, noon (Houston)** - **Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, Wednesday, June 17, 9 pm (Mexico City)** ### Future matches - Portugal vs. Uzbekistan: Tuesday, June 23, noon (Houston) - Colombia vs. DR Congo: Tuesday, June 23, 9 pm (Guadalajara) - Colombia vs. Portugal: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Miami) - DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan: Saturday, June 27, 6:30 pm (Atlanta) ### Most compelling narrative Both Portugal and Colombia have stars that are deep into their careers and peaked in World Cups held eight and 12 years ago ... how will the teams transition into featuring their prime-age talent, and just how much of a role will Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez have in this group stage ... especially with Messi showing that he's still highly relevant? ### Player to watch To that effect, I'm curious how much of the leadership mantle for Os Navegadores shifts to Bruno Fernandes — who himself is 31 and theoretically slips into the veteran leader role once C-Ron does hang it up. ## Group L ### Predictions - Projected winner: England (4) - Projected runner-up: Croatia (11) - Projected 3rd-place team: Panama (34) - Projected 4th-place team: Ghana (73) ### Today's matches - **England vs. Croatia, Wednesday, June 17, 3 pm (Jerryworld)** - **Ghana vs. Panama, Wednesday, June 17, 3 pm (Jerryworld)** ### Future matches - England vs. Ghana: Tuesday, June 23, 3 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Panama vs. Croatia: Tuesday, June 23, 6 pm (Toronto) - Panama vs. England: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) - Croatia vs. Ghana: Saturday, June 27, 4 pm (Philadelphia) ### Most compelling narrative Is it "coming home?" England fans have reason to believe that 2026 will be the deepest the Three Lions go since they won it all hosting 60 years ago. It's arguably the most talented team they've ever had, and their No. 4 world ranking shows they're in the mix, but what happens when they draw one of the top three, or an upset-minded dark horse? ### Player to watch Theoretically, a Panama team who is adept at the ways of Concacaf could have enough of a run to sneak into a knockout round, but it's contingent on how much Adalberto Carrasquilla can contribute — and he's questionable for this key opening match against Ghana, which likely sets up the winner (if there is one) for the inside track to 3rd place. ## Where to watch [Howard's Bar and Club](https://howardsaustin.com/?ref=verdeallday.com#menuGrid) in Clarksville (1130 W. 6th Street) has declared itself England's hub for World Cup watching in Austin. From its [Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZDbJzuPmQQ/?ref=verdeallday.com): "Join us at Howards for every England match throughout the World Cup, featuring Pimm’s Cups all tournament long and housemade sausage rolls with HP sauce when the England games are on." Well, if it's housemade sausage rolls with HP sauce we're talking about ... ## What to read [Thomas Tuchel is prepared](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/clyr5zn4440o?ref=verdeallday.com) to meet American summer heat with steely British resolve. Let's see how that works out for them! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Buy(out), Bye, Bye: Austin FC exercises buyout on Robert Taylor URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-exercises-buyout-on-robert-taylor/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T00:08:03.000Z Lionel Messi's former teammate is back on the market. When Robert Taylor came over from Inter Miami CF to Austin FC in April 2025, his proximity to Messi and the track record that helped him generate — with 13 goals and 10 assists in three seasons plus a sliver of 2025 — made him an appealing acquisition. Yet, the hefty General Allocation Money (GAM) spend required to get him — $450,000 in 2025 GAM $250,000 in 2026 GAM, and a conditional $50,000 in 2027 GAM — was seen by some as an outsized risk weighed against the production he could realistically bring. The club admitted as much on Tuesday, putting an end to Taylor's time in Austin, using its second and final buyout of the season to cut ties with what turned out to be an oft-injured and ultimately underproducing player. Unlike Jáder Obrian, who was cut loose via Verde's first 2026 season buyout, Taylor never had a productive period with the club, scoring just one goal and adding two assists in just 19 MLS match appearances. One of those assists came in the April 18 3-3 draw against Toronto FC, which was Taylor's final appearance with the club, while another came in the 2-2 season-opening draw against Minnesota — though it was also his injury and failure to draw the referee's attention in that match that led the Loons to get their match-closing equalizer. ## What it means With Taylor off the team, Austin's down a midfielder but up a senior roster spot — for now. The rumored arrival of former Oxford United winger Przemysław Płacheta would effectively swap Taylor for Płacheta, giving Verde an infusion of speed with a player three years younger than his predecessor. Płacheta arguably has even more positional flexibility than Taylor, which was something that former head coach Nico Estévez and former sporting director Rodolfo Borrell perhaps privileges more than incoming head coach Jim Curtin. However, save for what would be an unusual move on Płacheta's part to turn down a move to the U.S.'s top-flight league, he'll end up being the last player Borrell secured for Verde assuming the reports are true (which I have on good authority they are). With both buyouts expended, the theory that underachieving midfielder Besard Šabović would exit by way of buyout before play resumes July 22 is now kaput. There is still the possibility that Šabović could be dealt (or perhaps more likely loaned) to another club during the summer transfer window, though he hasn't exactly been compiling a convincing highlight reel during the first part of this season. The move also means that despite Borrell's exit, someone — presumably interim head coach Davy Arnaud, with the help of sporting director assistants who have hung on post-Borrell — is still able to move the levers enough to successfully execute MLS roster moves. Whether that can or will extend to summer transfer window deals is something we'll be looking to track in the coming weeks. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 16 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-matches-june-16-france-senegal-argentina-algeria-iraq-norway-austria-jordan/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T14:00:59.000Z World's biggest Cabo Verde fan here, reveling in my (Googles nickname quickly) Blue Sharks taking Spain to a 0-0 draw on Monday, and dropping Spain to No. 3 in the FIFA world rankings behind now No. 2 France. Just to let you know how unlikely that is ... [someone made a $100 bet](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/big-bets-world-cup-sportsbooks-net-spain-cape-verde-draw?ref=verdeallday.com) on the score being 0-0 (at +4000 odds) and additional $100 bet on no goalscorers (at +3000 odds) and made $7,000\. Tuesday should bring goals, and specifically, goals from Golden Boot candidates, as France (with Kylian Mbappé), Norway (with Erling Haaland), and Argentina (with Lionel Messi) all enter the arena. We, of course, now have Cabo Verde helping to activate the very real possibility of [Spain playing Argentina](https://bsky.app/profile/michaelcaley.bsky.social/post/3modcderlc22q?ref=verdeallday.com) in the Round of 32 in either L.A. or Miami. But I still feel like both France and Argentina will find their way back to the final, even with the possibility that Argentina would have to get past the No. 3 team in the world while France is facing the 3rd place from Group C/D/F/G/H team, which currently projects out to Scotland, Australia, Sweden, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. But first, we have some group stage matches to deal with. Let's get into that. ## Group I ### Predictions - Projected winner: France (2) - Projected runner-up: Senegal (16) - Projected 3rd-place team: Norway (31) - Projected 4th-place team: Iraq (57) ### Today's matches - **France vs. Senegal, Tuesday, June 16, 2 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.)** - **Iraq vs. Norway, Tuesday, June 16, 5 pm (Foxborough, Mass.)** ### Future matches - France vs. Iraq: Monday, June 22, 4 pm (Philadelphia) - Norway vs. Senegal: Monday, June 22, 7 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) - Norway vs. France: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Senegal vs. Iraq: Friday, June 26, 2 pm (Toronto) ### Most compelling narrative As a France fan who rooted for France in the 2022 final when seemingly every neutral on the planet wanted to see Messi finally pull the sword from the stone, I'm very invested in how far France goes, which I think is winning it all. (The only think keeping me from rooting for France in the final is if France is playing either the U.S. or Canada.) So that's where I'm invested. But, also, I want to see how much shop-wrecking Erling Haaland can do in the group stage. ### Player to watch Between Mbappé and Haaland, goals will be scored. ## Group J ### Predictions - Projected winner: Argentina (1) - Projected runner-up: Algeria (27) - Projected 3rd-place team: Austria (24) - Projected 4th-place team: Jordan (65) ### Today's matches - **Argentina vs. Algeria, Tuesday, June 16, 8 pm (Kansas City)** - **Austria vs. Jordan, Tuesday, June 16, 11 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.)** ### Future matches - Argentina vs. Austria: Monday, June 22, noon (Jerryworld) - Jordan vs. Algeria: Monday, June 22, 10 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) - Jordan vs. Argentina: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Jerryworld) - Algeria vs. Austria: Saturday, June 27, 9 pm (Kansas City) ### Most compelling narrative In a group that most soccer fans will regard as Argentina and everyone else — and one that Argentina should win relatively easily — I'll be looking to see how supporting-cast players like Julián Alvarez and Lautaro Martínez fare next to Messi, and how convincing they look as a team that, per my prediction, will land in the final (though given how 2022 ended up, will be happy to be proven wrong). ### Player to watch He certainly gets an outsized share of publicity, but pointedly not watching Messi puts you in danger of missing something magical. ## Where to watch Research led me to this [Alliance Francaise d'Austin](https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/match-de-la-coupe-du-monde-france-vs-senegal?fbclid=IwY2xjawSdgRBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFzb0ZCb2FDOUM2MnZmb1hhc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgqAuT6000YpFssCPr58S%5FftifSMRLTUWS%5F5QOanH4NiIFRfFiy6OAY6JOut%5Faem%5FjBO3-ZOV2JRPiCTcnFS8ug&ref=verdeallday.com), family-friendly event celebrating two French-speaking nations, France and Senegal, playing one another. Also, Easy Tiger at the Linc (Tigre Facile?) will be France HQ for the tournament. ## What to read [Someone bet $1 million](https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/06/15/cape-verdes-shocking-tie-with-spain-cost-polymarket-bettor-1-million/?ref=verdeallday.com) that Spain would win its opener. Oops. Also, learn more about [Cabo Verde hero Vozinha](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0ryz4n2v0qo?ref=verdeallday.com) (and why his mom couldn't be there to witness history). ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 15 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-15-spain-cabo-verde-saudi-arabia-uruguay-belgium-egypt-iran-new-zealand/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T14:00:01.000Z We finally had some blowouts! Sunday gave us some temporary excitement with a Curaçao equalizer before Germany scored six straight (!) to equal its 7-1 margin from the 2014 semifinal against Brazil, while Sweden got it going early in the late game and bested Tunisia 5-1\. Today, there's potential for at least one more blowout, as Spain plays Cabo Verde in Atlanta. Belgium gets its World Cup journey started as well, though against an Egypt that likely presents its toughest test in group play. ## Group G ### Predictions - Projected winner: Belgium (10) - Projected runner-up: Egypt (29) - Projected 3rd-place team: Iran (20) - Projected 4th-place team: New Zealand (85) ### Today's matches - **Belgium vs. Egypt, Monday, June 15, 2 pm (Seattle)** - **Iran vs. New Zealand, Monday, June 15, 8 pm (Inglewood, Calif.)** ### Future matches - Belgium vs. Iran: Sunday, June 21, 2 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - New Zealand vs. Egypt: Sunday, June 21, 8 pm (Vancouver) - Egypt vs. Iran: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Seattle) - New Zealand vs. Belgium: Friday, June 26, 10 pm (Vancouver) ### Most compelling narrative Belgium is a mix of old (Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, Leandro Trossard, Alex Witsel) and new (Jérémy Doku, Amadou Onana, Matias Fernandez-Pardo) — but how far can they go, especially with the potential to face stronger sides from the quarterfinals on? Also, on the geopolitical side, I'm curious to see how (waves hands) all this impacts Iran's tournament run ... as some tournament projections have Iran meeting the U.S. in the Round of 32, in a redux of 2022's final group stage game. ### Player to watch Doku had a remarkable season with Manchester City, and he's one of my prime candidates to have a breakout tournament. ## Group H ### Predictions - Projected winner: Spain (2) - Projected runner-up: Uruguay (17) - Projected 3rd-place team: Saudi Arabia (60) - Projected 4th-place team: Cabo Verde (67) ### Today's matches - **Spain vs. Cabo Verde, Monday, June 15, 11 am (Atlanta)** - **Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, Monday, June 15, 5 pm (Miami)** ### Future matches - Spain vs. Saudi Arabia: Sunday, June 21, 11 am (Atlanta) - Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde: Sunday, June 21, 5 pm (Miami) - Cabo Verde vs. Saudi Arabia: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Houston) - Uruguay vs. Spain: Friday, June 26, 7 pm (Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative This group seems destined to be moving to the final match in group stage play between Spain — deservedly one of the tournament favorites — and a Uruguay team talented enough to engineer some upsets (and too loaded with attacking choices to include Facundo Torres, as it turns out). By the way, took a peek at ticket prices for that match in Guadalajara — there aren't many left, and they aren't cheap. ### Player to watch It's pretty obvious since we're talking about Spain: Lamine Yamal, who appears to be recovered from his hamstring injury from all reports, is the favorite to be this tournament's award winner for best young player. They won't exactly need him to knock off Cabo Verde, but he'll be a welcome sight when he arrives. ## Where to watch [Lou's on Barton Springs](https://www.lousaustin.com/barton?ref=verdeallday.com) has declared itself the Spain and Argentina watch headquarters for Austin, and it's indoors (important today!), *and* Monday is half-off bone-in fried chicken day ... this all adds up to a destination. ## What to read Here's [a fun look](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/49041085/whats-really-face-world-cup-laliga-stars-spain-barcelona-lamine-yamal-france-kylian-mbappe?ref=verdeallday.com) at what it's like to face Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé (starting his World Cup tomorrow). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 14 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-14-germany-curacao-netherlands-japan-sweden-tunisia-ecuador-ivory-coast/ Last updated: 2026-06-14T13:42:57.000Z Saturday was an amazing World Cup day for both the U.S. and Canada, and they didn't even play. First, Qatar did Canada a serious solid, hanging around at Switzerland's extended invitation to equalize deep in stoppage time, ending that contest 1-1 and effectively resetting Group B back to full equilibrium. After semi-botching its opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada is in a much better position to win its group and play matches in its home nation up until the quarterfinals than it was 24 hours ago. And then, Türkiye looked to be the U.S.'s biggest group stage obstacle, but got beat in an absurdly late Saturday night match against Australia, which gave the U.S. plenty of low-block film to consider. And in the midst of all that, thanks to the Knicks closing out its NBA Finals win, the Spurs can't hurt me with late-game collapses anymore, though the day also gave us a Brazil-Morocco match that ended in a draw, did not budge their respective No. 6 and No. 7 world rankings, and featured a particularly emphatic Vini Jr. goal, and Scotland besting Haiti. Sunday's got four intriguing matches for us and the introduction of Groups E and F into the proceedings. ## Group E ### Predictions - Projected winner: Germany (10) - Projected runner-up: Ecuador (24) - Projected 3rd-place team: Côte d'Ivoire (33) - Projected 4th-place team: Curaçao (82) ### Today's matches - **Germany vs. Curaçao, Sunday, June 14, noon (Houston)** - **Côte d'Ivoire vs. Ecuador, Sunday, June 14, 6 pm (Philadelphia)** ### Future matches - Germany vs. Côte d'Ivoire: Saturday, June 20, 3 pm (Toronto) - Ecuador vs. Curaçao: Saturday, June 20, 7 pm (Kansas City) - Curaçao vs. Côte d'Ivoire: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (Philadelphia) - Ecuador vs. Germany: Thursday, June 25, 3 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.) ### Most compelling narrative Ecuador is unbeaten in 19 matches, going back to a September 2024 1-0 loss against Brazil, and has one of the most highly-regarded defenses in the tournament. Is this really a legitimate dark horse candidate to win this World Cup, or will Côte d'Ivoire or Germany finally break the streak in the group stage and put Ecuador on a more difficult path. ### Player to watch After a remarkable season with lots of Kai Havertz in it, we're ready to see more Kai Havertz, only in Germany's colors. ## Group F ### Predictions - Projected winner: Netherlands (8) - Projected runner-up: Japan (18) - Projected 3rd-place team: Sweden (39) - Projected 4th-place team: Tunisia (45) ### Today's matches - **Netherlands vs. Japan, Sunday, June 14, 3 pm (Jerryworld)** - **Sweden vs. Tunisia, Sunday, June 14, 9 pm (Monterrey)** ### Future matches - Netherlands vs. Sweden: Saturday, June 20, noon (Houston) - Tunisia vs. Japan: Saturday, June 20, 11 pm (Monterrey) - Japan vs. Sweden: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Jerryworld) - Tunisia vs. Netherlands: Thursday, June 25, 6 pm (Kansas City) ### Most compelling narrative By now, if you're following World Cup storylines closely, you know that the mathematician who selected the [last three World Cup winners](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/48964113/mathematician-correctly-predicted-three-world-cup-winners-row-named-2026-pick?ref=verdeallday.com) correctly picked the Oranje to win it all this time. That pick seems a little further afield than the previous ones; just how will it fare given the Netherlands' decently challenging group? ### Player to watch Since we're on the Netherlands topic here, starting with today, I'm wondering how Donyell Malen's excellent half-season at Roma will translate onto the World Cup stage, starting with Sunday's marquee matchup against Japan. ## Where to watch Easy Tiger's [South Lamar location](https://www.easytigeraustin.com/location/south?ref=verdeallday.com) has declared itself Austin's hub for Germany and the Netherlands, making this an ideal location to post up for a doubleheader from noon to 5 pm if you choose. ## What to read Jason Davis has been putting in the work on his [Soccer Eagle site](https://jason-davis-soccer-eagle.ghost.io/?ref=verdeallday.com), confessing to watching just eight minutes of the Knicks' triumph but weaving that into a positive development for the U.S. men's national team. I mean, if that's what it takes, sure. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 13 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-13-brazil-morocco-australia-turkiye-qatar-switzerland-haiti-scotland/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T14:00:18.000Z Canada made history — not the best kind, but history all the same — with its first point in a World Cup match on Friday, while the U.S. started its World Cup journey pasting Paraguay 4-1, playing its best half of soccer under Mauricio Pochettino and then holding on for the win. Friday will feature four matches, with Canada's path to the knockout round made clearer with another Group B opener, Group C's openers unfolding (including arguably the best group stage matchup of the whole tournament), and a Group D opener to help put the U.S.'s path into clearer focus. Also, I don't know how they're going to sustain this for 39 days, but the Kickback Committee folks (Matt Doyle, Susannah Fuller, and David Gass) are doing a daily [podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kickback-26/id1857994985?ref=verdeallday.com) and [YouTube live show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFiIKgB8yI8&ref=verdeallday.com) at 8:30 am CT every day, if you want to absorb that level of content. Let's do it group by group. ## Group B ### Predictions - Projected winner: Canada (31) - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (19) - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (63) - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (56) ### Past matches - *Canada 1, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (June 12, Toronto)* ### Today's match - **Qatar vs. Switzerland: Saturday, June 13, 2 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.)** ### Future matches - Switzerland vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Thursday, June 18, 2 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Canada vs. Qatar: Thursday, June 18, 5 pm (Vancouver) - Switzerland vs. Canada: Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Vancouver) - Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Qatar, Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Seattle) ### Most compelling narrative With Canada getting a draw and just one point instead of a possible three, Switzerland has a chance to take control of the group against a Qatar team coached by Julen Lopetegui, best known for being fired by Spain on the cusp of the World Cup eight years ago it got out that he had agreed to coach Real Madrid once that tournament was over. ### Player to watch Granit Xhaka is in his fourth World Cup and is instrumental to what Switzerland does, though is now doing so with surprising Sunderland instead of the Arsenal squad that largely — for good and bad — defined him. ## Group C ### Predictions - Projected winner: Brazil (6) - Projected runner-up: Morocco (7) - Projected 3rd-place team: Scotland (40) - Projected 4th-place team: Haiti (83) ### Today's matches - **Brazil vs. Morocco: Saturday, June 13, 5 pm (East Rutherford, N.J.)** - **Haiti vs. Scotland: Saturday, June 13, 8 pm (Foxborough, Mass.)** ### Future matches - Scotland vs. Morocco: Friday, June 19, 5 pm (Foxborough, Mass.) - Brazil vs. Haiti: Friday, June 19, 7:30 pm (Philadelphia) - Scotland vs. Brazil: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Miami) - Morocco vs. Haiti: Wednesday, June 25, 5 pm (Atlanta) ### Most compelling narrative Morocco were 2022 World Cup semifinals, are the current Africa Cup of Nations holders (albeit controversially), and they're ranked No. 7 in the world. Do they have an upset of Brazil in them? I'm feeling a draw in this one to advance more questions than get answered, but I'm also invested in the outcome for how it will impact the tournament. ### Player to watch Vinicius Júnior is one of the most exciting players of the world entering his prime. Seeing him work against Achraf Hakimi, should we get that, will have real Champions Leagues vibes as a bonus. ## Group D ### Predictions - Projected winner: United States (15) - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (23) - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (27) - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (42) ### Past match - U.S. 4, Paraguay 1 (June 12, Inglewood, Calif.) ### Today's match - **Australia vs. Türkiye, Saturday, June 13, 11 pm (Vancouver)** ### Future matches - United States vs. Australia: Friday, June 19, 2 pm (Seattle) - Türkiye vs. Paraguay: Friday, June 19, 10 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) - Türkiye vs. United States: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Paraguay vs. Australia: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) ### Most compelling narrative With the U.S. winning decisively, can Türkiye similarly take it to Australia and set up for a June 25 showdown at SoFi to win the group? Or will Australia be able to thwart Türkiye enough to give the U.S. a leg up? ### Player to watch We mentioned Türkiye's Arda Güler, the 21-year-old Real Madrid attacker who is a dark horse for the FIFA Young Player award in this World Cup, when rounding up the group for Friday's preview. Take a look at this match just to see him (and, of course, to scout for future U.S. games). ## Where to Watch Austin FC's viewing party moves to [Inn Cahoots](https://www.gofevo.com/event/Casaverde2?ref=verdeallday.com) (1221 E. 6th Street) for the remaining 100 matches. Plenty of days left to see how the club has activated the space, but today could be a fun day to check things out. ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 12 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-june-12-united-states-v-paraguay-canada-v-bosnia-herzegovina/ Last updated: 2026-06-13T13:49:48.000Z Yesterday, the 2026 World Cup kicked off with Mexico and South Africa providing two goals (both in the El Tri column) and three red cards (two for South Africa, and a surprising one on César Montes in stoppage time reshuffling their defense ahead of a June 18 match against South Korea. Then, in an evening match, South Korea outlasted Czechia 2-1 to more [clearly define Group A](https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/standings?ref=verdeallday.com). Today, both the U.S. and Canada start their journeys, with Canada hosting Bosnia & Herzegovina in Toronto, while the Yanks bring Paraguay into SoFi Stadium for a primetime showdown. We've got two groups to showcase. Note that FIFA world rankings (in parentheses after the team name) are changing at the tournament plays out, so what you're seeing here is today's rankings, impacted by both World Cup results in the books. ## Group B ### Predictions - Projected winner: Canada (30) - Projected runner-up: Switzerland (19) - Projected 3rd-place team: Bosnia & Herzegovina (64) - Projected 4th-place team: Qatar (56) ### Today's match - **Canada vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Friday, June 12, 2 pm (Toronto)** ### Future matches - Qatar vs. Switzerland: Saturday, June 13, 2 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) - Switzerland vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Thursday, June 18, 2 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Canada vs. Qatar: Thursday, June 18, 5 pm (Vancouver) - Switzerland vs. Canada: Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Vancouver) - Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Qatar, Wednesday, June 24, 2 pm(Seattle) ### Most compelling narrative Canada has played six matches in its World Cup history (1986 and 2022), losing all six. Despite a rash of injuries heading into the tournament, Canada's a good bet to not only notch its first victory either today or when facing Qatar on Thursday, but also to advance out of the group and into the knockout rounds. Winning the group would allow Les Rogues to play more matches in front of Canadian fans. ### Player to watch With Alphonso Davies likely sidelined for at least part of the group stages recovering from a hamstring injury, look for Jonathan David to put his team on his back, but also look for Tani Oluwesayi and even (likely in brief sub roles) Austin FC's own Jayden Nelson to bring electricity to the offense. ## Group D ### Predictions - Projected winner: United States (17) - Projected runner-up: Türkiye (23) - Projected 3rd-place team: Australia (27) - Projected 4th-place team: Paraguay (40) ### Today's match - **U.S. vs. Paraguay: Friday, June 12, 8 pm (Inglewood, Calif.)** ### Future matches - Australia vs. Türkiye, Saturday, June 13, 11 pm (Vancouver) - United States vs. Australia: Friday, June 19, 2 pm (Seattle) - Türkiye vs. Paraguay: Friday, June 19, 10 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) - Türkiye vs. United States: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Inglewood, Calif.) - Paraguay vs. Australia: Thursday, June 25, 9 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.) ### Most compelling narrative Clearly, the fortunes of the U.S. men's national team is front and center for many of the fans watching stateside, and though the group appears theirs to win, how healthy they stay and how cogent they look will help determine just how far they go. Winning outright seems out of the question, but can they at least reach the quarterfinals as they did in 2002? ### Player to watch Many Americans could be on this list, but for me, Folarin Balogun is key, plus I want to determine if he really is an elite-level striker who can shine on this biggest of stages. If there's a non-U.S. player to keep an eye on, consider Türkiye's Arda Güler, the 21-year-old Real Madrid attacker who is a dark horse for the FIFA Young Player award in this World Cup. ## Where to watch Once again, Auditorium Shores is hosting [Austin FC's Soccer Celebration](https://www.austinfc.com/soccercelebration?ref=verdeallday.com) event, though judging from [one disgruntled person](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZdwZDMhZlz/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) on Instagram, not everyone in the impressive aerial drone shot the club featured was happy. If you don't want to experience the level of crowds that will bring, [Meanwhile Brewing](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5d2a05bbe06f4c0e589b89c6/6a26e44c375e1376ce9b1c08%5FWorld%20Cup%20Schedule%20website.png?ref=verdeallday.com) (which is one of my family's happy places) will show a good percentage of World Cup games on its big screen, including today's doubleheader. ## What to read Check out Backheeled's [reality check](https://www.backheeled.com/haters-guide-to-usmnt-at-world-cup-pochettino-pulisic-adams-richards-ream/?ref=verdeallday.com) about the U.S.'s chances. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ## ### World Cup Daily: Matches and storylines for June 11 URL: https://verdeallday.com/world-cup-daily-matches-and-storylines-for-june-11/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T14:00:19.000Z Maybe it's not quite what you envisioned when the U.S., Mexico, and Canada were awarded co-hosting rights to the 2026 World Cup back in 2018, but the week is finally upon us. Perhaps you've done some preliminary immersion already, or perhaps you've decided now is the time to embark on your World Cup preparation. Let me, in the spirit of all soccer content creators moved to do *something* during this special time of the four-year cycle, weigh in on this year's extravaganza. Before getting into what I'm doing here, I do want to start by pointing out some work that my colleagues in the soccer space have contributed. ## **Read these articles (also)** First off, you probably have these bookmarked already, but[ The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/world-cup/?ref=verdeallday.com) and[ The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/football/world-cup-2026?ref=verdeallday.com) are generating content ahead of the tournament and will throw considerable resources (with really talented writers) toward coverage. Matt Doyle did an article on his [Tactics Free Zone site](https://tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/your-world-cup-guide-how-to-sound-smart-for-all-48-teams/?ref=verdeallday.com) subtitled, “How to sound smart for all 48 teams,” with offerings like, “If you think of Pavel Sulc as more of a second forward than a true No. 10, then it's easier to understand how they're able to create danger off those long-balls to Patrick Schick (for Czechia), and “You know they're going to try to progress up the left side. One of the 8s or 10s has to read that quicker and be better about dropping into the pocket so Tim Ream has some options beside just playing it wide to Jedi every time” for the U.S. You know, nerd things. (He also did a [tiers article](https://tacticsfreezone.ghost.io/world-cup-tiers-from-the-favorites-all-the-way-down-to-the-dregs/?ref=verdeallday.com) which has a few surprises but is generally in line with how I'm seeing the tournament.) Sickos Committee, which has emerged to do some really delightful soccer coverage on top of its college football coverage, did a[ four-parter](https://sickos-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-sickos-f-c-world-cup-preview-part-4?ref=verdeallday.com) on all 48 teams, which includes tidbits like[ Best Name on the Team](https://sickos-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-sickos-f-c-world-cup-preview-part-3?ref=verdeallday.com),[ national dishes of note](https://sickos-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-sickos-f-c-world-cup-preview-part-2?ref=verdeallday.com), and[ closest chain restaurant](https://sickos-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-sickos-f-c-world-cup-preview-part-1?utm%5Fsource=sickos-newsletter.beehiiv.com&utm%5Fmedium=newsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=the-sickos-f-c-world-cup-preview-part-1&%5Fbhlid=78b1d712a35ee2ef1ae2f00b49622b839644c505) to the team's home base in North America. The Saudis, staying in Austin, made Austin look good since they're at the Four Seasons and the closest chain to that fancy-pants hotel is[ Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken](https://www.gusfriedchicken.com/locations?ref=verdeallday.com), which is perhaps more of a chain than you might realize. (In other words, World Cup coverage that is very much up my alley.) ## How we’ll do this Each day in this initial block, I'll unfurl each group as it starts, and provide predictions that certainly won't come back to bite me. As the tournament progresses, we'll have an eye on the standings and how top teams and bubble teams might move. Note that all teams are listed with their current FIFA world rankings. All match times are CT. ## Group A ### Predictions - Projected winner: Mexico (14) - Projected runner-up: South Korea (25) - Projected 3rd-place team: Czechia (40) - Projected 4th-place team: South Africa (60) ### Today's matches - **Mexico vs. South Africa: Thursday, June 11, 2 pm (Mexico City)** - **South Korea vs. Czechia: Thursday, June 11, 9 pm (Guadalajara)** ### Future matches - Czechia vs. South Africa: Thursday, June 18, 11 am (Atlanta) - Mexico vs. South Korea: Thursday, June 18, 8 pm (Guadalajara) - Czechia vs. Mexico: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm (Mexico City) - South Africa vs. South Korea: Wednesday, June 24, 8 pm(Guadalajara) ### Most compelling narrative Whether Mexico can advance beyond its customary Round of 16 place (where it's finished every World Cup between 1994 and 2018 before crashing out at the group stage level in 2022). ### Player to watch It's weird to give this to a fourth-place team player, but South Africa's Mbekezeli Mbokazi just got voted onto the 2026 MLS All-Star team. Like Lionel Messi, he'll play in the World Cup before featuring in Charlotte – he just might not do it for as many games as Messi. ## Where to watch While we must mention the Austin FC-organized watch party (dubbed [Soccer Celebration](https://www.austinfc.com/soccercelebration?ref=verdeallday.com)) on Auditorium Shores, this is a good opportunity to remind you that [Takoba](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZS8aEoBHAV/?%5F%5Fd=11&ref=verdeallday.com) (1411 E. 7th) is opening its doors for this year's World Cup, and has been particularly lively for El Tri matches. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ## ### The non-negotiables: Jim Curtin's blueprint for success at Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/jim-curtin-introductory-press-conference-non-negotiables/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T01:13:28.000Z It took just a few minutes to get from platitudes to pragmatism on Tuesday morning, when new Austin FC head coach Jim Curtin met with Austin media for the first time, but then we got direct from him how he expects the team to play when he officially takes over ahead of the 2027 sprint season. There will be a time to talk specific tactics and formations, he reassured us, but in laying out his vision for how he wants to play, we got a refreshing, clear-eyed vision of principles that can manifest specifically on the field. Let's walk through them. ## 'We will be compact' It's telling that Curtin went defense first in discussing his style of play, but it makes sense given how excellent his teams have been defensively. When the Union were nearly unstoppable in 2022, his team gave up just 26 goals in 34 matches while scoring 72\. By contrast, Verde's given up 31 goals in just 15 matches in 2026, so far. "We will be compact ... from Brandon Vázquez to our center backs," he said. "It's going to be 30 to 35 yards maximum at all times. I think, right now, maybe you see them get a little too stretched and open in MLS. That happens a lot, and that's where you see the randomness. So, I'm a big believer in being compact. Simply put, all that means is all the players are closer to each other to help each other. We want to win balls and get to goal as quickly as possible, score as many goals as possible, create as much excitement for the fans as possible. It's a very simple part, and you do that by being very compact and together with our pressing." Note that pressing's part of the reason for doing this — so look for a distinct stylistic change from what Austin FC's deployed before. It's not that Verde *never* pressed, but there was a lot of emphasis, especially in the Josh Wolff era, of using possession to displace an opponent. ## Get you 11 men who can do both Curtin also emphasized the buy-in needed for everyone on the field to play both offense and defense — which isn't remarkable in and of itself, but becomes more interesting once he provides rationale. "We want all 11 players to attack, we want all 11 players to defend," he said. "That's a non-negotiable for me. Everybody has to be fully committed on that. And what you'll see is when the strikers work their tails off defensively, all of a sudden they get the easy goals and the tap-ins, and we win the ball higher up the field, closer to our goal, and it becomes ... I don't want to say easy, because scoring is difficult, but we will create a lot of chances and be very dangerous as a group. "You'll see anytime a team plays a negative pass against Austin FC, we will press that pass," he continued. "It will be clear from the stands. You guys will see it in the press box. That will be 100% non-negotiable. If they play negative, we are coming at you. We're going towards your goal to win the ball back. Any straight pass in the midfield, you'll see us as well. We will press that pass defensively now. When a ball goes past you, there has to be a recovery sprint, right? And we can measure that through analytics and data. Right now, there's nowhere to hide, so we'll keep a tight eye on that." ## Targeting the weakest link Curtin also revealed a key principal for his attack. "We will also relentlessly attack our opponent's weakest link," he said. "We will find that weakest link. Sometimes it's one player, sometimes it's a part of the field, but you'll see us, and we did it in Philly, and had a lot of success. We will relentlessly go at that weakest link, we'll use data and analytics to pinpoint it and find it, but it's pro sports. We're going to be ruthless in attacking that weakest part of the field, and there still are weaknesses in MLS, so that's a big one for me." ## The three Rs He closed out with what he called "the three Rs" — which, while not exactly rolling off the tongue, do provide some insight as to how else he'll set up the team for success. Those are: ### The Red Zone He explains that it's "the area of the field where, if you connect the six-yard box to the top of the 18, that's where 87% of goals are scored in MLS. We are going to defend that with our lives. You'll see it painted on all our training grounds now on the field, where that red zone is something that we protect and defend with our lives. "And conversely, on offense, we're going to put as many balls into that area as possible," he added. "It's exciting for the fans. You'll see goals, good things happen when the ball is in the penalty area. Analytically, right now, I see a team in Austin that is at the very bottom of penalty area entry, so that will change. That's something that just very quickly I think we can tweak and make some adjustments with." ### Rest defending This is a familiar concept to those of you who paid attention to what Nico Estévez sought to work on while he was with the team, but Curtin defines this simply as "that means now am I in a good position on the field to put out a fire if there's a dangerous play?" ### Restarts Curtin, already tapped into an Austin FC strength this season, sees opportunity in corner kicks, free kicks, and throw-ins. "You're going to see in this World Cup; I bet over 30% of the goals will come off of restarts," he asserted. "So, we will train them every day. In Philly, we were at the very top three in offensive and defensive restarts every year. I want to try to bring that to Austin, and sometimes the players will say, 'Ah, man, we're going to work on restarts every day. It's boring. It's this, it's that.' That means free kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins. We'll have a plan for those three phases at all times. It'll be detailed, it'll be clear. "And once we start getting assists and goals off of those free kicks and corner kicks, and their statistics go up, and they make a Best 11 or an All-Star team, and the contract gets a little better, you'll see the players start to really, really embrace training restarts every day," he offered. ## What does that mean right now? Both Curtin and his players are in an unusual situation — most of them are on a World Cup break right now, though the club also announced Tuesday that Canada elevated Jayden Nelson to its 26-man roster after impressing in his audition to succeed an injured Marcelo Flores, and there's still a chance that Facundo Torres could be a late addition to Uruguay's roster as an injury sub for Giorgian De Arrascaeta, although reports have that possibility as less likely. But Curtin won't officially join the squad in Austin until December once the 2026 season finishes, leaving interim coach Davy Arnaud to lead the team and perhaps infuse some of Curtin's ideas into the mix. "Austin FC will be the top of my mind from the moment I wake up till the moment I fall asleep," Curtin made clear. "This is not a situation where I'm waiting till December one to start thinking about things. I spoke with Davy last night. Number one, the team is in incredible hands right now. Davy Arnaud is, number one, a great person, an incredible human being. He's a winner, he's a guy I hated playing against, trying to defend and chase around the field. He was a great competitor, a winner, and he's an incredible coach. So, the players are in great hands. I vocalized it to Davey last night. "He knows what he's doing, of course," Curtin continued. "We'll share ideas, and we'll speak, and, but this is his group right now, and I want him to lead. It's a great opportunity for him, and he's going to do a great job with the group, getting them better each and every day. He's a coach that I want to be part of this thing moving forward, an incredible weapon for me to have, in terms of knows the city, loves the city, loves the team, loves the players, has a connection, and can help me navigate things. So that's been expressed and been, you know, relayed to him over the next six months." It does, indeed, sound a bit like Arnaud could resume his "butler comes with the house" role that he had as an Estévez assistant following Wolff's dismissal. It's a bit early to tell whether that's indeed the future, but Curtin expressed confidence in the job Arnaud will do — indicating that perhaps there's still hope for a third Verde postseason appearance come November. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Curtin call: Jim Curtin named new Austin FC head coach URL: https://verdeallday.com/jim-curtin-named-new-austin-fc-head-coach/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T19:43:09.000Z We had a hunch. And we're thrilled our hunch was right. On Monday, Austin FC named former Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin — a leading candidate for the role, per our reporting — to become its third official (and fourth actual) head coach, taking over at the conclusion of the 2026 MLS season. As [the club announced](https://www.austinfc.com/news/austin-fc-announces-jim-curtin-will-become-club-s-head-coach-following-the-2026-season?ref=verdeallday.com), Curtin — a two-time MLS Coach of the Year – will be handed the torch by interim head coach Davy Arnaud, who will continue in a caretaker role for Verde's remaining 19 regular-season matches, plus at least three Leagues Cup matches in August. The club has also, with this move, for the second time in its history, named a head coach without a sporting director in place — indeed, Curtin's canned quote mentions the two C-level officials who have been with the club since before it was officially in MLS. "I am incredibly honored to be named the Head Coach of Austin FC," Curtin said by way of press release. "This is a moment I will never forget, and I’m grateful to Anthony Precourt, Andy Loughnane, and the club’s ownership group for the trust placed in me. From our very first conversation, they shared a vision for Austin FC that is bold, ambitious, and built for the long term. Their belief in what this Club can become is contagious, and I’m proud to help bring that vision to life.” “I had several other opportunities, both within MLS and abroad, but none of them excited me the way this project did. The city of Austin is unlike anywhere else and the chance to compete for this community was simply too compelling to pass up. This club has some of the finest facilities in all of MLS, and Q2 Stadium is one of the great venues in North American soccer. To walk out in front of the supporters, in that atmosphere, is a privilege that I don’t take lightly. The passion of the Austin FC faithful is known across the league, and our goal will be to give you a team that fights and makes you proud every time we take the field.” ## How he compares As we covered in [our previous article](https://verdeallday.com/more-neville-than-nancy-austin-fc-coaching-ppg/), despite some mixed bags when it came to rosters, with club ownership not being the spendiest on designated players, Curtin coached at a 1.52 points per game pace over more than 400 matches, getting the Union to the playoffs in seven of his 11 seasons, including a six-year stretch between 2018 and 2023\. He also, during his time in Philly, took three teams to the U.S. Open Cup final, though he wasn't able to get any of those teams over the line, and had a heartbreaking MLS Cup loss to LAFC in 2022 — albeit, in perhaps the best MLS Cup match ever played. As the article noted, he's done better for longer than either of his predecessors, Josh Wolff and Nico Estévez. Interestingly enough, he played for the Chicago Fire between 2001 and 2008, meaning he was teammates with Wolff for two seasons. (He was also teammates with current Canada head coach Jesse Marsch, current Kansas City Current head coach Chris Armas, and U.S. men's national team legends Carlos Bocanegra and DaMarcus Beasley.) ## What to expect We checked in with Joe Tansey, who writes the [Union Soccer Blog](https://unionsoccerblog.substack.com/) on Substack and is a longtime follower of both the Union and Curtin's coaching. He said: *I love the hire. On a personal level you’ll love working with Jim. He’s great.* (Note: Based on past interviews I did with him in my days writing for MLS, can confirm.) *He had the reputation here as a players' coach and someone who really could relate to the Philadelphia crowd. I think he’ll absolutely endear himself to the Austin fans right away with his approach. It’ll be interesting to see how his tactics evolve now. I’m sure the pressing background will stick around, but I wonder if he’ll have more freedom, unlike Philly where there’s a clear mandate on how to play.* *I also can’t wait to see what he does with an owner that spends. After all he won Coach of the Year twice with a ton of bargain-bin players. Kai Wagner and Jakob Glesnes evolved into stars in MLS, but they were unknowns when they entered the league. I think he’ll do even better in Austin if higher-quality players are brought in for him to work with.* As an Austin FC fan, you've learned over five-and-a-half seasons to temper expectations, but this is a hire to be excited about, and the 2027 sprint season will provide an interesting first test for a coach with a good track record of coaching over shorter spans of time. What it portends for the rest of the 2026 season, however, is fodder for further discussion — with Arnaud resuming the role he had in 2019, when he was a bridge between Wilmer Cabrera and Tab Ramos for nine matches. We'll dig in to that in the coming weeks. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### More Neville than Nancy? What PPGs tell us about Austin FC's coaching URL: https://verdeallday.com/more-neville-than-nancy-austin-fc-coaching-ppg/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T15:26:58.000Z Austin FC, as you know, is on the search for a new head coach. As far as we know, former Inter Miami CF and Portland Timbers head coach Phil Neville is not on the list. But judging from one key metric, it wouldn't be that far of a departure from what Verde's had so far. This requires getting into the history of Austin FC managers, with stats in all contests according to Transfermarkt. First, Josh Wolff — named manager before Austin FC's first game, and notably before a sporting director was in place, racked up a 51W 67L 30D record over 148 matches while helming the club between its 2021 opener and the penultimate match in the 2024 season. That's just 1.24 points per game, and over a full 34-match season, that works out to be a 42-point clip, or just below the playoff line — and that's including 2022, in which Wolff led Verde to 56 points. Nico Estévez fared slightly better, going 20W 23L 13D in his 56 matches with the club, for a 1.30 PPG, or just over 44 points per 34-match season. (Estévez actually hurt his overall MLS coaching record by being at Austin; he went 98 matches with FC Dallas at 1.37 PPG, going 35W 34L 29D. Combining the two, he's now coached 154 matches for MLS teams in all comps with a 55W 57L 42D record, or 1.34 PPG. Davy Arnaud still leads the club at 1.5 PPG, having won as Verde's final day manager in 2024 and losing his first match as interim manager. That could certainly dip if Arnaud stays on when Verde resumes play July 22, but we're inclined to believe the coaching search is on, and we'll see this new coach at the Austin FC open practice event on July 18\. Here are some of the possible directions the front office could go. ## Wilfried Nancy It's a dream for a reason: Nancy took a Montréal team that was ninth in the East in 2020 (led by Thierry Henry, and barely making the playoffs in a COVID-expanded format that also say 10th-place Miami get in), and got them to a Concacaf Champions Cup berth in 2021 by virtue of winning the Canadian Championship over Toronto, though CFM wasn't markedly better in the standings that first year. Then, he led the team to second in the East in 2022, getting to the Eastern Conference semis. Still, over most of two seasons, that team went 38W 25L 16D, for 1.65 PPG. Then, with Columbus — which the front office had to compensate Montréal for just to get him to come over — he got to MLS Cup and won it in 2023, won Leagues Cup and got to the Concacaf Champions Cup final in 2024, theoretically one teamwide bout of food poisoning from winning an unusual double. In his time with Crew, up until taking a job with Celtic after a less-stellar but still solid 2025 season, Nancy went 71W 33L 32D for a 1.80 PPG average. We're going to call his eight-match run at Celtic an aberration. ## Jim Curtin Though Curtin had some difficult early years in Philly, starting as a late-season replacement coach in 2014 and salvaging the season with a good regular-season run plus a U.S. Open Cup final appearance, before getting his new squad to a return USOC final in 2015 despite a shaky regular season. Winning the big one was a Sisyphean task for Curtin — he returned to a third U.S. Open Cup final in 2018, losing that time to the Dynamo, and came so close to winning 2022's epic MLS Cup against LAFC that Jack Elliott was being prematurely tapped as player of the match before Gareth Bale and everything else happened. By the time Curtin was dismissed at the end of the 2024 season — after failing to make that year's playoffs after six straight years in it — he'd racked up a 174W 138L 93D record, working out to about 1.52 PPG over the course of 405 matches. That's close to 12 34-match seasons of about 52 points per season, which is consistently solid. ## Gio Savarese Though he doesn't quite have the longevity that Curtin did — and few do — Savarese racked up an impressive record with the New York Cosmos of the NASL before moving over to the Timbers in 2017\. He lasted longer than any other Timbers coach before or after him — considering that Caleb Porter and Phil Neville coached there, perhaps it's not too surprising — and hasn't coached since exiting Portland in August 2023, which is perhaps concerning for reasons we've gotten into before. While with Portland, Savarese was a playoff fixture, getting into the postseason four out of five times, and getting to MLS Cup in both 2018 (losing in Atlanta) and 2021 (losing to NYCFC at home). His record? 93W 73L 50D, or a 1.52 PPG over 216 matches. And since we're talking about Savarese, should we talk about another, more recently available Timbers head coach? ## Phil Neville You probably don't want Phil Neville to be Austin FC's head coach. I don't want Phil Neville to be Austin FC's head coach, and I share a first name with him. But here's something quite interesting my research led me to. With Portland, over 95 matches, Neville amassed a 34W 37L 24 D record. That's not so great, but it is good enough for a 1.33 PPG record. And with Miami — and this is pre-Messi Miami, with Neville dismissed a month before Messi signed — Neville racked up a 36W 43L 11D record in 90 matches, for a nearly identical 1.32 PPG. In 185 total MLS matches managed, the 70W 80L 35D record works out, with rounding, to 1.32 PPG. *That's still better than either Wolff or Estévez managed with Verde.* And there's another recently-available coach you probably don't want who's also done better than Austin's two managers. ## Bradley Carnell Looking cynically at Carnell's two tours of MLS duty, first with St. Louis and then with Philly, the pattern seems similar: Make team run and press, team does well the first season, team appears ground to dust in the second season as the record plummets. In St. Louis, his 22W 25L 15D record in all comps over 62 matches was largely bolstered by the team going 17W 12L 5D his debut season before a sophomore-season crash and dismissal by June 30\. That was still good for a 1.31 PPG clip, but it was 1.65 PPG in the first MLS season. Club president and general manager Diego Gigliani said [upon his dismissal](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/why-st-louis-city-sc-dismissed-bradley-carnell-what-s-next?ref=verdeallday.com), to let you know how bad it got, "Nine games in a row with no wins, three points out a possible 27 points in the last nine games is bad form. So I think this feels like the moment where the decision had to be taken and at the same point we are encouraged by the thought that we have 14 games to go." John Hackworth took over; St. Louis finished 2024 12th in the West on just 37 points. In Philadelphia, Carnell fared better, winning a 2025 Supporters' Shield but then mounting a league-worst record in 2026 — a yipes-inducing 1W 10L 4D record — before being dismissed in May. In Philly, Carnell's 60-match total was 28W 21L 11D, for 1.58 PPG. Take those together, and the 122 matches gives him a 50W 46L 26D record, good for 1.44 PPG. ## What it looks like With all the data taken together, here's a crude Google Sheets-enabled rendering of how these coaches stack up. ![Scatter chart showing how MLS coaches compare](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/06/Matches-and-PPG.png) What's striking here is that when looking at the combination of overall record and longevity, Verde's two former coaches are more in the Phil Neville realm than the others on this list. It's, of course, possible that none of the names represented here take over. If Nancy and Curtin are proposed to and pass on the job, it could be a different candidate altogether – though if Verde does go the Savarese route, you're getting Curtin-like performance with approaching-Curtin longevity. And if, weirdly, it happens to be Neville? From a PPG standpoint, you would at least know what to expect. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ### Goal toward a goal: Jayden Nelson scores in Canada's World Cup tune-up match against Uzbekistan URL: https://verdeallday.com/jayden-nelson-scores-canada-vs-uzbekistan-world-cup-roster/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T10:56:50.000Z The question of who Canada head coach Jesse Marsch should select to replace injured winger Marcelo Flores on his 2026 World Cup roster just got more interesting. Austin FC and Canada winger Jayden Nelson made good on his opportunity in Les Rouges' 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in rainy Edmonton on Monday night. Nelson scored a goal in the first minute of stoppage time, making a long run into the box and then sidefooting a Tani Oluwaseyi pass just inside the far post to provide the insurance goal. Nelson, who entered the match at halftime for Tajon Buchanan, played alongside Vancouver Whitecaps defender Ralph Priso, also hoping to land the final spot on the roster vacated by Flores' injury in Saturday's Concacaf Champions Cup final between his Tigres and eventual winners Toluca. Nelson (starting at around the 5:20 mark of the highlight video) also had a would-be assist to Oluwaseyi that Uzbekistan's goalkeeper was able to smother. Per MLSSoccer.com's reporting, Marsch said post-match: *“We wanted to take this game in to see overall fitness and form from everyone. I thought that both Ralph Priso and Jayden Nelson delivered very good performances. I think we have a really good squad, like a really good team, and we're excited.”* Nelson's next and perhaps final chance to impress will come Friday when Canada has its final pre-World Cup match against Ireland in Montréal. A week after that, Canada opens World Cup play against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### O, Canada? Jayden Nelson gets unexpected World Cup lifeline following unfortunate Marcelo Flores injury URL: https://verdeallday.com/jayden-nelson-canada-world-cup-call-up-still-possible/ Last updated: 2026-08-23T22:38:02.000Z Austin FC's Jayden Nelson may still get the opportunity to feature for his country in the 2026 World Cup after all. Following Friday's announcement that Nelson missed the final cut for Jesse Marsch's 26-man Canada squad, there's a roster spot open again — after Canada's camp confirmed Sunday that Tigres attacker Marcelo Flores tore his ACL in Saturday night's Concacaf Champions Cup final. Flores came on to that match as a 63rd-minute sub, which Tigres lost to Toluca in PKs following a 1-1 stalemate, and suffered the [non-contact injury](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaSoccer/comments/1tsi2ej/marcelo%5Fflores%5Finjury%5Ftoluca%5F0%5Fvs%5Ftigres%5F0/?ref=verdeallday.com) inside of 15 minutes on the pitch trying to shake a defender en route to taking a shot on goal. Flores confirmed the injury on Sunday on [social media](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/marcelo-flores-confirms-ligament-tear-203200882.html?ref=verdeallday.com) per Yahoo! Sports, grimly saying per translation, "My ACL is gone." “We’re obviously disappointed for (Flores),” Marsch said, according to [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7322234/2026/05/31/marcelo-flores-canada-world-cup-injury-update/?ref=verdeallday.com). “All the guys had been asking about him all last night and all this morning. I was trying to give updates to the team on where things were at. We were all fearing that he wouldn’t have something like this, because it obviously didn’t look like a good injury. But our hearts are with him.” Flores was selected in part for his versatility; like Nelson, Flores can play either wing, but can also play as a striker, which was to help Marsch given the lean forward crew he's rolling with currently. Several elements work in Nelson's favor for team selection — first, he's reportedly still in camp with Canada despite not making the squad, and the other two remaining non-selection campers, Ralph Priso and Zorhan Bassong, are defenders. It's possible, though, that Junior Hoilett, turning 36 next month and a veteran of Canada's 2022 World Cup squad, could be tapped over Nelson. Another possibility is former Columbus Crew striker Jacen Russell-Rowe, now playing for Toulouse in France's top division. Marsch indicated, per *The Athletic* and in at least [one other news report](https://www.sportsnet.ca/fifa-world-cup/article/canadas-flores-out-of-world-cup-after-rupturing-acl/?ref=verdeallday.com), that because FIFA doesn't require a replacement to be named until 24 hours before Canada's June 12 opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he might not name a replacement in the coming days. Canada will play tuneup matches against Uzbekistan on Monday night in Edmonton and against Ireland on Friday night in Montréal. Nelson remains the only hope for a Verde representative in this year's World Cup barring any new strangle developments with the Uruguay team. Contender Fernando Torres, who looked the best chance to be an Austin FC player in the World Cup even last week, was informed prior to coach Marcelo Bielsa's official squad selection earlier today that he would not be part of the plans. Bielsa also controversially left 39-year-old Luis Suarez off the roster, after the Inter Miami striker walked back his earlier retirement-from-international-play announcement in hopes of getting one last trip to the quadrennial tournament. Suarez, of course, made his mark in the 2010 World Cup with an [intentional handball](https://www.fifa.com/en/articles/ghana-uruguay-a-thriller-for-the-ages-world-cup-qatar-2022-south-africa-2010?ref=verdeallday.com) to block what would have been a game-winning goal for Ghana in the quarterfinal. It turned out to be impactful; Asamoah Gyan missed the subsequent penalty awarded for the red-carded infraction, and Uruguay went on to advance in PKs, then losing both the semifinal against Netherlands and the third-place game against Germany. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Pointing the finger: Analyzing all 31 goals scored against Austin FC in 2026 (Part 3 of 3) URL: https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-3-of-3/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T04:37:50.000Z Welcome to this year's exercise in masochism! So far, Austin FC's defense — through 15 matches in 2026 — has let in 31 goals. Extrapolate that over a full 34-match season, and that's 70 goals, which is a lot. To better understand how it's happening, and maybe to speak some defensive improvements into being, we wanted to take part of the time during the break to analyze what's happening here. In [Part 1](https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-1-of-3/), we looked at all the matches Verde got scored against from the opener against Minnesota on Feb. 22 to the April 11 loss to the Galaxy, also at home. [Part 2](https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-2-of-3/) covers just three matches on the road in which Austin FC gave up 11 goals. And now we're at Part 3, covering the most recent three matches. Again, the exercise is to try to see whose defensive lapse contributed most to the goal being scored against Verde — to see what needs to be shored up by who. It's not *entirely* about assigning blame, and ultimately it's on the whole team to defend — and certainly, breakdowns and turnovers higher up the pitch can also affect what happens in front of goal. But this exercise is ultimately about what's happening when Verde players face danger inside the box. (Also, just so you know, MLS doesn't allow for video embedding on its goal videos, but the link in the text will get you the goal replay in a new tab.) [$2, two months, with just one click](https://verdeallday.com/2-a-month-for-two-months-for-two-days) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Pointing the finger: Analyzing all 31 goals scored against Austin FC in 2026 (Part 2 of 3) URL: https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-2-of-3/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T12:19:10.000Z Welcome to this year's exercise in masochism! So far, Austin FC's defense — through 15 matches in 2026 — has let in 31 goals. Extrapolate that over a full 34-match season, and that's 70 goals, which is a lot. To better understand how it's happening, and maybe to speak some defensive improvements into being, we wanted to take part of the time during the break to analyze what's happening here. In [Part 1](https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-1-of-3/), we looked at all the matches Verde got scored against from the opener against Minnesota on Feb. 22 to the April 11 loss to the Galaxy, also at home. Part 2 covers just three matches on the road in which Austin FC gave up 11 goals. Again, the exercise is to try to see whose defensive lapse contributed most to the goal being scored against Verde — to see what needs to be shored up by who. It's not *entirely* about assigning blame, and ultimately it's on the whole team to defend — and certainly, breakdowns and turnovers higher up the pitch can also affect what happens in front of goal. But this exercise is ultimately about what's happening when Verde players face danger inside the box. (Also, just so you know, MLS doesn't allow for video embedding on its goal videos, but the link in the text will get you the goal replay in a new tab.) [It's just $2 a month for two months for a limited time](https://verdeallday.com/2-a-month-for-two-months-for-two-days) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Pointing the finger: Analyzing all 31 goals scored against Austin FC in 2026 (Part 1 of 3) URL: https://verdeallday.com/pointing-the-finger-analyzing-all-31-goals-scored-against-austin-fc-in-2026-part-1-of-3/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T12:25:59.000Z Welcome to this year's exercise in masochism! So far, Austin FC's defense — through 15 matches in 2026 — has let in an alarming 31 goals. Extrapolate that over a full 34-match season, and that's 70 goals, which is a lot. To better understand how it's happening, and maybe to speak some defensive improvements into being, we wanted to take part of the time during the break to analyze what's happening here. Without any further preamble, let's get into it. We'll make this a three-part article because dividing it into two is made inconvenient by Verde's 5-1 loss to San Jose on April 22\. Again, the exercise is to try to see whose defensive lapse contributed most to the goal being scored against Verde — to see what needs to be shored up by who. It's not *entirely* about assigning blame, and ultimately it's on the whole team to defend — and certainly, breakdowns and turnovers higher up the pitch can also affect what happens in front of goal. But this exercise is ultimately about what's happening when Verde players face danger inside the box. (Also, just so you know, MLS doesn't allow for video embedding on its goal videos, but the link in the text will get you the goal replay in a new tab.) [We're reviving this deal! $2 a month for two months](https://verdeallday.com/2-a-month-for-two-months-for-two-days) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'Those guys worked extremely hard': Closing the door on a mortifying three-game stretch URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-stlvatx-052326/ Last updated: 2026-05-24T14:33:00.000Z Austin FC's [3-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-stlvatx-052326/) to St. Louis City SC on Saturday is now in the books — and is, perhaps mercifully, the last match we'll see Verde play for two months. With that loss, interim head coach Davy Arnaud presided over the final phase of a 10-1 three-match run that claimed a head coach and sporting director and sunk Verde to 14th in the West, as just one of six MLS teams with three or fewer wins. Despite the adversity, Arnaud liked what he saw from his squad — despite the scoring starting with an own goal and ending with a poorly-defended goal involving an unchecked runner, both on Guilherme Biro. In what became his final press conference last week, now-former head coach Nico Estévez spoke of motivation needing to come from the players themselves, aware of the club they represent, and Arnaud said he saw that in them. "It's been a tough week, it's obviously an emotional week, but in terms of motivation, and from day one of training, those guys worked extremely hard, they were motivated every day in training," he said. "I'm really happy with the week of work ... if you watch the first 35 to 40 minutes of the game before the first goal, I think you see a collective group that's that's given everything, sticking to the plan ... there \[are\] certain things that we absolutely could have done better, but I think we're at a moment right now, and I talked to the players after ... especially when you're going through a bad run of form, bad run of results, the confidence can teeter a little bit, right?" He said that at halftime, he made some adjustments and thought the squad responded well there, despite St. Louis scoring inside of 12 minutes after the restart. "The intensity, the attitude by the guys in the start of the second half was good," he observed. "And then ... the second goal hurts us. What I saw in the second half, after the second goal, was a group of guys that were giving everything, not necessarily in the way that we wanted to; it kind of went a little bit astray after the second goal, but I think the effort was there." In the end, the result got him thinking about the future — as, unless he hears otherwise from ownership or a new sporting director who might come onboard in the coming weeks, he plans to reconnect with the players after their mandatory three-week break. He'd be running a second preseason camp to prepare for July 22's match hosting Seattle and what comes after that, including three Leagues Cup matches against Liga MX teams. "I'm going to challenge these guys," he said. "The effort has to be more ... I said after the game we're going to go away and we're going to on this break and we come back ready to work, we're ready to get after it and we're going to be confident in our group and what we can do moving forward in the second half of the year." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: St. Louis City SC 3, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-stlvatx-052326/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T20:50:10.000Z In Austin FC's last match before a two-month break for the World Cup — and in its first match having moved on from both head coach Nico Estévez and sporting director Rodolfo Borrell — an own goal from Guilherme Biro, a set-piece goal by Fallou Fall, and an open-play goal from Daniel Edelman doomed Austin FC to a 3-0 loss at Energizer Park on Saturday afternoon. Myrto Uzuni, listed questionable before the match, didn't get into the matchday 20, but Dani Pereira and Owen Wolff got their first starts together in a lineup this season — after 14 matches in which injury prevented that from happening. Christian Ramírez also got a starting nod, and in keeping with Estévezian lineup principles, interim head coach started three left backs, putting Guilherme Biro in at the conventional left back slot while also deploying Joseph Rosales and Jon Gallagher. Verde was on the front foot early, getting 15 entries into the final third to St. Louis' zero in the first 13 minutes. It did take the 10th minute for either side to get a shot off, coming in the form of Jon Bell, with Ben Lundt easily handling that. A few minutes later, Rafael Santos tested Brad Stuver, once St. Louis discovered Verde's final third, to get City some slight momentum. St. Louis had to spend a sub and sub window in the 22nd, with Dante Polvara coming off for Lucas MacNaughton. The first real moment of danger came in the 33rd minute, when Dani Pereira fouled Marcel Hartel from behind, leading to an Eduard Löwen free kick that went just over the bar. Two minutes later, Hartel ran onto a loose ball in a sequence in front of goal, with a sliding Joseph Rosales blocking the attempt. Finally, in the 40th minute, the hosts broke through in the weirdest way possible, with Tomas Totland sending in a cross that bounced off Biro's head and past Stuver for the opener. Verde had one more chance before halftime, but Facundo Torres, getting just the team's second shot on target, rolled it slowly to Lundt after failing to get sufficient power on it. After halftime, St. Louis engineered several chances to eventually double the lead. Löwen got off a dangerous 52nd minute shot that hit woodwork and then Chris Durkin forced a diving save from Stuver on a 56th-minute shot. The subsequent corner from Marcel Hartel got a second phase, in which a lightly guarded Fall deftly hit a shot far post that Stuver had no chance on. Brandon Vázquez was activated in the 60th minute along with Jayden Nelson, in a tribute to a World Cup that could have been. Following several chances in front of goal on a free kick, Bell gave way in the 76th, as did Pereira, allowing Nicolás Dubersarsky and Žan Kolmanič to come on. Four minutes later, Owen Wolff was replaced by CJ Fodrey. In the 82nd, Löwen got played into the box by Totland and an inattentive defense allowed him to get off a shot that Stuver parried away to keep the score at two. In the 90th, Edelman added to the tally, assisted by Cedric Teuchert, who had subbed in just minutes before. The loss was Austin's third straight, stretching its winless streak to four. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Rosales might have been delaying the inevitable, but his block on Hartel showed that getting him as an offseason pickup might be the best thing Rodolfo Borrell did for Austin. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Dani Pereira is still good for one "why did you do that" play a game six years into his career; today's was the foul on Hartel at the edge of the box, where Löwen can punish teams on free kicks. ## One thing you might have missed For a while, an inability to produce replays led the Apple TV broadcast to display an "experiencing technical difficulties" banner; the metaphorical quality was not lost on John Muller. [John Muller (@johnspacemuller.com)Accurate analysis of these teams![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)Bluesky SocialJohn Muller![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreiadnsfhkhvcr4fp4kuns5f5ixtgve625qvxciegsfuec3ar7prj3e-38e62893c032e207418e3fc01b45cca00f2706ca6db6f0b5061e50cbed969b72)](https://bsky.app/profile/johnspacemuller.com/post/3mmk6s2zir22c?ref=verdeallday.com) ## One nerdy tidbit St. Louis didn't get a shot on target until the 56th minute. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative In what was supposed to be Verde's easiest stretch of the season, it got one point out of 12 to finish the six-match gift with just seven of 18 points. The pair of wins to start that, to Houston and to this St. Louis team in Austin, seem like they were many months ago. ## A question we have heading into the press conference It's going to center around motivation. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions about St. Louis City SC with Justin Horneker URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-st-louis-city-sc-justin-horneker-stlvatx-052326/ Last updated: 2026-05-23T13:29:15.000Z Here's a fun fact courtesy of Justin Horneker of [Talkin' Soccer](https://www.talkinsoccer.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) and [*St. Louis Magazine*](https://www.stlmag.com/author/justin-horneker/?ref=verdeallday.com) ahead of Saturday afternoon's match in which St. Louis City SC faces a relatively rudderless Austin FC: Today's hosts have faced an interim coach-led team three times prior, losing all three. (Also, Davy Arnaud is a perfect 1W 0L 0D as an interim manager, having beat the Rapids in Verde's 2024 Decision Day contest.) With that backdrop, and with me already having Justin's questions for [his preview](https://www.talkinsoccer.com/another-st-louis-city-sc-rematch-and-a-check-in-with-austin-fc-at-a-crossroads/?ref=verdeallday.com), in which I predict, "I also don't know that we're going to get a new coach bounce given how well-liked Estévez was. A new sporting director bounce, however, is absolutely possible!" To the questions! ### Since St. Louis last played Austin, it's been undefeated in three matches, beating Colorado and LAFC (!) and drawing D.C. Has there been something or someone that's been a difference maker in those matches? It’s interesting because the underlying numbers have generally been worse since the loss in Austin. Caveats of playing on the road and rotating with Tuesday’s U.S. Open quarterfinal in mind, but to put it simply, they’ve been more clinical. You may remember Simon Becher’s miss of the season in Austin, and that essentially marked Sergio Córdova taking over as the starting striker – although he missed the win in Colorado with an illness that’s been working its way through the club. The switch has also coincided with Jeong Sang-bin's return to the lineup. Sang-bin offers a different element with his speed and has ushered in tweak, allowing the right wingback to tuck into the midfield instead of taking on the responsibility of pushing the line. The elephant in the room is that Roman Bürki has also picked up his play; he’s been a top-three MLS shot stopper since the start of May, but his injury on Tuesday means that he is questionable going into Saturday, with Ben Lundt looking likely to start. ### Yoann Damet's now been a coach for a little more than five months, with a 3W 6L 4D record. That's very close to the record that got Henrik Rydström fired from the Crew last week ... how does the front office, the team and the fan base seem to be with Damet? Expectations – especially following the João Klauss sale – were markedly lower to start the season in St. Louis than what Columbus was attempting to accomplish in their transition from Nancy. It is a club in transition in both roster and playing style, so while you were seeing definite frustration within the fanbase and some Olof Mellberg-related trauma after the first month, there was enough to point to in how they were playing to know that things were trending in the right direction. Then you look at how many times they dropped points because no one could finish chances, and it became painfully clear that the problem is not having an attacker who can outscore their xGOT. All that to say, this is a roster that was assembled to be comfortable against the ball, and very quickly, they’ve morphed into a team that can score at the end of a 15-pass sequence, but they still require more players who are comfortable in possession. The fan base has been annoyed with aspects of Damet’s lineup decisions, but he’s also influenced games with some of his game plan and midgame tweaks this season. It’s also trying to understand an incomplete roster largely assembled by a sporting director who thought he could compete in MLS his way — you may know something about that. ### Congrats on getting to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals! It's a fun place to be! To win the trophy, all St. Louis has to do is beat the Rapids and then beat the winner of Columbus-Orlando ... how doable do you think that is, and what has Damet and the players said about it? I alluded to it above, but it all comes down to the roster decisions and finding that des who will make an immediate impact over the second half of the season. Even then, Damet and the players have all been in on the USOC since the Tulsa game last month. They see it as a way to kick start this new era and make a mark for a club that does not have much history to hang its hat on through three-plus MLS seasons. “It’s the mindset, the belief, and not setting limits for ourselves,” Damet said after the quarterfinal win on Tuesday. “It's a big accomplishment for the club. It's a big accomplishment for the group, and it gives me a lot of pride going into the break this summer with that ticket for the semi-inal.” In my mind, any team in the final four can win this competition. St. Louis beat Colorado in Commerce City earlier this month and should be on a stronger footing by the time that semifinal comes around. I’m also obligated to hope for the most narratively satisfying final of St. Louis visiting Columbus. The Crew appointed Issa Tall as Sporting Director, while Corey Wray was thought to be a finalist for the job as the Crew’s assistant GM. Laurent Courtois was considered for the St. Louis job this winter as well, before landing on Damet. Wray handled the Crew 2 roster during Courtois’s MLS Next Pro title season, and both shared a brief overlap in Montréal – as tends to happen. You also have to wonder where Columbus is right now if they promote Damet immediately into the job vs the failed Henrik Rydström experiment. I’m a sucker for the narrative. You have to play the games. I would not be surprised if the final is Colorado visiting Orlando, but it would be a big accomplishment in season one of the rebuild in St. Louis. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### A world of pure imagination: Guessing the next Austin FC sporting director and head coach candidates URL: https://verdeallday.com/pure-imagination-austin-fc-head-coach-sporting-director/ Last updated: 2026-05-22T16:30:14.000Z Willy Wonka sang of a world of [pure imagination](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY&list=RDSVi3-PrQ0pY&start%5Fradio=1&ref=verdeallday.com) in various movie versions of the eccentric chocolate entrepreneur running a candy factory *I'd* be wary of sending my child to, though the song itself positively talks about manifesting wishes, hoping to transform what matters to you for the better. That's where Austin FC fans find themselves in the days following the dismissal of sporting director Rodolfo Borrell and head coach Nico Estévez. While the immediate matter at hand is Saturday's match at St. Louis City SC, as interim head coach Davy Arnaud and All-Star contender Brad Stuver discussed in a Thursday media availability, they're also thinking about who might be the successors to spin a new vision for the club, and have brought in [Excel Sports Management](https://excelsm.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) to help (though we're pretty sure the club has designs on who it wants already). We're thinking about it as well, so let's discuss five candidates for each position and get you excited and dash your hopes but lift them up again. You may wonder why we are focusing on candidates for both roles with significant MLS experience. Why not Big Ange? Where's shooting for the heights of European coaching excellence? In the previous coaching search, MLS experience was cited as a major priority for the club, and we don't think that has changed in terms of their big priorities. It could be that we miss big on that front in both roles, but MLS has become such a particular sort of bubble that we feel confident in ownership focusing on looking inside of it for well-seasoned veterans, with track records and actual silverware brought to trophy cabinets. It could still be wishcasting, but we are confident that all the listed names are within Verde's ambitions and actual reach. Austin FC is still a desirable destination, and should those candidates become hires — and a source told us one sporting director and two coaches are under consideration already — we'll be quick to remind everyone that we had source-augmented hunches. But which ones are they? Perhaps the next [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergency-podcast-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1742052077?ref=verdeallday.com) will hold some clues! ## Sporting director ### Tim Bezbatchenko, Corey Wray and/or Jaime McMillan **Phil:** So this perhaps had its origin in a video still shared among Austin FC fans, in what turned out to be a MLS-hosted [Virtual International Player Workshop](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social/post/3mjzmkvuyfk2t?ref=verdeallday.com). In that, Ilie Sánchez shared on Instagram (and then deleted) that he was [peeking in](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social/post/3mjz4jx46vs2t?ref=verdeallday.com) on a fireside chat with Wilfried Nancy and former Crew VP of Soccer Administration [Jaime McMillan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-mcmillan-2934bb1a2/?ref=verdeallday.com). McMillan, in addition to being instrumental in DP signings — the good ones — while with Toronto before coming over the Crew, just so happens to be married to [Corey Wray](https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-wray-16011826/?ref=verdeallday.com), who was high up with [Tim Bezbatchenko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-bezbatchenko-b037256/?ref=verdeallday.com) at both Toronto and Columbus, before taking the St. Louis City SC sporting director job to succeed Lutz Pfannenstiel. Bezbatchenko's currently with a Bournemouth-affiliated project called Black Knight Football, and even if he doesn't want to come back stateside to bring the band together, perhaps Wray and McMillan would want to reunite with Nancy in a city that's, let's be honest, a more desirable city than St. Louis. There's also the bonus, for those who still hold a grudge against Crew fans, of taking the architects of two MLS Cup wins and making them Verde. **Moisés:** This is the choice that says "give Nancy who he wants," but they could pair just as well with, say, a Jim Curtin. In an org that saw massive sporting department turnover under Rodo (from the first team down to the Academy), bringing over a staff leadership that is already a well-oiled machine makes all the sense in the world as they work rapidly to realign operations. They will have to do all of that while they *also* figure out how to work with a majority of their first team being on longer-term contracts that may be difficult to do anything with until the 2026 post-season. I see Austin wanting a coach who is comfortable with a "team of not-rivals" (to counter the [Abraham Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team%5Fof%5FRivals?ref=verdeallday.com) strategy) situation following Rodo, where the previous sporting director's experience was primarily in coaching and not sporting operations. Even if Bezbatchenko is not in the cards, the search firm bringing in McMillan in the staffing and operations VP role, and Wray more on the technical side doing what he's doing now (but in Austin) signals a team who values and respects proven performance between an ideal coach candidate and the people making sure the entire tree stays healthy, from roots to canopy. *(Note: Within 90 minutes of this publishing,* [*the Crew announced*](https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/haslam-sports-group-to-name-tim-bezbatchenko-president-of-global-soccer?ref=verdeallday.com) *that it has hired Bezbatchenko to be its new sporting director. Told you it was a good idea!)* ### Garth Lagerwey **Moisés:** I don't think there is a more respected name on this list than [Garth Lagerwey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/garth-lagerwey-7a1543129/?ref=verdeallday.com), executive-wise. If the goal is MLS experience and relationships working with and being part of this league, with an eye on building for the future in a sustainable way, you could not do better. I think that overwhelmingly in this search, this front office values and is focused on proven MLS relationships and experience in the trenches alongside actual results, which Lagerwey has across working at multiple clubs. He's something of a theoretically perfect connector to a variety of solid coaches. I don't see anyone on the coaching list below I think he'd be an ill fit working alongside, and they all know and respect him. What has he *not* gotten a chance to do yet in MLS? Something shaped like the potential of Austin, if you ask me. The Salt Lake, Seattle, and Atlanta metros all have other pro sports franchises outside of soccer. It would be incredible to see a former Dallas Burn player (who left on waivers!) properly build Austin into a siege engine ready for all comers in the 100-year war. There's something I like spiritually about the idea of a former goalkeeper joining a club that has become so defined by its goalkeeper during it first decade thus far. **Phil:** Lagerwey's also got a fantastic personality, as former Striker writer J. Sam Jones was able to attest from Lagerwey's time with the Five Stripes, and would provide a culture-shift 180 for a club that — the more we're learning — is hungry for one. My one concern is that he recently battled cancer, putting his status with Atlanta in limbo while he dug in for the fight, and then that club [announced in December](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/47169486/garth-lagerwey-cancer-return-atlanta-ceo?ref=verdeallday.com) that he wouldn't be returning. He's still just 53, but given what he's gone through, is reviving Verde the answer to the "What do I want to do with the rest of my life?" existential question I imagine him asking himself? ### Neil McGuinness **Phil:** After 5 1/2 years with the Crew (including during the Nancy years), plus three years with the Qatar Football Association before that (!!), [Neil McGuinness](https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-mcguinness-488647207/?ref=verdeallday.com) went to LAFC, where he's been John Thorrington's No. 2 in that club's continued run of success. While I have questions about the Black & Gold Empire of late — I assume it was in the Griezmann sweepstakes and don't know how they got beat out by effing Orlando — they still do MLS roster rules better than any other franchise. Getting someone into Austin who was instrumental to such a successful organization — we know, for instance, how jealous Borrell was of all the GAM they cultivated — just makes sense. **Moisés:** McGuinness represents hardware and consistent results. He has been part of sporting operations that reflect a proven track record within MLS and has otherwise shown that those trophies were not flukes. He's the perfect connecting piece for a Nancy hire, but ought to work well with any of the top names on the list of potential coaches. He's got the scouting and recruitment track record and has gotta be eager to climb from Technical Director at LAFC to his first Sporting Director post. He's consulted for top flight teams across Europe and Mexico and has a built-out international reach. My No. 2 pick behind Lagerwey. ### Chance Myers **Phil:** He is the Nashville SC No. 2, and Nashville did bring in Cristian Espinoza in the offseason, which is quite the feat, but also, this is his [LinkedIn profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chance-myers-36516988/?ref=verdeallday.com), which a photo that screams "drunk bridesmaid snapped this with one of the disposable cameras strategically placed at the reception dinner table." He's 38, but also building something great in Music City and would have a chance to build longevity in Austin and get along famously with Anthony Precourt and Andy Loughnane. **Moisés:** The question for me is what additional freedom Myers could want for that he would be getting at Austin. Things are going well for him at Nashville, so how ambitious is he and how eager is he to leave a project he is part of that is on a heater and then some. ### Oscar Pareja (in a dual SD/HC role) **Moisés:** I just don't see running the clock back (in MLS terms) to two roles for [one person](https://www.orlandocitysc.com/news/oscar-pareja-head-coach?ref=verdeallday.com). Austin can be intentionally vague about how they word press releases and talk about the business side, but I think I take them at face value in wanting separate troves of experience for separate roles. Is there a sporting director he might pair well with? Sure, but he is going to want some heavy say and involvement on that side of things, and that may conflict with some of the MLS vets we project Austin to want to target on that side of things. **Phil:** I don't see this either, and I don't necessarily see him pairing with a sporting director. He's got an impressive resume with some MLS success (though he doesn't even have a LinkedIn profile), but I also don't think this fan base is ready for another former FC Dallas coach given the current vibes. (Though he clearly knows how to get the best out of Facundo Torres! Or, at least, better than we're seeing now!) Note that we did not suggest Peter Vermes in a dual SD/HC role. ## Head coach ### Wilfried Nancy **Moisés:** With a change in sporting director, Phil's fondest wish can finally come true! There's some expectation that Nancy may be reluctant to move right back to the States, but the right fit in a league he knows well is a great way to get back on the horse after what happened with Celtic. Despite that bruising eight-game run, and unlike how he may be viewed in Europe, I still think he's one of the best coaching minds in world football, not just MLS. The unintentionally leaked photo of his participation in an International Players webinar for MLS just makes for good luck in his having recently watched Austin's team captain in action off the pitch, alongside former players who love the club (Gyasi Zardes and Felipe Martins). Nancy has been known to clash with sporting departments and ownership groups when he does not feel supported, so I'm confident that to land him would require a truly harmonic match of sporting director. He'd be worth it. If Austin has been quietly working on coaching and sporting director contingency plans since the Open Cup bounce out, expect that they would have been carefully and meaningfully courting him as one of any top three names on their list. **Phil:** To boil it down to two words: Yes, please. As I said on our most recent [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-105-you-know-its-a-real-emergency-when-we/id1742052077?i=1000768495597&ref=verdeallday.com), I think he's the one coach who could take this current Chopped basket of a roster and turn into something delicious — say, a 5-2-3 in which Joseph Rosales is finally flourishing as a left wingback and Facundo Torres is finally scoring goals, plural. He's woefully behind on maintaining his [LinkedIn profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilfried-nancy-ab7006177/?ref=verdeallday.com), though. If he added Austin to it, I'd be over the moon. ### Vanni Sartini **Moisés:** I don't think there's a chance in hell that [Vanni Sartini](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanni-sartini-0226171b/?ref=verdeallday.com) is especially eager to coach in this state at this time, politics-wise, but he *is* eager to come back to MLS, according to various sources. Would an avowed European Socialist fit in at a club that welcomes Greg Abbott as an honored guest? The fanbase would love him, and he had a solid track record at Vancouver. He's an ultras-conversant guy on par with Estévez before him, even wearing SG-created merch on the sidelines at games. But is the post-Vanni run of form for Vancouver a result of what he built finally fully maturing, or showing that he held them back *just* enough to keep them from greatness? **Phil:** In addition to loving his personality and his willingness to share with media — with the Whitecaps, he once hosted a preseason lunch with reporters where he walked through his tactical insights for the coming season with them — I love that his background is in methodology. Estévez is certainly a student of the game, but I believe that Sartini's on a whole different level. Plus, I imagine every press conference being a joy to cover. ### Jim Curtin **Moisés:** What Tom Bogert said about [Jim Curtin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-curtin-01b26a118/?ref=verdeallday.com) a while back was that he was in serious contention for New England, but that family reasons would keep him out of coaching "through 2026." My question is whether those family reasons meant calendar 2026 or *school year* 2025-26\. He wants back into coaching in MLS and has long been the top name on every list of who teams want to fill their coaching vacancies. He's big on player development, and very serious about pushing American soccer forward. He'd be a dream hire. What can Austin offer him to make this project more enticing than his pick of others across MLS? Meaningful input on a sporting director selection that he is as comfortable with symbiotically as they are with him would go a long way, and this "hard reset" point for Austin allows for that. Him or Nancy as the coach hire means that Austin and Excel are, indeed, *cooking* on the sporting director front. **Phil:** The fact that he spent almost a decade at Philly and has consistently good teams during that time speaks to his solidity and his ability to create lasting culture. He's also great with media and seems great with players. Going from Josh Wolff to Nico Estévez did underscore that being bilingual helps, but that's also something that a well-placed assistant can help. I'd be delighted with a Curtin hire. He did stop a conversation with the Revolution to be its new head coach when they were looking to move on from Caleb Porter, but you'd probably do the same. (The Revs' job becomes truly desirable with a new stadium, which happens in 2027 at the earliest. The Verde job is desirable *now*.) ### Gio Savarese **Phil:** Prior to 2023, it's a great resume for Austin: Venezuelan player with a long journeyman career giving him lots of perspective on coaching, more than five years with the legendary (though not quite what they once were) New York Cosmos, and then five and a half years with the Timbers, taking them to two MLS Cup finals (though losing both of them). After 2023, though? He's been an Apple TV analyst talking about MLS rather than coaching in it. **Moisés:** He's been out of coaching for a while, which could be for any number of reasons including that the longer a coach sits on the shelf, the harder it is for them to be seen as an exciting hire. Austin doesn't need a hire that is perceived as "splashy" so much as that can be seen by players, staff, and fans as people who can work together. ### Gonzalo Pineda **Moisés:** Pineda would be a great departure from the Berhalter coaching tree that many hardcore fans and watchers of Austin want to get as far away from as possible. His work learning under Brian Schmetzer and I *guess* you could say that the style of football he coached at Atlanta and Atlas would bode well for delivering the "absolute scenes" style of play that Austin fans have hungered for, provided he has the right roster to work with. **Phil:** On the positive side, he's a former Mexican player with time spent in both Liga MX and MLS, transitioning from player to assistant coach with the Sounders, which is arguably the best club for absorbing winning soccer culture in MLS. On the negative side, he had a less than optimal tenure with Atlanta United (with a Wolffian 1.32 points per game) and an even more dismal 24 matches with Atlas ending last August (at a sub-Wolffian 0.92 points per game). Yes, a departure, and I could be talked into the logic for such a hire, but the head coaching track record might be hard to sell fans on. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### An All-Star once more?: The case for Brad Stuver to return to the MLS All-Star squad URL: https://verdeallday.com/case-for-all-star-brad-stuver-goalkeeping-metrics/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T13:30:48.000Z Even though 2026 MLS All-Star voting has perhaps come at the worst time for Austin FC's Brad Stuver, he's still in contention to return to the squad he debuted in last year in his home stadium. Verde fans can still [vote for Stuver](https://www.mlssoccer.com/allstar/2026/vote/?utm%5Fcampaign=2026+ASG+Fan+Vote&utm%5Fmedium=bitly&utm%5Fsource=Stories) through Thursday night at 11:59 pm, and gauging from MLS' recent tally, Stuver is among the [top goalkeeper candidates](https://www.mlssoccer.com/allstar/2026/news/mls-all-star-2026-voting-update-who-leads-the-way-charlotte?ref=verdeallday.com). Adding to the narrative of Austin FC's troubled season, he's also the only Verde player with a chance to make the squad playing Liga MX stars on [July 29 in Charlotte](https://www.mlssoccer.com/allstar/2026/?ref=verdeallday.com). Whereas many players will make a show of not caring about getting an All-Star nod, Stuver took to Bluesky last week — before and, bravely, after a 5-0 midweek drubbing against San Diego FC — to actively campaign for his inclusion in the squad. [Brad Stuver (@bradstuver.com)MLS All-Star voting is open! 3 games left and a lot of work still to do but heres some objectove stats to help with your decision Vote here: https://www.austinfc.com/news/vote-austin-fc-players-to-the-2026-mls-all-star-game?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNTY3MDY3MzQzMzUyNDI3AAGn2hFMRUNBY9ikCHISVevuVHvDi\_fHidqi\_0v61s-eglvU\_9aTYpoI5QJCtwg\_aem\_L4P5jS6dsgCawcacXaMGig![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-eb14a7ed3cead85c71ac878fcff399abd445d8d998ab76953f23fdecc02e90f5.png)Bluesky SocialBrad Stuver![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreidj54pkxqjdimvos5necodq3ryyk3hmrzg3wiofm2v72ea5tlu2m4-4c7fc1fb126e343fe03dfab6c9094c24f758474100dced1616f212ffaaf5c1a1)](https://bsky.app/profile/bradstuver.com/post/3mlqpz6qd222n?ref=verdeallday.com) [Brad Stuver (@bradstuver.com)Updated![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)Bluesky SocialBrad Stuver![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreih6fjl6rhi5yfwkgspxnuzmygnrkzbaat6bfimpmlch47r53f65ye-ea54798f8d4aba372fadfeccd5c565c32726d1b0ef09fb05941a9d33e13b1ab2)](https://bsky.app/profile/bradstuver.com/post/3mltcccbzbc25?ref=verdeallday.com) [Brad Stuver (@bradstuver.com)Final Update![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)Bluesky SocialBrad Stuver![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreicegmpjzohgjhdrr7zjo7ajhvxtu2vbz43lqbz42mku7w22uamrim-8dad748528afcfeae905ce7a80331da31e118c39787de4926f4d992cda678824)](https://bsky.app/profile/bradstuver.com/post/3mm552agtmc2l?ref=verdeallday.com) The race for the top three goalkeepers could be complicated by Charlotte head coach Dean Smith, who gets to select the players who aren't voted in by a mix of fans, players, and media. (Full disclosure: I've already submitted my media ballot, and I absolutely voted in Stuver as my lone Verde rep, picking many of the outfield players among the fans' top vote getters, including former Austin FC midfielder Sebastian Berhalter.) Though Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina is having a dismal season by advanced goalkeeping metric standards (and we're going to get there in a moment), he's also tied for third in saves with 58, and there's a history of coaches naming their own goalkeepers to the squad. That's something Nico Estévez did last season — though it's plausible a different coach would have done the same were Austin not hosting — and Wayne Rooney infamously picked D.C.'s Tyler Miller in 2023\. So, should Smith follow the trend, Stuver needs to be a top-two rather than a top-three selection between the voters and Smith. Let's dig into some numbers. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Austin FC moves on from Rodo Borrell and Nico Estevez, ending an era URL: https://verdeallday.com/rodolfo-borrell-nico-estevez-part-ways-with-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T17:46:29.000Z At 10:18 am today, Austin FC confirmed the very inflection point that we posited at the beginning of the [post-match press conference](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvskc-051626-nico-estevez/) following the team's 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City: > "Austin FC today announced that the Club has parted ways with Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell and Head Coach Nico Estévez, effective immediately. The Club has begun searches for its next Sporting Director and Head Coach while implementing an interim leadership structure for Soccer Operations. Davy Arnaud has been appointed Interim Head Coach ahead of the Club’s next match against St. Louis CITY SC on May 23." Based on what we are hearing, the expectation is that the rest of the assistant coaching staff will remain in place as the search proceeds for a new sporting director and head coach. The club noted, in its press release: > While the search for the Club’s next head coach is already underway, Austin FC has also retained the services of Excel Sports Management’s executive search division, Excel Search & Advisory, to lead the global search for the Club’s next Sporting Director with the goal of identifying a sporting leader who aligns with Austin FC’s long-term vision and competitive objectives across all levels of the organization, including the first team, second team, and academy. Following various departures across many levels of the organization since his hiring, Borrell's dismissal marks an opportunity for Austin FC to make meaningful change. > "We know that our fans and our community deserve a winner, and our Ownership group will continue to make the necessary decisions in order to deliver consistently strong results across competitions.” A move this substantial allows Austin to pursue a much broader pool of head coaching options than they would otherwise be able to with the "sporting director-centric" model put in place under Borrell. The club went on to hint that the change might come prior to the July 22 home match against Seattle — its first following the World Cup break. > The 60-day mid-season pause that begins at the conclusion of the upcoming match vs. St. Louis City SC affords the Club a natural period to implement a transition and position the organization for success. The players will all go on a mandated three-week break (per the MLS Players Association's agreement with the league) on the other side of this weekend's away fixture in St. Louis, and presumably come back to a rapidly changing environment at St. David's Performance Center. Davy Arnaud will serve as Austin's interim manager for the second time. You can most certainly expect an actual Emergency Podcast very soon. In the meantime, review the just-updated [2026 by the numbers](https://verdeallday.com/2026-by-the-numbers/). ### Nico Estévez contains multitudes: Analyzing an epic post-match press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvskc-051626-nico-estevez/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T00:02:53.000Z In "[Song of Myself, 51](https://poets.org/poem/song-myself-51?ref=verdeallday.com)," American poet Walt Whitman penned one of his most famous lines, "I am large, I contain multitudes." In Saturday night's press conference following Austin FC's humbling [2-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-051626/) to Sporting Kansas City, Spanish soccer coach Nico Estévez — for now, at least, Verde's head coach — also demonstrated that he contains multitudes while holding court for just seconds shy of a full half-hour. He was, as he's been in recent weeks through three of the club's worst losses in club history, frustrated by the results and by elements of game play that cost his team precious points, yet also asserting what went well in those ultimately fruitless matches. He was also a historian in making a case about sticking with a coach through adversity, delving into the stories of two Valencia coaches — Rafael Benitez, who vaulted from his 2001-2004 tenure there to coach Liverpool, and Héctor Cúper, his predecessor — to underscore the message, "Decision-makers must not act impulsively; they need to analyze the situation objectively." And ultimately — along with defining himself to be different than *his* predecessor, in bringing the club to its first final — he was resolute in wanting to turn the season around despite the most recent pair of losses undoing the progress of the preceding three-match unbeaten streak, leaving Verde back on one point per game and on pace to finish the season on 34 points, just three better than in their inaugural season. [New offer: $2 for two months (good for just two days)](https://verdeallday.com/2-a-month-for-two-months-for-two-days) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Sporting Kansas City 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-051626/ Last updated: 2026-05-17T02:34:30.000Z Late goals let in let Austin FC down once again. In what turned out to be a critical game between the (checks notes) No. 13 and No. 15 teams in the West, Austin FC gave up goals in the 79th and 83rd minute via subs Manu Garcia and Stephen Afrifa, after getting a goal just before halftime from Mikkel Desler, leading to a 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night in Q2 Stadium — the team's last home match before a lengthy World Cup break that brings them back to their home stadium on July 22\. Verde started with a few notable swaps in the starting lineup, including Owen Wolff making his first start of the year and Guilherme Biro resuming at left back after being held out of Wednesday's match for fear of getting to the magic yellow card activating suspension. Notably, Besard Šabović didn't make the matchday 20\. Neither team was able to threaten much in the first 15, with Calvin Harris's 12th-minute shot, courting a save from Brad Stuver, create some mild panic — but not on the levels of the adventures in goalkeeping a minute prior. It was a heart-in-throat moment in the 11th minute — Stuver came out to the edge of his box thinking he could strip the ball from Dejan Joveljić, and after failing, had to defend him like a left back — since the left back on that play was elsewhere — to neutralize the threat. In the 16th, Facundo Torres stood over a free kick that Wolff won, lofting a dangerous ball goalward where Biro stood, but Biro was unable to get a head to it. In the 23rd, Harris got free for a shot being chased by Mikkel Desler across a section of the 18-yard box, just missing wide, and as the first half continued on, the visitors looked the more threatening team, and engineered more danger of the Verde half of the field. But, in the first few seconds of stoppage time, Biro sent a cross to an awaiting and alone Desler just to the right of the penalty spot; he volleyed it into the far post, past his former teammate Stefan Cleveland, against the run of play. With only one minute of stoppage time, Verde went into the locker room up 1-0, turning what might have been bitter halftime boos into cheers and green light. Following halftime, not a lot of terribly exciting soccer happened, though Verde exerted more defensive control over the match, with the few Verde chances engineered snuffed out before they could blossom in the final third. Head coach Nico Estévez made a double sub in the 60th, getting Wolff and Ramírez off for Jon Gallagher and Jayden Nelson. But even with the infusion of speed, it still took Verde until minute 68 to get their first shot of the half, via Myrto Uzuni. In the 73rd, Estévez made another double sub to get Dani Pereira and Brandon Vázquez on, and Verde's offensive output increased after that. Unfortunately for Verde's, though, so did SKC's. SKC's two goals in five minutes came from plays in which Verde had defenders marking but were bested nonetheless. In the 79th, Manu Garcia — coming on as a sub 16 minutes prior — received the ball outside the box and moved forward, committing to the shot as four Verde players converged around him, but went forward with the plan and beat Stuver. Then, in the 83rd, Afrifa — coming on seven minutes prior — went one-on-one against Jon Bell, and curled in a shot that emphatically banged off the crossbar on its way in. CJ Fodrey was brought in for Desler right after that to try to engineer some late game magic. No late game magic was forthcoming. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) In the 58th minute, Shapi Suleymanov set up for a free kick, and Christian Ramírez was part of a two-man wall. Shapi's shot hammered into Ramírez's midsection, and he went down instantly, but the wall held and shut down a dangerous opportunity. Way to give up your body on that one, Christian! ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 56th minute, Torres initiated a counter, going nearly box to box on a marauding run downfield, and then, with players to the left and the right of him ... dumped the ball with a heavy touch straight into an SKC defender, ending the threat. The goal possible there might have proved vital. ## One thing you might have missed In the 45th minute, SKC won a free kick, and Cleveland ambled over to the sideline to pick up a ball and then took the kick himself, well outside of his box. On this night, for brief moments, neither goalkeeper could be *contained*. ## One nerdy tidbit Here's what the game state looked like just prior to Desler's goal, including a 0.47 to 0.03 xG advantage for the visitors. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-16-at-20.25.26.png) And then right after. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-16-at-20.30.41.png) (Still no big chances for either team per how they label them, but come on.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Questions about Estévez's future, the roster build, whether a Wooden Spoon is on the horizon ... everything comes into a more dour light with this loss. This is most decidedly an inflection point for not just the season, but for the franchise. ## A question we have heading into the press conference In a match in which Estévez shifted his lineup to have most of his best players out there, in their last home match before a two-month break, why this relatively lackluster performance? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Kansas City Star's Daniel Sperry URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-kansas-city-star-daniel-sperry-atxvskc-051626/ Last updated: 2026-05-16T19:57:50.000Z On Saturday night, Sporting Kansas City comes to Austin FC for what suddenly looks to be a vibes-saving match if nothing else. Playoff chances would certainly dwindle with a dropped three points at home against the worst team in the West (record-wise) ... though SKC is coming off a 3-1 home win over LA Galaxy on Wednesday, contrasted with Austin FC's 5-0 loss to SKC, so SKC will also see this as a golden opportunity to add a win to a win. To prepare for the match, we checked in with our friend Daniel Sperry — catching him at a Kansas City Current match Friday night while in an H-E-B line — and fired off three questions to him. He provided fantastic answers as he always does, and we now know a little bit more about everything — including how former Austin FC goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland is faring between the sticks for SKC. To the questions! ### It’s been a challenging season for SKC so far … is that what you expected headed into the season opener or is worse than you were anticipating (and why)? Yes...and no? I didn't expect them to be even a .500 team. But I expected much more competitive performances. I think they've been competitive in spurts, but then go through phases in games where they lose themselves. On this team's roster, 13 of the 24 players (already incredibly small!) are making the minimum. So there is a clear talent gap between them and even middle-of-the-pack rosters. When that talent gap exists, a team can make up for some of it with a good mentality. We've seen bad soccer teams with great mentalities (2023 St. Louis) do well for extended periods of a season. But when the requisite mentality is there 50% of the time, you're not going to win games. I think Sporting found that mentality on Wednesday. The question is whether or not they can continue to tap into it. ### Does Raphael Wicky just need a mini-preseason to get his team playing better (and presumably institute his system), or have you seen enough to know Wicky won’t work there? I think Rapha simply needs more to work with. Most teams have "similar" enough players that when someone is missing. They can somewhat plug the hole without drastically changing what they want to do. Through injuries and poor performance, I don't think Wicky has come close to actually setting the team up in the way he wants to. Both players and staff have admitted at times that they're in a place where they might need to simply find a way to get results, rather than playing the way they want the team to look at the "culmination" of this rebuild. I don't think we've seen enough to know Wicky won't work yet, because I don't even know if we've fully seen how Wicky wants his team to work. That puts the emphasis on David Lee to get him a better roster as soon as possible. ### At goalkeeper, Stefan Cleveland has emerged as the starter there … do you think this is temporary, or is he taking hold of the job? And how’s he looking so far? I am not sure. The org has stated confidence in John Pulskamp multiple times in recent years. I think the change came mostly because the team, at times, doesn't play with a cool head. And frankly, Pulskamp isn't the calming voice that says a veteran backup is. Pulskamp's shot-stopping ability is unquestioned, but there are more pieces to the goalkeeping puzzle than just that. Cleveland has spent time as a backup to two elite goalkeepers, Stefan Frei and Brad Stuver. Sometimes when the back line is going through a storm, it just needs a calming presence. And right now, that's what I think is putting Cleveland ahead of Pulskamp on the depth chart. I don't know if you can put any of the goals conceded in the last three games on him, and he's made stops when called upon in crucial moments. As long as he doesn't make mistakes, the job will likely be his for a bit. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'We feel ashamed about the result that we got today': Reflecting on an 'unacceptable' 5-0 loss URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sdvatx-051326-nico-estevez-jon-gallagher/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T14:00:43.000Z At least we got an apology on Wednesday night — and a long, effusive explanation to go with it. Following Austin FC's deflating [5-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sdvatx-051326/) to San Diego FC on Wednesday night — halting a three-match unbeaten streak and dropping the team back to 13th in the West after recent results vaulted them to 10th — head coach Nico Estévez started a lengthy explanation of injuries, scheduling, and a desire to get a home win on Saturday against Sporting Kansas City for a lineup rotation that put his team at an instant disadvantage against an SDFC team eager to break a nine-match winless streak and show they're better than their record indicates. "We feel ashamed about the result that we got today," Estévez said. "We didn't come here to have that result. We prepare everything to get a better result. We apologize to the fans and and the club and everything everyone that supports Austin, because this is not how we should represent this club." Estévez then revealed his rationale: - Guilherme Biro, on four yellow cards, would be in danger of a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation would he have gotten one against San Diego (which, given Biro, seems likely\[\[1\]\]); - Brendan Hines-Ike is sidelined with a hamstring injury for the remaining matches leading up to the World Cup break, presumably to return in July; - Mikkel Desler, who has been dealing with "discomfort" throughout the season, is currently on a regimen of missing midweek matches to manage that; and - Owen Wolff (who played limited minutes) and Brandon Vázquez (who, per his Instagram, stayed behind) also weren't options for Estévez, given the club's cautious approach to returning them from lengthy injuries. Estévez also let us know he had a word with league officials about putting the club in this spot. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: San Diego FC 5, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sdvatx-051326/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T03:36:39.000Z Austin FC, playing on the road with a rotated lineup, gave up early goals to David Vázquez and Andres Dreyer en route to San Diego FC winning in a 5-0 rout on Wednesday night at Snapdragon Stadium. Head coach Nico Estévez rolled out with a different look than he has in past matches, leaving Brandon Vázquez behind in Austin and pairing San Diego's own CJ Fodrey with Myrto Uzuni up top, and pairing Nicolás Dubersarsky and Besard Šabović in the midfield, while starting a back line of Žan Kolmanič, Jon Bell, Olekasandr Svatok, and Jon Gallagher. That back line let Verde down early, with SDFC engineering an initial chance in the 4th minute, with Alex Mighten getting in a cross to Marcus Ingvartsen, who tried a shot wrapping his leg around Bell. Then, in the 8th minute, Ingvartsen fed Onni Valakari with a pass up the right flank; Valakari then managed to get across in for a sliding Vázquez (the Vázquez on the field), who got enough on the ball to where a trying-very-hard Jon Gallagher couldn't get to it before it crossed the line, with both Bell and Šabović in vicinity of the shot. Fodrey almost got a goal in front of friends and family (presumably) in the 10th minute, and Facundo Torres had a good chance that was left wanting in the 14th, but the next goal was also San Diego's, with Dreyer getting on a ball on the right flank and posterizing Svatok in the 17th with a clever juke move prior to his shot to double the lead. In the 32nd minute, Fodrey sent a cross to Uzuni that was too hot, but one of Verde's better first-half chances to get on the board. Verde had a positive moment in the 51st minute, with Joseph Rosales initiating what initially appeared to be an Uzuni goal, though Rosales was deemed offside in the buildup. But then, it was good feeling gone in the 54th minute, with Pedro Soma getting off a shot to make it 3-0 with only a slow-approaching Uzuni defending and other offensive options lingering inside the box. Fodrey, clipped by San Diego goalkeeper Duran Ferree around the hour mark, gave way several minutes later to Owen Wolff for Verde's first sub — with Fodrey visibly bleeding as he came off. Soon after, Estévez activated more subs to give younger players minutes and not necessarily to come back from three goals down, including: - U22 Initiative center back Mateja Đorđević; - Supplemental homegrown midfielder Ervin Torres; and - Supplemental homegrown attacker Micah Burton. To be fair, Burton and the younger Torres had some initial good shots to announce their presence. But, in the 79th minute, Ingvartsen got a goal on a play in which Bell and Đorđević both looked flat-footed. Vázquez got his second in stoppage time, working Đorđević thoroughly. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Rosales wasn't that offside on what appeared at first to be a really well-worked goal that would have closed the margin to 2-1\. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Nico Estévez submitting the lineup to the game officials. ## One thing you might have missed Luca Bombino getting a yellow card in the 44th minute. We're not sure for what. Also, Fodrey appears to have clocked Valakari with an elbow in the head right before halftime, and that mysteriously went uncarded. ## One nerdy tidbit Shouting out Trevor Allison for pointing this one out about five minutes in; this is what possession looked like: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-13-at-20.46.04.png) I checked it again around the 10-minute mark. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-13-at-20.50.16.png) I've never seen this level of possession discrepancy in all my soccer-covering days. It did end around the 60/40 mark, but still. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative When the season began, seeing this as a midweek match within a seven-day stretch, away to last year's Western Conference champs, you probably would have penciled this in as a loss. San Diego's early-season form changed the equation, and three matches unbeaten plus SDFC's nine-match winless streak had us giddy. MLS gonna MLS, sometimes. ## A question we have heading into the press conference What led to this lineup? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Christmas in May: What the new MLSPA Salary Guide numbers tell us about Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/christmas-in-may-new-mlspa-salary-guide-numbers-austin-fc-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T01:56:34.000Z Merry MLSPA Christmas (No. 1) to all who celebrate. On Tuesday, the MLS Players Association once again performed their twice-annual service to journalists and roster nerds across the U.S. and Canada, publishing salary information for all the MLS players — this time, signed to contracts at the start of the 2026 season. Another one comes later in the year to include summer transfer window signings, but this data confirms some of what we knew when the club roster profiles came out in late February — only now we know, for example, just what Verde's two TAM players are making — while introducing some other questions. First, let's talk about the designated players and Under 22 Initiative players (or U22s for short) — among the team's most expensive, salarywise. And to be clear, this isn't an exercise in gawking at players' salaries and seeing who is outearning who. It's to try to figure out how Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is fitting the player salaries under the $6.425 million budget limit alloted each MLS club. ## DPs and U22s Currently, Borrell is using all three designated player spots on the following: - Facundo Torres, $3.36 million base salary, $4.405 million guaranteed compensation - Myrto Uzuni, $1.6 million base salary, $2.305 million guaranteed compensation - Brandon Váqzuez, $3.35 million base salary, $3,701,778 guaranteed compensation By $10,000, Torres is the highest-paid player on the team just counting base salaries. Each player counts at the maximum salary budget charge for a player, which is $803,125\. The U22s can also be paid more than the $150,000 salary budget charge for a player 20 and younger, and $200,000 for a player 21 to 25\. (Yes, depending on when you sign your U22 contract – and you have to start under 22 – you can be a U22 player until you're 25.) Those players are: - Mateja Đorđević, $325,000 base salary, $335,000 guaranteed compensation - Nicolás Dubersarsky, $325,000 base salary, $335,000 guaranteed compensation - Owen Wolff, $750,000 base salary, $750,000 guaranteed compensation ## The TAM players Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) players are those whose salaries plus acquisition charges go beyond the $803,125 amount, and can be bought down to below the threshold using some of the $2.125 million in TAM allotted each team. Verde has two of these, including Dani Pereira, who got a considerable raise considering he was on $475,000 last year. - Dani Pereira, $750,000 base salary, $793,750 guaranteed compensation - Joseph Rosales, $500,000 base salary, $529,875 guaranteed compensation ## Possibly supplemental players? When we were talking about the Christian Ramírez acquisition, the magic number that Borrell wanted to get to on the bid was $225,000, which is at the cusp of the salary level that can be bought down with GAM to make that player qualify as a supplemental rather than a senior player. For roster-building purposes, this is good, because each MLS team only gets 20 senior roster player — meaning that unless all 20 senior players stay healthy the entire year, a team typically needs to dip into the supplemental roster at some point. Homegrown players can qualify as supplemental until age 24 if I'm reading the roster rules right, which explains why Owen Wolff was supplemental even though he was getting considerable first-team minutes with that designation. The salary drop on Tuesday revealed that two players are now at that magical $225,000 number: Jon Bell and Ilie Sánchez. Bell was a supplemental player in Seattle last year, making $135,000, so what he's getting at Austin constitutes a considerable raise. Sánchez, though, is a surprise, given that he was getting $600,000 last year, and *that* was a considerable drop from his last year at LAFC in 2024\. While the club hasn't yet provided an answer to my question about whether Bell and/or Ilie are now supplemental players — which would free up one or two senior roster spots — their lower budget numbers would help the team should a spendy player contributing relatively little. (Say, a Besard Šabović at $650,000 in base salary, up from $550,000 the year before, or a Robert Taylor, making $575,000 in base salary, equal to last year). ## Other unknowns now known Here's what else jumped out reviewing what was released Tuesday (and I'm using BS and GC for base salary and guaranteed compensation the rest of the way): A totally-deserving-of-it Brad Stuver is now up to $600,000 BS ($631,667 GC), from last year's BS of $484,500\. He already has 62 saves this season, on pace for 176 saves this season, with the internet telling me the record for a season was the Dallas Burn's Mark Dodd with 191 back in 1997\. Stuver's 176 would therefore be $3,409 per save. Harkening back to [our article ](https://verdeallday.com/points-per-million-goals-per-dollar-austin-fc-2025/)where we looked at a goal being worth a car or a house per goal to determine player value, that's a premium (but not quite high-end) e-bike per save! Jayden Nelson is here on a very specific BS of $499,999.92 (eight cents shy of $500k) and a GC of $554,000\. Christian Ramírez has a $525,000 BS and a $575,000 GC, but Verde's on the hook for just $225,000 of that, meaning that the Galaxy is on hook for over half of that. Thanks to a really great American Soccer Analysis posse member's project called [mlsrosterview.com](https://mlsrosterview.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), here's how much Borrell's spending per position and roster mechanism. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-12-at-20.11.06.png) The average spend, per the site creator, is 43.4% on attackers, 31.7% on midfielders, 19.9% on defenders, and 4.8% on goalkeepers. Here's what LAFC looks like: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-12-at-20.10.33.png) As you can see, proportionally similar by position, but considerably more TAM player spending. But, then again, it's not unusual to be outspending Verde in TAM — at 6.7% of its salary going to TAM players, Verde is dead last in MLS there. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'Sometimes we did well and sometimes we didn't': Assessing a draw to a James-led Minnesota URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-minvatx-051026/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T12:02:23.000Z James has impacted far fewer matches for Minnesota United FC than expected this season, but his inclusion in Sunday evening's [2-2 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-minvatx-051026/) with Austin FC (bringing his season minutes total from 103 to 130) proved substantial — helping create right-sided overloads that the Verde defense had difficulties dealing with. "In the second half, it changed," Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said. "They introduced more players, even though that they lost some instruction because, you know, James was coming to the right side with \[Joaquin\] Pereyra. They were overloading the side. It was difficult for us, and then we have to learn when teams overload the sides, and create numerical advantages there, how we have to try to do better. "I think sometimes we did well and sometimes we didn't, and we have to learn from that for the next time we play," he added. "He's a world-class player," said Mikkel Desler, on the challenge of defending James, "or at least he was. He has amazing skills, and today he showed it as well." Even though Verde gave up two James-engineered goals at minutes 69 and 77 to turn a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit – two more to add to the growing tally of goals given up from winning or drawing positions after the 68th minute to change match outcomes — they got the draw back via Christian Ramírez's equalizer, earning him accolades from his coach. "We felt like he could help the team throughout the season, and we believe in his qualities and in how he is as a person, also as a player, and everything that he could help and contribute to this team, and I think that is doing exactly what we expected," Estévez said. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Minnesota United FC 2, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-minvatx-051026/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T01:26:26.000Z In a rematch of the 2026 season opener, Myrto Uzuni put in an opening penalty kick, survived two separate Kelvin Yeboah penalty kicks, and then was plunged into a topsy-turvy, James-filled second half, eventually leading to a 2-2 draw between Austin FC and Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on Sunday evening. Verde started in similar fashion to the match prior, with Christian Ramírez and Uzuni up top, and with Owen Wolff, Dani Pereira, and Brandon Vázquez on the bench. Uzuni nearly had the opener on an 11th-minute half-volley from a Ramírez back pass that Minnesota goalkeeper Drake Callender had to tip behind him over the bar for a corner kick. On the ensuing corner kick, Mikkel Desler got a shot off in the second phase that struck Nectarios Triantis in the left hand, outstretched from his body, visibly bending it back to necessitate the penalty shout. That allowed Uzuni to step to the spot for Verde's first penalty kick of the season — and Uzuni's first attempt since his [playoff mishap](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-110225/) against LAFC to contribute to last season's ignoble end. Then, in the 20th minute, former Minnesota player Joseph Rosales fouled former teammate Anthony Markanich in the box, leading to Yeboah stepping to the spot to equalize, leading to a crazy sequence requiring bullet points: - Stuver guessed right (to be technical, left) on Yeboah's attempt, blocking it after seeing how Yeboah was moving via a stutter step, but moved over the line doing so; - Markanich moved too quickly on his rebounded shot to be legal per soccer rules, which Stuver saved while still on the ground; but then - Tomas Chancalay fired in the rebound, triggering video review. Referee Chris Penso determined Yeboah needed to retake the penalty, and banged it off the corner of the woodwork to keep the match 1-0 in Austin's favor. Brendan Hines-Ike turned up with a non-contact injury in the 42nd, necessitating a first-half sub (this, for Jon Bell) for the sixth time this season. On the restart from the sub, the Loons got a chance on a set piece, with Jefferson Diaz getting a head to a ball- in and glancing it off the post — which preceded the hilarious announcement of 12 minutes of first-half stoppage time. Despite some delicious opportunities during that yawing stretch of time, the half ended 1-0\. Out of the break, Minnesota looked immediately more active, but then Verde engineered some chances to double the lead, including a 54th-minute Rosales shot blasted into the stadium's north end. (The beer hall end, not the Wonderwall end.) In the 63rd minute, the Loons made a fascinating double sub, getting James and Wil Trapp on for Chancalay and Triantis. In the 69th minute, the Loons equalized with James' first goal contribution, lofting a far-post assist to Markanich, who elevated over Ilie to head in the initial goal. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez answered by getting Wolff and Pereira on for Ilie and Jon Gallagher a minute later. Then, in the 77th, James and Pereyra executed a give-and-go that left every Austin defender flat-footed, taking the lead. Then, Ramírez popped up in the 79th to get an equalizer against his former team, with Facundo Torres popping up with the assist after Guilherme Biro got a dangerous cross in to get the play moving. To make things even more interesting, Michael Boxall was inserted in the match in the 80th minute and within several minutes of insertion, blocked an Uzuni shot that was a potential match winner. Ramírez gave way to Vázquez in the 84th minute, and then when Bell came off for a concussion injury in the 89th minute, he was held on the sideline not allowed to come back in — which also sidelined Yeboah, as Bell and Yeboah clashing heads created the situation in, leading to an entertaining "Free Yeboah" chant from the crowd. Žan Kolmanič was then a sub-for-a-sub in stoppage time, which also allowed Yeboah to get back in. But Verde was able to hold off the subsequent threats, not providing any of their own, to see out the draw. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) It was lost to the sands of VAR, and it still would have resulted in a goal given up should the play have stood, but Stuver's double save on Yeboah's first chaotic penalty attempt should further make Stuver's case to return to the All-Star Game (and we're still naively making the case to add him to the USMNT World Cup roster). ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Rosales foul to start the PK chaos looked decidedly soft, but there's no reason to put your team in such a situation (even though it worked out). I'm not saying Rosales is a double agent, but he's been smarter in every other match this season. ## One thing you might have missed Wait, did we learn before the match that Chris Penso was [a former Ohio state trooper](https://grokipedia.com/page/Chris%5FPenso?ref=verdeallday.com) and then a Democratic mayoral candidate who lost the 2007 race in Dover, Ohio, to a Republican incumbent by seven votes? ## One nerdy tidbit The first half ended with six yellow cards — four for the Loons. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative A draw at Minnesota feels right, making it three unbeaten and a point gained, but it still leaves Verde under the playoff line, with the maximum possible at the World Cup break parked at 23\. (That would, though, be 23 after 15 matches, which feels like a playoff-making performance, provided that Houston and LA above them drop points.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why did Estévez wait seven key minutes — and only after the equalizer was scored — to not match Minnesota's double midfield sub with one of his own? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Ashle Paige of Northland Soccer Journal URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-ashle-paige-northland-soccer-journal-minvatx-051026/ Last updated: 2026-05-10T15:10:49.000Z Austin FC will complete its first home-and-away of the 2026 season on Sunday night, playing Minnesota United FC at Allianz Arena in St. Paul after drawing 2-2 in the season opener. Since their draw, Minnesota's found relatively good form, currently fifth in the West with a 6W 3L 2D record — yet with a slight negative goal differential having absorbed a 6-0 loss to Vancouver. Like Verde, Minnesota's also out of the Open Cup, depriving us all of a rematch of the epic 2025 semifinal match. Northland Soccer Journal is already up with [our side](https://northlandsoccer.com/opponent-insight-minvatx-with-verde-all-days-phil-west/?ref=verdeallday.com) of the exchange that Ashle Paige and I had, and we're getting Ashle's take on all things MNUFC (or, at least, three things MNUFC), starting with James — who, we just learned last night after we exchanged answers, will not return to the Twin Cities following the World Cup. To the questions! ### Is the season going as you anticipated it would prior to Austin and Minnesota taking the field in the opener, or have there been surprises along the way, be they good or bad? It is not and I mean that in the best way possible. The loss of Michael Boxall, MNUFC's longtime center back and defensive general\[\[1\]\], looked like it was going to hurt the Loons badly. And it did, for one match in Vancouver. Since then, the Loons have rebounded and done better than I think most people expected. They've given good fights to some of the best clubs in the league and have only a single loss in the last five league matches. If Minnesota United continue this run through and after the World Cup break, they'll end up one of the best in the West. ### The Loons' front office was very excited about the James signing, but he's only been able to play 103 MLS minutes, in part due to a dehydration episode leading the club to shut down rumors, [per ESPN](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/48414947/minnesota-united-shut-rumours-james-rodriguez-rare-muscle-wasting-condition?ref=verdeallday.com), of "a potentially fatal muscle-wasting condition called rhabdomyolysis." What is going on, and what are the chances we see him on Sunday? The reality with James is he has been stop start his whole club career and this is sadly nothing new. Injuries and illness have plagued the Colombian superstar for years and seemed only to have increased in frequency as he's aged. For Minnesota, the worst-case scenario is he retires following the World Cup and heads off into the sunset. \[\[2\]\] As for the chance to see him play, I think it's 50/50, he's been in training recently and puts everything into his time on the training ground. But Minnesota has an excellent core that's been hard to break into. Even longtime starter Wil Trapp has only made one start since returning from illness. ### Kelvin Yeboah has seven goals so far, and is on pace for 21 this season if he stays healthy. Do you anticipate he'll cool off, or do you expect him to challenge for a Golden Boot? With the changes Cameron Knowles has made for this season I, don't expect him to cool down. I also don't think he'll be challenging for the Golden Boot this season. That specifically has to do with the fact that there are already multiple players outscoring him to this point. If Dallas' Petar Musa stays hot, I believe the Golden Boot goes to him, or to Nashville's Sam Surridge. Nothing against Yeboah; he's a great player and the Loons have a good attack this season. But there are so many top class strikers it's gonna be hard for him to catch up. \[\[1\]\]: From an adductor injury; he's since returned to the squad (if not the starting lineup). \[\[2\]\]: This happened after Ashle sent this over. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Squad goals (per 90): How much have Austin FC's two most prolific strikers improved in 2026? URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-vs-2025-numbers-myrto-uzuni-christian-ramirez/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T14:00:19.000Z Look at an Austin FC stats table for the 2026 season, and you'll see two names atop the goal leader list: Myrto Uzuni, with four, and Christian Ramírez, with three. Uzuni's perhaps not a surprise on this list, given that he was slotted in as the starting No. 9 until Brandon Vázquez's return reignited the question — now before us in the coming next few matches — of how does one play them together? Ramírez, however, wasn't even a member of the team until Feb. 27, when LA Galaxy's roster management (or mismanagement, you might argue) allowed him to be available on waivers, with sporting director Rodolfo Borrell using an 11th-hour bid worthy of successful eBay buyers to not only pick him up, but to do so on the maximum salary level allowing him to be a supplemental roster player (as opposed to a senior roster player). Having Uzuni and Ramírez contribute nearly half of Verde's goals to date is a primary reason that they're staying in the playoff places about a third of the way through the season. If you extrapolate their goals to a full season assuming the same production — complicated by Vázquez's integration into the team, but hopefully to Verde's benefit — Uzuni would finish the season with 12 goals, getting into Respectable for a Designated Player territory, while Ramírez's nine would be a nice surprise given he wasn't even on the team when it played its season opener. But how much has each player improved individually from last year? Data providers are making it harder to showcase this with the radar charts we'd prefer ... but we do have some visuals, as well as some per-90 data, to guide us. First, let's consider Ramírez. ## The other Superman One of the immediate narratives that emerged when Ramírez arrived was that Austin FC now had two forwards nicknamed Superman. He was asked about that in the [first press conference](https://verdeallday.com/weekly-media-avaiability-match-preview-cltvatx-030726/) in which Austin media got to field questions, and he answered it (propping up Vázquez) with aplomb: _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'We always were on the game': Reflecting on Austin FC's second straight win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvstl-050326-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-jon-gallagher/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T15:20:31.000Z In the immediacy of Sunday's 2-0 win over St. Louis City SC, you might think it'd be hard for Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez to find any fault with how the team played. But he was able to start with that first goal not coming until minute 69 — while still praising how they were playing. "We started really well \[in\] the game," he said. "I think we should score a couple times in the first half, but it was very clear, that the chances that we created, I saw a lot of good connections. I think the game plan offensively worked very well. I think we moved them one side to the other side and from the right players to link and then accelerate the play. And in these moments ... if you capitalize \[on\] those moments and you score the goals, the game can go in a different way." He also had praise for his opponents — who, depending on the numbers you look at, mounted either 3.16 or 1.9 xG without scoring a single goal. They certainly created threats at points, though, including a two-on-one break in the 56th minute, started when Mikkel Desler released a bad backpass that Marcel Hartel jumped on, that ended with Simon Becher fluffing side netting on a play that went absurdly wrong for the visitors. "We knew that St Louis, and watching their game against San Jose, they play a really good game. Watching them against Chicago, they play a really good game," Estévez said. "They always create chances, they always score kind of goals, and we knew that we're going to have to defend, and then have moments where we give them the ball and have to stay together. And I saw a team that does a pretty good job on that. And I saw a team where, even though that that we didn't score, we never gave up, we always were on the game and and we just wait\[ed for\] our moment." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, St. Louis City SC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvstl-050326/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T02:00:30.000Z In an odd Sunday afternoon 4:30 pm CT start time, Austin FC took a while to score against visiting St. Louis City SC, but then did so emphatically, with Christian Ramírez and Myrto Uzuni scoring within 13 minutes of each other. That led Verde to a 2-0 win at Q2 Stadium for their first two-match win streak of the season, vaulting them significantly closer to the playoff line. The starting lineup had a surprising late scratch, with announced starter Jayden Nelson giving way to Jon Gallagher, but the matchday 20 (well, 19) had Brandon Vázquez and Owen Wolff as sub options for the first time all season. Verde put pressure on during the initial 10 minutes, engineering two in-the-box chances for Uzuni, one for Ramírez, and one for an overzealous Gallagher who hit a point-blank ball that dropped to him into the stands. Eduard Löwen did get a distressingly open look in front of goal in the 12th minute, but hit the short-range shot well after the crossbar. Uzuni nearly got the opener in the 22nd on a free kick opportunity that made its way to the goalmouth; his header was met by a flailing Roman Bürki, who managed an artless chest nudge and flailing arms move that propelled the ball away from goal. Brad Stuver had his own set piece to save a few minutes later, getting down to repel a sizzling Löwen corner kick that Simon Becher sought to redirect. Verde had another great goal opportunity in the 35th minute, but rather than adhere to the rules of soccer, Guilherme Biro decided to tip the ball in from Myrto Uzuni past Bürki, volleyball style, with his hand, getting a yellow card for his effort. Facundo Torres had a more conventional chance in the 40th minute, but Bürki dealt with that as well. Then, in stoppage time, an Austin counter led to an Ilie shot deflected out for a corner that was also fruitless, leaving the teams to go into halftime the same as they did 45 minutes prior. In the 56th minute, terror came in the form of a Marcel Hartel breakaway, but fortunately for Verde, he selflessly but badly sent a wide pass out to Simon Becher, who could only hit side netting from the more-difficult-than-it-had-to-be-really angle. Sergio Córdova and Mbacke Fall found their way into the match at the hour mark, replacing Löwen and Lukas MacNaughton. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez was readying his own sub — the long-absent Dani Pereira, getting in for Ilie at the 65th. The sub was held up by a corner and a free kick Verde was able to win, heaping on more pressure without actually scoring. Finally, on a 69th-minute corner kick (nice), Pereira and Uzuni combined to get the ball up toward the far post, where Ramirez was waiting to put platinum blond hair onto the ball for the opening goal. Verde doubled the lead in the 81st, on a lovely play involving Stuver throwing the ball out to Joseph Rosales, who got it upline to Torres, who sent Gallagher to the end line with a leading pass, who then cut the ball back to the top of the 18, where an onrushing Ramírez met the ball and laid it off to Uzuni for a collected finish. Wolff arrived in the 83rd minute (along with Jon Bell) to further cement the good vibes. And then, per Instagram earlier in the week, Vázquez made his season debut in the 89th — 299 days after going down in Open Cup play last summer against San Jose. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The ball in from Uzuni for the potential first goal at minute 35 was ripe for Biro to get a head to. Or any other legal body part. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Hey, Biro, can't use your hands in soccer unless you're a goalkeeper. You are not a goalkeeper. ## One thing you might have missed For the first time this season, Speed Bump made a stadium appearance! (Coinciding with Kids' Day at Q2?) ## One nerdy tidbit Prior to Austin's goal to break the deadlock (per FotMob), the teams combined for 4.22 xG (2.88 of that for St. Louis), five big chances (three for the visitors), and 24 shots (12 for each). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's taken 11 matches into the season to put together two wins in a row, but the team's now also 2W 2L 3D in its last seven matches, which is a 1.29 points per game clip. That's not quite enough to a get a team to 45 points over the season, but it does get them to 44 at that pace — making it appear that the Good Ship Verde is making its slow turn back into Postseason Bay. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Nelson was a very late scratch, so naturally, wondering about his prognosis. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Tom Timmermann URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-st-louis-post-dispatch-tom-timmermann-atxvstl-050326/ Last updated: 2026-05-02T14:27:57.000Z 1-4-1\. In today's installment of "why you gotta bring up old stuff," Austin FC has a lifetime 1-4-1 record against St. Louis City SC, dating back to 2023's Opening Day 3-2 loss which lives forever in Verde lore as Kipp Keller's Worst Day Ever. Against that backdrop — though the lone Austin FC win did come last season in St. Louis, known forever in Verde lore as the ["I see everything" game](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-stlvatx-033025/) — Verde will host St. Louis on Sunday at 4:30 pm CT. As we do here, we reach out to our counterparts around the league, bringing us to [Tom Timmermann](https://www.stltoday.com/users/profile/ttimmermann/?ref=verdeallday.com), the team's pool reporter, who covers St. Louis City and the Saint Louis University Billikens (one of the coolest mascot names in college sports) for the *St. Louis Post-Dispatch* (one of the coolest newspaper names in the U.S.). You'll recognize names like Marcel Hartel (who scored a first half brace against Verde last time out) and Simon Becher from past St. Louis squads, but as we discussed, Joao Klauss is no longer with the team, having moved to the Galaxy, who Verde fans have already seen once this season. To the questions! ### St. Louis is off to a 1W 5L 3D start this season — what do you attribute that to, and is that an indication of how the rest of the season will go, or do they have a turnaround and a playoff appearance within them? They can’t score goals (see below), they fall behind in almost every game, so are always playing catch up, and whenever they make a mistake on defense, they are punished severely. They think that given time and the chances they’re created, the goals will start to come. And maybe they will. This is probably not a playoff team as they stand right now. Sporting director Corey Wray was not able to land the designated player goal scorer this club needs in the limited time he had after taking over and hiring Yoann Damet as coach. If Wray can get that player in the summer transfer window, maybe there’s a chance, if the team can keep within shouting distance of a playoff spot in the pre-World Cup period. They are six points out now, and if that number gets beyond 12, it starts to get real tough, especially as well as the West is playing. If there’s a bright side, it’s that their schedule has been tough. By the break, they’ll be done with Seattle and LAFC. Also, they’re getting Eduard Löwen back. He alone can turn a game or two into a win. ### However, St. Louis has now gotten to the Elite Eight of the U.S. Open Cup; what's surprised you most about the run so far, and how far do you think they'll go? Depends on if they have to play San Jose, I suppose, and what lineup San Jose uses. City SC played pretty well against San Jose’s bench in their game last weekend, but the more San Jose regulars got in that game, the more the advantage shifted to San Jose. If there’s been a surprise in the “run,” it’s that Damet has put out pretty much his first-team regular roster each time. He’s got a bunch of fairly good – at least, we think – guys who haven’t played much at all this season and he has not used the Open Cup to get them some time. There has been no experimenting from Damet in these games. It’s the first team. It’s clear that the Open Cup is seen as the best hope for the club to do something this season. ### Only Marcel Hartel has multiple goals for the squad this year; who was the Joao Klauss replacement supposed to be, and where do you think future goals will come from? They brought in Sergio Cordova on a loan from Switzerland and he’s technically a designated player, though only because his half-year salary gets prorated over the entire year for cap purposes. But he was brought in to just give them another option, and the thought was somebody in the attacking group they have, Hartel, Simon Becher, Sangbin Jeong, Cordova, Cedric Teuchert, would step up and start scoring. Only Hartel has. When Löwen is ready to start again, which could be Sunday, it looks like he’ll be used as a 10 rather than a 6 because the team could use some help up top, (And his play against Chicago in the Open Cup showed what he could do up there.) Again, the summer window looms. Cordova’s loan ends in June, and he has one goal, which wouldn’t seem enough to make the team choose to keep him. Teuchert’s contract is up too. So there’s the opportunity for bigger changes up front. An X factor is Mykhi Joyner, who has been one of the leading scorers in Next Pro the past two seasons. He’s done all he can there and is now with the first team, but Damet has been reluctant to use him and force too much on a 19-year-old. He made a great pass against Chicago for Löwen’s goal. He’s probably the most dynamic player in the organization. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### The doctor is in: Three key players closer to reintroduction to Austin FC squad URL: https://verdeallday.com/injury-update-brandon-vazquez-owen-wolff-dani-pereira/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T14:01:32.000Z One of the most consequential doctor's appointments for Austin FC will take place today, according to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez. The big news out of Tuesday's media availability is that Brandon Vázquez will have the doctor's appointment allowing him to be clear for play in future matches. Austin FC's Instagram account indicated yesterday that the club expects him to be medically cleared to go. > [View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrqwUajleG/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Austin FC (@austinfc)](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrqwUajleG/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Embedded JavaScript Additionally, Owen Wolff — sidelined for Verde's first 10 matches of 2026 — could see action this weekend against St. Louis City SC, with the odd 4:30 pm CT start time on Sunday. Dani Pereira, with setbacks from a hamstring injury holding him back, also looks ready to appear on Sunday. Media was invited to see a full practice on Tuesday, which revealed that Jorge Alastuey is still training with the first team despite being out of first-team callups per MLS' unforgiving first team/second team rules. The Tender Three — now back to a Frail Five temporarily with Jayden Nelson and Robert Taylor's injury struggles — all look set to return for Sunday's match should they progress as expected. Nelson took part in the first part of practice, dealing with what the player himself revealed to be a calf injury that cut his night short against Houston on Saturday — but not before he scored a goal to get Austin on its way to a 2-0 win. Taylor, meanwhile, "had an injection" on Monday and then got in some training — my guess is he'll be questionable headed into Sunday. ## On Owen Wolff's recovery "No, I think it's a normal situation," he said regarding Wolff's slow recovery from sports hernia surgery. "I was talking with another colleague, a coach in the league that had another player with the same surgery, same age, and the timeline changed the same as with Owen. And it seems like sometimes, when you do that surgery, it affects your structure, in your muscles and in your body. "You can have this one for depending, as you're progressing, when you make the next step, then maybe it's not like a setback, but then you have to stop a little bit, because you start feeling a discomfort, and you go again. And the discomfort is not bad. It's science, besides that, you are progressing in the right direction. It's not like you're getting injured again. It's like you're breaking additions that the body, the muscle gets very stiff, and then you're breaking that additions, and then your body starts functioning ... not at the same level, but I think he's in a great place right now." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Temperature check: Assessing Austin FC after 10 matches URL: https://verdeallday.com/temperature-check-assessing-2026-austin-fc-after-10-matches/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T14:09:09.000Z Let's start with some simple match: 10/34 is 29.41%. That's how much of the 2026 MLS season has transpired so far. In it, Austin FC came out of the gate with a reasonable four points out of six — though the late goal given up in the opening 2-2 draw against Minnesota was a concerning harbinger of future outcome-changing late goals let in – and then only mustered six points out of the following eight matches, to arrive at 10 points from 10 matches just five matches from a World Cup break coming at not quite the halfway point of the season. Unexpected injuries — most notably the slow recovery of Owen Wolff from preseason sports hernia surgery – and some questionable refereeing decisions — most notably a red card to Guilherme Biro in an away match to Charlotte in which Verde still seemed able to steal a result — have interceded on head coach Nico Estévez's best laid plans. But a look at the stats show that Austin FC is very good at one specific thing that has arisen from being less-than-good at other things, and a look at the record shows the team has a long (but not impossible) climb to get to the playoff places. Let's explore. ## First, the math Despite coming off a statement-making win against Houston (even if the statement is "We're not hopeless"), and some quality draws against LAFC and Inter Miami, Verde's 1 PPG pace would have them finish with 34 points, well below the threshold needed to qualify for the MLS playoffs – which, given nine of 15 teams in each conference make it, has become a baseline measure of competence. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'It's good to finalize the week with a win': Austin FC celebrates a three-point performance with perspective URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvhou-042526-nico-estevez-brendan-hines-ike-christian-ramirez-jayden-nelson/ Last updated: 2026-04-26T14:47:27.000Z Following Austin FC's [2-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvhou-042526/) over Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday, the locker room was a subdued form of jovial, with victory thrusting Wednesday's 5-1 loss to San Jose a little bit deeper into the recesses. Some of the answers from players were almost shocking in their obviousness — letting in zero goals is better than letting in five goals, scoring a goal in front of a cheering crowd is fun, and one win does not a season make, even as satisfying as this one might have been. "It's by no means the end of the season when we lose like that, five one to San Jose, and it's by no means that we're firmly in a playoff position," said Brendan Hines-Ike regarding the win. "It's good to finalize the week with a win, but at the same time, we have five more important games before the break, and we have to maximize points." As one of the anchors of a defense that recorded the team's third shutout (and second shutout win) of the season, Hines-Ike explained that the team took a back-to-basics approach in shoring up a defense that, on Wednesday, gave up five goals in a 21-minute span after carrying a 1-0 lead into the 68th minute. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Houston Dynamo FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvhou-042526/ Last updated: 2026-04-26T15:53:23.000Z In a match many Austin FC faithful characterized as a "must-win," Jayden Nelson and Myrto Uzuni got crowd-pleasing first half goals, leading to a 2-0 win at Q2 Stadium over Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday night. Austin FC started with a loaded lineup, getting Myrto Uzuni, Christian Ramirez, Facundo Torres, and Jayden Nelson all in the starting lineup, though Owen Wolff was still not recovered enough to get into the matchday 20\. Verde got on the board first, with a beautiful 13th-minute goal touching all four of the aforementioned attackers, with Nelson finishing deftly picking out the far post after being loosely guarded by Felipe Andrade, who took cleats to the face in the most recent midweek match. Verde had a chance to double the lead in the 18th minute, with Torres getting a diagonal cross into Uzuni, who got a solid head to the pass, albeit widely. Four minutes later, Nelson got in a sizzling pass to Uzuni – again in a good spot in the box — that he was a touch too late to for a dangerous redirection. Five minutes later, Uzuni received a ball in the same general zone, and got a pass to Ramirez, charging along the right flank, who then got off a shot Dynamo goalkeeper Jonathan Bond was able to parry away. Uzuni then had an amazing near-goal — twice — in the 35th minute that we'll call our best Verde moment that wasn't a goal. (See below.) Nelson turned up with a non-contact injury, possibly a hamstring, in the 38th minute, leading to him going out, with face hidden in jersey for extra "not good" energy, replaced by Jon Gallagher. An Artur yellow card foul on Torres outside the box in first-half stoppage time led to a free kick where Verde tried a cheeky play that worked. Joseph Rosales sent a short backheel pass to Uzuni, who walloped a shot through the Dynamo's wall to make it 2-0\. The Dynamo engineered one of its best chances of the night in the 56th minute, with Guilherme getting a free kick from a Guilherme Biro foul on Mateusz Bogusz, but putting his attempt to Stuver's left only resulted in a Stuver diving save and an appreciative "Stuuuuu" ringing around the stadium. Ramirez looked for a call in the 62nd minute, getting pushed down in the box (but had it been called, likely would have been a free kick at the edge of the box) by Erik Sviatchenko — who also got away with an elbow to the neck/forearm to the face of Torres minutes earlier. Ben Olsen was first to his second-half subs, notably getting Jack McGlynn on. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez went to CJ Fodrey and Nico Dubersarsky in the 65th minute, and Fodrey nearly got in a 73rd-minute header to further pad the lead. Looking to close out the match, Estévez opted to pull Torres and Biro for Besard Šabović and Jon Bell in the 84th minute. Stuver pulled a rabbit-out-of-hat save in the 87th, tipping a high and fast Guilherme shot over the bar, to preserve the shutout. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Seeing Uzuni get out of being trapped in the corner by a defender, getting free to take a shot that hit the post, and then collecting the rebound and putting in another far shot that just went wide, was terrific to see. Him not collapsing into self-depricating bad body language (and merely annoyed and determined body language) after the attempts was even better. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Nelson's continued fragility, with a crucial part of the season and the World Cup roster decision for Canada coming up, is concerning. ## One thing you might have missed You really need to go back and watch the Apple TV replay of the goal, and a different angle they proffered, to fully understand the (set piece coach) genius. ## One nerdy tidbit After dominating possession early in the match, Austin actually ended the match just south of 50%. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative The 10th game of the season is late to be getting a second win of the season, but it's a welcome win, in a performance in which Verde looked convincing. (And they didn't give up a late goal, as has been their custom.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference Where has this team been all season? (Seriously, though, want to ask about Verde being able to go post to wire without Houston scoring.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Highlighting a very special Emergency Podcast URL: https://verdeallday.com/highlighting-a-very-special-emergency-podcast/ Last updated: 2026-04-25T17:18:40.000Z Today, we reached a milestone. Launched as what we thought might be a one-off exploration of an Austin FC kit leak back in our fledgling Substack days, we just put out the 100th episode of Emergency Podcast (not counting the occasional Emergency Tangent), and it's got a few elements that differentiate it from the usual episode. For starters, we get into something that happened Wednesday morning that gave fans momentary hope. Then, we got into a discussion about PRO and referee accountability, including some answers I was able to confirm from PRO about calls in Wednesday night's match (as well as an explanation about calls that I wasn't able to secure immediately after the match). Then, we covered [a very important project](https://buttondown.com/officehours/archive/my-mom-and-i-need-your-help/?ref=verdeallday.com) Moisés launched that you should all get on board with. Finally, we closed with one of my favorite moments in Emergency Podcast history. Enjoy! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Dustyn Richardson of Bayou City Soccer URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-dustyn-richardson-bayou-city-soccer-atxvhou-042526/ Last updated: 2026-04-25T13:35:54.000Z Copa Tejas is upon us! This week's Walmart Saturday Showdown — which will give us, among other things, Andrew Wiebe doing sideline reporting for those of you watching on Apple TV rather than being in-stadium — features Austin FC hosting Houston Dynamo FC in Verde's first Copa Tejas match of the year. In a season in which Verde's already eliminated for U.S. Open Cup contention, and with their MLS Cup hopes (and, indeed, playoff qualification) dimming, it might be time to revive the "Copa Tejas is a real trophy worth winning" conversation. In the meantime, Houston — currently the last West team to make the 2026 playoffs, were the season to end today — has started the season with a 4W 4L 0D record and a somewhat reconfigured lineup. To get at the 2026 edition of the rivalry a little more, Dustyn Richardson from Bayou City Soccer reached out, and I provided him with [answers to his questions](https://www.bayoucitysoccer.net/dynamo/previewing-houston-dynamo-at-austin-fc-with-verde-all-day-1?ref=verdeallday.com), and then he returned the favor. To the questions! ### Guilherme appears to be the best signing of the Dynamo's offseason (and with five goals and four assists so far, maybe one of the best offseason pickups in all of MLS). How would you describe his game, and if you were coaching against him, what would you do to try to slow or stop him? Guilherme has surprised everyone with just how good he has been. There were a lot of questions about how good he could be and if he was worth being a designated player. He's proved the doubters wrong, so far. He's very good on the ball and he's got the flair that Brazilians seem to be born with. He's much quicker than he seems and he's good at creating for himself and others. He took a knock in Wednesday's win over San Diego so that may be one way to slow him down. If he does play on Saturday, I think you have to cut off service to him. He's going to want to get the ball and cut inside off the left so keeping him from getting the ball is key to minimizing his effect on the game. ### Hector Herrera's back! That was a little surprising to see; how much is he really contributing, and what deficiencies in the team is he shoring up? Herrera's biggest addition is his leadership. Ben Olsen and Herrera have a very good relationship and he's almost like another coach on the staff. He started in the wins over El Paso, in U.S. Open Cup, and Orlando and scored the winner in that match. He's showing he still has class and the ability to lift a team. He seems to help this Dynamo team slow things down and play with more poise and stability. We'll see how long he can keep these minutes up (he just turned 36 last weekend) but it seems Olsen is going to lean on Herrera as much as possible this season. ### It's still relatively early in the season, but Houston's been right on the playoff line, and if the playoffs started today, would travel to Frisco for the play-in game. Based on what you've seen so far, will Houston finish in or out of the playoffs, and why? This Dynamo team feels talented enough to be in the playoffs, so I'll say they finish in the postseason. They still seem to be figuring a lot of things out, and Olsen has said as much. They started the season with a back three but have shifted in the last week to more of a 4-4-2 and it looks to have solved some of their defensive deficiencies. With the big DP signings of Guilherme and Mateusz Bogusz, this team should be making the playoffs. If they can solidify the defense in the summer, I think they can push for a top four seed. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'I think there were two games': Reflecting on the most lopsided loss of 2026 (so far) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sjvatx-042226-nico-estevez-brad-stuver/ Last updated: 2026-04-23T13:08:52.000Z Whereas Austin FC fans saw one excruciatingly long and painful match on Wednesday night — a [5-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sjvatx-042226/) to San Jose Earthquakes with 14 minutes of stoppage time lopped on at the end – head coach Nico Estévez saw it a bit differently. "I think there was two games, one game until we concede \[to make it\] 2-1 and another game once we conceded 2-1," he observed, noting the team had opportunities to score to expand the 1-0 lead — yes, Verde had a lead in this match — before halftime. "You need to capitalize those moments in order that you know you can move forward." Granting that the team needed to do better on the corner kick in which Jack Jasinski equalized, decrying the referees for not allowing what appeared to be an Austin go-ahead goal to stand (which Estévez declared "the most legal goal that I've seen in a long time"), and decrying the referees again for a dubious penalty call against Nicolás Dubersarsky allowing Timo Werner to seize the lead on the subsequent 78th-minute PK. *(Note that I am still waiting for some answers on some calls from PRO, and will have a whole separate article getting into either what I hear or, what I fear is more likely, what I don't.)* Estévez said those moments are where the match turned. "I think when we need to do better is we cannot \[lose\] our mind and lose our shape and lose our things, because it's still minutes to go, and you always can have an opportunity to tie at the end of the game." But in giving up three goals between the 83rd and 89th minute, hopes of getting a draw dimmed — leaving Verde with just seven points from nine matches in a season looking like it's already slipping away. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: San Jose Earthquakes 5, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sjvatx-042226/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T00:34:09.000Z Rolling out a rotated lineup in a midweek matchup, Austin FC visited San Jose on Wednesday night to face the Earthquakes, and after getting out to an early lead, something familiar happened: Losing a lead in the second half. Then, something unusual happened: Giving up three goals beyond the difference maker, leading to a 5-1 loss to further plunge Verde's 2026 season into ignominy. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez was without Myrto Uzuni, Jayden Nelson, and Robert Taylor for this one, so had to make some unusual starts, putting CJ Fodrey up top with Facundo Torres and starting Jorge Alastuey in a midfield with Besard Šabović, Nicolás Dubersarsky, and Joseph Rosales. Estévez also left Oleksandr Svatok and Mikkel Desler on the bench in favor of a Guilherme Biro, Brendan Hines-Ike, Jon Bell, and Jon Gallagher. The Quakes immediately tested Verde's defense, with Timo Werner feeding Niko Tsakiris with a potential assist 12 yards from goal just 35 seconds in, which was blocked. In the ninth minute, somewhat against the run of play, Rosales got off a shot too hot for Quakes goalkeeper Daniel to handle, and he looked more than 2025 Daniel than 2026 Daniel on the botched save, caroming off him and into goal for the surprise early lead. Werner then tested Stuver with a close-in near post shot in the 15th minute, forcing a corner that led to a dangerous Beau Leroux shot that went wide. Two minutes later, Torres was played into open space with over-the-top pass, with a golden chance to double the lead, but Daniel played that attempt well, Torres wasn't able to cleanly shoot the rebound, and the chance fizzled out. Verde navigated some first-half Quakes chances, including a Werner chance that Stuver punched away, but that Sabovic managed to run to and get in a heavy first touch that put the ball back into circulation for Preston Judd. Tsakiris also nearly got a goal several minutes later after Jamar Ricketts put the moves on Jon Gallagher at the edge of the 18-yard box before getting in a cross. Verde's injury bad luck continued, with Biro being worse for wear after a mid-air collision with Ousseni Bouda resulting in an awkward fall. Biro had to be subbed off in the 38th minute for Žan Kolmanič, to get Verde's full complement of left backs into the match. After more chances left wanting late in the half — including two Ronaldo Vieira rocket shots from distance just missing the mark — Verde got to retreat to the locker room with the single-goal lead. Out of the break, San Jose resumed their threat, with Bouda getting time and space less than three minutes past the restart to loft a cross to Judd, whose header forced Stuver into a diving save. Fodrey rightfully called, in the 55th minute, for a high-kick foul on Reid Roberts resulting in a yellow to be VAR-evaluated for a potential red. In the 58th minute, with all the chances from all the more likely goalscorers, it was Jack Jasinski — a fullback making his first MLS start, who played Ivy League soccer at Princeton last year — getting onto a Tsakiris corner kick to overpower Verde's defense for the equalizer. Ref-induced weirdness then ensued. An apparent goal for Austin was whistled for offside controversially at the 69th-minute mark, even though Gallagher appeared to get himself onside when the free kick resulting in a ball in the back of the net was launched. Then, in a sequence several minutes later in which Rosales got a yellow card, Vieira appeared to headbutt Rosales, which Rosales dramatically sold as a near-fatal blow, but again, you're not supposed to do that. In the 77th, referee Tim Ford finally found his whistle — penalizing Dubersarsky for a missed ball in the box and catching Ricketts with an errant boot. Werner then converted the penalty to give the Quakes the lead. Judd scored an 83rd-minute goal, assisted by Valuable Fantasy League Defender Paul Marie, to make it 3-1\. Two minutes later, Bouda made it 4-1\. Judd made it 5-1 in the 88th minute. Given 14 minutes of extra time, Verde was lucky it just stayed at that. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Apple TV left it something of a mystery, but the pass to send Torres toward goal was phenomenal and really should have set him up for his second of the season. I was momentarily worried that it was offside, but it was not. (An offside call getting in the way of a goal would come later.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Many are down on Sabovic, and it's warranted; the botched first touch on the Stuver punchout of the Werner attempt late in the first half was an example of how counterproductive his play has been to everything positive Verde's trying to do. ## One thing you might have missed As the second half was about to start, Apple TV caught a dapper San Jose fan wearing a fedora and a Scooby Doo tie. He's easily one of my favorite fans of the year. Oh, also, Davy Arnaud apparently got sent off by the refs following the Werner PK. ## One nerdy tidbit Yes, five goals is a lot, but Stuver had 10 saves and looked good executing a lot of those. And there were some Quakes shots that hit the post. It could have been even more lopsided. Oh, San Jose got off 24 shots in the second half, with 11 on target. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Let's just say that, on this current pace, Austin will finish the season with 26 points. Last year's Wooden Spoon "winner," D.C. United, finished with 26 points. 2022's Wooden Spoon "winner," also D.C. United, had 27\. We are officially in Wooden Spoon territory. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Where did it go wrong tonight? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Quakes veteran reporter Robert Jonas URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-quakes-veteran-reporter-robert-jonas-sjvatx-042226/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T12:32:27.000Z How much do you know about the San Jose Earthquakes? Given significant turnover from last season — in which Chicho Arango, Josef Martínez, and Cristian Espinoza featured — you may not quite be up to speed on Austin FC's Wednesday opponent (playing the first midweek 9:30 pm CT match of the season; pour one out for my normal bedtime). This year, Timo Werner's been the big acquisition, but players like Preston Judd, Niko Tsakiris, and Ousseni Bouda have been key contributors to the Quakes' strong start. (As I am fond of bringing up, Bouda was drafted 8th in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft in which Austin picked Kipp Keller fifth, and someday when Verde activity is light, I'm going to analyze the [entire first round](https://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2022/draft-tracker?ref=verdeallday.com) of that draft, because it's wild what the front office missed out on\[\[1\]\].) How strong a start? The Quakes have won the first seven of eight league matches, including a 4-1 away win over LAFC on Sunday and a 1-0 away win over Vancouver to deal the Whitecaps their only loss of the season so far. The only blemish? A 1-0 loss to Seattle at home. To help us understand the 2026 edition of the Quakes (though we still don't understand the Grateful Dead-inspired tie-dye jerseys), we sought out veteran Quakes reporter Robert Jonas, best known for his work with The Athletic and Quakes Epicenter. To the questions! ### What has the main difference (or differences) been between how 2025 San Jose plays and how 2026 San Jose plays? The 2025 team was good with the ball, featuring an attacking trio of Chicho Arango, Josef Martinez, and Cristian Espinoza, that set new standards for offensive output in San Jose. However, when they lost possession, the goal scorers were not effective in transition defense, and the Quakes' backline was put under pressure often, scrambling to limit their opponents' opportunities. San Jose's defense wasn't as bad is its 2024 all-time MLS worst performance, but it was too shaky to be reliable. In 2026, the Earthquakes see two significant shifts that provide the team with more stability and reliability: the defensive core is more experienced after last season's bloodletting, and the big-name attackers have been replaced with the likes of Preston Judd, Ousseni Bouda, Jack Skahan, Jamar Ricketts — guys willing to do the hard work of pressing the ball and tracking back to help in defense. It's a full team effort from all ten field players — coupled with a resurgent Daniel in goal — that is keeping the Quakes on the front foot in games this year. ### When San Jose signed Timo Werner, there were two schools of thought: One convinced that he'd thrive in MLS, and another worried that he only scored a total of four goals combined for Leipzig and Tottenham over the past three seasons. What school were you in, and what do you think about his performance so far? It's been a while since anyone has witnessed "Timo Time," but Werner's pedigree — a Champions League winner with Chelsea — and a relatively young age of 30 suggested that he might come good in MLS. Skepticism was the initial reaction most folks in San Jose expressed, as they've seen the organization swing and miss countless times on DP signings, but with Bruce Arena making the call, it felt more likely to lead to a hit. The good vibes started with his introductory press conference, where Werner sang the praises of the project Arena was leading in San Jose, and his calm demeanor called to mind fellow German Thomas Muller's attitude upon arriving in Vancouver. "Timo Time" has yet to strike for the Quakes, but the early returns have been promising, and if the forward can stay healthy and engaged, he should prove to be a catalyst for an already improved squad. ### Given San Jose's performance so far, some of the "Bruce Arena, MLS whisperer" talk is coming back. How did fans initially feel about the hire, and how are fans feeling now? Hiring the guy whose Galaxy teams tormented the franchise for nearly a decade, including unceremoniously dumping the 2012 "Goonies" from the MLS Cup Playoffs after the plucky Quakes captured the Supporters' Shield that season (the club's last mark of success), was by no means met with any fanfare by long suffering Quakes' fans. *(Editor's note: If you're wondering why Goonies,* [*this explainer*](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/la-galaxy-vs-san-jose-earthquakes-look-back-california-clasico-history?ref=verdeallday.com) *from our friend Ian Quillen is worth a read.)* In fact, there was more buzz around why the legendary coach, recently jettisoned from New England following some unsavory behavior, was considered at all for the job. But Arena, the league's most accomplished coach by a country mile, had something to prove, and San Jose needed some credibility after failing to thrive under recent coaching leadership. Fast forward a year, and it was a hiring coup to nab Arena: he's transformed the culture within the organization and made folks believe the Earthquakes can be a winning team. He's trusted players that aren't (yet) big names in MLS with driving the team forward — notably midfielders Niko Tsakiris and Beau Leroux, as well as defenders Daniel Munie and Reid Roberts — bringing it back into fashion to field a squad of domestic talent. For a franchise whose owner, the notorious John Fisher, has never opened the bank vault to support the organization in a meaningful way, it needed a figure as big as Bruce Arena to lead the charge back to relevancy. "In Bruce We Trust" is the mantra you'll now hear from much of the fan base. \[\[1\]\]: Tani Oluwaseyi went 17th! And now he's in La Liga at Villarreal! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'Now, it's to find the balance': Assessing a test against one of the West's (surprisingly) best teams URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-sjvatx-042226-nico-estevez-cj-fodrey/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T13:29:40.000Z One of the stories of the 2026 MLS season, eight matches in, has been the resurgence of the San Jose Earthquakes. Following a 2025 season in which they missed the playoffs, they're currently second in the West with a 7W 1L 0D record matching Vancouver's, and they're fresh off a statement-making 4-1 win over LAFC in Los Angeles. It's in part reviving head coach Bruce Arena's reputation after a tumultuous stint in New England, and Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez — like Arena, part of the U.S. Men's National Team coaching fraternity — sang his praises Monday ahead of their Wednesday night tilt. "He's showing throughout the his time in MLS, how good a coach he is, how good a manager. He is probably the best manager in MLS history so far ... everything that he's achieved, you know, \[with the\] Galaxy and New England and now in what is he doing with San Jose." Estévez also — and you can judge if this is subtle or not — used Arena as an example of why you should stick with a coach even after one bad season, as 2025 certainly was for the Quakes. "To reiterate, like, they didn't have a good season last year, and they didn't change anything on the leadership, and then they give confidence to him, and he responds ... with nice movements," Estévez said. "And sometimes, when you are not doing well, is when you more learn about your team. You learn about the decisions that you have to to make and then take the right movements there. And I think that we are doing that. I think we are going towards that direction." Estévez then wheeled out some stats showing that the team had league-leading offensive numbers in their [most recent match](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-torvatx-041826/) against Toronto FC, illustrating that they are able to create in open play, after a start suggesting that the squad was set piece-dependent. "Last year, we had a great defense, but we we weren't able to produce a lot of goals, and people criticize that," he added. "And then this year, we are scoring more goals, are able to create more chances from different ways, set pieces, transition and now big plays, and we're criticized because we are conceding goals. Now, it's to find the balance between the aggression that we're putting on the opponent's half and how we have to defend those moments better, and \[these are\] the things that we have to address." ## No magic solutions After Saturday's match, Christian Ramírez shared that Estévez is putting the team through late-game defending drills at the end of practice to simulate the game state when players are tired but have to keep the ball out of the net. Estévez indicated on Monday that different matches are presenting different defending challenges, even though the end result has consistently been wins transformed into draws due to goals let in at the end of contests. "Against Minnesota, we had the approach to go after the game, even that we were winning by one," he recalled. "We kept going forward, kept trying to score the third goal, and we got caught in one of those transition moments, and we got scored against. Against R\[eal\] S\[alt\] L\[ake\], we were more set defending our box, and we got score\[d on\]. "It's not like a magic solution on that approach, on going high to press or being in a low block," he added. "I think we we have to find a good balance, depending on the situation. And then it's something that we have to to talk \[about; it's\] something that we have planned talking \[about on Tuesday\]. We have split the group in two meetings, and we'll talk about this situation and other situations that we need to be better \[in\]. But for me, it's more also the attention that players that in the box have a good reference point, not letting them to to contact first the ball, just being strong ourselves on contacting the ball and and being more strong and solid in those moments." While acknowledging some of the challenges that Verde have had in being at only 0.88 points per game nearly a quarter of the way through the season, he still sees a path to arriving into a better situation by season's end. "There are enough points to take control of our destiny and and this is what we want to be," he said. "We want to be in a position that we control what is happening." ## The Tender Three The good news on the injury front is that I've come up with a new nickname to group the injured players together. The bad news is I still have to resort to a nickname. The Frail Four has given way to the Tender Three, as Verde's injury situation has gotten marginally better, yet with two inked-in starters awaiting their first match action of the season, and another trying to get back on the pitch after going the full 90 in the team's only win of the season so far, March 1 against D.C. United, and only playing 58 minutes since. Brandon Vázquez has a doctor's appointment either late this week or early next week, and Estévez says that the designated player's return to the field is contigent on that. Owen Wolff is close to activation for Saturday's match against Houston, though as Estévez put it, "He's making good, good steps. He's feeling better now. It's about his fitness and some details in his recovery. He is doing really, really well, to be honest, right now. But we've been waiting so much that we don't want to rush on that decision and make sure that the player is in a perfect situation." Dani Pereira, struggling with the hamstring injury that he's carried through much of the seven-match winless streak Verde currently owns, could also be back in the lineup by Saturday after resuming individual training on Monday. However, Estévez visibly bristled when one of my colleagues asked a question suggesting the squad might be injury-prone this season. "If you see the list of San Diego, you see the list of Chicago, you see the list of even Real Salt Lake and other teams ... they have have much, much problems than us," he said. "But the reality is that two key players couldn't start the season with us." ## A fiery metaphor CJ Fodrey, the player tapped for media availability on Monday, understands the test that San Jose brings. Historically, the teams have faced each other 12 teams since the inaugural season, drawing seven of those, including last year's Open Cup match that Austin ultimately won in penalty kicks. The Quakes have the edge in non-draw games three to two, including a 2-1 win in San Jose the last time the teams faced each other, but interestingly enough, each team has a 4-3 win against the other, to show the flavor of the chaos they deliver for each other (and for their fans). "Obviously, right now, they're a good team," Fodrey granted. "And, yeah, you do mention the Open Cup last year, how it ended in penalties, which ultimately got us to where we were in the Open Cup last year. So yeah, I definitely think there's going to be a bit of a revenge you could say they're looking for, but also they're the hottest team in the league right now, so we're looking to hopefully put out that fire." But he also expressed confidence in what he and his team can do. "We've had good performances," he assessed. "We've shown we can play against top teams in this league. It's just about being consistent throughout the 90 and turning those good performances into results." And he also gave fans incentive for staying up late on a Wednesday night to see the West's 13th-place team visit the conference's 2nd-place team. "There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes," he revealed. "I think these moments kind of define teams, whether we split or we all come together ... these are the moments where we need our fans. We need everyone together in the club. We need everyone to just have each other's backs. Because these are the moments that define a team toward the end of the year. We might look at these moments and say, 'This is what made us a great team at the end of the year, or this might be the moments where we're split.'" *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'The line between winning and losing is very thin': Austin FC drops another two points late (following a comeback) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-torvatx-041926-nico-estevez-christian-ramirez/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T13:43:43.000Z It happened again. It happened differently, with two hope-giving late-game goals giving Austin FC a 3-2 lead away with mere minutes left in the match against Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon. Yet once again, Verde ceded a goal in the final 15-minute block of a match — their sixth such goal allowed this season — transforming the lead into what ultimately stood as a [3-3 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-torvatx-041826/). And that led Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez to borrow from Spinal Tap. "We did something that was very, very difficult playing away," he said. "That is losing 2-1, to go and score two goals and come back to 3-2\. And there are things that we've talked about that we're still missing. And I said the other day ... the line between winning and losing is very thin." It's not quite "[There's a fine line between stupid and clever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtXkD1BC564&ref=verdeallday.com)," and in soccer, the line between winning and losing is more of a band that encompasses all draws — even the feel good draws like Austin FC's had the last three out of four times out. But the quote encompasses Estévez's frustrations with his team not quite being able to do enough to win even given encouraging performances showing it's not as bad as its 1W 3L 4D record currently indicates. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Toronto FC 3, Austin FC 3 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-torvatx-041826/ Last updated: 2026-04-19T13:32:53.000Z The oddsmakers and vocal fans expected Austin to lose. Going into Saturday, Toronto FC had not lost a game at home since the end of May 2025\. For the maple men, a rainy, sparsely attended lunchtime fixture turned out to be a draw that felt like barely escaping a loss. For the verde and black, it was a stolen win snatched away from them just before 10 minutes of stoppage time. In on the record comments before the match, Toronto coach Robin Fraser rated Austin as better than their 2026 record thus far. Saturday afternoon's 7-yellow-card, everything bagel match showed that Fraser may be right, but until the outright wins start coming, they still have a steep hill to climb. Austin went direct from kickoff, with a promising threat from Uzuni answered with a Toronto press resulting in a three-shot combination. It would turn out to be Toronto's most threatening sequence for the entire first half. A 29th-minute long throw into the box by Jon Gallagher found a ready and waiting Jon Bell, whose opening goal deflated the already flaccid home crowd. Presumably, many Ontario locals stayed home out of the rain knowing there was a Blue Jays home game tonight. Toronto's attack woke up early in the second half, with Daniel Sallói making solid work of a deflected ball at 52'. A monster challenge from goalscorer Jon Bell at 64' prevented Cifuentes from making it 2-1 in favor of Toronto, but at 67', CMNT star Richie Laryea got them there. Ten minutes later, Facundo Torres opened his account as an Austin player after some exquisite build-up play involving Facu, Uzuni, and the just-subbed-on Christian Ramirez. Heading into the final ten minutes of regulation, Austin regained the sense of control they showed in the first half, with Ramirez putting Austin back over the top at 82'. After a lengthy injury stoppage following a head-to-head collision and just before the end of regulation, Kobe Franklin equalized for Toronto at 88'. A full 10 minutes of stoppage changed nothing as a Sabovic free kick toward the back post did not end up leading to a last-second winner for Austin. True to things said by Jon Gallagher in the midweek media availability, a close-knit Austin locker room defied various expectations despite not bringing the full 3 points home. They showed the Verde faithful who they are capable of showing up as for the balance of 2026: a connected, coordinated team capable of the unexpected even when beset by critical injuries disrupting their midfield performance. Despite what was far and away one of Austin's best whistle to whistle battles this season, where they were by far the better team overall, the wrong errors in judgment at the wrong moments between seconds kept three points out of their grasp. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) One could pick any of the times Josh Sargent went head to head with Stuver. Maybe the impossibly weak chest shot where he was so well-defended that he just ran out of steam. When a USMNT star striker can make nothing out of having clear shots against Stuver, it once again makes you question how Austin's número uno isn't getting national team callups. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) For whatever reason, Nico Dubersarsky decided that the best move after returning to the field after his red card was reviewed down to a yellow was to lay into referee Drew Fischer, risking his red-that-became-a-yellow turning red again. ## One thing you might have missed This is usually where we have some sort of fun or interesting bit of insight. You may not have seen most of the most important moments of the match due to completely scattered control booth direction and camerawork. MLS is cutting costs to their own detriment. I've seen better videography and cutting from high school games. ## One nerdy tidbit This was a rare case of parallel weather conditions, where it was almost the same temperature (and even relative humidity) in Austin as it was in Toronto for the entire match. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Austin made Toronto's 20 million dollar signing look invisible and came within minutes of taking 3 unexpected points back home. They made the case that they are *capable* of upsetting 6-0-1 San Jose at midweek before coming home to their first Texas Derby match of the season, but the question is whether they will get close and come up short at the end. Again. ## A question we have heading into the press conference What have the club's technical staff identified as the reasons why the team has so much difficulty closing out games? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with TFC Republic's John Molinaro URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-tfc-republic-john-molinaro/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T11:35:59.000Z Austin FC heads to Canada to face Toronto FC at an absurdly early kickoff time (noon CT) on Saturday, and to help learn more about it, we reached out to John Molinaro, who puts out the excellent TFC Republic, to answer some questions ahead of the match. To be fully transparent, we were thinking about reaching out to him when he reached out first to set up an interview to learn more about Austin. You can hear the audio of that [here](https://www.tfcrepublic.ca/april-17-toronto-fc-austin/?ref=verdeallday.com). (Do be forewarned that did the interview right before the Open Cup match on Tuesday, when I was still optimistic about that tournament.) To the questions! ### Much of Toronto FC's offseason has been about the pursuit of Josh Sargent — now that he's arrived, how is he integrating and performing? He’s slowly coming into form with a goal and an assist in four appearances, including three starts. He hadn’t played a competitive game for Norwich since early January, so TFC were very cautious about working him into the lineup until he was match fit. He’s looked really good while pressing defenders high up the pitch, but hasn’t exactly benefited from great service as of yet. ### Djordje Mihailovic is sidelined with a pelvic stress fracture for a number of weeks (which sounds painful) — how much will Toronto miss his presence, and who's most likely to step into his role? They’re going to miss him a lot. Mihailovic is Toronto's chief creator and midfield orchestrator, and has been the team leader in goal contributions since last summer’s trade from Colorado. So much of what they do from an attacking perspective flows through him and they don’t have another player like him. So, guys like Jose Cifuentes, Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello will all have to step up to make up for his absence. ### It's weird to not see Dániel Sallói in SKC blue ... how has he been as an addition to the club, and is there a particular need that he's filled? Salloi has been of the club’s best off-season additions. What this team badly missed last season was directness in its attack — someone who could take defenders on one-on-one and run right at them. Salloi has done that this season while effectively linking up up with Mihailovic. He’s also proven to be quite versatile by playing in different roles. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'It's going to be a collective effort': Austin FC looks ahead to a match in Canada URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-torvatx-041826/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T10:59:35.000Z Some fans may be losing confidence in Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez during this recent six-match winless streak, but one veteran Verde player expressed confidence on Thursday. "It's one of his greatest strengths, how much he loves and protects his players," said Jon Gallagher, speaking to Austin media ahead of the team's trip to Toronto for a midday Saturday match. "I think that, to a fault, sometimes he will blame himself rather than realizing that it's the players too. But I think that's why he's why he's a good coach, and he goes out of his way to protect us at times when we probably shouldn't be. "I feel like the coaches aren't the ones on the field. They can give us the plan, they can give us the tactics and the ideas, but at the end of the day, it's 11 of us versus 11 of them, and we're responsible for what happens with the ball. So I would say that it's time for us players to stand up now and be held accountable." Gallagher also noted that Estévez isn't sitting idly by during this downturn, including a pair of recent 2-1 losses that dropped Verde to 13th in the West and knocked them out of the 2026 U.S. Open Cup 90 minutes after they entered it. "He's one of the hardest working managers that I've worked for. He really, really cares about this club and about the players, and you know he's working overtime right now to get us out of this, and it's going to be a collective effort," he added. Still, Gallagher indicated they realize the urgency of the situation. With only six points from seven matches, Verde need to play at close to a 1.5 points per game clip the rest of the season to get into what has typically been the point total necessary to make the playoffs. "The longer it goes on, the less comfortable you feel," Gallagher said. "I think that you see this around the world with teams where they say that, well, there's still plenty of games to play, there's still plenty of time, there's still plenty of points. But the reality is that teams above us aren't stalling. They're continuing and they're rolling, and we have to find a way to get back on the on that train line and keep up with them. "So from us, it's not that we're going to be waiting," he added. "This is now, and this is a pivotal part of the season where we've got a lot of games in a short space of time, and we want to be looking back at the World Cup break, with the place where we're like, 'Okay, this is something to work on and to finish strong for the second half of the season.'" ## 'We were very down' The team will be doing so without Dani Pereira, though, sidelined about a week with a complication from the hamstring injury the midfielder suffered earlier in the season, which manifested Tuesday forcing his exit less than 10 minutes into the match. Meanwhile, he expressed cautious optimism about both Owen Wolff's and Ilie Sánchez's progress, indicating that they could be considered for inclusion in Saturday's match based on a Friday assessment of how they've trained. Estévez says the team is still feeling the effects of Tuesday's loss but are generally still positive despite the downturn. "We were very down about what happened," he said. "We wanted this to not \[have\] happened for the club, for our fans and and for the good memories that we had from last season in that competition. But before that, we've had three games against really good teams. LAFC and Miami, the team competed a really high level. I think even though that the game against the Galaxy, we were a little bit flat in the first half. I mean, we created expected goals. We had 1.7 and they had 0.9 and it's something that this year is costing us." He went on to point out his team only gave up two set piece goals last year, and although they've shined there offensively, the defensive work on dead ball situations needs attention. Going on to cite expected goal generation against Louisville, Estévez channeled former head coach Josh Wolff with some familiar turns of phrase from that era. "What we have to see is being more ruthless in those moments," he said of the quest to turn expected goals into actual goals. "I think what we're missing is those goals can change the game, can impact mentally on the opponent, and then can open more ways to us for to score goals." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'They wanted it more': Assessing Austin FC's earliest possible 2026 U.S. Open Cup exit URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-louvatx-041526-open-cup/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T14:03:13.000Z Goalkeeper Damian Las hasn't had much experience explaining team performances to Austin media. Yet, in assessing what happened on the two first-half goals scored on Austin FC, in a 2-1 loss to Louisville City on Tuesday to start and end their 2026 U.S. Open Cup aspirations, he exhibited a veteran's straightforwardness and sensibility. "Not winning our individual battles was a huge thing," he said. "And you can see that only two goals we concede ... they just outplayed us in the first half, for sure. They took their chances, and they scored from them. I try to do the best I can in my job to make the make the saves I could, and unfortunately, I couldn't on the two goals. "I think they wanted it more than than our team," he added. "It was just more the lack of winning those individual duels on those goals we concede, just unfortunate for us." Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, more experienced of late in explaining disappointing results — now that his team is winless in six straight matches — arrived before media after an unexplained 45-minute wait, answering one question per reporter. He began with my open-ended "What happened out there?" _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Louisville City FC 2, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-louvatx-us-open-cup-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T01:04:55.000Z Austin FC started and ended its U.S. Open Cup journey on Tuesday night, ceding two first-half goals and ultimately falling 2-1 to Louisville City FC at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Ky. Damian Las got his first start for Verde's first team, in a stadium he's quite familiar with from two years of USL loan success, and Mateja "Hot Dog" Đorđević also got the start, but otherwise, it looked like a mostly first-choice lineup. That didn't quite last long, though, with Dani Pereira suffering a leg injury inside of 10 minutes and having to sub off for Besard Šabović. Verde got off some early chances, including a 13th-minute corner kick that ended up with Uzuni getting off a similar shot to the one he scored on Saturday against the Galaxy, that did not have the same good fortune. They then weathered some scary moments, with Ray Serrano leaving Đorđević sitting on the turf during one attack on goal, and then Las having to come out to snuff out a Tola Showunmi attempt, and Evan Davila putting the rebound wide. In the 25th minute, Las had to get down and make a kick save to keep Taylor Davila's shot from crossing the line. On the corner following, Taylor Davila found Sean Totsch elevating over Nicolás Dubersarsky to head in the opener. Verde very nearly got an equalizer on a Facundo Torres corner kick to answer immediately after, but Guilherme Biro put the loose ball in front of goal wide. But then, in the 32nd minute, Louisville set up down the right side and ended up freeing Showunmi to best Brendan Hines-Ike in front of goal and double the lead. At halftime, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez attempted to wrest some normalcy into his squad, subbing in Joseph Rosales for Đorđević. Dubersarsky was able to draw a yellow card foul on Taylor Davila in the 52nd minute to blunt Louisville's momentum coming out of the break, even though Louisville continued to play more forward. Torres was able to get a shot off several minutes later which was deflected but hung suspended in the air before bouncing unthreateningly off the crossbar. In the 70th minute, Verde finally got its opening goal, with Rosales sending in a free kick and CJ Fodrey heading in for the finish. Torres sent a 79th-minute cross in front of the six, but no teammates were there to meet it, and Louisville goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux was able to paw it away — which turned out to be one of Austin's best chances to equalize. Stoppage time held a couple of surprises, including Fauroux holding the ball long enough for Verde to be awarded a corner, but the visitors weren't able to find the elusive second goal, and the match ended with the home crowd delighted. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) This might be cheating, but Rosales' free kick to lead to the goal was the best-placed pass that an Austin player managed all day, with Torres' wanting cross late in the match a close second. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) It could have been (more) disastrous early: Las had a second-minute mishap on a goal kick where he nearly went down without the ball going anywhere, leaving him vulnerable to giving up a goal against a hard-charging Tola Showunmi before recovering and avoiding the howler. Nerves? ## One thing you might have missed The broadcasting crew, Devin Kerr and Mike Watts, once worked [235 Taylor Swift song titles](https://www.fotmob.com/topnews/11144-celebrating-unique-nature-us-open-cup?ref=verdeallday.com) into a Richmond Kickers vs. Maryland Bobcats U.S. Open Cup match. There was no such placement on Tuesday, though they were highly entertaining and mused on Gregg Berhalter at Detroit City FC's Keyworth Stadium, which has English League Two vibes about it. We did get an Offspring "Keep 'Em Separated" reference, though. And then they hit with a Jelly Roll concern reference, saying that he'd play "Lighter" (the World Cup anthem) "nine or twelve times until you like it." ## One nerdy tidbit Louisville got to a 2-0 lead seven minutes faster than Violette FC did in the fateful Concacaf Champions Cup match on March 7, 2023, that still stands as Verde's most shocking cup competition loss. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative This was supposed to be Austin's reset and escape from the early challenges of the MLS regular season; instead, it's heaping more misery upon Estévez and his team. ## A question we have heading into the press conference What happened? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### The great reset: Austin FC embarks on its 2026 U.S. Open Cup journey in Louisville URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2026-open-cup-preview-louisville-city/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T13:11:19.000Z The 2025 U.S. Open Cup gave Austin FC some of its best and worst moments in the club's history. Consider, for instance, the joy radiating from head coach Nico Estévez following Verde's 2-1 semifinal win over Minnesota on Sept. 17, when CJ Fodrey's very late goal sent them to the final. But also, consider the heartbreak of the Open Cup final two weeks later, when Nashville beat Austin by the same scoreline, in a game with plenty of almost and not enough alright alright alright. And then, though this is the tournament that gave us the grind-it-out penalty sequence win over San Jose, it also gave us the sickening sight of a downed Brandon Vázquez in the midst of that match, and all Austin fans' worst fears of an ACL injury (that he's yet to come back from) confirmed days after their team advanced. Don't forget that 2025's opening round, against USL Championship side El Paso, gave us an incredible three-goals-in-eight-minutes sequence that allowed Verde to escape defeat and catapult into three more wins to reach the final. But it also gave us being down 2-0 to a USL team 72 minutes into a match, with the very real prospect of being ousted by a second-division team in the first round for the second time in four years, and it gave us the spectacle of Austin fans booing players off the field at halftime. It's a complicated tournament for Verde. And it starts again tonight at 6 pm CT in Louisville, with Estévez, following Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Galaxy to send his team to a 1W 3L 3D record, declaring it a chance to "reset" – and to quest for a winnable trophy. ## How to watch Remember that this is an early 6 pm CT start time, rather than the customary East Coast 6:30 pm for MLS games. Also, since it's Open Cup and not the MLS regular season, you'll turn to Paramount+ to stream the bulk of Open Cup matches, though CBS Sports Network has Louisville-Austin as part of a doubleheader, paired with Colorado Rapids facing Union Omaha in the 8:30 pm CT slot. ## What happens if Austin FC wins Thinking positive, should Austin FC get past Louisville, it will face the winner of the Houston Dynamo-El Paso Locomotive match on April 28 or 29\. Should the Dynamo win, the rivals would face off in Houston; should the Locos score the upset, they'd return to Q2 Stadium for the second straight season. And then, looking further into the future, it would look like this: ### Quarterfinals: May 19 or 20 Verde would play one of Chicago Fire, St. Louis City SC, FC Tulsa, or Detroit City FC. ### Semifinals: Sept. 15 or 16 Possible opponents include Sporting Kansas City, Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United FC, San Jose Earthquakes, or if there's Cupset magic afoot, Colorado Springs Switchbacks, Union Omaha, Sacramento Republic, or Phoenix Rising. ### The final: Oct. 21 The Eastern half of the bracket includes eight MLS teams: Orlando City (which would put Antoine Griezmann in a Cup final!), New England Revolution, Columbus Crew, DC United, New York City FC, Red Bull New York, Atlanta United, or Charlotte FC. If you're upset-minded, you have FC Naples, Rhode Island FC, Richmond Kickers, One Knoxville SC, Westchester SC, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Chattanooga FC, or Charlotte Independence to choose from. ## The Damian Las factor Two players have played for both teams in Tuesday's matchup. Manny Perez, who now features as a right back for Louisville City, was part of Verde's inaugural squad, logging 374 minutes with Verde in 2021 (10 appearances, four starts) as a midfielder and even a striker. But you're likely more familiar with Damian Las, who was loaned to Louisville in 2024 and 2025 following his stellar 2023 with Austin FC II, winning MLS Next Pro Cup and getting to participate in the All-Star Game's Goalie Wars. Las is now developing with Austin's first team as Brad Stuver's backup; typically, No. 2 goalkeepers get cup competition minutes, and Las' coy "We'll see" about playing while grinning, to our Moisés Chiullán at Sunday's Austin FC II match against Houston Dynamo 2, gives me additional confidence that Las will get the start on Tuesday — playing against players he knows. ## Coaching change Louisville's USL success owed in part to head coach Danny Cruz, the club's longest-tenured and winningest skipper, who moved to Minnesota United's coaching staff last month, leaving assistant Simon Bird to assume the interim head coach mantle. USL's Nicholas Murray wrote, in [a tribute article](https://www.uslchampionship.com/news%5Farticle/show/1358091?ref=verdeallday.com) following the announcement, *Among managers to have coached at least 50 regular season games, Cruz has averaged two points per game across 165 contests, a remarkable level of consistency. He sits second to only former Orlando City SC head coach* \[and former Austin Aztex head coach\] *Adrian Heath in that category, with the Lions accumulating 2.2 points per game in a league that between 2011 and 2014 looked very different from the landscape the league features today.* *If there’s a knock on Cruz, it’s that he wasn’t able to lead LouCity to its third title, something both his predecessors accomplished. Still, the silverware has still rolled into Lynn Family Stadium. In 2024, Cruz led the side to its first Players’ Shield, setting single-season records with 16 home wins and 58 home goals in the campaign. A year ago, the side went back-to-back, posting the highest points-per-game mark (2.43) in league history while becoming only the fourth team to go through a regular season with only one defeat.* *That level of consistency has made Cruz a record-setter in his own right. Last September he became both the youngest manager in USL Championship history to reach 100 wins, doing so aged 35 years, 8 months, 17 days old, and the fastest to reach the mark in just 169 games across the regular season and playoffs.* In other words, he'll be missed. ## Trevor's scouting report Austin FC fan extraordinaire Trevor Allison also happens to be Austin's resident Louisville City expert, having grown up on the Indiana side of the Ohio River near Louisville and following their exploits from the time they entered the league – for the 2015 season, taking over Orlando City's USL spot when that team (at one time the Austin Aztex) entered MLS. He was kind enough to provide us a scouting report, as he's watching far more Louisville City than I have. I did enough research to learn that, so far this season, Louisville is tied with El Paso for most goals in USL-C with 14, so even though they're not entirely what they were under Cruz, they're still formidable in the league just below MLS. *Cruz left to be an assistant at Minnesota, but the interim coach Simon Bird was with Cruz for several years and plays basically the same 3-4-3 high pressing system. They will often set up in a mid block but come forward to press any time a ball moves backward or sideways. The wingbacks are a big part of the press and are the height and width going forward, so it almost could be called a 3-2-5 in possession AND in defense. The striker doesn’t score a ton in the system, as his main role is to take up space with a CB or two and let the chaos of the press and skilled players take advantage of a scrambled backline, which happens regularly in league play.* *They used the press and positioning to control games without controlling possession. Their average height of defensive actions (via the USL Stat account on Bluesky is about 45 yards, or almost to the defensive side of the center circle, while the pass maps often look pretty disjointed and lopsided, as they look to move forward quickly when the press knocks the opponent off balance. I assume they will try to play this way against Austin, as they aren’t really built to do anything else, and they fancy themselves legitimate competition for any MLS club.* *Since the start of 2024, they’ve only lost five competitive matches at home. Two were in the playoffs and one was to Minnesota United in the Open Cup last year. But the most recent was only two weeks ago to Charleston Battery, albeit with a couple of strange goals allowed.* *Austin will certainly be the more talented team with better athletes, but Lou City has a coherent style they’ve used effectively for years, and will have a pretty loud crowd (even if it’s not full), as they’ve been pitching the match as “Lou City vs MLS” and the Soccer Warz can always get the people going. I think Austin wins a match that’s not always comfortable for Verde fans, but Estévez’s general defensive solidity should be enough to stymie the Lou City attack.* ## Trevor's players to watch Yes, there's more; Trevor is a treasure trove of Louisville City knowledge. ### Taylor Davila, midfielder *He's the 2025 USL Player of the Year, from LA Galaxy's academy. He’s the guy that makes it all work. He’s a 10/8 who is a level above the rest of the league on the ball. It’s impossible to get the ball off of him and he can hit good key passes or the pass before the pass with regularity. He’s also pretty good on free kicks and will shoot with accuracy when given space. He's basically the Zidane of USL — his soccer skills would translate to MLS but he would have trouble keeping up physically.* ### Jansen Wilson and Rey Serrano, midfielders/wingers *They're both pocket wingers and half-space merchants. Wilson (who played college soccer at Kentucky) is a fast, aggressive player who will take long shots any time there is space and puts a lot of them on frame. Serrano (from the Sounders academy) is probably the most technically skilled player on the roster, can beat anyone 1 v. 1 on the inside and can finish in a lot of different ways.* ### Sean Totsch, center back *He's the all-time appearance leader for Lou City. A rock solid veteran CB who plays with a tucked-in shirt and takes Lou City’s PKs. Not scared of anyone and obviously a fan favorite.* ### The fullbacks *They have four starting caliber fullbacks who interchange all the time. Our old friend Manny Perez and Atlanta United Academy player Aiden McFadden play on the right side. USL/MLS vet Amadou Dia and Jake Morris (Aidan’s brother) play on the left. They all play high, hit crosses and crash the back post. It feels like at least one fullback scores every week.* ### Hugo Faroux, goalkeeper *He's a French USL vet who played a few matches for the Bold in 2021\. He’s been decent so far, but definitely a downgrade from Las. His last two matches have been his worst so far, and he does not do well in scramble situations but is good enough in shot stopping and set pieces. This is probably an area Austin can exploit.* ## So, what if Austin loses? There's a non-zero chance that a motivated USL-C team on the road can catch out Austin in what we're expecting to be Las' first start. That would make for a winless streak extending to six, but adding a second-division team to the mix of teams Verde can't beat, and we may see the grousing about Estévez from pockets of the fan base grow. One MLS coach, Marco Donadel, was dismissed from Miami after starting as its interim head coach 13 months prior, having started the season (with an imperfect roster) 1W 6L 0D. That's clearly a worse record than Austin's, and Estévez has racked up quality draws to avoid as much of the loss column as the former Impact experienced, but those losses have come to the 4th and 10th-best teams in the West and the 5th-best team in the East. It's unlikely we would see a coaching change before the World Cup break, but there is one and there's a mini-preseason that would allow for a new manager to come in and impose a style. Former MLS coaches like Wilfried Nancy and Jim Curtin are currently without teams — for Nancy, the result of a tumultuous five weeks at Celtic – and Vanni Sartini could likely be pried from HFX Wanderers to return to MLS. While a coaching change isn't currently in the works — as far as we know — Estévez's future with Austin could hinge on how well his team does in the World Cup, as well as how quickly he can take the league record out of its nosedive. Being currently at six points after seven matches, with an 0.86 points per game lower than any Verde team over a full season, the team has to play at a 1,44 PPG pace just to get to 45 points, the usual (but not always) demarcation point for making the playoffs. Each loss makes the grade of that mountain steeper; put two losses in there, and the drive for 45 is contingent on playing at 1.56 PPG, which roughly works out to two wins, two draws, and a loss in every five-game block going forward. The Open Cup at least gives fans some respite from thinking about the climb to come in league play — but only as long as Austin keeps winning. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'We deserved at least to tie': Assessing an Austin FC winless streak now at five URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvla-041126-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-open-cup-preview/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T18:08:58.000Z "Everyone wants to win," Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said after his team's [2-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvla-041126/) Saturday afternoon to the LA Galaxy — despite wins being hard to come by for his team in the 2026 campaign. "Everyone wants to perform at the best level, but sometimes the opponent doesn't allow you," he added. "The tempo, the heat, the speed of the ball, circulation was very slow," noting that these factors all combined to allow the Galaxy to execute their game plan in getting an elusive road win, before pointing out that when Verde plays an early match, the grass is dry and doesn't allow the ball to move at the speed they want it to, even though some balls seemed to move just fine off the hosts' feet either overshooting runners or straight to Galaxy players. "I think we deserved at least to tie this game," he assessed, even though the team's play wasn't quite what it was in the previous two outings — feel-good draws against two of the league's best teams, but draws all the same. After dropping its first home match of the year, Verde is in a bad way now more than 20% through the season. Consider: _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, LA Galaxy 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvla-041126/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T18:12:48.000Z Going into Saturday afternoon, LA Galaxy had not won on the road in 20 away matches of MLS regular season play, going back to October 2024\. Galaxy coach Greg Vanney left his much-remarked ascot in Carson, but he went home with a streak-breaking win (his 150th regular season win as a coach) in a game where Austin lacked the pace and vigor of recent weeks. A glorious late-game goal from outside the box by Myrto Uzuni lifted spirits and gave Verde a late-minutes surge of energy, but it would not be enough. After going hard on the road in a half-completed stadium in Miami, Austin finally ran out of their recent head of steam after showing unexpected form in back to back fixtures against LAFC and Inter Miami. Just a week ago, Austin made the reigning champions look tired and a mental step behind. Whether it was the fresh and thick humidity or playing on fumes with a depleted roster, that was Austin at home this weekend. Austin won the possession battle 60/40, but other key stats remained relatively even, including shots and shots of goal. Verde fans well remember match official Tori Penso from last year's US Open Cup final. Even though yellow cards went more generously to Galaxy (and their coach!), key calls once again did not go Austin's way, including Lucas Sanabria clearly obstructing Brad Stuver in the scrum that led to Maya Yoshida's decisive opening goal. Despite that and other instances (including a bizarre no-call in the closing minutes when Mikkel Desler got manhandled), Austin was out of gas from the opening whistle. An early goal sure would have changed the game. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) A promising series of attacks in the early minutes of the first half included a near-header goal from Christian Ramirez that would have provided important muggy weather momentum early on. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) A 93rd minute corner kick led to a sequence where Dani Pereira gave the ball directly to Joao Klauss, giving Galaxy full control of the remaining minutes on the clock. ## One thing you might have missed After the halftime whistle blew, Brad Stuver had a walking conference with center ref Tori Penso, presumably about the Sanabria butt-obstruction that directly contributed to his not being able to save Galaxy's first half goal. The force and precision with which he hurled his water bottle leaving the field was roughly 100x that of any effort Galaxy put into the match. ## One nerdy tidbit Thommy's goal was the 6th goal against Verde to come in the final half hour this season, [continuing a concerning trend](https://verdeallday.com/late-match-goals-austin-fc-2026-concerning-trend/). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative After showing themselves the equal two of the most formidable sides in MLS (for that matter, Concacaf), dropping all the points at home against this Galaxy team heading toward the World Cup break bodes for a brutal second half of 2026\. This makes Austin winless in five matches. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Unlike LA Galaxy, Verde did not have to play at elevation against Toluca midweek. The unpredictable Ilie injury aside, what gave us the sluggish, behind-the-pace Austin that showed up this afternoon? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Galactic Tribune's Alex Ruiz URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-galactic-tribune-alex-ruiz/ Last updated: 2026-04-11T11:00:03.000Z Whenever Austin FC plays LA Galaxy — and it feels like it happens quite a lot — I call on Alex Ruiz of the [Galactic Tribune](https://www.galactictribune.org/?ref=verdeallday.com), part of The Striker crew from three and four years ago, who has been on top of the Galaxy beat even before that. It's a Galaxy team we know, but with some wrinkles, so let's get to the questions. (I answered questions going the other way, so check his site to see what I said about Galaxy fan favorite Guilherme Biro. Also, a programming note: Moises will be taking care of At the Whistle today, and I'll pick back up at some point over the weekend. This is the first home game I'll miss this season, and I will miss it. Have fun at Q2, everyone! ### Once again, the Galaxy has remade its offense without Riqui Puig in it, and Joao Klauss leads the team with five goals ... what's different from last year, and can Klauss sustain this pace? It’s not really too different aside from the upgrade at striker. Klauss adds a bit more bite compared to Christian Ramírez and Matheus Nascimento. He’s taken his chances and shown quality finishing in those moments. It also helps to have an upgrade in the talent around you compared to his St. Louis days. The attack is very dependent on the wingers, but mostly on Gabriel Pec. Head coach Greg Vanney has talked often about the importance of getting Pec moving with the ball into the final third. That’s where the LA Galaxy is at its best in the attack. Klauss and Pec have built a good connection on the pitch. If Pec is impacting the game, that helps Klauss get better looks on goal. ### Two of the Galaxy's biggest offseason signings were defensive — Jakob Glesnes and Justin Haak. How are they fitting in, and are they making the defense better? Glesnes has been a revelation for the Galaxy this season. Unlike some previous Galaxy defenders, he doesn’t bring chaos with him into the backline. It’s easy to see why he’s been one of the top defenders in MLS over the past few years. Whether that’s in aerial duels or one-on-one defending, Glesnes has shone in those moments. It’s a real bummer that he will remain on the sidelines due to injury for at least a couple more weeks. I've said there is a real argument for him being the most important player on the Galaxy through the first game, with and without him. With Haak, it’s still a work in progress to see what he can bring to the table. Vanney is now using him primarily as a center back instead of being in the midfield. It will take a bit more time to really assess him and see what he provides to the Gs. At the moment, he has not stood out compared to Glesnes. I might need a few more games to really garner a rock-solid opinion on him. ### Now that the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup series with Toluca is behind the Galaxy (at an elevation of 8,750 feet on the road, nbd), how do you think they'll approach this match against Austin? The Galaxy has everything to play for on Wednesday at home. The two away goals help (in a 4-2 loss), but Toluca can easily get in the groove in the attack. I’d expect a good amount of rotation in the midfield and players not going the full 90 minutes. I’d expect to see most of the lineup that played last weekend against Minnesota, with LA's best players not going the full 90\. The Galaxy traveled from Toluca straight to Texas. Vanney expressed that he’s not too happy that this game is on a Saturday afternoon, but does appreciate the extra day to recover for the second leg. Trips to Texas in recent years have also not been the most successful for the Galaxy. With CCC being the only other competition for the Galaxy, the club will focus on getting a result at home. Toluca is arguably the top team in Mexico, and it will be quite the result if LA manages to win the game. Vanney’s seat is getting warmer, and being eliminated from CCC isn’t going to help the questions surrounding him. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### How late-match let-ins are (possibly) derailing Austin FC's 2026 season URL: https://verdeallday.com/late-match-goals-austin-fc-2026-concerning-trend/ Last updated: 2026-04-09T14:08:46.000Z It's only six matches in, so it's still a small sample size, but it's a concerning one. Nine goals have been scored on Austin FC so far, equaling 1.5 goals a game. By MLS standards in 2026, that's fairly middle-of-the-pack. Twelve teams have better goals allowed totals, including LAFC, who have yet to let in a single goal this year. Fourteen are worse, including Orlando, who have already let in 23, and are alarmingly on pace to let in 130, which would smash FC Cincinnati's record of 75 back in 2019 (which took the title from Orlando, who'd let in 74 the year before). But it's how Austin's letting in those goals that's concerning. Of the nine scored, five have come in the last hour of the match, and four have come in the last 15 minutes plus stoppage time — and those have significantly altered outcomes, taking a team that would otherwise have two points a game based on the most conservative readings of those results, and transform that record into one point per match, outside of the playoff places. Let's take a (painful) look back and see how we got here. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Opening a stadium, sacrificing a camera: How Austin FC and its fans put a stamp on Inter Miami history URL: https://verdeallday.com/inter-miami-stadium-opening-austin-fc-making-history/ Last updated: 2026-04-07T14:51:10.000Z Brad Stuver wasn't the only person to stop a Lionel Messi shot on Saturday night. But for Alex Rubio, stopping the legend wasn't exactly cause for celebration. During warmups, an errant Messi shot flew through the air, past the goal and toward the throng of assembled photographers between the supporters' section and the endline, smashing into the hood of Rubio's camera. When the Verde All Day photographer resumed shooting, he found the camera was failing and had to switch to a backup camera. If these are indeed the last shots he got with his trusty Olympus (and we've launched a [fundraiser](https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-alex-replace-messibroken-camera?attribution%5Fid=sl:c635234d-02af-4612-ab97-148c86b68a1e&utm%5Fcampaign=pd%5Fss%5Ficons&utm%5Fcontent=amp17%5Ftd-amp20%5Ft1&utm%5Fmedium=customer&utm%5Fsource=copy%5Flink) to help him replace it), they document quite a moment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-19.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-20.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-21.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-22.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-23.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-04---Inter-Miami-vs-ATXFC-at-Nu-Stadium-25.jpg) **Lionel Messi taking out Alex Rubio's camera, frame-by-frame (Alex Rubio/Cinco Soles Media)* (Alex maintains that in shots four and five, Messi realizes what he's done. In shot six, the ball has made contact.) Though it took sacrificing a very expensive camera to arrive at it, Alex now has a Story to Tell in a trip that brought an official, supporters'-group-engineered 265 Verde fans to Miami — plus dozens more who found their own way into their own purchased seats opting for green over pink — looking for their own Stories to Tell. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'We had a plan': Reflecting on a statement-making result in Miami URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-miavatx-040426/ Last updated: 2026-04-05T17:17:22.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez isn't one to typically humblebrag, but when a soccer legend like David Beckham swings by your locker room after a match in which your team drew against his MLS Cup Champions, well, you have to let *someone* know. Notably, in the context of the press conference following [Saturday's 2-2 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-miavatx-040426/) in Nu Stadium's first-ever match, Estévez made the revelation – while positively assessing what his team did as considerable underdogs — that the talismanic Inter Miami CF co-owner paid his compliments to Verde. "We look at today, we feel proud about our performance," he said. "We had moments. We had a plan. We had an idea ... we're very close to what we want to be as a team and what Austin FC and its fans deserve." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Inter Miami CF 2, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-miavatx-040426/ Last updated: 2026-04-05T02:16:59.000Z (MIAMI) - On a historic Saturday night in Miami, as reigning champions Inter Miami CF opened Nu Stadium with the fanfare, fireworkds and confetti-cannon-firing you might expect, Austin FC jumped out to an early lead, and despite losing that lead and another they acquired later, held on for a statement 2-2 draw. All-Star Guilherme Biro (who replaced Inter Miami holdout Jordi Alba in last year's roster) scored the first goal in Nu Stadium history to provide an early shock to the raucous home fans, but Messi answered four minutes later to kickstart a lively match that remained thrilling to the end. Verde started out with a similar lineup to the one that went toe-to-toe with LAFC its last time, with replacing Jon Bell in the Starting XI. It appeared that Christian Ramirez earned a penalty kick 40 seconds into the match, when David Ayala clipped his foot inside the box. That didn't meet the test from VAR somehow, but a foul on Uzuni thirty seconds later led to a free kick outside the box. Uzuni took it himself, and his attempt caromed off the post. Then, in the sixth minute, Austin FC brought its set piece magic on a corner kick, with Facundo Torres delivering a headable ball that Biro met functionally unmarked. He then did the new dad goal celebration to deliver some breaking news. Four minutes later, though, Messi did what Messi does, working in between Torres and Nico Dubersarsky to head in an Ian Fray cross. Then, two minutes after that, to remind Verde's defense that other players on this team are dangerous, Tadeo Allende got his head on a ball even closer in than Messi did for his goal, skimming it over the bar. Biro nearly got his second in the 20th minute on another corner won by Verde off a one-touch Torres attempt blocked after Joseph Rosales sent in an incisive pass. Then, a minute after that chance, Uzuni hit a shot from the edge of the box that just arced over the bar. Mateo Silvetti provided some terror for the Austin defense in the 34th minute, first taking a Messi pass from the endline to his position just outside the 18, ripping a shot that Oleksandr Svatok blocked. Silvetti then hit the rebounded ball back to goal, forcing Brad Stuver into a parrying dive to expel the danger. Three minutes later, Silvetti got another opportunity, which he struck wide of the post. In the 40th minute, Torres got an opportunity to get Verde back in the league, with the second post strike of the half. That would be his last meaningful action of the match, giving way to Jayden Nelson when the players returned to the field — Miami coming on a good deal later than Austin. In the 53rd minute, Nelson got his first goal in Verde, and Austin became the first team in Nu Stadium history to score at both ends of the stadium, on a play in which Rosales connected with Uzuni and Uzuni then connected with Nelson. Messi had a chance at free kick magic in the 59th, curling an attempt from just outside the box millimeters past the post, though Stuver dove well and had a chance at an acrobatic save on a better placed ball. Nelson tried to return the assisting favor to Uzuni in the 66th minute, getting off a cross to Uzuni in front of goal, but Uzuni was not able to execute the backheel he was striving for. Nervy moments followed, with Miami pushing forward for the equalizer — bolstered by a subbed-in Germán Bereterame — once Besard Šabović subbed in for Ilie Sánchez and Jon Bell swapped in for Biro. It got even more nervy with Luis Suarez subbing in at the 74-minute mark. The goal that was coming finally came in the 82nd — about a minute after Rosales came off for Žan Kolmanič, notably — with Suarez getting off an emphatic point-blank, far-post shot on a corner kick, after Berterame redirected the initial ball in. Then, in the 90th minute, Messi got another free kick opportunity, which hit the crossbar. Suarez headed in the rebound, but it was rightly ruled offside. Despite several more heart-in-mouth moments for the Verde faithful, the defense held, depriving Miami fans of a first home win (for now). ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) They would have been cooler had they been fine-tuned a couple of inches inside the post rather than off the post, but clanging woodwork in the second and 40th minute was a good indicator of how attacking Austin started and then remained. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Non-contact injuries aren't great, and though Torres labored through the rest of the first half after a concerning sitdown around the half-hour mark, he was replaced at halftime by Nelson, learning from the club it's a groin injury. We'll make sure this gets asked about. ## One thing you might have missed Messi and Ilie had a moment — captain to captain and Blaugrana to Blaugrana — in the tunnel that the Apple TV broadcast captured. ## One nerdy tidbit I'm not sure how many times two All-Stars in one season have scored the first 10 minutes of a match involving their respective teams the next season, but I'm going to hazard a guess it's a first in 2026\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Many — and I'll put my hand up being among them — predicted that home opemer + Miami's talent + Austin's continuing injury woes would all add to a Herons win. Even with only a half of Torres and the penalty kick that wasn't, Verde showed out well and provided evidence — for the second straight match — they can hang with any team in the league. ## A question we have going into the press conference Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez pledged his team would be attacking in this one, and they most certainly were, even though Miami got off considerably more shots. I'll want to delve into this more. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Miami Herald's Michelle Kaufman URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-miami-herald-michelle-kaufman-miavatx-040426/ Last updated: 2026-04-04T13:12:31.000Z It's not the first time Austin FC's played Inter Miami CF, but it might be the most consequential. And in a Foreign Exchange befitting Saturday's match (now starting at 7 pm CT, according to Inter Miami), which will be the inaugural one in Miami's new [Nu Stadium](https://verdeallday.com/inter-miami-nu-stadium-opening-miavatx-040426/) (and there's a reason it's called that, which we'll get into momentarily), we reached out to the dean of Miami soccer journalists, Michelle Kaufman. She has been covering Miami soccer since the days when the Miami Fusion played in Lockhart Stadium, after they couldn't come to terms to play in the Orange Bowl. (Long story that's in [my book](https://www.amazon.com/United-States-Soccer-American-Fandom/dp/1468315544/ref=tmm%5Fpap%5Fswatch%5F0?ref=verdeallday.com), but we'll get into that here as well.) Also, I asked three questions and not a single one involved Lionel Messi! (Overtly, at least.) To the questions! ### Germán Berterame appeared a key offseason addition for Inter Miami, but he's yet to register a regular-season goal. How has he fared on the field so far, and are there indications in his play that goals are coming? Berterame arrived with fanfare after his $15 million transfer from Monterrey. Seems he was going to be the eventual replacement for 39-year-old Luis Suarez, who had an exceptional 2024 season but in 2025 was not as productive and was relegated to the bench for the playoffs, in favor of 20-year-old Argentine Mateo Silvetti. Miami's offense was explosive during the playoffs (MLS record 20 goals) with Messi, Silvetti and Tadeo Allende, who scored an MLS playoff record 9 goals during their run to the MLS Cup title. Everything in the Miami attack revolves around Messi and who links up well with him, who he trusts, who knows how to deliver him the ball ... Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were critical to that dynamic, they had all played together at Barcelona and had telepathy on the field. But Busi and Jordi are retired now, so Inter Miami's midfielders and attackers are learning to play without those two legends. It has been a transition period and Berterame is new to the whole equation, so it has taken him some time to get comfortable in the role. He showed signs of finding his groove in the last league game, a road win over NYCFC, and even appeared to score a goal, but it was nullified for offisde. He should be motivated because he is trying to earn a spot and starting role on the Mexican World Cup team. ### Dayne St. Clair is, on paper, a significant upgrade at goalkeeper from what the team had last year, but he let in three during the opener, and Miami only has a goal differential of +1 five matches in — how is he actually faring? Signing St. Clair made perfect sense, as he was a free agent and Inter Miami was in need of a strong keeper, although backup Rocco Rios Novo stepped up as starter in the playoffs and did a fine job. Rocco was on loan, and it was unclear if he would be back. As it turns out, he is back, so now he and St. Clair are a strong duo and will keep each other sharp. Like Berterame, St. Clair had an adjustment period at the start of the season, had some visa paperwork to get done, and was going from a very different style of team in Minnesota United to the style Inter Miami plays. Also, he doesn't speak Spanish (he planned to start taking Spanish classes), and Inter Miami is an almost entirely Spanish-speaking team, including the coaching staff. The training sessions and press conferences are conducted in Spanish. A few weeks into the season, he said he was much more comfortable, communicating well with his new teammates and it showed. He made a couple of massive saves in each of the past few games. He is highly motivated to play well, as he battles for the starter role on the Canadian World Cup team. ### How much of an event is this stadium opening for Miami? And how big of a deal is it to moving from the former Lockhart Stadium site to this more permanent and modern home? How big a deal is Nu Stadium? (No, that is not a typo... Inter Miami's new stadium is called Nu Stadium, sponsored by Brazilian NuBank.) Not sure there are adequate words to explain the significance of this stadium, but I have been covering soccer in Miami for 30 years, so I will try ... Finally, 12 years after David Beckham arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay in a tailored suit and announced that he was bringing MLS back to Miami, after an odyssey rife with political battles and repeated roadblocks, after six years playing in a temporary stadium in Fort Lauderdale, the British icon’s vision will become reality. It isn’t exactly the home Beckham originally envisioned. He dreamed of a waterfront stadium with picturesque views and tried to cut a deal for a site at the county-owned Port Miami. But that proposal got blocked, leading to several other failed proposals with various investor groups. It wasn’t until Beckham partnered with Miami brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, principals of construction and infrastructure firm MasTec, that a viable stadium plan began to take shape. Now, a little history lesson ...The Miami stadium saga began long before Beckham showed up. It dates back three decades. On July 8, 1997, in an 18th-floor ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (I was there!!!), MLS launched the Miami Fusion, the first incarnation of a South Florida team. The club’s name and logo were revealed with much excitement — a futuristic blue and yellow oval with the word “Fusion” over a sunburst. From the league’s inception in 1996 the intent was to have a Miami team become a bilingual global brand that would extend MLS tentacles into South and Central America. South Florida is home to hundreds of thousands of Latin American immigrants and they are passionate about soccer. The idea was to get those fans and also fans from their home nations to adopt the Miami team as their U.S. based team, watch games on TV, buy merchandise, and travel to Miami to see them play in person. The plan was for the Fusion to begin play in March 1998 at the Orange Bowl but the club owner and local politicians clashed over the lease agreement, so the owner took the team to Fort Lauderdale and upgraded Lockhart Stadium, where they played until they folded in 2001\. Beckham and the Mas brothers wound up in a similar situation and ended up taking their team to those very Lockhart Stadium grounds... they knocked down Lockhart and built the temporary stadium they have been playing in the past six years. Finally, the Miami MLS team will play in Miami! The Miami Fusion played in Fort Lauderdale. Inter Miami has been playing in Fort Lauderdale, and now will play in Miami. This is what MLS envisioned in 1996. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### An attacking mentality: Don't expect Austin FC to just sit back and defend against Inter Miami URL: https://verdeallday.com/attacking-mentality-miavatx-040426-preview-nico-estevez/ Last updated: 2026-04-03T13:47:43.000Z Given what Inter Miami does to defenses — nine goals in five matches thus far in 2026 (with an opening 3-0 loss at LAFC that certainly seems an outlier), and 81 goals last season en route to an MLS Cup title — it's tempting to think about defending. But as Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez shared with media on Thursday, he believes there's opportunity to attack (given that they're playing a team that let in eight goals this season so far, and let in 55 last season), and that this could be critical to Verde's success on Saturday night to spoil the venue-opening party at Miami's Nu Stadium. "We are playing against the champions, the actual champions of MLS, and we know it's going to be difficult," Estévez granted. "We also know that is a team that scores goals, but also concedes goals. And then this has to be our mentality. We can go there thinking that just defending well is going to be enough. because they have tools to score goals ... we need to have the mentality to attack them. "I think, against big teams, what they don't want is to not have the ball. They don't want to run behind the ball. And we showed against LAFC, and we show against good teams, when we have the right mentality and we approach the game, going also to attack them, is when we can have more chances to to win the game. Obviously, we know the quality that they have, but we also feel very confident about the quality that we have in our team." ## However ... That quality continues to be compromised, though, as the breakup of the Frail Four is slower and more protracted than the Verde faithful would want. Most notably, Owen Wolff — who Estévez previously anticipated would be making his return from sports hernia surgery in this match — is still compromised in his training and is likely out several more weeks. "His type of recovery is a little bit different because he is still feeling some additions from the surgery. And then he trained two days really well. And then one day, we had to give him off. And then now \[on Friday} he will train again ... if everything goes well, he could have a full week of training next week with the team. But right now, there is a lot of improvement \[with\] him, and he's feeling good also, and I think it's important that we can have him back soon, but I don't think he will be ready for this weekend." It does sound like Jayden Nelson will be roster-ready on Saturday, and Robert Taylor could appear on the roster to face his former team with at least some sub minutes, with the decision on that to be made Friday. For Brandon Vázquez, though, to quote NSYNC, "[It's gonna be May](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMlWwIXg3M&ref=verdeallday.com)." "In three weeks, he has the appointment with the doctor to see the last test, to see if we've they can clear him on game time. Right now he is clear\[ed for\] training. He's training with the team full\[y\], and I think in around three weeks, or four weeks, he will have the last meeting with the doctor to see if he can \[be\] clear\[ed\] for game time." Dani Pereira is already back in training, though not the full training that precedes game play. Based on the tea leaves Estévez laid down, he could return in late April, but given Austin's injury situation this season, Pereira could also be on the Justin Timberlake timetable. ## It's a full team, but ... Inter Miami has Dayne St. Clair in goal, Germán Berterame and Luis Suarez as strikers, Telasco Segovia and Rodrigo de Paul in the midfield, and Micael and Sergio Reguilón in the back line, making for a formidable MLS team able to mount a title defense with just those pieces alone. Yet, it's Inter Miami, which means that those players are all spokes around the Lionel Messi central hub, and media questions on Thursday focused on the All-Star who skipped out on Austin's All-Star party last summer. Estévez has seen Messi play since both of them were in La Liga, and recalls the 2023 Leagues Cup battle in which his FC Dallas went up 4-2 (on a Robert Taylor own-goal) with just over 20 minutes remaining, only for Messi to bring his team back level, with Miami eventually advancing on penalty kicks. "At the end of the day, he is still doing the same things every single time against every team, and still making the difference," Estévez said. "I'm pretty sure that if we ask every coach that has played against him, they will try different plans, man-marking, zonal \[defense\], the offside rule, maybe double mark him. And at the end of the day, he's Messi, because what he sees and understands, he adapts to the game. If you are doing something to him, he will find a way to break that." He went on to say that because of Messi's versatility, it will be important for his team to make the collective effort to stop him, no matter what strategies he employs throughout the match. Even so, there's no guarantees that Verde will contain him for the entirety of the match. "He knows the game is 90 minutes," Estévez said. "He doesn't rush. He just stays there. He stays focused, and knows he's going to have a chance. He's going to have an opportunity where he makes a movement, makes a pass. It's about everything — his technical ability to make passes, his finishing is clinical, very clean, like the best ... when he's able to have a chance, he's really good on free kicks, direct free kicks, set pieces for assistance ... he has a very good understanding and vision and playing the balls in behind and and then attacking the box." He went on to say that he's the best player in part because of his consistency. "There are other players that can do things that Messi can do," Estévez said, but then asserted, "Every year he has a good year, and this is very, very difficult." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Breaking news: Austin FC draws Louisville City in U.S. Open Cup play URL: https://verdeallday.com/breaking-news-austin-fc-draws-louisville-city-us-open-cup-third-round/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T14:02:04.000Z On CBS Sports' Golazo Network this morning, Austin FC was announced as traveling to face Louisville City in U.S. Open Cup's third round either April 14 or 15\. Per the live draw, Austin FC also learned it will be second in the Round of 16 hosting order, meaning that if it advances past the USL Championship side, it will travel again to Houston if the Dynamo overcome El Paso Locomotive, and will host the Locos if the USL Championship team from Chuco Town scores the Cupset. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, interviewed on the show following the hosts walking though Verde's portion of the bracket, had benign and respectful things to say about the competition. "The U.S. Open Cup, I think, is a very traditional competition, something that we value a lot. And as we did last year, I think one game at a time, taking a priority to the game that we have in front of us, and this is the way that we approached last year, and it worked very well. "We know to achieve what we did last year is always very difficult, but as a new competition starts, we are looking forward and excited to start to do another journey and write another good season in that competition," he added. His team, of course, progressed to the final, losing 2-1 at Q2 Stadum — a bittersweet finish to an otherwise magical run where the team went from nearly being bounced by El Paso in its first match to rattling off four straight wins, three in dramatic fashion. Asked about the contingent of away fans going to Miami this Saturday, and commenting on how well the Verde faithful travels, Estévez recalled perhaps the most dramatic of those wins. "For us, it's really important to give that joy, as we did in the Open Cup \[semifinal\] against Minnesota, and we could celebrate at the end of the game with them." ### It's Nu: Austin FC to play a part in Inter Miami's Nu Stadium opening URL: https://verdeallday.com/inter-miami-nu-stadium-opening-miavatx-040426/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T13:12:25.000Z Yes, it's called Nu Stadium. And no, it's not a fanciful spelling of "new," even though it's certainly, undeniably that. When Austin FC takes to the road for its sixth match of the 2026 season, it will be more significant, with more eyes on it, than a typical Verde away match. The long-awaited opening of Inter Miami CF's 26,700-seat home stadium, reportedly a $350 million build that started in August 2023, comes Saturday, with — as the [Miami Herald recently shared](https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mls/inter-miami/article315208300.html?ref=verdeallday.com) — 1,300 workers trying to beat the clock by getting it as close to 100% as possible by kickoff. (That included last week's laying down of grass and seat installations that have continued into this week.) The name comes from a partnership with Brazilian digital financial services company Nu, which [Sportico says](https://www.sportico.com/business/sponsorship/2026/nu-bank-inter-miami-mls-stadium-naming-rights-1234886243/?ref=verdeallday.com) is a multi-year deal — "one of the largest naming rights deals for a soccer-specific stadium in MLS history." One part of the stadium already has another name attached to it: The Leo Messi Stand, which the club says makes for "a rare and unique case in global sports: an athlete regularly playing at his home stadium with a stand named in his honor." *(Can something be both rare and unique? Pick a lane!)* Specifically: "Spanning from sections 117-121 in the Lower Bowl and 217-223 in the Upper Bowl, the Leo Messi Stand is incorporated into Nu Stadium’s unified seating bowl, guaranteeing fans a unique experience with the best views of the action while enhancing crowd energy to create the best atmosphere in the league." The marketing includes this video which makes clear how important Messi is to the selling of the stadium: MLS is getting behind the launch as well, officially announcing the opening on Monday after several weeks of internet-fueled speculation that Nu Stadium might not be ready for the special day after all. [Heralding it](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/inter-miami-s-nu-stadium-begins-new-era-for-mls-stadiums?ref=verdeallday.com) as "a new era for MLS stadiums," the league is grouping it with two other projects in progress: The new NYCFC stadium (opening in 2027) going up in Queens and the Fire's soccer-specific stadium along the Chicago River (slated to open in 2028), after nearly 30 years of splitting time between Soldier Field and what is now SeatGeek Stadium, built in a suburban outpost of the Windy City during the MLS 2.0 era that brought us the stadia currently still functioning for the likes of Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids, and FC Dallas. Seth Rau, who handles away day logistics for Austin FC fan group Los Verdes, has an official count of 263 affiliated fans making the trek to South Florida, though he estimates as many as 500 will find their way to Nu Stadium to root for the visitors. It's also enough of an occasion for Austin FC's robust media corps to make the trek. Four different outlets — the *Austin Chronicle*, the North End Podcast, We Are Austin TV, and the publication you're enjoying now — will all be making the trek to capture what promises to be historic. As fans who were there for the Q2 Stadium opening in 2021 know, christening a new building is special. Those going Saturday will know what it feels like for the Miami fans who get to know their new home, and experience that through the eyes of visitors who took in a brand new stadium five years prior. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### A coin flip's chance: Running the 2026 Austin FC season through the prediction machine URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-prediction-machine-2026-projections/ Last updated: 2026-03-29T14:47:32.000Z Math is weird. As we're in an international break between Austin FC games, I've run Austin FC's 2026 season through the American Soccer Analysis game prediction model site, which allows users to glimpse the season and individual games through 100 successive simulations (or more, if you choose) to see what the future might hold. What it says about Austin FC is that it's a team on the cusp of the playoffs. Out of 30 teams, with the top nine teams in each conference going to the playoffs in what could be the last year of the current playoff set-up\[\[1\]\], Verde is slated to finish 18th, with a few surprises in here given the current standings. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### One happy, one sad — or both sad: Assessing the most Austin FC of European World Cup qualifiers URL: https://verdeallday.com/european-world-cup-qualifiers-preview-ukraine-sweden-albania-poland-svatok-uzuni/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T12:03:42.000Z On Thursday, two Austin FC teammates will set out to win matches with their respective international teams — which would then put them on a collision course to a Tuesday match in Spain to decide which one of them goes to the World Cup. Oleksandr Svatok's Ukraine and Myrto Uzuni's Albania have played well enough to get to Thursday and Tuesday's high-stakes matches, making it to one of a series of playoffs to determine remaining spots in this summer's global tournament. The U.S., which has already qualified as a host nation, will learn who its European opponent in group stage play will be on Tuesday, as Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey go through their own three-match mini-tournament to determine who gets in a group with the Yanks (and Paraguay and Australia). On Thursday, Albania plays Poland in Warsaw, while Ukraine plays Sweden in Valencia, Spain. The winners play Tuesday in Valencia (unless Sweden advances; they would then host in Solna, Sweden), and the winner of that match will join Japan, Netherlands, and Tunisia in Group F for matches in Monterrey, Dallas, and Houston. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, understanding the significance of those matches ahead, noted after [Saturday's 0-0 draw](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvlafc-032126-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-brendan-hines-ike-christian-ramirez-world-cup-qualifiers-albania-ukraine/) with LAFC, "One is going to come back happy, and the other is going to come back sad ... or both will come back sad." To help preview the teams in this grouping, we turned to [Seth Vertelney](https://www.usatoday.com/staff/9457279002/seth-vertelney/?ref=verdeallday.com), soccer editor for *USA Today*, which has provided among the most comprehensive coverage of these qualifiers I've seen. Alphabetical order just happens to be the way the matches lineup, starting with the longest shot, but also the team Austin fans would love to see get into the World Cup, so we'll proceed that way. ## Albania **Current FIFA World Ranking:** 63 **Putting them in the neighborhood of:** South Africa (60), Saudi Arabia (61), Honduras (65) **How they got here:** Albania finished second to England in Group K, going 4W 2L 2D (to England's perfect 8W 0L 0D), and besting rival Serbia plus Andorra in the standings. **Names to know:** Obviously, Myrto Uzuni is who you're focused on, but also consider defenders Berat Djimsiti and Elseid Hysaj (the captain and vice-captain), playing in Serie A with Atalanta and Lazio respectively, and Rey Manaj (who plays club soccer in Turkey with Sivasspor), who has 11 international goals thus far. **Seth says:** "They've never been to a World Cup, so this is going to be a big opportunity for them. They had a really good qualifying campaign, and that's going to give them a lot of confidence ... They managed to finish one point ahead of Serbia; that was probably a team that they would have been expected to finish behind." Despite recent Euros experience, he added, "They're definitely going to be considered the underdogs ... They'll have to play a really strong, defensive, tight game to stay with Poland in Warsaw. That'll be a tough environment for them, for sure, but they'll have a lot of confidence after how they've performed over the last couple of years." ## Poland **Current FIFA World Ranking:** 34 **Putting them in the neighborhood of:** Norway (32), Panama (33), Wales (35) **How they got here:** Poland finished second in Group G, going 5W 1L 2D to Netherlands' 6W 0L 2D, but ahead of Finland, Malta, and Lithuania. **Names to know:** You're most likely to know 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski, but you also may know Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Karol Świderski (Panathinaikos by way of Charlotte FC), Piotr Zieliński (Inter Milan), and Jakub Kiwior (Arsenal, but currently on loan to Porto). **Seth says:** "Robert Lewandowski's still scoring goals on a regular basis for Barcelona. He's still doing it for Poland. And again, this is a really experienced team ... Poland's been at the last two World Cups. They still use a number of players that you're probably familiar with, if you followed them at all over the last decade ... They have a strong team, and they'll definitely be favored going in." He also said, of Cash, "He's somebody who may or may not have broken through with England at this point, but he has some Polish heritage, and decided several years ago that he was going to represent Poland, and he's been a big player for them." ## Sweden **Current FIFA World Ranking:** 42 **Putting them in the neighborhood of:** Paraguay (40), Czechia (43), Cameroon (45) **How they got here:** Though they finished fourth out of four teams in Group B — with second-place Kosovo going into the Face the U.S. Qualifier — a triumph in their 2024-25 Nations League group allowed Sweden to slot in against Ukraine. **Names to know:** Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal), captain Victor Lindelöf (Aston Villa), Mattias Svanberg (Wolfsburg), and Emil Forsberg (Red Bull New York). **Seth says:** "They're kind of an underachiever, but talent wise, probably has a little bit of advantage on Ukraine ... I think it'll be a really close matchup." ## Ukraine **Current FIFA World Ranking:** 30 **Putting them in the neighborhood of:** Australia (27), Canada (29), Egypt (31) **How they got here:** Ukraine finished second to France in Group D with a 3W 2L 1D journey in a four-team group. **Names to know:** Aside from Oleksandr Svatok, look for Ruslan Malinovskyi (Genoa), Heorhiy Sudakov (Benfica), and Roman Yaremchuk (Lyon). **Seth says:** "For them to do as well as they have done through qualifying. without being able to play any home games, speaks highly of of them as a team and their resilience through the situation that they're dealing with back home. They should have home field advantage for this game, but this will be in Spain. That will challenging for them, but it's of course nothing that they haven't faced before." ## How to watch The matches start at 2:45 pm CT, with broadcasts starting at 2:30 pm CT for both, according to Amazon Prime Video, which houses Vix and Fox One, which both offer seven-day free trials to get you through this whole international window of Thursday/Tuesday matches. Here's the [Poland-Albania link](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0GPJGD3D4/ref=atv%5F3p%5Famz%5Fc%5FRYTa9M%5F3%5F9?jic=36%7CCgl2aXhwbHVzdXMSDHN1YnNjcmlwdGlvbg%3D%3D&ref=verdeallday.com) on the Prime Video site, and here's the [Ukraine-Sweden one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0GSXHHW1N/ref=atv%5Fdp%5Famz%5Ftc%5FO8RkuO%5F2%5F14?jic=8%7CEgNhbGw%3D&ref=verdeallday.com). Both matches are on Vix (I'm assuming Spanish-language announcing there), and the Poland-Albania match requires free trial with Fox One, whereas the Prime Video site claims Sweden-Albania is free through Fubo Sports Network. If you're going to watch via one of these avenues, I recommend getting in at least a few minutes before kickoff to do the necessary troubleshooting, assuming you're not already set up with these services. ## Should Albania and Ukraine progress ... The dream scenario of Svatok vs. Uzuni, playing for two World Cup games guaranteed in Texas, would take place Tuesday should Albania upset Poland and Ukraine do what many expect. That match would be in Valencia, with a 2:45 pm CT start time. ## What else is happening? In European qualifying, aside from the two series already mentioned, Italy risks missing another World Cup, finding themselves in a qualifying group with Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to join the Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland group, while Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea will receive one of Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia, and Ireland — to determine what San Diego FC's Andres Dreyer will be doing this summer. Mexico will also be hosting two three-team playoffs, with Jamaica and New Caledonia facing off in Guadalajara to play Congo DR for a spot in Colombia, Portugal and Uzbekistan's group, while in Monterrey, it's Bolivia and Suriname facing off, with the winner playing Iraq to join France, Norway and Senegal. ## ... and then? With a match against Miami looming April 4, it's not as if Estévez will jaunt over to Valencia to watch the game in person, and as Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver said after Saturday's match, both Svatok and Uzuni will have to regroup and resume their role as teammates (after the latest installment in a rivalry the entire locker room's now aware of) to face one of the sternest tests of the young season. And, as we know, only one of them, at best, will be happy with the results experienced in Europe. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'This should be our standard': Taking encouragement from a scoreless draw, albeit against LAFC URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvlafc-032126-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-brendan-hines-ike-christian-ramirez-world-cup-qualifiers-albania-ukraine/ Last updated: 2026-03-22T15:04:56.000Z A [0-0 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-032126/) isn't necessarily the hallmark of an offense coming alive, but for Austin FC on Saturday night, the result against LAFC showed the mettle of a still-incomplete team more thoroughly than in its previous two matches. "We deserved better today," Verde head coach Nico Estévez said to media after the match, praising his team for "having a lot of control of the game," dominating possession early and winning the field tilt battle, while going up against one of the league's most formidable defenses based on a clean sheet string of five straight matches to start 2026\. "We deserved to win this game." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/03/Austin_FC_v_Los_Angeles_FC_quad_2026-03-22.png) He had accolades for his team's effort — in particular, one player who has been a lightning rod for criticism in much of his time playing for Austin. "We saw Myrto Uzuni defending and tracking in counterattacks, and helping the team to win the ball ... and I think this showed the commitment that he has, with the team and with the group. "We saw a very solid team performance, and every individual gave everything," Estévez added. "And this should be the standard of how we have to perform. And this is what I told the players: This should be our standard." He went on to predict, based on establishing this as a baseline performance, "We're going to be really good this year." [Just days left on this offer](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) Brendan Hines-Ike echoed his coach's messaging about the higher standard the players are seeking to hold themselves to, given their past two away performances. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, LAFC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-032126/ Last updated: 2026-03-22T15:53:41.000Z Returning home after a challenging two-match road trip, Austin FC duelled LAFC to a scoreless draw, 0-0, on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium — though for several glorious minutes ultimately turned cruel, it appeared as if Austin had scored the first goal against the Black & Gold all season through continued set piece prowess. Head coach Nico Estévez went with a lineup much like the one he went with last time out, with Jayden Nelson's back issue (reported on Thursday) keeping him out of the matchday 20, and Christian Ramírez taking his place in a 4-4-2 formation. That included a second straight start for Jon Bell at left back. In the first 15 minutes, Verde had a 70-30 possession advantage and engineered several chances — primarily engaging Myrto Uzuni — though Ramírez had one moment in the 10th where he was on the end of a hopeful cross but was strong-armed away by Sergi Palencia (without a foul called). Oleksandr Svatok had a deft diving kick in the 21st minute, following a promising Austin attack suddenly sent the other way, to repel a break before the ball could get into the wide green expanse of the final third. In the 26th, Timothy Tillman got the match's first yellow card, kicking out at Facundo Torres after ending up on the ground angling to win possession. Three minutes later — shortly after a sequence in which Ramírez seemingly engineered a corner kick by bouncing a ball of Nkosi Tafari the ref crew deemed to be *not quite out*, Hines-Ike had the ball drop to him three yards from goal, couldn't quite reach it, and then Hugo Lloris was able to coax it out, albeit not authoritatively — but it was rightly ruled offside. Son got a free kick opportunity in the 39th minute – from a similar spot on the field where he hit his [2025 MLS Goal of the Year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF3EwcRl6GI&ref=verdeallday.com) — which slipped over the bar (and reportedly lodged into the capo stand, [wedgie-style](https://www.wedgietracker.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), based on one fan's account and not-entirely-clear photo). In the 41st, following a foot-to-ankle maiming on Nicolás Dubersarsky by Eddie Segura — not unlike the contact that got Guilherme Biro tossed from the match against Charlotte — the yellow card got a red card check but it remained a yellow. In the 50th minute, Ilie Sánchez got stripped of the ball in Austin's half, leading to a scary Bouanga breakaway, then leading to a shot that went decently wide of the target — but concerningly showed what LAFC's capable of in moments (especially moments that can turn scoreless matches into not-scoreless matches). Much of the first 15 minutes of the second half was played in Austin's defensive half of the field — with Uzuni trying to engineer a couple of breakaways to reclaim momentum, but going into disadvantageous one-on-two scenarios and getting those attempts repelled. In the 59th minute, Uzuni lurched toward a ball and got off a shot that Nkosi Tafari immediately made contact on — but the ball still nearly caromed into the goal regardless. Finally, in the 63rd, Austin looked as if it got its breakthrough, with Gallagher winning a corner by bouncing a pass off Tafari, leading to a Torres free kick that Uzuni hammered home. However, video review revealed that he hammered the ball home through Sánchez's legs, and the captain was standing in an offside position while being the wicket to Uzuni's croquet mallet, so the game remained scoreless. In the 70th, Estévez made his first subs, getting a visibly frustrated Ilie and Bell off for the Card Machine Twins (Guilherme Biro and Besard Šabović). In the 77th, an Austin FC corner kick nearly went awry when LAFC got a breakaway from it, with the very scary proposition of Son bearing down on goal. But Rosales was able to catch up, and making the stop and reversal look easier than it actually was. CJ Fodrey and Mikkel Desler got in for Ramírez and Gallagher in the 79th, and Fodrey very nearly scored immediately, getting a foot on a pass at the edge of the box and looping a lobbed shot that hit the crossbar on its way down. Verde mustered a moment of luck and then a moment of fantastic defense to keep the clean sheet going. First, in the 85th minute, Mark Delgado hit the post with a shot that bounced out into the danger zone before being dealt with. And then, a minute later, Son bore down on goal, but Hines-Ike got in a slide tackle from behind with Svatok flanking him, and Stuver coolly collected the ball. Son laid on the turf, the Spursiness\[\[1\]\] radiating off him, as play resumed. Estévez got Žan Kolmanič on for Dubersarsky with his final sub in advance of six minutes of stoppage time. That notably included a 90'+4' Uzuni shot that sent Lloris airborne for the save, and a Torres header attempt two minutes later that was started by Uzuni stripping Bouanga of the ball and making a break upfield. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Though not ultimately counted as a goal, the set piece was a thing of beauty, and probably would have gone in the same had Ilie not been in the position he was (like, say, an onside position removed from the path of the ball). Also, that Rosales stop on Son was glorious, as was the Hines-Ike one. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 12th minute, Rosales had a cheap, unforced giveaway to Son that turned into a chance for Tillman. Fortunately for Austin, his shot went wide, but it's the kind of moment you can't give an opportunistic team like LAFC. (Bell made a similar bad pass to Son inside the box in the 24th, leading to a Son shot that caromed off Brendan Hines-Ike. ## One thing you might have missed Uzuni gave referee Rubiel Vazquez a very friendly handshake-to-bro-hug right before kickoff. (It did not seem to pay off.) ## One nerdy tidbit Per the MLS broadcast at halftime, LAFC has engineered 1.16 xG to Austin's 0.45, even though Verde looked the more threatening team throughout the first 45\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative A home draw isn't the best result, but a hard-fought home draw against LAFC stops a two-match losing streak and is a positive to perhaps build on as March gives way to April. ## A question we have going into the press conference This appeared to be Uzuni's best match of the season, and yet he was unlucky to get a goal, and LAFC's clean sheet streak continues, though Austin also got to start its own clean sheet streak that it hopes to continue in *a* South Florida stadium two weeks from tonight. What will it take, though, for this team to score from open play in a non-fluky manner. \[\[1\]\]: Shout out to all my Tottenham fan friends! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three Questions with Josh Gross of L.A. Daily News URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-josh-gross-la-daily-news-atxvlafc-032126/ Last updated: 2026-03-21T14:57:26.000Z It's a new season and therefore a new chapter in the evolving saga involving LAFC and Austin FC — Verde's first-ever regular-season MLS opponent, 2022 Western Conference Final foes, and opponent in multiple tournament elimination games since. Now, with Son Heung-min in his first full season of dynamic duo-hood with Denis Bouanga, LAFC's more attractive than they've maybe ever been — and so far this season, they've managed a perfect 4w 0L 0D record with eight goals scored and zero allowed — and though it hasn't been as easy for them in Concacaf Champions Cup, they *have* advanced to the final eight. With all those storylines in place, we checked in with [Josh Gross](https://www.dailynews.com/author/josh-gross/?ref=verdeallday.com), who does excellent work covering the team for the L.A. Daily News. Packed in these answers is one nugget of hope, in which he reveals a weakness that coincides with a Verde strength. Otherwise, it's about as bleak as you'd expect. To the questions! ### How has the change been from Steve Cherundolo to Marc Dos Santos, and what's the biggest difference in their coaching styles/approaches to the game so far? How has the change been? One word: Seamless. More words: Despite Cherundolo's departure, continuity was a major talking point heading into 2026\. Much of the roster returned, and the elevation of Dos Santos from assistant to head coach meant a familiar voice is in charge. Acknowledging that, obvious distinctions exist, particularly their preferred playing styles and the handling of specific players, notably 20-year-old Venezuelan David Martínez, whose inconsistency under Cherundolo has morphed into repeated moments of brilliance while playing more centrally under Dos Santos. Cherundolo's pragmatism – he liked numbers behind the ball and leaned on LAFC's mean transition to score – often worked, but at times it became plodding to watch. LAFC fans grew weary of Doloball. Now Dos Santos's team wants to play and they've been getting goals from people not named Denis Bouanga or Son Heung-min. ### What did LAFC learn from the CCC matchup against Alajuelense, and what importance is LAFC placing on this tournament? LAFC has always placed a high value on CCC. This is their fourth qualification, and they've reached the quarterfinals each time. Twice they made it to the final. Winning CCC means a return to the Club World Cup in 2029, and for an MLS team with global ambitions, it is the measuring stick by which they judge themselves. In the CCC Round of 16, LAFC showed poise and patience, understanding the 1-1 draw in L.A. left them in a solid position to advance. The return leg in Costa Rica could have rattled less experienced teams, but going down a goal four minutes into the match in that environment did not haunt LAFC, which dictated the terms most of the way before their quality and physical prowess won out. If anything, the result should inform the locker room that they have what they need to make another deep run, which Cruz Azul puts to the test in April. ### LAFC hasn't let in a single goal in their first four MLS matches of the season — what's contributed to that, and how long do you think that's sustainable? Of course**,** they're going to concede, most likely off set pieces where they appear beatable, especially if smallish midfielders are tasked with marking in the box. Two of the three goals LAFC conceded in CCC were off a free kick and a corner (the third was a 1/100 golazo). A hybrid back four has been Dos Santos's defensive alignment of choice in the early portion of the season. It allows fullback Sergi Palencia to get high up the field on the right side as a trio of center backs – Ryan Porteous, Nkosi Tafari, and Eddie Segura – play tough with the requisite dexterity to keep things calm in front of Hugo Lloris, who is off to a strong start as well. Porteous and Tafari have been excellent. Segura's versatility (he played some defensive midfielder last year) has helped him succeed on the left. Segura is no Ryan Hollingshead, who can spring into the attack and support Bouanga, but his work rate has been all Dos Santos could want. Rather than the Black & Gold absorbing pressure awaiting for counterattacks, the main thrust of LAFC's approach is hunting in packs to recover the ball, which carries the added bonus of forcing opponents to defend for longer stretches. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'Always ready to fight': Austin FC prepares for a familiar foe at home URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvlafc-032126-nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez/ Last updated: 2026-03-20T13:27:45.000Z In the words of Han Solo, "Never tell me the odds." Austin FC is already a considerable home underdog\[\[1\]\] to LAFC on Saturday night, returning to Q2 Stadium after two straight losses away to drop the team's overall record to 1W 2L 1D. But for head coach Nico Estévez, the return home and the keenness of the rivalry with LAFC is a recipe for potentially getting his team's season back on track. "We have a great opportunity," Estévez told media on Thursday. "We have a team that won all the games \[it's played this season\], hasn't conceded a goal in the league, and we played against them last year in the playoffs, and we were upset after those matchups that we had against them," he said, certainly meaning that they were dismayed with the result and not "upset" in the "expected to win but lost" sense. "Now, I think it's a great opportunity for us, with our fans, to redeem ourselves from what happened last year," he added. "Also, to see the progress and improvement and having that, with our fans helping us ... we'll approach a game that we are looking forward \[to\] and we're excited \[about\]." It's true that in four league matches this season, LAFC's scored eight goals without conceding a single one, though stars Denis Bouanga (one goal, one assist) and Son Heung-min (zero goals, three assists) haven't been quite as statistically dominant as you might expect them to be at this stage of the season. But it also indicates a spread-the-wealth mentality that has brought about six goal scorers for the Black & Gold just four matches in. ## On resiliency Estévez indicates this is a game in which his team's collective character might be revealed. "The team is always ready to fight," he said. "The team is always ready to, in moments where things are not going in the right way, they want to make a step forward, in the resiliency that they have. "It's something that if you want to be and build an identity of a team that wants to be successful, you need to know that it's moments in the league, it's moments in the season where things are not going your way, or even moments in the game that are not going your way, and it's those moments where you have to show up, it's the moments where you have to show that mentality that you still keep believing, keep going, and then this will be rewarded at the end." Captain Ilie Sánchez — who knows LAFC more than most, having played there for three seasons between 2022 and 2024 — echoed his coach's thoughts. "I don't think there is a right time for anything in soccer or in life. You just have to take the moment and make it right for you, and that's the challenge of having a game every week, or two games every week, but also the opportunity that you can relieve yourself from not having the results that you expected recently," he said. "So no matter what it is, the schedule or who is coming to play here, or if we have to go on the road, we just have to try to do the best we can to adjust and to get the result that we want." ## Frail Four update According to Estévez, not much has changed on the injury front with the currently unavailable players — Robert Taylor and Owen Wolff still may get action in the match at Miami on April 4, Dani Pereira would return in mid-April in a best-case scenario, and Brandon Vázquez's 2026 debut is somewhere on the horizon but not yet finding a fixed date. There is good news in that Mikkel Desler should see time on the pitch Saturday, though Estévez didn't indicate if he'd start. Guilherme Biro is also back in action and playable after serving his second one-game suspension of the year — this one, for his red card against Charlotte, was league-mandated, whereas the opening match suspension following a preseason red card was a club decision. There's now a new worry, though, and a possible expansion into a Frail Five, with Jayden Nelson. According to Estévez, Nelson has a back issue, possibly involving a nerve, that leaves him day-to-day for Saturday's match. Estévez did talk about Jorge Alastuey's "willingness" to play wide when assessing wing options, meaning a second call-up and a decision about putting him on a supplemental roster spot (unconventionally coupled with an international spot spend) could come as soon as Sunday. Four short-term call ups from the second team are allowed, but only two on-field activations can happen from those four. Alastuey, of course, got about a half hour in his first call-up last Saturday — speaking to Alastuey's potential, Verde's desperation, or perhaps both, seeing that Estévez hasn't been prone to bring second-team call-ups onto the pitch their first trips out. Nelson's saga is not the weirdest injury story heading into this match, though. Newly acquired Canadian international midfielder Stephen Eustáquio will be out for this match — and will miss Canada's international window — for an injury that started when he collided with referee Drew Fischer. According to [MLSSoccer.com's Charles Boehm](https://bsky.app/profile/cboehm.bsky.social/post/3mhgsvbg2ak2z?ref=verdeallday.com), that led to Eustáquio getting a deep tissue massage to relieve a dead leg ... which actually ruptured the dead leg, creating a hematoma that is now sidelining him. (In typical LAFC-not-missing-a-beat fashion, another Canadian international midfielder, Mathieu Choinière, scored a brace in last Saturday's win over St. Louis to keep the win streak going.) \[\[1\]\]: According to one betting site, Austin is a +260 to win ... the longest odds of all teams hosting MLS matches this weekend. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Offensive numbers: Early indications that Austin FC's attack is less than potent URL: https://verdeallday.com/offensive-numbers-early-indications-austin-fc-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-18T16:02:21.000Z Four matches into the 2026 season, and one good sign for Austin FC is that they haven't been shut out in any of those matches. You also may have heard, if you're at all tapped into the Austin FC podcastverse, that Facundo Torres is second in the league in chances created with 13, just one behind current leader Paxton Aaronson of the Rapids with 14\. Just one of those is a big chance, though, and his total xA over four matches is 0.67, though he is outpacing that with two assists to lead the team. However, if you look at the entire slate of team offensive numbers four games in, they're ... well, offensive, if you're a fan of Verde putting up significant numbers and scoring goals. [Subscribe at a discount](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) Let's start with a core individual number: Owen Goal is among the team leaders for goalscoring. Technically, the own goal belongs to Charlotte's Morrison Agyemang, who saved Verde from being shutout by putting a header into his own net mere minutes after his opponents went down to 10 men and his team went up 1-0\. Of the four Austin FC goal scorers with a single goal, two are forwards (Christian Ramírez and Myrto Uzuni), and two are defenders (Jon Bell and Brendan Hines-Ike). Sample sizes being what they are, I believe this will shift over time, but looking at all the underlying numbers, and knowing what's on the horizon, I'm concerned that this could be a lot more bereft offensively before it gets better. The team is 18th in the Supporters' Shield standings at present, but 11th in the West, with the West looking to be the stronger of the two conferences so far as a shift from 2025\. But a lot of those underlying numbers put Verde below that baseline place in the standings. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'We didn't deserve to leave Salt Lake City without a point': On another Austin FC loss at RSL URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-rslvatx-031526/ Last updated: 2026-03-15T14:25:58.000Z In 2024, a 5-1 Austin FC loss to Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah, which established its tone via an opening Cristian Arango goal — the first of three — lofted from near midfield, [newly set off alarm bells](https://verdeallday.substack.com/p/day-after-recap-rslvatx-060124) about the Josh Wolff era. In 2025, Verde went to Sandy just four days before hosting a U.S. Open Cup final, and so the 3-1 loss barely registered for hopeful fans. In fact, the club's official match report was [a scant two paragraphs](https://www.austinfc.com/news/match-report-real-salt-lake-vs-austin-fc-september-27-2025?ref=verdeallday.com) before saying that "ATXFC now returns home to focus on" one of the biggest matches in its history. So, in the grand scheme of things, [losing 2-1](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-rslvatx-031426/) on Saturday night, at the field of Verde nightmares that America First Field has become, represents relative improvement. Except that, despite conceding an equalizer through Oleksandr Svatok's own goal, shortly after nabbing the lead, Nico Estévez's team looked primed to grab a draw and a crucial point that would have retained them at 10th place in the West. After praising RSL for winning three straight games this season and asserting that Sandy is a difficult place to play, he still said Verde deserved more based on their play. "Today, we didn't deserve to leave Salt Lake City without a point." ## Did they, though? Let's begin with the MLS Analytics graphics from this match. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/03/Real_Salt_Lake_v_Austin_FC_main_2026-03-15.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/03/Real_Salt_Lake_v_Austin_FC_XG_2026-03-15.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/03/Real_Salt_Lake_v_Austin_FC_quad_2026-03-15-1.png) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Real Salt Lake 2, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-rslvatx-031426/ Last updated: 2026-03-15T03:40:59.000Z In its second road match of 2026, Austin FC got a goal from Jon Bell against Real Salt Lake, a puzzling own goal from Oleksandr Svatok, and then gave up a late goal from newcomer Stijn Spierings, falling 2-1 to Real Salt Lake at America First Field in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday night. After losing four of its previous five matches in Sandy, Verde looked close to securing their first draw away in the series before RSL was able to return results to the Utah norm late in the contest. But considering the prior two years' margins were 3-1 and 5-1, this was something of an improvement. Verde's lineup had a couple of surprises necessitated by the Guilherme Biro red card and the Dani Pereira injury — namely, Nicolás Dubersarsky starting in a double pivot with Ilie Sánchez, and Bell starting at left back, with Joseph Rosales remaining slotted in at his now-customary (now) (for now) (maybe for the whole season?) right wing position. It only took 19 seconds for Austin FC to try stuff, with Jayden Nelson bombing down the left wing and sending in a pass that just missed Facundo Torres in front of goal. Two minutes later, another long ball sent in forced Justen Glad to head the ball out of bounds, which a diving Rafael Cabral couldn't quite get to, leading to a Verde corner. Some tight reffing led to an early yellow card on Jon Gallagher, but also led to the free kick foul from Glad on Nelson leading to the first goal, with Torres lofting a ball into the box that Bell headed past Cabral through traffic. Six minutes later, though, Noel Caliskan sent a ball from near the endline into the goalmouth, and Svatok inexplicably fired the ball directly into goal — a finish reminiscent of Amro Tarek's own goal in the disaster against Violette in the infamous 2022 Concacaf Champions League game. Later in the half, Rosales managed to goad Morgan Guilavogui into a yellow card, after extracurriculars advanced to Guilavogui shoving Rosales and Rosales selling the fall by coming completely off his feet and landing on his back. (Reminder: The Oscars are tomorrow night.) The end of the first half — specifically, the 43rd minute — brought shots from Uzuni and Torres forcing Cabral saves, and then additional attempts from Dubersarsky, Sánchez, and Nelson that RSL's defense was able to absorb. RSL managed one more chance before the half, with Guilavogui slipping past Jon Gallagher to head in a pass dangerously close to goal, which Stuver was able to paw away. After halftime, momentum largely tipped to RSL, with Verde's first real chance of the half coming in mintue 56, but leading to Gallagher overhitting a diagonal cross intended for the box. But less than a minute later, Brad Stuver got a double save off Sergi Solans, who got gifted a ball from Svatok for a first attempt and then slipped past Svatok for a second attempt off the rebound. Estévez activated Jorge Alastuey in the 60th minute, subbing him in for Nelson to shift the formation, getting Rosales to play on the left. The configuration nearly paid off immediately, with Rosales getting off a shot that hit the bar and then dropped to Alastuey, who hesitated before getting off the shot, with a rebound to Ilie and a mishit shot ending the play. Bell and Dubersarsky later gave way for Mateja Đorđević and Besard Šabović, around minute 70, which RSL immediately answered by getting on two of their most electric players — Victor Olatunji and, for the first time this season, Diego Luna. Luna made his presence felt in the 87th, getting a shot that nearly reached goal, but Brendan Hines-Ike was able to stab it away standing net to Stuver. But a minute later, Spierings, in his eighth minute on the field as a RSL player, hit a ball from beyond the 18 after Glad's pass threaded him past Šabović, freeing him for the speculative attempt. Perhaps too late, Estévez threw Christian Ramírez on to try to get an equalizer, but the ref blew for full time as Verde was in the middle of a final attack. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The end-of-first-half pressure on RSL's defense was great to see. My wife, who watched the first half with me (and doesn't share my affinity for soccer), quipped, "It's great they discovered they can play on that side of the field." ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Nelson got a yellow card in the 50th minute for a foul on Xavier Gozo mirroring a foul he got whistled for just several minutes earlier, only this one was perilously close to the edge of the box, fortunately only ending in a botched free kick sailing harmlessly out of bounds. ## One thing you might have missed In the 84th, Rosales had an incredible sequence in which he kept the ball and shielded himself against Gozo's attempted takeaways for a good 20 seconds before finally being able to break free. ## One nerdy tidbit The great majority of Austin FC's shots came in a two-minute window in the first half (minutes 43 and 44) and a two-minute window in the second half (minutes 61 and 62). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Coming so close to a draw, Austin's now played two away matches, lost them both, and returns home to face LAFC next week before traveling to Miami on the other side of the international break. I warned on today's Emergency Podcast this was a match they needed a result from, because a two-match losing streak can easily turn into a four-match losing streak. ## A question we have going into the press conference Very curious to know what Svatok said about the own goal, and very curious to get Estévez's read on what happened there. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Matt Montgomery of Wasatch Soccer Sentinel URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-matt-montgomery-wasatch-soccer-sentinel-rslvatx-031426/ Last updated: 2026-03-14T14:21:08.000Z Austin FC makes its annual trip to Sandy, Utah, facing Real Salt Lake in a Western Conference matchup that doesn't always go Verde's way when they head to the Wasatch Mountains. The matchup gets discussed some in the [latest Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-96-a-metaphorical-corpus-christi-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000755226676&ref=verdeallday.com), which also includes mention of the [Summer of '94 documentary](https://schedule.sxsw.com/2026/films/2249875?ref=verdeallday.com) about the 1994 U.S. Men's National Team as World Cup hosts, which debuts tonight as counterprogramming to the Austin-RSL matchup (but screens two other times this week, in case you want to see both, as I imagine most of you would). To get some better insight, I turned to Matt Montgomery of [Wasatch Soccer Sentinel](https://www.wasatch.soccer/?ref=verdeallday.com), which amply covers RSL. I also returned the favor, [answering questions](https://www.wasatch.soccer/post/2026-03-13/7305/three-questions-with-verde-all-day-rsl-austin?ref=verdeallday.com) about Verde, including gauging my optimism level for this match, which is, well, not high. To the questions! ### **What's going on with Diego Luna? I know some Austin fans were wishcasting that he'd somehow move over here in a cashfer trade, even though he's seemingly now the face of the franchise. But he's also started the season hurt — what's his timetable for returning?** It seems his timetable is "soon," though I don't have much clarity beyond just that. He's been seen in training videos, so I wouldn't be surprised if "soon" means "Saturday," which would be good news (for me) indeed. I'm not sure why Austin fans would think they have any opportunity at signing him, though. You'll have to pry him from my — wait, maybe not that. At any rate, the assumption we all have here in Salt Lake is that he'll be off to a European side in the summer, but that depends somewhat on him having a good World Cup (and, indeed, making the team). But, no, you cannot have him. I'm sorry. ### **Who are the young players who have stepped up to start the season, and was this expected?** Zavier Gozo, just 19, has proven himself an important player and a near-guaranteed starter for Real Salt Lake. He has continued stepping up, and he's done quite well for himself. The other two teenage players, Luca Moisa (17) and Aiden Hezarkhani (18), were not expected at all, though. Moisa hadn't sniffed the first team outside of preseason, and starting on opening day was born largely out of necessity; he's fared extremely well, considering his age and relative lack of experience, and he's even shown some really nice qualities that will help RSL's midfield. Hezarkhani likewise wasn't expected to make an immediate impact, but he's quickly becoming undroppable with his finishing ability. He is a bit of a giveaway machine, but that's RSL's problem, not yours. It's quite an embarrassment of riches we've got here, and it's honestly a little weird to see that all come together after a decade of struggling. ### **Morgan Guilavogui seems like the consummate "sure, maybe he'll work pick" that RSL's made lately with its high-profile acquisitions. What are you seeing so far, and do you think he'll fare better than, say, Rwan Cruz or Diogo Gonçalves?** It's funny, Guilavogui actually already had more of an impact than Rwan Cruz, whose loan was cut short to start the year. Cruz was a massive dud. Guilavogui is, I think, not the striker some think he is — he's not a natural goalscorer, the stats tell us — but he also offers a ton from deeper positions in the midfield. He can help unlock RSL's counterattack, which is sort of a must-have in MLS, and certainly when you've got Zavier Gozo bombing up the wing. As for Diogo Goncalves, yes. I think Guilavogui is already there. It's been a weird 18 months for RSL. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'At least for a month out': Austin FC's injury woes continue ahead of trip to Sandy, Utah URL: https://verdeallday.com/weekly-media-availability-match-preview-rslvatx-031426/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T12:39:31.000Z The Frail Four looks to be switching out a member. At Thursday's media availability, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez gave the good news/bad news report on fullback Mikkel Desler and midfielder Dani Pereira ahead of Saturday's away match at Real Salt Lake at altitude in the outskirts of Salt Lake City. "Tomorrow we'll evaluate his status, but it feels like if everything goes well, he can be in the roster," Estévez said of Desler. "Dani Pereira will be at least for a month out. He has a hamstring injury," he said, confirming the worst fears generated in a frustrating 3-1 loss to Charlotte FC last weekend. Pressed further, Estévez reported it's an upper hamstring injury, which the internet says "causes deep buttock or high thigh pain, often near the 'sit bone' (ischial tuberosity), frequently occurring in runners or from sudden overload." The internet also puts recovery at two to six weeks, indicating Pereira's injury is more on the severe end of the spectrum. In other Frail Four news: - Brandon Vázquez: "Keeps working on his recovery every day. He's doing better, but still not long, but a little bit more like April – we'll start seeing his training with the team and everything where he can get his timeline to come back." - Owen Wolff: "Progressing really well. I think he has had a really good week. And I think if he has another good week, we'll be probably ready for \[him to\] come back after the after the FIFA window \[in late March\]." - Robert Taylor: "Progressing also well, and I think he will be with the team next week if everything goes well." He also revealed that Jayden Nelson has been with the team throughout the week; it looks like the precautionary early sub-out against Charlotte may have preserved him for this and upcoming matches. Asked why this is all happening, Estévez reasoned that it's a confluence of unrelated circumstances that have put Verde in a roster hole. "Brandon was already injured. Owen was a surgery. Taylor was his knee, unfortunately, from a shot himself. He just kicked the ground in the game against Minnesota," he said. "The only muscle one is the one from Dani, and that is a little bit more frustrating." ## Assessing RSL Estévez also praised the upcoming opponent. "They're a team that has a lot of youth, quality, players that have fit really well into the system," he said. "They had good signings throughout the offseason, and that has strengthened the team. And it's going to be difficult. Rather, it's always a difficult team in this league, and more playing away, that field is really difficult for every team that plays there." Nodding to the disadvantage Verde found themselves in, going a man down from a minute 23 red card foul against Charlotte, Estévez added. "But I think we showed in our two games at home, in our 22 minutes away, even in the first half with 10 men, that we are ready to compete in our games." "They're much more willing to play good young players, very dynamic, very explosive, can stretch us really quickly," added veteran defender Brendan Hines-Ike, called upon to complement his coach on Thursday. "More importantly for us, we know that in general, it's hard to go play there. It's not a notoriously good place for us ... and so I think we're very aware of that." RSL dropped its opener 1-0 to Vancouver, but responded with a 2-1 win over Seattle and a 3-2 win at Atlanta to move up to 7th in the West. They're also outpacing their underlying American Soccer Analysis numbers, with six points compared to an xPoints total of just 2.9, and a goals added differential of -2.04, good for 25th in the lead. (However, that's just behind Charlotte, who looked fine last week, though that Galaxy loss the week prior dropped them in a hole, and just ahead of Orlando, off to such a bad 0W 0D 3L start\[\[1\]\] that the team "mutually parted ways" with longtime head coach Oscar Pareja midweek.) ## It's not just injuries Of course, it's not just midfield ball progression Estévez will have to worry about on Saturday. Guilherme Biro will be out with his red card this weekend unless the league provides a surprise reversal — and since the league fined him for not leaving the field in a timely fashion following his exit, that seems doubtful. Still, Estévez thinks they can weather that. "\[Žan\] Kolmanič played the first game as a fullback. \[Jon Bell\] has to do it a little bit in the other game as a side center back. And then when we switched to a four, he was the left back. And then \[Joseph\] Rosales also has played in the preseason as a fullback," he added, calling his "he never played left back; he played left wingback" comment back into attention. "Then I think we have good cover there on the other side for Jonny \[Gallagher\]," he said, hinting that if Desler is activated for Saturday, it'll be as a sub, with the Swiss Army knife getting the start. Mateja {Đorđević\] also has played as a right back a lot of games in his team and then we have also Thomas Riley from the second team," which has become Estévez's endearing name for Riley Thomas. "I think we have good options there, probably." \[\[1\]\]: Do you prefer we use what MLS is currently using, ordering standings W-L-D like traditional American sports leagues, or do you prefer the more world-soccer-friendly W-D-L? I'm a style crossroads here after being fairly W-L-D-adherent. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### This season is a book we've just begun reading: Assessing Austin FC narratives, three games in URL: https://verdeallday.com/this-season-is-a-book-austin-fc-narratives-three-games-in/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T12:41:09.000Z Let’s say you’re reading a 12-chapter book and you’re about a chapter in. You probably have a good sense of the protagonist, the setting, and at least the sketch outline of the plot. You can probably also tell, with some certainty, if you’re engaged enough in the book to want to keep reading. Three matches into the 2026 season, and we’re now at that 1/12 juncture of the season (technically, 8.82%) — still too small of a sample size to truly understand what this team is doing similarly or differently from the season prior, but with enough narrative present to begin shaping the story. So let’s explore. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'It doesn't help the beauty of the game': Assessing Austin FC's first 10 v. 11 match (and, ergo, first loss) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-cltvatx-030726/ Last updated: 2026-03-08T15:10:41.000Z Last week, home teams in MLS went 10w 3L 2D, illustrating the inherent difficulty of playing away in the league. Road teams did fare better this weekend, with Seattle, Miami, Vancouver, Real Salt Lake, San Jose, and San Diego all notching wins. But all those teams got to retain 11 players — and as Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez observed after Saturday's 3-1 loss to Charlotte FC, compounding being on the road with being a man down is a tall order for any MLS team. "My experience said to me, when you are down a man in this league, it's really, really difficult, more when you play away," he said. "At home, maybe you can bring that extra energy that the fans give to you. But in away games, it is tough and it's difficult." [Subscribe (at a discount) to read more](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) The red card resulted from Guilherme Biro making studs-to-ankle contact with CFC forward Idan Toklomati — more on that later, don't worry — in the 23rd minute, and with the send off coming two minutes later following video review. (The sequence starts at 0:54 of MLSSoccer.com's [highlight video](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2026/matches/cltvsatx-03-07-2026/video?ref=verdeallday.com); the league used to make it easier by clipping red card videos and by having standalone goal and card videos you could link to.) "Even though we want to do more, even though we wanted to create more, it is tough, and then it requires a lot of effort from everyone, but you're putting a lot of effort on defending, then when you have the ball, you're tired," Estévez added. "And then, the opponent has one extra player, and then they arrive, and then it's a little bit more difficult for us when we are down as any other team. But we have to learn from those situations, in case they happen again, how we can deal better with those moments." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Charlotte FC 3, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-cltvatx-030726/ Last updated: 2026-03-08T02:48:58.000Z Austin FC, on the road for the first time in the 2026 season, had a nightmare of a match involving a red card to Guilherme Biro, a should-have-been-a-red-card for Liel Abada, and an own goal working in Verde's favor, resulting in a 3-1 loss against Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium. Head coach Nico Estévez rolled out the exact same lineup as the week prior, with Mikkel Desler apparently still sidelined with injury. (Based on what we'd heard from Estévez on Thursday, there was a chance he would make the roster.) Verde got the first legitimate chance in the 7th minute, with Myrto Uzuni attempting to volley a Facundo Torres pass that led him toward goal, only to hit it well over the crossbar. Charlotte gave Verde some level of fits in the 12th minute, and when the defense struggled to clear the ball, they have the hosts a second chance at attack, leading to Brendan Hines-Ike colliding with Idan Toklomati in the box (but not in a penalty kind of way). Though Hines-Ike seemed momentarily shaken up, he did enough to thwart the potential attempt at goal. Wilfried Zaha, who got in a tussle with Joseph Rosales earlier in the match, got the first yellow in the 18th minute for toppling Jon Gallagher, which he demonstratively was not happy about. Not to be outdone, Guilherme Biro got a 23rd-minute red card for stepping on Toklomati's leg — a questionable call, to be sure, and initially yellow until center referee Rosendo Mendoza was called over to view video and dubbed the foul to be "serious." Estévez then made a tactical defensive sub, getting Jon Bell on for Jayden Nelson to keep a full back four, in the 28th minute. A minute later, Bell was accountable in two different ways for Charlotte's opening goal, first failing to clear a ball in the box beyond Charlotte players around the 18, and then failing to snuff out Zaha's cross that found Toklomati at the far post. But then Austin FC got a lifeline, when Ilie Sánchez sent a long ball Uzuni's way, only for promising-but-still-young center back Morrison Agmeyang getting to the ball first, but heading it past goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina to level the match. A weird first half got weirder in the 35th, when Pereira went down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, with Nicolás Dubersarksy subbing in for him. In eight minutes of first-half stoppage time, Verde survived a free kick just outside the 18 resulting from Uzuni clocking Zaha with an elbow, as well as Zaha taking an undefended shot on goal that zipped just over the crossbar. Charlotte put Austin back on its heels in the second minute of the second half, with Harry Toffolo banging a recycled ball from fairly deep, but fortunately within reach of Oleksandr Svatok's head to avert the danger. A confusing moment in the 53rd minute, in which Mendoza initially appeared to call for a corner kick on a ball that bounced off Ashley Westwood's back and out. That led to a free kick, which Westwood floated to a freely running Biel in the middle of the 18-yard box. Biel hit it well for what appeared to be a goal, but video review revealed that it hit Brandt Bronico's arm on the way in, and the goal was waved off. (Somehow, right after that goal reversal, Uzuni got a yellow card, apparently for dissent.) Then, in the 64th, Liel Abada elbowed Dubersarsky in the face, and Mendoza flagged it as a yellow; somehow, VAR did not get involved as happened with the Biro yellow-that-became-red. Four minutes later, Abada — who perhaps shouldn't have been on the field — fed Biel for a go-ahead goal, on a play where the hosts did just enough to pick off the defense. (Bell was also closest to Biel on the goal; it was not a great outing for him.) Right after, Charlotte head coach Dean Smith wisely pulled Abada for Kerwin Vargas. Estévez made his own kitchen sink sub, getting Christian Ramírez, CJ Fodrey, and Besard Šabović for Uzuni, Rosales, and Ilie. A possible handball shout to benefit Verde in the 81st minute came to naught, as did a rare (for this match) Verde corner in the 83rd. Biel got a second goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to increase the lead to 3-1\. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) I can't believe it's that 7th-minute attempt, but that's when Austin looked at its most offensively cohesive. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) It's a toss-up between the Biro red card and the Pereira injury. Neither were great! ## One thing you might have missed In the first minute, Pereira made contact with Mendoza ... but on purpose, helpfully, trying to get some type of armband gadget back on his bicep. (So much for that gesture of goodwill.) ## One nerdy tidbit The own goal was, obviously, Austin's first of the season, and so Owen Goal is now among the team's goal co-leaders three matches in. Given that Verde only had one shot on goal in the first half (and, indeed, for the entire match), Owen Goal effectively doubled that. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Given the preseason, we were bound to get a down-a-man match at some point; Match 3 seems a bit early for that, but it involving Biro somehow seems fitting (and a little worrying given that he sat out the first match to seemingly send a lesson about getting red cards). Despite Verde fighting to stay in it, their first true MLS After Dark match of 2026 is also their first loss, bumping them down to 1-1-1 on the season. ## A question we have going into the press conference We're curious about why, once Biro went off, Estévez subbed off Nelson for Bell. Left back is not Bell's optimal position. Estévez could have slotted Rosales in at left wingback, and dropped Nelson down a bit as right wingback, and then have Torres float as attacking center mid moving high to either wing. Tactically, this makes more sense than what actually happened, but then again, no one has ever paid me to coach soccer. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Brian Maurer of Topbin90 URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-brian-maurer-topbin90-cltvatx-030726/ Last updated: 2026-03-06T23:00:45.000Z Confession: Of all the teams in MLS, I might know the least about Charlotte FC. I mean, I certainly know things about all MLS teams, but I'm obviously more familiar with the West. I do know all about the team's delightful Sir Minty mascot, though, in large part thanks to [J. Sam Jones' feature](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/charlotte-fc-home-of-the-freshly-minted-king-of-mascots?ref=verdeallday.com) that is Maximum Sam. Also, Austin's played Charlotte twice in their history — once in Charlotte in July 2022, with Dani Pereira (assisted by Nick Lima) scoring the match's lone goal, and then a 2-2 draw in Austin in June 2024 with Alex Ring scoring the opener in the 11th minute and Jon Gallagher pulling out the late equalizer. We have Foreign Exchange so we can reach out to the people who know the teams on the Austin FC schedule — especially the ones that aren't Dallas or Houston or LAFC. Brian Maurer helms the excellent [Topbin90](https://www.topbin90.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), which covers men's soccer throughout the Carolinas. To the questions! ### It seems to be a rough start so far in 2026, with a draw to St. Louis and a loss to the Galaxy, both on the road. Is Charlotte just a different team away compared to home, or are there concerns resulting from those first two matches? I would say there are concerns from some in the Charlotte media and fan base, but it is too early to have concerns. Charlotte FC has always been far stronger at home than away. Last season, they finished with 40 points in Charlotte and 19 on the road. Overall, Eastern Conference teams have gone 0-4-10 traveling to Western Conference teams through the first two weeks of the season, and Charlotte traveled west for both of their games. I want to see Charlotte play a few games at home and a few games against Eastern Conference opposition before voicing too much concern. ### In a [recent article](https://www.topbin90.com/post/expectations-for-idan-toklomati-in-2026?ref=verdeallday.com), your publication predicted Idan Toklomati would score 15 goals this season and make a leap. What did you see last year from him leading to that prediction? Idan Toklomati finished last season with 12 goals in 2,075 MLS minutes (including playoffs). I would say this is a good expectation for fans and media based on his scoring rates over the past year. He opted to switch to wearing the No. 9 kit as well, which increases the weight and expectations for quality performances week-to-week. He may be a young player, but he needs to show fans he can take on that responsibility. He is also surrounded by lots of quality right now; Wilfried Zaha on the left, Pep Biel and Luca de la Torre behind him, and a combination of Kerwin Vargas and Liel Abada\[\[1\]\] on the right. With the amount of talent around him on the field, the expectations for him to show another level to his game should increase. ### Fans without a lot of knowledge of Charlotte FC likely know the names Wilfried Zaha and Tim Ream, but who's a more under-the-radar player for us Western Conference folk we should look for on Saturday? This is a tricky one, as most of Charlotte FC's lineup is similar to last year, and the one major change to the starting XI is Luca de la Torre. Center back Morrison Agyemang just made his debut for the First Team, subbing in for Andrew Privett at halftime last weekend, so if he gets the start this week, he is one to watch, but it's far from a guarantee. Other than that, the vast majority of Charlotte's core are returning players. Dean Smith and Charlotte FC have opted for a more experienced group, making very few changes to their roster from the end of last season. [$40 for the year](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) \[\[1\]\]: If you remember, Abada was the subject of an Austin FC transfer rumor for a hot minute in February 2024 a few weeks before signing with Charlotte. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'Progressing in the right direction': Updates on the Frail Four as Austin FC takes to the road URL: https://verdeallday.com/weekly-media-avaiability-match-preview-cltvatx-030726/ Last updated: 2026-03-06T15:10:39.000Z Call them the Frail Four. Much of the dialogue between Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez and the media over the last few weeks has involved three injured players who have been unavailable this season so far, and one who got injured about 20 minutes into a sub turn with a goal contribution in it. So, to start off, here's a Frail Four injury update. (They're not *really* frail; I just find it catchy.) - Mikkel Desler: "Training full with the team ... day by day so far, and I think he's doing well with the loads of the training. Tomorrow, after the training session, we'll decide with the medical staff in the high performance \[team\] and himself about how he feels and how he can help the team. Based on that, he's very close to join the roster." - Robert Taylor: "He's progressing well. He's giving good steps during this week, and hopefully next week he can initiate training with the team." - Brandon Vázquez: "Doing partial training with the team, more like possession, rondos, warm-ups, passing and finishing. Still not on game situations with contact yet, but it's progressing in the right direction." - Owen Wolff: "The same \[as Taylor\], he's progressing in the right direction, and hopefully he can make those steps again to be with the team." As for the rest of the team, the first away trip of the 2026 season — to Charlotte FC on Saturday – coincides with the first short week of the year. Estévez shared that the team practiced and is practicing all workweek, save for being off on Tuesday. "We can't forget that we are at the beginning of the season," he said. "We still have to analyze what we did well against Minnesota and against D.C. And we have to progress in our identity," adding that they've spent the week reviewing how they've played in the first two matches. He assessed that Charlotte, as a 4-4-2 team that will be "defending a little bit more aggressively in some moments," will provide a test for Verde on better ball circulation and final third attacking. "It's \[to\] keep progressing in the way that we want to play," he added. "We weren't happy in some of the ways that we played in the game against the DC, although we we had a great mentality, and we were pushing until the end to win the game. But we want to play a cleaner type of soccer, and we were encouraging the team, the players, in the ideas and the behaviors of the opponent, in order that we can get better." ## We love set pieces, right? Two of Verde's three goals so far this season have come off set pieces, and Estévez sees that as a solid weapon to have in the Austin arsenal. "Last year, we were successful on set pieces. We won a lot of points on set pieces. And this year, also, the qualities of the players that we brought helped the team to be very consistent on these, \[to\] increase the belief of everyone that set pieces are really important. And we're seeing around the world how it's a theme, how set pieces are becoming something that is a tendency in soccer, then we just are utilizing, that is huge, and it can open \[up\] games. It can make you win points in both sides, defending and attacking. And the team is behaving really well, is believing in what they what we are working \[on\] and it's helping us to be a threat." That doesn't mean that Estévez is satisfied to be just a set piece savvy team, though, and mentioned the team has focused on counterpressing. "We're doing a pretty good job," he assessed. "Our rest defense, our positioning, is helping us to win the ball back real quick. And also, the profile of players that are new, like Myrto \[Uzuni\], like Facu\[ndo Torres\], like \[Joseph\] Rosales, like Jayden \[Nelson\], are players that as soon as we lose the ball, they're ready to repress with more physicality. Our numbers physically are much higher than last year ... the physical quality of these players, the mentality of these players help a lot \[for\] everyone to get set and to get ready, to repress." ## Fitting right in Christian Ramírez, who scored on his debut last week — and he's scored his first game out with multiple teams over his career, as Moontower Soccer's Landon Cotham revealed — is acclimating better to his new team in his first full week here (although he looked pretty integrated on his debut). "The more time I get, the better I get a feel for my teammates, a better understanding of them, better understanding of Nico's expectations," he said. "Because it's easy to speak about stuff, but to see it out on the training pitch is key. So that's been great. And yeah, just still going through the stuff that I need to go through off the pitch, to find a place to live and get my stuff from California over here." Adding that the adjustment has been great so far, and that the club has helped ease the transition, he also revealed that his kids will have their spring break coinciding with the match against the Galaxy in Austin on April 11, which he predicts will be emotional for him. "When I got the news on that Friday," he said, referring to being waived on Feb. 20, "I had to go in on Saturday and say goodbye to some of the guys, and I was mentoring a few of the young guys who sent me messages afterwards, and so I have great relationships with them. And yeah, nothing but love for those guys. And hopefully I'll be on the good end of that result that day." Both Ramírez and Vázquez acquired the Superman nickname with midwestern MLS teams, and he finds it provides a fitting metaphor for their roles. "The best way to put it is, there'll be times where I'll need to wear the cape, and there'll be plenty of times where he needs to wear it. But I know personally ... in order for this team to get to where we know we want to be, we need Brandon at his full capacity. So if he needs to wear it the majority of time, no problem with it. And if I need to wear it here and there, so it draws some attention away from him, I'll do so. But I want him to come back as healthy and as strong as possible and be the Brandon that we know he could be in this league." As for securing No. 21, rather than the 17 he wore for the Galaxy and at other MLS destinations, he assured media that Jon Gallagher's claim on No. 17 was safe. "Once I saw it was taken. I wasn't gonna even ask," he said. "I mean, once 21 was open, I could just go with that, even though I have a tattoo of me with a 17 on my calf. But it's no problem." No. 21 was what we entered the league with when Minnesota United elevated from NASL to MLS. "It's a cool number, my wife was the one who said to pick it," he noted. In my response to reminding him that he can always get more tattoos, perhaps with a 21 joining his 17, he quipped, "Maybe I'll get a tattoo of a trophy at some point this year." [New yearly subscription discount offer!](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Among the elite: What this small sample size tells us about Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-differential-2026-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2026-03-05T21:53:03.000Z We've talked about goals added before, and we've even broached the topic of goals added against. It becomes relevant in the here and now, with Austin FC sixth in goals added differential in the 2026 season. It's a small sample size to be sure: 180 minutes against teams that together only managed to get one point against Verde in those matches played. But it's encouraging to see Verde in the top fifth of *a* league table, even though it's not quite the same as being there in the Supporters' Shield table — where Austin is currently eighth. [New yearly subscription offer launched!](https://verdeallday.com/march-to-the-rest-of-march) (Though, in an alternate universe in which the Robert Taylor sub against Minnesota isn't flubbed and Kelvin Yeboah doesn't get free in Verde's defense for a tying goal, Verde would now be tied with Red Bulls for fifth in the Shield standings, with only San Diego, San Jose, LAFC, and Vancouver above them.) Let's talk a little more about what this all actually means. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Stats update: Sixth in the West, Sixth in goals added differential URL: https://verdeallday.com/stats-update-sixth-in-the-west-sixth-in-goals-added/ Last updated: 2026-03-02T15:48:26.000Z Just a quick note to let you all know that I've updated stats from Matchweek 2\. Austin FC is currently sixth in the league in goals added differential! (That's not a made-up stat. Well, sort of.) [2026 by the numbersThese stats help put 2026 into focus.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-13.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/gallagher-goal-assist-celebration-1.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/2026-by-the-numbers/) Also, this morning's bag-of-quotes article inadvertently cut off the last line. Here's the article in its entirety. [‘We needed someone like him’: Austin FC already thankful for Christian Ramirez, one win inChristian Ramírez made the difference for Austin FC on Sunday. It’s amazing that, on Thursday evening, he was on a plane en route to meeting his new team.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-14.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/ramirez-drum-post-match.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvdc-030126-christian-ramirez-brad-stuver-facundo-torres/) Have a great week, everyone! The season's first numbers deep dive is in the works ... ### 'We needed someone like him': Austin FC already thankful for Christian Ramirez, one win in URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvdc-030126-christian-ramirez-brad-stuver-facundo-torres/ Last updated: 2026-03-02T14:01:26.000Z It's been a whirlwind few days for Christian Ramírez. After several days of wondering where he'd land after being waived by the LA Galaxy, he found out Austin FC was his new home at 3 pm Pacific time on Thursday. By 8 pm, he was on a flight to Central Texas. "I got in and I had medicals and everything done Friday," he explained after Sunday's [1-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvdc-030126/) over D.C. United, in which he scored less than 15 minutes after coming on as a sub and providing a much-needed breakthrough. "I had a light training session yesterday. It's been hectic, but one thing with this game, it brings people together." [Subscribe to get all the quotes](#/portal/signup) Ramírez acknowledged that while it's been an emotional week — starting with being waived from the Galaxy shortly after starting in their Feb. 19 Concacaf Champions Cup match in Panamá — he's grateful for the new opportunity. "That's probably the toughest thing, not knowing for basically a whole week before, where we're going," he said, noting that he didn't let his kids know until they had a new destination set. (They appeared on the field with him after the match for the Man of the Match ceremony, but won't make Austin their official new home until the school year concludes.) "So holding that thing onto your chest with you and your wife, a lot of emotions every night, a lot of what ifs, where at, looking at different locations, and then a sense of relief," he said. "I've earned everything that's come my way in this career, and continue to be humbled in every aspect, and I'm really excited for this journey." Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, during his post-match press conference, acknowledged that he didn't have much time to get his new striker acclimated, but felt he was needed as a 68th-minute sub given the game state. "The way that the game was going, we felt like we needed someone like him," Estévez said. "I think the center backs were marking Myrto \[Uzuni\] really well, and it was difficult. I think having another forward will free another one. And sometimes life is this way. This is why soccer is so unpredictable and so beautiful, that a player that has trained one day with us and we signed came in and helped the team." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, D.C. United 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvdc-030126/ Last updated: 2026-03-02T11:39:07.000Z On a sunny Sunday afternoon at Q2 Stadium, Austin FC got a dramatic late-game goal from newcomer Christian Ramírez, scoring in just his 15th minute on the field in a Verde jersey, to dispatch D.C. United, 1-0\. Verde forced some corner kicks within the first six minutes of the game, with Ilie Sánchez getting a header and then a foot-while-lying-on-the-ground attempt, and then Guilherme Biro — back from his one-match stint in head coach Nico Estévez's doghouse — wresting a vintage-Sean-Johnson save from a now-more-fully-mature Sean Johnson with a header a minute later. Former Verde player (and fan favorite) Jared Stroud got the match's first yellow card in the 12th minute for a suspect tackle on Facundo Torres. Jon Gallagher had a nice bit of play worth mentioning in the 23rd minute, getting tripped by Keisuke Kurokawa while taking the ball out by the wing; he kept his balance (not earning the whistle) and moved toward goal, sending in a cross a little too hot for Myrto Uzuni, then whizzing to the far post, which was unfortunately not tracked by a Verde runner. Referee Lorenzo Hernandez doled out a 29th-minute yellow card to Torres for reasons we don't quite understand. (This became our first PRO question of the year.) However, six minutes later, Dani Pereira coaxed a foul from João Peglow on a dribble through DCU's half of the field, leading to a free kick and a Brendan Hines-Ike attempt. Halftime arrived with Verde leading the possession battle 61.5% to 38.5%, and with (per FotMob, which was more generous than MLSSoccer.com in its stats), a 9-4 shot and 5-2 shots on goal advantage, plus a 0.73 to 0.12 xG lead ... but with the score knotted at zero. Our ardent hopes for a second yellow for Stroud were dashed when he was one of two halftime subs off for DCU coach René Weiler, who took Stroud and Hosei Kijima off in favor of Gabriel Pirani and Jackson Hopkins. Torres nearly had himself a Verde legend moment in the 57th, ripping a shot from beyond the 18 requiring Johnson to stretch out and dive to save it, sending it just wide of the post. That again resulted in some corners and some excitement, but no goals. In the 68th minute, Estévez made his first subs, getting Besard Šabović on for Sánchez, and newly-signed striker Ramírez on for Nelson. Ramírez got involved right away in action in front of goal involving several Verde bicycle kicks — one, from Biro, ended up bloodying Svatok's face, but Svatok was able to continue on. Joseph Rosales was wide open for a 75th-minute shot that sailed over the bar, leading to more collective frustration from the crowd. Estévez got CJ Fodrey on for Rosales two minutes after that attempt. Finally, the breakthrough came in the 82nd minute, with Ramírez getting his head to a far-post ball that bounced up from a D.C. defender's foot following Šabović's attempt. Verde held on after that, helping it along by bringing Jon Bell on for Torres to build up the back line. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Putting on the heat early with two possible goals off corner kicks in the first phase of the game was welcome, even if the goal didn't come. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) A 63rd-minute ill-advised pass from Pereira to Gallagher was picked off easily by a D.C. defender, ending several minutes of Verde domination and leading to several minutes of the ball staying in the Austin defense's half of the field. ## One thing you might have missed If you weren't watching on TV, you might not have heard Apple TV's best commentary team, Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth, relaying that they called the Houston match last night and drove to Austin to get to this match. (No word on whether there was a Buc-ee's stop, which includes the absurdly tiny Buc-ee's in Giddings, in that it is regular-convenience-store-sized.) ## One nerdy tidbit It took 25 minutes (and four Verde shots before it) for DCU to register its first shot of the match. Conversely, Uzuni had six first-half touches. (He ended up with 14 on the game, three gathered in a stoppage-time beardown on goal gone awry.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative That first win was tougher to get than perhaps expected, but it's in the books. Four points from the first two home matches, and fifth in the West (plus they're four for four in wins against DCU). ## A question we have going into the press conference I'm curious as to what level of prep Ramírez had to learn the Verde ways, or if Estévez just threw him out there to see what he could do. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Jason Anderson of Green Line Soccer URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-jason-anderson-green-line-soccer-atxvdc-030126/ Last updated: 2026-02-28T14:12:26.000Z Austin FC plays a Sunday matinee match (1:30 pm CT) against D.C. United, and though it's a team Verde's played before (three times, in fact, winning all three times, it's one that fans on this side of the Mississippi aren't entirely familiar with. You may know they "won" the Wooden Spoon this year, and swapped out their head coach and sporting director. You also may know they beat the Union 1-0 least week, and in this very young season, they're fourth in the East. To help us learn more about the 2026 version of D.C. United, we turned to Jason Anderson, who recently launched [Green Line Soccer](https://green-line-soccer.ghost.io/?ref=verdeallday.com). Let's get into it. ### It's been a time of great change for D.C. United, starting with new sporting director Erkut Sogut and head coach René Weiler. What ideas are they bringing for building and shaping the team, and how do you see that working out so far? The great changes seemingly never end at D.C. United, who have been in some form of turmoil for the entire time that there have been Austin FC matches in MLS. René Weiler's arrival back in July signalled a switch that's less about tactics (though those are far different than Troy Lesesne's enormous emphasis on pressing out of a 3-4-2-1) and more about principles. United, after flailing back and forth between polar opposite game models over the years, simply didn't have the players to execute Lesesne's highly specific approach, with each player given a long to-do list in every phase of play. Under Weiler, things have been simplified. The experienced Swiss coach wants players who can read the game and respond quickly, rather than a group that sticks to a locked-in script. It's not that there's no plan — the win over the Union was rooted in identifying Philadelphia's weaknesses and making sure the entire game was about those issues — but rather that the plan leaves plenty of room for improvisation. The simple structure means there's a lot of trust placed in players to find different paths to exploit the flaws in the opponent and to hide United's own weak points. Basically, it's throwback soccer in a certain way, more Bruce Arena than Gregg Berhalter. Players like Matti Peltola, Lucas Bartlett, and Kye Rowles have responded to the changes, increasing DCU's defensive solidity. Whether the attack can keep up remains to be seen. ### Tai Baribo came over from Philly to D.C. and got to score against Philly in the opener. How will he fit into D.C.'s overall attack? Baribo will be the centerpiece of United's offensive plans. He wasn't the most expensive acquisition this winter thanks to Louis Munteanu's $7 million move from CFR Cluj, but United has been clear that the Israeli striker is the player they'll be leaning on the most in 2026\. The idea is that Baribo will be a classic No. 9, using his understanding of spacing in the box, his anticipation, and a well-studied approach to how opposition defenses operate to get into spaces that are hard to defend and easy to access with the ball. Last weekend's win was a perfect example of the idea, with Baribo's clinical goal turning out to be the game-winner. Beyond that, he had an earlier tap-in called back for offside (this is a good moment to shout out D.C.'s new left back Keisuke Kurokawa, who had the assist on the non-goal, as a threat going forward), hit the post after catching his old side off-guard, and generally working his socks off trying to hunt a second goal. MLSSoccer.com credited United with 1.4 xG on the night, and Baribo accounted for 1.0 of that total. The Black-and-Red probably don't want to be that heavily dependent on one player, but they do want to make sure that the biggest share of their chances end up going to Baribo. ### I know it's just one match, but looking at it compared to the 2025 season, what's one encouraging sign and one carryover from last year that you remain concerned about? The encouraging sign for United from week one was the clarity and sense of purpose the group played with. In attacking and defending, everyone understood what they were supposed to be doing, the effort levels were high, and there were decent signs of chemistry building in a group that featured four new starters and seven total players making their club debut. We're grading on a curve here, since DCU won the Wooden Spoon last year, but they cleared the first hurdle pretty convincingly. A solid enough, cohesive 1-0 home win over a good team is one of the club's best showings in years. There are still plenty of concerns, but to pick one, it'd have to be Baribo's partner up top. Munteanu is a club-record purchase, but (a) was only given 20 minutes off the bench despite being fully fit, and (b) wasn't able to impact the game even as Philadelphia played 10 v. 11 and took big risks hunting an equalizer. Meanwhile, the starting second forward in Weiler's 4-4-2, Gabriel Pirani, only influenced the game in a couple of sporadic moments. He played his part in the goal, to be fair, but the story with Pirani throughout his time in MLS is one of a very talented player who vanishes on a regular basis. He's also just a slow starter in MLS. Over the past two seasons, Pirani has produced 14 goals and 6 assists, but in matches played in roughly the first half of the season (I'm talking February to June here), he's only put up 3g/3a. It's only been after DCU's season has fallen apart and fans are urging the club to sell the Brazil U23 attacker that he starts producing. Between Pirani and Munteanu, someone's got to step up and seize the role as Baribo's partner. Until United gets an answer there, the team's ceiling is still pretty limited. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### He didn't talk about this at the media availability: Austin FC's Nico Estevez discusses the team's evolution, but not a rumored Christian Ramirez signing URL: https://verdeallday.com/weekly-media-availability-pre-atxvdc-030126-christian-ramirez-rumor/ Last updated: 2026-02-27T03:25:02.000Z We got news about Austin FC in two different ways on Thursday. One was the conventional weekly media availability from Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, in which we learned the fate (sometimes directly, sometimes cryptically) of injured players heading into Sunday afternoon's match against D.C. United. And then, in the late afternoon (while in a P. Terry's drive-thru line getting my daughter a burger snack), this drop from Tom Bogert about a surprising and new Austin FC signing — apparently on a supplemental, to the delight of those Verde fans fond of saying regarding possible signings coming up in conversation, "I'd take him on a supplemental." > 🇺🇸🟢 BREAKING: Austin FC has signed forward Christian Ramirez, per sources. Ramirez was surprisingly placed on waivers by LA Galaxy just before season started for salary cap reasons. Austin wins out waiver process and adds the forward. > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-26T23:27:31.699Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3mfsdvjbvd224?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Yes, that Christian Ramírez, who acquired the nickname "Superman" while at Minnesota United nearly a decade ago, meaning that he's got something in common with Brandon Vázquez. In a separate skeet, Bogert wrote, "Austin FC will pay $225k of Ramirez’s budget charge this year. Current deal ends after season." Two things strike me here: - A supplemental deal is indeed possible given the budget charge; and - The Galaxy bought Ramírez out and had to place him on waivers for roster compliance reasons. This is exactly a year and a week after the Galaxy put Sean Davis on waivers for roster compliance reasons ... after signing him earlier in the offseason in a trade sending Gaston Brugman to Nashville, fresh off his hero turn replacing Riqui Puig as chief catalyst in the 2024 MLS Cup. (I think the Galaxy are overrated in all sorts of ways, including front office ways.) But let's get to some quick Nico-talking-to-media notes first. ## He came prepared with notes Our own Moisés Chiullan came right out of the gate with injury update questions; Estévez grinned, said he knew we'd be asking about that, and pulled out a sheet of paper with all the updates, including: - Vázquez is about a month away from seeing game action, but is now participating in position drills; - Mikkel Desler is a participant (though not a full participant) in training this week (so expect him to debut by our estimate, should he progress accordingly, in the Charlotte match on March 7); - Owen Wolff is still recovering from sports hernia surgery (so it sounds like the St. Louis match on March 14 might be his earliest chance to get minutes in, unless he is healed by divine providence); - Robert Taylor is "recovering well," but "TBD for Sunday," indicating that his knee injury isn't severe; and - Jayden Nelson is fine. (He came out of the opener with cramps around minute 70.) ## They're fun again Well, one game scoring two goals might not convince you that Verde is a fun non-stop party, but Estévez is emboldened. "We can see a team that is more vertical, that is more going forward, that we don't want to lose much time on building if it's clear that we can be vertical," he said. "But we also use the building up to create the spaces in between the lines or around, and this is what we have to keep improving, \[to\] be cleaner in those situations. I think we had also really good moments on offensive transition when we could get more out of that, but we weren't clean enough to do \[that\]." Granting that they can still improve in some areas, he added, "We want to be a team that is fun to watch, that when the fans come to the game, and when people are watching \[on\] TV, the feedback is that we are fun to watch, that \[this\] is a team that goes forward and wants to score goals ... that the team and the quality of the key pieces of the team allow us to do that." ## Keen competition Jon Gallagher, also speaking to media on Thursday, weighed in on the overall quality of the squad this year. "It's just more of a competitive environment in amongst the locker room, a lot of quality players fighting for spots and ultimately all trying to achieve the same goal," he said. "But I think we saw a lot of positive moments on the weekend in terms of just quality on the ball, defending, attacking throughout the 90 minutes. And we felt like it was a game we probably should have had three points." But it's not all work and no play. "With every year, we have a different vibe in the locker room. This year, we're very together. We're doing a lot of stuff in preseason. We're doing a lot of team events planned by the players, not just through the staff. We're throwing barbecues. Guys are barbecuing for the entire team. I think that's just something different we might not have had in previous years." ## So, let's talk Ramírez While bringing in Christian Ramírez isn't quite the same as bringing in 41-year-old veteran [Kei Kamara](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kei-kamara-free-agent-2026-possibility/) — and yes, part of me really did want Austin to be his 13th MLS team — the 34-year-old Ramírez isn't as far off from Kamara territory as you might initially think. Should the report pan out (and with Bogert when he goes up with these, it usually does), Austin will be Ramírez's sixth MLS team. Ramírez got to MLS in a "the border crossed me" move, signing with the NASL version of Minnesota United before it became an MLS expansion team in 2017\. He played there for two years, then moved to LAFC, then to the Dynamo, then after playing with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League (a city farther north than Moscow and Copenhagen; sounds fun), arrived in Columbus (where he won an MLS Cup) and then the Galaxy. If you're wondering what 2025 Ramírez looked like on a radar chart, you're familiar with the player who was his 2025 radar chart twin: Myrto Uzuni. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/comparison-Christian-Ramirez-vs-Myrto-Uzuni-TOTAL-2026-02-27.png) That's uncanny. He's a better chance creator, and scores decently more per 90, but the other numbers are alarmingly similar. While it's unclear how he'll be utilized (you know, if he really is going to be Verde), I predict he'll be in the four goal/two assist range as a late-game supersub to help transition from Uzuni to Vázquez. (Ramírez had four goals and an assist in 2025 for the Galaxy in 915 MLS minutes last season.) Also: He mostly has worn No. 17 throughout his career, which Jon Gallagher has been wearing his entire tenure with Verde. But Ramirez entered the league wearing No. 21, and my prediction is that what he'll end up with. (In Aberdeen, he wore No. 99, which has only been worn by one Verde player prior: Moussa Djitté, so that's a distant possibility.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Behold! A new feature! URL: https://verdeallday.com/behold-a-new-feature/ Last updated: 2026-02-25T14:56:20.000Z As a public service to you (and because some of these questions came up for me during the season), I'm previewing a new page I plan to update throughout the 2026 season. [2026 by the numbersThese stats help put 2026 into focus.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-12.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/gallagher-goal-assist-celebration.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/2026-by-the-numbers/) Just one game in, and it's not terribly captivating, I'll admit, but I expect it (as it with stats) to be more relevant and applicable throughout the season. In the current landscape of stats providers being more proprietary and less democratic with what they let out, I'm doing what I can (and working with people doing what they can) to keep you informed. (If there's anything you're not seeing that you're interested in, let me know, and if it's doable, I'm happy to roll it in.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'It's just two points lost for me': Austin FC reflects on a cruel defensive lapse spoiling a promising performance URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvmin-022126/ Last updated: 2026-02-22T15:40:24.000Z The record will show that Austin FC's 2026 home opener was minutes from being a 2-1 victory, but instead became a [2-2 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvmin-022126/) when Minnesota United FC's Kelvin Yeboah found himself free for a 90th-minute header to claw back the equalizer. Though it was so fresh and raw and new that Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez hadn't yet been able to see and analyze the whole play — and we'll get to that in a moment — he did reveal what led to his squad's discombobulation on that fateful play. "Details in games are important," Estévez said. "To tell you a little bit, the whole story is we were going to make two subs go to five in the back, because Minnesota brought two forwards to bring more height for set pieces, and ... in the late minutes, because Minnesota is a very dangerous team on the set pieces. And what happened is Robert Taylor felt a twist in his knee. And as for the subs, we had to hold this up in order to change the card and bring out Taylor instead of the other player that we were planning. [Last chance at $30 for the year](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) "I think that confused a little bit everyone on the field, and they took advantage," he added. "I didn't see the goal yet. I saw the end part. I think we have to work on those situations and do better. Maybe, maybe, when we asked the player if he's injured because he was injured ... we just go down, tell the referee, and the referee probably will ask the the athletic trainers to come in check. And I think we have to be better in those situations ... But I think we can take a good learning from that and have strategies to do better next time." _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Minnesota United FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvmin-022126/ Last updated: 2026-02-22T03:36:40.000Z Austin FC scored less than seven minutes into its 2026 season opener, making good on a Facundo Torres to Brendan Hines-Ike connection, starting a see-saw contest ending in a 2-2 draw with Minnesota United FC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night. The squad was down two players, Guilherme Biro and Besard Šabović — incidentally, the two players who received red cards against Sporting Kansas City in the final preseason match. After some initial fun midfield control early on from Verde, Torres stepped up to take a 7th-minute corner, sending in a ball that Hines-Ike was able to head home for the early lead. Wil Trapp earned the match's first yellow card, clipping Torres 25 minutes in to thwart Verde's forward progression near midfield, in what had been a relatively foul-free match to that point. In the 40th minute, following a missed opportunity for Verde (see worst Verde moment), Minnesota won a corner and Joaquín Pereyra lofted a pass that Morgan Duggan, wriggling free from Ilie Sánchez, was able to latch on to the end of and equalize with relative ease. In first-half stoppage time, Kelvin Yeboah had concerning amounts of time and space in front of goal, but Brad Stuver — not pressed into much first-half action — made a deft save to preserve the 1-1 scoreline headed into halftime. Both Torres and a largely quiet Myrto Uzuni got shots in front of goal in the 53rd minute on an impressive attack made possible by a deft Jon Gallagher move toward goal. A minute later, the Loons had an attack blunted by Hines-Ike heading an oddly curving (and therefore dangerous) Pereyra shot out, and then Verde handled the resulting corner. In the 58th minute, Gallagher nearly got on the board himself which a shot from outside the 18 that goalkeeper Drake Callender had to dive to save. The Loons had the first subs of the match, getting Julian Gressel and Carlos Harvey on for Bongi Hlongwane and D.J. Taylor, in the 65th. Four minutes later, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez pulled a highly effective Nelson in favor of Robert Taylor. Taylor made good on the sub in the 76th, arcing in a far-post pass that Gallagher headed in front of goal, which then bounced off Uzuni and in. Dani Pereira — who also had a relatively quiet night — nearly volleyed in an insurance goal in the 84th minute, following some solid end-line work from Taylor to circulate the ball back into the melee. Two minutes later, Torres blazed a shot just past the far post to continue heaping pressure on the Loons' defense. But then, going the other way, the Loons got out on a break, and Devin Padelford, out on the left wing, sent a pass into an unmarked Yeboah for the 90th-minute equalizer. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) That Torres 53rd-minute shot was a good Callender save away from being his first goal in Verde. (Well, in mostly white with faintly visible mint stripes, but you know what I mean.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Torres had a wish-I-could-have-it-back moment in the 39th, threading a ball through Loons defenders to a breaking-free Nelson, but sending the ball past him. (A minute later, what could have been a 2-0 match became a 1-1 match.) ## One thing you might have missed Jayden Nelson was feeling it, trying to hype up the crowd after winning a 19th-minute corner (which wasn't as good as the first one). ## One nerdy tidbit Not shockingly, given Minnesota's history of not wanting the ball last year, Verde had a 61-39% possession advantage 20 minutes in. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's the first draw in an opener in Verde's six seasons, after being mere minutes from closing out a win. The goal contributions from two designated players were encouraging, but this was — to return to a theme from last season — a case of a sole defensive lapse costing Verde valuable points. ## A question we have going into the press conference If someone doesn't ask it before me, would like to get some more details on the Biro and Šabović situation (as it does appear to be a situation). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 'We keep growing': An evolving Austin FC faces its first test of 2026 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-weekly-media-availablity-atxvmin-022126/ Last updated: 2026-02-21T14:43:45.000Z It's been an odd preseason. It started with all three designated players out injured. By the first week, newly-elevated Under 22 Initiative player Owen Wolff joined them. Also, along the way, we all noticed that fullback Mikkel Desler wasn't all that visible and learned he, too, was dealing with an injury. Despite that, though, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez considers the preseason to be moving the team in the right direction. "I think it was a slow preseason in the way that we had to build it," he assessed in Thursday afternoon's pre-match press conference. "But I think we feel good about the performances that we had against Chicago, and mostly the first half against Kansas \[City\], until we got the red cards ... from there, we feel like, with this full week to prepare the game, we arrive in the conditions as we arrived last year to compete." He went on to address the team's positional flexibility, which Estévez most notably tested this preseason by deploying fullback Joseph Rosales as a winger. "It's important that when you build a roster, in this case, and the job that \[sporting director\] Rodo\[lfo Borrell\] did, and he knows the league very well, and knows how important it is to have a profile of players that can play in different positions, can adapt to different roles ... And I think in this league, it's really important, because usually with the budget restrictions, you don't have a large roster, and then you have to have players that can play in multiple roles and in multiple positions. "And you could see ... based also on player availability, how we've moved players around in different positions or roles, and they've been adapting really well," he added. "We need to feel like we're making progress, that we are improving, that we are getting better. And I think from the beginning of the preseason and how we finish the preseason, we saw that improvement, and we saw glimpses of what we want to see during this MLS season." [Get everything for about 8 cents a day](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) ## New ideas, new people Despite having a good deal of continuity from last season in personnel, there are enough new players and new ideas to highlight for Estévez how every season is different. "We also tried different ways to attack and to find ways to be more vertical, be more brave, be more courageous in front of the opponent's box," he observed. "And these sometimes they take time ... because the players are not fully fit. And when scoring goals, it can get more difficult. But on the other hand, \[we\] made some adjustments on the defensive side, on the defensive transition ... And then, while we were improving that, we were seeing the team was more stable ... adapting to new teammates and adapting to a style of play that we're building together in a way that we can get the best out of every player." That includes Facundo Torres, with the opportunity to be a transformative player for Verde — and perhaps the most prolific goal contributor the team's had since Sebastián Driussi's landmark 22-goal, seven-assist season in 2022\. "First of all, he's a competitor," Estévez said. "He trains really hard, competes really hard, and he's a leader. Even though he's a young player, he's a leader in the in the locker room, he gets along with every teammate, pushes everyone, and I think that you're going to see that on the field. You're going to see a player who is very proactive, moving to get the ball, moving to create a goal in scoring opportunities." He added that Torres "defends hard and takes responsibility into the field, and I think that is really important, and it's something that we were looking for, for the team." Bringing the team together for the Coachella Valley Invitational was important as well — not only for the three matches in eight days against MLS competition, but for the retreat-like quality of a week and a half in Palm Springs, where as we learned from Dani Pereira in his recent North End Podcast interview, groups of players were clustered together in villas. "The time that we spent in Coachella is really important, and because the players are 24 hours together, and the setup that we had in the preseason. also helps a lot to create that bond, because the guys can can be together for long periods of time," Estévez shared. "What we saw in preseason is a group, a very united group, that wants to to do great things for the club and for the fans." Adding that players like Myrto Uzuni and Robert Taylor missed out on 2025's preseason, he added, "Because when you feel more united to the group, when you feel that you have the back of your brother next to you, I think you perform better. You also know your teammate better. You talk about things. You know, my movements, what I like, where I like to receive the ball, and all these things." He also made clear that he has a vision for the 2026 edition of the team. "We talk about things that we want to be. We want to be a brave team. We want to be courageous in the way that we attack. We want to be a team that is difficult to break, a team that is relentless, that is intense, that is greedy. And we want to be a team that \[for\] everyone that is watching, you feel proud about it, and then we just want to feel proud ourselves of who we are, and make our fans feel proud of what they're seeing on the field." ## An update on Owen Midfielder Owen Wolff will be conspicuously absent from the opening day match, having undergone surgery at the start of preseason to repair a sports hernia. "He's recovering more slowly than we expected. We expected him training with the team this week, but it's taking a little bit longer \[with\] this type of injury, from one week to another, he can change everything, because your body starts responding, not having pain, and then you can start doing more and more and more things very quickly. Then we're waiting that he can make that click. "Hopefully next week he can feel better and then he can join the team at the end of the week, something that we don't have to rush," he added. "We have to take the time that he needs ... as soon he doesn't feel that restriction on pain inside, he will be flying back to the team." Mikkel Desler, who has dealt with an injury all preseason, joins Wolff and Brandon Vázquez on the "out" list for this weekend. ## Hearing from Jayden Jayden Nelson was the player chosen to speak before media on Thursday, and shared his perspective on the villas at Coachella — he was part of Pereira's group. "It's been nice, especially being in Coachella with the guys. I was in the Latino villa. I don't speak much Spanish, but I got to connect with those guys. And sometimes it's hard to come into a team with a lot of Spanish-speaking guys, and I was able to adapt and build good connections with those guys. "So yeah, all in all, it's a good group of guys, a hungry group. And yeah, it's been pretty easy to integrate with the squad ... it's kind of night and day when you look at the facilities that we have here compared to like Vancouver ... so we have everything here that we need to succeed. So it's been really good so far. "We're together for X amount of time," he added. "So it's kind of easy to build connections. You're going to be talking every day, we see each other, we wake up, we eat breakfast together ... So it's not just the connection on the pitch, but off the field. We're not only speaking about football, so we're able to build actual, genuine connections, and it just translates to the pitch. So it was great to have that little time together." He's also thrilled to be on the home squad, as opposed to the visiting one, for Q2 matchups. "For me, it was always difficult coming out here," he shared. "The fan base is really good. They're really loud ... So it was always difficult, especially with the heat and everything. It wasn't a place that you want to come to, and now that I'm here, we want to continue that. So it's going to be nice seeing the fans again on Saturday and be able to get my debut. And, yeah, I'm really excited for it." Though Austin may not have the same level of success as Vancouver did last year — that team, after all, won a Canadian Championship and made it to MLS Cup — Nelson indicated that being in multiple competitions last year has helped him prepare for this year. He also indicated he's not alone in being ready. "We had a lot of tournaments and whatnot, and what we had to lean on was everyone had to be ready," he said, recalling 2025\. "So that's kind of the same mentality here, whether you're with the second team or the first team, whether you're not starting or starting. Everyone has to take care of their bodies and whatnot. And when your name is called upon, you have to be ready to contribute. So that's the biggest thing, in a long season like this, where there are so many games and so many possibilities of injuries and things like that, so just everyone being locked in and being able to contribute when their name is called." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Ashle Paige of Northland Soccer Journal URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-ashle-paige-northland-soccer-journal-atxvmin-022126/ Last updated: 2026-02-21T01:03:15.000Z The 34-game season — the last (as far as we know) that will be contained within a sole calendar year — begins Saturday with Minnesota coming to Austin, which is also how both teams started the 2024 season. (Trust me, don't look that one up.) To ring it in right, we're starting up Foreign Exchange for 2026, and reached out to our new friend Ashle Paige at [Northland Soccer Journal](https://northlandsoccer.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) to discuss the Loons. I also [answered questions for Northland](https://northlandsoccer.com/opponent-insight-2026-season-opener-at-austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com), including one involving Joseph Rosales, who played for Minnesota last year and has since (as you're likely aware if you're reading this) moved to Austin. Let's get into it. ### It's been an offseason of great change for the Loons, including Dayne St. Clair going to Miami, Robin Lod going to Chicago, Joseph Rosales going to Austin, and Cam Knowles replacing Eric Ramsay as coach. ### What will Minnesota miss with all the exits, and leaving aside James for a moment – who might not play this weekend — how do you think the front office has done to rebuild the squad? With the acquisitions that have happened, I have to say the biggest missing piece *might* be Dayne St. Clair. Drake Callendar joining the Loons should alleviate that, but he was out much of last season, so time will tell. Minnesota's acquisitions of Peter Stroud and Tomás Chancalay really softened the blow of losing Lod and Rosales. Cam has been in Minnesota for a hot minute, previously stepping in as interim manager and having served as MNUFC2 manager. Cam is well-liked in the locker room, and the players have been ecstatic that he was appointed the new manager. Everyone is healthy to start the season, the question remains when some of the new international players (namely James) will get their P-1 visa. ### What was your initial reaction to the James signing, and how do you think it will go? He's easily the biggest name to ever join the Loons and a massive boost with what's been going on in Minnesota. There really is no downside to the signing in my view. He comes in on a free transfer, as a non-DP player, with a short-term contract that could be extended to (or even past) the end of the season if all goes well. The worst-case scenario is that James is here through the World Cup break and then leaves or retires. Between the U.S. Open Cup semifinal match last year, and Josh Wolff coming over to Minnesota to be an assistant coach, do you feel like there's a rivalry developing between the clubs? Or is Austin just another Western Conference team to them? (We think your fans are wonderful and love the Black Hart, by the way.) As weird as it might sound, I'm not sure that Minnesota United really has an MLS rival right now. Austin is a great club with amazing fans, and I think that if there is a rivalry, it's more of a friendly rivalry, a la what we have with Kansas City. The matches will be intense, but at the end of the night, we'll all gather at a bar and drink and sing together. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 6 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-6/ Last updated: 2026-02-20T14:00:19.000Z Welcome to Verde Week! To celebrate the start of the 2026 MLS season (for Austin FC and the league's other 29 teams), I've embarked on a massive season preview undertaking. Thirty capsule reviews, spread over six days, to give you a sense of how these teams transformed (as of this writing) during the offseason, plus a little lagniappe. (It's the first Friday of Lent and the end of the season preview line. We made it! Popeyes fish sandwiches for everyone!) Also, to prompt you to support independent soccer coverage — needed now more than ever! — I'm offering a special yearly subscription rate for this week only. [This offer ends Sunday](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) [Thursday's preview](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-5/)s: LA Galaxy, LAFC, Minnesota United FC, Portland Timbers FC, Real Salt Lake. [Wednesday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-4/): Austin FC, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Sporting Kansas City. [Tuesday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-3/): Red Bull New York, NYCFC, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC. [Monday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-2/): D.C. United, Inter Miami CF, CF Montréal, Nashville SC, and New England Revolution. [Sunday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-1/): Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 5 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-5/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T13:00:54.000Z Welcome to Verde Week! To celebrate the start of the 2026 MLS season (for Austin FC and the league's other 29 teams), I've embarked on a massive season preview undertaking. Thirty capsule reviews, spread over six days, to give you a sense of how these teams transformed (as of this writing) during the offseason, plus a little lagniappe. (We were also celebrating Mardi Gras, but we're on to Lent now. May these 40 days of sackcloth and ashes be good to you.) Also, to prompt you to support independent soccer coverage — needed now more than ever! — I'm offering a special yearly subscription rate for this week only. [Just two days remaining](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) [Wednesday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-4/): Austin FC, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Sporting Kansas City. [Tuesday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-3/): Red Bull New York, NYCFC, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC. [Monday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-2/): D.C. United, Inter Miami CF, CF Montréal, Nashville SC, and New England Revolution. [Sunday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-1/): Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew. We'll conclude tomorrow. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Austin FC is 'getting better and better' but so is everyone else: Takeaways from Rodolfo Borrell's latest press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/rodolfo-borrell-february-2026-press-conference/ Last updated: 2026-02-18T19:37:52.000Z Confining roster rules. Conniving agents. Limited flexibility. Barren GAM coffers. At Tuesday's press conference, in which Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell assessed the offseason and the state of the team, he continued to maintain that, despite the challenges listed above, he's managed to improve Austin FC's roster from when he arrived to the present day — with last season's results as evidence of the evolution. Let's walk through the highlights. ## Overcoming obstacles Though this first quote is long, it's, to me, the essence of how Borrell has accounted for himself and his tenure to date in Austin. "When I arrived here, I really thought I would be able to bring everything I wanted much quicker in less markets," he said. "The reality, \[which\] some of my colleagues already told me \[about\] ... is that to get players over the line in MLS is very difficult, because, again, this is not a league where it's just pocket money, and I bring this player, I get rid of eight players, and I bring eight. There are very strict rules and regulations for everybody. "So I'm not complaining, and I have to say that I'm very happy to what I've been able to bring during the period that I've been here. I think if you look at the roster from the moment I landed, to the roster right now, the difference is huge. With very little flexibility in the cap, with very much support from ownership in regard to discretionary \[spending\] and being able to bring the pieces that's completely different than the cap flexibility. I've been here two and a half years, and I feel that, yes, as I mentioned from the very beginning, the squad is getting every time better and better, but at the same time, everyone is getting better and better. "So I feel that I'm going to need a little bit more to end \[up\] bringing exactly what I want. Having said that, it's not about philosophy or not. Sometimes you bring players with an idea of what they can do, what they can deliver for what they have done in the past, and suddenly, for whatever reason, they come here, and they don't perform the same, or they don't adapt the same. So, then, this is about reacting and trying to bring the right pieces. But again, it's not easy. It's not as easy as say, you're out and you're in. So you need to respect contracts and to respect rules and regulations of the league, and this unfortunately takes time. ## He's aware some of you want a 10 That directly led into acknowledgment — yet dismissal — of signing a No. 10 (a creative attacking midfielder playing centrally) as the panacea for Verde's chance creation concerns. He directed that to the assembled media. "I think, on the other hand, guys, that you have an obsession, incredible obsession, for the number 10, the number 10, the number 10\. There are many, many top teams in the world who haven't got the number 10, okay, but it looks like here, without the number 10, we cannot live. And again, I think the opportunities or the assists can come from different angles. It can come also from a number 10\. I'm not saying no to that, that player coming at some point in the future. ## Torres: A proven MLS player Though he confessed that a lot of his available General Allocation Money (GAM) for 2026 has gone into securing Facundo Torres — $2 million is the number he threw out in response to a Spanish-language question — he sees the move as one that will bolster the squad — perhaps sending a veiled message about another one of his designated player ventures in the process. "What I want to say is that Facundo is an MLS-proven player," Borrell said. "And it is true that this league is a very particular league, very difficult, because it's very different than than many others. And the fact of bringing one player who has already proven himself in this league by by scoring goals and assisting and performing with regularity... it's important, compared to other players that are — not saying they are not good, they might be even better, but suddenly they come to the league and for whatever reason they don't perform the same. So what I mean is that nothing can ensure you anything. But that's true, that the player who has already been proven in MLS gives, at least from the start, more guarantees." Myrto Uzuni certainly fits the definition of "suddenly comes into the league and for whatever reason doesn't perform the same." Perhaps that changes in 2026, but judging from what Borrell's saying, the proven-in-MLS aspect — which was also a selling point for Brandon Vázquez when he came to Austin from Monterrey after success in Cincinnati – is an important one going forward. ## Oh, those agents As for the Uzuni transfer rumor that surfaced less than two weeks ago, Borrell broadly hinted that agents — who he doesn't always hold in high regard — can drive some of the transfer talk regardless of what clubs are planning to do or are willing to do. Speaking generally on how players transfer out, Borrell had some choice words. "It can be the agent reaching out to you because a club has contacted \[the player\]. So it starts his way. It can be that you are willing to move the player and you have different ways to understand for the people to get, to know that you are willing to move the player, and it might go this way as well. It might go that the club contacts you. I would like to say that this would be the 100% right way to do things, but I think 0.1% do that. "So usually, when they contact you, they have already reached out to the agent of the player, or the players know something, I guess as well, because you may go direct to the club, the club may have an opinion, but then the player has a completely different opinion. So usually, this is more of a waste of time. And I guess that's why the people reach out first to the agent and say, 'What's the situation? Do you think it will be possible, a move, if he's under contract? For how much you think they will be asking for?' And it usually starts this way." He then embarked on a hypothetical of calling up Erling Haaland and offering him a higher salary to play with Austin FC, which sounds great, until you factor in what's required between the clubs. "Sometimes clubs and agents, especially, are selfish, and they try to put in the head of the players, like they are offering them double salary, which is fine, but they obviously have to pay a transfer fee ... you're not deciding the price. We're deciding the price ... So there has to be a balance where somebody wanted to pay on a team, between that, we have to be happy as a club and he obviously will be happy salary wise, but we have to have a certain amount ... because if I let go a player for less money than his value, and I cannot bring at least a similar player, you're all gonna kill me ... So I have to guarantee that if we let go a player, we let him go for an amount that at least we can replace that player." In Uzuni's case, where he and the club had reportedly come to terms over player salary, the clubs would also obviously have to agree to a transfer fee to make the deal complete. ## Getting GAM 'for a record number' Two recent moves that may have flown under the radar for all but the hardcore salary nerds (which likely includes a lot of you): A trade of a 2026 international roster slot to Real Salt Lake for $235,000 in GAM, and a similar trade to LA Galaxy for $240,000 — both for half a season, so the slots revert back to Austin on July 13 in time for any summer transfers requiring international slots. Borrell explained the moves, which inject $475,000 into Verde's GAM coffers at a time in which that's needed. "We have a situation where we cannot do anything else in this market, in this transfer window, and because of the GAM situation — it's not because we don't want, so because of the GAM situation, and it was just about to set ourselves in the best position possible in order to be able to bring in somebody in the summer. "So in order to have more GAM, one of the things was, if we were not going to use these international roster spots now, why not transfer them for a record number, the two of them, by the way, the two, until the summer. So the two until the summer ... they're going to bring us $475,000 \[in\] GAM. So this means that if we were having half a million, this is duplicating the amount of GAM that we were having. So at the numbers that we are at, we thought this was the right move to do, so if at this moment in time, we were not able to bring them, to give them better use, this was the right move try to get the most GAM possible in order to be able to bring something in the summer." It's still possible that one international slot will revert back to Austin FC, depending on the league's ruling on whether Canadian players occupy domestic or international spots for U.S.-based teams. Right now, it's the latter, but murmurings around the league have players like Jayden Nelson becoming domestic. Getting a ruling on this before roster compliance is due on Friday would be helpful in, say, knowing whether there's an international spot available for Jorge Alastuey to be able to get short-term call-ups from Austin FC II or even sign a supplemental spot (which usually happens once the club exhausts its four short-term call-ups). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 4 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-4/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T12:38:20.000Z Thanks to the alphabet, this West preview brings all three Texas teams together, plus Colorado Rapids and Sporting Kansas City. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 3 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-3/ Last updated: 2026-02-18T12:34:32.000Z Welcome to Verde Week! To celebrate the start of the 2026 MLS season (for Austin FC and the league's other 29 teams), I've embarked on a massive season preview undertaking. Thirty capsule reviews, spread over five days, to give you a sense of how these teams transformed (as of this writing) during the offseason, plus a little lagniappe (in the spirit of this also being Mardi Gras week, and by the way, Happy Mardi Gras!) Also, to prompt you to support independent soccer coverage — needed now more than ever! — I'm offering a special yearly subscription rate for this week only. [Just days remain for this offer](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) [Yesterday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-2/): D.C. United, Inter Miami CF, CF Montréal, Nashville SC, and New England Revolution. [Sunday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-1/): Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew. Wednesday through Friday: The West. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'Very inconsistent': Austin FC leaves Coachella with questions to answer URL: https://verdeallday.com/very-inconsistent-austin-fc-post-atxvskc-021426/ Last updated: 2026-02-16T19:14:59.000Z Those who watched Saturday's final Austin FC match at the 2026 Coachella Valley Invitational — a [2-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-coachella-021426/) to Sporting Kansas City — saw a Verde team that looked incredibly exciting and threatening at times and defensively haphazard at others. That's not lost on the coach and one of its veteran leaders. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-2/ Last updated: 2026-02-16T14:21:58.000Z Welcome to Verde Week! To celebrate the start of the 2026 MLS season (for Austin FC and the league's other 29 teams), I've embarked on a massive season preview undertaking. Thirty capsule reviews, spread over five days, to give you a sense of how these teams transformed (as of this writing) during the offseason, plus a little lagniappe (in the spirit of this also being Mardi Gras week). Also, to prompt you to support independent soccer coverage — needed now more than ever! — I'm offering a special yearly subscription rate for this week only. [Just $30 for a year of everything Verde All Day](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) Today's previews: D.C. United, Inter Miami CF, CF Montréal, Nashville SC, and New England Revolution. [Yesterday's previews](https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-1/): Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew. Tomorrow: The remaining five East teams. Wednesday through Friday: The West. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 2026 MLS Season Preview Extravaganza, Part 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-mls-season-preview-extravaganza-part-1/ Last updated: 2026-02-15T13:00:37.000Z Welcome to Verde Week! To celebrate the start of the 2026 MLS season (for Austin FC and the league's other 29 teams), I've embarked on a massive season preview undertaking. Thirty capsule reviews, spread over five days, to give you a sense of how these teams transformed (as of this writing) during the offseason, plus a little lagniappe (in the spirit of this also being Mardi Gras week). Also, to prompt you to support independent soccer coverage — needed now more than ever! — I'm offering a special yearly subscription rate for this week only. [Special offer for Verde Week only!](https://verdeallday.com/30-mls-teams-for-30) Today's previews: Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew. Monday and Tuesday: The rest of the East. Wednesday through Friday: The West. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, Sporting Kansas City 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-coachella-021426/ Last updated: 2026-02-14T20:05:27.000Z Austin FC's final preseason tuneup for 2026 went sour, as it finished two players down in a 2-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City at the Coachella Valley Invitational on Saturday, in Indio, Calif. Verde started with Brad Stuver in goal, a backline of Jon Gallagher, Guilherme Biro, Oleksander Svatok, and Brendan Hines-Ike, a midfield of Dani Pereira, Ilie Sánchez, and Facundo Torres — making his first start for Verde — and then Jayden Nelson as a left wing, Joseph Rosales as a right wing (!), and Myrto Uzuni up top. Nelson got Verde's first good chance in the 9th minute, forcing SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp into a diving save, with Rosales taking the rebound and driving it over the corner of the goal frame. SKC answered with its own chance in the 16th, with Manu Garcia serving up the match's initial set piece to an open-in-front-of-goal Jacob Bartlett, but Stuver was able to repel the header away. Verde showed some appreciable liveliness and looked to be trying diagonal passes and other adventuresome moves forward with what appeared to be the potential opening day starting lineup — though possibly with Torres and Rosales out of their (best and most natural) positions, but also seemingly with some fluidity in their on-field positioning. Rosales nearly got Verde on the board in the 36th minute, getting a shot blocked by Zorhan Bassong and then rolling from the contact suffered on the attempt. But then, in the 42nd minute, Stephen Afrifa found Dejan Joveljić in front of goal with an incisive pass from the wing, and the Serbian striker found the top far corner with a header well past Stuver's reach to grab the up-until-then elusive lead. Nelson had a chance reminiscent of his 9th-minute attempt in the 52nd minute, with a Gallagher cross to Uzuni fed back to Nelson, but his volley went well over the bar. Afrifa then got loose for a 60th-minute attempt, reeling away from Gallagher to get off a shot that Stuver had to stretch to save. Verde made some moves around the hour mark, sending on CJ Fodrey, Besard Šabović, Nicolás Dubersarsky, Jon Bell, and Robert Taylor for Uzuni, Rosales, Sanchez, Svatok, and Torres. In the 65th minute, the newly on Fodrey had a chance on goal, but Nelson arrived first, and the two inadvertently collided with each other, negating the chance. Šabović then thoughtfully helped head coach Nico Estévez out with a 10-on-11, down by one with around 20 minutes left simulation, by getting a straight red card in the 68th minute to make for a very short morning workout. Not to be outdone, Biro got himself sent off less than four minutes after that. (My guy, 9-on-11 is not as realistic a scenario.) Žan Kolmanič and Mateja Đorđević then spelled Nelson and Hines-Ike. Stuver then got called into action again in the 75th to save a potential second goal from Joveljić. Kolmanič nearly scored on a near-post shot on a surprise breakaway in the 83rd, resulting in a corner and a vague chance before SKC regained control of the ball. Somewhere along the way, SKC got a player sent off to get Verde back to a single-man disadvantage. But SKC managed to get an 89th-minute strike from Daniel Salloi, off a Joveljić backheel, to remove any remaining suspense. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) As with last Saturday's match, it was an early move from Nelson; in this case, the opportune 9th-minute shot on goal left wanting. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Two red cards in four minutes deep into a 1-0 game is not an encouraging sign for the start of the 2026 campaign. ## One thing you might have missed At the 32-minute mark, you can clearly see Austin FC superfan Tom Hallock in a banana suit. (H/T to Zac Graham of the North End Podcast with the screen grab). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-14-at-12.43.41-PM.png) ## One nerdy tidbit Since it's hard to pull stats from this YouTube-narrated format, let me introduce a slight bit of worry about Torres, who has not scored in his limited preseason minutes. While he did score in his last two appearances for Palmeiras, both in December, with a yellow card accumulation suspension between the two — but was scoreless in his 14 matches prior. ## Where this fits into the preseason's narrative Given that SKC has a depleted roster and is widely predicted as a Wooden Spoon "winner," and given that Verde had two players sent off in a two-goal loss, this is clearly not a good way to finish the preseason. James, Kelvin Yeboah, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, and the rest of the Loons are just seven days away. (That's the same Loons team that beat SKC 3-0 at Coachella. By transitive properties, Austin's already lost to Minnesota 5-0.) ## A question we have that we would have asked had there been a press conference The same one we've had all preseason: What is Estévez seeing that encourages him about the offense? But, also, was this a match to continue trying things out, or was this regarded as more of an actual dress rehearsal for the opener? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ### What we can glean from Austin FC's 2-2 draw vs. Chicago Fire FC in preseason action URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvchi-coachella-021126/ Last updated: 2026-02-12T15:15:16.000Z If a 90-minute Coachella Valley Invitational preseason match drops in the desert, and it wasn't streamed by the club, did it actually take place? The answer to that contrived existential question is "yes," as Austin FC had its most offensively productive match of the 2026 preseason with a 2-2 draw over Chicago Fire FC in the club's penultimate Coachella (and preseason) match on Wednesday. Here's what we learned based on eyewitness accounts from people on site, as well as what the club shared. ## The lineups We have to start the tea leaves reading by looking at the starting lineup. Here's what we got from the club. > Today's group. > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-11T18:02:36.800Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3mem2qpljzc26?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Aside from the surprise of Damian Las as the starting goalkeeper, this looks like a basic back four, with Jon Gallagher and Žan Kolmanič at fullback and Oleksandr Svatok and Jon Bell as center backs. Then, you have a double pivot of Dani Pereira and Ilie Sánchez in the midfield, and then a front four of Facundo Torres and Myrto Uzuni (we'll get to their debuts in a moment) and Robert Taylor and Joseph Rosales. From friend-of-Verde-All-Day correspondent Tom Hallock, to a Slack group I'm part of: "Taylor was playing with pace and tenacity. Could have just been a mismatch or something but he was pushing Chicago’s backline along with the other 3 attackers often (seemed like we were attacking in a 2-4-4, with Taylor on left wing, Facu & Uzuni central, and Rosales on the right wing). Felt like he was fully engaged and pushing play forward." Aside from Taylor looking good (and we'll also get to him in a moment), Rosales on the *right* wing is an additionally intriguing/puzzling preseason development, as is Torres playing centrally (though Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez did hint at that earlier in the preseason). Torres only got about a 40-minute runout as part of a first, five-man sub right before halftime. ## Well done, wingers By that first change — which saw Taylor score to answer Andrew Gutman's opener for Chicago — Rosales gave way to Austin FC II's Mo Badawiya in what seemed like a calculated choice to get lots of players minutes. > 39’ | Substitutions for Austin FC: ➡️ Mateja Djordjević ⬅️ Oleksandr Svatok ➡️ Mo Badawiya ⬅️ Joseph Rosales ➡️ Riley Thomas ⬅️ Jon Gallagher ➡️ Besard Sabovic ⬅️ Facundo Torres ➡️ Nico Dubersarsky ⬅️ Ilie Sánchez ATX 1-1 CHI > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-11T18:42:22.939Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3mem4xt6nwk26?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Uzuni got in at halftime, as did Ervin Torres for Pereira ... a sub that means we were only a few minutes removed from having two Torreses on the field. (There's an opportunity for that again on Saturday. > 46’ | Changes coming out of the half: ➡️ CJ Fodrey ⬅️ Myrto Uzuni ➡️ Ervin Torres ⬅️ Dani Pereira ATX 1-1 CHI > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-11T19:03:18.176Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3mem65abic226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Then, we got another rotation right after the hour mark, which brought on the second goalscorer for the first. > 63’ | Additional changes for Austin FC: ➡️ Brendan Hines-Ike ⬅️ Jon Bell ➡️ Jayden Nelson ⬅️ Robert Taylor ➡️ Guilherme Biro ⬅️ Žan Kolmanič ATX 1-1 CHI > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-11T19:20:35.344Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3mem745fcos26?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Nelson scored two minutes after subbing on, and from there, Verde only had one more change — Jorge Alastuey, looking less likely to find his way on the first team thanks to an additional international-spot-for-GAM move that the club made, around minute 70 — in what ended up being a draw thanks to an 82nd-minute Jack Elliott goal, but with Austin FC scoring as many in its fifth preseason match as it did in its previous four combined. Hallock, checking in with me, had this to say about the two DPs. "Facu and Myrto looked good; it's hard to tell fully because of the miscues that seem to be common in preseason games (misreads, missed passes, poor timing etc). Facu seemed to be dropping in a little more (like a 10 or a false 9), and Myrto and Taylor were really pushing the backline (a couple offsides because of it)." ## Quotes from after the match As we did following the previous Coachella match, we got some quotes from Estévez on, in this case, what we didn't see, along with some quotes from Nelson. "It's good to have back players like Myrto and like Facundo in the team," Estévez said. "I think all the work that we've been doing in the preseason, things that we are fixing, things that we are working on, you could see we had more fluidity with those players in the team ... it also gave energy to the group and quality in the areas that we need when we have the ball. "The commitment from the group today on the defensive side and the battles, the duals, the team did a really good job," he added. "We were missing some pieces that are important for those things work," he observed. And I think this first game is kind of like a real game, where we have some of the pieces that we're going to use in the team." Still, he said there's more to work on, which is becoming a theme of this preseason. "Now, it's about how we can be more consistent, and the moments that we find those situations and more oriented to finalize those chances on goal in the defensive side. I think we have to keep cleaning some things up; defensively on set pieces today is something that we have to see. I think we were a very strong team last year on set pieces, and we have to use that as an alert. We have to work on that more, and everyone has to be focused." (Both Nelson echoed Estévez's observations about the team being more cohesive. "It was a good step forward from the last two games that we played," he said. "It's a good game to build off of, but I think we did well offensively. We had more ideas and we had more connections, which we want. So yeah, it was a good step forward." ## What comes next Verde's final preseason match comes Saturday at noon CT (10 am local time) against Sporting Kansas City, whose current lineup is so depleted that the club just did a roster number release for 2026, [featuring just 10 players](https://www.sportingkc.com/news/sporting-kc-announces-jersey-number-updates-ahead-of-2026-season?ref=verdeallday.com). SKC did beat NYCFC 2-1 at Coachella on Wednesday, with Calvin Harris and Dejan Joveljić scoring within three minutes midway through the first half to provide enough of a margin for the win. From there, the Verde squad returns home to get into its match week rhythm for the home opener against Minnesota United FC. The Loons, of course, are transforming under new acquisition James Rodríguez, though transforming into what we're not yet quite sure. “I am very happy about this new stage in my life,” said James in his opening press conference, per [MLSSoccer.com's coverage](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/james-rodriguez-joins-minnesota-united-with-world-cup-mindset?ref=verdeallday.com). “I've played at big clubs, in good clubs, but I wanted this league. I wanted to be able to play here, and well, when the chance came to be with this great club, everything was a little slow, but it happened. We made efforts on both sides. “I'm going to do well, the team will do well too, and we're going to win things. Until the last day, I'm going to give my all for the people who trusted in me, more than anything else.” That includes new assistant coach Josh Wolff, which will be a side storyline heading into that match. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/TrueEarnings2.png) ## ### 'Still a lot of work to do': Assessing Austin FC, two weeks out from the 2026 season opener URL: https://verdeallday.com/still-a-lot-of-work-to-do-assessing-austin-fc-two-weeks-out-from-the-2026-season-opener/ Last updated: 2026-02-08T17:00:37.000Z In just two minutes and 32 seconds of interviews that Austin FC sent out to media from Coachella, head coach Nico Estévez and midfielder Dani Pereira confirmed what Saturday's eye test told us. Following a 1-0 loss to St. Louis City SC, with a largely lackluster offensive show and one key defensive breakdown leading to the match's only goal, this team will need to work between now and the season opener on Feb. 21 to get closer to what it wants to be. "Still a lot of work to do," Estévez acknowledged. "We have to bring the group together. We have a lot of new players, other players that were key players last year that are still coming to the team, and then I think we we have to keep working in certain things. We saw some things that we worked \[on\] that were good, and other things that we still have to fix and we have to bring together now as a team." Pereira, whose giveaway led to Simon Becher's 16th-minute goal, echoed Estévez's sentiments. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, St. Louis City SC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvstl-020726/ Last updated: 2026-02-07T20:58:12.000Z Through the magic of YouTube, Austin FC fans who didn't make the trip to Coachella got to watch Verde resume its preseason journey. But it wasn't exactly a riveting watch. The offensively challenged Austin FC, still missing key attackers, mustered little in the way of chances and shots en route to a 1-0 loss to St. Louis City SC on Saturday in Indio, Calif. for the Coachella Valley Invitational's opening match. The team started out with Brad Stuver in goal, and then with a back line of Guilherme Biro, Jon Gallagher, Oleksandr Svatok, and Brendan Hines-Ike, and then what appeared to be a midfield three of Dani Pereira, Besard Šabović, and Ervin Torres, and then Joseph Rosales, CJ Fodrey, and Jayden Nelson along the front line. Nelson engineered the first true moment of excitement for Verde in the 13th minute, getting free in the final third on a breakaway to set up Gallagher for a shot that he scuffed into St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki's path. In the 16th minute, though, Simon Becher scored the opener for the Purina Gang, turning a high press and a botched Pereira pass into an opportunity. Becher was able to work past Svatok for a relatively easy finish. St. Louis nearly made it two in the 26th minute, but Svatok was able to step in front of the developing play and deny Becher a run-in on goal. Ilie Sánchez, Nicolás Dubersarsky, and Mateja Đorđević all came in at the half to spell Šabović, Pereira, and Svatok. Biro had a 50th-minute header over the bar on a Joseph Rosales corner kick for a welcome chance, but then a minute later, Đorđević mismanaged St. Louis traffic and Jeong Sang-bin got off a shot on goal that Stuver was able to kick save away. Then, in the 55th minute, Becher slipped past the defense and forced Stuver into another kick save. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez made a five-player sub at the hour mark, getting Jorge Alastuey, Jon Bell, Žan Kolmanič, Robert Taylor, and Riley Thomas into the mix, with Nelson, Hines-Ike, Torres, Rosales, and Biro coming out. Vlad Dănciuțiu came in as a 75th-minute sub, as did Mo Badawiya. Kolmanič could have been red-carded for a clumsy, punching takedown of Conrad Wallem late in the match, but escaped with a yellow. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Nelson's 12th-minute break toward goal and would-be assist was very encouraging. He's quite speedy. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The long yawing moments of no chances between minute 12 and minute 50 were fairly excruciating, as were many of the moments after that. ## One thing you might have missed The play-by-play announcer does not know that the second "g" in Gallagher is silent. He did even worse with Guilherme Biro's name, but we're used to that. ## One nerdy tidbit The Gallagher shot in the 12th minute was Austin's only first-half shot and its only shot on target in the match. ## Where this fits into the preseason's narrative Verde has now played 180 minutes against MLS competition in the preseason, and have been outscored 3-0, looking very anemic in the attacking half. ## A question we have that we would have asked had there been a press conference Being eager to see what Myrto Uzuni and Facundo Torres will bring this year — especially with Uzuni reportedly being partway out the door yesterday before the deal to move him on could be completed — wondering about their availability in the upcoming matches. (We're only two weeks out from the start of the season and the team's two biggest goal scoring threats to start 2026, and the top chance creator from last season, have yet to play a minute this preseason.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Uzuni on the move? And incoming GAM for what now? URL: https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-trabzonspor-transfer-rumor/ Last updated: 2026-02-06T15:09:17.000Z A little more than a year after Myrto Uzuni was announced as an incoming Austin FC player for a club record fee, he could be an outgoing player. Reports have the Albanian forward, who didn't quite have the dream 2025 season that fans envision when he announced at his opening press conference that he was here to break records, going to Turkish club Trabzonspor should a deal be done day — the deadline for the Turkish Süper Lig to get deals over the line. We're in the "Tom Bogert quoting sources" phase of the announcement, per his Bluesky account this morning. > 🇦🇱 Sources: Trabzonspor in talks to sign Albania int'l forward Myrto Uzuni from Austin FC. Deadline day for Turkish Süper Lig is today. Let's see if a deal can get done. Uzuni, 30, joined Austin for club-record deal worth around $12m last winter. Had 8g/3a in around 2,700 mins > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-02-06T12:23:21.565Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3me6vhhzbuc2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) There's also a report from Turkish journalist İsa Kethüda on his Twitter account, claiming a deal is already done: A $6.5 million offer, a $1.5 million signing bonus, and a 15% sell-on clause. It's not more fleshed out than that at the moment. Trabzonspor is located in Trabzon, a city on the Black Sea in northeast Turkey, and it's one of the bigger clubs in the Turkish Süper Lig, currently third in the standings, behind Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe — so, a team that could utilize Uzuni in a title race. For now, it's just a rumor, though a quickly moving one. The most notable move from sporting director Rodolfo Borrell this week that is official is this MLS-y gem: *Austin FC announced today that the Club has agreed to trade a 2026 international roster slot to Real Salt Lake in exchange for $235,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM). As part of the agreement, the international roster slot will return to Austin at the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window (July 13).* That's one of the most beautiful sentences ever crafted, as well as a hint that an international summer signing could necessitate getting that international slot back in July. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'What encouraged me is we made mistakes in transition': Learning by losing (albeit, in front of fans) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvnyc-020126/ Last updated: 2026-02-02T13:00:54.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez famously said last season that "preseason is a liar" — not so much concerned with match outcomes as with the progressive education of a team coming together and absorbing principles for the season to come. This year, it's about playing less horizontally and more vertically, in an effort to improve offensively after a 2025 in which Verde was improved defensively from 2024, but anemic-to-passable on offense as the season evolved. So, even with four key attackers missing, and even though Austin FC lost 2-0 at home to NYCFC on Sunday before a modest crowd of season ticket holders, Estévez was pleased with what he saw. "What encouraged me is we made mistakes in transition, because we rushed to play more vertical than we did last year," he said. "That is something that we're looking for, but we need to find the balance, like how we are prepared, how we are ready to press after los\[ing\] the ball." He went on to explain the thought process behind keeping enough defenders back to deal with any counters or opponents pushing forward — something that notably went awry on the visitors' two scoring plays — and keeping players forward. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, NYCFC 2; Preseason means nothing URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-preseason-atxvnyc-020126/ Last updated: 2026-02-01T21:59:44.000Z On a brisk Sunday afternoon before a fair smattering of season ticket holders, Austin FC continued its preseason journey with a 2-0 loss against an in-flux but nevertheless effective NYCFC. Verde rolled out with a 3-4-2-1 lineup of: Brad Stuver; Jon Gallagher, Brandon Hines-Ike, Jon Bell; Jayden Nelson, Nicolás Dubersarsky, Dani Pereira, Joseph Rosales; Jorge Alastuey, Robert Taylor, CJ Fodrey. It only took CJ Fodrey a minute and two seconds get off the match's first shot, and after some unusual defensive moments involving Pereira and Hines-Ike making an NYCFC attack appear more flattering to Talles Magno than it should have, the game settled into a more sedentary pace. In the 24th minute, NYCFC nearly engineered a goal when Talles Magno bested Bell on a one-on-one matchup, forcing Stuver into a kick save. In the 31st minute, Verde's defense got overwhelmed, and Nicolás Fernández Mercau was able to punch through for the first goal allowed by an Austin 'keeper this preseason. Hines-Ike got a foot on the shot as it was going in, but wasn't able to redirect it. Then, in the 45th minute, NYCFC got a second goal when the ball got shuttled to an unmarked Agustín Ojeda cheating up the left flank, who slotted his shot past Stuver. Coming out of the locker room, head coach Nico Estévez made the following changes: - Taylor, Bell, Pereira, and Dubersarsky exited; - Žan Kolmanič, Guilherme Biro, Ilie Sánchez, and Besard Šabović came in. At the hour mark, Estévez made other changes: - Stuver, Alastuey, and Gallgher came out; - Damian Las, Ervin Torres, and Riley Thomas entered. Then, Šabović went down in the 62nd minute, and was eventually able to leave the field under his own power. The Verde offense picked up a little bit of traction after that, engineering some chances and even a couple of shot attempts. Then, in the 75th minute, more changes: - Going out: Fodrey, Hines-Ike, Nelson, Rosales - Youth coming in: Vlad Dănciuțiu, Chuy Moreno, Micah Burton, Mohammad Badawiya As you might have surmised, none of those changes sparked the offense significantly (though Badiwiya did manage a shot on target), and Facundo Torres or Myrto Uzuni did not materialize as late-match substitute surprises, leaving us with the scoreline we had at halftime. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Šabović had a header several minutes after his return from injury that was off target but about as threatening as we saw Verde look in his game. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Maybe it was early-match jitters, but the Hines-Ike would-be clearance that went directly to an NYCFC attacker was not so reassuring. (And perhaps an omen of what was to come.) ## One thing you might have missed Alastuey had possession in the 20th minute, trying to step away from a Pigeons defender, and then ran into a double team ... with the referee functioning as that other defender. ## One nerdy tidbit Preseason is a statistical desert, but here's how Nicolás Fernández Mercau compared to Owen Wolff last year. (Owen's in green.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/02/comparison-Nicola--s-Ferna--ndez-vs-Owen-Wolff-TOTAL-2026-02-01-1-.png) Oh, also, Verde only managed two shots in the first hour. ## Where this fits into the preseason's narrative After a scoreless draw and a 1-0 win against USL Championship competition, Verde remained in a fairly low gear with key attackers out, while at times looking defensively suspect. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Even with key attackers out, I'm wondering what this game did to inform (or not inform) the evolution of the offense. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Saying all the right things: Facundo Torres meets the Austin media URL: https://verdeallday.com/facundo-torres-austin-fc-introductory-press-conference/ Last updated: 2026-01-30T02:13:10.000Z While the first press conference you have as an incoming player is typically the easiest — especially when you're a designated player coming to Austin FC — Facundo Torres understood the assignment, and aside from wearing sunglasses indoors, aced the initial exam in front of the media. He's coming back to MLS in part because it's a personal and family decision. Playing soccer in Brazil helped him develop his game, meaning he comes back to MLS better than he was when he was with Orlando City, which was bubbling right under All-Star level. He describes the team he's coming onto as a "very good team" that he's "happy with" and can make a "bit better." And he, of course, was impressed with the stadium and the fans in it when he played there, and confirmed all the good things about Austin with former teammate and Verde fan favorite Felipe Martins. While we didn't learn much about Torres other than he knows the role — and that he's going to wear No. 11 (opposite Jayden Nelson wearing No. 7, which Jáder Obrian's exit to allow Torres to be Senior Player 20 and not Senior Player 21) — here's what we did get. *Thanks to Austin FC Communications for doing the Spanish-to-English translations here.* [Is Facundo Torres bound for Austin FC? And do the charts think that’s a good idea?Is Facundo Torres coming to Austin FC? And does that make sense given who got brought in during the offseason so far?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-11.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/facundo-torres-palmeiras-1.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-facundo-torres-report/) ## On being sold on the Austin FC project "Obviously it’s a very good team," Torres said. "That is a bit of what convinced me to come here." Then, talking about Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell and head coach Nico Estévez's roles in convincing him to come to Austin, "Rodo presented to me the project that they have. Rodo and Nico made me happy about the team and that was one of the things that convinced me. I believe that with the team that we have, it is not going to be a problem this year to make that statistic a bit better." ## And to further endear himself to everyone ... "The truth is that I know Austin quite well," Torres said. "I had various teammates who have played here, and in talking with Rodo I knew there were a lot of Argentines who have played here. That incentivized me a little bit to look at the team. Also Diego Fagundez was here, another Uruguayan, so I watched the team quite a bit. When I came to play here with Orlando, I loved the stadium, it’s a very beautiful stadium. It’s a family decision to come here, to a new project, and hopefully it goes really well." ## And as to how he'll acclimate? "For this year here in Austin, I can give my all and not lack anything,' he said. "But more than anything, whatever the coach asks of me is what I will do. I think in the final quarter of the field, from there forward, that’s where the intention is going to be to improve a little bit as your colleague said. There are a lot of good players here who can do a very good job. "From Palmeiras, what I bring here is what I told him, a bit more experience," he added. "I already know the league, and it went well in Orlando. It’s obviously a totally different step here in Austin but knowing the league already will help me feel a bit calmer at the start of the season." Torres did also admit that he's angling for a place on Uruguay's World Cup team; like his new winger partner Nelson, he's not a shoo-in to make the final roster but he's decidedly in the mix. ## And in what role he'll have? "I play whatever position the coach wants me to be in," Torres said, agreeably. "I’m not someone that says no, I won’t play that position and have to stay in one place. I don’t like that. Wherever the coach feels I’ll play my best game, that’s where I’ll be. If I have to score, I’ll score, I don’t have an issue with that. I feel more comfortable on the right, or loosely behind the 9, but I’ve also played a lot on the left. Wherever Nico tells me to play, I’ll play." *Facu, we really need you to step in and play defensive midfielder tonight!* (I keeed, I keeed) ## Why Rodo chose him Borrell chose Torres for a rather pointed reason that perhaps speaks to past Verde signings (including ones that he brought into the team). "Because he’s a player with a proven track record in our league. We have a very particular league, it’s very difficult, more difficult than people realize. One of the issues with players coming from abroad is that they believe it’s an easy league, but then they realize that it’s completely different. He has a very evident track record that’s consistent in scoring goals and making assists. Not just that, but to me it’s important that a \[designated player\] (who already has special qualities) has work ethic. I believe he contributes just that in an immense way. "Personally, I don’t like DPs that believe that just because they’re a DP, it means they shouldn’t be moving around the field and are entitled to the ball at all times — the league has plenty of that," he added. (Cue eyes emoji.) I believe \[Torres\] has the ideal combination of quality, finalization, assists, and delivery." Then, he added, "The minimum requirement is delivery and giving it their all for every match, and I believe he has that. From here on, everyone wants to score plenty of goals and sometimes it happens, other times it doesn’t, but the delivery has to be there so he fits the profile." He also endorsed Torres based on his recent track record. "I always have the highest expectations; that’s why we bring these players. I think he’s a player that has shown what he’s capable of in this league, especially recently. We’re not talking about seven or eight years ago. It’s only been a year. He performed for three years \[in MLS\] consistently. From here on out, it depends entirely on him. "I’m convinced that he’ll give it his all, as well as alongside the coaches, who have to bring the best out in him. Like he has said, he has played in three different attacking positions. Evidently, every player feels more comfortable in some positions over others, but it’s true that he’s shown versatility. The coaches, together with him, are the ones that have to decide what position is best for him to play at and where it’ll be the most productive for him and for the team." ## On quality of life Torres also made it sound like living in the U.S. was preferable to living in Brazil, somewhat harkening back to comments former Verde DP Sebastián Driussi made contrasting living in Buenos Aires playing with River Plate and living in Austin as a Verde player. "We lived in Orlando before moving to Brazil, and it’s totally different here. The U.S. is very calm; families can walk around safely. It’s not as chaotic as it could be living in São Paulo; the transit and smaller stuff like out in public, you’re disrupted a lot. I don’t have anything bad to say about the league; to me, the Brazilian league is top level in the world. However, out in public for my family it’s completely different living in Orlando vs. São Paolo. We struggled a bit and it’s one of the reasons why we came back. The days we’ve been here we’ve already been more relaxed, so it was a family and personal decision to come back to this league." He also said, "With my family, I’m with my little girl, who honestly is the one who decides what to do with our free time. We dedicate our free time to her." *Relatable.* He's already noticed you Finally, he knows you're good fans, and not just because of what Felipe told him. "The stadium is very beautiful and when I came with Orlando, that’s something we discussed as players, about how beautiful the stadium is. The fans also are very passionate, which was something that also influenced my decision in coming here, because the fans are always here for the team and it’s something that brings us joy and I hope we can do the same for them." [Just days left for this offer](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Austin FC exercises contract buyout on Jader Obrian URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-contract-buyout-jader-obrian/ Last updated: 2026-01-28T03:58:34.000Z One concern about the 2026 Austin FC roster has been allayed by the club ... though at a greater cost than sporting director Rodolfo Borrell might have wanted. On Tuesday, the club announced it used a buyout – one of two for the 2026 season, should MLS officially repeat the buyout rule change in effect last season — on Jáder Obrian, who has been in Colombia for the start of Verde's offseason preparations while Borrell was reportedly aiming to work out a deal with Deportivo Cali in Colombia's Liga Dimayor. With the buyout cutting him loose from his contractual obligations to Austin, Obrian is now free to sign with Deportivo Cali or any other team who might be interested in his services. Though, as Emiliano Rigoni showed us when a buyout takes effect, it might take a while to return to soccer. Borrell has claimed, in earlier interviews, that he was angling to find Rigoni a new team prior to needing to exercise a buyout (so as to not trigger an automatic contract extension). Austin FC ## From Re-Entry Draft to buyout (Obrian teaches us about MLS player mechanisms) Obrian arrived in Austin via the Re-Entry Draft in December 2023, with Borrell notably working trades to secure the No. 1 spot in that lightly-used MLS player acquisition mechanism — allowing a player who is "at least 22 years old and have a minimum of one year of MLS service who are out of contract and did not receive a Bona Fide Offer or whose contract options were not exercised by their clubs" to come back into the league, on that player's existing contract. He was the co-leader in goals in the 2024 season with seven, plus four assists, but only notched a single assist and no goals in 902 minutes of 2025 MLS play — in a season in which he reunited with head coach Nico Estévez, as both were in Dallas during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. With the move, Austin FC's back to 20 senior roster players under contract, bringing them back into compliance with roster rules — which must ultimately happen on Feb. 20, the day before the 2026 season kicks off with a match at Q2 Stadium against Minnesota United FC. The move also frees up an international spot — which was not needed for Facundo Torres, Verde's recent arrival who was, for a time, the team's 21st senior roster player. Meanwhile, players will continue to prepare for Wednesday's closed-door match against Louisville City FC and Sunday's match — open to season ticket holders — against New York City FC. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A tale of two Diegos: A thought exercise regarding chance creation URL: https://verdeallday.com/diego-luna-diego-fagundez-owen-wolff-chance-creation-comparison/ Last updated: 2026-01-25T19:08:56.000Z Real Salt Lake's Diego Luna is among the most intriguing choices that have emerged for the Austin FC faithful engaging in new player wishcasting. Forget that Luna is arguably the team's best player, certainly the face of its franchise, and that designated player Diogo Gonçalves might be on the way out, leaving Rwan Cruz as the team's only DP. (Both DPs were disappointing in 2025.) There is another Diego out there with an uncertain future — and one that Verde fans know quite well. When making its end-of-year roster decisions last October, the LA Galaxy announced the front office was "in talks" with Diego Fagúndez, and as of this writing, he's not listed on the team's official roster page. Would a prodigal son-style return to Austin for Fagúndez make sense? He was an outstanding chance creator in 2022, leading the team with 15 assists, and he was tasked with chance creation in 2025 as Riqui Puig was out with a knee injury — which will also, sadly, be the case in 2026\. Let's explore what they might be in 2026 (hypothetically in Verde), based on what they were in 2025, with the understanding that neither player seems to me a likely candidate to be Verde this season. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 0-0, followed by 'Oh! Oh!': Austin FC draws San Antonio FC in preseason opener, then announces Facundo Torres signing URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-0-0-draw-san-antonio-fc-preseason-facundo-torres-signing/ Last updated: 2026-01-24T03:36:26.000Z It was quite an eventful Friday. In a match originally scheduled for Saturday — moved up to Friday afternoon to allow the teams to beat an advancing winter storm — Austin FC started its 2026 preseason\[\[1\]\] with a 0-0 draw against San Antonio FC behind closed doors \[\[2\]\] at St. David's Performance Center. Then, to counter what appears on the surface to have been an underwhelming performance — albeit, with a number of key offensive pieces missing — the club made official its rumored Facundo Torres signing, which we already did our chart-heavy analysis on in anticipation of it going official.\[\[3\]\] But the details of the deal add to the lore of Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell, who has the Uruguayan winger under contract until, counting the option year, the summer of 2031\. [Is Facundo Torres bound for Austin FC? And do the charts think that’s a good idea?Is Facundo Torres coming to Austin FC? And does that make sense given who got brought in during the offseason so far?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-10.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/facundo-torres-palmeiras.jpg)](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-facundo-torres-report/) But let's get to the match first. ## What we know about the scoreless draw San Antonio FC famously (or infamously) beat Austin FC 2-1 on April 20, 2022, in Verde's first-ever U.S. Open Cup — and despite preseason matchups after that, that's remained a defining moment for what could be a rivalry should the teams ever get to play in a tournament again. As is customary for preseason, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez opted for a split-squad approach, and filled in some lineup holes with Austin FC II players. Here's how the team started: > Brad Stuver; Jon Gallagher, Jon Bell, Mateja Đorđević, Guilherme Biro; Ilie Sánchez, Joseph Rosales; Patrick Cayelli, Ervin Torres, Mohammad Badawiya; CJ Fodrey. Badawiya is an Austin FC II midfielder who has come up through the Academy ranks, and Cayelli is a SuperDraft pick who will likely also end up as an Austin FC II midfielder\[\[4\]\]. I'm assuming a 4-2-3-1 formation to start, based on the looks of this. Stefan Dobrijevic, another SuperDraft pick, spelled Cayelli after a half hour. The second-half lineup looked like this: > Damian Las; Zan Kolmanič, Brendan Hines-Ike, Riley Thomas; Djakaría “Djaka” Barro, Besard Šabović, Nicolás Dubersarsky; Robert Taylor, Jayden Nelson, Jorge Alastuey; Vlad Dănciuțiu. You might not recognize all the names, especially Barro, who is an Austin FC II player from Côte d'Ivoire who moved to Spain and previously played with RCD Mallorca B. Alastuey and Dănciuțiu are VerDos veterans. I honestly can't figure out this formation; it looks like a 3-3-3-1, with Hines-Ike as a lone centerback, Kolmanič and Thomas playing as elbow backs, but with no obvious wingbacks to round out the back five. On paper, it looks like a very narrow formation. Micah Burton spelled Dănciuțiu in the 65th, Chuy Moreno (an Academy player on an amateur deal with VerDos) came in for Šabović in the 70th, and no one scored any goals. San Antonio FC's [Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/sanantoniofc/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) had some nice pics of Verde players interwoven, and [Austin FC's 'gram](https://www.instagram.com/austinfc/?ref=verdeallday.com) did its usual thing. ## A 5+1, you say? If you count the 2027 "sprint" season as a full season, the Facundo Torres is an incredible five-year deal (2026 season, 2027 petit season, 2027-2028, 2028-2029, and 2029-30 season), with an option year in 2030-2031\. To give you perspective, when Austin FC played its first home game, my daughter was almost four, and when it comes time for the club to activate Torres' option (being optimistic that he'll be great here), my daughter will be a teenager. This contract is a commitment that makes Torres Verde throughout the entirety of his prime soccer-playing years. He also retains the green card he got when he was with Orlando, so he won't take one of the club's precious international spots. That's right: Two of Verde's three designated players are domestic. That's not common in MLS. The club also crafted a fantastic inspiring arrival quote for him: "“I couldn’t be happier to be an Austin FC player. The ambition behind what the Club\[\[5\]\] is building and the incredible soccer community there were both big factors in convincing me that this was the right move to make.” The question I've got immediately for my short-term concerns: How many minutes will he play on Feb. 1 when Austin hosts NYCFC at Q2 Stadium? While I love looking at his stats and spider charts, I also want to see him live on a field against MLS competition. Judging from the North End Podcast's Green Smoke "Emergency Livestream" (that's almost an IP violation, guys) earlier today, a lot of fans are not only excited to see him play, but to see him "defy" the "disappointing" expected assist numbers that national pundits have been citing in questioning the move for Verde. For the record, as focused on numbers as I am, I also acknowledge that Torres was probably not lying awake at night while racking up 72 goal contributions during 48, 63, and 52-point seasons and wondering, "Why isn't my xA higher?" In short, this is a good signing, he will be a fun player, and you should be happy. [Commit to Verde All Day for 2026](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) \[\[1\]\]: Suggested tagline: "Preseason results STILL don't matter!" \[\[2\]\]: A Verde Hill trip with binoculars might have been a possibility, but not on a weekday afternoon; all I have to go on is social media posting. \[\[3\]\]: This is something I must address. You may have heard earlier this week that FBref, the site where I sourced charts and did data deep dives, announced to the world, "The provider of our advanced soccer data sent us a letter terminating our access to their data feeds and requiring the deletion of their data from the site immediately." I'm connected with two additional sources that will help me research numbers and make charts, and I'm planning to unveil some of that as soon as the news doesn't get in the way of the article I'm planning, but it will look different – perhaps better – but I will miss FBref a great deal. Fandom for nerds just took a sad step back. \[\[4\]\]: Austin FC Comms lead Cam Koubek reminds me that Cayelli is technically a trialist as a non-Generation Adidas SuperDraft pick until he signs a contract, even though the arc of MLS preseason is long, but it bends toward Cayelli being a VerDos player. \[\[5\]\]: Players always pronounce it with a capital C. ### 'I want more goals also': Preparing a more positionally flexible and attacking Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/i-want-more-goals-also-2026-austin-fc-preseason-jan-22-presser/ Last updated: 2026-01-23T23:09:22.000Z Rest assured, if you are distressed at any point in the upcoming Austin FC season about the team not scoring enough goals, there's a head coach who's right there with you. "The fans are really smart, because they think the same as me," said Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez in a light-hearted moment during Thursday's media availability. "I want more goals also. They know I'm gonna die on the sideline with a heart attack, you know? I mean, I want them more than them, trust me, but it's a process." He then went on to say that building up the defense in 2025 was a priority, perceiving that a defense that allowed 55 goals in 2023 and 48 goals in 2024 held Verde back in those years of failing to make the playoffs. (For the record, Austin FC improved that tally with 45 goals allowed in 2025 — though with a negative goal differential for the third straight year.) "First, we had to find a way to make the playoffs, because it was a need for the fans," Estévez said. "It was a need for the club, for the players, for everyone here. And this is what I felt then, what I tried to do last year, is how we build a team that can make the playoffs. Then, after that ... throughout the year, we built a really good style of play. "And besides the beginning of the year, if you look at our numbers, from June to the end of the season, on the offensive side, \[we were\] in the average of the league. It's not in the lower part of the league, it's not in the highest, but it's not *there*. Obviously, we want to improve, and this is our focus this preseason, is being on how we want to be," "We can be more vertical and score more goals," he added, conceding that the team played "too horizontal" at times last year. ## 'Quality enough to play every position' One key offseason addition, Joseph Rosales, is expected by many to slot in as the starting left back, but Estévez indicated he might also find minutes higher up the pitch. "Rosales has quality enough to play in every position," Estévez said. "He has special qualities to adapt to different positions. Now ... we're missing players in the front, and we're using him as a winger, and he's adapting very well. And that position, there in the back line, coming inside to link up play ... he feels very comfortable in those situations, serving balls, shooting from the outside the box. This give us a lot of flexibility, having players like him that can play in different positions." That's especially needed given the club's recent spate of injuries and illnesses. Owen Wolff is recovering from sports hernia surgery, and Estévez indicated that he may be ready to at least appear off the bench in Verde's Feb. 21 opener, likely missing no more than the first few matches of the season should recovery take longer than anticipated. Estévez sees Wolff as, in 2026, having "a really important role, playing inside, playing wide, being an attacking player. Also,in moments where we need a more offensive mindset, playing in the midfield, and having an extra attacker on the field. I think his role is going to be important for the team." Meanwhile, Myrto Uzuni is still being held out of practice as he recovers from an injury, possibly missing as many as the first three preseason matches, through the end of January. Additionally, Dani Pereira is currently out with the flu. "We're using the qualities of players like \[Rosales\] to see how he can do it," Estévez added. "And to be honest, he's doing a pretty good job." ## 'He played a good game' The most recently battle-tested Austin FC player is Jayden Nelson, who got in 81 minutes for Canada's "Camp Poutine" exhibition match against Guatemala on Jan. 17 in L.A. "He played a lot of minutes for a first game," Estévez said. "We were thankful that he's not injured. He's fit, but you can see that he's recovering. We had to adjust his load this week. We gave him a couple days off just to recover a little bit. And then when he came in, we took him out from some exercises just to make sure that he can arrive well to the game \[Friday\]. "He had moments for a first game, after a long time not playing in a preseason game, not being fully fit," Estévez said of Nelson's start with Les Rouges. "He had moments there where he made the difference in the attacking side, and other moments ... as you know, in the preseason, you have to keep growing." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We have no GAM,' revisited: Austin FC ranks last in 2026 General Allocation Money URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-last-in-2026-gam-explainer/ Last updated: 2026-01-22T14:57:32.000Z $2,549,636 sounds like a lot of money ... until you realize we're talking about sports, and we're talking about something that is not quite money. On Wednesday, Major League Soccer — continuing recent and refreshing trends of league-wide roster building transparency — released the General Allocation Money (GAM) totals from 2026, and Austin FC's amount, a shade over $2.5 million, is the lowest in the league. Conversely, Minnesota United FC, which moved Tani Oluwaseyi last summer and have since shed Dayne St. Clair, Robin Lod, Joseph Rosales, and Hassani Dotson (plus head coach Eric Ramsay) currently leads the league with nearly $7.26 million in GAM. "In addition to the Salary Budget and the six prime roster spots that feature unlimited spending on up to three Designated Players and up to four U22 Initiative Spots, General Allocation Money can be used to sign or retain top talent," the MLS release helpfully says. It also lays out the baseline amount each club gets and how more GAM is attainable, in case you needed the reminder: *Along with the annual allotment of $3.28 million GAM provided to each team in 2026, clubs can acquire GAM in the following ways:* - *Up to $3 million from eligible transfer revenue converted to GAM.* - *Via trade with another MLS club.* - *Qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.* - *Failing to qualify for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.* - *The 2025 third Designated Player charge distribution.* *Clubs can also receive up to an additional $2 million in 2026 GAM along with a fourth U22 Initiative Roster Spot if they select the U22 Initiative Roster Construction Path. Roster Construction Path decisions must be submitted to MLS prior to the 2026 Roster Compliance Date and only after that date will a club receive the additional 2026 GAM.* [We're closing in on the last days of this special offer](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) So, what does this mean for Austin FC? Let's first review what GAM is. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### What is a sports hernia? (And why is it suddenly important to Austin FC fans?) URL: https://verdeallday.com/what-is-a-sports-hernia-owen-wolff-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2026-01-19T22:47:24.000Z In 2025, Austin FC relied significantly on Owen Wolff. The offensive player of the year led the team in goals, assists, and by extrapolation, goal contributions. Though Brandon Vázquez only got to play half a season, Wolff had more contributions than Vázquez and Uzuni *combined*. So, when news of successful sports hernia surgery last Tuesday arrived, it was understandably concerning for Austin FC fans, despite the club's assurances that "Wolff is estimated to make a full recovery by mid to late February" and "he will immediately begin rehabilitation at St. David’s Performance Center." We were curious about this — and depending on an interview I'm in the midst of chasing down, which was complicated last week by reasons that you'll find hilarious once all can be revealed, there will be a part two to this article. For now, though, let's just try understand what we're talking about here. [Just $26 a year for a limited time](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) ## First of all, it's not a hernia Sports hernia is a bit of a misnomer, as it's not a hernia at all. Whereas [a hernia](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15757-hernia?ref=verdeallday.com) is, according to Cleveland Clinic, "when one of your organs pushes through the muscle or tissue that contains it," usually in the abdomen or groin (ewww), [a sports hernia](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21873-sports-hernia?ref=verdeallday.com) is "an injury (usually a tear) in the muscles and/or tendons in your lower abdomen or groin that causes chronic pain." Other names for it include "athletic pubalgia, sportsman’s hernia and Gilmore’s groin," and it typically affects either the oblique muscles in the lower abdomen, the tendons attaching the oblique muscles to the pelvic bone, and the tendons attaching the thigh muscles to the pelvic bone. "Approximately 5% of adult athletes experience sports hernias every year," Cleveland Clinic notes. "Sports hernias are more common in people who play sports that involve frequent and forceful twisting and turning." [Or, try $2.60 for the first month if monthly's more your speed](https://verdeallday.com/26-monthly-for-26) ## How did he get to this point? The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) provides a site that gives more information about the step-by-step process for getting to surgery. Once it's diagnosed, the site recommends: - Treatment with ice and rest for the first seven to 10 days; - Once the two-week mark passes, four to six weeks of physical therapy. Specifically, it says, "In many cases, 4 to 6 weeks of physical therapy will resolve any pain and allow an athlete to return to sports. If, however, the pain comes back when you resume sports activities, you may need to consider surgery to repair the torn tissues." It then goes on to say that surgery can be done as: - **A traditional, open procedure** with one long incision; or - **An endoscopic procedure,** in which the surgeon makes smaller skin incisions and uses a small camera, called an endoscope, to see inside the abdomen. From there, recovery is (and this is where the surgeons' organization bifurcates from the club) a six-week to 12-week process; six weeks for Wolff would mean missing all of preseason and the opening match against Minnesota. The club's mid-to-late February projection puts Wolff's recovery time as a more optimistic four to six weeks. "More than 90% of patients who go through nonsurgical treatment and then surgery are able to return to sports activity," the AAOS adds. "In some patients, the tissues will tear again during sports, and the surgical repair will need to be repeated." The situation begs some immediate questions: How soon will Wolff return to on-field activity? Will he make the trip to Coachella to bond with new teammates or will he be better staying behind and rehabbing where all the fancy machines are? And at what point will he be able to get into matches and for how long? Clearly, in his absence, other players with chance creation aspirations have the opportunity to step up and show what they have. In 2026, Austin FC will need Owen Wolff. But they'll need assists from others as well. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Is Facundo Torres bound for Austin FC? And do the charts think that's a good idea? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-facundo-torres-report/ Last updated: 2026-01-17T16:27:12.000Z Friday not only brought Austin FC the long-anticipated annual inadvertent kit leak, thanks to KUTX [posting a photo](https://www.instagram.com/p/DTlaBzbD6ax/?img%5Findex=1&ref=verdeallday.com) of Annabelle Chairlegs performing in the station's live studio, but it also brought a particularly tasty rumor involving a new designated player from a well-respected source. > 🇺🇾🟢 BREAKING: Austin FC is nearing a deal to sign Uruguay international winger Facundo Torres from Palmeiras, per sources. Deal around $9.5m. Not done yet but close. Would be big signing. Torres, 25, had 10g/6a in 3,336 mins for Palmeiras this season. www.nytimes.com/athletic/697... > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-01-16T20:41:31.296Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3mckxiwg7w22a?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Torres previously featured in Major League Soccer with Orlando City, coming over as a young designated player in 2022 and staying through December 2024, when the club moved him on a big-money deal to Brazilian side Palmeiras. At the time, [Orlando City noted](https://www.orlandocitysc.com/news/orlando-city-sc-transfers-forward-facundo-torres-to-brazil-s-sociedade-esportiva-palmeiras?ref=verdeallday.com), *Torres, 24, made 113 starts in 123 appearances for the Lions across all competitions, scoring 47 total goals and providing 25 assists. The Las Piedras, Uruguay, native set the Club records for most goals scored all-time for Orlando City (47) and most goals scored in a single season (20), passing former Lion Cyle Larin’s previous marks for both. The Uruguayan winger is also the Club’s all-time leader in goal contributions, with 72 total.* And [The Mane Land](https://themaneland.com/2024/12/20/orlando-city-sells-facundo-torres-to-palmeiras/?ref=verdeallday.com), which covers Orlando City as an independent site after growing on SB Nation before the great Local Site Purge of 2023 reverted them back to indie status, had this to say upon his move: *His impact on the club has been a big one, as he not only has been an offensive leader in his three seasons in Orlando, but helped the Lions win their first trophy in the club’s MLS era in the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship run. His contributions helped Orlando City reach the playoffs each of the last three years, including a run to \[2024\]’s Eastern Conference final and a second-place finish in the 2023 Supporters’ Shield standings.* He's a winger that can both score and assist in MLS, and judging from what he's done over the last year, in relation to players in MLS and comparable leagues and competitions, he brings appreciable qualities. Before we get to detractors — and there's at least one notable one — let's break out the charts. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Sure, we'll entertain this: How would signing James impact Austin FC? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-james-rodriguez-rumor/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T18:16:36.000Z First things first: It's pronounced HA-mez. And while James does have a last name — it's Rodríguez — he's been able to use a mononym for so much of his career, an indicator of a truly special player now decidedly in the twilight of his career. The 2014 World Cup Golden Boot winner \[\[1\]\] is out of contract after last playing in León (making him teammates, for a time, with former Austin FC designated player Emiliano Rigoni). Though he turns 35 as this year's World Cup winds down (a World Cup in which he's expected to feature for Colombia), MLS is one of the few big-to-biggish leagues in the world he *hasn't* played for, making it an intriguing (for both him and the league) prospect. But what is the 2026 version of James like? This is a player, after all, who has seen his Transfermarkt valuation drop from a peak (two separate peaks, actually) of €80 million to his current valuation of €2 million. [This offer won't be around forever](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) But he's also a player who, according to the same site, has 127 goals and 161 assists in 516 career matches, including matches in the Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, and Bundesliga. Let's explore the possibilities. Unless you're new here, you know what's next. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'We push ourselves on being ambitious': Nico Estévez brings his unfailing optimism back to Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-weekly-press-conference-011226/ Last updated: 2026-01-13T03:48:18.000Z At the first media availability of 2026 – after wishing the assembled media members a Happy New Year and offering a fond farewell to We Are Austin TV's Alex Sanabria (leaving Austin for an as-yet-unannounced European destination) — head coach Nico Estévez picked up where he left off in 2025, by being a beacon of positivity for the team he leads. "It's always good to reflect about what you did the past season in order to set the goals and set the standards and how we want to approach this year, obviously, and we feel in a whole year, there were positives and negatives," he said. "We also felt like in two moments of the season, that are really positive for the club, playing a final and making the playoff, and we were all very happy about it. We felt sure. "And then it's how we take that experience and we push ourselves on being ambitious, and, of course, to win," he added. Talking about building on what the team did last year, he expanded on one of the themes from last year: That you can't win an elimination game in a tournament or a playoff series if you don't get there first. "The first thing is put the team in a position," he said. "After, you can think about what you can do, but if you are not in the position to win something, you cannot talk about it." Then, seemingly with an eye toward 2026, he added. "The first step is how we build this group, this team, in order that we put them in a good position for that something." ## A healthy DP striker would help Brandon Vázquez was out on the training ground for at least the first part of practice on Monday, making remarkable strides in the five and a half months since surgery on the knee he injured in San Jose on July 8 in Open Cup competition. At MLS Media Day last week, Vázquez said he's targeting an April return, likely eyeing the April 4 match opening up Inter Miami's stadium and saying "I want to go to there." But Estévez put a cautionary damper on such an optimistic timetable. "Brandon is doing a really good job on the recovery side," Estévez said. "He's now five and a half months \[in\]. Usually it's nine months, the type of time that you need to recover, not to fully play 90-minute games, just to recover from the injury and be able to maybe train fully with a team and then start playing some minutes in some games. "Obviously, when you come into from a long-period injury, and you didn't have a preseason, you didn't have friendlies to play, and you have to play competition, it's a little bit also more difficult to get those minutes. He's doing a really good job, but we have to go step by step, and then when he is in, we'll be ready for everything. And I think last year helped us to learn, with him, how we want to play, and when he wasn't on the field, how we adapted to that." ## Absences and excuses A few players were missing from this first practice on Monday, and Estévez had ready explanations. Let's go through those. - **Jayden Nelson**: The new Austin winger is doing something related to a principal reason he moved in Austin in the first place: Training with the Canadian national team in hopes of making its World Cup squad. Estévez says he's due back the 18th, will report to camp the 20th, but was already taking care of transitional life matters before departing for Irvine, Calif. for the 11-day camp, culminating with a Jan. 17 match against Guatemala. Estévez noted, "He's super committed" and praised his mentality. - **Jáder Obrian:** Despite rumors swirling about a deal to get him to Deportivo Cali in his native Colombia, Estévez said he's in Colombia now "with immigration things already planned." Perhaps he is; perhaps he remains in South America. - **Oleksandr Svatok:** This absence is also immigration related, but a little more encouraging, with Estévez saying, he's "getting hopefully his green card during this week," whereas with Obrian, it's just a visa renewal. A green card for Svatok, of course, gives sporting director Rodolfo Borrell an additional international slot to utilize (even though there are no senior roster spots vacant at present). - **Myrto Uzuni:** He has a "minor calf injury" keeping him out until later in the week. - **Owen Wolff:** This one is a little worrisome; Estévez said he was at a doctor's appointment regarding "discomfort he had throughout the whole season last year," leading me to a few questions and a mental note to keep an eye on this. - He had that kind of season while dealing with a nagging something all season long? - How serious is this issue? - Was he not able to address this during the offseason? ## 'The best version of ourselves' To close this out on more positivity, Estévez discussed some of the first-day tone setting he was looking to achieve. "The energy is the most important thing," he said of what he looked for on Practice Day No. 1\. "And then I think body language, energy, having that positive mentality is the first step now, is how we build a culture, how we want to behave on and off the field as a team, how we are, how we demand ourselves the best that we can ... and then this is the ABC has to be as a professional person ... individually, how they can be the best version of themselves, how we can be the best version of ourselves, how we can be the best how we can contribute to build and protect a great culture." On this first day, he was full of belief. "I always expect the best from the players, then I expect more from the players that were here last year, and I expect really good things from the players that just joined, and I think pushing our players and seeing them performing a better level than they did last year, and with the new \[additions\] in helping the team, I expect we can have more consistency on performing at the highest level." [Try Verde All Day for a little more than $2 a month](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A schedule and a signing and some speculation: Making sense of Friday's double Austin FC news drop (and San Diego FC news drop) URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-schedule-and-a-signing-and-some-speculation-making-sense-of-fridays-double-austin-fc-news-drop-and-san-diego-fc-news-drop/ Last updated: 2026-01-10T00:03:50.000Z After a relatively quiet few days in Austin FC's offseason, we got news that the preseason is officially upon us. Players will report to St. David's Performance Center on Saturday ahead of Monday's first practice of 2026, in advance of a six-match schedule released Friday afternoon. Austin FC will play the following matches in Austin: - Saturday, Jan. 24, vs. San Antonio FC - Wednesday, Jan. 28, vs. Louisville City FC - Sunday, Feb. 1, vs. New York City FC If you're a season ticket holder, and you haven't looked at your SeatGeek account today, you should see complimentary tickets for the NYCFC match, kicking off at 2 pm at Q2 Stadium. Save for matches at the Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio, Calif., this is the first time in Austin FC's history it's played a preseason match in front of fans since the sellout match against Atlas in 2022\. Officially, that is. Of course, plenty of Austin FC fans have trekked out to the training center next to Parmer Field to watch preseason games on Verde Hill and New Improved Verde Hill, which was a lot closer to the action than the original Verde Hill, making me wonder why it took fans three years, collectively, to figure that out. Then, following the Q2 match, the team will head to Palm Springs for three matches at the 2026 edition of Coachella, which could be one of the last ones, considering that the schedule will shift to a summer-to-spring calendar in 2027, and no one wants to do a preseason tournament in the Coachella Valley in June. Check out this chart: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-17.20.55.png) See, *much more appealing* in February. Verde will play: - Saturday, Feb. 7, vs. St. Louis City SC - Wednesday, Feb. 11, vs. Chicago Fire FC - Saturday, Feb. 14, vs. Sporting Kansas City Playing SKC on Valentine's Day reminds me of an earlier contender for Soccer Bluesky Post of the Year, courtesy of the Black Hart of Saint Paul's Wes Burdine. > As i ALWAYS say: if you aren’t going to hire a good manager, at least hire a hottie. > > — [Wes Burdine (@wesburdine.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4ixt3dbvauaisudrqpffal2e?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-01-04T22:11:08.193Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4ixt3dbvauaisudrqpffal2e/post/3mbmww4oo7s26?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Then, Verde gets a week before welcoming Minnesota United FC (speaking of Wes and the Black Hart) to Q2\. Given that Robin Lod has left for Chicago and Dayne St. Clair has left for Miami, it's not quite the same Loons team that Austin bested in the U.S. Open Cup semis last season. ## Pereira is staying Friday morning, the club announced that Dani Pereira is staying Verde, signing a deal keeping him through the 2027-28 season with an option year in 2028-29\. That means that Pereira, now 25, could be on this current contract until just before he turns 29\. He's also one of the original Austin FC players, drafted No. 1 in the team's inaugural SuperDraft in December 2020, and appearing in 156 matches across all competitions in his five years in Verde. He's also made eight appearances for the Venezuela national team. [Owen Wolff's recent deal](https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-signing-20-senior-roster-spots/) could be precluding a move overseas, and with Pereira seen as an MLS-to-Europe candidate in recent years, there's still a chance of that with the new deal — but this feels more like an MLS Lifer variety of contract, given that it spans 2 1/2 seasons plus an option year and takes him into his prime playing years. He's evolved his game and matured over the past season, and while questions remain as to where he's best suited — he saw himself as a 6 (defensive midfielder) when head coach Josh Wolff seemed intent on having him be that early in his career, but he's now appearing to round into a jack-of-all-trades 8, making his jersey number switch from 6 to 8 last season – when famed No. 6 wearer Ilie Sánchez came to Austin – apropos. ## Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Though Austin made some news with the Pereira signing, that's not the biggest MLS news of the day. While we wait for Hector Herrera's return to the Houston Dynamo to go from Bogert-official to fully official, we have this from San Diego. > 🇲🇽 BREAKING: San Diego FC sporting director Tyler Heaps says club-record signing Chucky Lozano is not in the clubs plans for 2026\. Heaps told media today that decision is sporting + playing time. Lozano one of highest paid players in MLS. > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-01-09T20:40:15.759Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3mbze6a5jis2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Hirving "Chucky" Lozano is, let's just say, a spendy designated player — $6 million base salary and more than $7.6 million in guaranteed compensation last season — and he flamed out rather spectacularly with reported locker room conflicts while his team was wrapping up the top seed in the West and getting to the Western Conference Finals mostly without him. He did end up with nine goals and 10 assists over 1833 minutes in 2025, though, which is a goal contribution every 96 minutes. With this announcement from Heaps, San Diego's bargaining position might be less than it was without letting everyone know. Maybe Lozano just needs a change of scenery, and maybe there's a trade possible for another DP (and a more affordable one) who also might not mind a change in scenery). Just dropping this here: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/-FBCharts--Hirving-Lozano-vs.-Myrto-Uzuni.png) Don't show the San Diego front office this chart, but keep it in mind if you would like to see a potential upgrade at left wing. And, you know, Verde will be "in the neighborhood" in a few weeks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-17.53.56.png) Just putting it out into the world. This likely will not happen ... but it could. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Full up (for now): What Owen Wolff's move to Austin FC's senior roster means URL: https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-signing-20-senior-roster-spots/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T18:18:57.000Z On Monday, Austin FC made it official, announcing Owen Wolff was signed to a new U22 Initiative deal keeping him — in theory, at least — in Verde through the close of the 2029-30 season. It's in theory because Wolff, 21, has expressed ambitions to test his mettle in Europe. Given his breakout season in 2025 with seven goals and 12 assists in all competitions, it's entirely conceivable he could make the move to a European team within the 4 1/2 years that the new contract covers him for – especially if he keeps improving as he has. Until then, as we [discussed at length](https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-new-contract-report-u22-designation/) on Saturday, Wolff is likely on a bigger salary number with the new deal, but because of the U22 Initiative rules, will only count for $200,000 of Verde's salary budget for the length of the U22 contract — regardless of what level of pay raise he got. (And, given it's a contract covering him until he's 25, it's likely that the contract has graduated payment increases commensurate with his projected value to Austin FC should he opt to stay with the club – though presumably not of the variety that made Diego Fagundez's final Austin FC contract increasingly untenable.) But the move does something else that was eventually needing to happen: It moved Wolff from a supplemental to a senior roster spot. With that move, all of the club's 20 allotted senior roster spots are occupied. And, with the Jayden Nelson acquisition last month, Verde also has all eight of its international spots occupied with the 2026 roster resetting to the baseline of eight per team. Let's look at the state of the roster and ponder. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The single pivot: What the reported Owen Wolff U22 deal means for Austin FC's roster build URL: https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-new-contract-report-u22-designation/ Last updated: 2026-01-03T16:03:21.000Z *Before we begin, a quick note to thank all of you for your support in 2025 ... thanks to those of you who are paid subscribers especially, Verde All Day delivered you 244 articles over the course of the year. If you're not yet supporting in that way, there's a new* [*limited-time offer*](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) *that, per our 2025 clip, works out to less than 11 cents per article, vs. the less than 25 cents an article that most paid subscribers are getting.* In recent weeks, Austin FC fans who talk about roster builds — and the media folks like me who aim to nurture those conversations — have been talking about the two paths available for sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. To quickly review, Austin has the option to either: - Go with three designated players and three U22 Initiative players, or - Go with just two designated players, but with an additional, fourth U22 Initiative player, and then receive $2 million in General Allocation Money (GAM) to acquire additional players, including Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) players In Robert Frost's somewhat misunderstood "[The Road Not Taken](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken?ref=verdeallday.com)" — let me quickly don my English professor tweed cap — Frost subtly and craftily expresses ambivalence in choosing one path over the other, saying, in the second stanza, *Then took the other, as just as fair,* *And having perhaps the better claim,* *Because it was grassy and wanted wear;* *Though as for that the passing there* *Had worn them really about the same,* It's only at the end when Frost's narrator expresses FOMO, and then justifies choosing one over the other by saying the famed lines, "I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference," even though he starts that third and final stanza by revealing he'll be saying that "with a sigh" rather than the swelling pride that lands it on a high school guidance counselor's poster. I bring this up because (a) I'm a huge nerd, and (b) Tom Bogert reported Friday afternoon that Austin FC has signed Owen Wolff to a new contract, which includes the new U22 designation some of us have been expecting. > 🇺🇸 BREAKING: Austin FC has signed USYNT star Owen Wolff to a new, long-term contract, per sources. Wolff's new deal is U-22 initiative. Reward for one of the team's most consistent and key players. Wolff, 21, had career best 7g/8a in 34 MLS regular season apps in 2025 > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2026-01-02T20:36:13.529Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3mbhqokvuuc2f?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) This is significant for several reasons. First of all, save for the supplemental deal that Wolff's been on — and realistically couldn't be on forever — a U22 designation is the best thing for both Wolff and the club. He only counts at $200,000 against the salary budget, but can be paid significantly more (per the rules below, up to what's expected to be just north of $800,000 for 2026), even after he turns 22 on Dec. 30\. (Yep, this contract reportedly has arrived mere days after he's turned 21.) This contract also means that while he still could be bound for a European club (with Borrell securing the $3 million worth of GAM that would come with that), he gets another year (or half-year, if a team comes in during the summer window) to develop and surpass the pleasantly surprising heights of 2025, leading the team in goal contributions with 15 while being deployed in arguably his second-best position for most of the season. Could we be seeing All-Star Owen Wolff in the summer of '26 in Charlotte? It's not out of the question at all, especially given it'll likely come after a World Cup in which some candidates might end up with some (Dr. Evil-style air quotes here) "minor injuries."\[\[1\]\] [Limited-time offer! Get your first year of Verde All Day for just $26!](https://verdeallday.com/26-for-26) ## The official rules I present to you the most recent MLS rules governing U22s, with bolded sections being ones I think especially pertain to why Borrell did this for Wolff now. I'm also going to footnote this a bit. If you're getting this in email, you have to scroll to the bottom to read the footnotes. If you're viewing this on the website – how I prefer you do it – just mouseover each footnote to see the text via some YAML-enabled magic. --- *Number of Slots:* Each MLS team will have either three or four U22 Initiative roster slots available, with each occupying one of the 20 existing Senior Roster Slots. The number of U22 Initiative Slots available to each team will be based on the roster construction model they choose at the beginning of a respective season. For 2025, clubs must choose their roster construction path by the Roster Compliance Date on Feb. 21. *Eligibility for U22 Initiative Slot:* - *Age:* A player must be 22 years old or younger in the first year he is eligible to play in an MLS game (e.g., not eligible for 2025 if he turns 23 in 2025). A player who signs at age 22 or younger **may continue to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot through the year in which he turns 25, provided that for non-Homegrown players, such player is on his initial contract. A Homegrown player may continue to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot through the year in which he turns 25, provided he must be on his first or second contract and the applicable contract must have been signed at age 22 or younger.**\[\[2\]\] - *Contract:* A player is eligible to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot if signing his first contract with MLS, provided that player meets age and compensation requirements, as either a Homegrown player, or, as an international or domestic player playing outside of MLS. **A player will be eligible to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot during his second contract provided that he meets the age and compensation requirements and signed his first contract with MLS as either a Homegrown or SuperDraft player.**\[\[3\]\] - *Compensation:* **A player’s salary may not exceed the Maximum Salary Budget Charge in any given year, including option years. A Homegrown or SuperDraft player on his second contract may earn up to $200,000 above the Maximum Salary Budget Charge in any given year, including option years.** - In addition, clubs may pay, without limit, additional amounts in the form of acquisition fees (i.e. transfer or loan fees). **U22 Initiative Slot Budget Charge:** Players occupying a U22 Initiative Slot will have a Salary Budget Charge that mirrors that of a Young Designated Player: - Ages 20 and younger: $150,000 - Ages 21-25: $200,000 All such amounts above the first $150,000 or $200,000 accounted for on the Salary Budget will be paid on a discretionary basis by the club. *Transfer of Player:* **In the event a player occupying a U22 Initiative Slot is transferred outside of the League, 95% of the proceeds of the sale (after out-of-pocket amounts are recouped) will be paid to the club and such amounts may be converted to General Allocation Money based on the below sliding scale:**\[\[4\]\] | Acquisition cost of the Player for coming into the League (e.g., both Loan and Transfer costs) | Revenue share convertible to GAM in 2025 (increases by five percent (5%) annually thereafter) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ≤ $2,500,000 | $3,000,000 | | $3,000,000 | $2,400,000 | | $3,500,000 | $1,800,000 | | $4,000,000 | $1,200,000 | | $4,500,000 | $600,000 | | ≥ $5,000,000 | $0 | *Reclassification of a Player from a U22 Initiative Slot:* To remove a U22 Initiative Slot classification, a club may: transfer the player out of MLS, remove the player from a U22 Initiative Slot using Targeted Allocation Money or General Allocation Money, loan the player outside of MLS, utilize one of its two Buyouts, or transition the player to a Designated Player slot. If the contract of a player occupying a U22 Initiative Slot is renegotiated prior to its conclusion, the League will not reclassify the player and he may continue to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot until his initial contract would have otherwise expires depending on compensation. *Salary Limitation in Options and Years 26+* If a player’s contract includes Options, compensation during the Options may exceed the Maximum Salary Budget Charge only if it is in a year the player is no longer required to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot. These players would not be eligible to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot in the Option year regardless of age if the compensation exceeds the Maximum Salary Budget Charge. If a player’s contract covers years in which he is no longer eligible to occupy a U22 Initiative Slot (i.e., the seasons of his 26+ birthday), the player’s compensation may exceed the Maximum Salary Budget Charge provided it is during an Option year. --- It's wonky, but you can see why what's likely a three-year or four-year deal makes all kinds of sense at this juncture. ## Here's where the roads diverge Once this goes official, Verde will have two designated players (Myrto Uzuni and Brandon Vázquez) and three U22s (Mateja Đorđević, Nicolás Dubersarsky, and Owen Wolff) on the roster heading into the 2026 season, with up to what's likely to be Feb. 21 to finalize the roster and declare what roster build the club will go with. Right now, that puts Borrell at the fork in the roster designation road. Veer left, say with a possibly-ill-advised [Tadeo Allende signing](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-transfer-rumor-tadeo-allende-guilherme-biro/), and it's a 3/3 build for 2026 — though moving Uzuni, which I contend is the only way an Allende signing makes sense for Verde, puts Borrell right back at the fork in the road. (Though it also sounds like, [per this ESPN article](https://espndeportes.espn.com/futbol/espana/nota/%5F/id/16138748/celta-de-vigo-futuro-tadeo-allende-inter-miami-river-austin?ref=verdeallday.com), Celta Vigo's giving Inter Miami a few more days to work out a deal, which is what I suspected might happen.) Select a fourth U22 — say, [Kervin Andrade](https://www.transfermarkt.us/kervin-andrade/profil/spieler/896338?ref=verdeallday.com), who was tantalizingly (to me, at least) linked to Verde last year before he went to Maccabi Tel Aviv — and it can be a 2/4 build with $2 million in GAM. Given that the Jayden Nelson and Joseph Rosales acquisitions have already happened, the 2/4/$2 million build still seems the more likely of the two options. The Wolff extension means that, roster build-wise, he's the player that the next acquisition pivots around. Signing Wolff to a U22 deal doesn't lock Borrell into choosing either path, but the next big signing will. Unless, that is, there's a move in the works for Uzuni, but based on the recent interview that [We Are Austin TV](https://www.instagram.com/p/DSyG0I9DhP1/?ref=verdeallday.com) did well to spot, it sounds like Uzuni's planning to move his wife and son to the U.S. for the Uzuni Redemption Arc Tour 2026.\[\[5\]\] ## Where to deploy him With Wolff firmed up for 2026, that leaves Austin FC head coach with a good problem to have: Where best to deploy the rising star. There are four forks in the road: - Continue to cultivate him, as Estévez did in 2025, as a wide playmaker à la 2022 Diego Fagundez, starting him opposite wherever it's best to deploy Nelson, but possibly having the two of them shift sides during matches to unsettle defenses, to borrow from what the Dynamo did a few years ago when Fafa Picault was one of those wingers; - Attempt to develop Wolff as the No. 10 that Borrell hasn't been able to (or hasn't wanted to) secure on the international market, now that he's shown more acumen as a chance creator, and since Vázquez's return would currently result in a first-choice front three of Uzuni-Vázquez-Nelson; - Should a 10 arrive, or should Verde go with an assortment of 6s and 8s, deploy Wolff and Dani Pereira as dual 8s, which could possibly also allow for Nelson playing some wingback opposite Joseph Rosales in a 3-5-2 formation to allow Uzuni and Vázquez to better co-exist; or - Roll it back to 2024 and have Wolff be a Swiss Army knife, filling it at fullback as well as bouncing between wing and central midfield (though, as an inked-in starter in 2026, this seems the least likely of the four). This decision is not just vital to Verde's 2026; it's vital to Wolff's development and where Wolff, Estévez, and Borrell see him best deployed to maximally develop. There's an investment factor here: the more Wolff can shine, the more likely it is that an older, better Wolff can convert to $3 million in GAM and elevate Verde's roster building. But there's also an even more important factor: Doing right by a player who has already weathered a lot in his five years with Austin\[\[6\]\], and who has now reportedly newly committed to the team that has shown belief in him. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) \[\[1\]\]: If Lionel Messi didn't make his All-Star debut in Austin, I really don't think he's going to do it in Charlotte after what's probably going to be a deep playoff run before Argentina falls to France to make up for the '22 final, not that I am bitter. \[\[2\]\]: Owen Wolff is Verde's first Homegrown player through MLS' liberal allowance of what "Homegrown" means. \[\[3\]\]: I suspect we'll know more about the length of the deal in, to predict here, a club release on Monday or Tuesday, and when MLSPA Christmas comes in April, I suspect we'll learn he's making around $500,000\. \[\[4\]\]: It didn't cost the club a dime to bring in Owen, hence the $3 million in GAM assuming the sales price is higher than that to make up for the money that goes to the league. \[\[5\]\]: We hope. \[\[6\]\]: He absorbed a lot of criticism borne of an increasingly unpopular head coach who happened to be his father, and absorbed a lot of criticism from people who maybe don't fully understand 18-year-olds have learning curves when they're playing against players in their 20s and 30s. ### A New Year's Resolution we're offering Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-new-years-resolution-were-offering-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2026-01-01T19:25:08.000Z While 2025 is, by several key metrics, Austin FC's second-best season ever, 2025 also had some frustrating elements that fans would like to leave behind like a bad habit overcome with a timely New Year's Resolution. So, we begin 2026 with a chart, and some nerdery to go with it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Austin_FC_npxgd_2025.png) Behold the rolling NPxGD chart! This needs some explanation, but it's not as puzzling as it looks. The chart shows the season-long trend lines for Austin FC's 34-game regular season, looking at what the team achieved in expected goals (not counting penalties, so gauging on-field chance creation) over the more recent five games on the calendar grid. The blue line is npxG (non-penalty expected goals) for Austin FC, and the red line is npxG by Austin FC's opponents. The most reductive way to put it is, where you see sections of blue, that's when Austin FC's generally playing better than its opponents (per the npxG metric), and where you see sections of red, that's when Austin FC's playing worse. To remind you, this was Austin FC's 2025, per MLSSoccer.com's form guide. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-01-at-09.43.24.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-01-at-09.44.10.png) The first half of the schedule includes the winless stretch from April 26 to May 31 which was clearly the most difficult and disheartening patch of the season, while the second half starts with the 4-3-1 stretch (commencing with the slump-busting June 7 win at Colorado, which I named one of Austin FC's [six critical victories](https://verdeallday.com/how-they-earned-it-six-victories-crucial-to-austin-fc-making-the-2025-mls-playoffs/) of 2025) that effectively saved the season and got Verde back into realistic playoff contention. As with many stats, xG doesn't tell the whole story — remember this snippet from the win over the Rapids, in a period when Verde was experiencing an npxG gap: *Verde's defense weathered 19 Rapids shots (five on target) totaling about 3.7 xG, leading the usually xG-minded Estévez to say, "I don't care about the stats today," before pointing out the xG that his team accumulated en route to the welcome win.* Austin's rolling npxG peaked on Aug. 30, during a very complete win over the Quakes at home — including arguably the best performance of the season for the now-departed Osman Bukari. In late July, I explored the [phenomenon of Austin FC faltering](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-post-july-performances/) from August on, and the trendlines did, unfortunately, repeat themselves in 2025 — though maybe not as badly as in past seasons. To close out the season, Verde went 1W 1L 2D in August, 2W 2L 0D in September, and 1W 2L 0D in October, for a total post-July record of 4W 5L 2D, or 14 points out of a possible 33\. That is, however, a 1.27 PPG performance, the best Verde's done post-July in its history, even better than the 12-from-33 skid to the finish that 2022's team experienced. (They did finish with 1.38 PPG on the season, so it was technically a dip, but not to the level of 2023, when they only won one of their final 11.) And the rolling npxGD chart for 2025 looks a lot better than the one in 2024\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Austin_FC_npxgd_2024.png) 2024, being Josh Wolff's final season with Austin FC, was an objectively terrible year. ## What do other rolling npxGDs look like? All MLS teams experience peaks and valleys; that's just the nature of the league. But some weather it better than Austin. Let's look at a few. Here's Vancouver's 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_npxgd_2025.png) Save from one rough 2W 4L 0D patch right after a disappointing Concacaf Champions League final in Mexico, the Whitecaps weathered injuries and one key exit (Pedro Vite, soon to be replaced by Thomas Müller) to have a very consistent and successful season. Only one team in the West had a better record in a race that came down to Decision Day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/San_Diego_FC_npxgd_2025.png) San Diego FC actually had more ups and downs (though they were still in a blue zone when losing to Austin FC in Q2 Stadium in late March), but finished the season on an upward swing, though they actually came close to blowing the West race by going winless in three before winning their final two to secure the No. 1 seed. The Supporters' Shield winners (and MLS Cup champions) had one rough patch in the first half of the season, but excelled down the stretch. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Inter_Miami_CF_npxgd_2025.png) And if you wonder why LAFC went 6W 1L 1D down the stretch (and 10W 3L 4D in the second half of the season), other than acquiring Son Heung-min, here's how 2025 looked. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/Los_Angeles_FC_npxgd_2025.png) Here's one more, just to show how fortunes turned for the Galaxy in 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/LA_Galaxy_npxgd_2025.png) Compare that to what they did with Riqui Puig in 2024, getting 64 points while only getting 50.7 xPoints, with a 60.5 xG and a 54.3 xGA, meaning they did better than the stats said they should have. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2026/01/LA_Galaxy_npxgd_2024.png) ## One more thing I noticed Austin FC started and ended 2025 with a rolling xG under 1, and in the final match against the Quakes, reached a nadir for the season with 0.2 xG per FBref. Indeed, counting all xG (including penalties, which Verde didn't win a lot of in 2025), the team was under 1 xG in 13 matches, while allowing less than one in 11\. Chance creation and goal scoring remain concerns for Verde in 2026 despite the acquisitions of Jayden Nelson and Joseph Rosales, but defense is also a concern, especially late in the season — over the last 11 matches, starting with the loss at Montréal, opponents averaged 1.9 xG per match against Austin. Given that, it's amazing that Verde finished 2025 as well as they did compared to past seasons ... and it's something the team could stand to work on in 2026\. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A pair of Austin FC rumors to contend with: Allende in, Biro out? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-transfer-rumor-tadeo-allende-guilherme-biro/ Last updated: 2025-12-26T15:02:39.000Z Happy Boxing Day, everybody! If you've checked out on soccer the last few days — which is perfectly understandable, given that [Spurs-I-like](https://bsky.app/profile/dr-thompson.bsky.social/post/3matlphhzbs2u?ref=verdeallday.com) highlighted an excellent slate of NBA Christmas games, plus all the Christmas festivities\[\[1\]\] I hope you got to enjoy as we did — you might have missed the pair of rumors that are currently swirling around Verde. In the likely absence of news until next week (or the week after, even), let's explore. (It's that time of the year.) ## Tadeo Allende in Verde? The 26-year-old Celta Vigo loanee came to Inter Miami CF in 2025, got 11 goals and an assist in a little under 2200 MLS regular-season minutes, and then exploded for a record-setting nine goals and two assists in six playoff games — for an astounding goal contribution every 46.5 minutes — to help the Herons win MLS Cup. As we know from Robert Taylor at Miami vs. Robert Taylor vs. Austin, pretty much every attacking player is better with Messi. But Allende's an intriguing player in his own right — and the subject of [a Sebastián Srur report](https://x.com/sebasrur/status/2003519686332535186?s=46&t=ir8xjtDwY0mNU2wbXmqeTg&ref=verdeallday.com) that he's either bound for River Plate (the team Srur follows\[\[2\]\]), reupping with Miami ... or moving to Austin. > 🚨RUMOR: Per Sebastián Srur, Austin FC is interested in 26-year-old forward Tadeo Allende 🇦🇷 Celta Vigo holds his rights, but a new offer reportedly “seems to convince” them, with Austin and Miami in the race for his signature 👀✍️ #AustinFC #Verde > > — [Verde Nation ⚽️🌳 (@verdenationatx.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p6zerwdky7gggx64x3q3mdy4?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-12-23T18:18:21.700Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p6zerwdky7gggx64x3q3mdy4/post/3maoecto6u222?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) For those who follow transfer rumors, this does have the whiff of "agent trying to secure a better deal for player with club he's currently at," but Allende added to Austin does provide an interesting option on the wing — and someone who has scored more goals during a regular season since Sebastian Driussi scored 11 in 2023\. Here's what Allende's most recent full year looks like compared to the usual mess of leagues that FBref uses. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Tadeo-Allende.png) And, in case Allende is being lined up as a Myrto Uzuni replacement (as having both Uzuni and Allende on this team feels redundant to me), here's what they look like compared to one another. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Tadeo-Allende.png) Again, Allende's doing this with Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets in the lineup, meaning that Allende's getting quality passes with way more consistency than Uzuni got in 2025\. But they've got similar strengths and weaknesses, save for assists — which Allende being a better scorer, with more touches and better defensive numbers. Without moving Uzuni, Allende doesn't make much sense for an Austin lineup that's still crying out for additional chance creation. But with Owen Wolff, a credible 10, and Jaden Nelson and Joseph Rosales able to switch balls from their left side to Allende's probable right wing position, Verde would get a lot more exciting. Just pulling a number out of the air, let's say there's about a 10 percent chance this happens, but it's fun to think about. ## Biro leaving? With [Joseph Rosales officially announced](https://verdeallday.com/breaking-news-joseph-rosales-officially-signs-with-austin-fc/) on Tuesday, that [begged the question](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-reported-trade-joseph-rosales-minnesota-united-fc/) whether one of Austin FC's current left backs is on the way out, or whether the plan is to deploy Rosales in the midfield, or even whether Guilherme Biro becomes an elbow back to Rosales' wingback in a back-five formation. Then we got this rumor. > 🚨RUMOR: Per: Cristian Morales, Austin FC defender Guilherme Biro (25), has received inquiries from clubs abroad 👀⏳ Could Austin be working on a potential transfer? 🤔 #AustinFC #Verde > > — [Verde Nation ⚽️🌳 (@verdenationatx.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p6zerwdky7gggx64x3q3mdy4?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-12-24T18:55:11.583Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p6zerwdky7gggx64x3q3mdy4/post/3maqwtmnap22w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) Biro's had quite the trajectory in MLS. He arrived in January 2024 as a relative unknown — actually named Guilherme da Trindade Dubas, but going by Biro and being confused for a higher-profile Guilherme Biro four years younger, so much so that Apple TV commentators spent half a season praising the 19-year-old who was actually 23\. In January 2025, the club signed Biro to an extension, keeping him Verde through the 2026 season with an option for 2027\. In 2025, Biro matched his three-goal from 2024, added an assist, and thanks to Jordi Alba holding out from the 2025 All-Star Game in Austin, got named to the All-Star squad as a very last minute replacement. Enigmatic at times in his defensive play, and often exciting in his attacking-half ventures, Biro's been a contributor on a club-friendly contract, though also occupying an international roster spot. Depending on the deal that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell could get by moving him to a South American club — and how much General Allocation Money that could generate — this could be a vital block pull in the Jenga game that is the current offseason rebuild. Though asked to do some different things in their respective systems, this is the Biro-Rosales comparison chart, in case you're wondering if Rosales is an upgrade. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Guilherme-Biro-vs.-Joseph-Rosales-1.png) Moving Biro still leaves Žan Kolmanič and Jon Gallagher as fullback depth behind Rosales, though some of the four-back vs. five-back flexibility gets lost as Biro did slot into the elbow back role or even as a center back in some situations. In attempting to get better, it sometimes requires a sporting director to jettison fan favorites and make some higher risk/higher reward choices. Completing the Rosales in and Biro out circle would be one of those moves, and if you count Osman Bukari-for-Nelson as one of those moves, it's the second of the offseason. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) \[\[1\]\]: If you've followed the latest Emergency Tangent, that did include making a 4:45 pm screening of *Anaconda*, but our eight-year-old found the 2025 in-theater snake much scarier than the 1997 at-home snake, and we had to leave early; she also expressed that the Alamo doesn't let her talk through movies is she is wont to do. \[\[2\]\]: He's got 183k followers on The Bad Site, and nearly 40k on the 'Gram. ### Breaking News: Joseph Rosales officially signs with Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/breaking-news-joseph-rosales-officially-signs-with-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T18:30:16.000Z The Joseph Rosales-to-Austin signing [we contemplated in detail](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-reported-trade-joseph-rosales-minnesota-united-fc/) on Sunday is now official. The club announced the deal on Tuesday, bringing the 25-year-old Honduran international from Minnesota United FC (described in the release as a "defender/midfielder," putting what position he'll actually play for Verde in a veil of mystery). Quick salient points from the release worth noting: - It's a $1.5 million cash-for-player trade, making it the first time Austin FC's used this mechanism introduced last winter window (and protecting the General Allocation Money that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has already spent or is going to spend); - He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Austin, guaranteed through June 2029 with an option for the 2029-30 season; and - While he takes up a senior roster spot, he's a green card holder and thereby does not take up an international roster spot. I also found the most wholesome picture of him I could find on Instagram, in the spirit of the holidays (and Swoontower). ### Will left back be a Zan Birosales-variety Voltron? Or are more moves following the reported Joseph Rosales trade? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-reported-trade-joseph-rosales-minnesota-united-fc/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T18:23:34.000Z Though Austin FC has not yet confirmed this, both the [Athletic's Tom Bogert](https://bsky.app/profile/tombogert.bsky.social/post/3maf2q2mwps2o?ref=verdeallday.com) and the [Pioneer-Press](https://www.twincities.com/2025/12/19/loons-trade-defender-joseph-rosales-to-austin-fc-per-report/?ref=verdeallday.com) are reporting that Minnesota United left back Joseph Rosales is becoming Verde in either a GAM-for-player or cash-for-player trade for a hefty $1.5 million sum. While Rosales can also play midfield, he's primarily a left back and left wingback, which is a curious move for Austin to make, given that it already has two and maybe even three players able to play that position. All-Star Guilherme Biro has been the first-choice left back for much of 2025, but he's also had some questionable play and judgment at points — especially following his All-Star appearance — that led head coach Nico Estévez to rely on Žan Kolmanič in tandem with Biro down the stretch and into the playoffs. Of course, Jon Gallagher is also able to play left back. So, while it doesn't seem like an area of need for Austin, Rosales is arguably an upgrade over anyone currently on the Verde roster at that position. He's also arguably a better counterweight to Mikkel Desler — especially if Estévez does deploy more of a back-five look in 2026, with the possibility of Biro being retained and positioned as a left center back to Rosales' left wingback. (I'm looking for "elbow back," meaning a player that flexes between outside center back and fullback as a fullback goes up the wing, to be one of the defining catch phrases of the '26 season.) This could be a move to create a three-player Voltron — Žan Birosales, if you will – but this could also be a indicator that one of the two current first-choice left backs might be playing elsewhere in '26\. [Click for a free trial to full access](https://verdeallday.com/survey) Here's a video the Loons put together telling his story as the '25 season commenced, if you want to put a face and a voice to the name: [The Path: Joseph Rosales | Minnesota United FCThe official home of Minnesota United FC.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/mnufc_webclip_bw_o6ewai.png)MNUFCMNUFC](https://www.mnufc.com/video/the-path-joseph-rosales?ref=verdeallday.com#the-path-joseph-rosales) Initially, I'm intrigued by this move but also a little concerned and a little perplexed by the cash or GAM outlay. Let's start where I like to start in these matters. To the charts! _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Three players in one day: Austin FC trades for Jayden Nelson, selects two SuperDraft players URL: https://verdeallday.com/jayden-nelson-signs-with-austin-fc-superdraft-picks/ Last updated: 2025-12-19T22:17:56.000Z Thursday was another busy day for Austin FC. With rumors that Osman Bukari is exiting the club still swirling, the club made a player-for-General Allocation Money (GAM) trade with Vancouver Whitecaps FC, getting Canadian international winger Jayden Nelson for $700,000 in 2026 GAM, $550,000 in 2027 GAM, and the No. 17 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. Nelson, coming out of the Toronto FC Academy, is a fast winger who can play all across the front line — though was mostly deployed at left wing in the 2025 season, getting two goals and six assists in a little over 1300 minutes. While he held a supplemental roster designation in Vancouver, he'll be a senior player with Verde, and also occupies an international slot that Austin currently doesn't have — though it's quite possible, when 2026 roster rules come out, that Canadian players will count as domestic players for American as well as Canadian MLS teams. ## What is Austin getting in Nelson? "Jayden is super fast, really lovely guy," said Har Johal, who covers the Whitecaps for Daily Hive Vancouver, and pinged me via Bluesky a couple of hours after the trade became official. "Great to chat with. Fantastic asset on the wings," and she adds, "Can really put defenders on edge with his bursts." She notes that his desire to get more on-field minutes and make the Canadian national team for the 2026 World Cup — co-hosted by Canada — is part of what made the trade possible. She said he could be better in defense and maturity departments; for the latter, she cites the July 4 away match against the Galaxy when, on a yellow in stoppage time, he kicked a ball into the stands to get a second yellow, get sent off, and miss the next match. Because of the prominence of Ali Ahmed and Emmanuel Sabbi as starting wingers for much of the season, Nelson got relegated to a sub role, but Johal maintains that he stayed on head coach Jesper Sørensen's good side — and played a crucial role in the playoff win over LAFC that will rank among the biggest and most satisfying wins in Whitecaps history. Johal also notes that he's a childhood cancer survivor — as various sources report, at 18 months old, he had a form of testicular cancer that came back a second time, spreading to his lungs, and doctors were concerned he might not survive, let alone become a professional athlete. Watch this 7 1/2 minute video and get misty: Here's his last 365 days' chart (basically his 2025 chart), measuring him against other attacking midfielders — but with numbers indicating that he could also convert to or at least spell at wingback should he again find himself behind other wingers in a lineup. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Jayden-Nelson.png) In case you're wondering how a Nelson-for-Bukari replacement would be, here's the spider chart comparison overlay that caught my eye when I initially ran it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-vs.-Jayden-Nelson-1.png) And thought they're not the same player, if Nelson really is going to be deployed as a left winger, rather than a right winger just slotting in for Bukari, here's how he compares against other Verde left wingers from 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Jayden-Nelson-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-vs.-Jayden-Nelson.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Jon-Gallagher-vs.-Jayden-Nelson.png) And here's how he stacks up against another speedy winger, the Galaxy's Joseph Paintsil. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Joseph-Paintsil-vs.-Jayden-Nelson.png) Clearly, he's a talent — maybe even eventually capable of DP-level performances — and he's still just 23\. He's a player to be excited about now and for the future. ## SuperDraft picks are in As part of the package to get Nelson, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell did give up Austin's first-round SuperDraft pick, which the Whitecaps used on Washington midfielder Zach Ramsey, who SuperDraft prognosticator Mark Kelhenburg thought would go in the second round, but was a key part of the Huskies' national championship run. (My alma mater won a title, y'all.) Instead, Verde scored two players. In the second round, they went with Stefan Dobrijevic, a University of Akron forward who helped that team's run to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament that Washington won, getting eight goals and 12 assists on the season. In the third round, they picked Penn midfielder Patrick Cayelli, who had nine goals and eight assists in 17 appearances in his senior season, winning some Ivy League awards in the process. Here's how American Soccer Analysis rated them. (H/T to Tim Thompson for reminding me this got built by dropping it in a Slack conversation.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/AustinSuperDraft.png) Your expectation of these two players, at least initially, is seeing them at Parmer Field with VerDos. It's a dice roll that a player in the first round of the SuperDraft, in the year of our Lord 2025, breaks into an MLS first team with regularity. But both players are at least intriguing enough to follow as they integrate into the second team. But neither of them is the most intriguing player we've learned about coming to Austin today. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### An official signing, a rumored exit, and a cup competition confirmation: Making sense of Tuesday's news URL: https://verdeallday.com/jon-bell-signing-osman-bukari-exit-rumor-leagues-cup-2026-announcement/ Last updated: 2025-12-17T13:49:12.000Z Tuesday was a busy day in Austin FC annals, at least by offseason standards. First, the [Jon Bell signing](https://verdeallday.com/jon-bell-analysis-austin-fc-signing-report/) we broke down yesterday, when it was still just a very credible report, became official – making him the first new incoming Verde player ahead of the 2026 season. If you watched the [North End Podcast livestream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTyYRLVweNg&ref=verdeallday.com) yesterday — or, like I did, caught it on replay\[\[1\]\] — you're one step ahead here (and also saw some of the FBref charts I shared hours earlier) ... but here are the salient points with the contract. - For now, Bell is on a senior contract, which still leaves Verde thin in that category, for now, though it's very possible that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is able to GAM that down to a supplemental roster spot by the roster compliance deadline just before the season starts.\[\[2\]\] - It's a deal "guaranteed through June 2028 with an option for the 2028-29 season," which is the first time we've seen the new schedule alignment referenced in a contract, which does make me wonder what happens to, say, Nicolás Dubersarsky's contract, which goes through the 2029 season with an option for the 2030 season — seasons that do now not technically exist. "Jon is a versatile defender who is familiar with MLS and capable of playing in different positions on the backline,” said Borrell in the press release — clearly Borrell speaking candidly and not having a quote crafted for him by the Austin FC comms team. “He is a good addition to our defensive group and we welcome him to Austin.” ## One in, one out? So, if you're bolstering your roster by adding center back depth and some back four to back five formational flexibility, is the next logical move to offload your best-performing designated player in 2025 for about $2 million less in transfer fees than you paid to bring him in 18 months ago, with two guaranteed years left on his contract? That's the report that came over from Poland yesterday afternoon, which *The Athletic*'s Tom Bogert amplified by evening: Osman Bukari is headed to Widzew Łódź in Poland's top-flight Ekstraklasa for what would be a record Polish transfer fee of around $5 million – markedly less than the $7 million that brought him to Austin from FK Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in May 2024\. > Sources: Austin FC are in talks to transfer Osman Bukari to Widzew Lodz. Bukari, 27, has 4g/9a in 42 apps with Austin after joining in deal worth around $7m. Departure would open a DP spot. > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-12-17T00:48:12.731Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3ma5gtiugns2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) While Bukari hasn't been quite what optimistic fans might have expected when he was debuted at a [Continental Club unveiling](https://verdeallday.substack.com/p/osman-bukari-welcome-event-borrell-on-svatok) I'm still shaking my head about months later, Bukari is the team's most adept one-on-one attacker and was second in assists and goal contributions in 2025 despite playing a third of the season on the wrong (for him) side of the field. While the team's overall offense may have been ineffective and even dysfunctional at times last season, taking Bukari out of the equation without an immediate replacement actually makes the offense worse, and once Brandon Vázquez is healthy, you might be looking at a front line that has Myrto Uzuni at left wing and Owen Wolff shifted over to right wing, unless you're ready to renew faith in Jáder Obrian. Or, alternately, head coach Nico Estévez fully commits to the 5-3-2 formation, with Vázquez and Uzuni figuring out how to coexist up top, and deploys Wolff as a nominal 10 to lead a midfield three that probably includes (in a best look at present) Dani Pereira and Besard Šabović. (That projects to me like a bullet train to 44 points and one of the West's final playoff spots.) (*On the aforementioned North End Podcast livestream, starting at about the 28:30 mark, you can see co-host Ian Michaud melting down in real time over the Bukari news. It's a wholly appropriate reaction.*) It also would then introduce the question of whether to go with a three designated player plus thre Under 22 Initiative (U22) player roster build, or opt for the two designated player plus four U22 model, and receive the additional $2 million in GAM that comes with that. Assuming Wolff gets a U22 tag and stays in Austin for the 2026 season — and perhaps those are bold assumptions? — Borrell could seek out another U22 attacker and then add some TAM players to the mix with the extra funds (which ups my project to 50 points and a more comfortable playoff position, assuming that there's a quality chance creator aside from Wolff in the mix.) ## Yo dawg, I heard you like cups Austin FC also announced on Tuesday that it will be one of a few teams in MLS next season navigating both the U.S. Open Cup and the Leagues Cup. While we know that Austin's Open Cup journey will start in April, with the potential of semifinals Sept. 15 or 16 and a final on Oct. 21 after the majority of the competition is wedged into April and May, Leagues Cup will be played in August and September. Specifically, it starts Aug. 4, and the final is on Sept. 6\. For seeding purposes, Austin will be ranked 24th of the 36 participating teams, including all 18 Liga MX teams and these 17 MLS teams joining Austin: - Charlotte FC - Chicago Fire FC - FC Cincinnati - Columbus Crew - FC Dallas - Inter Miami CF - LAFC - Minnesota United FC - Nashville SC - New York City FC - Orlando City - Philadelphia Union - Portland Timbers - Real Salt Lake - San Diego FC - Seattle Sounders FC - Vancouver Whitecaps FC It's a considerably rougher test than Open Cup will be, given the collective level of competition, and it comes at a time of season where roster depth is typically tested, given summer heat, accumulating injuries, and higher playoff stakes attached to matches for contestants. The World Cup break, which won't be a break for some of the league's best players, will shuffle the equation somewhat, but in a year with so much soccer already, those who regard Leagues Cup with "stop trying to match fetch happen" levels of disdain will likely be even more aggrieved with its mere presence in a congested 2026 schedule. There's no word yet on the group stage schedules or how involved Q2 Stadium will be between Austin and whichever Mexican team might use it as a home base. \[\[1\]\]: Because a mandatory office Christmas party isn't going to celebrate itself! \[\[2\]\]: This past season, it was 8 pm ET the day before the season-opening Saturday, so it can really go right down to the wire. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Every time a Bell signs, a Rodo gets his wings: Analyzing the likely (but not yet official) Jon Bell signing URL: https://verdeallday.com/jon-bell-analysis-austin-fc-signing-report/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T14:13:07.000Z Austin FC may have its first signing of the offseason, and though it may on its face seem underwhelming compared to the high-profile moves of last winter, it could turn out to be a smart piece of business for sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. According to Seattle-based soccer journalist Niko Moreno, center back Jon Bell has already officially signed with Verde after his contract with Seattle Sounders FC expired at the end of the season. Initially a 2020 MLS SuperDraft pick by the San Jose Earthquakes, Bell found his way into the New England Revolution's system, playing with the MLS Next Pro Revs II in 2020 and the first team in 2021 and 2022, making 12 and 15 appearances respectively. He then moved to St. Louis after being selected in the 2023 expansion draft, but only minimally contributed to the team's surprising debut season. Then, via the Re-Entry Draft, he landed with Seattle, and after a 2024 in which he made 10 appearances and scored a goal, he has his most utilized-in-MLS season yet, logging more than 1300 minutes over 21 league appearances. Though he has domestic status and doesn't require a green card, he has played two matches with the Jamaica national team since 2023\. ## We consult an expert Wanting to get the insight of someone who's seen him play quite a bit, we turned to Jeremiah Oshan of [Sounder at Heart](https://www.sounderatheart.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), who offered this analysis. *Jon Bell came to the Sounders in the Re-Entry Draft, seemingly as a flyer. He was, at the time, a full year removed from any serious playing time and didn't seem to have a ton of upside. But in two seasons with the Sounders, Bell proved himself to be a very capable defender who could probably start as a center back or a more defensive-minded left back for a lot of teams. Although he never got a long string of consecutive starts, he was always someone the coaching staff was more than happy to turn to late in games or whenever a defensive option was needed.* *Bell was rarely beaten for pace or lost physical battles – a bit like Nouhou, who was probably better off the dribble but not as good of a passer. To the degree I was frustrated with Bell, it usually came when he was asked to be too much of a passing nexus. He wasn't a bad passer, just not someone who could reliably break lines.* *If Austin is looking for him to be the third center back, I think that's a great spot for him.* When Oshan says third center back, he's likely meaning the first sub or rotational starter with a conventional back four, but his ability to play left back gets me thinking that in back five situations, he could theoretically be the leftmost center back in the line of three and shift wide whenever Guilherme Biro wants to push forward from his wingback spot (which, knowing him, is probably often). ## And, of course, we consult some charts Let's start with the last 365 days of Jon Bell, as FBref conveys it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Jon-Bell.png) Though he might be frustrating as a passer per Oshan, he's actually pretty good as a passer per the spider chart (though, to Oshan's point, decent but not great at getting the ball substantially upfield). Two numbers in the possession area stand out, though ... he doesn't get a lot of touches (judging from being 3rd percentile), but he's also 98th percentile in successful take-ons, which is impressive. As for offensive and defensive numbers, not great but not wretched, except for shooting and scoring, which he doesn't do. (In the Sounders system, of course, there are plenty of people who do that. Theoretically, for Austin, there are also plenty of people who do that.) Since Julio Cascante has exited, and Bell is ostensibly a Cascante replacement (at least for his 2025 role in the roster), let's look at the two of them together. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Julio-Cascante-vs.-Jon-Bell.png) Cascante clearly scores more and gets way more touches on the ball, but there are some decent similarities — not enough to brand him Temu Cascante, given the much lower salary he's expected to be on – to understand what kind of player he'll be. Now let's see how he complements the players he'd be most likely to pair with in the back line. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Brendan-Hines-Ike-vs.-Jon-Bell.png) With Hines-Ike, expect him to make up where Bell lacks and vice-versa, to have a decent defensive showing and better than average passing (though probably a lot of back passing and lateral passing). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Oleksandr-Svatok-vs.-Jon-Bell.png) You're looking at a similar situation with Svatok, though between Svatok's interceptions and Bell's take-ons, you're also looking at a good number of attacks stifled before they develop into threats. Based on something FBref fed me (in the "similar players to Jon Bell" list), there's one more center back I want to compare him to, and though he's with Portland, he is a one-time Austin center back. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Kamal-Miller-vs.-Jon-Bell.png) This isn't a perfectly synched spider chart, but there are definite similarities here. And though getting a Kamal Miller play-alike for relatively little money isn't the same as grabbing Cristian Espinoza in offseason roster building ablomp, it's a solid move to incrementally improve a roster. (By the way, Espinoza's not just a hypothetical I threw out — reports have Espinoza joining LAFC as a DP, meaning a potential Bouanga-Son-Espinoza that any combination of MLS center backs will have trouble with.) ## About the money What makes Bell especially attractive from a roster-building standpoint is his salary. Last year with Seattle, he made $135,000 and occupied a supplemental roster spot. As we learned from Matt Bersano's salary and roster spot when he was Brad Stuver's backup, it's possible to make over the threshold for a minimum senior roster spot and, thanks to labyrinthine MLS roster rules involving GAM salary buydowns, still be counted as a supplemental player. That's important because Borrell has a limited number of senior roster spots to solve a number of offseason issues, including: - Outside of Owen Wolff and Osman Bukari, no real chance creation (as those two have 15 assists in 2025 compared to 21 for the rest of the squad); - A designated player striker recovering from a knee injury, another designated player striker recovering from season-long confidence issues, and the only backup on the roster being a 21-year-old with one career MLS goal; - A midfield that Borrell tried to bolster with a summer signing who committed in January, arrived in the U.S. from Europe, and then went back to Europe without playing a single minute; and - Two potential buyout candidates who combined for two goal contributions and more than $1.1 million in guaranteed compensation in 2025\. Given that series of concerns, getting a rotational starter-level center back on a supplemental deal looks like checking a box a little deeper down on the to-do list. It's a fine, smart move, and Bell looks to be an able contributor who may end up listing Austin as a two-year waystation in a journeyman career. But that, on its own, won't make for a successful, satisfying offseason. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A Starting XI of free agents: Who Austin FC (and other teams) could choose from URL: https://verdeallday.com/starting-xi-of-free-agents-2025-offseason/ Last updated: 2025-12-12T14:09:27.000Z So far, it's been a quiet offseason for Austin FC. All the team has done since announcing its option pickups was, on Wednesday, make official the [Stefan Cleveland for GAM trade](https://verdeallday.com/stefan-cleveland-sporting-kansas-city-report/) to Sporting Kansas City that we learned about earlier in the week. Thursday's first stage of the Re-Entry Draft came and went without a single MLS team picking from what is admittedly [an unimpressive list](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2025-mls-re-entry-draft-eligible-player-list?ref=verdeallday.com) of players, though SuperDraft fans will notice that Generation Adidas forward Stephen Annor Gyamfi, who was drafted by Houston, is on this list after mostly toiling with Dynamo 2\. But as it turns out, there are gems to be had in this year's free agency list, though some are likely too expensive to land, despite what you might think about Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell's negotiation skills and knack for getting value out of players in the $250,000 to $500,000 salary range. And even though the [MLS Players Association free agent list](https://mlsplayers.org/news/2026-free-agent-list?ref=verdeallday.com) has many more players on it than will actually be available, a quick perusal reveals that not only are there servicable pieces on it, but there's enough to build a competitive Starting XI. So let's go ahead and build one — while keeping potential Verde prospects in the mix over better and more expensive option, to keep the "what if" offseason fires burning. ## Goalkeeper ### Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC There are likely more realistic options for teams (Carlos Coronel, out of contract with the Red Bulls, Sean Johnson possibly gone from Toronto FC, and even Zac MacMath out of RSL), but St. Clair is an All-Star touted as the best in the league everywhere but Austin, and he'd instantly elevate a number of teams. I believe it's likely that St. Clair and the Loons' front office work something out, but as set as you might believe some teams to be at goalkeeper, they'd jump at the chance to get an available St. Clair. Can you imagine Miami with a first-rate keeper? Let's maybe not imagine that. ## Center backs ### Walker Zimmerman, Nashville SC He's certainly a free agent name you know, for being a U.S. Men's National Team mainstay, as well as the anchor for a Nashville team that built its initial reputation on stifling defense. He's 32 now, so it's likely that his next destination is his final one (or, at least, his final one where he's a significant contributor before he moves into the Matt Hedges zone). He reportedly has two suitors that will further remind you of Matt Hedges: Toronto FC and FC Dallas. Of the two, Frisco makes the most sense, meaning we'll all still see what he has in the tank for two Copa Tejas games a year. ### Henry Kessler, St. Louis City SC Certainly, Kessler's not a star-crossed, injury-riddled talent, but then you look at his MLS games played stats over the last three seasons, and they're alarming: 17 in 2023, 25 in 2024, split between New England and St. Louis, and 17 in 2025\. A lot of muscle injuries in his history, particularly with hamstrings — including a 2023 injury requiring surgery and four months of recovery. But if he can stay healthy, a huge if here, he's an intriguing defender who's still just 27 and could start for quite a few teams around the league. ## Fullbacks ### Brandon Bye, New England Revolution Bye has been a solid contributor to the Revs since launching his career with them in 2018, meaning he's enjoyed the highs of the Shield-record-setting 2021 as well as the recent doldrums brought about in the Caleb Porter Era. He did, as a cautionary note, suffer an ACL injury in 2023 but did come back, and logged about 1100 minutes in 2025 (26 appearances, 12 starts). Alas, no goal contributions. He's also 30, but if you're an MLS GM looking for fullback depth, he's an option. ### Sam Junqua, Real Salt Lake So, as it turns out, not a lot of fullbacks on this free agent list, and Junqua is still in negotiations with Real Salt Lake, but I bring him up for two reasons. First, he was a decent contributor, appearing in 32 matches with 17 starts and logging over 1800 minutes, with a goal and an assist. (I said *decent* contributor.) Second, from a purely fun Verde-centric perspective, Junqua could achieve the career Maxi Urruti, as he's previously played with both Dallas and Houston, and could complete the Texas trifecta while giving Verde some possibly necessary fullback depth. ## Midfielders ### Justin Haak, New York City FC Haak really belongs with NYCFC, but he's reportedly testing the market, and he's an intriguing defensive midfielder on the rise. As a native New Yorker who is the team's third academy-to-homegrown player, he's been contributing on a supplemental roster spot, and at 24, is rounding into the place where he can get his first sizable MLS contract (hence the testing the market). Though Austin seems set at defensive midfielder by reupping Ilie Sánchez and developing Nicolás Dubersarsky, Verde has rehomed an NYCFC d-mid before (though it was a very different time) ### Diego Fagúndez, LA Galaxy Two things can be true: Fagúndez can be named the Galaxy's Player of the Year (in a season they'd rather forget and a season in which its rightful best player sat out the whole season), and the Galaxy front office can decline a 2026 option on a contract that was such an albatross around Borrell's neck — a gift from the former "I do what I want" sporting director — that Borrell jumped at the chance to trade away the immensely popular Verde legend for a third of a season of Memo Rodriguez. I feel like our favorite footgolf player and the Galaxy will arrive at a new, more realistic contract, and I don't think his return would fix what currently ails Austin ... but with his name on the list, I have to broach the topic. ### Hassani Dotson, Minnesota United FC Though Robin Lod's also a free agent, I find it likely that the front office will find a way to bring back such a key player. (A Loons team without both St. Clair and Lod would be a much worse Loons team.) Dotson, though, is 28, coming off a meniscus injury that kept him out of most of 2025\. But he came into the league with promise, he's versatile, and given a change of scenery, could be at the very least a more centrally deployable version of Jon Gallagher. (Dotson can be a central midfielder, a winger, or a defensive midfielder, depending on the situation.) ## Wingers ### Paul Rothrock, Seattle Sounders FC MLS writer Matt Doyle has a theory that Rothrock, who emerged as a folk hero in Seattle this past season, is ideal on a team where he's a fourth attacker, and would be less effective if he became the focal point of an offense. His current free agency availability is a classic test-the-market move to see if he can get a bigger contract from a team that maybe doesn't agree with Doyle. I still think he ends up returning to Seattle on more of a Toyota number than a Lexus number, but is happy there and wins some trophies. Also, just for fun, here's how Rothrock compared to Osman Bukari last year, should you be buying into the Rothrock hype. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-vs.-Paul-Rothrock.png) He's good, but he's not transcendentally good. (Making him like the wingers Austin FC currently has.) ### Cristian Espinoza, San Jose Earthquakes Cristian Espinoza, however, is another matter entirely. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-vs.-Cristian-Espinoza.png) It's weird that he's on this list and not the core piece that the San Jose front office is building around. Missing the reportedly sneaky summer deadline to activate his 2026 option might have cost the Quakes' sporting director his job, since he exited several days by "mutual agreement" after the Espinoza news got out. Curious, that. As you can probably glean from his chart, he's a designated player who will be at best amenable to a max TAM deal with the right team. Even if Verde could work out a deal to have Bukari, Espinoza, Brandon Vázquez, and Myrto Uzuni on the team, that's one expensive starting frontline player too many, and you'd have to do other roster maneuvers to make it work. But, wow, is this enticing. ## Center forward ### Josef Martínez, San Jose Earthquakes There was a time when this would have been really enticing to me, as he was my favorite forward when he burst into MLS in 2017 and scored 77 goals in his first three seasons. But I don't think the 2026 season is an enticing time to take him, and Martínez hasn't been quite the same since suffering a massive knee injury in Atlanta United's 2020 opening match before COVID swallowed the entire sports calendar for the better part of a year. Also, Borrell isn't likely in the one-dimensional striker market, and if he is, it's for a short-term holdover while Vázquez reintegrates to MLS (which is what the [Kei Kamara](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kei-kamara-free-agent-2026-possibility/) shout was about, but also makes free agent Willy Agada at least worth consideration). But Martínez, at 32, is sixth on the all-time MLS goalscoring list with 130, and with just five more goals, moves up to fourth on the all-time list, and if he gets 15 more, he's tied with Landon Donovan for third. Given that he scored 14 last season and 11 the season before, scoring a goal every 130 minutes played in that two-year stretch, he's still got goals in him. Certainly, some MLS team will talk itself into bringing him in. I just can't imagine it would be Austin. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Report: Stefan Cleveland signs contract with Sporting Kansas City URL: https://verdeallday.com/stefan-cleveland-sporting-kansas-city-report/ Last updated: 2025-12-09T12:12:45.000Z While Austin FC has not officially announced it yet, a report from The Athletic's Tom Bogert indicates that goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland — who played sparingly for Verde after being announced on Christmas Eve 2023 — is leaving to sign a new contract with Sporting Kansas City to compete for the starting goalkeeper job there, with $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) reportedly coming Austin's way. > 🔵 Sources: Sporting KC has acquired GK Stefan Cleveland from Austin FC. Deal is worth $50k GAM. Cleveland has signed a new contract with SKC. > > — [Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-12-08T16:13:32.116Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ubbw452rsazc436oq5xnagp7/post/3m7igdt4u322f?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) The 31-year-old Cleveland, though he filled in for Stefan Frei in 29 MLS regular-season matches between 2021 and 2023, never really got a chance to shine during his time in Austin — as Brad Stuver started all regular-season matches and most of the extra matches during Cleveland's two years with the club. He did memorably start the 2024 Leagues Cup home match against Pumas, saving a penalty kick in a 3-2 win. That win, coupled with the 2-0 win over Monterrey in which Stuver kept goal, made for a surprisingly successful Leagues Cup group stage before Verde fell to LAFC (on the road, if you remember that injustice) in the Round of 32\. Cleveland presided over one tournament game in 2025 — the U.S. Open Cup opener against El Paso Locomotive. That scoreline was also 3-2, but it came against USL Championship rather than Liga MX competition, and in the next match (and all other subsequent Open Cup matches), Stuver was in goal. ## What does it mean? The question about whether Austin FC would ride into 2026 with three goalkeepers, or choose between Cleveland and Damian Las as Stuver's backup, has now seemingly been answered (unless Bogert is wrong, which he almost never is in these matters). For Cleveland, it's an opportunity to gain a starting role (or, at least platoon as a starter) with a team that started John Pulskamp for 34 games and let in 70 goals. For Las, now 23 (and turning 24 in April), it's the next logical step in his developmental journey after being one of USL's best goalkeepers two years running. It's unlikely that Stuver misses any time as an Austin FC starter, as he's only missed four starts in five seasons in Austin, but it's conceivable that Las will start cup competitions (which could be the yet-to-be-announced League variety as well as the confirmed Open variety), and would be called upon should Stuver turn up injured. While one could argue that Las needs minutes, Las also needs to compete against MLS-level competition to get better, even if it is mostly in preseason and training. Perhaps more importantly, Las being on a supplemental roster spot gives Verde's sporting director, Rodolfo Borrell, another senior roster spot to use on a field player. For a team that now has no TAM players and could use another two or three impactful contributors to graduate this team from its current tier to the next, having a capable backup goalkeeper who doesn't take up one of 20 senior roster spots helps. And while $50,000 in GAM isn't a lot, this is the time of year when that level of GAM can buy an international roster spot from another team, which is also something that Verde could use. Whenever the move is officially announced, perhaps later today, it will be on the cusp of free agency season, with a [choice of players](https://mlsplayers.org/news/2026-free-agent-list?ref=verdeallday.com) that include some interesting out-of-contract names, including: - Willy Agada, forward, Sporting Kansas City - Hassani Dotson, midfielder, Minnesota United FC - Justin Haak, midfielder, NYCFC - Ryan Hollingshead, fullback, LAFC - Anthony Markanich, fullback, Minnesota United FC - Walker Zimmerman, center back, Nashville SC Starting Wednesday at noon CT, Austin FC will be able to consider league-established players from the free agent pool to fill out its roster. Then, on Thursday at noon CT, the Re-Entry Draft process that brought Jáder Obrian to Austin for the 2024 season — when he became the team's co-leader in goals for that blighted season — commences. The full list of eligible players for Thursday's draft will be released today. It's entirely possible that, between those opportunities and the Jon Bell rumors that have been floating around, there's a new Verde player coming sometime this week. Even though there are goalkeepers available in the free agent market, it appears that Borrell is set there, and will turn his attention further up the field. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### What you think about MLS: Fan survey involving nearly 3,500 fans unveiled URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-fan-survey-results/ Last updated: 2025-12-05T15:09:43.000Z A few weeks back, about 200 of you participated in a survey that revealed [telling insights](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-1/) and [even more telling insights](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-2/) about how you feel about Austin FC. That wasn't just something we did on our own at Verde All Day; it was part of a broader league-wide effort spearheaded by the excellent Ben Wright of SixOneFive Soccer, who was most recently in Austin for the U.S. Open Cup final (getting to write the stories that I was hoping to write about the team I cover lifting a trophy). He's unveiled the whole leaguewide survey, and it includes some fascinating insights about where nearly 3,500 fans see Major League Soccer in 2025\. [MLS Fan Survey: Supporters weigh in on calendar switch, roster rules, and Lionel MessiNearly 3,500 fans from 33 countries gave their opinions on the state of Major League Soccer in our third annual fan survey![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/Speedway-Site.png)SixOneFive SoccerBen Wright![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/FanSurvey-MLS.png)](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/2025-mls-fan-survey/?ref=verdeallday.com) Among the big revelations: ## Fans are generally happy with the league (but not Leagues Cup) *The majority of fans were positive when asked how they perceive MLS’s on-field quality. When asked to rate their satisfaction with the product on the pitch on a 1-5 scale (with one being the least positive and five being the most), 59.3% rated their satisfaction at a four or higher, with just 9.14% at a two or less.* *When ranking the importance and satisfaction of various competitions, Concacaf Champions Cup was viewed as the most important non-MLS tournament, with fans giving it an average weighting of 3.35 on a 1-5 scale. Leagues Cup was rated at a 2.38, down slightly from* [*last season*](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/2024-mls-fan-survey-supporters-discuss-messi-roster-rules-and-the-future-of-the-league/?ref=verdeallday.com)*’s 2.42.* ## Fans like Apple TV's MLS coverage (with caveats) *On a scale of 1-5, fans rated their satisfaction with the product at a 3.42, with 53.5% rating it at a four or five. But while fans appreciated the quality of the product and the convenience of having all the matches on a single platform, many were frustrated by the lack of local broadcast options and having fewer commentators who are deeply informed about their specific clubs, as well as frustrations with some of the production choices, particularly with shoulder programming.* *Fans described non-game offerings as “extremely lacking” and lamented that the league has “hollowed out the coverage”. There is a clear desire for content that parallels coverage in other major sports, like highlight reels, team updates, and detailed analysis, and fans feel that is currently nonexistent in the TV subscription.* *While fans like the ability to watch MLS 360, the league’s whiparound show, there are frustrations that the content is “generic and boring”, “sterile”, and “a movie approximation of sports television”. While the programming is viewed positively as a way to stay tuned to multiple games at once, several of the analysts and hosts were criticized for their perceived “safe” takes, and the hyper-focus on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami was heavily criticized.* ## To paraphrase The Birthday Party, "Release the caps!" (Here's today's [obscure indie rock reference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ifWvyAiPw&ref=verdeallday.com) that some of you get) *When asked how to improve the on-field quality, fans honed in on roster rules as the primary area of change. Fans overwhelmingly call for liberalized roster rules — including higher salary caps and the simplification or elimination of complex mechanisms like Allocation Money — to improve on-field quality and depth. Fan sentiment was dominated by a desire for increased financial flexibility and simplification of regulations, coupled with frustration over perceived competitive imbalance and even league favoritism, particularly towards a select few high-profile clubs.* *The overwhelming majority of fans advocated for increasing the total amount teams are allowed to spend on players. These ideas ranged from a simple increase of the salary cap to more Designated Player spots, with several calling for the league to eliminate many or all of the roster rules that fans deem to be too complex.* *The most common proposed solution is simply replacing the entire current structure with a higher salary cap and a guaranteed salary floor, forcing more non-ambitious owners to spend at a certain level while simultaneously allowing teams who wish to spend more to distribute their spending across the entire team, with less restrictions on where that money can go. Additionally, several fans called for transfer fees to be removed from a player’s cap hit, leaving salary as the only factor.* *Overall, fans seem to have the consensus view that the league has outgrown its highly restricted financial structure, and needs to modernize rules to allow for higher spending, particularly on the middle of the roster. Fans also think enforcing transparency with transfer fees will go a long way towards eliminating any favoritism, as well as creating less “top-heavy” rosters.* ## Lovin' that local coverage *Fan sentiment regarding Major League Soccer's (MLS) national, traditional media coverage is overwhelmingly critical, characterized by the belief that the league is largely ignored by mainstream outlets and, when it is covered, that coverage is severely limited in scope, often centering solely on high-profile stars.* *The core complaints center on three key areas: non-existence, an obsessive focus on a few select players, and a perceived decline in quality and depth. Fans rated their overall satisfaction with national media coverage at a 2.34 out of five.* *Fans were much more positive when it came to independent media coverage of MLS, with an average satisfaction rating of 3.80 out of five. The overall sentiment towards independent media was overwhelmingly positive, often described with terms like "amazing," "fantastic," and "great." Fans view these sources as the lifeblood of their fandom and the primary providers of deep, insightful, and authentic journalism, especially when compared to traditional national media or the league's own corporate content.* *Fans highly value independent and local outlets—such as podcasts, blogs, newsletters, and dedicated local beat reporters—as the most essential sources for information about their team and the league as a whole. Despite the high praise, fans recognize that independent media operates under significant constraints imposed by the league and clubs. There is a strong belief that independent journalists are deliberately constrained by the league, which limits access to players and coaches to control the narrative. As one fan states, "Independent media is the only place to get any coverage and unfortunately they are not provided with access."* As a final observation, I feel like this view is colored in part by 5.4% of respondents being Austin FC backers — fifth-highest among the respondents, only behind fans of teams that also have outstanding local independent media outlets doing great work. Austin FC fans have a wealth of the types of outlets described in the article, and though I haven't done a full chronicle of outlets — that's an offseason project — my early working theory is that Verde has the most independent media coverage of any team in MLS, allowing Verde fans to be among the most informed fans in the league. Check out the whole article at [SixOneFive Soccer](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/2025-mls-fan-survey/?ref=verdeallday.com), and become even more informed than you already are. (And thanks for your continued support of this particular outlet.) [Try Verde All Day for free](https://verdeallday.com/survey) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Austin FC will return to U.S. Open Cup in 2026 URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-will-return-to-u-s-open-cup-in-2026/ Last updated: 2025-12-04T15:05:20.000Z When Austin FC lost the 2025 U.S. Open Cup final at home, some wondered when the club would get another chance like that to win a trophy. That could now come as soon as next year. On Thursday morning, Austin FC, in conjunction with U.S. Soccer's announcement, revealed it will be one of 16 Major League Soccer teams to participate in the 2026 edition of the U.S. Open Cup. Verde will enter in the third round of the tournament, either April 14 or 15, though it's not yet officially announced whether they'll host or play elsewhere — though read on to see why we believe they'll host. Austin FC first participated in the historic tournament, which dates back to 1914, in its second season, losing to San Antonio FC in extra time, but fared far better in 2025, hosting the final after making a run that included wins over El Paso Locomotive, Houston Dynamo FC, San Jose Earthquakes, and Minnesota United FC, before losing a heartbreaker to Nashville SC at Q2 Stadium. In a yet-again-revised format, U.S. Soccer announced that 16 MLS teams, 17 USL Championship teams, 13 USL League One, and two MLS Next Pro teams will be among the tournament's 80 entrants. What hasn't changed, though, is the formula for capturing the trophy: Winning five games, most likely opening against a USL Championship team from the region. As [revealed by U.S. Soccer](https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2025/12/format-schedule-participating-teams-finalized-for-2026-lamar-hunt-us-open-cup?ref=verdeallday.com), Open Cup favorites like the Des Moines Menace (which has fielded retired MLS players in years past), El Farolito (the San Francisco-based "burrito team," named for a Mexican restaurant, with an impressive track record in past Open Cups), and Vermont Green (a USL League 2 team that's garnered a fan base beyond the state) will also participate. Other MLS teams in the tourney include: - Atlanta United FC - Charlotte FC - Chicago Fire FC - Colorado Rapids - Columbus Crew - D.C. United - Houston Dynamo FC - Minnesota United FC - New England Revolution - New York City FC - Orlando City SC - Red Bull New York - San Jose Earthquakes - St. Louis City SC - Sporting Kansas City One name you're not seeing on this list: Nashville SC, the defending champs, who will graduate to Concacaf Champions Cup in 2026 by virtue of winning the 2025 tournament, along with other MLS entrants LAFC, Inter Miami, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, San Diego FC, FC Cincinnati, and the Philadelphia Union. U.S. Soccer says, "Teams not participating in the 2026 Leagues Cup qualify for the Open Cup, ranked based on 2025 Supporters Shield Standings. The top four teams from this list from each conference will be seeded as home teams." Based on the Open Cup contestant list (which strangely excludes FC Dallas and Portland Timbers), Austin would be one of the four West hosts based on 2025 Shield standings. But the list also has nine East teams and seven West teams. Sizing up the list, based on 2025 rosters and standings, it looks like a winnable tournament, with semifinalists Minnesota the toughest out in the West, and Charlotte and NYCFC the highest-ranking East teams. So maybe a final at Q2 Stadium for a second year in a row isn't so far-fetched. ### Hear me out: The case for Austin FC signing Kei Kamara URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kei-kamara-free-agent-2026-possibility/ Last updated: 2025-12-02T15:02:33.000Z Something that might have escaped your attention in the run-up to free agency signings on Dec. 10, as teams picked up and declined player options, is that Kei Kamara's option was declined by FC Cincinnati. You also are aware, if you regularly read this site or follow other Austin FC media coverage, that Diego Rubio's option was declined, which takes away a forward from the Verde roster for 2026\. You also know that save for a miraculous rehab effort, forward Brandon Vázquez won't be ready for the start of the 2026 regular season. Austin FC does have Myrto Uzuni and CJ Fodrey available to play striker as the roster is currently configured, but it could certainly help the team to get some short-term striker depth to fill the hole the Rubio departure is leaving in the roster. And, if Uzuni is rehomed to a new club during the winter window, that striker hole becomes even bigger. I think you know where I'm going here. (Straight into the North End Podcast's "Reckless Speculation" song, perhaps, but we're in a news-free part of the offseason, so let's have some fun.) ## Lucky number 13? In case you're not familiar, Kamara is a legendary MLS iron man, second all-time on the MLS goal scorers list in part due to sheer longevity. He has 147 goals in 455 appearances, according to sites that aren't the MLS site, which is underreporting his goals on his official player page and adding new questions to its reliability. He's had some dramatic exits from clubs along the way (including at Columbus over [an infamous and controversial penalty kick decision](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/kei-kamara-lashes-out-teammate-federico-higuain-after-pk-incident?ref=verdeallday.com) and Montréal over a contract extension dispute that got unsettlingly public), but he's a fascinating player who figured into the Chicago Fire's 2023 Open Cup victory over Austin, and also (when with LAFC in 2024) scored a late equalizer to salvage a draw and move into a tie with Landon Donovan for second on the all-time goals list with 145, before later surpassing him. Just for fun, here's a list of all 12 teams Kamara has played for in MLS (which doesn't even count the three other teams he's played for): - Columbus Crew (2006-07 and 2015-16) - San Jose Earthquakes (2008) - Houston Dynamo (2008-09) - Sporting Kansas City (2009-13) - New England Revolution (2016-17) - Vancouver Whitecaps (2018) - Colorado Rapids (2019-20) - Minnesota United FC (2020) - CF Montréal (2022) - Chicago Fire (2023) - LAFC (2024) - FC Cincinnati (2025) Yes, if Austin FC were to pick him up, it would be Kamara's 13th MLS team, and Kamara will turn 42 in September. He scored in his first MLS game, playing for the Crew on April 1, 2006, against the Kansas City Wizards. Current Austin FC assistant coach Davy Arnaud also scored in that match. Owen Wolff, for perspective, was 16 months old. Last year, Kamara failed to score a goal in nearly 800 minutes of play, only getting five shots on target, after getting three goals on 11 shots on target for LAFC the year before in a shade over 1000 minutes. Here's what his last 365 days look like, which shows him to now be more of a help-others forward. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/12/-FBCharts--Kei-Kamara.png) He's certainly well past his most productive years ... so why would sporting director Rodolfo Borrell even want this? ## An unlikely-but-intriguing scenario Let's indulge some roster-building fantasies that some Austin FC fans have been harboring, for the exercise. Let's say, to go whole hog: - Myrto Uzuni finds a team in Spain, returning his family to more European normalcy and getting his groove back in time to contribute to a feel-good Albania-in-the-World-Cup story; - Borrell uses the designated player spot Uzuni vacates to shock MLS and sign free agent Cristian Espinoza, giving Verde a reliable wide playmaker who can also score (28 goals and 40 assists in the previous four seasons, including a weird outlier 2023 when he had 13 goals and zero assists); - Borrell finds a European suitor for Owen Wolff and gets the treasure trove of GAM he's previously lacked in order to build a more strategic top-to-bottom MLS roster; and - Brings in a U22 or TAM-level central attacking midfielder (maybe it's Kervin Andrade, maybe it's some yet-unknown-to-us gem), also using the international spot Uzuni vacates (since Espinoza has domestic status) to learn, develop, and ideally flourish. Aside from an initially awkward reunion between Espinoza and Mikkel Desler, who infamously tussled in the Open Cup knockout match this past summer, there's a lot to be excited about in this scenario ... and yet, until BV9 returns to the fold, the Opening Day starter is CJ Fodrey, who has one goal and two assists in 541 MLS minutes dating back to 2023\. Fodrey's got immense promise, and his game-winning goal against Minnesota in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal is top three in all-time Verde moments. But he's still young and largely untested, and will be shifting from a late-game closer role to a starter relied on to go at least 75 minutes in the early part of the season. Here's what Borrell could do next: - Sign a player with 147 lifetime MLS goals, who might be eager for one last chance to arrive at a nice round 150 number (or higher), to a supplemental deal; - Let Fodrey learn from him; - Let Austin media gather quotes from him (as he's very quotable, as enigmatic as he's been at some of his stops along the way); and - By summer, when Vazquez and Fodrey are clicking and it's time for Borrell to bring in a TAM-level forward/winger in the spot vacated by a summer window deal or a buyout, move a budget-friendly Kamara to an East contender while the West vs. East playoff format is still a thing, possibly getting another international spot for some additional roster remaking (or to sell to the Revs for a profit). ## Even if this doesn't happen ... Let's say things stay largely static, and Uzuni and Wolff don't move in the offseason. Austin's still down a forward — though ideally, to replace Rubio, they'd get a forward who can also play midfield on a supplemental roster. Those players don't exactly grow on trees. Free agency does have some interesting attacking names, including Paul Rothrock (last becoming a folk hero in Seattle, now testing the market to see if he can command $800,000 a season, and I suspect that he'll somehow find his way back to Seattle thanks to MLS' weird free agency rules), and Christian Benteke (who could theoretically find his way onto a team as a max TAM player, though maybe there's a Saudi Pro League cashgrab in his future). But Rothrock and Benteke are high-end attacking spends for a team that's already dedicated designated player assets to its front three, and that's had to deploy Wolff (possibly moving to a U22 contract in the offseason, to take that final slot) as a winger in Vázquez's absence. Espinoza is arguably the best chance creator in free agency, but unless Uzuni (or Osman Bukari) are on the way out, it's extremely unlikely Espinoza comes over. The only incoming transfer rumor Austin FC's fielding right now is for center back Jon Bell, most recently on a supplemental contract with Seattle. Bell appears a consummate Borrell-style low-salary roster depth glue guy, and on a supplemental, he's a good "why not" pick to replace Julio Cascante as a rotational center back, but he's obviously not solving the issue of Vázquez rehabbing his knee and being unavailable to start the season. Kamara isn't a like-for-like replacement for Rubio, and he really only solves one problem facing Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez in 2026 with the current roster — "Which attacker do I put on in the 80th minute when Uzuni's spent and I've already subbed Fodrey for a tiring Bukari and shifted Jon Gallagher to right wing so Fodrey can play left wing?" It's a problem that he'll specifically have in the first quarter of the season, when Austin's trying to bank early-season points against D.C. United, Real Salt Lake, a Galaxy team still getting acclimated to life with Riqui Puig, and Toronto FC. Banking early points was key to Austin's 2025 playoff qualification, and it's shaping up to be that way in 2026 as well, though there are some rough early-season segments to navigate as well. They're not quite May 2025, but they approximate that. Admittedly, it's not the best idea, and it's possible Kamara doesn't have another MLS goal in him and it's chalked up as a failed experiment. But if it's on a low-stakes supplemental roster spot, it also might not be the worst idea. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### MLS Cup 2025: How Vancouver Whitecaps FC can beat Inter Miami CF URL: https://verdeallday.com/mls-cup-2025-preview-vancouver-whitecaps-inter-miami/ Last updated: 2025-11-30T17:20:35.000Z Next Saturday at 1:30 pm CT, after traveling about as far as a team can physically travel in MLS, Vancouver Whitecaps FC will play Inter Miami CF for the 2025 title. Miami has the home-field advantage and the Lionel Messi advantage, which also brings with it Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, Rodrigo de Paul, and perhaps most surprisingly, Tadeo Allende, who scored 11 goals during the regular season, and has registered eight during the playoffs, including a hat trick against NYCFC on Saturday to elevate them to the finals. But Vancouver is arguably the best team-playing-as-a-team this season in MLS, just missing out on the best seed in the West as the result of a shocking Decision Day loss to Dallas, which put them on the road for the conference final and will keep the final in South Florida rather than British Columbia. The teams have nearly identical records (Miami is 19w 7L 8D on the season, with the 'Caps at 18W 7L 9D), and though they're differently built, they're also stunningly similar in mounting an excellent goal differential. Miami had 81 goals on the season but let in 55 for a GD of 26, good for second in MLS, while Vancouver scored 66 but only let in 38 (second-best in the league) for a league-leading GD of 28\. And then there's this from the Bluesky account dedicated to MLS writer Matthew Doyle: > Those who kept up with the POWER RANKINGS on TACTICS FREE ZONE this season will know that the 2025 MLS Cup is between the two teams who held rank 1 the most often (Miami, 14; Vancouver, 9) Ignore POWER at your peril > > — [Armchair Analyst's Ottoman (@doylesteponme.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wy7hiccg33as3of6sghrm5pi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-11-30T05:02:48.948Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wy7hiccg33as3of6sghrm5pi/post/3m6t554kvbk2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) In other words, despite how the seedings shook out, giving us a No. 2 heading to a No. 3 for the final, we ended up with arguably the two best teams in MLS this season playing for the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy — which, for the next six days, is still maintained by the LA Galaxy. Determining how Vancouver can beat Miami lies in reviewing how they got through the playoffs. ## How Vancouver got here The Whitecaps started their 2025 playoff journey reprising their regretful Decision Day matchup against Dallas, dispatching them in two games in the best-of-three series. It did, however, take penalty kicks in the clinching game to do it, after falling behind on a Petar Musa goal and managing a stoppage-time equalizer to keep the series from heading back north. Game 1 was a different story, and more like what they did in subsequent playoff series: They got a Daniel Rios goal before halftime and, thanks in part to a Thomas Müller penalty kick, cruised to a 3-0 win to get the advantage. And then came the epic match against LAFC, in which Vancouver scored in the 39th minute with an Emmanuel Sabbi goal, got a stoppage-time goal from Mathias Laborda seven minutes later to be up 2-0 at the break, and then couldn't get the third goal they needed to put the game away. LAFC's counterattack came to life, Son Heung-min scored twice, Tristan Blackmon was ejected on a questionable call to set up the second Son goal (the free kick you likely remember from this match) ... and then the Whitecaps hung on throughout 30 minutes of extra time, not only preventing a goal but clawing back momentum that they took into the PK sequence that sent them through. Against San Diego on Saturday, they scored twice in the first 12 minutes, first from Brian White, and then from an Ali Ahmed shot set up by a Sabbi shot saved by Pablo Sisniega, credited as a Sisniega own goal when he mishandled the blocked shot in the chaos that the Whitecaps created. White added a second goal to his tally in first-half stoppage time with a belly goal set up by Ahmed. So, keep this all in mind: Lots of players involved, and for the most part, overwhelming and unsettling teams with first-half goals. (Austin FC experienced this in the Whitecaps' 5-1 win in April; Vancouver also did this to Miami in its Concacaf Champions Cup first leg 12 days later, en route to a 5-1 aggregate two-leg victory that got the Whitecaps into the CCC finals.) (That final did not go well with the Whitecaps, as they lost 5-0 away at Cruz Azul, but then they had an incredible eight days in September in which they blanked the Union 7-0 on a Saturday, shut out Forge on a Tuesday to win the Canadian Championship, and returned the following Saturday to beat SKC on the road 2-0\. That's a trophy and a drubbing of the Shield winners and a 15-0 showing over three matches. ## How Miami got here Starting as a No. 3 seed, Miami drew Nashville (who Miami also played on Decision Day), and was taken to a third game, winning the opener 3-1 (after winning the Decision Day match 5-2), lost the second game in Nashville 2-1, and then won the rubber match 4-0, with Messi scoring a first-half brace and Allende scoring a second-half brace). And that's really when Miami's playoff dominance kicked in. In the conference semifinals, Miami traveled to Cincinnati for what could have been one of the playoffs' best matchups. Instead, Messi scored first, and Allende got another second-half brace en route to a 4-0 match that Knifey Lion was never really competitive in. And then, Saturday's conference final, which by the great good fortune of the Pigeons beating the Union in the other conference semifinal, meant Miami got to host. While Miami might have fared well enough in 36-degree weather in Chester, had the Union advanced to last night's match, Miami instead got to host the No. 4 seed. Allende switched things up with a first-half brace, and got his third goal late in what ended up a 5-1 contest to send Miami to the final. While NYCFC did get a set piece header to somewhat answer back and close the contest to 2-1, Miami was able to put the match away in the second half, starting with Mateo Silvetti getting a goal set up by Messi and Alba. ## Scoring early Let's look at Miami's seven losses during the regular season. - April 27, hosting FC Dallas, 4-3 (FCD scored first, in the 8th minute) - May 10, at Minnesota United FC, 4-1 (MNUFC scored first, in the 32nd minute, and was up 2-0 by halftime) - May 17, hosting Orlando City, 3-0 (Orlando clearly scored first, in the 43rd minute) - July 17, at FC Cincinnati, 3-0 (FCC also clearly scored first, in the 16th minute) - Aug. 9, at Orlando City, 4-1 (Orlando City scored first, in the 2nd minute) (yes, 2nd minute) - Sept. 13, at Charlotte FC, 3-0 (with Idan Toklomati starting his hat trick in the 34th minute); and - Sept. 30, hosting Chicago Fire FC, 5-3 (with the Fire getting their first goal in the 11th minute en route to a 2-0 lead and a 3-1 halftime lead). Remarkably, in all seven of those losses, Miami's opponent got a first-half goal en route to the win. In a couple of them, Miami was able to get back level, and even got a 3-1 lead against Dallas before giving up a trio of goals in the last half hour. In Miami's lone playoff loss, Nashville also got out to an early lead, going up 2-0 by halftime, with Messi only able to get a 90th-minute goal to get his side on the scoreboard. Consider that 18 teams have let in fewer goals than Miami in 2025, including Toronto, New England, and Real Salt Lake. It's very possible to score on the Herons; it's just that no team scored more goals, and with the Fire being second 13 goals behind, with a respectable 2 goals a game average, it's also quite possible to lose in a match in which the goals are flowing. ## The strategy should be clear For Vancouver, which was 3rd in goals scored and, again, 2nd in goals allowed in 2025, the strategy should be clear: Score first. While there's no guarantee that scoring first will bring victory, it's notable that Miami got scored on first in all seven of its losses. That also meant, in the regular season, if Miami scored first, they'd do no worse than draw. Fortunately for Vancouver, scoring first is something it's been able to do consistently throughout the playoffs, not reliant on a single player to make it happen. "It's not about Messi against Thomas Müller; it's Miami against the Whitecaps,” Muller said in the post-match press conference as relayed by [MLSSoccer.com's Charles Boehm](https://www.mlssoccer.com/playoffs/2025/news/thomas-muller-mls-cup-vs-lionel-messi-s-miami-a-perfect-situation?ref=verdeallday.com). “Maybe they rely a little bit more on him than we do on me, because we are such a good group, you know what I mean? “The nice thing about it is not only playing against the greatest player who played our game and is still playing our game, but it's more that, I think, when you have a pairing like this, more people are watching,” he added. “If more people are watching, the value also for you as a player, as an individual, also for your team and also for your franchise, is way bigger.” People who only peripherally know MLS are likely expecting the Messi show, and might be expecting the outcome to be over by the time the SEC Championship college football game between Alabama and Georgia kicks off at 3 pm CT. (Yes, maddeningly, there's MLS/SEC overlap *again*.) But for those who have watched Vancouver with any regularity this season, as I have, I believe we're in for a far better match than we had last season, when the Red Bulls somehow clawed their way from the No. 7 seed into the final and were overwhelmed by a Galaxy team missing Riqui Puig but getting a stellar performance from Gaston Brugman (who is now a free agent cut loose from Nashville SC). It's not the LAFC-Miami match some might have been missing, but I'd argue this is better. I'm looking forward to how this unfolds. Especially if the Whitecaps score first. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### He's a keeper: Stefan Cleveland stays at Austin FC, and other less surprising roster decisions URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-roster-decisions/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T15:27:14.000Z For now, Austin FC has three goalkeepers on its roster. That's perhaps the most surprising of the decisions announced from the club on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the league required the club to reveal its roster decisions ahead of the 2026 season. While Damian Las has been recalled from his loan in Louisville — after winning USL's [Golden Glove award](https://www.loucity.com/news/2025/10/27/damian-las-golden-gloves-louisville-city-fc-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) after letting in just 0.7 goals a game to further prove that he's ready for the next level, with the next level being MLS — and Brad Stuver is a seemingly implacable starter coming off his first All-Star appearance, the 31-year-old Cleveland allowed two goals against USL side El Paso in his only 2025 appearance. And yet, for now, both Cleveland and Las will be competing with Stuver for the spot between the sticks — those this move could set up for dealing either to a different team prior to the start of the 2026 season. Here's what else the club did, with my commentary. ## An OG is released Though not surprising, the decision not to pick up Julio Cascante's option means that one of the last remaining 2021 original Austin FC players is now departing from Austin. His [totally wholesome Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/juliocasca03/?ref=verdeallday.com) doesn't include any farewell messages (yet), and it's unclear whether he can find another MLS destination or if his future lies elsewhere. But the 32-year-old does leave Austin with 125 of his 173 MLS league appearances in Verde (well, *this* shade of verde, as he was also in Portland), and up until this season, he was one of the best players on the team using the sometimes-perplexing goals added metric. (Guilherme Biro was the team leader this year, with Cascante far down on the list between Owen Wolff and Robert Taylor, which is an indicator that goals added is weird.) With his exit, Rodolfo Borrell's roster has no TAM players on it. Rectifying that could be a key to the 2026 season. ## Return of the captain In our recent [poll results article](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-1/), we revealed that slightly more than half of you (who responded) thought that Austin FC should move on from Ilie Sánchez on his current contract. Perhaps you thought $600,000 was too much to spend on a player who logged his lowest total minutes (1627) since the 2020 season. He's back on a renegotiated contract for 2026 with an option for 2027, and while we won't know what number he's on until April when the MLS Players Association blesses us with salary release data, we can assume it's on a more club-friendly. What role he'll have on the team is another question, though, as he appears to have lost some pace from 2024, even though he's perhaps even gained in leadership from when he was at LAFC, where he was already reaching a high bar. ## And the others Other roster developments were, shall we say, not surprising. The club picked up options on Brendan Hines-Ike, Dani Pereira (though some wondered if the delay in the club announcement was hinging on a renegotiated contract to keep Pereira Verde beyond 2026), and Riley Thomas. In fact, "The option for Brendan Hines-Ike was automatically exercised based on performance metrics during the 2025 season," which is curious given how the Emiliano Rigoni saga went down, though Hines-Ike did come to Austin fairly early in Borrell's tenure. We'd already learned about Diego Rubio's option not being extended (though I've heard from a source that his late-season hamstring injury is no longer hobbling him and wasn't the factor I feared it might be), and the club also declined the option on Jimmybryant Farkarlun (getting older but not progressing to a consistent MLS level, and that might be the last time I get to type Jimmybryant). ## How things look now Per the club, these are the current 24 players on the roster. **GOALKEEPERS (3)**: Stefan Cleveland, Damian Las, Brad Stuver **DEFENDERS (8)**: Guilherme Biro, Mikkel Desler, Mateja Djordjević, Jon Gallagher, Brendan Hines-Ike, Žan Kolmanič, Oleksandr Svatok, Riley Thomas **MIDFIELDERS (7)**: Micah Burton, Nico Dubersarsky, Dani Pereira, Besard Šabović, Ilie Sánchez, Ervin Torres, Owen Wolff **FORWARDS/WINGERS (6)**: Osman Bukari, CJ Fodrey, Jáder Obrian, Robert Taylor, Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez Certainly, this could change, as there are a couple of underperforming buyout candidates or otherwise movable players (provided the right suitor) on the roster, plus one dynamic 20-year-old who strangely isn't yet the subject of recent transfer rumors. (Search for Wolff, and you might remember the Brest rumors from a year ago that didn't materialize.) But overall, the team is less reinvented at the end of the 2025 season than it was in 2024, when it only retained 21 players following the exits of Matt Bersano, Ethan Finlay, Matt Hedges, Alex Ring, and Jhojan Valencia. That indicates a bit more stability, even though further roster remaking could theoretically lift the team from its current 6th-in-the-West base camp to a higher peak. My prediction is that there's still more work to be done ahead of the Feb. 21 home opener — which is now 88 days away. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Fairly decent team, frustrated fans: Your Austin FC end-of-season survey results, Part Two URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-2/ Last updated: 2025-11-23T15:35:48.000Z In [Part One](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-1/) of the Austin FC end-of-season survey results, which we shared Saturday, we focused on pie charts showing overall acknowledgment, if not satisfaction or contentment, with how the 2025 season went. But we also hinted at significant fan frustration, which we'll dig into further here with representative comments from the nearly 200 people who responded to the survey. Not everyone submitted comments, but enough of you did that I have plenty to share ... so thank you to all who took the extra step. First, though, one more pie chart, and this is a crucial one, as it sets us up for the 2026 season. ## How confident are you in Austin FC in 2026? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/How-confident-are-you-in-Austin-FC-in-2026_--MLS-Cup-Contender---5-stars--Wooden-Spoon-contenders---1-star--1.png) The vast majority of fans went with either three or four stars, with three eking out a bare majority, with only one in eight being extremely positive or negative. Yet only 2.1% put Verde in the five-star MLS Cup contender category, and that's not surprising given where the team is relative to others in the league. And that brings us to the frustration, which we'll group into two main areas: With the team, and with the matchday experience. [Try Verde All Day free for five days](https://verdeallday.com/survey) ## Frustration with the team You'll notice some thematic arcs here. > This team is like all the teams that are 5th-9th. There’s nothing remarkable about it. We have some solid players. We’ve had more okay performances than anything else. Needless to say, this is not enough to win anything. I think we lack a true CAM to unlock the offense assuming BV9 is back fully next season. Drop Uzuni, get Driussi (or someone at that level) back. I've been eager for Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell to look for a functional No. 10 (or CAM, acronym for a central attacking midfielder) for quite some time, so much so that I latched on to the [Kervin Andrade rumors](https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-colvatx-060725-kervin-andrade-transfer-rumor-fortaleza/) when they were active, even though he would have been a very green U22 stringpuller. And I do believe the only way a CAM of significance gets to the team is if Myrto Uzuni finds a new home in the offseason, but I don't see that as particularly likely. It could happen. It probably needs to happen for the team to appreciably improve, unless Uzuni has a transformative offseason. But offload Uzuni, and you roll with CJ Fodrey as your starting striker — and perhaps he's ready for this – until Brandon Vázquez returns from his knee injury, as this respondent refers to. (And we don't know which Vázquez we're going to get in, let's say, April, to be safe.) > Why can’t we score more goals? Why are our DPs not scoring more often? No one feels dangerous when striking. Buka feels dangerous looking for the cross or pass, but no one else comes close to the feeling of Driussi inside the box. There's another person pining for Sebastián Driussi, who is not coming back. And regarding this *danger* idea, Osman Bukari certainly had that for portions of the season, and he looked to finally be connecting with Vázquez a bit before the injury. But the "I see everything" moment that Uzuni and Bukari had at St. Louis early in the season – in which Uzuni made a public case for feeding him the ball more — was more indicative of a lack of cohesion than a team witnessing an ascendant star. > I just want us to be good and fun. I want a team that doesn’t hate each other or the coach. Like I want the team to play fun soccer and not so pessimistic as it has been at times this year. I don’t know if Nico is the one to do fun attacking soccer, but he has the team not hating each other. It is such a great home atmosphere when it is poppin’; just bring back fun, Rodo and Nico. I also want Austin FC to be good and fun. This team was that at points this year; it just wasn't at the consistent levels of LAFC or Vancouver (who played a remarkable playoff match last night in which I went full fan, realizing that exists deep below my flinty journalistic exterior). > Decent first season for Nico results-wise, but this team is boring as hell. I attended about half the home regular-season games this year, and witnessed two wins and maybe six or seven Austin FC goals. That sucks (though that’s partially on me picking the wrong ones to attend). My overall interest in the team has cooled significantly over the past three seasons. given the lack of results under Wolff and the boring but sometimes effective results under Nico. Outside of 2022 Driussi, the DPs have been underwhelming, and they gotta hit on one of those again soon. Yes, the idea of hitting on your designated players, which anchored [my article exploring](https://verdeallday.com/points-per-million-goals-per-dollar-austin-fc-2025/) how much goals cost teams in salary. Goal production was better in the second half of the season, but was quite worrisome in the first half. And I think this is feeding some of the discontent over matchdays, as goals do change fan perception of games as well as the games themselves. (And, no, Driussi's not coming back, though those 2022 home games were, overall, extremely fun.) > There have been moments I thought we could win everything, and moments I thought we were absolute trash. But the end of season puts things in perspective — we had highs and lows that balanced out to a middle-of-the-road 6th seed. I’ll forget this as soon as we have our first loss in 2026. Ah, perspective! Let's take these next two together. > This season has been okay but not great. It feels like the team isn’t fully aligned — at times, you can sense individual egos getting in the way of chemistry on the field. To make Austin FC successful on and off the field in the years ahead, we need stronger cohesion, leadership, and a more exciting style of play. > Many season ticket holders I know chose not to renew for 2026, which shows the need to re-energize the fan base with better soccer and a clearer vision. Austin also needs a true international star — someone who can elevate the team’s performance and energize the entire franchise, like what Miami, LA, and Vancouver have done. This first one seems targeted at Uzuni, and this second one seems targeted as something I talked about at the end of the Part One article. This summer, Miami bolstered its lineup with Rodrigo de Paul, LAFC got Son Heung-min, and Vancouver — with an annual roster spend comparable to Austin — brought Thomas Müller over. In Vancouver's case, it was enabled by dealing a U22 player to Pumas, Pedro Vite, who grew in value during his time with the Whitecaps. LAFC and Miami have the resources and the bask-in-an-awesome-city factor that convinces players to come up for less than other cities might have to negotiate. Which brings us to this comment. > Fan expectations are sometimes too high, as someone not native to Austin I think it's odd when Austin people think of Austin as a comparable destination to cities like LA, New York and Miami, and expect incoming players to want to play here over bigger cities \[that\] attract guys like Son in. That's just not how Austin will see success imo. We are a “build the academy and bring in good players” team, not a “bring in new superstars every few years to compete” team. That would be true if the academy were consistently producing MLS-level players, but it's just not doing that yet. Ervin Torres could be that, but he just turned 18 on Nov. 14, and he's not quite on the level where 18-year-old Owen Wolff was. (And Wolff, though technically an academy player, bounced from Columbus to Atlanta before arriving at Austin with his dad.) Micah Burton, who came over from Minnesota's academy when it was put on pause to anchor the initial group of academy players, hasn't quite developed as hoped — he's yet to make a senior team appearance at age 19, and could be headed toward a life in USL on his current trajectory. I hope he makes the leap to MLS level, but I'm less optimistic about this than I was when he arrived. ## Frustration with the matchday experience Let's start this section with an understanding: Austin FC has an incredible matchday experience. Having been inside close to half of MLS' stadia, I can confidently say that the combination of fan energy, concessions, and architecture makes Q2 Stadium arguably unbeatable. But that doesn't mean you're all collectively satisfied with being better than others. > Sad to say it, but after five years and a true day-one Austin supporter, I've been priced out of my season tickets. In my opinion, the on-field success does not match the annual increase in cost of tickets and it's disappointing to see multiple people in my section make the same choice. I understand it's a business, but pricing out loyal fans is a bad look in my book. I know we've had pretty solid renewal rates year-over-year, but I'm curious if we'll see more of a hit after five years — not to mention the fact that no one cares about the "sellout streak" and I'd say I'm actually bothered by it when that 20,378 number pops up and there are hundreds of empty seats around and people are priced out. Ticket prices have been a sore subject for a while, and the front office has made its case about this before. But to me, this begins to get at the perception of value — an idea of "What am I paying for?" intrinsically tied to "How much fun am I having?" > Q2 concessions feel like they're falling off big time. I also am constantly frustrated with the hustle of trying to get match day posters; surely there are better ways to do this. > Ticket pricing is concerning — only keeps going up while the product on the field has not been improving. Food at the stadium seems to be getting worse in an effort to extract every last dollar out of the fans. Fan goodwill is gone, and it shows in attendance slowly dwindling. I'd love to know more about why people perceive that food quality is "falling off big time;" for the last few years, Austin FC's showcased its food offerings in an impressive media event, and getting La Barbecue in the stadium's barbecue corner allowed the front office to boast of having [Michelin Star-awarded concessions](https://verdeallday.com/2025-food-and-bev-and-yeti/). I'm guessing it ties into the idea of value. You can still get winning sandwiches, burgers, and choripans for $16 to $24, and we've joked for years about an Electric Jellyfish approaching $20\. But that adds up quickly, and if you're eating that while Verde's failing to score goals, does that somehow make it less appetizing? Also, one commenter decried "corporate catering bullshit" replacing local businesses, which sounds like someone sad that Taco Flats is no longer in the stadium. I too lament Taco Flats' exit, though OneTaco and Little Patagonia now occupy that spot in the Austin Telco Terrace line of offerings. Plenty of local still exists. > Can someone please turn down the volume a little bit on the stadium announcements and DJ music? My watch regularly warns of >90db and my ears are ringing after games. People in my section (235) are wearing earplugs, and it isn't because of La Murga or cheering. It's the artificial stuff. Stop it! Lastly, I love La Murga, but they don't leave any room for organic, easy-to-memorize chants to happen, and that locks people out of participation. Austin FC's home field advantage is negligible. Shouldn't it be better than that? > We need Stevie Ray Vaughan or similar Austin/Texas musicians played after every win, not Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right.” Keep it cool, keep it Austin. The front office has focused more on matchday experience in 2025, and I love that Speedbump-as-Godzilla has become my cue to stop any halftime wandering/vibes-checking I do around the concourse to get back up to the press box. But these comments indicate not everyone's happy with everything. And I'm happy I'm not the only one puzzling over the Beastie Boys played after wins. I love the Beastie Boys. But they're New York through and through. It doesn't have to be "Whiskey River," as Matthew McConaughey suggested in Verde's infancy, but it should be something that's more Austin. Thank you for attending my TED talk. And, finally, La Murga catches some strays. > La Murga has become a weird, rigid, self-aggrandizing piece of 90 minute performance art. Tifos aside, the South End just plays the same old setlist, not reacting to the game with a relevant song or getting creative with chants for players. How we don't have a Teen Wolff ditty or a ballad to sing at Stuver is beyond me. It's a real bummer. Could La Murga be better at adapting its set list for player-centric songs and following the flow of the game? It's an interesting question that I now want to explore in the offseason, on the other side of talking about the roster decisions that have to come by Wednesday. Again, go to a match in Frisco or Kansas City or Commerce City and contrast it with what you have in Austin, and you'll instantly perceive the distance. Even Houston, which does have fans creating music going the full 90, feels more same-set-list than Austin. But this is perhaps where Austin fandom is reaching a growing pains inflection point. Five years in, and the team has a pair of Copa Tejas trophies, a home U.S. Open Cup final, and two playoff victories en route to a Western Conference final played away to its credit. The frustration of wanting more, from how I'm reading all of this, is leading to discontent with even the best aspects of the Austin matchday experience. Go far back enough in Austin FC history, before there even was a team, and we've gone from a disconnected group of soccer fans who never thought MLS would come to Austin, to this current state of affairs — successfully hosting an All-Star Game, returning to the playoffs, coming heartbreakingly close to a major trophy, and yet unsettled and unsatisfied. I'm absolutely invested in seeing how the club responds in its roster build, on the field, and in evolving Q2 Stadium in 2026\. It's good to strive and want more. It's understandable to be frustrated. And I'm excited to chronicle how it evolves over these next few crucial — and I do believe them to be crucial — months. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Fairly decent team, frustrated fans: Your Austin FC end-of-season survey results, Part One URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-1/ Last updated: 2025-11-24T13:38:35.000Z Some of you might remember participating in a recent end-of-season survey I helped circulate; while the [MLS portion of that](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/2025-fan-survey/?ref=verdeallday.com) will be released in the week leading up to MLS Cup (by the team at SixOneFive Soccer), I've got Austin FC fan results ready to share from the nearly 200 who took the survey. (And much appreciation to those who took the time to give answers.) The headline gives away the toplines I gleaned from the survey: - First, fans feel like the team is a generally good spot overall. Not many feel that this team is going to contend for an MLS Cup, but the majority tilts toward the average-to-good end of the spectrum than the Wooden Spoon end. - Along with that, fans feel Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez is doing a good job coaching this team, getting appreciable performances from the collective talent assembled. - But, underneath all that, is roiling frustration: That Austin FC lacks the few transcendental players that could get it to be among the MLS' elite teams, that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell hasn't done enough to help that along, and the frustration is even permeating the game day experience, where some are questioning whether the product on the field, the concessions, and even La Murga de Austin, largely responsible for creating one of the best matchday experiences in the league, are worth the ticket prices. Let's dig into it. There's a lot, and I spent a fair bit of time sorting through it; collectively, considering how many of you participated, quite a few hours went into this. [Try Verde All Day free for five days](https://verdeallday.com/survey) ## Do you consider the season successful? This one's quite positive. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/Do-you-consider-the-2025-season-successful_-.png) More than three in four called 2025 a success, and less than five percent said no. The nearly 18% who said "still unsure" were actually answering "still unsure, depending on the playoffs," with the survey starting before the playoffs did, so given the first-round exit in two games, that can't really help. And yet, Verde did perform well enough in the first match against LAFC to win, and perhaps that was better than expected for some. ## How is Nico doing? Similarly, reactions to Estévez's first year are positive. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/Considering-Nico-Est--vez-s-first-season-as-head-coach--are-you-...-_.png) Less than 2% want him out, with the rest split eerily evenly between good and meh. If we do this again next year, I'll be very interested to see how this shifts based on whether Verde can do better than 6th. ## What was Verde's biggest accomplishment in 2025? While Austin FC did get to the playoffs for the first time since 2022, it also got to its first-ever final, and I can't say I'm surprised by the results. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-was-Verde-s-biggest-accomplishment-in-2025_-.png) Man, that final still stings. It may never cease to be a painful memory ... until Verde win a first final? ## Are you Team Back Four or Team Back Five? On the question of how the team should align in the back line — with a more traditional two center back and two fullback set up, vs. three center backs and two wingbacks, the majority was Team Trust the Coaches to Deploy Either Situationally, but more of you were Back Five than Back Four, which makes center back acquisition in the offseason (assuming you're prescient on one roster decision in particular) all the more interesting. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/Are-you-Team-Back-Four-or-Team-Back-Five_.png) Your 2025 MVP Remember: He doesn't turn 21 until Dec. 30! Congratulations to Owen Wolff. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/Who-is-your-2025-MVP_-.png) It really came down to Wolff and Brad Stuver, and Wolff got more than 2/3 of the vote. ## The roster decision questions While we do know of one already — Diego Rubio made a farewell social media post indicating he won't be back in 2026 — Borrell is leaving the roster decision announcements quite close to the Nov. 26 deadline, compared to the many other MLS teams who have already announced who is staying and going. Let's go through them one by one; the questions involved whether to activate the 2026 option on the player or not. (At that point, the team could renegotiate a new contract with the player, or the player is free to pursue opportunities with other clubs.) ### Julio Cascante I think we've seen the last of an OG Austin player in Verde, and the majority of you seem to agree. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-Julio-Cascante-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---853-750--and-production_--1-.png) ### Stefan Cleveland Many seem ready to try Damian Las as Verde's backup goalkeeper. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-Stefan-Cleveland-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---274-617--and-production_-.png) ### Brendan Hines-Ike This option pickup makes a lot of sense, and a lot of you agreed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-Brendan-Hines-Ike-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---325-000--and-production_-.png) Like, an *overwhelming number* of you agreed. ### Dani Pereira I mean, we probably didn't even need to ask this, but we're being completists. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-Dani-Pereira-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---514-375--and-production_-.png) I was a little surprised to see about 5% say let him go. (I assume a fair bit of this is "find him a buyer overseas," which is an offseason conversation I'm sure we'll be having here, on Emergency Podcast, or both.) ### Diego Rubio Keeping the "I'd take him on a supplemental" catch phrase among a Slack-connected group of Austin FC fans in mind, Rubio's supplemental spot on the roster, and his ability to play a 9 1/2 role (and having stayed upright for most of the time Brandon Vázquez was injured) was valued by a lot of you. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-each-of-Diego-Rubio-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---208-000_--and-production_-.png) But he's gone now. ### Ilie Sánchez At yesterday's Media Cup game, I got in a conversation with the Statesman's Colby Gordon and the Chronicle's Eric Goodman, where Goodman concluded I'll be writing some sort of paean-leaning column to Ilie should he leave. He's most certainly right. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/What-should-Austin-FC-do-with-Ilie-S--nchez-s-2026-option--considering-current-salary---600-000--and-production_--1.png) I suspect I should, through the tears, start drafting. ## Speaking of roster decisions ... I also was curious what you thought of Borrell's performance as sporting director. Specifically, I asked, "With five stars being the best and one star being Claudio Reyna, how would you rate Rodolfo Borrell's performance as sporting director to date (considering player acquisitions, contract and buyout negotiations, and GAM wrangling)?" Here's where you landed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/How-would-you-rate-Rodolfo-Borrell-s-performance-to-date_-1.png) Google Sheets really does not want to let me show that the One Star rating (in orange; I think you can all figure out why I chose that color) is 1.1%. Most of you are in the all-right-to-pretty-good zone, and I'd assess that as fair given the shape of the roster when Borrell arrived vs. the shape of the roster now. But being satisfied with that doesn't mean you can't be jealous of LAFC landing Son Heung-min and Vancouver landing Thomas Müller during the summer while Verde's sole summer acquisition was a U22 defender from Serbia. Mateja Đorđević may turn out to be a very shrewd signing as we look back on Verde's 2030 MLS Cup-winning season helmed by head coach Ilie Sánchez, but it's not delivering the level of excitement those other fan bases are feeling right now as they prepare to face off in a match to determine who goes on to the Western Conference final. ## What's in Part Two? Since this is a fair bit of reading, I'll start [Part Two](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-end-of-2025-season-survey-results-part-2/) tomorrow with one more chart — how fans are feeling going into 2026 — and then I'll dig into your specific comments. I've chosen a number of good representative ones; they're submitted anonymously, so I don't know who's responsible for them, but taken together, it'll give you a good read on where the fan base is. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The three best and three worst things about the 2026 Austin FC schedule URL: https://verdeallday.com/2026-austin-fc-schedule-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-11-21T18:19:15.000Z On Thursday afternoon — considerably earlier than usual — Major League Soccer let loose its 2026 schedule, which is the last full 34-match season before the league converts to a July to May calendar. Though we're a few years removed from elaborate schedule release videos that were *de rigueur* in the early 2020s — [a BMX biker riding around town](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgRaUUr%5FdYc&themeRefresh=1&ref=verdeallday.com) before he's taken away (certainly not kidnapped) in the Verde Van, Black Joe Lewis playing to [a Hotel Vegas full of supporters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeNe3mG-%5FDU&ref=verdeallday.com), and Verdisimo going after something called the [Verde Scrolls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOIZNeOORjU&ref=verdeallday.com) (containing the 2023 schedule) in a very shall we say stylized video — Schedule Release Day still gives fans perspective on how the coming season might go, which away trips to plan, and where schedule congestion might roil the team. (Last year, we cast a worried eye toward May and were proven right.) With that said, here are the three best things (as I see them) in the [2026 Austin FC schedule](https://www.austinfc.com/schedule/?ref=verdeallday.com#competition=all&date=2026-01-01). (We'll start positive.) ## The three best things about the 2026 schedule (to me) ### A Sunday afternoon in March against the Spoon winners After a second home opener in three years against Minnesota United FC (on opening weekend, no less), Verde scored a 1:30 pm kickoff on Sunday, March 1, against D.C. United. Given that the Wooden Spoon winners just changed sporting directors and have a head coach who barely coached in 2025, they might not be markedly improved in 2026 — or, at least, in this part of the 2026 season. While Minnesota's a tough opener, D.C. provides a bit of a breather before Verde plays four straight matches against playoff teams ... followed by five straight matches against teams who missed the playoffs in 2025\. ### Lots of eyes on Austin FC on April 4 After six straight matches on the road to start their 2026 season — possibly as defending MLS Cup champions — Inter Miami CF will have its home opener fairly late in the season, on April 4 ... because they'll be opening up the long-awaited Miami Freedom Park with much fanfare, and certainly with Lionel Messi at the center of it all. And they'll be hosting Verde. It's a great chance for Nico Estévez and his team to spoil a party, and at the very least, it's a memorable away trip for Austin FC fans and a chance to finally see Messi play. It's not Messi in Q2 Stadium, of course — I'm increasingly convinced that will *never* happen — but it's Brad Stuver getting to stop Messi shots and Brendan Hines-Ike and Oleksandr Svatok getting to test their defensive mettle against Messi. (Maybe this isn't such a great thing after all. In fact; I'll visit this, in part, in our three worst items for a different reason.) ### Copa Tejas could be decided in September (or perhaps even earlier) Here's the Copa Tejas schedule for 2026\. (Home team is listed first.) - March 21, Dallas vs. Houston - April 25, Austin vs. Houston - July 25, Houston vs. Austin - Aug. 15, Austin vs. Dallas - Sept. 19, Dallas vs. Austin - Oct. 17, Houston vs. Dallas With Houston having to play its first two Copa Tejas matches away, and Dallas having an incredible stretch of road matches while construction workers finally build a roof on a stadium originally nicknamed "The Oven." Dallas will play nine road matches between bookending home matches on May 13 and Sept. 5\. This sets up well for Austin to get at least a win against Houston in April and against a road-weary Dallas in August. Let's say Dallas beats Houston in the first match, and let's say, worst-case scenario, Austin loses to Houston in July in the Shell. In that scenario, Austin has six points and Dallas and Houston have three heading into the Sept. 19 match. Verde winning there clinches Copa Tejas. And let's be ultra-optimistic and say Austin wins its first three Copa Tejas matches, and Dallas and Houston tie their openers. At that point, Austin has nine points, Dallas has one, and Houston has one. That's clearly enough to wrap it up, as Dallas could only get to seven points and Houston could only get to four. (Of course, there's also a possible repeat of the 2023 scenario, in which Austin backed into winning a Copa Tejas because Dallas and Houston tied in their final match, allowing Austin's edge to hold.) ## The three worst things about the 2026 schedule (to me, and maybe to you) ### Too early away trips out East (and to San Diego) Part of this has to do with the huge yawning gap for the World Cup (which we'll get to in the next section), but if you were envisioning a fun summer trip to Chicago or another fun East destination or a weekend in San Diego, think again. Here are the East away trips, which wrap up with a match happening just 13 days after Easter. - at Charlotte, March 7 - at Miami, April 4 - at Toronto, April 18 That is the sum total. Also, the San Diego match this year? It's May 13\. Specifically, it's *Wednesday*, May 13, It's three days after Verde travel to Minnesota and three days before hosting Sporting Kansas City ... because the Minnesota away match in Sunday. There's one consolation, though: Aug. 1 away at Colorado. That sounds nice. ### There *really* won't be soccer in Austin this summer So, there's a massive gap in the 2026 schedule because of the World Cup. Austin will play an away match May 23 against St. Louis, and then resume play at Q2, against Seattle, on July 22\. The team's last home match before the World Cup is May 16, against Sporting Kansas City. But then, and we'll get into part of why in the next section, they won't play at home again until Aug. 15\. (That's the Dallas game.) So, Austin goes 60 days between home matches, followed by 24 days between home matches. ### You will not believe the end-of-season congestion Remember how May had seven league matches in it? Austin's got one stretch that's similar ... and it's right at the very end of the season. Here's what it looks like: - Oct. 10, vs. Nashville SC (yes, them again, yet Verde still can't get a regular-season match against Chicago) - Oct. 14, at LAFC (yep, midweek match) - Oct. 17, vs. Vancouver - Oct. 24, at SKC - Oct. 28, vs. Real Salt Lake - Oct. 31, at LA Galaxy (with Riqui Puig theoretically intact) - Nov. 7, vs. Portland There's another thing that came up on the [just-released Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-82-finding-room-for-leagues-cup-and-the/id1742052077?i=1000737778198&ref=verdeallday.com) supplementing this article ... if there's a need to postpone a match from earlier in the season, it's likely to get reschedule-wedged into one of the midweek spots remaining here (which would be Oct. 20 or Nov. 3). There's a window in the calendar in the first half of August in which there are no matches for no immediately apparent reason ... but there's a theory we unveil in said Emergency Podcast that makes a lot of sense (but it's sort of awful), involving Leagues Cup. We haven't even talked about where Open Cup's going to fit into this. MLS doesn't exactly prioritize Open Cup when it unveils its schedule, but the World Cup's going to wreak havoc on that calendar in 2026, and then the schedule change does that again in 2027\. I'm puzzled but eager to see how the scheduling nerds pull it off. ## One other thing to contemplate Again, going to point to the Emergency Podcast, but this schedule, with its two-month gap, is similar to how the MLS season will be structured in 2027-28\. If you think of the July through November part of the 2026 season as the first half of a sample season, and the February through May part of the season as the second half of a sample season, you can see how the decision to make the calendar conversion happen in '27-'28 versus '26-'27 might be in part to allow 2026 to be a test run of sorts. It's hard to understand, still, what the 2027 mini-season will look like, and how that schedule announcement will manifest — though reactions to which teams Austin normally plays being left off the schedule will be paramount. (With a 14-game season, I'm guessing early that each team will play a team in its conference once, and the playoffs will be a sprint run.) I'm also predicting, in 2026, we'll see an elimination of the play-in game — with just the top eight teams from each conference getting in — and, finally, the dispensing of the best-of-three series. In addition to Decision Day being Nov. 7, there's an international break that goes Nov. 9 through Nov. 17\. Keeping to the current playoff schedule would place an MLS Cup in 2026 dangerously close to Christmas. [Subscribe to access the upcoming Austin FC fan survey results](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Reading the tea leaves on Andy Loughnane's schedule change and Apple TV update press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/reading-the-tea-leaves-on-andy-loughnanes-schedule-change-and-apple-tv-update-press-conference/ Last updated: 2025-11-19T16:00:22.000Z You're likely heard the news by now: Major League Soccer is switching to a July to May calendar in mid-2027 to align with the top European leagues (and, indeed, much of the global soccer calendar), and Apple TV is dispensing with MLS Season Pass in favor of making MLS part of its regular offerings to subscribers. Austin FC president Andy Loughnane spoke on the changes on Monday afternoon, at the very time I was "celebrating" my birthday by getting a leaky garbage disposal replaced in my kitchen. While he was not terribly forthcoming on some of the more interesting questions my colleagues put forth — including how the 14-match mini-season in the first half of 2027 might impact jersey release schedules — we did get some hints as to what the shift might bring forth. ## Maybe don't expect many home Opening Days with the new calendar In 2021, Austin FC started its inaugural season (and a number of others) on the road ahead of its new stadium opening in June. Since then, Verde has enjoyed home openers on the league's first weekend of player in the following four seasons. Perhaps "enjoyed" is relative, given the 2022 home opener was played in wintry weather (37 degrees and freezing rain, albeit a 5-0 rout of FC Cincinnati right before that team got good), the 2023 home opener is forever known in Verde lore as the Kipp Keller Game (for his regrettable pass leading to a Jared Stroud equalizer en route to a 3-2 loss), and the 2024 home opener featured very possibly the most lackluster half of soccer Verde's ever played. (The 2025 home opener was just fine.) Given that home openers will happen in July, given that northern teams like Seattle and Minnesota are missing out on some of their best weather dates with the new schedule, and given that Loughnane talked a lot about the largely favorable weather Austin experiences on either side of the new schedule's winter break, I'd expect MLS to throw northern teams the bone of home openers and home closers to mitigate against what they're losing. Keep in mind that February in Austin is unpredictable; the ice storm that paralyzed the city in 2021 — and led to Verde players' [initial public philanthropic efforts](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/austin-fc-players-launch-winter-storm-relief-fund?ref=verdeallday.com) – happened Feb. 14, and the not-as-bad-but-still-pretty-bad 2023 storm hit in late January but its effects lingered into early February. ## The schedule's not changing as much as you think Loughnane characterized the new schedule as "91% continuity in terms of regular season and playoff dates," and again emphasized, "That that remaining 9% for us here in Austin ... likely means we're going to be playing fewer games in 100 degree nights, and slightly more games in 70 degree days." The real wild card might be with what's projected to be a seven-week midseason break between December and February, with Loughnane hinting that the league is talking about what might fill the void. When the schedule change was announced, one of the first things I thought about was the fate of the Coachella Valley Invitational, a preseason tournament at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., near Palm Springs, which will involve Austin FC for the third straight year in 2026\. A June preseason tournament in a literal desert is less appealing than the current February one, but perhaps there's a way to make Coachella a midseason destination of some sort? It's not worth holding up the schedule over, of course, but I do think it's significant that Loughnane said there will be a discussion over how to deal with the two gaps in the MLS annual calendar going forward, as they'll likely be close to or even equivalent in time (given that he emphasized MLS Cup will be in late May). Also, there was this from Loughnane: "Leagues Cup's here to stay, and I think Leagues Cup may have a home in that late July to August period as well, but subject to change, and that's up to the league." ## Expect MLS to go all in on the mini-season Loughnane, in response to a question about the first part of 2027, with a 14-match season wedged between February and May, took the opportunity to meet a question characterizing it as a "tournament" to emphasize that the league is very much considering it a legitimate season. Calling the matches "high impact with highly consequential outcomes," he didn't give a greater sense of how the season will be structured — likely because no one at this point really knows — but did say that Concacaf Champions League places would be on the line. That, of course, introduced questions about how that tournament will weave into the crowded space, and Open Cup wasn't even broached. We didn't even get a sense of how the schedule shift will impact jersey release schedules. We did, however, get a sense Loughnane knew what was up there. "I think your question is around merchandise," he said to one reporter nudging in that direction, "and this is where I don't get ahead of Adidas and MLS in their announcements." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Where are they now? Tracking down all the players on the 2021 Austin FC squad URL: https://verdeallday.com/where-are-they-now-tracking-down-2021-austin-fc-squad/ Last updated: 2025-11-17T14:31:29.000Z While the 2021 Austin FC team might have not been very good, judging by its record, they were truly *our* not very good — arriving after a 15-month-long saga that involved now-Austin FC CEO Anthony Precourt threatening to move the Columbus Crew to Austin, a movement to Save the Crew that turned much of the MLS fanbases against Austin, a protracted effort to get the Austin City Council to turn city-owned land over to Precourt’s team to construct a stadium (including City Council meetings that sometimes went until 3 am because the members decided to have soccer fans there to clearly testify on just soccer to sit through other city business), a 7-4 vote to work with Precourt that is still celebrated in a La Murga chant, and a deal brokered by MLS brass allowing the Crew to remain in Ohio under new ownership and Precourt to launch a brand new franchise. Oh, and then COVID-19 came along, derailing sports in 2020\. MLS emerged that summer with the MLS Is Back tournament, successfully held in the bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Central Florida. Austin FC’s first sporting director, Claudio Reyna, built a team under those conditions isolating an entire planet full of people from each around this time. He did it, in part, with the help of agent Diego Serrati, who provided a trio of players evoking their own unique blends of visceral reaction: Cecilio Domínguez, Rodney Redes, and Jhohan Romaña. (Come to think of it, for those in the know, Serrati also courts *his* own unique blend of visceral reaction.) But he did also manage to stumble on some players who anchored or played significant roles on the club in its first five years. Let’s review some history. ## The OGs If we’re counting Owen Wolff as a first-year player — and we should, because he did sign his homegrown contract in September, and logged eight minutes of substitute time to close out the 2021 season (one minute in the home closer against SKC, and seven minutes in the meaningless Decision Day match in Portland), we have the following six players who were part of the inaugural season still with the club today, with their Verde MLS regular seasons tallied: - Julio Cascante, defender (125 matches played, 112 started) - Jon Gallagher, forward/midfielder, defender (159 matches played, 122 started) - Žan Kolmanič, defender (97 matches played, 52 started – and with three playoff appearances, he just hit 100 total) - Dani Pereira, midfielder (140 matches played, 119 started) - Brad Stuver, goalkeeper (166 matches played, 166 matches started) - Owen Wolff, midfielder (120 matches played, 80 started) Of the six, only Kolmanič has missed significant time with injury, recovering from ACL tear that kept him sidelined for most of the 2023 season. Stuver has only missed four of Austin’s 170 regular-season matches (once with COVID and three games with a goalpost-induced leg injury suffered in Houston) and is the team’s all-time leader in appearances. Given that he’s in line to start through 2027 with an option year in 2028 — we can entertain the Damian Las question in another article — he’s likely to maintain that status for years to come. ## Still in MLS Six players have moved on from Austin FC to other destinations — perhaps most notably Diego Fagundez, who scored the first goal in club history and was an early fan favorite. We can’t ignore Sebastian Berhalter, though, who experienced visible growing pains while in Verde but is now an All-Star after a dynamic 2025 with the Whitecaps. Here’s the tally. - Sebastian Berhalter, midfielder (now with Vancouver Whitecaps FC) - Diego Fagundez, midfielder (now with LA Galaxy) - Nick Lima, defender (now with San Jose Earthquakes) - Brady Scott, goalkeeper (now with LA Galaxy) - Jared Stroud, midfielder and turncoat (now with DC United, after a memorable stint with St. Louis) - Andrew Tarbell, goalkeeper (now with Houston Dynamo FC, and rehabbing a season-ending knee injury with his contract ending at the end of this year, so there's a danger he slips into this next category) ## Retired or are “between teams” We have some players who played for Verde in 2021 who no longer are playing; some are officially retired, while at least one with a famous cousin is, to borrow from *This Is Spinal Tap*, “currently residing in the ‘where are they now’ file.” - Matt Besler, defender (last with Austin FC in 2021, not even a one-day contract with SKC for an official retirement ceremony there, which seems a shame) - Danny Hoesen, forward (last with Emmen in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Netherlands pro soccer, in 2023) - Hector Jimenez, defender (last with Austin FC in 2024, currently an assistant coach with Chicago Fire FC) - Kekuta Manneh (last with Pacific FC in 2023, though Infallible Wikipedia says he moonlighted with Lonestar SC in 2025, but I don’t know if you can count that as professional soccer) - Will Pulisic, goalkeeper (last with Minnesota United FC 2 in 2023) - Aaron Schoenfeld, forward (last with Austin FC in 2021) - Ben Sweat, defender (last with New England Revolution in 2023, announced retirement early in 2024) ## Still livin’ the dream Seven players are still trying to tough it out as professional soccer players outside of MLS, God bless ‘em. - Moussa Djitté, forward, Grenoble (not sure when contract ends, but good for him getting back to the team he left to go to Austin) - McKinze Gaines, forward, Las Vegas Lights (contract ends Nov. 30, 2025) - Freddy Kleeman, defender, Sacramento Republic (contract ends Nov. 30, 2025) - Manny Perez, defender and midfielder and sometimes forward when wearing Verde, Louisville City (contract ends Nov. 30, 2025) - Alex Ring, defensive midfielder, HJK Helsinki (contract ends Dec. 31, 2026) - Ulises Segura, midfielder, Puntarenas FC (in Costa Rica, unsure when contract ends, he is an Austin FC legend for signing but not playing a single game yet working out a legendary online commercial advertising a local car washing business) - Aedan Stanley, defender, Indy Eleven (contract ends Nov. 30, 2025) **From South America you came, to South America you shall return** Austin FC did not have solid, consistent luck with the players it first selected from South America. You’ll recognize these names, including the three we mentioned earlier. - Cecilio Domínguez, forward, Cerro Porteño (under contract until June 30, 2026) - Sebastián Driussi, attacking midfielder, River Plate (under contract until Dec. 31, 2028) - Tomás Pochettino, midfielder, Fortaleza (under contract until Dec. 31, 2027) - Rodney Redes, forward, Club Olimpia (under contract until Dec. 31, 2026) - Jhohan Romaña, defender, San Lorenzo (under contract until Dec. 31, 2026) We’re glossing over a lot of history here. This list includes: - The first designated player in Austin FC history, who left under the cloud of a domestic violence scandal in 2022, after netting just seven goals in his debut season; - The first signing in Austin FC history, who scored two goals in 54 appearances in all competitions; - The highest-scoring player in Austin FC history, who still managed to leave under a cloud of controversy at the end of the 2024 season despite an absolutely brilliant 2022 season; - A designated player heralded upon his arrival as a transformative player who managed just two goals in 31 matches before being moved; and - A defender who was openly criticized for his lack of fitness by his head coach, who then "retaliated" by posting some ripped ab photos on Instagram to show that he was indeed in shape, who now plays for the former Pope’s favorite team. It’s wild how much South American history runs through Austin FC’s opening year, given how the team is built under current sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. This year, the sole newly acquired South American player for Austin FC is Nico Dubersarksy, a U22 defensive midfielder who got 688 minutes, 20 appearances, and seven starts. Guilherme Biro, a hasty last-minute sub for Jordi Alba to achieve All-Star status, got three goals and one assist in more than 2600 regular-season minutes. Two other South Americans, Jáder Obrian and Diego Rubio, combined for a little more than 1800 minutes, two goals, and four assists, which gives Obrian perhaps more credit than he’s due, getting only a single assist after leading the team in goals in 2024\. Today, the team relies more on players like Kolmanič, connected to the Balkans and neighboring Eastern European countries, than players from South America considered the ideal when Precourt was eyeing 2018 Atlanta and 2019 LAFC as models for MLS success, while not quite reaching the “flipping one player for millions to get another player for millions” tier of roster building. Austin FC has come a considerable distance from that initial team. I would argue that it’s a better overall collection of players, who are getting better results, with better coaching more appropriate to the capabilities of the players who are here. But look at the evolution of teams that arrived in Austin’s era and after, and you see how different approaches can bring about more favorable results. St. Louis looked like they had something until they didn’t, while San Diego chose wisely in building a team around Andres Dreyer, even though he wasn’t even that team's initial headline-grabbing designated player. While this probably isn’t the offseason in which Verde will transform into a team with elite talent, it could be an offseason in which the mix of designated players Austin FC has finally makes sense, or there’s some kind of reset that helps hit on the formula that’s allowed other newer teams to court success from the jump. In the meantime, at least there is a core of players that will likely, mostly stay intact — though it’s also conceivable that three of those six could make an exit by next opening day in February. (But we'll theoretically learn at least a little more about that in the next week.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Is this MLS 4.0?: Changes afoot with the calendar and divisions, plus a fanciful look at expanded playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/is-this-mls-4-0-changes-afoot-with-the-calendar-and-divisions-plus-a-fanciful-look-at-expanded-playoffs/ Last updated: 2025-11-14T13:34:32.000Z Who knew that a random Thursday in November would bring so much news? On Thursday, the MLS Board of Governors, meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., ratified a move to the “European” calendar beginning in 2027\. What we know for certain is that, following a 14-game “sprint” season between February and May of 2027 (more on this in a bit), MLS will thereafter have its kickoff each July, take a winter break in December and January, celebrate Decision Day in April rather than October, with playoffs in May (without the interruption of an international break!) and then take June entirely off before starting the cycle over again. The MLS Players Association (the players' Union) has *not* finalized an agreement with the League yet, which is why MLS' press release states this clearly at the end of the opening paragraph: > MLS is continuing to work with the MLSPA to finalize agreement on a transition plan. One would hope that MLS sees this as an opportunity to repair what sources have indicated is a fraught (to say the least) relationship with the players they can't really play the games without ... time will tell. *Phil's note: Or, the 14-game mini-season could be interrupted and even erased by a players' strike; just before COVID-19 derailed the 2020 season, players were on the verge of a strike before the current collective bargaining agreeement was struck just before the start of the season.* Should this proposal hold, MLS is growing up in a big way that is more than “just” a calendar move to improve transfer windows. April and May will now find football fans following their European teams in the morning and afternoon and then heading to their local stadium for the same end-of-season excitement for MLS as in the EPL, UCL, and more. The Athletic's Tom Bogert [is also reporting today](https://bsky.app/profile/tombogert.bsky.social/post/3m5k5z6rxok2e?ref=verdeallday.com) that MLS has gotten approval to *finally* count Canadian teams as "domestic!" Move aside, MLS Roster Christmas, we have a new favorite holiday. Read on for the few details we know for certain, info others have reported that we think we can take to the bank, and some early speculation on how MLS could plan to overhaul their playoff structure. ## **Full league play and divisions are your new best friends** What we *also* know for certain (though only alluded to in the MLS release), based on Bogert and Paul Tenorio’s reporting in *The Athletic*, is that instead of West and East Conferences, MLS will become one unified table. The 30 teams will be divided into five divisions of six teams each. MLS has declined further official comment, but informed speculation has bubbled around the pre-vote rumors, with those in the know assuming the following divisions: **Northwest:** Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, San Jose, Salt Lake, Colorado **Southwest:** LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Diego, Austin, Dallas, Houston **Midwest:** SKC, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Columbus, Cincinnati **South:** Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, DC **Northeast:** NYC, Red Bulls New York, New England, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal Teams in a given division would all play one another, both home and away every season, and then every team would play one game (home *or* away) against *all* of the other 24 MLS teams, for a total of 34 League matches per year. You are reading that right …f or the first time in a *very* long time … *every* MLS team will play every other MLS team in League play at least once … *every year*. The likelihood of the best teams in the league meeting will no longer have anything to do with chance or luck or beating every other team in your conference to *maybe* face the mega-team of the year from the other conference at all, it’ll be a certainty. Austin has been around for half a *decade*, and has *still* not played every team in a 30-team league in regular-season play. Austin *will* finally play Chicago *in league play*. Austin *will* definitely play Messi’s Miami prior to the end of his contract. Mega-teams *will* meet before playoffs for absolute certain *every year*, regardless of conference, because, again … there will no longer be an East/West divide anymore! Provided the above-speculated divisions are how they end up, this organization of things also crucially maintains regional rivalry cups (Copa Tejas, Cascadia, Hell is Real, Hudson River and so on) and further underlines the importance of non-local/local-ish regional rivalries. I don’t know that Austin fans desperately needed or *wanted* to see Verde play Vancouver, Portland, San Jose, St. Louis, or Minnesota twice a year nearly as much as the Southern California trio of LAFC, Galacticos de Carson, and San Diego feel like solid regional rivalries. The *blessing* of only having to play on San Jose’s worst pitch in the West *every other year* … is this Christmas? The big thing we don’t know for certain is whether this means a reliable cadence. For example, if Austin plays Columbus *in* Columbus in 2027 … does that mean Austin goes to Columbus in 2028 and keep alternating like that? The Athletic does not spell it out in black and white, but we’d hope that the league does sooner than later. That would allow for folks to save up and plan for “oh hey, *next* year is an away day in Miami/Seattle/Montreal/Chicago.” ## **The transition mini-season in 2027 and … what about Playoffs?** Much more vague is confirmation of the 2027 playoff format, which Tenorio and Bogert confirm are still very much up in the air. Regarding what they referred to as a “sprint” season in their reporting, from MLS officially: > MLS will stage a transition season from February to May 2027, featuring a 14-game regular season, playoffs, and MLS Cup. The results will determine 2027 qualification for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Canadian Championship, Leagues Cup, and Concacaf Champions Cup. Squeezing “just” 14 games *and* playoffs (and...Open Cup?) into four months is still a lot, with midweek fixtures almost certain in part of it. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out, especially if these other competitions are happening concurrently too. Will each team get a unique one-off Transition Season jersey? For that matter…will MLS teams start retiring *all* of a given year’s jerseys year after year like Europe does? Will that transition season playoff structure be the test run for the new full season playoff structure? Will it finally do away with the “best of three” first round? Will it possibly, as Tenorio and Bogert hear it could, work like Australian Rules Football, or was that just one particular vote among 30 or so being loud while stage whispering in Paul and Tom’s ears? Listen to Emergency Podcast (recording on Friday) to hear more abou all this [Tune in ](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergency-podcast-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1742052077?ref=verdeallday.com) ## **Who makes the playoffs? What does "playoffs" mean in 4.0?** In the absence of specifics that MLS themselves don’t even know at this point, let’s take what we *can* bank on and do some speculation on what “evolutionary” form the MLS Cup Playoffs could take, based on how they currently do (and don’t) work and what League leadership has indicated they have wanted out of them in recent years. Let’s use 2025’s final table results and try looking at three versions of what I’m calling an “evolutionary” new version of the existing MLS playoffs, which currently includes two play-in games and 18 total teams, with 16 teams in ending up in the “actual” first round and 2 dismissed from losing a pair of play-in games most casual MLS viewers forget are happening unless they involve *their* team. As it stands in these waning Old Days of the Old Ways, 8th and 9th place in each Conference compete in a pair of play-in games with quick turnarounds prior to the proper first round of the MLS Playoffs. Table placement ties are broken on wins and *then* goal differential. You may already know all of this, but it will all come into play later. The following is going to hang onto some given assumptions based on what *The Athletic* has reported and how we have been accustomed to MLS working: - The winners of the five divisions will be guaranteed “actual playoffs;” - Don Garber and MLS leadership want *at least* as many teams as are currently ”involved in” playoffs (including the play-in games) to be so going forward; and - There will still be “wild card” play-in games. Forget about seeding structure of the first round and beyond for the purpose of this exercise, that’s its own ball of wax we will probably get into on this week’s Emergency Podcast. Let’s just start with “*who* makes playoffs” for now. What makes a team *deserve* it, according to a realistic structure run by this League’s current Board of Governors? ## **The still-18-teams “evolutionary” model** For 18 of 30 teams to still make playoffs (including play-ins), the way it makes the most sense to me is thus: - Five division champions; - Nine with next-most points in the league table; and - Four teams seeded into two play-in games In 2025, using the above-mentioned division lineups, it just so happens that the top five teams in the Supporters Shield/combined table would also have each won their respective divisions. How tidy! - Philadelphia (NE) - FCC (Midwest) - Miami (South) - San Diego (SW) - Vancouver (NW) The next 9 would have been: LAFC, Charlotte, Minnesota, NYC, Seattle, Nashville, Columbus, Chicago, and Orlando. The four play-in teams would have been (matching current seeding dynamics): - Austin hosting Red Bulls; and - Dallas hosting Portland. The biggest “parallel reality” difference in terms of who made it in would be that RSL did not get their play-in shot, but RBNY would have, and Austin would have been a play-in team rather than going into Round 1\. The narrative of Austin having to play-in against RBNY and potentially be directly responsible for ending the then-longest-standing playoff streak in North American pro sports? Sure would have been interesting! Dallas vs Portland, though … we have seen those teams play *so* much … and the same (though slightly less so) goes for Austin vs New Jersey-brand energy drink soccer. Whether they keep or trash a “best of three” first round or go straight to knockouts, this is … not too much more interesting than the status quo. So what if just *one more* team is factored into the overall Playoffs Zone? ## **The 19-team “evolutionary” middle ground** Maybe you hate the play-in games. Maybe you hate just how many teams make Playoffs or Technically Playoffs, however you want to think of it. Bad news, this is still MLS. Don Garber and other league leadership have repeatedly emphasized that this non-Pro/Rel “closed” league needs to keep more fans/markets “engaged,” and that’s tough when so many teams in *such* a big league aren’t part of the big exciting US sports league-styled postseason. I’ll meet you in the middle. How could adding *only* one team make the playoffs marginally more interesting? - Five division champions; - Eight with next-most points in the league table (instead of nine); and - Six teams seeded into 3 play-in games (instead of 4 and 2, respectively) That’s right, I’m adding a play-in game! I’m a monster, but (*in* *extremely “I learned it from you, Dad!” voice)* I learned it from *you*, Don! Same top five: Philly (NE), FCC (Midwest), Miami (South), San Diego (SW), Vancouver (NW). Cool, good. The next eight would have been: LAFC, Charlotte, Minnesota, NYC, Seattle, Nashville, Columbus, and Chicago. Here’s where I think this is … actually interesting, despite my expectations. Imagine play-in night as having at least a couple of start time windows such that you can watch all three games back to back in May. You aren’t dying from MLS May Fixture Congestion Insanity combined with school years ending and graduations and weddings making you get ready to “check out” for the summer a bit while watching your favorite players suffer the Summer Onslaught. After watching EPL, UCL, Serie A, whatever else earlier in the day … you can really just live and breathe the top performance period in global soccer *all day*. The 6 play-in teams would have been (matching current seeding dynamics): - EST kick: Orlando hosting RSL; - CST kick: Austin hosting Red Bulls NY; and - CST kick: Dallas hosting Portland So the collection of teams is still not … super exciting for Austin-centric (or any) eyes, but more than two wild card games makes the entire concept of paying attention to these more of an “event night.” It also makes speculating on the dynamics of the first round matchups a bit more exciting or interesting as well. The time zones of the hosting teams also works against driving more-fun timing stratification, but we’ll see how divisional structure changes the sorting of the table. Do we need one more? I think we need one more. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/MLSBracket.png) **Behold!*PPhil PhPp ## **The *20*\-team “evolutionary” play-in double burger** - Five division champions; - Seven next-most points in the league table; and - Eight teams split into four play-in games. I know, I should not even commit these words to digital ink, lest Don Garber be awakened in the night like Count Dracula smelling fresh blood arriving off of the train. Of course, the same top 5: Philly (Northeast), FCC (Midwest), Miami (South), San Diego (Southwest), Vancouver (Northwest). The next seven would have been: LAFC, Charlotte, Minnesota, NYC, Seattle, Nashville, and Columbus. And then: - CST: Chicago vs. San Jose - EST: Orlando vs. RSL - CST: Austin vs. RBNY (well, at least RBNY's playoff string wasn't broken in this alternate universe) - CST: Dallas vs. Portland (they deserve each other) Forget the narrative “meh”-ness of the above matchups for the most part, aside from what would have been a fascinating “Gregg Berhalter v Bruce Arena: Dawn of (In)Justice” at the top. Look at those eight teams as a pool of “wild cards” with something to prove, and as unlikely as any of them would have been to take MLS Cup, think about MLS Cup itself through the US *Open Cup* lens of being a different and separate competition, and how every team can have a weird run of League games in the hardest-traveling “domestic” league in the world. In the constant conversation of “do the play-in games count as playoffs?”... a lot of people insist that they don’t. Phil and I disagree with this, but let’s say *we* are wrong for the moment. *Phil's note: I'll temporarily go along with this.* Look at those eight teams and try to objectively argue that any of them had a season that meant they “deserved” playoffs. Arguments were made against all of them by pundits, fans, and everyone in between. The four who lose … lose, and the four that make it in? With their last chance for that given roster of that club to *prove* they deserve it? They get to prove that they were underestimated, that they, an underdog, can hang with the best? Maybe it would feel more *earned* with more of the playoff field determined by this sort of win-or-go-home micro-tournament setup. The last thing I expected to make a compelling case for when I started this latest exercise of Doctor Strange-ing MLS was that yes, involving two-thirds of the teams in the league might be a better way to go. In this new definition of things, we are left with 16 *actual* playoff teams, and it erases the dotted lines around “technically the playoffs." Looking at the full table stats, this overall field of 20 cuts off *just above* Colorado Rapids, who had the same 41 points and 11 wins as San Jose…but a -12 goal differential as compared to the Quakes’ -3\. Missed it by … 9 goals. Chris Armas and the Rapids would have still moved on from one another, and nobody could reasonably argue their exclusion was “unfair.” San Jose’s most ardent fans would have trouble feeling *great* about how they made that wildcard play-in, but it’d be better than missing it waiting on other Decision Day results.. Under 40 points should not get you into the playoffs, and this lines up with all that. If you want to get rid of the failed experiment of “Best of 3” and create more exciting moments and stories *without* reducing how many teams/markets are in the mix … I think this is how. While you’re wondering about it, doing *22* teams would add Colorado and Houston with a 37-point floor, and *24* would add the Revs and St. Louis to them and lower the threshold to … 32 points. Absolutely not. No way. Roughly 40 points has to be the line. Unless ... ## **The *30*\-team “evolutionary” and “everybody could be a winner” model** I’ll play with some far-fetched possibilities, but even I have my limits. A 30-team model just does not exist, as much as we want to joke about it. MLS would be fully leaning into the Participation Trophy League allegations. Look, it’s not that I’m not *against* there being some sort of Bottom 10 Teams micro-tournament to jockey for … I dunno, next-season home opener right for the five winners? I just think it’s a bad idea. Want more games and for entire fanbases to get one more game? There could be something there, but I can’t think of a good version of it. Let their seasons end, and let them get on with declining options and rebuilding. Wait a minute though … what if MLS could do the “everyone makes playoffs” thing exactly one time, for a special transitional reason? I wrote a radically reorganized version of this article prior to the official news dropping, before we knew any firm details about the “mini” season to be played February through May 2027, and now that we do … here is the only way I could ever endorse allowing *every single team* a shot at the playoffs, and it admittedly sucks in a couple of big, obvious ways. Start with 14 top teams after 14 games (or pare that down even further), as part of a field of 16 actual playoff teams. The final two spots are filled by the remaining “bottom 16” seeded teams completing a single knockout series of three match windows: Eight games that produce four games that produce two games whose winners are bottom seeds 15 and 16\. (And a final to determine who is the 15th seed, perhaps?) Using the 2025 table, this horrible, terrible, no-good idea would have resulted in ... Top 14: Philly, Cincy, Miami, San Diego, Vancouver, LAFC, Charlotte, Minnesota, NYC, Seattle, Nashville, Columbus, Chicago, and Orlando. One could argue against Chicago and Orlando having earned it, but I need a bottom 16 for any of this to work. The R16 play-in knockout is where it looks maybe fun for a neutral! - Austin vs. DC - Dallas vs. Atlanta - Portland vs. Montreal - RBNY vs. SKC - RSL vs. LA Galaxy - San Jose vs. Toronto - Colorado vs. St. Louis - Houston vs. New England But ... wait a minute, matchups that “weird and fun” will just be…normal regular-season games every year anyway. And...this whole thing adds *three* (or *four*) matches to the front of whatever actual playoff structure exists for whichever two of these 16 end up alive at the end of it. What happens if Wooden Spoon winner DC United miraculously beats Austin and somehow makes it all the way into an all-road quarterfinal? Set your bias aside or pretend Austin somehow had the Spoon in 2025, and it could be an amazing ultimate underdog story. Regardless, doesn't that playing out make the regular season mean *even less* than people already think it does? Ok, so maybe there really is zero reason to *ever* put all 30 teams into a playoff structure. But I mean ... if it only happens the *one* time ... no, no, what am I saying? Absolutely not. Unless ... *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Not so hot from the spot: Austin FC's 2025 penalty kick woes, explored URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-austin-fc-penalty-kicks-explored/ Last updated: 2025-11-12T12:47:00.000Z When we discuss the 2025 Austin FC season, one of the big storylines is penalty kicks, and when it comes to penalty kicks, one of the most important numbers to bring up is two. Two is, strangely, the number of penalty kicks Austin FC was awarded in 2025, in 34 regular-season games. That's one every half-season, the lowest of any team in MLS. By comparison, Nashville SC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Colorado Rapids all got 11 PKs, or about one every three matches, while LAFC got nine, and New York Red Bulls got eight to round out the top five. The average awarded in 2025 was just over five. Given the paucity of goals for Verde this year, more PK chances might have meant more goals. As it stood, with about 0.8 xG per PK opportunity per FBref's numbers, only 3.8% of Verde's xG this season came from the spot — 1.6 out of 41.8\. That was 29th in the league; only Orlando City was lower, getting 3.6% of its xG from PKs, though they did tally 60.4 xG and 63 goals on the season, with just three goals coming from the spot. You might not remember PKs taken during the season, as they happened early and involved a player who tore an ACL minutes after making his last PK of the season. Here's the sum total of PKs for Verde during the regular season: - April 19, vs. LA Galaxy, Brandon Vázquez (*67' PK saved by John McCarthy*); and - May 1o, at FC Cincinnati, Brandon Vázquez (**48' PK made vs. Roman Celentano**). He didn't even [celebrate the one he made](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/ex-factor-brandon-vazquez-scores-in-cincinnati-return-with-austin-fc?ref=verdeallday.com), as it came against his former team. ## But wait, there's more Despite only getting two PKs during the regular season, Verde got eight in total in 2025, with two coming in the playoffs and four coming in Open Cup competition. Weirdly, the team had one every 17 MLS regular-season matches but six in seven tournament matches. Here's how those went. ### U.S. Open Cup - May 21, vs. Houston Dynamo FC, Osman Bukari (**56' PK made vs. Jimmy Maurer**); - July 8, at San Jose Earthquakes, Brandon Vázquez (**65' PK made vs. Daniel**); - July 8, at San Jose Earthquakes, Myrto Uzuni (**115' PK made vs. Daniel**); and - Oct. 1, vs. Nashville SC, Myrto Uzuni (*21' PK saved by Brian Schwake*). You remember that last one, certainly. Weirdly, that was Austin's first first-half PK in 2025\. There would be two more. ### MLS Playoffs - Nov. 2, vs. LAFC, Myrto Uzuni (*39' PK saved by Hugo Lloris*); and - Nov. 2, vs. LAFC, Dani Pereira (**45'+6' PK vs. Hugo Lloris**). So, if you're keeping count, only four Verde players took PKs in 2025\. Two were a perfect, uh, one-for-one, whereas one designated player converted his meager chances at a 67% rate, and another designated player converted his slightly less meager chances at a 33% rate. Altogether, Verde converted PKs at a 62.5% rate, below the expected rate for converting PKs, but if you take Uzuni out of the equation, Verde converts at the 80% rate you'd expect from a team's PK takers. ## Who needs goals anyway? Not getting PKs wasn't the sole reason that Austin FC didn't score goals in 2025, but it sure didn't help. Stripping away two own goals and the PK goal in a losing effort against FC Cincinnati, Verde mustered exactly a goal a game in 2025, placing it on an equal tier with Portland Timbers FC (who also made the playoffs, though through the more challenging play-in route, and besting five teams, one of which (Real Salt Lake) made the play-in round, and four of which were legitimate Wooden Spoon contenders. Had Verde managed three more goals, given the league average for PKs awarded, they could have been ... well, among a number of teams who failed to make the playoffs despite scoring more goals, including Houston, New England, Sporting KC, and St. Louis SC. Of the East teams who made the playoffs, all had positive goal differentials, with Columbus being the lowest at +4\. Of the West teams making the playoffs, four had negative goal differentials: - RSL, -11; - Austin FC, -8; - Portland; -7; - Dallas, -3; San Jose, which just missed the playoffs, also had a -3 goal differential, helped by its 2-1 win over Austin on Decision Day; all the other teams missing the playoffs had at least a -12 — including Colorado, helped by being able to convert seven of 11 PKs throughout the season. In 2024, Verde got six PK attempts during the season, converting four; in 2023, they went two for two; in 2022, they went four for four (in a season when the Galaxy went nine for 14!); and in their debut season, they went one for two. Circling back to the 2025 league average, Verde's had less regular-season PKs in four of their five seasons. So at least a lack of PK chances is more the norm, meaning that they're not reliant on it. And given questions around who will shoot from the spot in 2026 — at least, until Vázquez comes back and assumes that mantle, as head coach Nico Estévez let us know recently he's the first choice — it may be just as well that Austin FC doesn't have PK chances to fret over. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A too-soon MLS playoff preview of the final eight teams URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-playoffs-second-round-early-preview/ Last updated: 2025-11-10T13:39:02.000Z On the weekend of Nov. 22-23, plus an epiosde of MLS-style Monday Night Futbal on the 24th, eight teams will be winnowed down to four as the playoff picture gets clearer — and, dare I say it, more interesting. With the exception of New York City FC ousting Charlotte FC in three matches, it's been all chalk, with the first through third seeds all advancing in both conferences, and Minnesota outlasting Seattle in perhaps the wildest playoff match since the [Double Post match](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/double-post-penalty-kick-still-lives-portland-timbers-lore?ref=verdeallday.com) between the Portland Timbers and SKC in 2015\. Here's a rundown of what's on deck in about two weeks. (Not a fan of the November international break interrupting what momentum the playoffs were able to muster, by the way. Just thought I'd establish that, as I feel I'm not alone in it.) ## Saturday, Nov. 22 ### Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. LAFC, 8:30 pm CT According to soccer journalist Manuel Veth, the 'Caps have already sold 50,000 tickets in BC Place for what is likely one of the best matchups of the playoffs. Despite battling a slew of unfortunate late-season injuries, Vancouver ousted Dallas in two games, though it took getting a stoppage-time equalizer and going to penalty kicks in Frisco to do so. To move on, they'll have to vanquish LAFC, which is daunting on two levels. Historically, LAFC's knocked the 'Caps out of multiple competitions, and as we saw against Austin in their two first-round matches, Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min play very well together, and the marquee matchup MLS Cup dream of LAFC vs. Miami is still very much in play. Oh, and to add to the lore, former Whitecaps head coach Marc Dos Santos could end up being the next LAFC coach. He's currently an assistant under the outgoing Steve Cherundolo. ## Sunday, Nov. 23 ### FC Cincinnati vs. Inter Miami CF, 4 pm CT Certainly, that was not me on the latest [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-80-were-signing-everybody-to-long-term-pay/id1742052077?i=1000735871907&ref=verdeallday.com) predicting that Nashville would upset Miami in Game 3\. What I clearly said was that Miami would win 4-0 with Lionel Messi doing Lionel Messi things, and that's *exactly* what happened. While it's perhaps a bit surprising that both higher seeds needed three matches to get through the best-of-three series, it's a testament to the East's strength that such good teams ended up as No. 6 and No. 7 seeds. (Cue the elementary school class joyfully saying, "Six, seven!") Cincy had a really bad game in the series, losing 4-0 at the Crew following a Yaya Kubo red card, but given the performance in the deciding match, going down around the hour mark and then roaring back with a Brenner brace, this could be as good as the match the night before. While an LAFC-Miami MLS Cup would have undeniable star power, a Cincinnati-Vancouver matchup would be the most fun option for the more hardcore MLS fans. ### Philadelphia Union vs. New York City FC, 6:30 pm CT And then we have the Supporters' Shield winners, who weren't particularly tested by the Fire in a series that only went two matches. The Union got a Tai Baribo brace within the first 16 minutes of their clinching match against Chicago, and they only needed that first goal. Bradley Carnell ended up getting Coach of the Year honors by leading a team that concerned plenty of pundits in the preseason to the top of a crowded East. NYCFC, meanwhile, traded road triumphs with Charlotte before winning Game 3 away, getting a brilliant breakaway solo goal from Nicolás Fernández Mercau just before halftime and an early second-half goal from Alonso Martínez to take it out of reach. Though a less obvious choice than the first two, this has the potential to be compelling; an NYCFC upset would put the East final in the home venue of the Miami-Cincy winner. ## Monday, Nov. 24 ### San Diego FC vs. Minnesota United FC, 9 pm CT Certainly this didn't need to played on a Monday night, but here we are. Both teams got taken to three matches by Cascadia rivals in much different fashion. For Minnesota, both home matches were decided by PKs, and while the first game had drama, the third had drama piled on top of drama. Seattle fans will feel like this one got away, but the Loons showed the resilience that characterized much of their season, plus Dayne St. Clair stepped up just enough. Their reward is trekking to San Diego, who got taken to a third match by a scrappy Portland team that got an equalizer deep in stoppage time of the series' second match. On Sunday night, SDFC got early goals from Andres Dreyer and Amahl Pellegrino en route to braces from both in a 4-0 walk. Hirving "Chucky" Lozano also got in as a sub — noteworthy since he's been in a conduct-detrimental-to-the-team saga for more than a month now — and drew a red card when Juan Mosquera sloppily punched him in the chest 35 minutes after coming on as a halftime sub. (Not a great end to the series for the Timbers, and possibly head coach Phil Neville's last game in charge.) As with the East, I expect the West's MLS Cup representative is going to come out of the 2-3 match, but given how San Diego's playing, I expect the road to the final is going to wind through Snapdragon Stadium. I will prepare accordingly to stay up until 11 (or beyond, if PKs factor in) for this one to round out this level of the playoffs – taking a month from when the playoffs started to get to this round. (Maybe that's too much and we revisit this whole best-of-three thing in a World Cup year that will already have a break built in.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Is comparing Myrto Uzuni to Emiliano Rigoni needlessly cruel, or is there something to it? URL: https://verdeallday.com/comparing-myrto-uzuni-to-emiliano-rigoni-2025-season-recap/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T16:37:43.000Z Emiliano Rigoni will not go down in Austin FC annals – even with just five years of history accumulated — as a fondly-remembered designated player. He might not be the most disappointing DP in Verde history — after all, Tomas Pochettino, with two goals and two assists in 31 appearances, exists — but Rigoni was supposed to be the Robin to Sebastián Driussi's Batman, and ended up something lesser (perhaps [Zan of the Wonder Twins](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dK9j2AnV%5FnQ?ref=verdeallday.com), who could transform into any form of water he wanted, including steam and ice, though he also might just become water in a bucket carried by his sister who has just transformed into an eagle)\[\[1\]\]. In 51 appearances over three seasons, Rigoni managed six goals and six assists\[\[2\]\], including a peak year in 2023 in which five of those goals came. He might have gotten more than 11 appearances (in which he managed one goal) in 2024, except that Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell discovered that a 12th appearance would have triggered an automatic contract extension, and instead of locking that in, Borrell worked furiously (and successfully) to find Rigoni a new home. Let's just say that bringing in a designated player from another country to the U.S. to play in Major League Soccer doesn't mean that player will be successful, even if it takes a significant transfer fee. After all, Atlanta United brought in Emmanuel Latte Lath from Middlesbrough for a reported league-record fee of $22 million plus add-ons in February, and paid him more than $4 million in guaranteed compensation this season. He scored a brace in his first match, scored in three of his next five ... and then finished a very disappointing season for him and his team with seven goals and an assist, en route to just avoiding the Wooden Spoon on Decision Day. I bring this all up because of Myrto Uzuni, who arrived as Austin FC's club-record signing in January and has had a similarly disappointing first season (albeit with a better team campaign), punctuated by a failed penalty kick and one other errant shot (with 29 touches total) in the team's season-ending 4-1 loss on Sunday against LAFC. I specifically bring this up because my friend Andrew Urban shared an observation from his friend Rob Price — new subscriber Rob Price; thank you, Rob! — about Uzuni being Rigoni all over again. I hear the frustration in invoking one underperforming DP of yore with another, but in covering both of them, I also see a gritty determination in Uzuni that I didn't see in the more, shall we say, carefree countenance of Rigoni. I can't imagine, for example, Uzuni dovetailing into music in the way that Rigoni did; I can't imagine Uzuni listening to music at all other than music specifically designated to pump him up before a match or to sufficiently wind down at night to get the optimal hours of sleep to reset him for the next day of training. But maybe there's something to it? You know what that means, readers who know me. ## To the charts! We're going to compare 2023 Rigoni to 2025 Uzuni because it's Rigoni's best season vs. Uzuni's only season; remember that the hope for Rigoni going into 2023 was that he would benefit from a full offseason following his halting, hesitant 2022 seven-match debut. Uzuni didn't get the benefit of an offseason; remember that we learned at the mid-Februray [Heartbeat Kit release party](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kit-release-party-2025-plus-good-news/) that he'd be arriving in town just a week before the home opener. We're also using the attacking mid/winger numbers comparison numbers rather than the forward numbers (same stats, but different percentiles) because Rigoni primarily played on the wing in 2023, whereas Uzuni played both left wing and center forward. (But also, ostensibly, Denis Bouanga plays left wing and Son Heung-min plays center forward, and they tend to find each other in myriad spots in the box to score, so some teams can just do this in more fluid fashion than others.) Okay, are you ready for some yipes? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Emiliano-Rigoni.png) Yipes. While Uzuni is much better at passing completion and has a slight uptick in interceptions, they're extremely close in npxG + xAG (non-penalty expected goals and expected assisted goals), a key measure of how they're contributing offensively, and Uzuni's ahead in non-penalty goals and shots, but not so significantly. Rigoni's also far better in clearances and blocks, which is probably partially (but not entirely) a function of Rigoni playing more at the wing, on a more defense-challenged team than 2025 Austin FC was. Looking at raw numbers, Rigoni had six goals in his time in Verde on 27 shots on target. Uzuni's already to six goals in his debut season on just 23 shots on target, so he's slightly more efficient. But Son (yes, him again) has nine goals on 20 shots on target in the regular season, and 10 on 23 if you fold in his playoff numbers against Verde. Brandon Vázquez was actually slightly less efficient than Uzuni in 2025, getting five goals on 23 shots on target in 2025 regular-season matches, with one of those being a made penalty kick. ### Weird penalty kick aside Speaking of penalty kicks, Vázquez was two for three on the season, and Uzuni was one for three, with each making a PK in the Open Cup match against San Jose. Verde only got eight PKs (and two non-Uzuni, non-Vázquez attempts) all year; Osman Bukari made one against the Houston Dynamo in Open Cup play, and Dani Pereira made one Sunday. That means Verde went one-for-two in PKs in 34 regular-season matches. That's one PK awarded every half-season. *Crimes*. ## It could be worse As much as Uzuni's underperformed, he's on the relative DP bargain price of $2.25 million (though, as [we calculated](https://verdeallday.com/points-per-million-goals-per-dollar-austin-fc-2025/) a few weeks back, that's $370,833 a goal). Latte Lath scored seven goals on a salary that had Atlanta paying $575,792 a goal (which is worse than Uzuni, but better than $710,355 a goal from Vázquez, although he only played half a season and was on pace to be at $355,178 a goal had he not blown out his knee). So how did their 2025 charts compare? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/-FBCharts--Emmanuel-Latte-Lath-vs.-Myrto-Uzuni.png) Offensively, in key metrics, they're not so far off. Uzuni's better at connecting teammates, bests Latte Lath in shots (who got seven goals on 18 shots on target), and came close in assists and npxG + xAG. But then Latte Lath is better with shot-creating actions and goals, and all of his defensive numbers and most of his possession numbers are better. Looking at 2025 numbers, Uzuni might be closer to a DP on a team that failed to make the playoffs in 2025: the Dynamo's Ezequiel Ponce. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/11/-FBCharts--Ezequiel-Ponce-vs.-Myrto-Uzuni-1-.png) Ponce got 10 goals on 24 shots on target, making him almost as efficient as Son, but it was arguably one of the most anonymous double-digit goal campaigns of the 37 2025 MLS players reaching that tier. And it's eerie how their tackles and pass completion ratings are virtually identical, with Uzuni shifted more toward defensive work and assists, which likely reflects Uzuni's time on the wing vs. Ponce being deployed strictly as a center forward. ## Should they keep him? Whether Austin FC retains Uzuni is one of the core questions heading into the 2026 season. Consider: - He'd be the starting center forward to start the season, but as Vázquez works back from his ACL injury and into the lineup — and the sooner the better from head coach Nico Estévez's perspective — the consuming 2025 question of how to best have Uzuni and Vázquez play off one another (if that is indeed possible) comes back into play; - His last signature action of 2025 was taking a penalty kick so perplexing that Estévez told media that it wasn't like Uzuni to appear so scared to shoot the ball — with the chance to get his team within a goal before halftime in a playoff elimination game; and - As with Rigoni, there's a growing cynicism about his abilities and his fit on the team from the fan base. That can certainly be tuned out, or that can be used as fuel, and Uzuni certainly cares about performance and hasn't given the impression that he's here to mail in his shifts and pick up checks, but he's registered so much on-field frustration in his first year here that you have to at least question whether he'd be happier back in Europe than in this weird situation where the team's best playmaker is a 20-year-old midfielder who got shifted out to the position where you were supposed to be playing, and the second-best playmaker is a designated player courting his own expectations-vs-reality reckoning. (And though the numbers don't quite show it, you could say the third-best playmaker is a 32-year-old veteran on a supplemental contract who finished the season injured.) I can (and have) talked myself into a scenario in which Borrell finds a soft Spanish landing spot for Uzuni, uses that DP spot for a true midfield playmaker, Vázquez comes back relatively early (and CJ Fodrey and perhaps Rubio do well enough at striker in the first few matches to keep Verde in the playoff contention mix), and the team functions more like FC Cincinnati in Vázquez's goal-scoring 2022 heyday (when Luciano Acosta was the main facilitator, back before last year's FC Dallas experience likely soured every MLS front office from even considering him). But that's a tall task in an offseason in which Borrell has relatively little roster flexibility. He gets more if he moves Owen Wolff for enough GAM to begin embarking on LAFC-level roster moves, but then, also, you're losing your best playmaker as he's moving into the All-Star-capable zone, and there's no guarantee you'll get a player of his caliber in return regardless of what's spent. We could, fast-forwarding to the end of 2026, look back on 2025 as a hard transitional year for Uzuni and appreciate his leap in 2026, just as FCD fans got to do with Petar Musa this year — and the parallels between '24 Musa and '25 Uzuni, between moving to a new country and becoming a new father, make that comparison all the more relevant. But as Austin fans, we've also seen the turn from '23 to '24 with Rigoni, in which a disappointing season segued into a disastrous start to a season, followed by a buyout that made Rigoni the poster boy for All That Was Wrong in the Claudio Reyna Era. We're at a definite crossroads with Uzuni heading into next season. If he stays, he has the chance to transcend the disappointment hovering over past DPs (and, for that matter, past No. 10 jersey wearers\[\[3\]\]), or he could cement himself into a sad pantheon of players who did far less in Verde and Black than they were expected to do. After all, even Driussi, the best DP in Austin history to date, left quietly in an offseason exit after a season just one goal better than Uzuni's 2025\. Rigoni, Driussi, Uzuni: They all reinforce that it's hard to find a DP who will contribute at the level needed to elevate a team to true MLS contender, and the sporting directors who do it are highly regarded as a result. Given that, what happens with the Uzuni saga certainly reflects on Uzuni, but it also reflects on Borrell. With Rigoni, Borrell was able to tut at the Reyna-gifted contract (and rightfully so), move him to a willing buyer, and take the feeble W in light of the cards dealt him. With Uzuni, he has to either cut losses and swap him out for a DP that does work, help Uzuni find the level of play that made him attractive to begin with, or have part of his legacy intertwined with whatever type of game Uzuni brings to the league in his sophomore season — which is also his first full season in his 30s. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* \[\[1\]\]: *Super Friends* in the '70s and '80s was a Saturday morning must-watch, and it was *wild*. \[\[2\]\]: Thanks to Austin FC's Cam Koubek for the heads-up on this; the league site erroneously credited him with zero assists. \[\[3\]\]: For Austin FC's first-ever No. 10, the disappointment was on two distinct levels. Come to think of it, future Austin FC signings should regard either the No. 7 or No. 10 jersey with some degree of caution. ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We were a little overeager': Assessing Austin FC's final match of 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/we-were-a-lovereager-assessing-austin-fcs-final-match-of-2025/ Last updated: 2025-11-03T12:44:19.000Z There's a maxim in sports, especially in the playoffs, in which people talk about which team "wanted it more." While eagerness can be a virtue in competitions, it can sometimes be to a team's detriment, as Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver observed following his team's [4-1 defeat](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-110225/) to LAFC Sunday night, which officially knocked them out of the 2025 MLS playoffs. "In the first half, we were a little overeager," Stuver said. "This is one of the best transition teams in the league, and I think we were just a bit too expansive. I think when we went out, we put ourselves in a position where one mistake from us led to them getting a counterattack, and it happened multiple times, and obviously, we allowed two of the most dangerous attacking players in our league get in on goal, and they were able to capitalize. "But I think the guys did a really good job of staying resilient," he added. "Obviously, we had the two PKs in the first half, and then in the second half, they really only had one chance throughout the entire time. But when you give up three goals in the first half, it's a big hole to dig yourself out of." Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, who was even more verbose than usual in his remarks, bemoaned the lack of transition defense that eventually did his team in. "On the defensive side today, it's difficult," he said. "While you are attacking, you have to be prepared to avoid those moments, but I think when we are compact, and they're pressing, I think we are successful. The issue today was more how we controlled those transition moments, and it's like sometimes, you don't have these experiences, you don't realize how good you have to be and how disciplined you have to be, because this team can kill you, as we had today." Noting the team was disappointed with the loss, Estévez took ownership for losing a series in which he would down two key offensive pieces — Osman Bukari and Diego Rubio — and up against two formidable ones in Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga, who were largely neutralized in their first meeting but ever-present in their second. "I take the full responsibility of this, this series, and for the players," Estévez said. "I feel proud about the effort that they put for us since day one, the work that they did. We had a really, really crowded season on the schedule, and we were there, we were battling for two competitions, but we fell short here." ## Looking to the future If this offseason is like previous MLS offseasons, there will be changes to the roster as options are declined, additional players are moved, and new ones are brought in. As Stuver answered reporter questions in a mostly-emptied-out locker room late Sunday, one of the possible departees, defender Julio Cascante, sat immobile and stared into the middle distance. Another player with an option-year decision for sporting director Rodolfo Borrell to make, captain Ilie Sánchez, made a statement in both Spanish and English to assess the whole of the season in lieu of fielding individual questions from media. He thanked the fans for their support and the media for fulfilling their role, encouraging positivity to help support "the guys who will be here" — but also understanding what the season meant and how far the team still has to go. "We take all the responsibility on tonight and the season," he said. "It has been a good season, but it wasn't enough for what we expected and what the standards should be here at Austin FC." The match also introduced new questions about striker Myrto Uzuni, who, a month and a day after flubbing a penalty kick in the U.S. Open Cup final, did it again with an opportunity to get Verde within a goal after going down 2-0\. "I felt like he was more afraid to miss than to think it positive to score, and this is why he shot the way that he shot," Estévez said of the PK that went straight at a diving Hugo Lloris. "It's not normal for him to take a shot like like that." Assuming Brandon Vázquez makes a full recovery from his ACL injury suffered this summer, questions about how to get the two strikers to play together — and who will be tasked with playmaking to get them better involved – will rise to the top of 2026 concerns for a team that made the playoffs but exited in line with their tournament seeding. "This is MLS, and there's a lot of turnover in the offseason," Stuver said, noting that now that they've made the playoffs again, doing so next year is a "bare minimum" expectation. "Those of us that will be back are going to be focused on getting the new guys up to speed, and hopefully we can take what momentum we had for this year and take it into early next season," he noted. Asked about how long this loss will stick with him, he added, "It's the end of the year, and it knocks you out, so ... all offseason." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, LAFC 4 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-110225/ Last updated: 2025-11-03T03:55:39.000Z Austin FC lost its first home playoff match in three years to close out its 2025 season on Sunday night, 4-1, thanks to goals by Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga within four minutes of each other midway through the first half, plus a second Bouanga goal before halftime to build an insurmountable lead. Verde fans got bad news with the lineup release, an hour before kickoff, that Osman Bukari — battling an ankle injury that kept him questionable on the league's official injury report – was not activated at all, with Robert Taylor starting in his customary right wing position, teaming with Owen Wolff and Myrto Uzuni in a 3-4-3 formation. After a somewhat disjointed first 15 minutes, Austin FC found an encouraging moment of fluidity in the 17th, with Dani Pereira feeding Uzuni a pass sending him in on goal. Uzuni rushed the shot and hit it over the bar, but it looked promising for a few seconds. But then, the first shot on goal four minutes later went in, with Bouanga stripping a ball from Mikkel Desler and starting a counter which only required a diagonal pass to Son; Son worked his way around Ilie Sánchez and slotted in his shot past Brad Stuver. Then, four minutes later, Son went on a breakaway down the right flank, and when Stuver ill-advisedly came out of his box to meet him, Son scooted past him. Defenders did collapse around Son, but then Son found Bouanga unguarded in front of goal with a diagonal pass, which Bouanga was able to send into the net just as Stuver arrived back into position. Verde got a lifeline in the 37th, after Ryan Porteous literally shoved Owen Wolff to give up a free kick. Wolff's subsequent kick into the box drew a handball from Bouanga, and Uzuni stepped to the spot, but he sent it weakly, only slightly to Hugo Lloris' right. Lloris was diving in that direction, the shot rolled into his body, and he was able to scoop it up to deny Austin a hope-giving goal. Two minutes later, LAFC turned a free kick opportunity in their own half into a two-pass sequence, starting with Porteous sending a long ball to Ryan Hollingshead, the former FC Dallas fullback heading to Bouanga, and then Bouanga dashing past Oleksandr Svatok and a falling Brendan Hines-Ike to get a brace. But then Verde got another lifeline in stoppage time, with Porteous getting Guilherme Biro in the face with an elbow. Pereira stepped up instead of Uzuni, and made his PK to get Verde on the board just before the half closed. Nico Estévez made three halftime subs, getting CJ Fodrey on for Taylor, Žan Kolmanič for Jon Gallagher, and Julio Cascante on for Svatok. Though LAFC continued to pressure Austin FC's back line, getting the first four attempts of the second half, Austin was able to hold firm while ceding possession for stretches. In the 68th minute, with the season ebbing away, Estévez brought on Jáder Obrian for Desler and Besard Šabović for Ilie. Obrian made a difference right away, getting on the end of a pass from a streaking Kolmanič, and forcing a Lloris save to register Verde's first shot of the second half. Four minutes after that, it appeared that Fodrey had brought Verde back within a goal, but an offside call on the Kolmanič free kick — appearing to be on Cascante — negated the would-be score. That was, save for a Biro header four minutes later, was the last attempt of the match that Austin was able to get off. In stoppage time, Jeremy Ebobisse got a counter-attacking goal to add to the final tally. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Fodrey's would-be goal was a well-executed set piece ... save for Cascante apparently being offside. (At least it momentarily brought the crowd back to life.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The missed penalty wasn't entirely surprising, given Uzuni's track record this year, but it squashed the ability to make the outcome slightly more suspenseful, and it adds further questions about Uzuni, PKs, and his overall mentality. ## One thing you might have missed If you didn't make it for the Heartbeat, you missed Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson banging the drum. But the Minister of Culture hasn't exactly been a good luck charm when he's appeared at Verde games. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin had 1.65 xG at the half; all but 0.11 of that was created by the referee setting the ball down 12 yards from goal for two separate penalty kicks. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative What's clearly been the second-best season in Verde history comes to an end at home, which is good in that the fans got one final sendoff, but bad in that getting past the first round or even to Game 3 in this series would have allowed the team to end the series on the road. In being eliminated after two games, Austin meets a similar fate to their rivals up the road who were eliminated last night. ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm curious about the defensive approach in this one: Why the five-back setup again, and why did this match go so wrong midway through the first half? (On Wednesday, Austin gave up a goal around the same juncture of the match, but kept it to just one.) [Subscribe to keep tabs on the offseason](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### How aggressive will they be? Assessing Austin FC's strategy in a do-or-die playoff match URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvlafc-110225/ Last updated: 2025-11-02T14:36:49.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez was asked in Friday's media availability about how aggressive his team will have to be in Sunday evening's potential elimination game against LAFC. He had a surprising answer. "We feel we approached the game in L.A. being aggressive," he said on Wednesday's [2-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-lafcvatx-102925/), "because LAFC is the best team in the league in the counter-attack. You cannot think, 'I'm gonna attack crazy without any control, any organization, any instructions,' and not get punished. We need to be smart when we play against LAFC. It's a very tactical, controlled application, although we learned how or where we can be more aggressive and more often. We had more touches in the opponents' half than they had in ours. They feel comfortable with that, but we cannot get caught in their hands." He then added, "This is why the game plan on having long possessions, mostly in the first half, is a way to control their counter-attack. But the thing that we didn't do well is in those moments, we had moments to be aggressive, and it is how to manage the moment that you have to have long possessions in control again, and when controlling that possession opens you to a possible cross, shot, passing behind, \[and\] where to use it more often." While Verde took the game to LAFC in some respects, they didn't get off many shots, getting just eight shots to LAFC's 18 and two shots on target to LAFC's six, with the lone Austin goal coming in one of the few moments they were able to create chaos in LAFC's box. "We lost the first game; we have to attack the second one," Mikkel Desler told media on Friday. "We have to score goals and win the game; we can't really sit back too much. It's 90 minutes, it's a long game; we have to be smart in that sense. But of course we need to attack." **Check out Phil West's conversation with Justin Ruderman comparing notes on the teams they cover ahead of Sunday's match* Even though Wednesday's result wasn't equal to the pair of 1-0 wins Verde engineered against versions of LAFC earlier this year, Estévez was largely encouraged by what he saw. "We had more control in these games than the first two that we had against them. Even we were more dangerous in these games. I think we made progress on performing, and now it's about getting to details on how we're going to be more dangerous at home," he said. "We had personality. We were great, and we were a team that wasn't scared of playing away against one of the best teams in the league, and with \[Denis\] Bouanga and Son \[Heung-min\], probably the best team in the West. And that is a really big important step for this group." Verde will have the same personnel available, with Diego Rubio still out with a hamstring injury, and Osman Bukari grappling with an ankle injury leaving him questionable on the league's injury report. "He just had a knock in the ankle. I think he's dealing \[with it\] today better," Estévez said Friday, noting that the decision to play him would be based on how he responded in Saturday's training session. Asked about penalty shootout strategies, Estévez said he'll have that in mind based on who is available on the field at the end of the match. But it may be the most plausible route to extending the series, as three of the five playoff matches on Saturday came down to PKs: - In the Bronx, Charlotte FC won 7-6 in a PK sequence that went eight deep after Kristijan Kahlina kept a clean sheet with a key late-game save, sending the series back to Charlotte; - In Portland, Gage Guerra scored a header in the eighth and final minute of stoppage time to get the Timbers level with San Diego FC, and then the visitors fell apart in the PK sequence with three straight misses, sending the series south for a Game 3; and - In Frisco, Vancouver got a stoppage-time goal from Ralph Priso, and then benefited from two too-high PKs from FC Dallas players — one hitting the crossbar, the other going over — to close out the series. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Numbers and predictions: Assessing the MLS playoffs as they stand URL: https://verdeallday.com/numbers-predictions-2025-mls-playoffs-second-matches-round-one/ Last updated: 2025-10-31T13:05:03.000Z All 16 teams remaining in the 2025 MLS playoffs have played a match, with eight teams in a position to close out their series with the second matches begin on Saturday, while the other eight teams need a win (or a draw and a penalty kick win) to stay alive. With that perspective in mind, we look at the next eight matches on the calendar — including five on Saturday, and Austin FC's match against LAFC at Q2 Stadium on Sunday — to get a gauge of where we're at. ## Saturday, Nov. 1 ### 2:30 pm: NYCFC vs. Charlotte **First match result:** Charlotte FC 0, NYCFC 1 **Number:** 20 That's the number of goal contributions (10 goals, 10 assists) that Wilfried Zaha gave Sir Minty's Knights in 2025, and with Zaha held out of the first match, Charlotte was the only home team to lose its opening playoff match. The delightfully salty DP — check out [Charles Boehm's feature](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/wilfried-zaha-charlotte-fc-star-backs-up-words-with-results?ref=verdeallday.com) on him from April — should give his team a boost as they try to take the series back home. [However](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI1iq3%5Fttl7/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) ... **Prediction:** It's a Game 2 in Yankee Stadium, Alonso Martínez scored in Game 1 (as he is wont to do), and I think the soccer gods show fans mercy and end a series that not a lot of people seem especially excited to get to a Game 3 in a football stadium. ### 4:30 pm: Chicago Fire vs. Philadelphia Union **First match result:** Philadelphia Union 2(4), Chicago Fire 2(2) **Number:** 2 That's the number of shots on goal Philly had, and the number of goals they had, in their opening playoff match. That was enough to get it to PKs against a surprisingly up-for-it Chicago team, who answered Philly's late goals with even later goals of their own. **Prediction:** Back in Bridgeview, playing in the cozier confines of SeatGeek Stadium (which honestly makes for better playoff energy than Soldier Field), I feel like the Fire get it done here and get it back to Chester for a deciding match. Ultimately, the Union's experience and Shield-winning formula likely advance them, but Chicago's pointed in a positive enough direction that playoff appearances could be a regular thing going forward. ### 6:30 pm: Nashville SC vs. Inter Miami CF **First match result:** Inter Miami CF 3, Nashville SC 1 **Number:** 89.8% That's the passing accuracy percentage for Miami, the best of any East team in the first-round matches. That clearly owes a lot to Lionel Messi, who got the opening goal in highlight-reel fashion and then added a goal deep into stoppage time. **Prediction:** Nashville's good enough to mount a serious charge at home to get this to a Game 3, given the seasons that Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge have had, but Miami advancing – especially with the way Messi's been playing — feels inevitable. But I think the soccer gods want us to have a Game 3\. (But I've been wrong about the soccer gods before. ### 8:30 pm: Portland Timbers FC vs. San Diego FC **First match result:** San Diego FC 2, Portland Timbers FC 1 **Number:** 2.74 SDFC generated 2.74 xG, per Fotmob's numbers, in their 2-1 opening match against the Timbers (who registered 0.83 xG). In their 4-0 drubbing of these same Timbers on Decision Day — which sent them into the 8/9 playoff game and back into the bracket against San Diego — they got 2.98 xG to Portland's 0.73\. **Prediction:** While the shift to Providence Park may help the Timbers, they're also down a chess piece thanks to Jimer Fory's impressive double yellow. I think the No. 1 seed closes out here, giving the team more time to sort through the Chucky Lozano drama (though they didn't roster him in Game 1 and frankly didn't need him). ### 8:30 pm: FC Dallas vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC **First match result:** Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3, FC Dallas 0 **Number:** 0 Following a Decision Day win in Vancouver, in which FC Dallas were minus Petar Musa and Logan Farrington, the Texas team returned to BC Place for the playoffs and got zero shots to Vancouver's 22\. That's not shots on goal — that's shots, as in ball moving in vague direction of goal, which might be the most bizarre stat of all the first matches. **Prediction:** Coach of the Year candidate Jesper Sørensen seems to be managing his minor center back crisis just fine. I predict a robust-for-Frisco 12,000 turns out to see the Toros' season end with a whimper. ## Sunday, Nov. 2 ### 5:30 pm: Columbus Crew vs. FC Cincinnati **First match result:** FC Cincinnati 1, Columbus Crew 0 **Number:** 78 It took until the 78th minute for Kévin Denkey to break a tense, scoreless deadlock, indicative of a series much more equally matched than the 2-7 seedings would indicate. Joe Lowery, in ranking the series' likelihoods to get to Game 3, put this one second after Seattle-Minnesota, noting a lack of chance creation on both sides. **Prediction:** Given how much fun a Hell is Real playoff series should be, we all deserve a Game 3, even though Game 1 was a slog. ### 7:45 pm: Austin FC vs. LAFC **First match result:** LAFC 2, Austin FC 1 **Number:** 2 ... and 7 Son Heung-Min was held to just two shots, as Austin FC's defense did largely well to bottle him up in front of goal. However, Son was able to do some string-pulling in the midfield, allowing Bouanga to get a match-high seven shots, including the shot that Nathan Ordaz somehow got on the end of for the match winner. As has been the case for Verde throughout the season, they've mustered largely effective defensive stands throughout matches, only to have one or two lapses in the midst of those undo all the good work. **Prediction:** A cagey draw and a Brad Stuver save or two to eke out a penalty kick win to send it back to Los Angeles feels right. I do fear that the dam eventually bursts and Son and Bouanga go off for multiple goals, but I hope that if it happens, it happens in Game 3 so Verde can at least get a happy home sendoff. ## Monday, Nov. 3 ### 9:45 pm: Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United FC **First match result:** Minnesota United FC 0 (3), Seattle Sounders FC 0 (2) **Number:** 3 After a scoreless draw that opened the door to the Sounders poaching a 1-0 lead, both Roldan brothers struck the woodwork in the subsequent penalty kick round, as did late Loons sub Julian Gressel, but the other Loons did just enough to secure the home result. **Prediction:** Given that I have Seattle advancing out of this round, and I'm not alone in that, Seattle needs to win at home in a match that starts quite late for a Monday night for more than half the country (including Minnesota fans). But look at the good luck charm the Sounders have ready! > The Bear Returns 🐻 2019 MLS Cup Champion and 2022 CCL Winner Will Bruin will be HERE for Match 2 v. Minnesota! > > — [Sounders FC (@soundersfc.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ffctjd56sttnyawqddrzgq7g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-10-30T21:36:53.157Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ffctjd56sttnyawqddrzgq7g/post/3m4gwa4ifms2o?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) I feel like this one gets back to Minnesota, but I'm no longer confident Seattle advances. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Thursday Three: Assessing a playoff performance leaving Austin FC 90 minutes from elimination URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-lafcvatx-102925/ Last updated: 2025-10-30T12:59:35.000Z Partway through his post-match press conference following a [2-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-lafcvatx-102925/) to LAFC on Wednesday night, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez gave the distinct impression he'd heard about his limit of questions and observations about LAFC standouts Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. "We're playing away against the super LAFC," he said. "We have to expect that they are going to have more shots than us ... They have Son and Bouanga ... everyone in the whole week is asking me about these two superstars. And then it is normal that they are good. And we have to understand that they're good players, and it's very difficult." But he then observed, despite the 18-6 shot advantage for the hosts, belying Austin FC's possession advantage, "We reduced this team \[to\] five shots on goal, and their two goals are coming from deflections, and it's like we need to understand that it is normal. We're coming here. LAFC wants to win the game. Also, what we did in our home is very weird, that for LAFC, we didn't let them \[have\] anything there." He then pivoted to what Austin FC can do better when the teams return to Q2 Stadium on Sunday when it's Verde's turn to host — which will result in either a deciding third match in Los Angeles or the end of the team's second-best season. "We need to expect that what we can be better as a team is in the first half, how we can create more chances, because we have really good control, really good long positions," he said. "We draw them, we're moving. We were moving them side to side, but we lacked on verticality." Despite that, Estévez observed, "It's the first leg." ## Containing the stars While technically Son and Bouanga didn't score, the duo combined for dangerous moments, including the sequence leading to the Nathan Ordaz tap-in, standing as the eventual match-winner, in the 79th minute. Still, they didn't end up on the scoresheet. "We reduced their ability to create scoring opportunities really well," Estévez said. "It is normal that they're going to create one or two per game, for sure. I think we were unlucky that the second goal, it got deflected, and then Brad \[Stuver\] couldn't do anything there. But I think is this the first time we play against them, when they are playing ... I think they didn't feel comfortable in the whole game. I think they weren't happy about how the game was going. And we can learn and then try to do better in the next game." Jon Gallagher, who scored Austin FC's lone goal in a "moment of chaos" Estévez wants to see more of on Sunday, was part of Verde's containment unit. "It's a tough one to swallow tonight," he observed. "Obviously, we're in the game. They have a couple of decent looks, but nothing too serious. Brad wasn't too busy, apart from maybe the set piece where he makes a stop that Brad's been making all year. So again, we kept them at bay, especially with their two special players up top. "But you know, it's unfortunate," he continued. "Maybe it's game management, I'm not sure, but conceding in the late 70-whatever minute was a sucker punch. And you know, they're really good in their low block defending. So that made it tough for us. But yeah, we'll hopefully bring a good energy and a good spirit\[ed\] fight on Sunday, and hope to see us back here next weekend." ## If at first you don't succeed ... Estévez indicated reviewing this loss, after they return from an overnight stay in Southern California today, will help them accomplish that. "We're a team that learns a lot from these type of games," he said. "I think we get better when we play against teams. We learn a lot about what we can do. We go more into detail, and we just have to recover well, see that everyone is healthy and ready to go and learn from this, and work \[during\] the couple \[of\] days that we have in order that we can celebrate with our fans a win." Gallagher felt Verde showed enough in this match to indicate they could indeed win the next two. "For large portions of the game, we controlled possession. I thought Owen \[Wolff\] and Dani \[Pereira\] did a fantastic job on the ball. Ilie \[Sánchez\] switching fields, getting into our fullbacks, getting in crossing positions, and just trying to be a little bit better in around the box to create more chances. As I said, they do a good job in there, and we kind of had to wear them down. But I think, you know, we're well and truly still in this tie. We knew it was going to be tough coming here, but at the same time, we beat them twice this year, and it sets it up nicely for a good match on Sunday." The team heeded halftime instruction to get more attackers into the box, with Gallagher pointing out, "The first half was a bit of a stalemate for us. But at the same time, they didn't create a whole lot," with the opening goal coming from a Ryan Hollingshead ball into the danger zone that found Brendan Hines-Ike's foot. "You saw \[Guilherme\] Biro was finding himself getting in there," Gallagher said of the second-half adjustment. "Owen was arriving a little bit better. The front three of myself, Myrto \[Uzuni\], and \[Osman\] Buka\[ri\], we have to be in there just to create some sort of numerical advantage to make it difficult for them." Verde wasn't alone in dropping the first match of their best-of-three series. Of the eight away teams playing in the perhaps-needlessly-expanded format (though it's a format that keeps Verde alive), only NYCFC mustered a 1-0 win playing away from their baseball-first home stadia. All four West matches went to the hosts, though it took Minnesota PKs to do it, and Austin came closer than either Portland or Dallas, who lost their openers by a combined 5-1 scoreline and look less likely than Austin to get to a third match. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: LAFC 2, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-lafcvatx-102925/ Last updated: 2025-10-30T04:42:06.000Z In the opening match of their best-of-three 2025 MLS playoff series, Austin FC gave up an own goal and an inevitable Denis Bouanga-engineered goal to lose 2-1 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. The first moment of Son Hueng-Min to Bouanga terror came in the 6th minute, when Son led Bouanga in with a pass and Jon Gallagher broke up what MLS classified as LAFC's first shot of the match (even though it seemed Gallagher headed it off before it technically was a shot). Bouanga then made himself a bit of a main character in the 10th minute, going down in the box for being in the vicinity of Oleksandr Svatok, which actually got some penalty consideration, but really deserved a yellow for what was clearly a dive, as Svatok didn't make contact at all. But in the 20th minute, Hollingshead took in a Bouanga pass, slipped past Ilie Sánchez, and then bounced an off-target shot off Brendan Hines-Ike's foot to grab the early lead. Son and Bouanga had another terrifying counter in the 43rd, with Brad Stuver palming away Bouanga's shot to keep the lead at one. Austin's first shot came in first-half stoppage time, with Gallagher getting on the end of a Mikkel Desler cross and heading it wide. In the 56th minute, Verde engineered one of its best chances of the night, which still felt short, with a Guilherme Biro blocked shot in front of goal seguing into an off-target Myrto Uzuni shot. Though neither of those were a shot on goal, the sequence did bring Austin's shot total from one to three. Then, Verde was able to create a moment of chaos, starting with a Dani Pereira run into the box, which somehow turned into: - A mishandled pass into Uzuni; - an outlet pass to Osman Bukari; - a dish off to Desler at the top of the box; - a looped cross into the center of the box that somehow found Uzuni; - a pass to Owen Wolff three feet to his left; - a Wolff pass to Gallagher four feet to *his* left; and - a shot past an ill-advisedly sliding-to-his-far-post Hugo Lloris. Following that magic, Hollingshead nearly legitimately got a goal on a 68th-minute corner kick, but Stuver palmed away a shot that definitely had goal-scoring intentions. Then, in the 73rd, Bouanga nearly had a goal he could call his own. Pereira led a 77th-minute charge with promise, followed by a Bouanga-charged counter that had even more promise, forcing Stuver into a dramatic would-be save on a ball that went over the bar. But then, a moment later, Bouanga – led in by Son – hit a shot that bounced off a sliding Austin defender, to a graicous Nathan Ordaz, waiting at the far post to tap in the deflected shot, to retake the lead. Austin FC head coach and white sweatshirt model Nico Estévez put on CJ Fodrey late to try to engineer an equalizer. Fodrey had a chance to take part in the 89th, taking a ball in the box and dishing it off to Uzuni — but Uzuni, continuing a night of relative anonymity, hit a weak dribbler to Lloris to squash one of the last legitimate chances Verde had. Verde got one last gasp corner kick attempt which went for naught, bringing the season down to a home playoff match on Sunday night. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Let us laud Desler crosses. The one to Gallagher in first-half stoppage time was very nearly a goal at a point in which it didn't appear Verde would be scoring one, and his cross leading to a goal felt like a very dig-deep moment for a team that doesn't seize many of those moments. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Here's a thing I hate, which seems to be a hallmark of the Premier League's lesser teams. When you're a defender who is beat on a good offensive play resulting in a goal, you put up a hand to helpfully signal to the ref that the player that beat you was offside — indeed, it's a chump move that is basically an admission of guilt. It's noteworthy (to me, at least) that Hines-Ike did the offside hand up after he poked Hollingshead's speculative ball into the goalmouth past his own goalkeeper. ## One thing you might have missed Check out the replay on the Bouanga dive to see how egregious it was. (Look around the 10:15 mark of the match to see the play, and then again around 10:45, because the review took that long.) ## One nerdy tidbit Weirdly, at halftime, Austin had a 3:2 possession advantage but was outshot 6-1 (with LAFC scoring half its two shots on goal). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Though Austin FC losing here isn't a surprise — after all, seven of the eight lower seeds went on the road and lost the first match in their best-of-three series — the loss leaves the team just 90 minutes from playoff elimination. However, those 90 minutes are in front of loud Q2 Stadium fans. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Austin FC held the majority of the possession, yet was outshot by a 3:1 margin. Was possession the plan? And why was there such a shot imbalance if the plan was to keep most of the ball? [Get tonight's quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ## ### A quick survey for you URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-quick-survey-for-you/ Last updated: 2025-10-29T13:43:53.000Z _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions for the Austin FC-LAFC playoff series with Justin Ruderman URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-justin-ruderman-austin-fc-vs-lafc-playoff-series/ Last updated: 2025-10-28T00:14:06.000Z It'll be the last match of the best-of-three series openers, but it's getting closer. Wednesday night, Austin FC travels to BMO Stadium to face a familiar foe to open its 2025 playoff journey — which, according to the oddsmakers and a lot of national pundits, might be just two or three games long. Verde has played LAFC twice in the regular season over the past five years, including the team's first-ever regular-season match in 2021\. They've famously played in the Western Conference finals in 2022\. They've even played in a Leagues Cup Round of 32 matchup. Lifetime, Austin's 4w 7L 2D against the Black & Gold, but two of those wins have come in 2025 regular-season contests. But the team will look a little different than even the international break-altered version of LAFC that came to Q2 Stadium 15 days ago. To help us sort out this new, Son Heung-minified LAFC, we reached out to our former Striker colleague and LAFC font of knowledge Justin Ruderman, who was kind enough to entertain three questions. Before we get there, though, the excellent Ben Wright of SixOneFive Soccer has put together this league-wide [MLS survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenucyoYfo541YqDNAaFwtPMdYVWJ7kT38R7UwVya08x1b9HA/viewform?ref=verdeallday.com), and asked me to contribute the Austin FC section of the survey. So, when you click Austin FC under the "What team do you support?" question, you'll go to a short survey that I made. Please check it out; I think you'll enjoy it. I'll share results in a future Verde All Day article. To the questions! ### Why is the Son-Bouanga partnership working so well? Quality, chemistry and tactics. The first point is obvious. Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min are arguably the two best pure wingers in MLS and they play on the same team. That quality is always going to give you goals. But what has the pair clicking so well is the instant personal chemistry. Prior to Son’s arrival, the biggest criticism about Bouanga from within the fanbase (there aren’t many) was his selfishness in front of goal. If he had it in his mind to shoot, he would, even if a better option were available. Not anymore. Instead of selfishly chasing a second Golden Boot on the breakaway in the closing minutes against Real Salt Lake, Bouanga laid off an assist for Son to complete his first Black & Gold hat trick. Even the South Korean was surprised, but showed his appreciation by imitating Bouanga’s iconic flip celebration with an adorable somersault, followed suit by Bouanga who added Son’s signature hand gesture to the picture-perfect moment. It summed the duo up perfectly. They just feel like two kids on the playground who happen to be a bit better (and faster) than the rest of their classmates. Steve Cherundolo also deserves some credit here. Unwaveringly pragmatic, Cherundolo has shifted away from LAFC’s typical 4-3-3 since Son’s arrival, initially opting for a 3-4-3 with Son at the No. 9 before landing on a 5-3-2 to give Bouanga and Son free rein in the final third with space to run into. Cherundolo lauds his team’s tactical adaptability, but I’d be surprised not to see a 5-3-2 in Round One. It has worked like a charm. ### If you were an opposing coach coming up with a game plan to score against LAFC’s defense, are there particular players you’d focus on, or are there strategies that can work to break down the whole unit? Far be it from me to advise Nico Estévez after doing the league double over LAFC with 1-0 wins home and away this season, but it’s no coincidence that both of those goals came from corner kicks. Despite conceding the fewest expected goals in the league this season, LAFC are top five in goals conceded from dead balls per FBref. That should certainly be a focus for Verde in training this week. The other successful strategy could be to give LAFC a taste of their own medicine in transition by conceding possession. In addition to the added side effect that it may be more difficult for LAFC themselves to score against a mid-block rather than in transition, it will likely be easier for Austin to catch LAFC before they properly set their defensive structure in front of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. That means either counterattacking quickly back at LAFC after they’ve thrown numbers forward in transition (the more dangerous option since you don’t want to get into a track meet with Bouanga and Son) or playing direct when the ball is won in Austin’s defensive third. In terms of personnel, the latter would also allow Austin to target LAFC’s three-back formation, particularly Eddie Segura, who is not hesitant to track a dropping striker into midfield. I know this is unfortunately not Mytro Uzuni’s strong suit, but false nine movement from any Verde forward could pull the Black & Gold back line out of position before they’re able to get set. Or, you know, just head home another corner. ### Who is one X factor player on LAFC we should be paying attention to this series? The biggest problem for LAFC this season is that there has not been one, at least in the attacking third. Before Son’s arrival, it was the Bouanga show, and after, the pair set an MLS record by scoring 18 consecutive goals for the Black & Gold, including three consecutive hat tricks. In midfield, the X-factor would’ve been Igor Jesus, who flew under the radar with a sensational season in defensive midfield before tearing his ACL in August. Luckily, Canadian international Mathieu Choinière has filled the hole admirably, but I wouldn’t quite consider him an X-factor. As good as Ryan Porteous and Nkosi Tafari have been, the same applies to center backs, and everybody knows how important Mark Delgado is. All that said, I’ll opt for two potential goal scorers from unexpected positions: fullback and off the bench. Ryan Hollingshead embodies the idiom “right place at the right time” and has as much experience as anybody in the MLS Cup Playoffs. He leads all active defenders in goals (31) and is tied for the second-most goals all-time by an MLS defender. No question, he could deliver a big moment in Round One. Then, if the Black & Gold need a spark off the bench, they have a livewire to turn to. 19-year-old David Martínez is potentially the most talented footballer Venezuela has ever produced\[\[1\]\] and is pure entertainment every time he steps on the pitch. Pace, flair, skill, confidence; it’s all there for the teenager. He still has maturing to do behind the scenes as he grows into adulthood, but there’s a reason he was voted 5th on the MLS 22 Under 22 this season (alongside Nathan Ordaz, a bonus potential X-factor, in 8th). The kid has ability in bunches. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) \[\[1\]\] Certainly, Justin's not throwing shade toward Dani Pereira here, but is rather just excited about Martinez. ### The price of points and goals, and the value of Owen Wolff URL: https://verdeallday.com/points-per-million-goals-per-dollar-austin-fc-2025/ Last updated: 2025-10-24T11:37:00.000Z For the past couple of years, I've marveled at the big numbers that can result when you take a designated player on a huge salary who's not producing — I believe Emiliano Rigoni sent me down this path – and calculate dollars per goal based on the player's salary and output. I was then thrilled, as you imagined I might be if you ran across this as well, that the team at Hudson River Blue (which covers NYCFC) came up with a [Points Per Million](https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/points-per-million-ranking-every-mls-club-by-table-position-vs-payroll/?ref=verdeallday.com) formula. They went one further than I did ... taking the points amassed by each team over the 2025 season and calculating how much each team "spent" per point won, based on the team's total salary. While MLS does have a salary cap, the way that designated player and U22 salaries figure into the salary cap, versus how much a team actually shells out for a player, results in the ranges that HRB's work revealed — so you can have an Inter Miami with Lionel Messi paying $46,836,635 in total team salary, versus a CF Montréal decidedly on the other end of the spectrum, paying $11,993,946\. The Philadelphia Union, which laid out a relatively economical $13,365,549, won the 2025 Supporters' Shield with 66 points, and topped the points per million standings — unsurprisingly — with 4.94 points per million. All teams in the top 12 — including Austin FC, at No. 9 — made the playoffs. ![Chart showing top 12 teams ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-9.30.28---AM.png) **Austin FC's at No. 9 on the list (Hudson River Blue)* You have to get to No. 13, where Houston sits at 2.76 points per million with its low salary and modest finish, to get to a non-playoff team. You're probably not surprised with the bottom three, as big-spending Toronto FC, Atlanta United, and LA Galaxy had less-than-stellar years despite paying for players. But Inter Miami, third in the East and just a point behind the Shield winners, is No. 27, getting 65 points but with a salary budget large enough to come in at 1.33 points per million. In the meantime, the Vancouver Whitecaps, spending just over a third of that, finished with just two fewer points (and might have done three points better if not getting a red card against an especially motivated FC Dallas in their final game). The lesson from this, of course, is teams getting value from their designated players and being smart about outlays up and down the roster can succeed ... and, conversely, paying big for designated players that don't produce or don't function well on a dysfunctional team (looking at you, Atlanta United) can be disastrous in the table and in public perception. It's one thing for your team to be led in scoring by Prince Owusu (13 goals, $982,500) and Dante Sealy (9 goals, $122,022); it's quite another to bring in Emmanuel Latte Lath (scoring seven goals and making $4,030,546 after coming in on a massive transfer fee). ## Let's talk goals For Austin FC, at a little more than $15 million, three players — DPs Brandon Vázquez, Myrto Uzuni, and Osman Bukari — command a combined $7,276,778\. If you're reducing salaries to goals produced, you'd expect those top three players to combine for nearly half of your total goals (or, to be precise, 47.4%). Given Austin's paltry 37 goals – 35 if you don't count own goals — the three should have combined for 16.6 goals. They came close to that, combining for 14 goals. And that's good ... except that preseason optimism around the trio led to projections of a combined 30 goals; instead, Verde spent the first half of the season flirting with a record for the lowest goal output of any MLS team playing a 34-game season in league history, Vázquez scored five goals in 19 league appearances before suffering a season-ending knee injury, and Uzuni scored just one goal in his first 17 league appearances before locking in with five in his final 10\. Did anyone anticipate that Owen Wolff would be the team's leading goalscorer, let alone be responsible for 20% of the goals that Austin FC players scored in 2025? Yet there he is, with seven of the 35 goals that Verde mustered this season, which by the way, is a total amounting to a little more than one a game. As an aside, how dire was Austin's scoring this year? If own goals were a player — let's call him Owen Goal — he'd be tied with Diego Rubio on the roster, with only five players scoring more goals. But let's celebrate the other Owen — who, with seven goals and only costing the front office $221,600 in salary — who was far and away the best goalscoring value on the team this year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-2.32.45---PM.png) That's organized by goals and then assists; you see how it's Owen and the DPs and then a fairly sharp dropoff after that, although Rubio and Dani Pereira equaled Vázquez in goal contributions (getting 1607 minutes before his injury, compared to 937 for Rubio and 2071 for Pereira). Now look at the chart organized by dollars per goal. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-22-at-2.38.22---PM.png) For about the price of a new Toyota Camry, you can have an Owen Wolff goal, with each costing the club $31,657\. Though there's conflicting data on the median home price in Austin, it's in the Osman Bukari goal to Žan Kolmanič goal range, though the median listing price is still around an Ilie Sanchez goal. The average home *value* in the Mueller neighborhood is about a 2025 Brandon Vázquez goal, though to get to the average home price to increase your likelihood of running into me at the Mueller H-E-B, you'd need to add a Guilherme Biro goal, which is also the price of a new Audi A8\. (Note that I live in a neighborhood *near* Mueller.) That's to put the goal values in terms relevant to you, and if you can get players scoring goals for you that will cost your front office cars rather than houses, that will help. DP strikers are typically going to be the most expensive signings in MLS, and front offices know that and plan for that. But if your DP striker scores enough goals, they work out to be not as much per goal. For instance, in 2025, Nashville SC's Sam Surridge made $3,182,639, but he also scored 24 goals, meaning his team spent (in this reductive way of looking at things) $132,610 per goal, which, in Austin FC terms, is a little more than a CJ Fodrey goal, except there are 23 more of them. Denis Bouanga's 24 goals are a little more per goal, with the $3,709,500 LAFC is paying him in 2025, but that's just $154,562.50 per goal, and when you consider his nine assists, that's $112,409 a goal contribution. Looking at the goals-to-salary numbers, here's what it looks like on a scatter plot chart. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/AustinFCGoalstoBucksScatterPlot.jpg) Forgetting for a moment where Surridge's place on the chart would be (around where his salary is several paragraphs above the chart), it's clear that Wolff and Biro are the biggest value contributors, but between them, they're barely to double-digit goals. When you look at goal contributions, it's even more pronounced. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-23-at-8.59.16---AM.png) Wolff is down to $14,773 per goal contribution, which is about what you'd have to put down for a 2018 Toyota Camry. Rubio's next on the list, and while none of the DPs are generating Bouanga-level value, Bukari comes close and is the best of the DPs — though more than 10 goal contributions would be nice. But Uzuni, with one less goal contribution, still has each of his goal contributions costing nearly $100,000 more than one of Bukari's. And then, after that, you have to remind yourself that the chart's sweeping up players that you likely don't expect more than an occassional goal from. But then, if you're like me, you marvel at how few goals Verde scored in 2025, which brings us back full circle to the points per million data. Teams with similar payrolls to Austin FC managed many more goals. The Union scored 57, led by Tai Baribo's 16\. The Whitecaps scored 66, led by Brian White's 16\. Minnesota scored 56, although 10 came from the now-departed Tani Oluwaseyi and nine came from the now-injured Kelvin Yeboah, which drops the Loons to Austin FC-level scoring for a playoff series against Seattle. Nico Estévez did well to get this team to the playoffs this year, and the points per million numbers indicate it happened without big bucks spent on talent — even woith the outlay for the team's two most expensive players next season. But for 2026, there's one of two directions Austin FC could aspire to go — either getting more out of a payroll that is comparatively low, or somehow adding to the payroll to amass more fortune-changing talent. Knowing what we know about the roster, I'd expect it to tip toward the first approach, with the awareness that scoring more goals is a must — regardless of how much they cost. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Here comes Son; it's all right: Nico Estévez contemplates Austin FC's first round URL: https://verdeallday.com/here-comes-son-its-all-right-nico-estevez-contemplates-austin-fc-first-round/ Last updated: 2025-10-23T12:46:16.000Z On late Wednesday afternoon, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez fielded questions about the upcoming playoff matchup against LAFC — a team that Austin FC's already beaten twice this season, though a team that did not feature Son Heung-min, LAFC's summer acquisition that's turned a perennial MLS powerhouse into one of this year's MLS Cup favorites. "He's a player that has enough speed to run in behind, he's a player that in a one-v-one can go inside or go outside," Estévez said. "He has a really good shot with the right foot and left foot ... he \[can\] come underneath and he can lay off the ball really well. Also he can turn, he can see — he's a very, very complete player. "He's making the difference for LAFC, and he's making an impact in the league," he continued, before talking about a strategy including some possible double-team coverage against a player who's scored nearly a goal a game since arriving into the league. And it's not just Son that Austin has to worry about when Austin FC travels to BMO Stadium next Wednesday to open their best-of-three first-round playoff series. Since his arrival, Son has given a boost to established Verde nemesis Denis Bouanga, who has 24 goals and nine assists on the season, and has elevated a level beyond his already lofty heights since Son arrived. "It's a collective effort," Estévez said on how his team will aim to stop the pair. "Since they've been playing, I think they score or contribute with an assist in every game that they play together. No team has stopped them yet. This says a lot about the quality of these players. "We feel confident on our talent, on our roster and our players, but also a collective game plan that will allow us to to do well," he continued. "We know, anytime you play against quality players, that they can bring something out of nothing, and it doesn't matter how how good your plan is. I always put the example of \[Lionel\] Messi and Jordi Alba. Probably every team just trains how to defend that combination throughout the whole time, and every game, they have a chance, so they score a goal through that combination. For that reason, I think for us, it's important that we focus on on the collective. We focus on how we can deal collectively against them, but also how we can be better on the attacking third in order that if they bring something out of nothing, and they punish us, that we also can punish them." ## Measuring success Given that 18 teams had the chance to win MLS Cup heading into the playoffs — narrowed to 16 after Orlando City and Real Salt Lake lost their playoff games on Wednesday night — is it possible to measure success by metrics other than winning it all? "In order to be champions, you have to put yourself in a position to win, to have the possibility to win," he said. "I think in the Open Cup, advancing every round, it put us closer in a position to be one of the candidates to win the Open Cup ... Making the playoffs put us in a position to be one of these 18 teams to be able to have the opportunity to win it. And right now, the only thinking for us is how we beat LAFC in this best-of-three. This will put us in the next step to try to fight. "Thinking more and thinking on the last rounds, it doesn't help, because we are too far away," he added. "We have to overcome a lot of obstacles throughout these games that we're going to have against LAFC, and I think the important thing for us is to focus to get one step closer." ## Updates on health Estévez shared that Osman Bukari, held out of the regular-season finale against San Jose, is training with the team, and his absence from the last game was more precautionary. "If everything goes well, he will be ready for for the first game," Estévez said. With Diego Rubio, however, the process could be a little longer, with the coach saying, "We're going to go week by week with Diego." The puzzling first-round schedule could work in Austin's favor, then; though the playoffs start on Friday, the LAFC-Austin opener is the last of those first games, coming five days after the playoffs kick off with Friday night's Miami-Nashville tilt. Weirdly, there are no games on Saturday — *does MLS Commissioner Don Garber have a wedding to attend that day?* — a triple-header on the Sunday, a double-header on Monday, a single match on Tuesday, and then LAFC-Austin playing in L.A. the same night as Game 5 of the World Series (provided it gets to Game 5)*,* less than seven traffic-clogged miles away. "I think it's something that's still an issue for the league to solve," Estévez offered. "That is not easy," touting logistics that include soccer teams sharing stadiums with NFL teams, though that only applies to Seattle and Charlotte. (The BC Lions, who share BC Place with the Vancouver Whitecaps, conclude their CFL season in Saskatchewan on Saturday, and most playoff teams play in stadiums where they're the primary tenant.) Then, of course, Verde will host LAFC a week from Sunday, with both teams on three days' rest. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Austin FC 2025 first-round playoff schedule announced URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2025-first-round-playoff-schedule-announced/ Last updated: 2025-10-19T19:06:08.000Z Major League Soccer has announced its 2025 playoff schedule for the first-round best-of-three series, and Austin FC will open its postseason at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Oct. 29, at 9:42 pm CT, with the broadcast starting at 9:30 pm. Austin FC is guaranteed a home playoff game, which will played at Q2 Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 7:55 pm CT, with the broadcast commencing at 7:30 pm. Should the series go to a third-and-deciding game, that will be on Saturday, Nov. 8 in L.A., with the time to be determined. If Austin advances to play in the conference semifinals, it could know its opponent as early as Nov. 1\. Vancouver Whitecaps FC and FC Dallas start their No. 2 vs. No. 7 series on Sunday, Oct. 26, with additional games played Nov. 1 and, if necessary, Nov. 7\. If FCD upsets the Whitecaps, Austin FC would host the conference semifinals Nov. 22 or 23, following an interminable and ill-timed international break. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We need to be better': Moving past a Decision Day loss into the playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sjvatx-101825/ Last updated: 2025-10-19T14:49:27.000Z Even after purposefully holding two key players out in a match that had no bearing on Austin FC's playoff fortunes, head coach Nico Estévez indicated he learned some things about his team in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. "Defensively, we had a good first half," he assessed. "I think we held them very well in the second half. I think we were too deep, too early, and we weren't able to build presence in moments. I think it's something that we have to take a look \[at\], and then the goals that we conceded are avoidable ... we learned that for what is coming, that we have to be better on those crosses and better on being in the wall and not opening the wall to make the opponent to score." Indeed, Austin conceded a goal in the 74th minute in the run of play, with a lively Josef Martínez finally breaking through on one of his three shots, contributing to a staggering 26-4 shot advantage for the hosts. Then, three minutes later, Niko Tsakiris sent his free kick through Verde's wall and off Brad Stuver's fingertips to score what would stand as the match-winner, greatly displeasing the goalkeeper. Estévez attributed the lopsidedness in shots to how the Quakes approached the match. "When a team like San Jose, it's their last chance to make the playoff. you could see the lineup also was very brave \[with a\] very attacking mindset," he observed. "We knew that they're going to push, they're going to go after us, and I think we've learned how to also manage some moments in this game, but we need to be better in order that we don't consider those many shots." Noting that the Quakes made a defender-for-attacker sub late in the game, with Preston Judd spelling Jamar Ricketts, he added. "The game was open. We had some counter attacks that if we do well or they don't call offside ... in some of them, it could be a one-v-one situation with a goalkeeper and you score the second goal, and it changes completely the dynamic of the game." But Estévez left Myrto Uzuni on the bench, and left the injured Osman Bukari and Diego Rubio off the roster altogether to (hopefully) recover for the playoffs — and the most potent offensive sub he did make, CJ Fodrey, wasn't able to deliver the late-game heroics he's mustered in other recent matches. Austin's loss came on a Decision Day that delivered a good deal of unpredictability, with Dallas beating Vancouver to vault past the play-in game places, LA Galaxy beating Minnesota, and Colorado drawing against LAFC (getting an 87th-minute goal that would have sent them to the playoffs before LAFC's 90th-minute goal moved them back down). Quakes players (alongside Verde players) stayed on the field to watch the closing moments of St. Louis City SC hosting Real Salt Lake on the PayPal Stadium screen after their match concluded, hoping RSL would concede just one more goal to deliver them into the playoffs. That goal would not come, and San Jose finished the season in 10th despite getting the win needed to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. ## 37 and -8: Somehow, playoff numbers Verde finished the season with 37 goals, thanks to Owen Wolff getting the game opener from distance to finish with 15 goal contributions (seven goals and eight assists) on the year. Considering there are two own goals in the mix, 15 Verde goal scorers combined for 35 goals in 2025\. Verde's total of 37 is the lowest goal output of any MLS team making the playoffs, and its -8 goal differential is only "bested" by RSL's -11\. Put another way, you need to add the goals from Wolff, Uzuni, Bukari, Rubio, Brandon Vázquez, Guilherme Biro, Besard Šabović, Dani Pereira, and Jon Gallagher to equal Lionel Messi's output in 2025\. Put another way, Messi and Luis Suarez has outscored all of Austin FC, as has another dynamic duo, Nashville SC's Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar. And, to put an early spotlight on Verde's first-round opponent, Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min have combined for 33 goals — including Son getting nine in just 10 appearances — to come close to the Austin squad's total. "If I'm honest, I would like to score more goals and concede less ... but I also want to make the playoffs," Estévez said. "And probably there are teams that have scored more goals than us and are out of the playoff, and for me, it's game by game, and then after if you score a lot of goals, that will be awesome." Indeed, San Jose scored 60 on the season with a goal differential of -3, but Austin carving out exactly two more wins (and the same number of draws) was the difference between 6th and 10th. Had the Quakes beat Verde in Austin in August, they would have been in a three-way tie on points with Austin and Dallas, likely sending Verde to the play-in game on goal differential. "I think we've had games where we should score more goals and we didn't, and other games that we didn't deserve to score more goals and we did it," he added. "Look at today, the goal that we scored is shot from outside the box, but it's also adeflection, and you have that part of the luck to score ... It something that we'll have to do better in the playoffs, obviously, and also, we'll have to find ways to do better for next season." Though the U.S. Open Cup final loss did hover over this final part of the season, the trendlines heading into a tough playoff series against LAFC aren't optimal. Verde has now lost three of their final four regular-season games and four of their last six. Conversely, LAFC are 6-1-1 in their final eight – though that sole loss was to Austin FC. ## Moving past it Wolff was made available after the match, and gave the impression that this loss isn't going to stick with the team long. "We're a little disappointed with how tonight went, but that's something that we're just gonna have to move past, because we have to start focusing on the playoffs and LAFC," he said. "We're excited to be in this year's run for the playoffs and we're going to do the best that we can." Regarding how the teams approached the match, he said, "San Jose has a different type of intensity and aggression, and I think we certainly were matching it. It's a back-and-forth game. It's not easy. But, yeah, we give up two goals, and we're disappointed about it. It's something that we could avoid. So we're gonna go back, look at it, and learn from it." And while it's an improved LAFC team Austin will face in the playoffs, Wolff indicated that there might be a blueprint for playoff success baked into the two 1-0 wins Verde engineered in the regular season. "We're gonna have to look back at the games when we played them, and played them and and see what worked and what didn't work and ... we're gonna do the best that we can to hurt them as well when we're away and when we're at home." ## Waiting for the schedule MLS has indicated that, following the play-in game doubleheader on Wednesday, the first round will start Friday, and Austin fans might expect their first two playoff matches to be Monday night football affairs — though we won't know that conclusively until later today. San Diego FC, winning the West in its debut season (thanks to pasting Portland 4-0 in its finale while 10-man Vancouver lost to FC Dallas), will face the winner of the Portland-RSL match, while Vancouver's slide to second means it'll bring back its Decision Day opponent to BC Place to start the best-of-three series. San Diego vaulting over Vancouver means that the Seattle-Minnesota series winner will have the chance to upset SDFC – and if it's Seattle, that could set up a Cascadia final in the Western Conference. On Austin's side of the bracket, if the Texas teams upset their West Coast opponents, Austin would host Dallas in the Western Conference semis, repeating Verde's feat in 2022\. And that would be, barring the play-in team reaching the West finals, Austin's last opportunity to host a 2025 playoff match. Due to [MLS rules](https://www.mlssoccer.com/playoffs/2025/news/mls-cup-2025-hosting-scenarios-where-could-the-final-be-held?ref=verdeallday.com) basing home field for MLS Cup on Supporters' Shield standings, Austin's one of four West teams that would travel to the East stadium for the championship regardless of which East team emerges. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: San Jose Earthquakes 2, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sjvatx-101825/ Last updated: 2025-10-19T03:15:42.000Z On a Decision Day trip to PayPal Park, Austin FC lost 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night, with Owen Wolff getting his seventh goal of the season on a middle-of-the-first-half banger, before Josef Martínez and Niko Tsakiris got two dam-burst goals in the second half toward the win to split the regular-season series. Austin FC also learned, thanks to results from the top four teams in the Western Conference, that it will begin its second-ever playoff journey traveling to LAFC. Head coach Nico Estévez commenced with what you could generously describe as a rotated lineup, with Robert Taylor getting his first start, Jáder Obrian getting his ninth start of the year, and Nicolás Dubersarsky getting his seventh start of the year. The Quakes dominated possession in the early going, logging close to a 2:1 advantage in the first 10 minutes. Brad Stuver was forced into a save in the 12th minute, repelling a shot from Martínez, but right into Ousseni Bouda's path, who put his shot wide. Very much against the run of play, Verde pounced on a counter in the 22nd minute, and on a play in which Taylor fell down at the end of the box, possibly courting a free kick, but the rebound fell to Wolff well outside the 18, who buried his speculative shot to take the lead. In the 33rd, Bouda — who Austin FC passed over for Kipp Keller in a SuperDraft, I'll remind everyone, looking like the Quakes' second-best attacker during his time on the field — launched a shot toward the goal's top shelf that Stuver had to paw over the bar. Austin got to halftime still up 1-0, and with San Jose's playoff path looking bleak with the results they needed from other games plus their own deficit. Estévez made two halftime subs, getting Besard Šabović on for Wolff and Žan Kolmanič on for Mikkel Desler. Shortly after, it's very possible that Mateja Đorđević slapped a ball away from Martínez in the box (as a certain color commentator who seems to have it in for Austin FC made the case), and in the first five minutes of the second half, the Quakes created several nervy moments in front of Austin's goal. In the 55th, it got even worse, with Benji Kikanovic hitting a shot off Stuver's left post that somehow caromed out to the right for a goal kick. In the 63rd, Estévez decided it was time for fresh center backs, getting Hines-Ike and Đorđević off for Julio Cascante and Oleksandr Svatok. After more door-knocking, in the 74th, Martínez finally got his goal, elevating over Dubersarsky to score, and then three minutes later, Tsakiris (who subbed in for Beau Leroux just four minutes earlier) got to take a free kick and beat the Verde wall and Stuver to take the lead. Verde's best hope for an equalizer came in stoppage time, with sub CJ Fodrey getting on a loose ball in front of goal and getting a header off over the bar, but it was not to be. Austin FC finished with 47 points on the season for its second-best finish in five seasons. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) In the 61st, Dubersarsky and Brendan Hines-Ike shut down an optimal goalscoring moment from Martínez, who was arguably the liveliest of the Quakes attackers throughout the match. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) For a sickening moment just after the half-hour mark, it looked like Verde had let in its worst equalizer ever, which Stuver hitting a goal kick off Chicho Arango's back, with the rebound falling into Martínez's pass for a too-easy goal. Referee Filip Dujic quickly apprised everyone of what actually happened, but had that weird goal counted, it would have been yet another bizarre moment in this bizarre series. ## One thing you might have missed Save for the playoff appearances, this was the last rollout of the Dillo kits, arguably the best of the team's away jerseys ... with a possible case to be made for best Verde jersey ever. (I will entertain arguments for the current home kits and the OG home kits and nothing else.) ## One nerdy tidbit Verde's first shot of the game went in. But in the first half, Verde only had one additional shot (not on target), to the Quakes' 11\. That would finish with a 26-4 shot advantage for the hosts. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Austin was playing what it told itself was a playoff game, against a San Jose team that was actually playing for its playoff lives. The team actually playing for its playoff lives overcame, which perhaps speaks to the urgency it'll need to feel next weekend. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Verde kept strong defensive form for 73 minutes and then yielded two goals in the following four minutes. Should this be a concern heading into the playoffs? [Get ready for the playoffs with a subscription discount](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Your Austin FC-centric guide to Decision Day 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-centric-guide-decision-day-2025/ Last updated: 2025-10-16T11:49:04.000Z Eighty-one different scenarios could play out on Decision Day 2025, determining who Verde faces in the first round of the 2025 MLS playoffs — considering that the top four teams in the West all play different opponents and can either win, lose, or draw to shuffle the first-round matchups. (Seventh, eighth, and ninth places are also subject to what five teams do with their 243 possibilities, but as Austin FC fans, you're ultimately concerned about who lands in third to face a Verde team locked into the No. 6 seed.) Vancouver can drop no lower than 2nd, so which of LAFC, San Diego, and Minnesota will end up No. 3 when all is said and done? All of the following calculations and analysis were done without the use of AI. Verde All Day: Made By Humans. (And, thanks to Chase Hoffman, Python, a computer language better at counting than ChatGPT.) Why even bring up generative AI, aside from the annoying news that MLS has started testing AI-generated match recaps? Ever since last weekend's results went final, folks have been feeding ChatGPT and other AI models and AI-powered search engines data and asking them to spit out probabilities and scenarios. Guess what? A quick test we did revealed that ChatGPT thinks the impossible is possible. Among them: Reporting there are three ways that Vancouver could end up in third place. In actual reality, they can drop no lower than second. The top four teams' results can play out exactly 81 different ways. Of the 81 different win/loss scenarios that can play out for the top four teams, here are how many result in each of the three possible opponents, but I beg you not to look at those percentages as "probability." - LAFC: 45 (55%) - San Diego: 21 (26%) - Minnesota: 15 (18%) Those listed percentages are just how many of the possible outcomes result in those opponents, not how likely they are to happen. [PlayoffStatus.com](https://playoffstatus.com/mls/westernstandings.html?ref=verdeallday.com) has broken out the probabilities as LAFC 44%, San Diego 30%, and Minnesota United 27%. They don't provide any context to what their model takes into account, but considering the "what it takes" of the 81 scenarios, those numbers feel much more representative than just assuming that the proportion of scenarios lines up to what will actually happen. There's *way* too much math, so let's look at some reasonable assumptions based on what teams are playing whom, and then rattle off what helps or most needs to happen for them to end up 3rd. Phil will weigh in with "Phil's Take," and we'll rattle off some other interesting things to watch on Decision Day while waiting for the West to kick off at 8 pm. If you want to look at all the math, as well as which scenarios you might be rooting for, we've got you covered. [The 81 different possibilities: How the top four teams in the West can finish on Decision Day 2025This is a lot of math.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/icon/VAD-COLORS-01-5.jpg)Verde All DayPhil West![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/thumbnail/west-table-pre-decision-day-2025.png)](https://verdeallday.com/2025-decision-day-west-top-four/) ## LAFC: 45-way "odds favorite" ... or are they? This is the one with the most paths, and it's the one that most people anecdotally seem to assume is happening. Let's look at the data after choosing some givens. LAFC plays at Colorado on Saturday, with a full-strength squad that includes Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. Vancouver plays a Dallas team missing the trio of Petar Musa, Logan Farrington, and Ramiro due to yellow and red card suspensions. Depleted, low-on-attack Minnesota plays safe-from-the-Spoon LA Galaxy in Carson. San Diego goes to Portland, who need results to stay out of the play-in game (though it's also quite possible this is a playoff preview to an SDFC-Timbers series). Here's a surprise before we get off to the races: Minnesota winning at Galaxy could be the biggest spoiler for LAFC ending up 3rd, because *only three out of 45 LAFC-in-third outcomes involve them winning*. ### Vancouver & LAFC win Let's start by assuming wins for both Vancouver and LAFC. I would be truly shocked if Vancouver lose a home finale against a defanged Frisco. Even though LAFC will be away from home against a Colorado squad with their playoffs on the line, it's hard to deny the Son-Bouanga Stepbrothers Connection. That they can win at Colorado isn't in doubt, but the problem is that even if they do ... - There are only *three* out of 81 scenarios where both VAN/LAFC win and LAFC end up in 3rd! - All three *also* require San Diego to win outright against Portland, and it doesn't matter what Minnesota end up doing in Carson. ### Vancouver wins, LAFC draw or lose: 12 scenarios There's an even distribution of other results here. - Half involve LAFC drawing, half with them losing. - They also split into exact thirds regarding San Diego's three possible results. - Most crucially, *they all require that Minnesota does not win*. Bookmark this for later. - If LAFC does not win outright and both Vancouver and Minnesota win ... LAFC cannot be third. ### Vancouver improbably draws Dallas: 15 scenarios Among these, only three involve LAFC winning at Colorado ... - ...*and* they require that San Diego also wins outright. - Again, it doesn't matter what Minnesota does in those. - Only one of the 15 possibilities here involves Minnesota winning, and it requires SD and LAFC to *also* win outright. ### Vancouver loses to Dallas, shocking everyone: 15 scenarios Only three of these involve LAFC winning ... - *... and* they require San Diego to win outright. - Exactly one involves Minnesota winning against Galaxy. ### Minnesota wins: Three scenarios I think Minnesota is the canary in the Decision Day coalmine to watch for overall while the evening plays out, as you'll see when we go through San Diego and Minnesota in a moment. LA Galaxy's home finale means the Carsonites may show up big, but Minnesota has plenty to play for in controlling its destiny and avoiding a first-round matchup against Seattle. - If Minnesota wins, both LAFC and San Diego have to win, period. - Vancouver can win, lose, or draw. ## Phil's Take on whether it will be LAFC *Editing hat off, writing hat on.* I felt like it was going to be soccer gods/MLS-on-brand destiny that Austin FC would beat an international-break-altered LAFC to get to a full-strength LAFC in the first round of the playoffs, and despite Vancouver, LAFC, and San Diego all winning being just three of 81 possible outcomes, I feel confident that all three of those teams are going to win. There are a few reasons for that: - Vancouver and San Diego are both going to be motivated to win, given that both teams are vying for the No. 1 spot; - Vancouver is playing a team without its two main strikers, and is coming off a come-from-behind win on the road, against an Orlando team battling to stay out of the play-in game, traveling about as far as a team can in MLS; and - The top three West teams, when full strength, are playing with a combination of talent and cohesion that outclasses all other West teams. Seattle's possibly at the edge of that tier, and then I'd group Austin, Minnesota, and Portland (and possibly RSL, dependent on what they do Decision Day) in a tier below that. Dallas, Colorado, and San Jose are their own flawed third tier, with RSL possibly in there as well. Austin-Minnesota's the other matchup delivering the most narrative for me, and given how the Kelvin Yeboah injury (suffered against Austin in the Open Cup semis, by the way) changed the team, Minnesota's clearly the most beatable of the three teams they could draw. Which is even more reason to believe it's going to be LAFC. Austin does have the regular-season series sweep against the Black & Gold, as well as a formula in which they can rely on to eek out a 1-0 win (defend a fuckton, let Brad Stuver make a few excellent saves, engineer a set piece goal). But neither of those games involved Son or a Son-infused Bouanga. *We now return you to more Moisés.* ## San Diego: 21 no-winners As the "middle ground" between the most and least scenarios overall, there's more "outcome flexibility" here with one major exception. *If San Diego wins, they cannot end up in 3rd place no matter what else happens.* We have a smaller field overall with a lot more scenario-breakers than with LAFC. - Vancouver wins in seven of 21, though five of those seven require LAFC to win too' - Minnesota wins in nine of 21; of those, Vancouver only win in three, and of *those*, LAFC only wins in one, which requires SDFC to draw; and - LAFC wins in 15 of 21 ## Phil's Take on whether it will be SDFC I doubt it. There's narrative here as well if it ends up being a 2021 expansion team against a 2025 expansion, but I think San Diego's destined for second, which could make this a second-round trip to SoCal in November while No. 1 Vancouver and No. 5 Seattle have a Cascadia battle to get 90 minutes from MLS Cup. ## Minnesota: the must-win 15 Every single one of these requires Minnesota to beat Galaxy outright. Out of the 81 overall scenarios, a Minnesota win *makes 2/3 of them impossible*. The question is whether they can get there with a beyond-depleted attack. Vancouver win in five: - of those, LAFC win in just one, in which SD loses; - of those, SD win in two, where LAFC draw or lose; - San Diego win in six, which results in a completely even W/D/L series of combinations for Vancouver and LAFC; and - LAFC win in only three, where Vancouver W/D/L, and SD have to lose in all three ## Phil's Take on whether it will be MNUFC As much as I would enjoy that, I think Minnesota's destined for fourth and to get Schmetzerized in the first round. ## Make a day of it: 5 pm Decision Day highlights While waiting on the West to kick at 8 pm, MLS will offer plenty of East games; we have some specific recommendations for the 5 pm slate. ### Atlanta United vs. DC United: The Wooden Spoon Bowl The clear Verde All Day pick is Brad Guzan's farewell match, where the home side only needs a draw to hand the spoon to DC United. For reasons I'll get into on the next Emergency Podcast, I think it's possible that Josh Wolff could end up at *either* of these clubs as head coach by sometime next season, but the smarter money would be on DC. ### NYCFC vs. Seattle Sounders It'll be interesting to see how/if Brian Schmetzer rotates and rests against an NYC squad eager to not drop in the table should they lose or draw and Nashville win. If Austin gets to the Western Conference Final, it very well could be against the Sounders. (This is also the only cross-conference match of Decision Day, though with Seattle locked into the No. 5 seed, this will change absolutely nothing in the West.) ### Nashville SC vs. Inter Miami This match could decide the Golden Boot race, though it's more likely to be a victory lap for Lionel Messi (26 goals, 18 assists) than a chance for Sam Surridge (23 goals, five assists) to catch up. It's certainly possible Surridge could score four goals and Messi gets shut out ... but that's pretty far-fetched. Also, even in 6th place and on 54 points, Nashville's trying to avoid the play-in game. A loss combined by wins by Orlando and Chicago would be enough to drop the Yotes to eighth; they'd then host a whole-lot-of-yellow match against Columbus to see who advances to play the Union. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The joy of sixth: Celebrating a win over LAFC that might have doomed Austin FC to play LAFC again soon URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvlafc-101225/ Last updated: 2025-10-13T12:16:42.000Z On its surface, Austin FC [beating LAFC 1-0](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-101225/) on Sunday evening is a good thing: It got the team to 47 points on the season with a chance to get to the 50-point plateau on Saturday, it ensured they'll finish in sixth place regardless of what happens on Decision Day, and it completes a season sweep of the team that ended their only playoff campaign to date. But for head coach Nico Estévez, Sunday's win — with key players from both teams out on international break — serves as a dress rehearsal for what's to come. "I felt that we were lucky that we still have two games to prepare the playoffs, and then we use these games to prepare ourselves for what is coming," he said. "I think San Jose is going to ask us different questions. We play a way that is something that we're going to have to do in the playoff. We did play a different style of play, and we'll have to be really good in those games in order to prepare the team. I think the results, as always, are important, but for me, it's more using these as a preparation for what is coming." Estévez did recognize that the win was good for his team's morale, coming after a three-game slide that included losing the U.S. Open Cup final, arguably the biggest match in the team's relatively young five-year history. "It's not easy to recover from a week like the one that we got, and ... as I always say, when you win, you can be very high. When you lose, you can be very low," he remarked. "And now, we were the best team in the world when we were winning, and we were the worst team in the world when we lost those games in the past week. "We stay in balance, and working hard with the players is what put us in that position," he continued. "Credit to the players ... we know now that we finished sixth, and after a long season with injuries, with playing games in international breaks, missing players, with playing two competitions, arriving to a final and finishing sixth ... we have to feel very proud about the players, because it is not easy." Estévez also got to enjoy a moment of reflection, based on a question I asked him about the journey that he's been on the last few years — including not finishing out the 2024 season after being dismissed by FC Dallas that June, before emerging in Austin five months later. His comment on that is worthy of a pull quote. > "I've started four seasons in MLS, I finished three as a head coach. In those three, I made the playoffs." He then turned his attention back to the team. "It feels really good because it's a lot of work put in before the preseason, in the preseason, during the year, ups, downs, and managing a lot of things. And I think it's important to think about all the hard work that this group has done. And we lost one of our best players in the middle of the season when we had to bounce back, we were unfortunate ... losing Brandon Vázquez, and I think the response for the team and how we came together, it was great to see, and it has been a fantastic season for us. "It wasn't easy," he added, noting that the two competitions were taxing and they feel relatively good about where they are. ## 'Stick to the plan' Brad Stuver, who generously gave time to my colleagues while I was in the Estévez press conference, gave thoughtful answers about the match they'd successfully completed between bites of pizza. "We knew it was going to be really tough, but we told our guys not to be frustrated, stay patient, stick to the plan, don't try and do anything extra," he reflected. "Because at the end of the day, we knew how they can be dangerous if we get impatient and open up space. They're dangerous on the counter attack and we needed to focus on that as well." Thanks to this weekend's results — crucially, the FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake losses — San Jose still has a chance to edge into the playoffs, but it will need to start with a win over Austin and depend on results elsewhere. That means, playing away on Saturday, Stuver and company will face the best (or at least most desperate-to-win) version of San Jose. "It's just about having the mentality to use this game like it's a playoff game," he said. "We know that they're going to be desperate, they'll have guys forward, they're going to be aggressive. And for us, it's learning from that moment, using that as a learning experience." He added, "This is a club that's only played three playoff games," citing the 2022 run as the lone postseason experience — something not many of the current Verde players experienced. However, Žan Kolmanič, who got the game-winning assist, was one of those. "It feels unreal, especially for the guys who have been here. You know, since the beginning, we've gone through all the possible scenarios in the last five seasons," he said. "This is what we worked towards this whole season. And we have one more game left, which is going to be pretty much our last preparation, so that we can start playing the playoffs the right way." ## Who will they face? The irony of this win over a Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga-less LAFC is it now makes it more likely Verde will match up against the dynamic duo in the first round of the postseason. With Austin's win, LAFC can't secure the No. 1 seed — Vancouver wins the West with a result on Saturday at home against Dallas — and there's still a scenario in which LAFC could drop all the way to fourth. But it's now most likely — given playoff math scenarios we'll visit later this week — that the 2022 Western Conference final foes are due for a 2025 first-round rematch. Unlike all the other playoff teams it could face, Austin does have the season series sweep over the Black & Gold, having won by an identical 1-0 scoreline in March while shutting Bouanga down. "We know that it's always tough to play against them," said Kolmanič. "But as we showed this year, they are beatable. So hopefully, if it comes to that scenario, we're going to give it our best and we'll see what happens." Estévez made similar observations. "At the end of the day, we'll have to accept what opponent we have, if it's LAFC, if it's Minnesota, if it's San Diego ... we'll prepare, and it doesn't matter what they have. We played against Bouanga at the beginning of the league, and I think we did a good job stopping him. We have to work as a team in order to do it. For us, it's just \[being\] focused on ourselves, and when the team that we play arrives, we know that we will prepare the best we can to beat them." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out* Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) *wherever you get your podcasts.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, LAFC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvlafc-101225/ Last updated: 2025-10-13T01:11:45.000Z In its home finale for the 2025 season, Austin FC beat LAFC 1-0 on Sunday evening on an 83rd-minute Owen Wolff goal, turning arguably the least entertaining soccer match of the year into one delivering another magical moment of late-game heroics. The teams combined for just five shots in the first 80 minutes of the match, ending up with five total shots for LAFC and three for Austin FC. But Wolff came through with one of Austin's two shots on goal for his sixth goal of the season, days after being named to the top tier of MLS's 22 Under 22 list. With the win, Verde's guaranteed the sixth seed in the West playoffs regardless of what happens on Decision Day on Saturday. Verde started out with some offensive intent and a mind to possess, with Osman Bukari forcing a yellow card for Eddie Segura with a deft move necessitating that level of foul to stop Bukari from slipping past him en route to goal. Ilie Sánchez committed his own yellow card foul in the 17th minute to allow LAFC's first dangerous chance of the night – a Jeremy Ebobisse attempt that just skimmed over the bar. CJ Fodrey nearly had himself a sneaky goal in the 26th, sliding on to a lazily dribbled ball LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was planning to send, and nearly bundling in successfully before Lloris kept his bearings on getting the ball away. Wolff did win his own corner in the 37th, leading to him sending up a floater to Fodrey, which he headed over the bar. Perhaps LAFC's best chance in the first half came in the 41st minute, when Mateja Đorđević fell down heading a cross away, putting it into the path of Ebobisse, who scooped his shot off. On the whole, it was a first half in which it was clear that each team had scoring leaders missing. (Despite the fourth official holding up a sign for two minutes of stoppage time, the referee whistled the half over after about 15 seconds.) ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ After a sluggish return from halftime, the teams came a bit to life just before the hour mark, with Andrew Moran getting a shot on target in the 58th and Jon Gallagher doing the same a minute later. Nico Estévez engineered some 70th minute subs, getting Žan Kolmanič in for Gallagher and Jáder Obrian for Fodrey. In the 77th, with not much else going on, Estévez got on Robert Taylor for Bukari and Nicolás Dubersarsky coming on for Ilie. Both teams tried to draw penalties in the 80th minute to no avail, and then Nkosi Tafari had a marauding run into the box to force a Brad Stuver kick save in the 81st. Following the goal, Besard Šabović came in for Dani Pereira to help close out the match. Verde weathered the five minutes of stoppage time and held on against what could end up being their first-round playoff opponent. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) I don't know about *best*, but Stuver coming out of his box in the 71st to crane kick a ball out of danger delighted the press box. There were also some good ball-handling by Obrian and Wolff in the 79th to keep possession despite pressure. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 30th minute, Guilherme Biro stopped a promising attack by making a long pass to where Fodrey might have decided to go, but he veered left instead of right even before the ball was off Biro's foot ... unless it was intended for Wolff, and in that case, it just missed significantly. ## One thing you might have missed At Verde All Day, we are fans of the ref cam, and we now keep an iPad with the broadcast going so we can do our own replays as needed. Imagine our delight when the ref cam turned on Pereira late in the first half, who got a talking to toward after a near-yellow-card foul and got captured on ref cam giving what I'm calling a "scolded schoolboy" expression. (Go to 39:47 on the replay; you'll be glad you did.) ## One nerdy tidbit ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-at-7.26.29---PM.png) This was the xG at minute 58 before Moran's shot per MLS' count. Within a minute of this, each team got exactly one shot on target each. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative After some peaks and valleys, Austin's on 47 points with a chance to hit the 50 threshold next week, and finally have a win to extract some momentum going into the postseason. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Who does Verde want as the three seed against them? I don't expect it gets answered. [Subscribe for tonight's quotes tomorrow](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### How they earned it: Six victories crucial to Austin FC making the 2025 MLS playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/how-they-earned-it-six-victories-crucial-to-austin-fc-making-the-2025-mls-playoffs/ Last updated: 2025-10-12T15:22:04.000Z On Friday, when Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez spoke to local media for the first time since his team officially clinched a playoff berth last Sunday, the topic of backing into the postseason came up. After all, Verde has lost their last two matches — the first a chance to clinch with a win, the second a chance to clinch with even a draw — and it took Vancouver beating San Jose after coming off a Wednesday tournament championship win to make the inevitable official. But Estévez said this current hiccup shouldn't diminish what they've done over the whole season. "I don't understand the narrative that we haven't earned it," he said. "We're in the playoffs because we did a really good job throughout a lot of months, and this is a whole season's work. It's not because you didn't win a game or not; you should ask the other teams you know that they didn't do well, why? Or as well as we did, probably they weren't the ones that didn't achieve that ... we already have those points, and they couldn't catch us." Speaking of not getting the points one needs, both Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas lost last night, ensuring Austin FC will do no worse than 7th and avoid in the play-in match, also leaving the door open to Colorado and San Jose to vault into the playoffs on Decision Day and also leaving the door open to four teams making the playoffs with under 45 points (contrasted with the East, where all nine locked-in postseason contestants have at least 51). "I am a little bit surprised of that narrative," he continued, regarding how Verde qualified, "because the team has now, \[after we\] made a playoff one time in four years, we just played a final and made a playoff. That is very difficult to do both, and we should be proud about how the team has fought throughout the whole season to be in a point that if the others don't do their homework, it could have favor to us ... we put ourselves in a really good position, and it was others that didn't do their homework as well as they should to put us in a different position." He also said they now have two matches to get right for the postseason, including tonight's rescheduled match against LAFC — a team that has won six straight, but will be without the two players (Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga) largely responsible for that recent win streak. As we pointed out on the [most recent Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-76-weve-found-something-with-even-more-dead/id1742052077?i=1000731353695&ref=verdeallday.com), made more real by Vancouver's come-from-behind win over Orlando on Saturday, Austin winning on Sunday night makes it more likely that LAFC ends up 3rd and Austin 6th ... meaning the teams would face each other in a best-of-three series in which Son and Bouanga *would* be available. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-at-9.57.08---AM.png) **A look at playoff odds (green means team controls its own destiny for getting to that place, and red means it does not)* It's a bit full circle for the 2025 season, given that looking at five victories key to Verde's body of work in 2025, the LAFC away match in March was among the most crucial — kicking off a three-match win streak that is begging us to include all three of those matches. While [playoffstatus.com](https://playoffstatus.com/mls/westernstandings.html?ref=verdeallday.com) favors a San Diego-Verde matchup at present, the LAFC-Verde scenario isn't much farther behind. Here's a look back at what Austin FC has done to get to this place. ## March 15: LAFC 0, Austin FC 1 As I said in my [post-match recap](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-match-recap-lafcvatx-031525/), "It's Austin FC's first road win of 2025! And, perhaps not the prettiest of wins, but out of four matches, it's Verde's signature win and a signal to the rest of the league that something positive is happening in Central Texas." The lone goal came in the 12th minute, with Owen Wolff — recently named No. 4 on MLS's 22 Under 22 list — serving up a corner kick that Guilherme Biro headed in to beat veteran goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Verde also managed to negate Bouanga, who has 24 goals and eight assists in 30 appearances, and had three shots on target going a full 90 in this one. ## March 23: Austin FC 2, San Diego 1 This Sunday afternoon matchup featured Austin's first open-play goal in 370 minutes — which, despite the win over a surprisingly good expansion team — would be a concern that this game did not ameliorate, despite what Verde hoped for after putting this game in the rear view. Brandon Vázquez got that goal, and we also did not see the premature end to his season coming at the time. But looking back on it, especially given San Diego's record-breaking expansion season, it remains a quality win and one of the best home performances in a year in which they've gone 6W 3L 7D at home, with a chance at 14 results out of 17\. Here's what we said [post-match](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsd-032325/): *By hanging on for the win, Verde has vaulted to second in the West (!) just five weeks into the season. The goals aren't yet coming in "bags and bunches," as \[Jon\] Gallagher alluded to on Thursday, but you can see the progress from week to week. And, for the first time this season, a pair of goals in a match!* As it turns out, they didn't again get to multiple goals in a match until June. (Put a pin in that one, though, as we'll visit that match on our journey.) ## March 30: St. Louis City SC 0, Austin FC 1 Myrto Uzuni scored his first goal in Verde, connecting with Osman Bukari for a first-half goal — the first of the season in which one front-line player assisted another — that hinted at a promising partnership that hasn't quite materialized. It also put Verde into their first three-match win streak since 2022, and got them, as we pointed out in [our post-match coverage](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-stlvatx-033025/), at two points per game through six, making it the best start they've ever had in a season. It was then that the season turned somewhat, with Austin only getting one win in its next 11, but banking nine points of nine early turned out to provide a bit of a cushion that, combined with pulling out of the nosedive in summer, kept and ultimately got the team to playoff contention. ## June 7: Colorado Rapids 0, Austin FC 2 I pointed out, in [covering this match](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-colorado-rapids-0-austin-fc-2/), that both the early opening goal and the second-half insurance goal were unusual for a team that went winless in league play in May and was struggling to score. Verde's defense weathered 19 Rapids shots (five on target) totaling about 3.7 xG, leading the usually xG-minded Estévez to say, "I don't care about the stats today," before pointing out the xG that his team accumulated en route to the welcome win. The big immediate story in this one was that Uzuni was off on international break, and the lineup seemed to gel better without him in it. I said in the lead-up article to this match: *Myrto Uzuni is off on international duty this weekend, though given his recent run of form in his last two matches — 30 touches, three shot-creating actions, no goal-creating actions*, *and just a single shot (not on target), while logging 158 largely anonymous minutes — he's very nearly been on international break over the past week.* About a month after this match, though, questions about how the two designated players could play together were put aside as Vázquez went down in the Open Cup win over San Jose, and Uzuni had to pick up the scoring load (and has done so, with six goals in the 12 matches he's been center forward out of necessity). ## Aug. 30: Austin FC 3, San Jose Earthquakes 1 In this first rematch since their contentious Open Cup match, Verde got their best home goal tally of the season against the Quakes, with Bukari getting a goal on his own and engineering an own goal, with Uzuni contributing to the total as well. After the match, Estévez said: *When you come to this league, and you learn about this league, if your DPs don't produce, you can have tough times. We had a slow start from our DPs on contribution, not on work rate, not on willingness to do well, not on belief, not on giving everything for the team, being a good teammate, and training hard and playing hard, but now we are getting the reward of all that work.* The win was significant, coming after a three-game dip in which Austin drew Houston and Dallas at home, ceding Copa Tejas in the process, and then losing at Montréal, playing one of their worst halves of soccer of the season to start that match. To be fair, that did come at the end of a stretch in which Austin went 4W 2L 3D, making the "dip" a little deceptive, but without this bounceback, that Montréal loss could have been a negative inflection point for the team's 2025 fortunes. ## Sept. 21: Austin FC 2, Seattle Sounders 1 This match might be my favorite win of the 2025 season for several reasons: - It came just four days after Verde beat Minnesota in a marathon Open Cup semifinal to reach the final; - For the second straight match, it featured the unusual partnership of Uzuni and SuperDraft-selection-turned-closer CJ Fodrey to engineer the extremely late winning goal; - It involved Brad Stuver making saves on 60th-minute subs Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira to keep Austin in a place where it could engineer a match winner; and - It happened at home, meaning we got one of the most electric stadium-wide celebrations of a goal in the club's history. [Post-match](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvsea-091925/), Stuver had this to say: *It kind of takes me back to 2022 a little bit, where everyone in the stadium, everyone in the locker room, kind of had this idea that it didn't matter what was going on in the game. You knew that this team was going to find a way to get a result. These late winners kind of have that same feeling. Obviously, it's only been a few games, but it brings so much energy and so much determination to the guys that it's like, okay, when you look at last year, these same situations, we may have been the ones that give up a goal, and that tanks your mentality. I think this year, everyone knows that as long as we're in a game going into the last 10 or 15, minutes ... we have a chance.* Despite its recent pair of 3-1 losses in league play and an Open Cup final loss in the midst of that, this win happened right before that recent three-match slump. What happens this evening goes a long way to either being the dip-and-return that happened in August, or being a more concerning end-of-season slide sending the team in the wrong direction heading into the playoffs. Also, save for a single home match in the first-round best-of-three series (barring unusual bracket busting in the playoffs), it's Verde's last chance to use the home crowd energy as fuel this season. Given that Seattle and Austin will start on opposite sides of the bracket, it's conceivable they could face off in the conference finals should they knock off favorites along the way. For Seattle, it will take a win over the 4-seed and then most likely the 1-seed (though consider Miami getting bumped off by Atlanta just last season), and Austin will face either the 2-seed or 3-seed and then most likely the other should it emerge from the first test. And we know, even though Seattle's now locked in the No. 5 spot, that it will be a tough out. Austin's shown, at times this season, they can be this as well. But capturing back what they were able to do against Seattle will be key to that. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Western Conference Playoff Zone: Ceilings and floors across a space-time continuum URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-western-conference-playoff-zone-ceilings-and-floors-across-a-space-time-continuum/ Last updated: 2025-10-07T11:57:13.000Z From 11 contenders, nine will rise above the playoff line in the West. A win against Atlanta United on Sunday night bolted the door shut behind LAFC in the Top Four Clubhouse, while a decisive battering of San Jose (courtesy of Vancouver) clinched Austin's guaranteed spot somewhere in the top nine for the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs. Some would argue that the play-in game between the 8th and 9th place teams does not count as "playoffs," so call it The Playoff Zone if you want.\[\[1\]\] Based on way more Sunday night math and analysis than I had planned to do, I'm pretty confident that Austin is most likely to land in 6th as things currently stand. Read on if you want to be convinced. Join me, won't you, as I take you on a guided tour of the what-it-takes floors and best-possible ceilings for the *entire* Western Conference Playoff Zone. We'll go a lot broader than we do other teams when it comes to Austin for obvious reasons, but *so many* variables could affect Austin's destiny, that we'll fluctuate a bit across space and time as we go from the bottom to the top of the current table (as of this writing). Expect to *feel* a progression from most-grim to outright best-case scenario as we climb. Nico Estévez said it's been a "horrible week for us," and I think I can venture to say he meant that to include anyone reading this, not just the players and staff. Buckle in and this should be a good ride, Austinaut. Before we take off, a proximity warning. Guess who happens to be at the very outer reaches of The Playoff Zone? One of the Austinites' favorite teams to hate! Given who that team is, that one will be a little wordier than other non-Austin-team sectors we would otherwise blast through. If you're dreading Austin "only" clinching the play-in game or above, check out what their Decision Day opponent is facing and try to unclench a bit as we escape into zero gravity. ## San Jose Earthquakes ##### Current place: 11th (on 38 points) Highest ceiling: 8th place on 41 points Lowest playoff qualifying floor: 9th place on 41 points First of all, Quakes-hating Austinites should revel in how Vancouver utterly clowned San Jose on Sunday afternoon. They were played off the field to the extent that it *felt* like Sebastian Berhalter was sending a love letter back to his former home in the form of a brace and an assist. The Quakes' only path above the line is to max out on points, with 8th versus 9th depending on what happens elsewhere. The thing is ... San Jose *could be* eliminated before Decision Day, should the pair of FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake win *or* draw next weekend. Any combination of results for them aside from one of those teams losing? The Quakes are toast. If RSL draw away against Seattle, SJ *cannot* beat them on wins (the first tiebreaker). A draw for Frisco at LA Galaxy puts them a point over San Jose's ceiling. If either Dallas or RSL loses, San Jose still has a path to 9th. **To make the playoffs in 8th**, San Jose has to jump Dallas and RSL by: - beating Austin on Decision Day, plus - Dallas losing both of its remaining games (both away, against Galaxy and Vancouver), and - Real Salt Lake *either* losing away against *both* Seattle and St. Louis *or* losing one of those and drawing the other, *plus* - San Jose has to improve their goal differential of -4 to either equal Dallas' -3 (since the next tiebreaker is goals for, which SJ wins) or surpass it. **To squeak into playoffs in 9th**, San Jose has to: - beat Austin on Decision Day, and - jump Colorado by the Rapids losing *or* drawing against LAFC (tied on wins, SJ's GD would beat them), and - one of the following scenarios involving RSL and/or RSL plus Dallas: - **Scenario 1A:** RSL loses both remaining games - **Scenario 1B:** RSL lose one and draw one, Dallas lose both of their games and San Jose must meet or exceed Dallas's GD of -3 and maintain its goals for lead, currently at 58-52 But then again, if Dallas and RSL both do anything *but* lose next weekend, none of the above matters. Austin can expect a spicy Decision Day away from home, no matter what — it's a matter of just what flavor of heat. ## Colorado Rapids ##### Current place: 10th (on 40 points) Highest ceiling: 8th place on 43 points Lowest playoff qualifying floor: 8th place on 41 points The Rapids cannot jump Austin and also mathematically cannot meet them in a play-in game, so only a draw or win against LAFC on Decision Day can *only* put them 8th, dependent on other results. ![RSL's Justen Glad and Austin FC's Myrto Uzuni watching a ball](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/uzuni-vs-rsl.jpg) **RSL's more firmly in the playoff race with a pair of recent wins, including one over Austin and one that allowed Austin to clinch playoffs (Alex Rubio)* ## Real Salt Lake ##### Current place: 9th (on 40 points) Highest ceiling: 6th place on 46 points Lowest playoff qualifying floor: 9th place on 40 points If they pick up no additional points from a draw or win, they need Colorado to lose to LAFC *and* San Jose to at best draw against Austin to make the play-in. On the more optimistic end, they could leap Austin in 6th only if no one underneath Verde overtakes them *and* Austin does no better than draw against both LAFC and the Quakes. If Austin wins either of those games, RSL cannot jump them. ## FC Dallas ##### Current place: 8th place on 41 points Highest ceiling: 6th place on 47 points Lowest playoff qualifying floor: 9th place on 41 points If Frisco gets no more points in the table, one of RSL/Colorado/San Jose could jump them, and Frisco could still squeak into the play-in. They play both of their remaining games away, against Galaxy and the Whitecaps, so that may be their clench and pray route. Similar to RSL, FCD can overtake Austin and end up 6th, but only if Austin, Portland, RSL, Colorado, and San Jose have bad results. That's a hell of a lot of hopium. To jump Austin, they would need a win and a draw or two wins, and then only if Austin picks up no further points. If Austin draws one and loses one, Dallas has to win both outright to jump them. Getting up to 7th would take Dallas notching one of two as a win, Portland losing to San Diego, *and* Frisco improving its goal differential, since it's currently even with Portland. ## Portland Timbers ##### Current place: 7th (on 44 points) highest ceiling: 6th place on 47 points lowest floor: 9th place on 44 points Welcome to the place beyond the clinching barrier, where there is less clenching and all teams hence have punched their ticket to at *least* the outer rim of the Western Conference Playoff Zone. It's true, the air is a little cleaner and sweeter out/up here. If Dallas and RSL max out at 47 and 46 points respectively (requiring two tough wins for both!), and Portland draws or loses to San Diego on Decision Day, the Timbers are playing-in against Salt Lake. Portland picking up three points against San Diego on Decision Day jumps it over *only* a winless or two-draws ATX. If Verde wins just one of their two remaining, Portland cannot jump them in the table. Neither can anyone else. ## Austin FC ##### Current place: 6th (on 44 points) Highest ceiling: 5th place on 50 points Lowest playoff qualifying floor: 9th place on 44 points We will get back to that promised land of just one win jumping Austin through the deep space wormhole to a better dimension of the playoffs, the Inner Zone. Getting there may not even *require* the light-speed jump of a win, but it'll be a bumpier ride. Let's start again at the least optimistic end of things. Don't worry just yet. I promise the math and various clubs' recent form make the worst-case scenario really improbable, with the good kind of "results elsewhere" needed. For Austin to hang onto 9th place by their fingernails, exactly one scenario has to happen. ### "Hello Darkness" - Austin loses against LAFC AND San Jose, *and* - Portland draws or wins at home against San Diego, *and* - Dallas wins away against *both* Galaxy and Vancouver, *and* - RSL wins away against *both* Seattle and St. Louis If Dallas *or* Real Salt Lake draw or lose next weekend (against Galaxy and Seattle, respectively), Austin *cannot* be 9th because neither of those teams can then jump Austin mathematically. In either of those variant outcomes of this scenario ("Scenario 1B" for your records), worst-case goes to a better worst case of 8th for Verde, hosting the play-in at Q2. ![FC Dallas' Bernard Kamungo vs. Austin FC's Mikkel Desler](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/desler-vs-fcd.jpg) **Both FC Dallas and Austin FC could represent Texas in the 2025 MLS playoffs (Alex Rubio)* ## 7th place heaven That's all still "technically the playoffs," aka the aforementioned Outer Rim of the Playoff Zone. Going least-ideal to most, how does Austin hit *exactly* 7th and avoid the dreaded play-in game? ### Scenario 2: "Portland Triumphant" - Austin loses to LAFC and San Jose and is stuck on 44 points - Portland wins or draws against San Diego, hitting 47 or 45 points - Dallas loses against either Galaxy or Vancouver (Austin beats them on wins) - RSL loses against either Seattle or St. Louis ### Scenario 3: "Portland By the Skin of Their Chainsaw Teeth" - Austin draws both LAFC and San Jose, getting to 46 points - Portland wins against San Diego, taking 6th with 47 points - Dallas loses against either Galaxy or Vancouver, plateauing at 44 points - RSL loses against either Seattle or St. Louis ### Scenario 4: "46-Point Tiebreaker" - Austin draws both LAFC and San Jose, getting to 46 points - Portland wins against San Diego, hitting 47 points and jumping to 6th - Dallas wins one and draws against the other in the Galaxy and Vancouver matches, also hitting 46 points (Austin places ahead on wins) - RSL loses or draws against either Seattle or St. Louis, but if they were win both their games to max out at 46, they would jump Austin on wins to push Austin below 7th (kinda like Scenario 1B) ### Scenario 5A: "The 44-Point Bad Place" - Austin loses against both LAFC and San Jose - Portland loses to San Diego - Dallas wins one and loses one (Austin beats both FCD and Portland on wins, with all tied on 44 points) - RSL wins one and draws one, vaulting into 6th, knocking Austin down to 7th on wins and shifting Portland/Dallas to 8th and 9th Looking at all those losses and draws feels like predicting a big bummer for fans and players alike in Scenarios 2 through 5a. On the upside, at least they all avoid the play-in game! ## Sticking in 6th...or better? If Seattle draws or wins against RSL (we can see this happening) or at NYCFC (very doable but tougher), Austin's ceiling is locked at 6th place, so let's start with that limiting factor. To start, there's a variant of the above 7th-place results that looks (if not feels) marginally better. ### Scenario 5B: "The 44-Point Not-*As*\-Bad Place" - Austin loses against both LAFC and San Jose - Portland loses to San Diego - Dallas wins one and loses one (Austin beats them and Portland on wins, all tied at 44 points) - RSL loses one of two and is stuck on 43 points Keep in mind that *one* win makes that one scenario and *all* of the above 7th through 9th place scenarios *impossible*. If Austin can get just one win between the LAFC and San Jose games, no one beneath Austin can jump over them to 6th place. Austin has more possible help from other results than their table mates aiming for 6th, too. ### Scenario 6: "The Magic Number" - Austin wins one of two matches, landing on 47 points - Portland does *literally anything* against San Diego, since they are glued under Austin on matched wins - Dallas does *literally anything*, including win both games and hit 47, since Austin on 13 wins beats their 12 - RSL does *literally anything*, smashing their noses on a 46-point ceiling There are more permutations of Scenario 6 possible of playing out than any other, and it represents the greatest motivation for Austin to show up big in either or both of their remaining games. Aside from getting their heads back closer to where they were fresh off the fumes of the U.S. Open Cup Semifinal against Minnesota, they need to keep their diehard fans engaged. The fastest way there is through a Bouanga and Son-less LAFC next Sunday night. Even *with* them, LAFC was held to only one goal against ... Atlanta United? This week's Sunday Night Soccer showed they are beatable even with a first-choice lineup. The one marginal scenario remaining is the least likely, but is mathematically possible and not *entirely* crazy. Re-adjust the bend in reality above regarding Seattle getting favorable results. ### Scenario 7: "The Big 5-0" - Austin beats both LAFC AND San Jose, hitting 50 points - Seattle loses their two remaining games (to stay at 49 points) or get a draw and a loss, getting to 50 but losing the wins tiebreaker to Austin 14-13 That might seem improbable on its face, but RSL is desperate for a win next weekend to avoid elimination, NYCFC is chasing points to make Top Four in the East, and ... maybe Seattle has new priorities over winning those two games. ![Owen Wolff vs. Cristian Roldan in Austin FC's home match vs. Seattle](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/wolff-vs-seattle.jpg) **For now, Austin and Seattle are on the same side of the playoff bracket (Alex Rubio)* ## Seattle Sounders ##### Current place: 5th (on 49 points) Highest ceiling: 5th place on 55 points Lowest floor: 6th place on 49 points LAFC's win against Atlanta United on Sunday night locks in a spot in the West's Top Four, but Seattle has some theoretical motivation to not check out and let Austin have an opening to "steal" 5th place. Wins are good for playoff momentum. Seattle dropping to 6th means playing the 3rd seed, which very much still could be *anyone* in the Top Four's spot until results from International Break Make-Up Game Week roll in.\[\[2\]\] Does Schmetzer rotate and conserve fitness, looking at this as a six of one, half dozen of the other situation? He has two guys out on international duty (Vargas and Baker-Whiting) and Alex Roldan nursing a hip injury. Looking at all the various scenarios and what seeding means, the Sounders are in the most favorable place to not have to go especially hard in either of their remaining regular-season games, lest they risk first-round playoff injury problems. *No other team in the West* has this option as a relative advantage. ## LAFC ##### Current place: 4th (on 53 points) Highest ceiling: 1st place on 65 points Lowest floor: 4th place on 56 points LAFC has the fullest pre-playoffs schedule remaining, with three matches to everyone else's one or two. They are losing Son and Bouanga for the first pair, midweek against Toronto, and for Sunday Night Soccer four days later in Austin. They only get the Son-Bouanga connection back for Decision Day at Colorado. Their games in hand mean that *if* they can win all three and Vancouver loses or draws one of their two (at Orlando and home against Dallas), LAFC *could* still top the West and make their first round against the winner of the play-in. *Could*. Vancouver has two games (at Orlando and at Dallas), and San Diego only has one (at Portland), and enough variables are at play to make the entire Top Four on the way to completely inverted or just completely jumbled by this time next week. For example, if LAFC wins two in a row and Vancouver loses to Orlando, the Black and Gold goes from 4th to top of the West heading into the slate of games on the 18th. ## Minnesota United FC ##### Current place: 3rd (on 58 points) Highest ceiling: 1st place on 61 points Lowest floor: 4th place on 58 points Then again, the Loons could leapfrog to the top, too. Their destiny is in the hands of others for the most part, though, since their one remaining game is at LA Galaxy, which they would have to win to take first. On top of that, they would need for both San Diego to lose at Portland and Vancouver to lose at both Orlando and Dallas. If LAFC wins just *one* of their last three games and Minnesota draws or loses, LAFC would jump MNUFC on points and wins. If LAFC wins *more* than one, the door into the top three slams shut on the Loons. By contrast, if LAFC draws two and loses one, they would *not* jump Minnesota due to wins. ## Vancouver Whitecaps ##### Current place: 2nd (on 60 points) Highest ceiling: 1st place on 66 points Lowest floor: 4th place on 60 points It would be weird for the Caps to end up 4th behind Minnesota, but it could happen if they lose at Orlando and at Dallas, LAFC wins two of three, and Minnesota wins at Carson. The West's Top Four would then be LAFC/Minnesota/San Diego/Vancouver ... but that's pretty much the only way Vancouver drops to 5th, and it's a bit unlikely despite both Orlando fighting to stay out of the East's play-in spots and Dallas trying to stay above the line. Their solid home season finale stomping of San Jose showed that Vancouver is in fine form. ## San Diego FC ##### Current place: 1st place (on 60 points) Highest ceiling: 1st place on 63 points Lowest floor: 4th place on 60 points All San Diego has left to *do* is take two weeks off and play Portland. It's mostly up to other teams to *allow* them to top the conference. Portland has plenty to fight for, and that combined with San Diego's top spot in the West depending on results elsewhere takes their destiny mostly out of the debutante Shiny and Chrome's hands (who set the points record for an expansion team last week by eliminating Houston from playoff contention). Like Austin and Portland's symbiotic wins relationship (with one win separating them), as long as they stay level on points with Vancouver, the Caps can't pass San Diego in the table. As long as they're level on points, they can only fall as far as third. The problem for San Diego is that the Whitecaps get two games to San Diego's one. San Diego has to lose on Decision Day for it to be possible to drop to 4th. That's the piece they control. Vancouver would then have to either win or draw once to put themselves over SDFC. As I said above, they are more than capable of doing it, but if they lose midweek at Orlando, that dream is dead. It would *also* take Minnesota winning outright at Galaxy on Oct. 18 and LAFC scraping together at least 5 points (a win and two draws or two or more wins) by then. Why does any of that matter to an Austin fan? It means the most *unlikely* path in the first round for Austin is jumping Seattle into 5th place and playing a 4th-place San Diego...but a *3rd-*place San Diego could much more likely run into a 6th-place Austin. How different would those multiversal matchups be, I wonder? It's going to be a crazy next seven days for the West's playoff picture, but both the team and their fans have time to take a breath, rest, and regroup. The wildest thing to me about the St. Louis game on Saturday night was that, despite a major difference in attendance, the performative energy in the crowd was not very far off of what we saw in the U.S. Open Cup Final. Maybe Austin will go "far out" yet. Maybe. \[\[1\]\]: Editor's note: Play-in game is the playoffs. I will be taking no questions at this time. \[\[2\]\]: The way the West is shaking out, that No. 3 seed could be Minnesota, arguably the most beatable of the Top Four, though it could also end up being LAFC, which Seattle is perhaps best equipped of the 5-through-9 teams to beat in a three-match series. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Breaking news: Austin FC qualifies for 2025 MLS playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-qualifies-for-2025-mls-playoffs/ Last updated: 2025-10-06T00:10:37.000Z For the second time in its five-year history, Austin FC has qualified for the MLS playoffs. Thanks to Vancouver Whitecaps FC's 4-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday, which featured two incredible strikes by former Austin FC player Sebastian Berhalter to seal the result, Verde can finish no worse than ninth in the Western Conference table. Despite two straight losses in league play — games in which Verde had the chance to win through their own actions — they'll make their first postseason since 2022, when they reached the Western Conference final as the No. 2 seed. The next two matches Austin FC plays will determine its playoff place, with anything from fifth to ninth a possibility. If you missed [this morning's article](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvstl-100425/), we worked out some playoff math at the bottom of the article. Verde are currently 6th in the table on 44 points. [Get all the playoff coverage here](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'It's been a horrible week for us': Assessing a third straight loss (while still on the cusp of making the playoffs) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvstl-100425/ Last updated: 2025-10-05T15:11:18.000Z In the span of eight days, Austin FC has lost two regular-season matches — both giving the team the opportunity to officially qualify for the playoffs and avoid the No. 8 vs. No. 9 play-in match — and a U.S. Open Cup final. Saturday's [3-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvstl-100425/) to St. Louis City SC continued a late-season swoon that's been the hallmark of past Verde seasons — even 2022, in which an ill-timed three-match losing streak delayed their official entry into the postseason, where they ended up just 90 minutes from MLS Cup. Head coach Nico Estévez was frank about how his team is feeling. "I think it's a horrible week for us," he said. "Horrible. I mean, it's terrible. ... you cannot know how we feel. We feel really bad ... but this is sports, this is life. Then life hits you, and you have to keep going. And we've had two moments in the season where we couldn't get the results that we wanted. One was in May, playing \[in the\] Open Cup \[for\] two games. The other one was now, playing two games of Open Cup." Austin's last three-match losing streak started with an April loss in Houston and included losses to Minnesota and Cincinnati to start their winless-in-league-play May. In that run, Austin's lone goal came on a Brandon Vázquez penalty kick as they were outscored 7-1 in that ignoble stretch before reeling off four straight draws in league play — while also getting an Open Cup win over the Dynamo. "Playing two competitions, it's really difficult," he said. "As you could see, I don't think we were ready. Thank God we did a good job in the summer and put a lot of points in the table." Estévez then noted Austin could still get into the playoffs this Sunday should two match results break their way – and Real Salt Lake was hanging onto a 1-0 lead over Colorado they'd ultimately keep as he spoke. "We wanted to do \[it\] winning for ourselves and not looking at the results, but we knew this game, winning or losing the final \[on Wednesday\], was going to be really, really, really difficult, mentally, \[and\] physically even." Estévez felt his team — giving up a pair of Marcel Hartel goals on sequences initiated by a Verde throw-in and a Verde goal kick — didn't have their usual composure, much of that being circumstantial to their mental state. "We had a lot of pressure today, because the guys wanted to win, and even the guys wanted to clinch. And you could see some rushing balls, loose passes, missed controls, also with the fatigue, mentally and physically from the game on Wednesday," he observed. "This is why we tried to do some changes in the line now, to put some fresh legs there. But it's tough. It's tough," before noting that the team can now focus on just one competition the rest of the way. As you can tell from the match data visualizations (from, as ever, the excellent Catalina Bush), things did not go Verde's way on Saturday, despite their field tilt and possession advantage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/10/Austin_FC_v_St._Louis_City_SC_main_2025-10-05.png) ## 'At the end of the day, we lost' Goalkeeper Brad Stuver dispensed with his usual measured analysis, opting for a bluntness that spoke volumes about the team's collective frustration and disappointment. "We didn't win our duels in the first half," he said, "In the first half, we gave up two goals off our throw-in and our goal kick. Obviously, the third one, we're pushing to try to get back in the game and we got caught out in transition. But I think we had just two shots on goal all night, and it's not good enough." He added that the performance on the night gave the players "a lot to reflect on." Asked about whether performance or mindset led to the loss, Stuver flatly said, "We lost," before providing more specific food for thought ahead of the final two matches of the season. "You saw the guys out there ... you can tell me whether it was work ethic, you can tell me whether it was bad passes, you can tell me if it just wasn't clinical enough. At the end of the day, we lost." Pressed further about how the players are processing the difficult week, he assured us there's plenty that we *won't* learn directly. "That'll stay in the locker room," he revealed. "There's a lot that gets said in the locker room, because this group is a tight-knit group. There's a lot that needs to be said internally, and it's how we respond from what gets said inside." He also said that the team's culture is strong enough that players can absorb criticism. "This group is strong enough where you can say things that are on your mind, and people don't take it personally. The thing about this locker room is that you have to be able to accept criticism when it's at you, you have to be able to give criticism when it's needed, and obviously, that's it's in the hopes that this group becomes better. Nothing is ever personal. It's not trying to bring your teammate down. Everything that's said in the locker room is only to better the group, and better each individual, so that we come out on top." ## The playoff picture Stuver described the play-in game as "something we don't want to touch" because it drops a midweek game into the schedule before a weekend match on the road (as well as, which Stuver didn't specifically point out, sending the winner to face the No. 1 seed). With the loss and other results around the league on Saturday night, Verde somehow stayed in 6th place. But they're now officially locked out of the top four, and Seattle needs just two points in its final two matches (hosting RSL and at NYCFC) to secure a place in the West's top five. Here's a quick review of what awaits Austin and the teams still in playoff contention, all the way down to 11th-place San Jose. (Houston, by the way, was officially eliminated last night with its loss to San Diego and Dallas' win over LA Galaxy, with RSL coming through against Colorado to complete a second elimination scenario. If you need some schadenfreude this morning, feast your eyes and ears on what our friend Victor Araiza captured post-match.) > The [@HoustonDynamo](https://twitter.com/HoustonDynamo?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com) are out of contention for the [#MLSCupPlayoffs](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLSCupPlayoffs?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com). > > After the match, head coach Ben Olsen, team captain Artur, and President of Soccer Pat Onstad spoke to remaining fans in attendance.[#MLS](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLS?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com) [#HoustonDynamo](https://twitter.com/hashtag/HoustonDynamo?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com) [pic.twitter.com/BMvgARZaQ4](https://t.co/BMvgARZaQ4?ref=verdeallday.com) > > — Victor Araiza (@victoraraiza) [October 5, 2025](https://twitter.com/victoraraiza/status/1974670980669972985?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com) Since win total is the first tiebreaker when teams are tied on points, I've added those to the equation. You can see from this how much a single win in those final two contests would help Verde, and why Decision Day might be a difference maker after all. - No. 6 Austin, 44 points/12 wins, two games remaining (vs. LAFC, at San Jose), max of 50 points possible - No. 7 Portland, 44 points/11 wins, one game remaining (vs. San Diego), max of 47 points possible - No. 8 Dallas, 41 points/10 wins, two games remaining (at LA Galaxy, at Vancouver), max of 47 points possible - No. 9 RSL, 40 points/12 wins, two games remaining (at Seattle, at St. Louis), max of 46 points possible - No. 10 Colorado, 40 points/11 wins, one game remaining (vs. LAFC), max of 43 points possible - No. 11 San Jose, 38 points/10 wins, two games remaining (at Vancouver, vs. Austin), max of 44 points possible Should Vancouver beat or draw the Quakes today (5 pm kickoff, if you want to tune in), Austin officially makes the playoffs, but could drop all the way to 9th if they don't muster more than a single point in their final two matches. It's also possible that the 45-point threshold isn't necessary to reach the West playoffs this year, whereas in the East, 10th-place New York Red Bulls have been eliminated (snapping their 15-year playoff streak), and can still get to 46 points with a win in its final game, whereas Columbus currently sits in 9th with 51 points, able to get to 54\. (Nashville, currently 6th in the East, would be 4th in the West with its current point total.) So, in short, your assignment today is to root against the Quakes (which I know you won't have a problem doing), and then attention should turn to whether Verde can execute a season sweep of LAFC (having beaten them 1-0 back in March). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, St. Louis City SC 3 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvstl-100425/ Last updated: 2025-10-05T02:37:59.000Z Austin FC came into Saturday night needing just a win or a draw to clinch a 2025 MLS playoff spot. They did not do that, losing 3-1 at home to St. Louis City SC, with Oleksandr Svatok the unlikely goal scorer for Austin — but Marcel Hartel the more likely (and more proficient) goal scorer for St. Louis. While they can still get to the playoffs tomorrow — literally tomorrow — it will hinge on a single victor emerging from the RSL-Colorado match that went to halftime (with RSL leading 1-0) as Austin's match went final, and Vancouver getting a result tomorrow against the Quakes. In the process, Brad Stuver broke Tony Meola's record for most regular-season saves in five consecutive MLS seasons, finally getting to 620 and then some. Fans who were on Stuver Save Watch had to wait a bit. Marcel Hartel got the match's first shot in the fifth minute, sailing it over the bar. Hartel did the same in the 19th, and Joao Klauss had a header over the bar in the 17th to get into the mix. In fact, Stuver's biggest action in the first 20 minutes was pouncing on a ball that bounced off an Austin player inadvertently toward goal. In the 23rd minute, Klauss headed weakly toward goal, and Stuver was able to collect for his Meola-trying save. A minute later, Kessler had a looping header toward the far post, with just an .02 xG chance, but it counted as the record breaker once Stuver collected it. In the 27th, though, Hartel got the ball in space and hit a shot, outpacing Verde defenders in the process, that Stuver couldn't save, and St. Louis went up. Austin's first true scoring chance came in the 36th, with Owen Wolff squeaking into a dangerous part of the box between two defenders, and getting off a shot that, while weak, was deflected for a corner kick. On that corner kick, Svatok towered over St. Louis' defense and headed the ball in to equalize. But Hartel would get his second in the 45th, slipping though Austin's defense again, with Brendan Hines-Ike attempting a takeaway and getting turned around on that plant foot, with body language after the goal registering his dismay. Dani Pereira nearly got a goal in the 58th on a rocket that just skimmed over the bar — two minutes after Estévez put in his first pair of subs, getting Rubio in for Sabovic and Žan Kolmanič to spell a still-probably-minutes-restricted Mikkel Desler, with Jon Gallagher switching from left back to right back. In the 64th, St. Louis made a pair of subs, getting Jeong Sang-bin out in favor of Mykhi Joyner, and Brendan McSorley in for Célio Pompeu. In the 69th, CJ Fodrey came in for Ilie, making the lineup just about as offense-oriented as Estévez could make it. In the 78th, Estévez made his last pair of subs, getting in Robert Taylor for Osman Bukari and Nicolás Dubersarsky in for Wolff. Fodrey, Uzuni, and Taylor combined tantalizingly for a chance in the 84th, with all three managing to touch or at least be in the vicinity of the ball in front of goal. St. Louis went into some momentum-blunting strategies after that, and in the third minute of stoppage time, substitute Simon Becher chipped Stuver on a run where he just managed to stay onside and then get past a trailing Gallagher for the deflating insurance goal. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Uzuni's 41st-minute volley on a corner was a wonderfully drawn set piece, and he hit it just wide. He knew just how much celebrating would have happened had that gone in. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Ilie Sánchez clattering into Henry Kessler toward halftime led to a free kick and a dangerous shot akin to St. Louis' first goal ... and it put Ilie into the book needlessly. ## One thing you might have missed Continuing the theme of extracurriculars on corner kicks from Wednesday, after Svatok's goal, TV cameras caught just enough of Besard Šabović shoving his defender forcibly. (No card given.) Also, seemed to be quite a few Austin players slipping on the turf throughout the night. ## One nerdy tidbit A half hour into the match, St. Louis was leading Verde 6-1 in shots. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Counting the Open Cup final, Austin's lost three straight matches, and while they haven't been shut out of any of them, they have been outscored 8-3 in those matches — including one they were absolutely up for and one they should have been up for. ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm going to ask about that very thing ... and how to guard against Verde's late-season swoon, a condition that has plagued them in past seasons. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Finishing the job: How Austin FC can (finally) qualify for the playoffs and what to watch for Saturday URL: https://verdeallday.com/finishing-the-job-how-austin-fc-can-finally-qualify-for-the-playoffs-and-what-to-watch-for-saturday/ Last updated: 2025-10-03T13:00:49.000Z With the U.S. Open Cup unsatisfactorily resolved on Wednesday night, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez and multiple players [turned their attention](https://verdeallday.com/the-thursday-three-using-the-pain-of-losing-the-open-cup-final-as-fuel/) to the remaining three matches of the regular season and the playoffs they have yet to qualify for. That can change in a few different ways on Saturday night, though, as Verde host St. Louis City SC in the penultimate home match of the 2025 campaign. The easiest way for Austin to qualify is to win or to draw. Since this is arguably the easiest of the three matches left — St. Louis, after all, is the only of the three remaining opponents already eliminated from the playoffs — it's also the best opportunity to pick up three points to secure a more favorable position. (As we've [talked about before](https://verdeallday.com/getting-beyond-45-points-austin-fc-playoff-picture-maximum-points-possible/), it's most likely Austin FC's going to finish between fifth and seventh.) There are also ways Verde can get in if they lose on Saturday: - Colorado lose at Salt Lake **AND** San Jose lose or draw at Vancouver, or - Salt Lake lose vs. Colorado **AND** San Jose lose or draw at Vancouver, or - Colorado lose at Salt Lake **AND** Dallas lose vs. LA Galaxy, or - Salt Lake lose vs. Colorado **AND** Dallas lose vs. LA Galaxy, or - Dallas lose vs. LA Galaxy **AND** San Jose lose or draw at Vancouver. As with last week's scenario, there are all (especially within MLS) plausible results. It would be nice to just have Verde do this on their own, but know that in the face of more disappointment, there still could be something to celebrate. ## Bad, bad boys Yellow card accumulation has snagged Guilherme Biro, who will not be available for selection Saturday, making it quite likely that Žan Kolmanič, held out of Wednesday's final, will start opposite Mikkel Desler at fullback. Desler, who started the final but didn't go the full 90, is one yellow card away from being suspended a week from Sunday against LAFC. Besard Šabović, Oleksandr Svatok, and Nicolás Dubersarsky made the 18-man roster for the Open Cup final but didn't get subbed in, so they're available to start should any of Wednesday's starters need to be held out. ## Something to cheer for Brad Stuver was, of course, in no mood to talk about the record he's on the cusp of breaking, for most saves over five MLS regular seasons. He's at 619 now; record-holder Tony Meola has 620\. Stuver said: *I haven't even thought about it. I mean, it would be cool, but for me, that's something that doesn't really get remembered until another goalkeeper gets close to beating it. I don't think any of us knew that that was an actual record until I kind of became close. So, for me, the things that are remembered are team trophies and team wins. So my focus is bringing a trophy with this team; it's less about the individual accolades.* Still, Austin fans, you know what to do on those first two saves. (Though I'm know wondering, will it be outright cheering, or a more boisterous variety of the "Stuuuuuu" that typically accompanies a Stuver save.) ## So, you're telling me there's a chance While I haven't been able to officially confirm this yet, if this year's competition guidelines are similar to last year's, there's a slim chance that Austin FC could still qualify for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup — but it will likely involve rooting for Nashville SC to do so. You're likely aware that the Open Cup winner gets a berth in the confederation tournament, but per last year's rules, if the winner qualifies another way (like winning MLS Cup or finishing among the best in the Supporters' Shield standings), the Open Cup runner-up is elevated. Right now, Nashville could get to 59 points by winning their remaining two matches against Montréal and Miami — with that Decision Day win taking points off a team above them in those standings. It is mathematically possible for Nashville to finish top four with that total — right now, only two MLS teams have at least 59 points. The issue is that a lot of good teams — including a Whitecaps squad that qualified on Wednesday by winning the Canadian Championship for a fourth straight year — can also get to 59 or well above it with the form they're currently on. But, if I'm reading this right — again, a caveat necessary with Concacaf — Vancouver qualifying independent of Supporters' Shield standings actually means Nashville could finish fifth or sixth and get in, depending on if one of the teams above Nashville win MLS Cup, since the qualifying via Supporters' Shield language is "next best team" and not "third or fourth," which I think opens the door to teams in the standings below whoever qualifies in other ways. (Save for the Open Cup winner, again, if I'm reading the rules right.) Of course, Austin could just win MLS Cup and get in that way. But they have to qualify for the playoffs first, as close as they are to doing so. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Thursday Three: Using the pain of losing the Open Cup final as fuel URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-thursday-three-using-the-pain-of-losing-the-open-cup-final-as-fuel/ Last updated: 2025-10-02T13:16:23.000Z "This is the press conference you don't want to have," said Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, early in the largely funereal Q&A period following his team's [2-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/2025-us-open-cup-final-atxvnsh-100125/) to Nashville SC in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday night. Sitting alongside captain Ilie Sánchez, he acknowledged the pain felt by players, coaching staff, and fans alike following the defeat. A theme emerged early in the press conference: Using the fuel of the pain they felt in the wake of the loss to propel them in the upcoming playoffs — provided they qualify, which they can officially do at home on Saturday night against St. Louis City SC with a win or draw (or various combinations of Colorado, San Jose, and/or Dallas falling short). "We deserved much, much, much, much more in this final than what we got, what we hope\[d for\]," Estécvez said. "What we can learn from that is use the pain that we have. Use that pain. It is not easy. "First of all, I would like to recognize it's not easy to play a final," he added. "To lose finals, you have to play finals, and \[I'm\] very proud of the players ... the journey that they've done to arrive here to this point ... hopefully, we learned from that today, and that pain that we have is the fuel that helps us to wake up tomorrow and leads us to get what we want to get in the rest of the season." Building on a question about keeping chins up in the wake of the loss, Sanchéz added, "We are proud of everyone that had a role in this final and leading into playing this game here at home ... and when I say everyone, I mean players, coaches, staff, executives, ownership group, every single one of the fans that have been with the team throughout this journey and the ones that are going to be here with the team for what's to come." While multiple players echoed Estévez's assertion that they played well enough to deserve a win, Brad Stuver made the point several times that Nashville only had two shots on goal, and despite limiting Hany Mukhtar to a single shot on goal, and Sam Surridge to none in the run of play, both of the visitors' talismanic players were able to come through in clutch moments. (Also, Nashville, in winning its first final, did so two years removed from painfully losing the Leagues Cup final to Inter Miami in penalty kicks.) ## A resilient run Despite the loss on Wednesday, Austin FC did have an incredible tournament, having been on the brink of elimination against El Paso in the team's first match before roaring back with three goals in eight minutes, beating their Houston rivals handily, and then dramatically vanquishing both San Jose and Minnesota before getting to a final where they went down and then equalized before halftime. "We learned that we're a good team in a knockout game," Estévez said. "We're a very difficult and tough team because we have the mentality to sacrifice and to defend all together. We have the mentality to go after the game, and we have the mental capacity to deal with different situations presented to us throughout this competition. Then this is what we have to take. We have to believe in that we're a good team in these types of games, and that if ... when, when, when we clinch the playoff and we play the playoff, we have to have that in time." Calling the tournament "a reflection of our season," Sánchez pointed to the growth of the team throughout 2025\. "This tournament has been a reflection of the process that we are in, where we started and how much we improved in this season," he said. Continuing with the pain-as-fuel theme, he continued, "We are very hurt. All of us, using this pain, the coaches, addressing the game, addressing the group, finishing the reflection ... with this feeling of using the pain to wake up tomorrow to come to the training center and prepare \[for\] Saturday's game. It's going to be another challenge, but as soon as we can switch to league mode and hopefully learn from this experience, at least use what we have inside to come back, not just better, but stronger." While Stuver agreed that the run showed resilience, it also provided tough lessons about where Austin FC is at this stage of its development. "We're a resilient group, but we're also still a group that has to be at our very best every single game," he said. "We're not a group that can rely on individual talent each game. We're a team that has to rely on the collective and we're at our best when we're sticking to the game plan." ## 'It happens every corner' Wednesday's match hinged on Dani Pereira being called for a foul inside the box on Jeisson Palacios, which MLS writer Charles Boehm argued was legitimate — indicative of national media's tilt toward appreciating Nashville winning Tennessee's first-ever pro sports title. > The penalty call that led to Nashville SC's game-winner in the #USOC2025 final. Soft? Not for me - Pereira's clearly got both arms around him, the ball was delivered to that very area... and referee Tori Penso had JUST stepped in seconds before to warn the players to clean it up. Listen to refs! > > — [Charles Boehm ⚽️ (@cboehm.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hj5cllsecy5xvpdcs72vrtia?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-10-02T02:30:46.015Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hj5cllsecy5xvpdcs72vrtia/post/3m26j4w2r2s2l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) The call allowed Surridge to step up and take the penalty kick at the hour mark, leaving Verde with a one-goal deficit they couldn't overcome; Sánchez assessed the situation as the team running out of time, even though they had more than a half hour to mount a comeback — and did engineer some chances within that, despite Nashville deploying some time-wasting 'housery to thwart any momentum Verde could mount. (Stuver said, of the time-wasting, "We would have done the same thing," though perhaps not as brazenly, as on one Brian Schwake goal kick, fans got deep into a double-digit count of seconds before he finally sent the ball upfield well outside of the six-second time limit world soccer typically mandates.) "It happens every corner," bemoaned Dani Pereira of the jostling that led to the questionable (to Austin fans) call. "We were both grabbing each other; it happens every corner." Jon Gallagher was particularly upset by the call. "How much can I say without getting fined?" he quipped. "I mean, I've seen the decision. I don't know how much I can say without being fined, but ... I think we've got to have honest reflection about that," making clear he was talking about the veracity of Tori Penso's critical call. "It's a final," he granted. "It doesn't really matter how you play, it's about winning the game, but when I see the decision that was made to win the game," before making a sound halfway between "whoa" and "woof" to voice his displeasure. "There's not one situation that's going to make or break our game, whether it's soft or not," Stuver said of the penalty. "I haven't seen it back, but like I was telling these guys, I don't know if ours was a PK either," referring to the penalty kick that Myrto Uzuni was granted and then missed shortly after Nashville's opening goal. "I watched it back on the video screen, and as a goalkeeper, it looks like it gets a little bit of a touch," he said of that earlier call, before returning to his thesis. "So it doesn't matter what the calls are on the field. We need to be able to put that game away a little bit earlier. For us, it's a learning moment. They lost the final in 2023, so they knew what the final was going to be about ... so for us, this is a learning moment for a young club. Utilize it going forward." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the 2025 U.S. Open Cup Final Whistle: Austin FC 1, Nashville SC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-us-open-cup-final-atxvnsh-100125/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T20:07:49.000Z In the end, the team of destiny wasn't destined to win this one after all. In arguably the most monumental match in Austin FC's five-year history, the U.S. Open Cup hosts fell 2-1 to Nashville SC on Wednesday night at Q2 Stadium. Hany Mukhtar scored an early goal to bring the East reps up, Myrto Uzuni earned and then missed a potentially equalizing penalty kick moments later, but got a redemptive goal in first-half stoppage time. The second half was punctuated by Sam Surridge regaining the lead on a PK given on a Dani Pereira set-piece foul, and some tense final moments without the equalizers they'd engineered at earlier points in the tournament. The teams tentatively tested each other early, nibbling away at the opposing defenses without engineering any significant threats. In the 12th minute, as as indication of that, Dani Pereira tried a one-on-five attack down the left flank, ended up looking like he was in the middle of a rondo, and it took Julio Cascante literally standing on his head making a clearance to prevent Hany Mukhtar from getting an open shot 12 yards from goal. A Diego Rubio foul on Andy Najar led to a Mukhtar free kick headed wide in the 15th minute for a first real moment of danger for Verde. Less than two minutes later, Mukhtar came through, chopping a shot past Stuver after getting clear of Guilherme Biro, the closest Austin player to him — but also the closest player to Jacob Shaffleburg, who nodded Surridge's pass out wide to Mukhtar for a lovely combo play. Two minutes later, though, Uzuni won a penalty by beating diving Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake to a loose ball in the box, but then weakly hit the penalty kick he earned to Schwake's left, letting Nashville off the hook. Owen Wolff forced Schwake into a 32nd-minute save with Verde's best chance of the game to that point, and then Osman Bukari freelanced a chance in the box a moment, not able to get the ball past Schwake in an awkward moment for all involved. Biro got free four minutes after that on a far-post run, but headed the tantalizingly floated pass from Mikkel Desler wide. Then, in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Ilié Sanchez fought through a challenge and got a leading pass in the box to Uzuni, who scored confidently and then did a tour along the sideline, pointing and rallying the crowd, before dissolving into a group coach hug. Verde got one more chance at a goal before halftime, with Julio Cascante nodding a header just wide on a short corner; Surridge also got one more chance for Nashville, attempting a chip on Stuver and landing the ball harmlessly on the roof. The second half started nearly as tightly as the first, with Stuver punching away one dangerous ball and defenses doing well to shut down the surges into their respective halves. Then, in the 57th minute, on a corner kick, Nashville was granted a penalty kick when Pereira got his arms around Jeisson Palacios and pulled him down, following some testy moments between them as they were setting up for the set piece. Surridge stepped up to take it, some shenanigans ensued (with Rubio entering the box when Surridge stopped to reposition the ball), but Surridge was able to bury it to recapture the lead. Verde played with more urgency after the goal, engineering a few chances, including a Bukari close-angle shot that Schwake had to parry away. Finally, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez brought in late-game hero CJ Fodrey in the 77th minute to attempt to salvage the match. In the 83rd minute, Wolff drew a foul at the edge of the box, but Schwake caught the resulting free kick cleanly. From there, Estévez subbed in Jon Gallagher for Desler and Jáder Obrian for Ilie — a clearly offensive shift as Verde chased the game. Wolff got a 90th-minute free kick from an opportune place, Bukari was able to engineer a corner in the resulting sequence, and with a 6 going up on the fourth official's board to indicate stoppage time, Austin kept pushing. Stoppage time got heated, and referee Tori Perso didn't make a lot of friends in Austin with how she handled the rising tensions — though Mukhtar did come out before getting a second yellow that seemed more and more inevitable with each act of 'housery. Surridge did get a second yellow in what was supposed to be the final moment for interfering with Stuver's goal kick. Verde did get one more attack off, but it fell short, and as the final whistle blew, multiple Verde players slumped dejectedly to the turf, taking in the celebrations they weren't able to enjoy themselves. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Ilie's movement and pass to Uzuni was clutch at a time when Verde needed a spark — from a player who's been on this Open Cup final stage before. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Right before Uzuni shot his ill-fated penalty, he did a stutter step which appeared to let Schwake know which direction he was going — and then he wasn't able to generate enough power on the shot. We don't know how that missed penalty instead made would have butterfly effected the game, but that's a goal Verde could have used in the final tally. ## One thing you might have missed There's now a fan in the audience dressed as Pollo, and another dressed as an armadillo. I'm very happy with this new dressing like mascots trend. ## One nerdy tidbit At halftime, Austin was up 10-5 on shots and 5-1 in shots on goal (with Nashville's one shot, of course, going in.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It was Verde's first chance at a trophy. Trophies are hard to win. This one's going to linger bitterly for a while, I have a feeling. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Starting Biro and Cascante seemed like moves to get a goal or two early and then be able to sub in more defensive-minded players later. Why those moves initially ... and then why so long to make subs? [Get tonight's quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with SixOneFive Soccer's Ben Wright (on Austin FC's U.S. Open Cup final opponent) URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-sixonefive-soccer-ben-wright-us-open-cup-final/ Last updated: 2025-10-01T11:33:48.000Z The day is upon us! Tonight, Austin FC plays Nashville SC for the actual U.S. Open Cup — it's not just a tournament title; it's an actual trophy — and there's quite a bit of [pomp and circumstance](https://verdeallday.com/a-guide-to-36-hours-of-us-open-cup-madness/) around it. But now that we don't see Nashville twice a year as we did in the days when they were Western Conference rivals — and locked into an epic 2022 MVP battle that intertwined the teams — you might not know as much about the Yotes (as they are occasionally called) as you once did. Let's remedy that. We put some questions before Ben Wright, who helms the excellent [SixOneFive Soccer](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), where he let me [share some thoughts](https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/zoomed-n-austin-fc-with-verde-all-day/?ref=verdeallday.com) on Verde, and even took time out from surveying his Airbnb yesterday to record a special-edition [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-74-open-cup-final-means-we-have-to-learn-about/id1742052077?i=1000729437409&ref=verdeallday.com). To the questions! ### Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar have been a dynamic duo all season ... how would you characterize their partnership, and how has this helped Mukhtar in particular bounce back to his best season since his MVP campaign three years ago? We saw the makings of their partnership really start last year. Surridge was really solid, scoring 12 goals with pretty limited service, and Mukhtar rounded into form at the end of the year. Despite how disappointing the season as a whole was, I think we saw signs. This year, they've kept it up and added to it. Surridge is an exceptional first-touch finisher with either foot, and while he's not always called on in buildup, he's sneakily good with the ball at his feet and is a better passer than you'd initially expect. And we all know what Hany Mukhtar brings. He's scored 16 goals in MLS this season, tied for his second-best scoring season ever. There were concerns heading into the season that he was on the decline after 18 months of poor performances. He's answered all those questions and then some. ### How has the team's Open Cup run compared to its regular-season form? They had a big run of unbeaten matches followed by a pretty recent slump they might be turning around with Saturday's win ... It's honestly been similar. Even with the poor run in MLS play, I don't think they've played particularly poorly. It might sound like making an excuse, but the data backs it up; they got incredibly unlucky during the stretch where they won just one game in seven. Not much changed about their play on the pitch; they just conceded more than they should have and couldn't finish. In the Open Cup, though, they've shown their best form in every round. They went to Orlando with a fully rotated team and won, they smashed D.C. United and they played the Union off the pitch in the semifinals. They've been excellent in the tournament so far. ### How has the team evolved since B.J. Callaghan took over in July 2024, and what kind of X factor might his coaching bring? For starters, they're much more proactive. Under Gary Smith, they were defense-first, reactive, and lacked many clear ideas going forward. All that has improved dramatically under Callaghan. They're very organized defensively, have clear rotations and progressions in the final third, and are ultra-focused on dictating the game. Even when they don't dominate possession, they press heavily and make it really difficult for their opponents to play through them. Simply put, it's a much more modern approach than they had before, but it's also one that plays into the strengths of every player in the squad. I really think they're one of the better teams in MLS, and they're one year into what they view as a multi-year project to get this roster where they want it. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A guide to 36 hours of U.S. Open Cup madness URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-guide-to-36-hours-of-us-open-cup-madness/ Last updated: 2025-09-30T17:00:06.000Z Like we did for All-Star Week, here's a look at the next day and a half of events surrounding Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup Final in Austin. We will update the live version of this guide on the website if and when things are added and changed, so make sure to leave this tab open on your phone through Wednesday afternoon. *(Note: We recommend visiting the website for all Verde All Day coverage, despite the convenience of articles delivered to your inbox, as we sometimes find things to tweak once an article initially gets published.)* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/image_960.png) ## Tuesday, Sept. 30 ### **Unofficial Austin/Nashville Supporters Groups Pre-Match Party** **Oribello's Bar and Kitchen (519 W. 37th Street), 4 pm** Billed as having "Drinks/Food/Fútbol", come through for the peace conference before the 90 to 120 minutes of war on Wednesday. ### **5v5 with clubeleven and We Are Austin Media** **Auditorium Shores (900 W. Riverside Drive), 4-8 pm** This is billed as a "casual kickabout" that everyone is welcome to attend; just bring your boots. The folks from clubeleven have a special Soccer Bus U.S. Open Cup Edition exhibit that they have toured around the country that will be around for this as well as during match day. ### **La Murga de Austin Supporters' Rally & Chant Practice** **Live Oak Park (next to Q2 Stadium, on the train station side), 7-8 pm** Come on out and learn a brand new chant, and impress your friends and neighbors in the stands with how well you already know Carnaval! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-30-at-10.09.59---AM.png) **2025's season opener tifo, art and design by Joel Corral (Katie Ensign)* ### **Open Cup Tifo Rigging and Rehearsal** **Q2 Stadium Loading Docks, 6-10 pm** Though the design is TOP SECRET and will remain so until it is raised, if you come to help, you will get an advance look at the art, make new friends, and get fed free DoubleDave's pizza for your trouble. It's come together in record time, but rest assured that it is of a scale and scope befitting the occasion. A word of warning to first-timers though ... the mention of it being top secret is something Austin FC supporters take very seriously, so photos and video are NOT to be taken and shared, outside of the select few designated to document the evening. Links to said photos will be distributed on the other side of its 120ish seconds of glory. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/img_4335-1.jpg) ## Wednesday, Oct. 1 ### **Austin Supporters March** **The Sunoco of Many Food Carts (2601 W. Braker), 4:15 pm meetup, 4:35 pm march to Live Oak Park** The above says it all, except to mention that La Murga will play a 4:50 pm set at Live Oak Park, and that's when the Best Party in Austin really starts. ### **Austin FC Official Pre-Match Party** **Live Oak Park (east side of Q2 Stadium, near the Capitol Metro McKalla Station), 4:30-6:30 pm** Peligrosa and Brownout will be playing live on the Live Oak Park Stage, with $4 Michelob Ultras and the promise of food and merch. [We anticipate a busy Wednesday night and early Thursday morning](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Austin FC's four remaining opponents before the (still just theoretical) playoffs URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-four-remaining-opponents-2025/ Last updated: 2025-09-30T01:05:20.000Z Austin FC has a first-ever U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday and has yet to mathematically clinch its place in the playoffs. It's time to [update and annotate an article](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-remaining-opponents/) from back when they had at least eight (and what happily became nine) opponents left. What a difference a month makes! The journey to the match for a trophy has been complete with peaks and valleys for Austin and the obstacle between them and their first-ever hardware, plus the three teams that could complicate punching their second-ever playoff ticket. ## Nashville SC ### (home, Oct. 1) What I wrote on August 31st: > St. Louis beat them 3-1 at the beginning of August, and then NYCFC beat them 2-1 ... before they beat Orlando 5-1\. Atlanta kept a clean sheet against them last night in Nashville though, so it's been a pretty up-and-down (mostly down) August. Their path to the Live Music Capitol begins away at Cincy, then the theoretical win against Philly, an away match against the Lions in Orlando, and then back home against an annoying and unpredictable Dynamo before the final in Austin. Since then ... they lost a hard-fought away match against FC Cincinnati, 2-1, that was very nearly a draw until the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time. The theoretical win against Supporters Shield leaders Philadelphia became an actual 3-1 win at home thanks to a beautiful hat trick by Sam Surridge. Playing Orlando in Orlando is always a tricky bit of business, and sure enough, it was an uphill climb thanks to an early brace by Martín Ojeda, made easier by Hany Mukhtar notching one in the dregs of first-half stoppage time. Nashville leveled it just a few minutes into the second half thanks to Jacob Shaffelburg, who came on at halftime for Patrick Yazbek. It stayed level and very contentious and hard-fought until Duncan McGuire broke Nashville's hearts in the last bits of extra time. Now, for the crucial events that The Other Music City experienced while most or all of you reading this were watching a heavily rotated Austin lose to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. If you're looking for something to distract you or take the edge off of anxiety heading into Austin's first-ever cup final based on having watched Austin get shellacked by a team that is almost certain to miss the playoffs, you may actually want to watch the whole replay of Nashville vs. Houston for yourself. To secure their spot in a highly contentious Eastern Conference playoff pool, Nashville brought out 90% of a Best XI against an almost mathematically eliminated Houston. Hany Mukhtar scored in the second minute. Houston's Sviatchenko was sent off with a DOGSO red in the ninth minute. Lip-readers saw Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen shout "Then *what* are you *here* for?!" at the fourth official regarding his appeal of the most obvious of obvious-est DOGSO reds on the broadcast. Sviatchenko cleaned out Mukhtar so well that it knocked his right boot off. You would think that this is the setup for sailing to victory and subbing off prime starters early. You'd think. Nashville spent the next 30 minutes *not* scoring their go-ahead goal, and not for lack of effort. Fair credit to the Dynamo; they played down a man as if they were *up* a man on Nashville. That's not nothing for a squad's top guys to have to do four days before playing a final. Nashville scored a brace on the other side of halftime, with only two minutes separating the two goals, making it 3-1 for the home side. They made their first pair of subs seven minutes later, but it wasn't for Mukhtar and Surridge, who stayed on and kept pressing the attack for another 20 minutes. Ten minutes after that, Shaffelburg came off in the 87th for Walker Zimmerman to come on and have an inconsequential eight or so minutes at the end. Austin rotated heavily on Saturday night, with Nico Estevez referring to it as a "practice session" in advance of what was implied to be the real match on Wednesday. Nashville did the above and now must turn around on four days' rest. ## St. Louis City SC ### (home, Oct. 4) > So if Verde wins a U.S. Open Cup Final, they get two days' rest before playing St. Louis on the same pitch at Q2\. In theory, that final could result in this getting pushed back to the next Wednesday, during the same international break as the 10/12 home match against LAFC. So many things regarding table placement will be radically different by the time October gets here, but let's go back to the fact St. Louis would max out at 39 points if they win every single one of their last eight games. > Austin will be catching them after they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs unless St. Louis goes on an incredible tear. Here's evidence from Saturday night's game that they're not going on an incredible tear. St. Louis *are* now mathematically eliminated, as foretold. They drew at home against Dallas, and even though they beat Montreéal and San Jose in back-to-back away jaunts, LAFC trounced them Saturday night in St. Louis. The Dog Food Dudes picked up *five* yellow cards (including two in second-half stoppage times) and the match absolutely got into their heads. > Of course, that means they'll have zero "effs" to give in their penultimate 2025 season game, which makes them very dangerous. > But also, they're going to be pretty worn out by this point, too. Their September will have been a home game sandwich, starting the month against Dallas and ending it against a very tired, adrenaline-jacked LAFC, with away games against Montréal (The Whose Season Sucked Worse Cup) and San Jose in between. Their 2025 was rough. They will more than likely rotate in Austin so that they can show up big at home for their fans on Decision Day against RSL. If the incredibly mathematically unlikely situation of the table being in utter chaos leading into Decision Day happens, that goes out the window. It won't. One of the most dangerous opponents in MLS is a side with seemingly nothing left to lose, but even without Guilherme Biro (who will be on yellow card accumulation suspension on Saturday), Verde should be more than capable of handling St. Louis even on minimal rest after a final. They may not rotate or rotate much, but the St. Louis that played Saturday night is more disconnected than Austin on its worst days. ## LAFC ### (home, Oct. 12) > Son Heung-min has arrived, and he's awesome. He will still be playing for LAFC and awesome six weeks from now. The problem facing LAFC is they have played less games than everyone else in the West and have an absolutely brutal final quarter of the season. Son and Bouanga have been on an absolute heater of all heaters. Austin ought to be terrified of playing LAFC now versus Before Son, right? > They do get six days' rest before heading away against St. Louis, but three matches in seven days is a hell of a way to begin the last push of the season. They get seven days' rest on the other side of St. Louis away, but here's where it gets really stupid. They play Atlanta at home on Oct. 5, rest two days, and then play Toronto at home, and *then* have three days before going away to play Austin, making up the rescheduled July 4th weekend game. Yeah, but ... Son and Bouanga are racking up goals like it isn't hard despite the heavy load. > That's another three-in-seven stretch, but this time during an international break. > > You ought to expect the biggest stars of LAFC2 to show up at Q2 on Oct. 12 because that may be all the people they have available and healthy. Maybe that was a bit of an overstatement, but ... don't expect The Sonny and Denis Show at Q2 on October 12th for yet another edition of Sunday Night Soccer. LAFC is 100% in the playoffs and are certainly not expected to be hard-pressed for points relative their table position by then. Why on earth would they be in desperate need of an away win right after back-to-back home matches against Atlanta and Toronto? Even a bruised and Cup-weary Austin with their own international duty absences should be able to handle a similarly rotated LAFC ... right? ## San Jose Earthquakes ### (away, Oct. 18) > The Quakes have home-field advantage, but they have not exactly had the most fun path there. The Quakes have to be at the tip of LAFC's spear as the Black and Gold head into their Final Quarter of Hell. They get a breather in theory hosting St. Louis, sure, but guess what they get for their trouble in return? Away against both San Diego and a fully Müllerized Vancouver. This pretty much played out as expected against LAFC, who beat them in their own house 2-4\. St. Louis was not in fact a "breather!" Fully-written-off St. Louis beat the Quakes *in San Jose* on the second leg of what ended up being their two-match "revenge tour" of sorts. That must have been a shock to the system, especially just in advance of Saturday night... > The San Diego match? It's the Shiny and Chrome's final regular-season home match for 2025\. San Jose's reward for surviving whatever that nuclear blast is like... Nuclear winter was averted by a 14th-minute Josef Martinez goal and a very hard-fought win against one of the few remaining true Supporters Shield favorites. I started Saturday night repeating what I said on the most recent Emergency Podcast, which is that I thought Bruce Arena's days as the MLS Whisperer were over. How do I explain myself? From the end of the article I'm annotating and updating here... > In a word: MLS. ... but back to San Jose for a moment > ... \[San Jose\] is getting buried under the avalanche of a similarly triumphant Vancouver season with their brilliant new mega-star. Vancouver spent Saturday night in a very hard-fought draw against Seattle that put Vancouver even on points with San Diego, and the Whitecaps have a Cup Final of their *own* to play this Wednesday against Vancouver FC (for the Canadian Championship). They want to stay top of the West, but how do they balance choices when they still have Orlando away on the other side of this and Thomas Müller recently picking up an injury? > And then after all that, \[San Jose\] get an Austin team that knocked them out of the Open Cup and then [beat them by two goals](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-austin-fc-3-san-jose-earthquakes-1/) in a match that would have made their playoff path easier should they have won or at least drawn it. The Quakes have also *definitely not* forgotten about the literal blood that was spilled in their stadium in the match that knocked them out of the Open Cup that Austin may well have in their trophy case by Decision Day. Results depending, what if Austin is still in need of points to make the playoffs or even to stay out of the play-in? That scenario could still happen. In other words: The Open Cup ... at what cost? Fans already have passionately held opinions. For me, winning it is enough to consider it a season of achievement, but I have a feeling that is not enough for Austin's players and sporting operation as a whole. As tense as Austin-San Jose matches always are, the road traveled is making this Decision Day look like one that will echo in both clubs' histories. [Get seven days free](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We didn't do it today': On Austin FC muffing a first chance to clinch a 2025 playoff spot URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-rslvatx-092725/ Last updated: 2025-09-28T13:45:44.000Z Barring an unthinkable collapse, Austin FC will make the 2025 MLS postseason, despite [a 3-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-rslvatx-092725/) to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Head coach Nico Estévez doesn't yet know if it will come next Saturday with a win over St. Louis City SC — the most direct and resolute way to do it — but is now shifting focus to Wednesday's crucial Open Cup final against Nashville SC. "There are ... multiple ways to clinch the playoff," he said. "We didn't do it today. We wanted to do it today. We couldn't. We just have to move forward. And right now we shift to the Open Cup, because we cannot do anything today any more to clinch the playoff." Describing the game as "a good training session for what is coming," Estévez did project confidence about what's to come on Wednesday. "We're going to give everything that we have until we cannot move on the field to bring the trophy to our fans," he said. "And then I don't have any doubt about the response of the team, because we've been responding the whole year in difficult situations, and this is an exceptional situation, an amazing opportunity in club history, and everyone is locked in and with the belief that we can win this final." ## One curious observation In response to my question about Besard Šabović's performance — redeemed somewhat by Austin's lone late goal after he deflected in Real Salt Lake's opening goal (which was credited to Braian Ojeda), Estévez indicated that we shouldn't look too much into one player over the span of this 90 minutes. (In which, to be fair and perhaps underpinning his answer, the roster was rotated more than it would be were there not two matches looming in the next seven days.) "In this particular game, any individual judgment and analysis of any of the players I think is not fair," he said. "It is difficult to play these kinds of games. I think he was very unlucky in the goal we conceded, he grew into the game, and he got better and more confident, and he got in a good position to score the goal. He's a player that has a lot of talent, has a lot of good qualities, and we have to keep helping him to have confidence that he can help the team, and he can be an important part of this Austin FC club." To his credit, Šabović topped all Austin FC players in the American Soccer Analysis goals added metric, looking at total player contributions via a formula that can sometimes bring head-scratching results. ![Goals added ratings for Austin FC vs. Real Salt Lake showing Sabovic topping all Austin players](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-28-at-7.58.27---AM.png) Other datasets highlighting the teams' performances weren't flattering to Verde, including a momentum chart that decidedly tipped RSL's way — especially in the critical periods on either side of halftime in which the hosts put up two goals that Estévez admitted his team couldn't recover from. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Real_Salt_Lake_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-09-28.png) One bright spot in the match: Brad Stuver inched closer to the record for most regular-season saves in a five-season span, but didn't actually tie or surpass Tony Meola on Saturday — leaving it to do in front of his home fans. His four saves Saturday brought him to 619, which means his first save against St. Louis – eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday with a 3-0 loss to LAFC — will tie the record, and his second will break it. (I'm expecting the home fans to respond accordingly.) But first, Wednesday. ## 'We're going to go win it' Dani Pereira projected a fair bit of confidence about the approaching Open Cup final. "We all know what we're playing on Wednesday, and I think that's kind of why tonight went how it went," he said. "I feel like we were like, us as players, were a little more focused on Wednesday, in a good way, but \[we'll\] move past this game, and we all know what we're playing on Wednesday, which is our first final in history, and we're going to go win it." Pereira also indicated, as Estévez did earlier in the press conference, that Verde is playoff bound despite Saturday's setback, and said getting an x next to the team's name in the table will be "a huge relief" when it happens. "That's one of our goals that we set earlier in the year, and we're right there," he said. "We've just got to win one more game, and even if some other teams lose points, we'll still make it. But the good thing is that it depends on us and not ... on other teams." Pereira did reminisce about 2022 and getting to second in the West during the regular season. "We talked about how you don't really get to be a second seed in the playoff. You don't really get to play playoff games at home. And it's true, like, it doesn't happen often." Regarding getting into the playoffs — which will most likely involve Verde playing all but one first-round match at home for as long as they're involved, he added, "It's just something we've got to take in, to just be grateful and take the opportunity that is right there when it happens. You know, anything in the playoffs can happen." Yet he didn't want to make a case for what Austin could do in the playoffs quite yet, as I proposed to him in one of my questions, preferring instead to bring the focus back to Wednesday. "We have a final first," he said. "We can talk again when we make it to the playoffs." But then, toward the end, he did express some level of confidence. "I think Wednesday will decide how our rest of the season goes," he said. "This is one of our biggest games in history, so we've just got to have full focus on that," adding that they need to approach the final like they approached their semifinal win over Minnesota. "When everybody's at their best ... I think we can beat anyone." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Real Salt Lake 3, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-rslvatx-092725/ Last updated: 2025-09-28T15:42:28.000Z With a chance to clinch a playoff place, and with a clearly rotated lineup, Austin FC lost 3-1 to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at America First Field in Sandy, Utah, with Braian Ojeda and DeAndre Yedlin getting goals close to either side of the halftime mark, and Victor Olatunji notching a late goal, to outpace a lackluster and rotated Verde side. The opening half didn't start with that much action; it took until the 22nd minute for RSL to get off its first shot via Diogo Gonçalves, which Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver saved to get up to 616 in five seasons, just four from tying Tony Meola's record. Stuver got pressed into action again in the 40th minute on a Rwan Cruz attempt. Austin, meanwhile, mustered one 11th-minute muffed chance from CJ Fodrey — earning his first start ever for the team that selected him in the SuperDraft in December 2022 — as the sum of their offensive effort for the first half. In the 45th minute, Ojeda took a speculative shot from distance, bouncing it off Besard Šabović to carom it weirdly past Stuver, allowing RSL to get the lead heading into halftime. Less than five minutes after halftime, Yedlin got a ball in on the right flank, and with ostensible fullback Guilherme Biro drifting inside rather than outside, Yedlin fired toward goal and caught Stuver off-guard to double the lead. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez decided to go hogwild in the 61th minute, putting in four subs: Owen Wolff for Diego Rubio, Dani Pereira for Nicolás Dubersarsky, Myrto Uzuni for Fodrey, and Osman Bukari for Jáder Obrian. (That you're seeing first names with first references for three of those four subs tells you just how effective they were.) In the 70th, we got a fun sibling rivalry, with Tyler Wolff coming in for Gonçalves to face off against his brother. RSL got another goal in the 82nd, with Olatunji getting led in by Diego Luna and catching Stuver out to get the 3-0 lead. Stuver finished with 619 saves (we think, based on the last-gasp slow roller Stuver cradled) on his five-season tally, but could have broken the record if he'd saved the three goals he let in. Šabović mildly redeemed himself with a goal in stoppage time, which effectively led me to do a little more work. This match doesn't change the fact that Austin will play a final in four days — likely with a full-strength lineup. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) I'm struggling to come up with something. Maybe the Diego Rubio dark arts on Ojeda in the 54th minute, which was at least fun if not productive. Otherwise, this was a start-to-finish stinker. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Šabović mismanaged a chance in RSL's half right before the halftime whistle blew, on the back of his miffed defense to allow the goal. Not an outstanding night for Šabović, on the whole. ## One thing you might have missed Diego Luna (sporting teal hair) missed the opening kickoff because he was having an earring malfunction. Yes, I just typed that sentence. ## One nerdy tidbit RSL had more than 60% possession at halftime. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative This was an easy "win-and-you're-in" playoff-clinching match. Colorado drawing Minnesota, and Austin losing, means that Austin still hasn't locked in a playoff place. That's likely coming soon, but not tonight. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Though this was a match that was crying out for rotation, what is Estévez seeing in Šabović that merits a start? [Get seven days (including tomorrow) free](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'I want to play for as long as I can': Highlights from a media availability celebrating Brad Stuver URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-rslvatx-092725-brad-stuver-extension/ Last updated: 2025-09-26T13:45:25.000Z While there are immediate concerns for Austin FC over the next week — a match against Real Salt Lake on Saturday in which the team can clinch its second-ever trip to the playoffs, and a U.S. Open Cup final at home on Wednesday against Nashville SC — Thursday's media availability was largely about the future. Namely, goalkeeper Brad Stuver's future. Shortly before the press conference commenced, [the club announced](https://www.austinfc.com/news/brad-stuver-signs-two-year-contract-extension?ref=verdeallday.com) Stuver signed a two-year contract extension keeping him Verde through the end of the 2027 season, with an option for the 2028 season. Should he fully see that out, he'd be 37 when that contract expires, but age is just a number. "My outlook is I want to play for as long as I can," Stuver said in his portion of the press conference. "And if that means one more contract, if that means more contracts after this one, that would be fantastic. But at the end of the day, all I can do is focus on this one. But ideally, I play here until I retire, and then I'm just part of the club afterwards." Prompted by a question, he reflected a bit on his arrival five years ago — when he was expected by many to be Andrew Tarbell's backup before winning the starting spot in the club's opener at LAFC and never relinquishing it. "Looking back ... I think my wife actually doesn't think I'm as crazy as I was, but when I had that feeling that Austin was going to be my chance, like I knew it in my core ... now, looking back, I know it was right, like everything kind of turned out the way I had hoped." He's also on the cusp of a special record: Most saves for an MLS goalkeeper in a five-season span. Looking at regular season matches since 2021, the 2025 All-Star has 615 saves; six more will put him past Tony Meola for the record, and given how Real Salt Lake plays, it could very well come in Sandy on Saturday. "Individually, I want to be at the very best that I can be, because I know when I'm at my very best, it helps the team be at their very best," he said. "For me, that record is just a testament to the work that I've put in over the last 13 years to make sure that I was ready when my time came, and what it was to do everything in my power to help my team. "Setting that record is not something that's top of mind for me. I'm sure it'll take care of itself," he added, before admitting he looked up to Meola growing up, describing being tied to him through this record as "surreal." (He also mentioned looking up to longtime Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis, who once donned a wig to portray "new signing" Luis "El Lobo" Fangoso for an [April Fool's Day joke](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/tbt-looking-back-greatest-april-fools-day-prank-mls-history?ref=verdeallday.com). Stuver didn't mention that part; I just thought it was too good to not share.) ## Rotation or not? Though Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said that they'll take an approach of "one day at a time first and then one game at a time," he also said that they're being "more conservative" with fullback Mikkel Desler, who left before halftime on Sunday's match against Seattle with tightness in his leg. He also indicated that Guilherme Biro, dealing with a minor knee issue keeping him out of the previous match, is "ready to go," and in response to a question about Robert Taylor, declared he'd be part of the 20-man roster on Saturday. From this, I'd expect Žan Kolmanič and Jon Gallagher to be the starting fullbacks in either a four-man or five-man backline against RSL (though I'd guess four for this one based on hints Estévez gave us Sunday night), with Desler staying home to be as right as possible for Wednesday. "Open Cup is on our mind," Stuver said. "It's a chance to win the trophy. It's something that all of us are thinking about, but we do know how important this game is. This weekend, we have the ability to clinch playoffs and win that's something that we're hoping for. To clinch this early with some games left, that would be amazing ... add to the fuel for Wednesday. If you clinch playoffs this weekend, you're riding a high, you're going into a final at home, you can really ... carry that momentum into the game. So we're going to try and use this weekend to kind of keep that momentum, build that momentum, and not take this game lightly." Estévez had compliments for Saturday's opponent, who are fighting for their playoff lives (but can't be eliminated on Saturday regardless of results). "They're a very strong team, very aggressive. They press hard and high, they don't let you play comfortable, and they have quality to play," he noted. ## Playoff-clinching scenarios As it turns out, [per MLS' math](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/matchday-37-who-can-clinch-playoffs-or-be-eliminated-2025?ref=verdeallday.com), Verde doesn't even need a win to officially punch their ticket to the postseason, though it is the most direct route to getting there — and, as [we noted Tuesday](https://verdeallday.com/getting-beyond-45-points-austin-fc-playoff-picture-maximum-points-possible/), a win would vault them past the 45-point mark and keep them on pace to tie their best-ever point total (though that requires winning out). The other routes to clinching include: - A draw against RSL, combined with Houston drawing or losing to Nashville; or - Colorado losing to Minnesota, San Jose drawing or losing to San Diego, and Houston drawing or losing to Nashville — even if Austin loses. None of these outcomes defy the imagination. [Get seven days free (including Sunday's quotes)](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Getting beyond 45 points: What Austin FC can and can't do URL: https://verdeallday.com/getting-beyond-45-points-austin-fc-playoff-picture-maximum-points-possible/ Last updated: 2025-09-24T13:55:46.000Z Although the math to qualify for the playoffs changes every year, 45 points is generally considered the "safe zone" for a team to make the MLS playoffs. With nine teams from each conference advancing, it's a relatively low bar, but one that Austin FC has cleared only once in its previous four years. On Saturday night at Real Salt Lake, it's quite possible that the relatively hot Verde, going 7W 3L 3D in league matches since June, win and therefore not only qualify for the playoffs, but get past 45 points with the victory At 44, they've already clinched their second-best season based on points, and still have a mathematical chance to tie their best ever, though it will take four straight wins to do so. And even if they draw Saturday, they get to 45 and could still clinch playoffs should the right teams drop points. (We're waiting for the league to weigh in on just what mix does that.) [Get seven days free](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) But what about beyond Saturday? Is there a chance Verde can bump up into the top four, allowing them to host up to two first-round matches in the best of three series? And what playoff path awaits them? ## Looking at the table It's best to first look at the West and surmise the current state of the table. ![2025 Western Conference table as of Sept. 24](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-24-at-6.28.42---AM.png) The table as it stands Wednesday morning (MLSSoccer.com) The first thing to notice is what Verde can't do: catch San Diego, which currently has one more point than Verde can obtain. Vancouver, with five matches left on 55 points, could theoretically have an epic collapse while Verde win four straight, but that's also extremely unlikely, and could be moot as early as tonight, when Vancouver hosts Portland with the chance to leapfrog San Diego and ensure they'll finish better than both Austin and Seattle. (A win Wednesday gives the Whitecaps the win total tiebreaker should both finish on Seattle's maximum possible 57 points.) But let's also look at teams that can't catch Austin — while Real Salt Lake, currently in 12th place, still can, with a maximum of 47 points possible, 11th-place San Jose has to win out, including over Austin on Decision Day, to get to 44\. The Quakes, before hosting Austin in the regular-season finale, has to travel to both San Diego and Vancouver prior to playing Austin. Remember when you worried about the stakes of that Decision Day finale and the chance that the matchup repeated as the No. 8 vs. No. 9 play-in game? It's very possible San Jose's now eliminated from playoff contention before Decision Day. ## Projecting the maximums Here are the maximum possible points of all the teams Verde could still mathematically catch, as well as the ones just below them: - No. 3 Minnesota, 54 points, three games remaining: 63 - No. 4 LAFC, 50 points, five games remaining: 65 - No. 5 Seattle, 45 points, four games remaining: 57 - No. 6 Austin, 44 points, four games remaining: 56 - No. 7 Portland, 42 points, four games remaining: 54 - No. 8 Colorado, 39 points, three games remaining: 48 - No. 9 Dallas, 37 points, four games remaining: 49 - No. 10 Houston, 36 points, three games remaining: 45 Houston's on nine wins now, and Austin's on 12, so should Houston win their remaining three and Austin draw one and lose the rest, they'd be tied on 45 points and 12 wins, meaning that it would come down to goal differential, which Austin's got a five-goal advantage in right now, but in the scenario I've concocted, Houston could make that up and shut Austin out of the playoffs provided none of the other teams above Houston suffer a similar collapse. (Rest assured, Austin winning just once or even drawing twice renders the above nightmare scenario moot.) Two more things jump out at me about the top five in the conference vs. the current six through nine. First, the top five all have positive goal differentials and the next four (and indeed, the other six teams in the conference) have negative goal differentials. The math pathway for passing Seattle (with "just" a +7 GD) looks far better than it does for passing the top four (currently ranging from +15 to +25), but that still leaves Austin in fifth. But I could see Minnesota slide to fourth, setting up what I feel in my bones to be the inevitable 2025 first-round playoff matchup, with the winner getting Vancouver (who I believe is going to get in the top spot, and if it's chalk throughout the West bracket, I think eventual No. 2 LAFC gets to BC Place for the conference final, unless No. 6 Seattle, in this scenario, gets past No. 3 San Diego and shocks Son, Bouanga and Company on the road.) (It's Seattle; they can do those sorts of things.) Second, aside from Vancouver traveling to Seattle on Saturday, none of the top five teams will be able to take points off each other. The scheduling gods have made it so; the weirdest of the Decision Day mechanations has Seattle going to NYCFC — a team that could be looking to lock up first-round home-field advantage, possibly against Miami or Orlando. Austin can, of course, take points off LAFC on Oct. 12, but the rest of the schedule is against teams currently below the playoff line — which helps in the quest to get to 56 points, but not in edging past most of the other teams in front of them. (That match against Austin is also LAFC's only remaining match against a current playoff-place team prior to Decision Day; they also face St. Louis, Atlanta, and Toronto, and then go to Colorado for Decision Day. ## Obviously, root for wins Of course, without wins, Austin FC won't have a chance to finish higher than sixth, and finishing top four seems a tall order, though without Sunday's last-gasp goal against Seattle, it would have been much less possible. [PlayoffStatus.com](https://playoffstatus.com/mls/westernstandings.html?ref=verdeallday.com) puts the bell curve firmly on sixth, with a 53% chance of staying where they are as opposed to a 22% chance of moving up to fifth and 21% chance of moving to seventh, just a 1% chance of finishing fourth, and not much else possible. There is still a less than 1% chance Austin FC doesn't make the playoffs, but there's one easy remedy for that on Saturday. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We've tried to build that belief': Savoring a second straight dramatic win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvsea-091925/ Last updated: 2025-09-22T22:35:27.000Z Earlier this season, Austin FC had some match results that head coach Nico Estévez felt didn't match the performances his team gave. We heard him speak earnestly, if unsatisfyingly, about the players' hard work in practice and expected goals that outpaced actual goals. Now, following Verde's second consecutive 2-1 win in which the winning goal was scored at essentially the last moment possible — this one being the team's first-ever win over Seattle Sounders FC at Q2 Stadium — it's clear the pendulum has swung. "Throughout the season, we've tried to build that belief," Estévez said following Sunday night's win, "Those goals that we scored late in the game against Kansas \[City\], referring to CJ Fodrey's match winner on Sept. 7, "and then against Minnesota," nodding to Fodrey's goal on Wednesday to send Verde to the U.S. Open Cup finals. "Even with knowing that Seattle was coming here, late in the game, in the heat, it is always difficult, and then we can take advantage of those moments and we have just to keep going until the final whistle, because it's worth it," he observed. "And right now, we're in this moment where we're having that part of luck, but also that part of belief that gives us the composure and the poise in those late minutes to be very clean in our crossing, and in our final action." Brad Stuver, reflecting in the locker room after the match, similarly commented on the recent run of good fortune. "It kind of takes me back to 2022 a little bit, where everyone in the stadium, everyone in the locker room, kind of had this idea that it didn't matter what was going on in the game," he said. "You knew that this team was going to find a way to get a result. These late winners kind of have that same feeling. Obviously, it's only been a few games, but it brings so much energy and so much determination to the guys that it's like, okay, when you look at last year, these same situations, we may have been the ones that give up a goal, and that tanks your mentality. I think this year, everyone knows that as long as we're in a game going into the last 10 or 15, minutes ... we have a chance." ## Adversity after halftime Of course, you can't have a late match-winner if you aren't tied beforehand, and for Austin FC, that came in particularly deflating fashion, with Georgi Minoungou scoring a little more than 30 seconds after coming into the match as a halftime sub, with literally his first touch of the match. Then, at minute 60, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer brought in two players he was holding in reserve — Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreira, who, between them, have 127 MLS goals. "Look at how deep the roster is," Estévez said, dashing off an aside about how they can invest $1 million more in GAM they secured, for playing in this summer's FIFA Club World Cup, into an already-deep pool of players. "Bringing from the bench Morris and Ferreira, it says a lot about how good a roster they have. We can't forget that they're the Leagues Cup champion, and they beat really good teams in that competition. They competed really well in the Club World Cup. And for us, it's just collectively trying to do the best that we can do." Stuver was a bit more specific in his analysis. "We knew that they were going to make changes. Obviously, seeing both Morris and Ferreira on the bench to start the game, we knew that they were going to be very energetic to start the game," he said, which bore out when both players engineered one-on-one chances against Stuver that he stepped up to save. "Ferreira is going to drop in and be that false number nine or false 10, where he comes underneath, they grab the ball, and Jordan just runs it behind the back line like nobody," he added. "So we knew that it was coming, and we knew that they're two of the most prolific scorers in this league, and it's difficult when you go against those type of players, but I think the guys did well to kind of force them into wider scenarios." He then assessed, "Overall, good team win." With five saves on the night, Stuver is inching closer to the MLS record for regular-season saves over five consecutive seasons, with goalkeeping-legend-turned-broadcaster Tony Meola still leading with 620, and Stuver close behind at 615\. "Seeing your name next to him, maybe seeing your name above him in a record book, is kind of surreal," Stuver said. "And I mean, for me, it's just I've been trying to do what I can to help this team for the last five years, and this is just a culmination of all that hard work and just the work that has gone in on the day-to-day." ## 'We have to stay connected' Myrto Uzuni, who scored the match-winner, had it set up by Fodrey, heading a Dani Pereira ball to the far post directly into his path. It's the inverse of Wednesday's historic goal, which Uzuni set up for Fodrey with an attempt that disarmed Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. "We both are playing the game to get a goal, and we both make pretty good runs," Fodrey said, discussing how he and Uzuni have been able to complement each other and play in a way that one finishes what the other started. "We have to stay connected in a game," Uzuni said of their roles when they find themselves on the field together. "So we cannot stay separate \[from\] each other. So we have to be always connected. Because this is one mechanism, the football is simple ... we just have to stay together and we can score many goals." Uzuni — who has now scored five goals in his last eight league matches — also colorfully reflected on the routine that's paying dividends now. "The people who are near me, they know exactly my routine, like my routine is only home and training every fucking day," he said. "This is my routine, because I know the football is finished fast, so I have to take the maximum \[from\] football. And that's why it's my ability to be physical, because I take care of my body ... It's a hard job. It's not easy to play football. Maybe the people from outside, they see, but it's a lot — discipline, eating, running, massage — and about everything you know is coming all together. And to arrive at this level of professional \[play\], you have to be like so much discipline to have in your mind." ## Injury update Speaking of taking care of one's body, Estévez noted that Mikkel Desler, who came off late in the first half, continues to struggle with what he described as "discomfort." While he indicated the sub was more precautionary than necessary, Estévez is also cognizant of how helpful Desler would be to Verde in securing their first trophy next week. "He has discomfort and it gets tight and it doesn't allow him to keep going," he shared. "We're going to try to do different things in order to have him ready for the next games." Estévez also revealed that Guilherme Biro is dealing with an issue, which is why he was held out on Sunday. "He's dealing with some inflammation in the knee, and we want to make sure that he can recover well," Estévez said. ## Where things stand Austin FC vaulted to 6th in the West with the win, now on 44 points with a chance to clinch a playoff spot next week in their 31st of 34 regular-season matches. They'll play Real Salt Lake away on Saturday night; RSL lost 4-1 on Sunday to the Supercharged Very Fun Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min version of LAFC, and are now three points below the playoff line and in need of a win. According to Austin FC Communications, there's a win-and-you're-in and even possibly a draw-and-get-help scenario allowing Verde to clinch their second-ever trip to the playoffs on Saturday. Were the playoffs to start today, Austin would face Minnesota in a best-of-three series — a matchup that seems like it's destined to be, though as it tends to be this time of year, the West table is quite fluid, and Austin's very much in the opening phases of a Choose Your Own Playoff Adventure with a complicating final to game for. Asked if he'll rotate against RSL to prepare for Nashville three days later, Estévez smiled, "I don't know yet. I need to rest a little. It has been a very, very tough week, but we will think about \[it in\] the next couple of days, how we can make the best out of these two games ... three games, because St. Louis also," referring to the Oct. 4 match at Q2 Stadium that follows the final, "it's important at home." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Seattle Sounders FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsea-092125/ Last updated: 2025-09-22T03:58:28.000Z On a rare Sunday evening home match — Austin FC's first home match since Aug. 30 — the hosts brought more delightful drama, beating Seattle Sounders FC, 2-1, thanks to an opening Diego Rubio goal, a Georgi Minoungou equalizer just over 30 seconds into the second half, steady goalkeeping from Brad Stuver to keep it from getting worse, and CJ Fodrey setting up Mytro Uzuni for the team's second straight win-at-the-death in five days. Owen Wolff drew a foul in the second minute to get Sounders forward Danny Musovski a yellow card, and Rubio got chippy early, getting in some unwhistled fouls on Cristian Roldán. A coming together between Mikkel Desler and Paul Rothrock in the 15th minute led to Rothrock shoving Desler and Uzuni expressing his opinion, which led to referee Jair Marrufo to step in between the beefing players. Rothrock would get a yellow in the 28th for pushing Rubio from behind. As far as soccer matters went, it took until the 10th minute, via a tame Obed Vargas roller toward goal, for Seattle to register the game's first shot and shot on goal, whereas it took Austin until the 25th minute to get just a shot, which is something you could call Besard Šabović hitting a shot six rows deep into Section 103 shortly after he took a free kick in a promising spot just outside the box and hit it straight into the wall. The Sounders got a little more threatening about the half-hour mark with several attempts on goal, and in the 37th, got very close with Cristian Roldán hitting a shot that Stuver had to push onto the post to save. Desler went down shortly after without contact, and Jon Gallagher entered the match for him with only 39 minutes and change elapsed, though Desler was able to walk off the field. Two minutes later, though, Verde fans had something to cheer, when Rubio pounced on a bad Jackson Ragen pass and ran in on goal unimpeded for the score. (Well, unimpeded save for Sounders defender Yeimar touching Rubio's shoulder as he shot.) Both teams had attempts on goal to close out the half, with Oleksandr Svatok interfering with an attempted Rothrock-to-Musovski connection that gave Sounders fans momentary hope, but the score remained the same at halftime. It only took the Sounders 31 seconds back from halftime to score, with Cristian Roldán getting Musovski free down the right flank to send a cross to Minoungou, who beat Gallagher to the ball and scored. As a bit of a coaching flex as the 60th minute arrived, Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer brought in Jordan Morris and Jesus Ferreria for Rothrock and Musovski before they could collect second yellows, whereas Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez countered with Dani Pereira and Osman Bukari for Sabović and Rubio. Morris nearly rewarded that sub 12 minutes later, getting one-on-one with Stuver thanks to Ferreira leading him to goal with a solid pass, though Stuver was able to get a hand to the shot. Stuver similarly saved a Ferreira shot in the 82nd when he got a little more artlessly one-on-one than his teammate did. A minute later, Verde got one of its better chances of the match on an Uzuni-led break, but instead of laying it off to Fodrey, who subbed in moments before, was making a far-post run, and only scores match winners, Uzuni took the shot himself, skying it badly. In the second minute of second-half stoppage time, Fodrey forced Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas into a diving save with a deft header off a free kick, leading to a corner kick chance that came to nothing. Then, the team engineered magic once again in the sixth (and what was supposed to be the) final minute of stoppage time, with Dani Pereira firing a pass from outside the box to Fodrey, who headed across goal to set up Uzuni for the easy finish. Incredible finish, y'all. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) We've got to talk about Stuver's stop on Morris. That ended up preserving a draw that looked precariously close to become a loss in that moment. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) It's never fun to see a Verde player come off the field, especially when it's a player of Desler's caliber 10 days before an Open Cup final. ## One thing you might have missed At the opening kickoff, for some reason we're not quite able to figure out, Wolff, Rubio, and Kolmanič started out all clustered on the east end sideline ... right near where Wolff drew the second-minute yellow card. ## One nerdy tidbit Stuver started the night with 610 saves, just 10 away from tying Tony Meola's record for most MLS saves in a five-year regular season stretch. If the league's tally is correct, he ended the night with 614\. (Update: It was not; he's now up to 615.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Verde's now created two game-winning goals in four days that, if you're a Verde fan, will live in your memories for as long as you love this team. Also, Austin moves up to 6th with the win, just a point and a place below Seattle. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Clearly, we're going to ask about Desler's health. (And the team's incredible flair for drama.) [Get seven days of all content (including the post-match quotes) free](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Jeremiah Oshan of Sounder at Heart URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-with-jeremiah-oshan-of-sounder-at-heart/ Last updated: 2025-09-20T20:47:36.000Z With Seattle Sounders FC coming to Q2 Stadium for a 6 pm match on Sunday evening, we decided to reach out to Jeremiah Oshan at the excellent Sounder at Heart, who already put up the [Opposition Scouting Report feature](https://www.sounderatheart.com/2025/09/opposition-scouting-report-austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com) I contributed to. He also shared this on his Bluesky, which is a pretty damning spider chart. (I salute the snark.) > One of these players is a DP… > > — [Jeremiah Oshan (@jeremiah.sounderatheart.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rqw4aavdz4sd7d2owfk7uqbz?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-09-19T22:24:43.254Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rqw4aavdz4sd7d2owfk7uqbz/post/3lz7vrvod2s2m?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) To the questions! ### From our more neutral perspective, the Leagues Cup final was a match showcasing the Sounders doing all the things they're good at, besting a talent-laden Inter Miami team that got distressingly temperamental after the match. What's the Sounders faithful's read on the win? I think that's probably a pretty fair read. I think more broadly the Sounders saw this as a triumph of a full system vs. one that is dependent on outside talent. The Sounders starting lineup was peppered with players who came through the academy or their MLS Next Pro team, while Miami was mostly Messi and his buddies from various other teams. Either way, it was one of the most satisfying matches I've ever witnessed in person. I'd put that right up there with MLS Cup 2019 and the 2022 CCL final. ### Jesus Ferreira's finally gotten to double-digit goals this season, but he seems a bit off the pace of his best seasons. How is he fitting in at Seattle, and what do you expect from him at a stadium where he's routinely tormented Austin FC? Ferreira is on double-digit goal contributions, but with just five goals, I think it's still not quite what we all expected. To put that in even broader terms, though, Ferreira simply isn't the player we thought we were getting ... and that's not necessarily bad. He's a much more cerebral player with much more playmaking than we thought. He's also a pretty good defender from the front. Generally, I think fans have been pretty satisifed with him, especially as other players have emerged as suitable No. 9s. ### The "exchange your Messi jersey for a Paul Rothrock jersey" was one of the most brilliant and most MLS things I've seen this season? Is Rothrock the epitome of unsung heroes flourishing in Brian Schmetzer's system, or are there others we should also be keeping an eye on? Just a quick horn-tooting, but that idea actually came out of the Sounder at Heart Discord and was turned into reality within a few hours. Pretty amazing response by the Sounders front office, if I'm being honest. But Rothrock has been very good. I think it's probably overly dismissive to suggest he's just a "try-hard" who has a believer in Schmetzer, but I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that this is all happening like it is, either. He's the type of player I think every successful team needs, though, and is an absolute joy to have around. [Try Verde All Day free for seven days (including Monday's post-match quotes)](https://verdeallday.com/convert) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Thursday Three: Initial observations on (and celebrations for) Austin FC making the U.S. Open Cup finals URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-us-open-cup-minvatx-091725/ Last updated: 2025-09-18T13:02:25.000Z On Wednesday night, Austin FC added its name to U.S. Open Cup history lore, continuing its team-of-destiny run to the finals of the competition started in 1914 with a [2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-us-open-cup-semis-minvatx-091725/) over Minnesota United FC. It wasn't just any win; it culminated with a 21-year-old Generation Adidas player who has shuttled between the first team and the MLS Next Pro team throughout the season, getting his second match-winning goal as a sub in Verde's last three contests — this one coming just a minute before extra time ran out, leaving both teams' fates to penalty kicks. You could hardly blame Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez for asking Austin American-Statesman reporter Colby Gordon if he jumped up and down when the winning goal was scored. He even went as far as to say, "You deserve this also ... you work so hard and you make tough questions to me, and then you have tough moments when we don't win. Enjoy the moment." Indeed, Estévez was as proud and ebullient as we've seen him in his 10 months with the club, and though Gordon is not the jumping-up-and-down type, his post-match energy was infectious and genuine. (I'll confess to pumping a fist when the goal went in before returning that hand to the keyboard to fill in the unknowns left waiting in my draft of the match recap.) Here's the best of what Estévez and Fodrey said, ahead of the Oct. 1 match against Nashville, starting at 7 pm at Q2 Stadium, with a shiny trophy on the line. [Get seven days free (including the quotes below)](https://verdeallday.com/open-cup-celebration) ## 'The hard work he has done ... is paying off' Whereas MLS allows a game-day roster of 20 players, the Open Cup only allows 18, with a sixth substitute allowed should a match go into 30 minutes of extra time. That makes deciding who to roster even more difficult — but Estévez thought Fodrey deserving. "When I was analyzing the roster, when I was appointed as a head coach, CJ is one of those players that I fully loved," he said. "He has a profile that can work really well for this league ... I like his physicality, I like his willingness to improve, to get better, and I think the hard work that he has done, and the staff has done with him throughout the season is working, is paying off. "We knew we were going to have to use him more when Brandon \[Vázquez\] got injured. I had a talk with him, because CJ is a player that, if he doesn't have the minutes, is a player that used you have to loan to USL because he needs to play minutes. But when Brandon ... got injured, I had a conversation with him, even in this summer, about the minutes that he was playing and not, and why he should stay here. And I think every situation that we've talked throughout the season with him is paying off." He then explained the rationale for picking Fodrey — with just 141 first-team minutes this regular season — over more seasoned attackers like Robert Taylor — who started Inter Miami's 2023 Open Cup final against Houston – and Jáder Obrian, who played every minute of Austin's loss to FC Dallas on Saturday. "For this game, I took an account two things to be in the roster," Estévez said. "First, the momentum. He's a player that is with a high energy right now, and with that special touch that sometimes forwards need. And also he can play winger. He can play forward if we needed a target player, a player with more presence in the box or hold the ball." ## Preparing for penalties As the second half of extra time ground on, before Verde found a little bit of lift in the closing moments to ultimately engineer the winning goal, Estévez — like many others watching the match — was thinking about the penalty shootout coming if the match continued tied through the end of the 120 minutes. Until he wasn't. "There was a moment \[around\] the 110th \[or\] 112th minute that I was going to talk with the staff," he said. "We already had everything ready, but just to review ... But then it came to my mind ... why am I thinking that? \[We\] still \[have\] minutes to play. We can win this game, because we were in that moment, and then I said, 'You know what? I'm not turning there. I'm gonna just believe that we can win the game.'" In my question, which solicited that answer, I also asked if he might share who the first five penalty takers would be. He opted to keep that for himself. (After all, he might need that list in two weeks' time.) ## On the magical moment As he did when he scored the match-winner just 10 days prior, for his first-ever goal in an MLS match, Fodrey confessed to temporarily losing touch with the world. "I blacked out, to be honest with you," he confessed. "I don't even remember all of it, to be honest. I mean, looking at the fans, the traveling fans, it was amazing. So I think that's when I kind of got the consciousness back ... It's amazing, man. It's awesome. I think it came back probably when I'm looking up at the screen, and it's \[reading\] a possible handball \[for\] VAR \[review\], and I was about to be like, 'Oh my god, please, no.' But yeah, it's great." Fodrey also shared his version of the conversation he had with Estévez about taking on a larger role with the first team once Vázquez's season-ending injury was confirmed. "I've had multiple conversations with all the coaching staff and others, and it's been like, 'Hey, your role is going to be pretty important to us. It may not seem like it right away, but it will be. It will be. And just keep working,'" he shared. "And obviously, when you get one of your best players injured, \[playing\] in the same position as I am, you've got to step up. But I was able to do it tonight." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Minnesota United FC 1, Austin FC 2 (!) URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-us-open-cup-semis-minvatx-091725/ Last updated: 2025-09-18T03:22:41.000Z With a U.S. Open Cup final on the line Wednesday night, Austin FC squeezed every last bit of drama out of 120 minutes, getting a 2-1 win against Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field in the match's final seconds. Osman Bukari scored as first-half stoppage time wound to a close, Joaquin Pereyra equalized in the second half, and CJ Fodrey came through with his second game winner in a 2-1 match this month. Austin came out matching the Loons' three-center-back, two-wingback formation, positioning Žan Kolmanič and Mikkel Desler on the outside, and putting a mix of new and old in the center back three, with summer transfer window addition Mateja Đorđević getting his second start in Verde, alongside Brendan Hines-Ike and the increasingly unutilized Julio Cascante. Verde got off to a quick start, with Bukari getting a cross central to meet a charging Owen Wolff a little more than a minute into the match. Though the subsequent Loons takedown of Wolff in the box wasn't whistled for a PK, it certainly could have been. (We didn't even get the benefit of a replay on the broadcast to fortify any arguments for it.) From there, though, Minnesota looked increasingly threatening, with Robin Lod getting off several shots coming close to putting the hosts up in the first 15 minutes, and one corner kick play requiring Ilie Sánchez to head away a ball that came perilously close to going in. Loons striker Kelvin Yeboah also seemed intent on drawing a PK, getting two potential shoutouts, including a close one involving Đorđević, before the first half was halfway complete. He would eventually need to come out in the 28th minute, showing signs that he was hurt on the landing in that Đorđević play (perhaps embellished), replaced by not-a-striker Joseph Rosales. Bukari got himself into the book in the 24th minute, retaliating for contact that Anthony Markanich made on him by not-so-subtly kicking out at him and making contact with his thigh. Then, in the 39th minute, he drew contact in the box – replays weren't great, but it appeared to be Markanich — but it wasn't given. The physicality fanned out to other parts of the field and other players before halftime, including an eyebrow-raising tackle on Mikkel Desler by Nicolás Romero that resulted in a fruitless corner. Dani Pereira got a clumsy yellow before halftime, getting a cleat to Will Trapp's leg. But in first-half stoppage time, Wolff fed Bukari with a pass into the right channel, Bukari fired a shot at Dayne St. Clair, and though the All-Star goalkeeper got a leg deflection, it still managed to roll over the line in slow motion before a defender moving at normal speed could slide into its path. Brad Stuver got involved early in the second half, making several deft saves, but also coming out for a ball and capturing it on the very edge of the box. (Handling it outside of the box brings a direct free kick and a potential yellow or even red card.) Austin nearly got a second goal in the 56th minute, with Kolmanič leading Bukari and Mytro Uzuni toward goal on a break, deciding to go far post to Bukari, whose shot cleared the crossbar. Five minutes later, Pereira led a similar break downfield, giving Uzuni an opportunity, resulting in a shot hit straight at St. Clair. A minute later, Bongokuhle Hlongwane got one the Loons' better chances of the night, hitting a close-in shot over the crossbar. Perhaps as correlation rather than causation, Jon Gallagher subbed in for Desler right after as Nico Estévez's first sub of the night. But in the 67th, following a Pereira foul that set up a free kick at the edge of the box, Joaquin Pereyra hit his kick around Austin FC's wall and past Stuver, who looked weirdly off-balance as the ball was coming at him. In the 83rd, after a tense and lively stretch, Estévez made two more subs, getting Guilherme Biro on for Kolmanič and Besard Šabović in for Ilie. That's how the team would stand heading into extra time. The first stage of extra time brought a 94th-minute Uzuni chance that tested St. Clair, a 95th-minute Gallagher run that ended with Rosales not fouling him on the takeaway (at least, that's how the ref saw it), and then Diego Rubio subbing for an exhausted Bukari in the 96th. Not much else got accomplished in the first half of extra time, save for Wolff using all the reserves in his tank and getting subbed out for CJ Fodrey; Oleksandr Svatok also went in for Đorđević. Energy was clearly ebbing in the final 15 minutes. Rubio brought a spark and also got Pereyra to commit a yellow card foul setting up a 114th-minute free kick — albeit one with tentative build up leading to a Pereira chance followed by a Fodrey chance. Hlongwane got a one-on-one opportunity in the 117th, but Stuver went down to save and keep up the suspense. Fodrey got his head on a Biro cross to the far post two minutes later, but couldn't get it on target. Then, the magic at the death — with Fodrey getting a rebounded shot past St. Clair after he repelled an Uzuni attempt from the six. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The Kolmanič and Pereira-led counters helped shift momentum and were good chances — but a goal going in on one of those might have blunted the momentum shift the other way that was coming. (Still, they foretold what would eventually happen.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Oftentimes in soccer, the original poophousing foul gets missed, and the retaliatory one gets called (and, if you're really unlucky, carded). That's what happened to Bukari, distressingly early in the match. But the Pereira foul leading to the free kick goal — which, from the way the referee was reaching in his pocket before realizing what that would have done — would have been a yellow-carded foul if he didn't already have one. (And it led to the equalizer.) ## One thing you might have missed Biro had lots of instructions to give other players as he came on. ## One nerdy tidbit About 23 minutes in, we got a mini stat dump that was welcome given that Open Cup games don't have the stats and feeds that MLS matches do. Austin had 26 final third entries to Minnesota's eight, yet were being outshot 4-1\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Touted as one of the most important matches in Verde history, they came through with a storybook ending. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We think we know the answer, but we want to ask about selecting Fodrey for the 18 and trusting him late. [Make sure you're getting tonight's quotes tomorrow](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Tuesday Three: Press conference highlights from an unusual Monday availability URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-pre-open-cup-semifinal-minvatx-091725/ Last updated: 2025-09-16T13:46:10.000Z With one of the biggest matches in Austin FC history coming up on Wednesday — only its second match leading to a final in its history — the club decided to make head coach Nico Estévez and center back Brendan Hines-Ike available a little more than 36 hours removed from one of the worst losses of the season. A win on Wednesday night in St. Paul would allow Verde to host a U.S. Open Cup final against either Philadelphia or Nashville, and despite U.S. Soccer determining in a [Loons-backing article](https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2025/09/minnesota-united-fc-sicko-ball-us-open-cup?ref=verdeallday.com) that Minnesota has the "inside track" on hosting that final instead, Austin FC's felt like the proverbial team of destiny in this tournament, coming back from deficits against El Paso and San Jose to advance. Three items stood out to us in particular. ## Learning from the past Estévez was asked about the two previous matches in May: A [3-0 loss at home](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvmin-050325/) on May 3 that included a very uncharacteristic Brad Stuver failure to save a shot (albeit an errant bounce of Ilie Sánchez), and a [1-1 draw in the Twin Cities](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-minvatx-052425/) on May 24 that featured Žan Kolmanič's first goal in Verde. "In the second game, I didn't feel like we had that control with the ball that we had in the first game, but we had a really good control of the game overall, and we didn't suffer those clear chances that we suffered at home, and we also were able to create clear chances against them," he said. "This is what we learned ... they are a team that feels comfortable making you feel you have the control with the ball ... and we don't want that they feel that they are comfortable. We want to stretch them more. We want to make them run more, and we want to play a game where we can make them suffer." ## Meeting the moment As Estévez tells it, Wednesday night is going to be historic for the club. "We have more than 150 people that already has a ticket to watch our game in Minnesota," he remarked. "I think everyone here in Austin are excited ... fans are excited. Ownership is excited, the whole front office, the staff, the players, everyone around the city in Austin, and they should, because there are only four teams left in that competition." Remarking on Austin FC being the only one of the four remaining to not have played in a final — Minnesota, for instance, lost to Atlanta in the 2019 Open Cup final — he added, "It's a great opportunity ... a story that we can write for America, for the city of Austin, for everyone." Citing the team's excitement, he added, "We're looking forward to it. We probably are not higher in the betting side for playing the final, winning the Open Cup ... because the other teams probably has more history than us on those moments. But we want to write our own story. We want to do something where everyone here in Austin feels proud about it ... we have the energy to go there and play a really tough game ... and get what is a great reward." (For those who know odds, Austin is a +250 underdog according to FanDuel, whereas Minnesota's a -105 favorite to win outright.) ## Sharing some strategy Hines-Ike, for his part, let everyone know a little about what to expect regarding style of play, when asked about how they aim to break down the Loons' low block. "Any time you play against a team in the back five, the idea is to avoid trying to get the center backs in the key positions, which is more central," he said. "So for us, it's trying to break down the outside wingbacks, trying to pull them out, trying to create, to be ones generating opportunities that will make the center backs feel a little bit more vulnerable in those situations, which is something we didn't do well enough against Dallas. "Dallas is a pretty similar team, with the three central defenders that like to be in the box at all times," he added. "They're all good in the air, and I think we didn't do a good enough job bringing them out and then isolating either one of them or the wingbacks to create overload situations, which is something that generally we've been pretty good at this year. So those types of situations is definitely that, and then also it's being smart on the ball when we set up attacks, not finishing the attack too early, so that way we can create good numbers and organization behind the ball." [40% off your first year](https://verdeallday.com/convert) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'It was a really poor performance': Assessing a confounding loss in Frisco URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-dalvatx-091325/ Last updated: 2025-09-14T14:18:01.000Z Ninety seconds into the match on Saturday night, it was clear Austin FC didn't look like the team it had been in its last two matches. FC Dallas scored en route to [a 2-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-dalvatx-091325/), registering the first eight shots of the match before Verde first threatened in the 30th minute. After the match, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez assessed it bluntly and took the blame. "This is a really poor performance, and I take full responsibility \[for\] that," he said. "I didn't do a good job on probably showing, even though that I showed, but probably maybe in a different way, that it was a great opportunity for Dallas to get into the run, and then they were going to come \[in\] really, really hot and after us, because they needed that." He then observed they've been challenged when meeting the on-its-face positive of securing back-to-back wins, as they did before Saturday night's contest. "One of the the issues that we're having as a team is when we get two wins in a row that we've done a couple times this season, four times. ... like we get relaxed or something," he said. "Dallas was better than us on that energy, that willingness to go after \[it\], and we were just waiting, we just were more reactive, and it's something that we have to address. We did it already, but we'll continue during this week, because Wednesday, we have a very important game for the history of this club, and we cannot have a performance \[like\] the one that we had today." Jon Gallagher, in his portion of the post-match press conference, assessed the performance starkly. "They came out and they kicked us in the teeth those first few few minutes," he said. "And in high-level sports, if you're not ready to go, that's what happens. And we paid the price, and deservedly we went down a goal. So ... poor performance tonight, and guys are aware of that, but we don't want to dwell in it, because we realize what a big week we have. And this is MLS, and all these games are going to be like this the rest of the year. That's a team that was fighting to stay in the playoffs, and you saw it — they were just a little bit more hungry." Though he learned in a follow-up question that Estévez took blame for the loss, he emphasized the players' role in it as well. "I think it's admirable that he wants to be at the forefront and take the blame, but I don't think he is for tonight," he said. "Tonight was a mentality thing. It wasn't a playing \[or\] a tactic thing. It was just, 'Who wants it more?' And you saw from the first five minutes, we were slow to start, and they were a team that's hungry and fighting to stay in the playoffs ... we should have known that going in. We should have known that it's in their home, it's going to be hectic at the start, it's going to be a tough battle. We never got going, and the second goal, we just felt it really kind of flattened us. "So, yes, super disappointing," he continued. "Hate these kind of nights, but as I said, not to keep going on about it, but the quicker we can learn and just move on and just pack it up, the better we'll be," he added, again nodding to Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal match against Minnesota. ## 'We prepared for that' Breaking the match down further, Estévez said that FCD's two-wingback, three-center-back approach, with captain Ramiro and goal scorer Bernard Kamungo (who doubled the lead in the 49th minute) playing in those wingback roles, didn't come as a surprise. "We expected exactly what we saw today, and we prepared for that," he said. "For us, it was more like in some of the the actions without the ball, defending, winning second balls, winning those actions, transitions ... And it's true that some of our crosses and some of our attacking plays didn't end in a good way, but we lacked a little bit of quality in those moments." He also revealed that Mikkel Desler, who appeared on Friday's injury report as questionable with a "lower body" injury, was kept home to rest for Wednesday, contributing to a slightly unusual lineup in which Gallagher played right back, Jáder Obrian started at left wing, and Diego Rubio played striker, with Myrto Uzuni coming in as a sub following his international duty with Albania. The momentum chart from the match, courtesy of Catalina Bush's match graphics, tells a good deal of the story, but the heat map and average position and passing map also show Verde pushed way out to the wings on attack, with FCD much more active attacking Verde's right side. ![Momentum chart, passing maps, and heat maps showing details of FC Dallas' 2-0 win over Austin FC](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/FC_Dallas_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-09-14.png) ## Looking ahead Moisés Chiullán, on the scene in Frisco, got to check in with Brendan Hines-Ike after the match, who put perspective on this loss while looking ahead to the last five matches of the regular season. "At this point of the year, we need to address each game as if it is the biggest game, because then when those big games come, you're prepared," he observed. "Tonight was a really good chance for us to prepare that way, and we failed this. We didn't address it as if it should be a must-win game. By the way, it's another derby loss for us this year, and we were aware of that, and so I think we have to be more cognizant of that going forward. "Yes, we have a massive game on Wednesday, but what's going to come in five, six games when the playoff starts, if we don't start to address these issues now, of making these games as serious as possible," he said. "Treat them like they have to be must-win games, or come time for the playoffs, we're not going to have the readiness and experience. So it's about tuning things now, while you have a chance, because once October comes, you're not going to have those chances." He also made observations akin to Estévez's about what the team does once it secures a pair of wins. "We're a team that when we get comfortable, we're at our worst, and that's clear," he said. "We win two games in a row and then the third one or the fourth one, it's a dreadful performance ... So it's finding a way to be consistent at a higher level ... there's something about it that when we start to pick up points, that we just become very lackadaisical, very content." ## How does the table look? It was a weird night across MLS. Minnesota beat San Diego 3-1 despite significantly being outshot and out-xGed, Vancouver steamrolled the Union 7-0 (with Thomas Müller registering a hat trick), and the Galaxy drew Seattle. Real Salt Lake got a crucial 2-1 win over SKC, Colorado beat Houston 2-1, San Jose lost 4-2 to LAFC before a mammoth crowd at Levi's Stadium (with Son Heung-min scoring in the first minute and Denis Bouanga getting a hat trick), and Portland won a cross-conference match over the Red Bulls. That all amounts to Austin slipping to 7th in the West. RSL and Dallas are now both just one point below the playoff line — RSL has two games in hand on 9th-place San Jose, while FCD has one — and Houston's still in it at just two points below the Quakes, having played an equal number of games to them. Were the playoffs to start today, Austin would face Minnesota, but because the Whitecaps have two games in hand on both San Diego and the Loons, the West's top three — now all officially qualified for the postseason — could shift significantly before Decision Day. Austin still has a match in hand and a two-point lead over 8th-place Colorado, insulating them somewhat from the play-in match involving the 8th and 9th-place teams. Of course, Verde also have the chance to leapfrog Portland next weekend to get back in 6th, as the Timbers travel to Houston on Saturday night, while Verde host Seattle on Sunday. And they could do so as U.S. Open Cup finalists. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: FC Dallas 2, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-dalvatx-091325/ Last updated: 2025-09-14T02:40:25.000Z Austin FC has never won a competitive soccer match at Frisco's Toyota Stadium. That trend continued on Saturday night, as the visitors lost 2-0 following an early Petar Musa goal and an early second-half goal from Bernard Kamungo. Musa got the opener just 90 seconds into the match, getting a loose ball headed away from Nicolás Dubersarsky, playing a give-and-go with second striker Logan Farrington, and weaving through the Verde defense to emerge alone with the ball to fire past Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver to grab the lead. Bringing the away Montréal match to mind, FC Dallas got the first eight shots of the match before Verde finally managed one in the 30th minute via a Owen Wolff free kick that found Guilherme Biro's head. Luckily, though, it was only 1-0 at halftime, and Verde met the challenge after halftime by ... not subbing in a single player, not even including Myrto Uzuni as the match was calling out for. Less than four minutes after the break, FCD struck for its second, with Jacob Jackson snuffing out an Austin attack, hoofing a half-field pass to Patrickson Delgado, who lobbed a pass to Kamungo for the goal. Just past the hour mark, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez made a somewhat confounding triple sub, keeping in an ineffective Jáder Obrian, but swapping out Osman Bukari, Diego Rubio, and Nicolás Dubersarsky for Myrto Uzuni, Besard Šabović, and Robert Taylor. In the 72nd minute, Estévez expended his remaining subs on Žan Kolmanič (for Biro) and CJ Fodrey (last week's hero) for Owen Wolff (hero of the whole last stretch of the season). In minute 88, it appeared Musa sprung Anderson Julio forward for his fifth goal of the year, but Julio was ruled offside as a momentary respite for a Verde side beaten down by circumstance. But Verde wasn't able to do anything to chip away at the lead, leading to the shutout. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Dani Pereira got a completely needless yellow card in the 38th minute, shoving Farrington, who was beating him one-on-one, but doing so about 35 yards from goal. ## One thing you might have missed FC Dallas head coach Eric Quill was wearing a yellow ribbon — ostensibly for the 9/11 attacks. (In 2001, Quill was playing for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, in their last season before being contracted. Quill would resurface in Kansas City the next season, becoming Davy Arnaud's teammate. He'd get forward competition in 2003 in the form of Josh Wolff.) ## One nerdy tidbit FCD had nearly 70% possession in the first half. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Austin FC had the chance to get its second-best season ever based on points, and remain viable for surpassing its 2022 total. Not only did Verde not do that, they let its rival back into the playoff hunt, having had a chance to all but officially dispatch that rival. Maybe this is just a blip ahead of the very important match in four nights? ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why did this match look so similar to the Montréal loss, when we were led to believe the Montréal loss was an alarming outlier? ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions (once again) with Big D Soccer's Drew Epperley URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-once-again-with-big-d-soccers-drew-epperley/ Last updated: 2025-09-13T14:27:38.000Z Oh, it's you again. That's what Austin FC and FC Dallas will effectively say to each other in their second tilt in 28 days on Saturday night, with this one happening at Toyota Stadium in South Oklahoma. To prepare, we once again checked in with Drew Epperley of Big D Soccer, and as we enjoy doing, we returned the favor for their [Opposition Research](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/opposition-research-austin-fc-september-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) feature. We also got into the matchup some in our [most recent version](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-70-43-degree-cold-plunge-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000726652245&ref=verdeallday.com) of Emergency Podcast. To the questions! ### When last we checked in, you predicted, "I think they’ll actually sneak into the playoffs" if they keep scoring and eliminating defensive mistakes. How are you feeling now, after three straight draws? Well, I want to remain positive here. Given how much of a crap shoot the Western Conference is at the moment, I still believe that if they can sort out those two things, which I do think they’ve been getting better at in recent weeks, the playoffs could still be a reality. The attack has found some positive momentum at times in recent weeks, though they cannot rely on picking up wins with three to five shots on target in a game. That has to improve. And the defense has figured out a way to come together and play as a complete unit in Eric Quill's 5-3-2 setup. They're still giving up too many chances on goal, but for the most part, clubs aren't getting that many great looks on net. But the draws have to stop, and the wins have to pick up. They cannot rely on teams like San Jose and Colorado to continue to cough up points while they only get draws. ### The most recent draw was against St. Louis; Dallas weathered 43 shots and escaped with a 1-1 draw. Here's your chance to brag about Jacob Jackson, who I assume will start ... Yes, he will likely be the starter on Saturday night. Maarten Paes doesn't appear to be coming off the injury report just yet, and Quill has already been praising Jackson for his work in training this week. And really, big props to the guy for coming into a game cold, on the road, and taking on that kind of pressure. It really was something that I don’t think we’ll ever see again for some time. I also think that there needs to be more props given to the club’s goalkeeping coach, Drew Kesshan, who has been with the team for ages now. ### FC Dallas got a throwback Burn jersey this year, and everyone seems to love them. How are they contributing to whatever vibe is around the team right now? (And is it a good vibe?) Oh boy, I've gone on record saying this is the best kit that the club has had, ever. I really believe that. I don't normally purchase club kits, mostly because they are pretty boring or lack that special spark that makes me want to spend money on them to get. But this one was worth the money in my book. I've worn it out a couple of times now, and it always seems to spark up a conversation about the team in a way that I don't think their regular kits are able to do. The best part, I think, from it has been how it has sparked up a debate among fans as to whether or not the club should go back to the Burn name. While I don't think the Hunts will go that far, it would be pretty hilarious to see them be the first MLS team to adopt an "FC" name and then be the first to revert to a "retro" name. [Get 40% off your first year](https://verdeallday.com/convert) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'A lot of heightened emotions': What to expect from Austin FC's journey to Frisco URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-lot-of-heightened-emotions-what-to-expect-from-austin-fcs-journey-to-frisco/ Last updated: 2025-09-14T12:28:24.000Z On Saturday night, Austin FC heads to Frisco to face FC Dallas in what is technically a Copa Tejas matchup, albeit a pointless one — given that Houston secured the title when Verde and Dallas drew in their recent August 16 match. Should Austin FC win in the shadow of giant trucks at Toyota Stadium, the team will not only get the consolation of second place in the final 2025 Copa Tejas standings, it will secure its second-best season ever based on surpassing 2024's 42-point total. A draw would get Verde to exactly 42 points with five matches to go. And should Austin win, it would extend its current win streak to three ahead of its crucial U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Wednesday against Minnesota United FC — which would be the team's second three-match win streak of the season and just its second since 2022, when it secured two separate four-match win streaks in that marquee season. But judging from what Brad Stuver told media on Wednesday, the team's neither celebratory about the recent pair of wins nor content to just beat FC Dallas in Frisco — which it's never done in its five-year history. "After two wins, you have to realize that your work isn't done," he said. "After a few draws and losses, you can come in and have a chip on your shoulder, but after two wins, the idea is not to get complacent. The idea is that to be a good team, to be a great team, you have to maintain that same energy. You have to maintain that same desire to get results. The best teams go into every game with the same mentality, regardless of the result they have last this week," before adding that the team needs to make sure their "emotions are right." Speaking of emotions, he also predicted, with the air of heightened intensity this part of the season brings, feelings will be on display for a series that has often brought them about — even though Jesus Ferreira, who is the series' Golden Boot leader with six goals and consternation leader with more than one of those goals, has moved on to Seattle. (He'll be part of the narrative for the upcoming home match on Sept. 21.) "There's a lot of heightened emotions, especially from them being at home, especially \[them\] being below the playoff line right now, we know that they play five in the back," Stuver said. "We know that they have center backs that are good on set pieces. They have good service in transition. So I'm expecting, if the game is tied or close, that in the last 20 to 25 minutes, you're going to start seeing a lot of players crowding the back line, probably five or six guys on that back line, trying to get a result ... We just kind of have to be ready for that. "For me, it's about managing the first 60 minutes to make sure that we're in a position that we can weather the storm, whether that's putting one goal in and keeping them shut out, or if it's being tied and countering them when they do that," he added. "It doesn't really matter to me, but just knowing that that's going to be a possibility, and knowing that we need to be ready for whatever they throw at us, we can make the game plan but we can kind of throw it out the window in exchange." ## 'It's always special' Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez reiterated his excitement about returning to his former home stadium. "It's always special," he reflected. "To go a place where you've lived, you've raised your kids, worked there, had a lot of days working with a lot of nice people around and also game days with the fans and some moments that we will remember. You always try to remember the positives ones, the ones that were good and everyone was happy ... it's a great feeling to work players where you and your family had a good time." But he also emphasized he'll take a professional approach to the match, looking to build on a stretch of the season in which they've registered almost two points a match. "Since June, we have 21 points in 11 games, and we have scored much more goals. Also, we've lost only two games in those 11," he said of the 6W 2L 3D stretch which did, indeed, start with June 7's away win in Colorado. "I think that shows a lot of consistency. A lot of players are understanding better what we asked them every day, and ... we just have to be very consistent and keep pushing. In these six games, we could have a bad game. It's not like everything is going to go perfect, but we know now that when something doesn't go our way the way, that we need to respond." ## The playoff picture Saturday's match won't officially decide anything on its own: Austin FC's not quite in a place where it can clinch a playoff spot, and FC Dallas — currently in 12th in the West on 31 points — can't be eliminated from playoff contention regardless of what happens this weekend. FCD is close, though; they're only four points ahead of both Kansas City and St. Louis (albeit with a game in hand on both teams), and St. Louis does have [possible playoff scenario exits](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/matchday-33-who-can-clinch-playoffs-or-be-eliminated-2025?ref=verdeallday.com) this weekend, though it does start with their losing or drawing against Montréal (which can, as Austin fans know all too well, happen). These are the other matches that have a bearing on the race for the bottom five playoff places, in case you want to go multiview on Saturday night: - **No. 9 San Jose Earthquakes** (35 points, 5 matches remaining) hosting **No. 5 LAFC** (41 points, 8 matches remaining) (at Levi's Stadium), 7:30 pm CT - **No. 8 Colorado Rapids** (33 points, 5 matches remaining)hosting **No. 10 Houston Dynamo FC** (36 points, 5 matches remaining), 8:30 pm CT - **No. 11 Real Salt Lake** (31 points, 7 matches remaining) hosting **No. 13 Sporting Kansas City** (27 points, 5 matches remaining), 8:35 pm CT - **No. 6 Portland Timbers FC** (39 points, 6 matches remaining hosting **East No. 10 New York Red Bulls** (40 points, 5 matches remaining), 9:30 pm CT Note that the top three teams in the West feature in arguably the two best matches of the night; No. 3 Vancouver hosts Supporters' Shield leaders Philadelphia (8:35 pm CT), while No. 1 San Diego hosts No. 2 Minnesota (9:30 pm CT). [40% off your first year for a limited time](https://verdeallday.com/convert) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Hard times and soft penalties: Sorting storylines from an Austin FC comeback win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-skcvatx-090725/ Last updated: 2025-09-08T11:45:57.000Z According to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, determining who would play striker in the Sunday match against Sporting Kansas City was "the most challenging question that we had during this week." He settled on a player he's familiar with from two stops in his coaching journey — Jáder Obrian — noting that even though he's usually a winger, he's played up top while playing for Estévez at FC Dallas as well as in his native Colombia. But then, a little more than an hour into the match, Estévez rolled the dice on giving CJ Fodrey the longest run out of his time in Verde. Officially, it was 22 minutes not counting stoppage time, and in that, he nearly had both a goal and an assist before coming through with the game-winning goal off an Owen Wolff corner kick in a 2-1 comeback victory. "Since I arrived to the club, I talked with him in preseason, and I wanted to him to play as a forward, because he usually plays as a winger, but I feel like he has a really good physical qualities and technical qualities to play as a forward," he shared in the post-match press conference from the City of Fountains. "This is why, during the week, we were training with both \[Obrian and Fodrey\], and we gave a little bit that opportunity." Fodrey understood that the unusual circumstance of this match — played during an international break with Myrto Uzuni out with Albania, and Brandon Vázquez sidelined until next spring — gave him a spot in the lineup where he could see significant minutes. "Didn't feel like it was coming after that first one came off the post," Fodrey said, referring to the headed high-xG attempt he made just five minutes into his shift. "I was like, 'Dang, man' ... but it's nice that Owen got that good ball in, and I'm pretty happy." Fodrey also commented on Estévez wanting to shift him from his preferred positon as an inverted left winger. "We had a plan at the very beginning of the season; he saw my profile as something \[where\] he wanted me to try a striker, and I was open to it and tried making the most of it," Fodrey reflected. "It's been difficult for me to find minutes this year given the position, and I'm just glad I was able to make the most of it today." Fodrey added, regarding his first MLS goal, "It came a little later than I expected when I got drafted here. I thought I was just gonna have it all right away, but that's not the reality. It's been hard for me; I won't lie. But I think for me, recently, it's been just kind of coming every day and working hard, and when you finally got it, you can kind of see in the celebration, I blacked out a little bit, but then I went over to Owen." ## On going behind At the risk of sounding like a meme, you can't have a comeback victory if you don't give up a goal first, and Austin FC did that via the sixth penalty kick they've faced this season — and, to confirm it feels a little piling on of late, the fifth in the last seven matches. "I haven't watched," Estévez said of the Nicolás Dubersarsky foul on Shapi Suleymanov that allowed Dejan Joveljić to put SKC on the board with barely 15 minutes elapsed. "It's probably soft, because this year, all our penalties are soft, and for whatever reason, we are not having luck this year, with the VAR, with the referees ... on the calls, we are not being fortunate. "I think any soft penalty against us is going to be a penalty this year," he added. ## On Robert Taylor Even with an injury-and-international-duty-depleted roster, Robert Taylor couldn't find his way into the starting lineup on Sunday. But Estévez indicated he was pleased with the Finnish player's performance, which included several moments in front of goal to at least trouble SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp. "When a player like him arrived late in the in the transfer window market, as happened to him ... and then we had May \[with\] so many games, and then he got injured, then he came back ... it's not easy. It's not easy. And then the team started to win games in June and July, we had a more consistent lineup throughout that time, and it was difficult to change players, because we were doing well. "It's difficult, and sometimes you have confidence, sometimes your confidence is low," he added. "But we've been working this past week. We've had meetings with him. We've tried to help him to understand things. I think he had a really, really good week of training. Really, really good in in his show today. I think he had really good actions on the offensive side and showed his quality to help us to win the game." ## On to Frisco Now having crossed the 40-point threshold, Verde is in 6th place in the West with six games remaining. A draw as early as Saturday's match against FC Dallas in Frisco would get Verde to 42 points — tied for their second-best finish ever, and a win would allow them to clear that with 44 points, just one away from the threshold that locks in a playoff appearance most years. It's still mathematically possible for this team to surpass the all-time best showing of 56 points back in 2022, though that would require no worse than five wins and a draw to close out the season. The match on Saturday will, of course, have special significance for Estévez given his history coaching in Frisco. "I've been there two and a half years coaching that team," he observed. "There will be a lot of people that I worked with in the club, that I'm always happy to see. But ... winning there can put us in an amazing position for what is coming for the end of the season." That includes, in what now is just nine days away, a trip to Minnesota with hosting the U.S. Open Cup final on the line. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Sporting Kansas City 1, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-skcvatx-090725/ Last updated: 2025-09-08T01:13:16.000Z In what Sporting Kansas City fans like to depict as the "Blue Hell," Austin FC persevered on the road on Sunday night, with Dejan Joveljić getting a first-half PK on a questionable call, Owen Wolff answering with an artful goal, and CJ Fodrey completing the rare (in 2025) comeback for a 2-1 win. The story of the first half was whistles, starting with Owen Wolff drawing a foul from Jake Davis in the 4th minute that led to a wayward Diego Rubio free kick just outside the 18\. The real consequential one, however, came in the 12th, when Shapi Suleymanov weaved into the box, drawing minimal contact from Nicolás Dubersarsky. It initially appeared it would slip past the powers that be, but it went to VARlington, where Ismail Elfath determined the barest of contact was made. Joveljić then stepped to the spot and did what Joveljić does, for his 17th goal of the year. Wolff answered back in the 37th, making a smart run to meet Guilherme Biro's pass, taking a high degree of difficulty touch to move it into an open spot, and finishing well. After halftime, the activity level of the match ebbed a bit for Austin; SKC did end up making the match's first two subs at the hour mark, getting Mason Toye and Logan Ndenbe into the mix. In the 67th minute, Nico Estévez finally activated needed subs, getting Fodrey in for a largely ineffective Jáder Obrian, and Robert Taylor for a largely ineffective Jon Gallagher. Fodrey very nearly got his first MLS goal in the 73rd minute, getting his head on a ball sent far post (I believe, as you might expect, by Wolff) and heading it off the crossbar. Taylor also had an opportunity in front of goal three minutes later, but managed to crumble into a small pile of flesh and bones in front of the wanting ball, stopping its momentum and then not being able to get any body part on it to send it goalward. But then, to cap off 10 of the best minutes of his life, Fodrey got that elusive first goal on a corner in the 82nd minute, off a Wolff assist. (Just moments before, Fodrey nearly got an assist after a mammoth downfield run, sending a ball to Taylor, who called for it. John Pulskamp laid out for a solid save to temporarily preserve the draw.) Ervin Torres also made his 2025 MLS debut, getting in for Rubio in the 83rd minute. Ilie Sánchez also got in against his former team, along with Torres, to help in preserving the lead. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Before Fodrey scored, he almost scored on a header perhaps even more beautiful than the goal he actually scored. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Dubersarsky is young and will make mistakes at this phase of his career. Getting whistled on VAR for tapping his foot against Suleymanov's heel was a mistake, but a very soft way to get whistled for a penalty kick. (We'll call it a lesson in MLS.) ## One thing you might have missed There was some funny banter about former SKC captain and Austin FC player Matt Besler advising Daniel Salloi, upon winning the SKC captaincy, to shave a mustache that makes him look a bit like Freddie Mercury. ## One nerdy tidbit With Wolff's goal, he's scored five in his last seven (which are, incidentally, his first five goals since scoring the dreamy one against Toronto FC in September 2024). ## Where this fits into the season's narrative With the win, Austin gets up to 41 points, just a point removed from their second-best finish in their history. Also, it's a second straight win after three winless. Peaks and valleys. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Since Estévez has been forthcoming about penalty calls against his team, curious to get his take on the one that allowed SKC to take the early lead. I also might ask about Obrian as a target center forward, which was a choice. [Get post-match quotes in the morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Kansas City Star's Daniel Sperry URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-daniel-sperry-skcvatx-090725/ Last updated: 2025-09-07T14:09:44.000Z While national sports fans might not thrill to a depleted Austin FC traveling to Sporting Kansas City for MLS' Sunday Night Soccer offering on the National Football League's opening weekend, certainly *you're* interested in Verde's exploits! To help feed the prematch hype, we reached out to Daniel Sperry, who covers SKC and the KC Current for the Kansas City Star. Thanks to him, I know vastly more about the city's barbecue scene than I did on my first of several trips to the City of Fountains a few years back. It'll be a little weird tonight, given that Austin FC's activated Ervin Torres, Antonio Gomez, and Adrián González on short-term call-ups, with five first-teamers out on international duty. We covered that and a whole lot more on the latest [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-69-nice-for-all-those-international-teams-borrowing/id1742052077?i=1000725281697&ref=verdeallday.com), if you want a little more perspective on the matchup factoring in Friday's press conference, in which Nico Estévez messaged that the lineup won't be all that different even though it will. Let's get some SKC intel, shall we? ### It's weird not to say "Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes" ... how has the Kerry Zavagnin Era been so far, and do you anticipate it's an era that will last beyond this season? It's been about as good as it could be, given the clear limitations to the organization at the moment. Things are thin in the coaching staff and backroom staff. The roster itself is thin on talent. SKC elected to use the two DP and four U-22 model, yet it only has two and two. Still, this team fights hard and is in most games for a good stretch. Despite their lack of deep talent and defensive frailties, they seem to punch above their weight due to willpower. Zavagnin's biggest thing has been trying to get the tactics right from the start. His in-game adjustments are master tactician-level. But sometimes the starting point leaves a lot to be desired. He departed from the Vermes era 4-3-3 in recent weeks and has mixed up a 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 on occasion, and got some good performances against much better teams, but not the result. That was until last week. There will be a significant amount of change this offseason. From the roster to the backroom staff, SKC are fully rebuilding the club. I wouldn't be surprised if he's given the chance to at least run it back next season, unless the new chief sporting officer hire (whenever it comes) has a clear candidate in mind. ### Dejan Joveljić is a player that Austin fans know well, in part for scoring the goal that officially knocked Verde out of the 2024 playoffs. How has he been as an addition, and has he adopted to how SKC plays or has SKC had to change its approach to accommodate what he does? Joveljić is tied for third for the best single-season goal-scoring total in club history with 16 on the year. All but two of his goals have been to tie or take the lead for Sporting KC. He is the epitome of clutch, clinical, and efficient all in one. If SKC had a better cast around him, there's a chance he'd have won the Golden Boot. He has been everything that SKC expected, and more. It's been a bit of both. He doesn't drop deep and play around in the buildup in the way Alan Pulido or even Khiry Shelton did. He's a target forward, but in a poacher's way, not necessarily as an aerial target. I think Sporting has had to learn how to find him where he's most dangerous, which is finishing off cutbacks and crosses, or getting him driving in on goal. ### We understand Manu Garcia's hurt and Erik Thommy's recovering from injury ... what's the prognosis for both of them, and how would their involvement change things (and help SKC's chances)? Garcia won't play this week. The team is being cautious with him as he very quickly reinjured his hamstring coming back against San Diego a few weeks ago. Thommy will likely play, and I'd be surprised if he didn't feature for at least a half, if not longer. Thommy will be an asset in the attack and gives them something different than the typical inverted winger look that Sporting KC has had for so long. Sporting didn't win from July 4 until last weekend. While Thommy never played last week, it's not a coincidence that a dip in form came with the absence of the team's captain. [Support at 40% off for a limited time](https://verdeallday.com/convert) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### What we learned from Rodolfo Borrell's 84-minute press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/what-we-learned-from-rodolfo-borrells-84-minute-press-conference/ Last updated: 2025-09-04T12:00:16.000Z When Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell holds court, he *really* holds court. Breaking a record for the longest press conference in Austin FC history\[\[1\]\], Borrell answered questions for 84 minutes on Wednesday morning at St. David's Performance Center, providing context for what some Austin FC fans found to be a disappointing summer transfer window. Let's go through the highlights, and by highlights, I mean the most salient roster nerdery revelations. (There's much more to cover than we'll get to here, including reflections on Nico Estévez, Owen Wolff, and the role of the media ... anticipate that we'll spend some time on this on the next episode of Emergency Podcast.) ## They did him a solid Right off the bat, we found out what happened with Nicky Beloko, who came from Switzerland and went back to Switzerland in the same short window without playing a match. "The player very, very politely and very well came at some point ... and told us that he understood that he had signed for us ... but made us aware of a family situation that just arose," Borrell explained. "When these things happen, I have to say that you don't always have to be taking into consideration these kind of things. I think you need to look at what is best for the team all the time. But, in this particular case, analyzing the depth that we had in the squad, we understood that we could work with him, and I did so. We found a solution, I think, a good solution for everybody, and that's it." Then, after pointing out they were able to secure to sell-on fee as part of the deal to Laussane, he noted, "We are happy; we have enough in the team." ## Not every window can be the summer of 2024 Last summer, Borrell brought in Osman Bukari, Mikkel Desler, and Oleksandr Svatok. This summer, Mateja Đorđević is the lone player acquired in the summer transfer window remaining with the team. "I have the perception that if you don't make three \[or\] four moves every transfer window, it's like you're doing nothing. And in my eyes, it's completely opposite. I mean, there are always going to be moves, but you understand that before, from the moment that I bring the players that I bring, we are providing them with three-year contracts, four-year contracts. It's going to be at some point that there is no space unless somebody comes and buys one of those players. So it's not that you don't want \[players\]; sometimes there is not the space." He then pointed out that even though Beloko didn't stay, that allows the team to go after another midfielder in future windows. (Perhaps even of the creative attacking type, though we didn't get specifics on who might be future Verde players, as Borrell tends to keep that information close while deals are being worked out. ## Why there aren't more TAM players Currently, Julio Cascante is Verde's only TAM player; without getting too much into roster rules, a TAM player is in the zone between the $743,750 maximum budget charge for a single player and the $1,743,750 ceiling — beyond that, and the player's in Designated Player territory. (Though, in Osman Bukari's case, he was at $1,000,000 in salary in 2024 but still considered a Designated Player when his transfer fee was figured into the equation.) Speaking very generally, TAM players aren't the game changers that Designated Players need to be for an MLS club to succeed, but they provide a solid second tier of players who can contribute to the team's overall talent level — FC Cincinnati, for example, has a very TAM-heavy roster and they do quite well. To accommodate a TAM player on the roster, a club has to use Targeted Allocation Money (hence the TAM acronym) to buy down the salary to the maximum budget charge. (Cascante, incidentally, is on $780,000 in base salary and $853,750 in guaranteed compensation in 2025, per the MLS Players Association's latest salary info drop. He's played 548 minutes this year. That's appreciably less than you want from a TAM player.\[\[2\]\]) "One of the biggest issues in squats is the hierarchy of salaries," Borrell said. "Many times, these create lots of issues in squads ... that you have players that are much better paid than others, and then the other one is earning half and is playing everything, but the other one is not playing and is earning double, or stuff like that. I found plenty of that when I landed here. "So first of all, my intention was to develop a squad that would be able to have at least two players per position, that I think we don't have before. I think before when we were missing two \[or\] three players, we were like, we couldn't play because we had certain positions that were not double ... And then also, to start this, some sort of idea of a hierarchy of salaries ... while providing the squad with balance on the field, also provide balance in terms of salaries." Then, he talked about how TAM and GAM (General Allocation Money, used for an array of purposes in MLS) work together, and how Verde's GAM situation has limited him. "It's not that we have the capacity to bring like 10 million TAM players. Straight away. We will be able to bring one or two in the next transfer window, and then maybe one more. And little by little, some of the teams, I don't want to mention, there are teams with 12 TAM players, eight TAM players, seven TAM players ... That's another thing that I'm glad you asked me, because here, guys, we were eight, nine players on a free transfer, and we have no GAM. So imagine if I don't bring eight, nine players on a free transfer." ## On Mexican players A question about helping players from other countries acclimate got into a long and interesting answer that helped shed light on why Borrell's bringing in players from certain countries ... and why Mexico's not typically one of them. (And, perhaps, shedding a little light on the challenges of securing Brandon Vázquez from Monterrey.) "It's like sometimes, Rodo, why, considering that there is such a big Mexican community, why you don't bring more Mexican players, for example," Borrell said, adopting the voice of someone asking him a question before getting into his own animated answer. "Crazy expensive! It's crazy expensive, the tons of money that they are getting, contracts, and they are very expensive. So then it's not \[just\] Austin. It's like, look how many Mexicans are coming to the league, almost none. Why? Because they earn a lot of money. They pay, I don't know how many, but I think they pay very little taxes, very big contracts, transfers are huge, and that's why not. "And this leads to a little bit to your question, the intramarket is the ideal one, the best one," he added, presumably referring to getting established players from within MLS. "There are people that are adapted or ready to the country, to the language, to absolutely everything. But people are not willing to let go their best players ... So yes, we would love it, and we are trying to sometimes, but I'm saying it's not easy. Why so many players from these countries and other countries? Because we need to look at the cost efficiency of things. Because this is a salary cap system. This is not pocket money. So, this is not about preference, about one country or another country. It's about that there are some markets that are inaccessible because the players are great." ## On not replacing Vázquez Vázquez's season-ending injury allowed the club to place him on the Season-Ending Injury List and replace him on the roster for the rest of the season. One clause in the MLS roster rules particularly intrigued those who pay attention to such things: *If the injured player placed on the Season-Ending Injury List is a Designated Player, the club may replace such player with a Designated Player, provided that his Salary Budget Charge is not more than the player he is replacing. The replacement player’s charge will not be charged against the Club Salary Budget.* But Borrell revealed that it's more involved than that, making the case for why he didn't act during the summer window to find a short-term replacement for the striker. "The reality is, first of all, you can pull him out of the roster, but if he's going to appear at any point of the following season, he must be in the roster from January 1," Borrell explained. "That's the first thing. So, then you start thinking that you can only bring somebody who can play for six months. That six months, in reality, \[is\] three months ... then you start thinking just the teams that have an interesting center forward. Nobody gets rid of the center forward. So then you need to look at a player that is not playing for that team ... or that center forward right now has no team by the time that you agree your contract, by the time that you have the contract signed, by the time that you get the working visa, by the time that he lands here, and by the time they get much fit, the season is finished." So, what about getting a replacement from within MLS? Borrell had an answer revealing his feelings on the absurdity of some MLS roster rules. "Suddenly, rule number 1,110,000 — you cannot get any player on loan that is older than 24 years old. Even so, we tried to find what are the possibilities, and the possibilities that were available were not of our interest, or we didn't think were going to make any difference to us," he added. "We analyzed absolutely everything, and the conclusion at the end \[was\] that \[it\] was better to follow how we were," before observing that the team, under the coaching staff's guidance, has been able to score absent Vázquez or a short-term fill-in player. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) \[\[1\]\]: That's per my memory of being around the club since before it was a club, and it includes the mid-afternoon press events in various nightclubs around town, including the [Matthew McConaughey TED talk](https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/pro/2019/08/23/matthew-mcconaughey-among-four-locals-joining-austin-fc-ownership-group/4394899007/?ref=verdeallday.com) during the introduction of minority owners at 3TEN ACL Live (why not?) in August 2019\. \[\[2\]\]: Hence, why some now consider Cascante to be Austin FC's "one bad contract," and why some expect him to depart at the end of this season. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Owen Wolff is Making the Leap, and we have the data to prove it URL: https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-is-making-the-leap-and-we-have-the-data-to-prove-it/ Last updated: 2025-09-03T01:39:38.000Z When Owen Wolff led Osman Bukari to goal with a perfectly-weighted pass, orchestrating the opening goal in Austin FC's 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night, he did more than just guarantee he'd have a moment from this match on his 2025 highlight reel. For the first time in his MLS career, he reached the double-digit goal contribution mark. With four goals and six assists on the season, and seven matches still to go, the 20-year-old midfielder is mounting the best single season of his career. While he's still something of a Swiss Army knife in Verde's lineup — sometimes an attacking midfielder, sometimes a left winger, but arguably best as a central midfielder — Wolff is transforming from a utility player nearly as likely to sub as to start to an inked-in starter central to his team's success. Consider that last year, Wolff appeared in 33 matches but only started in 17 of them. Compare that with this year, where he has appeared in every regular-season match so far, starting 25 of the 27\. Also consider that with seven matches to go, he's bested his minutes total by a substantial margin, surpassing the 2000-minute mark for the first time in his career. And on Tuesday afternoon, Wolff was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance — the fifth time he's done so this season, topping all Verde players. And it's not just that he's getting minutes — it's what he's doing with them. ## What the charts say First of all, it's perhaps telling that FBref – a source I use quite a bit to gather performance charts – only lists Wolff as a midfielder this year, whereas last year, he logged enough time as an attacking midfielder/winger to register a chart in that category. Here's where his stats place him compared to other midfielders over the last 365 days (so, counting the tail end of last season) — it's a pool that includes MLS, Liga MX, and leagues and competitions on par with MLS. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-2-.png) And now, here's just 2025: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-4-.png) And here's what 2025 Wolff (in red) looks like compared to 2024 Wolff. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-vs.-Owen-Wolff-1-.png) Right away, aside from a dip in clearances – which owes some to Wolff being deployed a little farther back, as in fullback, during some points of last season – he's showing improvement in most metrics. Pass completion percentage being down is likely attributable to — to use the technical term here — trying more shit, but look how much more he's excelled in successful take-ons, progressive carries, and a quintet of key offensive categories. ## Still, though, can he be a 10? While he hasn't played enough as an attacking midfielder or winger this season to pull together a spider graph in that position for this season, he does have one combining this year and last year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-3--1.png) This is where it gets a little weird and a little concerning. Lumping the last part of 2024 and this season together, which is not quite apples to apples, he's got some pretty middle-tier attacking numbers compared to the more forward-positioned players, but great defensive numbers and improved passing acumen. That's interesting in the context of determining whether he can be a 10, should play as a winger and be a wide playmaker (and scorer), or stay as a central midfielder who is box-to-box-plus but not as consistently far forward as a 10 would be. Against San Jose, one post-match item from [Catalina Bush's grab bag of graphics](https://bsky.app/profile/cata-bush.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) stood out to me — in a game that was more even in stats than I expected given the optics. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Austin_FC_v_San_Jose_Earthquakes_fin3_2025-08-31.png) The numbers on the left correspond to the player number, and the larger the segment, the more passes into the final third that player has. Wolff slightly bested Guilherme Biro for most passes into the final third; while they're not quite the key passes that 10s specialize in, they're important for getting attacks to manifest, especially playing in transition — which is something I'll argue Verde did well against the Quakes. Wolff, per FotMob, led Verde in that match with three chances created (including his team's only big chance created), 56 touches\[\[1\]\], and though I know people have issues with these ratings for good reason, an 8.24 rating on FotMob. American Soccer Analysis' goals added liked Wolff as well (though Myrto Uzuni was weirdly low for a goalscorer, though his role in defense on the Quakes' lone goal might have contributed). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/09/Austin_FC_v_San_Jose_Earthquakes_gplus_2025-08-31.png) ## What's next for Wolff? We know that, with nothing happening in the summer transfer window regarding him (or at all), Wolff's next chance to spread his wings and fly to Europe will come in January, once he's 21\. Perhaps there will be answers forthcoming at Rodolfo Borrell's press conference, but given how negotiations typically go, perhaps not, and we'll just get some general platitudes. We are approaching an interesting juncture in Wolff's career; he could either continue to grow with the team he started with and perhaps reach MLS All-Star status, or he could venture overseas and see where that takes him. (Given the trajectory of American players recently, England's Championship or the Netherlands' top-tier Eredivisie league could be destinations.) At the [end of last season](https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-contract-extension-2027-option-year-2028/), Borrell praised Wolff as one of the team's best young players as he was awarded a contract keeping him in Verde until the end of the 2027 season, with an option for 2028\. At the time, we thought it optimistic of the club to think he'd be there that long, given the European aspirations he's voiced. That seems even more optimistic now. And yet, Wolff leaving after this season puts a hole in the team that wasn't there last season. That's a testament to how well he's developed, but also a bit eyebrow-raising, given the significant spend on players in this offseason, how much more outsized a single 20-year-old player on the rise's contributions have been. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) \[\[1\]\]: Behind five Quakes players, though, but four of those were defenders, including Bruno Wilson with 63 touches, who probably really wishes about now that he only had 62 touches. ### What Austin FC's eight (or nine) remaining opponents are facing URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-remaining-opponents/ Last updated: 2025-08-31T19:53:36.000Z Two weeks ago, [we looked into a bit](https://verdeallday.com/2025-playoff-race-western-conference-seven-teams-four-spots/) of what Austin's neighbors in the table are looking at between now and Decision Day. Now that various results have fallen favorably in Austin's direction on top of a decisive win against San Jose, we're changing the focus to what Verde's final seven league play opponents and one or two (from a pool of three) U.S. Open Cup opponents are staring down before facing the 512. ## Sporting Kansas City ### (away, Sept. 7) Zorhan Bassong would have been suspended due to the yellow card he picked up against Colorado, but he and Ian James, who also snagged a card this weekend, will be out on international duty regardless. Manu Garcia was out with a quad injury and may not be back against an Austin FC team that is also injured and international break-depleted. (Arguably more so.) We'll see how the rest of the week shapes up. ## FC Dallas ### (away, Sept. 13) Dallas is coming off back-to-back draws on their way to playing away in St. Louis next Saturday, who they ought to consider as dangerous as Nico Estévez warned Montréal could be...and were! Were St. Louis to win every remaining match they have, they would max out at 39 points, which is where Portland currently sit, having played exactly as many matches as the City boys. What does a team hanging at the bottom of the West with LA Galaxy have to play for? Not being the bottom of the West, that's what! Even if FCD pulls out a win against St. Louis, they'll be on 33 points heading into this match. A Verde win wouldn't quite allow them to mathematically clinch finishing better than Frisco, but it'd come close. Should results break the right way, Austin could finish this match up 14 points on their Texas rivals with 15 points possible remaining for each. ## Minnesota United FC ### (away, U.S. Open Cup semifinal, Sept. 17) Minnesota doesn't play during the international break, and then plays away against first-place San Diego on Sept. 13\. They are the stalking horse just behind San Diego, and have had a great season overall, but their August started with a hard-fought draw against Club América, getting shut out by Atlético San Luis, and losing to Colorado. Then they squeaked out a 1-0 win against Seattle, beat RSL handily, and just last night drew against Portland. They also have five guys going out on international duty, and what if any of Michael Boxall, Dayne St. Clair, Carlos Harvey, Robin Lod, or Joseph Rosales come back a little worse for wear? What Minnesota does against the West leaders four days before the Open Cup semi will be telling? Will they go hard to challenge for the top spot and see what they have in the tank? Or will they rotate some to be full strength at home with the chance to secure a tournament final at home? ## Seattle Sounders FC ### (home, Sept. 21) There's more to consider for Brian Schmetzer's Sounders than just the next three weeks. Whether they win or lose the Leagues Cup final, it's a match against a formidable Miami team, then they take 12 days' rest before hosting the LA Galaxy, where they will presumably rotate heavily ... before playing Miami *again* on 2 days' rest followed by playing Austin in Texas heat just four days later. If you're Schmetzer and presumably still fighting for 4th in the conference to secure home-field advantage in the best of three first-round series, do you rotate away against the Verde and Black in advance of a three-game home sequence against Vancouver, then Portland, and then Real Salt Lake, finishing on Decision Day away against NYCFC? I think you do (perhaps believing you can pull that off and still get at least a point). ## Real Salt Lake ### (away, Sept. 27) As of this writing, they are winless in MLS play since July 26th, going into 12 days' rest on back-to-back-to-back losses against Red Bulls, Charlotte, and Minnesota. When they rise from their international break hibernation, they have a really annoying three-game series leading into their home fixture against Austin, starting with SKC at home, with Bassong suspended, which is good for RSL in theory. But then they only have three days' rest before playing LAFC, and LAFC have the most punishing remaining schedule in the West (more on that in a bit). If you're LAFC, you want to pile on points as early in their endurance run as they can, and guess who RSL will have to play on three days' rest after LAFC? LAFC, only in Los Angeles this time. RSL will them get five days' rest after those back-to-back LAFC matches before Verde play them at altitude, but that is an unenviable amount of Black & Gold at the peak of their late-season, Son Heung-min-enhanced strength. ## Philadelphia Union or Nashville SC, maybe, hopefully ### (home, possible U.S. Open Cup final, Oct. 1) If Verde win against Minnesota, they'll face either the Philadelphia Union or Nashville SC in the final. As solid as those East teams are doing this season (Philly especially), they've both had weird recent forms. ## Philadelphia Union In the event the current Supporters' Shield leaders beat Nashville, they'll be continuing great recent form, going 5W 1 L 2D in their last eight league matches. Yet, they did draw against Houston in July, drew against "just-a-hair-over Montréal" Toronto in August, and they lost to Red Bulls three days after beating them in the rescheduled Open Cup quarterfinal. The road to Austin for Philadelphia starts by going away against Vancouver prior to the theoretical away win against Nashville, which should both be tough, but then they have the Revs at home and travel to play D.C. ## Nashville SC St. Louis beat them 3-1 at the beginning of August, and then NYCFC beat them 2-1 ... before they beat Orlando 5-1\. Atlanta kept a clean sheet against them last night in Nashville though, so it's been a pretty up-and-down (mostly down) August. Their path to the Live Music Capitol begins away at Cincy, then the theoretical win against Philly, an away match against the Lions in Orlando, and then back home against an annoying and unpredictable Dynamo before the final in Austin. ## St. Louis City SC ### (home, Oct. 4) So if Verde wins a U.S. Open Cup Final, they get two days' rest before playing St. Louis on the same pitch at Q2\. In theory, that final could result in this getting pushed back to the next Wednesday, during the same international break as the 10/12 home match against LAFC. So many things regarding table placement will be radically different by the time October gets here, but let's go back to the fact St. Louis would max out at 39 points if they win every single one of their last eight games. Austin will be catching them after they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs unless St. Louis goes on an incredible tear. Here's evidence from Saturday night's game that they're not going on an incredible tear. > So, how was season 3 for St. Louis CITY SC? [pic.twitter.com/YMwbs687R2](https://t.co/YMwbs687R2?ref=verdeallday.com) > > — Burki’s Turkey & Wooden Spoon (@PuckPickz) [August 31, 2025](https://twitter.com/PuckPickz/status/1962166795877441638?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=verdeallday.com) Of course, that means they'll have zero "effs" to give in their penultimate 2025 season game, which makes them very dangerous. But also, they're going to be pretty worn out by this point, too. Their September will have been a home game sandwich, starting the month against Dallas and ending it against a very tired, adrenaline-jacked LAFC, with away games against Montréal (The Whose Season Sucked Worse Cup) and San Jose in between. Their 2025 was rough. They will more than likely rotate in Austin so that they can show up big at home for their fans on Decision Day against RSL. If the incredibly mathematically unlikely situation of the table being in utter chaos leading into Decision Day happens, that goes out the window. It won't. ## LAFC ### (home, Oct. 12) Son Heung-min has arrived, and he's awesome. He will still be playing for LAFC and awesome six weeks from now. The problem facing LAFC is they have played less games than everyone else in the West and have an absolutely brutal final quarter of the season. Tonight, they have San Diego at home. That should be a pretty even match, but they don't play during the international break at all and then launch into a crazy run of fixtures 12 days hence. Away at San Jose, three days' rest, then away at RSL, then another three days' rest and they play RSL again but at home. They do get six days' rest before heading away against St. Louis, but three matches in seven days is a hell of a way to begin the last push of the season. They get seven days' rest on the other side of St. Louis away, but here's where it gets really stupid. They play Atlanta at home on Oct. 5, rest two days, and then play Toronto at home, and *then* have three days before going away to play Austin, making up the rescheduled July 4th weekend game. That's another three-in-seven stretch, but this time during an international break. You ought to expect the biggest stars of LAFC2 to show up at Q2 on Oct. 12 because that may be all the people they have available and healthy. ## San Jose Earthquakes ### (away, Oct. 18) The Quakes have home-field advantage, but they have not exactly had the most fun path there. The Quakes have to be at the tip of LAFC's spear as the Black and Gold head into their Final Quarter of Hell. They get a breather in theory hosting St. Louis, sure, but guess what they get for their trouble in return? Away against both San Diego and a fully Müllerized Vancouver. The San Diego match? It's the Shiny and Chrome's final regular-season home match for 2025\. San Jose's reward for surviving whatever that nuclear blast is like is getting buried under the avalanche of a similarly triumphant Vancouver season with their brilliant new mega-star. And then after all that, they get an Austin team that knocked them out of the Open Cup and then [beat them by two goals](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-austin-fc-3-san-jose-earthquakes-1/) in a match that would have made their playoff path easier should they have won or at least drawn it. In a word: MLS. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We are getting the reward of all that hard work': Assessing a still-uncommon but welcome two-goal win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvsj-083025-nico-estevez-myrto-uzuni-jon-gallagher-brad-stuver-zan-kolmanic/ Last updated: 2025-08-31T14:59:06.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez assessed [Saturday night's 3-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-austin-fc-3-san-jose-earthquakes-1/) against San Jose as "really important," given the teams were next to each other in the standings — and, with Seattle and LAFC now looming as two of the remaining three home matches, one of the best late-season opportunities to pick up a crucial three points at home. "We understand the moments of the game," Estévez said. "We understood when to press, when to stay in a mid-block or a low block. We also understood when to play long or when to play short. It's a very uncomfortable team, because they go man-to-man, and then it opens a lot of spaces behind the back line. They force you to play in behind. But you need to be prepared for that. "We trained \[for that\] during the week, and I think you could see that we had a lot of success when we had to play short ... I'm with you, that we had good moments, but I expect even more," he added. "I think we can do better. I think we had to understand, we had to understand better when they were in a low block, those overloads that we did on the sides, like when was the right moment to switch field and go to the other side, but overall, I think we understood what we needed in the second half." Still, in assessing his team's return from halftime, Estévez criticized the free kick defense that led to the Quakes' lone goal (a chance stemming from another concerning Mikkel Desler decision) and the subsequent looming threat of a points-draining equalizer — until Osman Bukari (with a goal and an assist on the night) sent an unofficial assist to San Jose defender Bruno Wilson, who slotted an own goal allowing Verde fans to breathe easier. (Wilson, incidentally, subbed in for Reid Roberts before halftime, yanked by Quakes head coach Bruce Arena immediately after Roberts' misplay of a ball he inadvisedly kept inbounds led to Verde's second goal.) As a result, Austin FC won by two goals for just the third time this season in regular-season play, and the first time at home. They did win by a two-goal margin one other time this season, in the Open Cup home win against Houston, but haven't won by a larger margin than that in a season where goals were initially hard to come by. ## Indulge in some recency bias Despite the three-match winless streak prior to Saturday night's win, 18 of Austin's 38 points have come from their last 10 matches, contrasted with just 20 in their first 17, meaning they completed half the season with a 1.17 points per game average before ramping that up to 1.8 PPG starting with the 2-0 road win at Colorado on June 7\. Myrto Uzuni, in particular, has shown a favorable recency bias, getting his goal in front of the south end supporters – and blowing them a kiss while still inside the goal, propelled there by his own momentum – making it four goals in his last six league matches after managing just one in his first 17\. That's led to another important before and after — after getting just 11 goals in that first half of the season, Austin's managed to rack up 18 goals in the last 10\. (That's a 0.64 goals per game pace for half a season followed by 1.8 goals per game, curiously matching the PPG average.) Asked about the importance of the two current healthy designated players, Uzuni and Bukari, Estévez relayed one of the core theorems of MLS roster building. "When you come to this league, and you learn about this league, if your DPs don't produce, you can have tough times," Estévez said. "We had a slow start from our DPs on contribution, not on work rate, not on willingness to do well, not on belief, not on giving everything for the team, being a good teammates, and training hard and playing hard, but now we are getting the reward of all that work." Although Uzuni's goal celebrations are still relatively muted, he said he was purposeful with the blown kiss to express his gratitude for the fans' continued support during the recent string of home draws. "Everyone today \[made an\] amazing performance, all the group, all the staff," Uzuni said. "These three points were a long time missing in Q2 Stadium. "These three points are for all the fans that believed in us from the first minutes." Speaking on the need for a quick start, to contrast with the previous match at Montréal, Jon Gallagher reflected the team's understanding of what was needed — and what was on display from literally the first minute. "We spoke about what previous seasons have looked like, and maybe waiting too late to get these results," he said. "The last nine games, maybe only lost one, but we had a lot of draws. We didn't want to repeat that ... we need to pick up points. We don't want to be getting to five games left, four games left, to be like, we need to win three of them. So it was like, 'Hey, guys, we need to win tonight. We need to win this weekend.' And yeah, obviously at home too, we haven't won since [Red Bulls](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvrbny-061425/), I believe, and everyone could give the fans a little bit of hope going into the end of the season." He noted, of that first home win since June 14, "We showed a lot of positive signs." ## A fashion choice and a milestone Saturday's post-match player interviews were punctuated by one moment of mirth — teammates reacting anew to Žan Kolmanič debuting a "man in black" cowboy outfit he purchased several weeks ago. He cited the start of the University of Texas football season as the occasion to break that out; Austin FC Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey was on the sidelines in Columbus on Saturday, in his own cowboy-inspired garb, to watch the Longhorns lose 14-7 to Ohio State. That sartorial choice led to some yeehaws and horse noises from his teammates. > Dressed for the occasion. 🤠 > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-08-30T23:46:48.436Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3lxnr2bht7c2p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) **There's a classic Modest Mouse song called "Cowboy Dan;" clearly, this is "Cowboy Žan"* Media also wanted to ask about Brad Stuver getting to 600 saves in his five seasons with Austin FC, second only to Tony Meola for most saves in a five-year span. He did it on a double save early in the match, stopping a Chicho Arango shot, and after spilling that, blocking Josef Martínez's attempted putback. "It's a cool record," he said. "Obviously, it's a testament to the work that I've put in over the last five seasons. The work started the minute I got here in Austin and created that legacy here. And I'll trade that save record for the MLS Cup, but I'm happy to be able to do that for my team." Asked about bringing the all-time record against the Quakes to 2W 2L 7D (including the Open Cup win that technically registers by FBref's reckoning as a draw), and the prospect of facing the Quakes on Decision Day in another high-stakes match, Stuver expressed hope that the importance of that next match will be diminished due to their own actions in the matches leading up to it. "Hopefully we can sort out everything before that game," he said. "We know that those games can get a little bit chaotic ... six games to go before that. So hopefully we can get our minds right, get our bodies right, have everything solidified by the time we get there." ## How things stand Thanks to the win, coupled with Sporting Kansas City (Austin's next opponent) getting a decisive 4-2 win over Colorado, Verde vaulted to 7th in the table with only LAFC and San Diego playing Sunday night in league play. (There will be soccer earlier in the day; namely, the Leagues Cup double header including the third-place match — yes, there is one — between the Galaxy and Orlando, followed by the Seattle-Miami final.) On 38 points with seven to play, Austin needs just one point per match to reach the 45-point plateau. By virtue of drawing with Portland – a result keeping the Timbers just above Austin in the table — Minnesota became the second team in the West to clinch a playoff spot. Vancouver, just two points behind, was idle thanks to their scheduled Saturday night opponent, Orlando, making the Leagues Cup consolation match — which shuttles that match to the same October international window in which Austin will host LAFC. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, San Jose Earthquakes 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-austin-fc-3-san-jose-earthquakes-1/ Last updated: 2025-08-31T18:48:18.000Z Going into Saturday night, Verde were coming off of a disappointing three-game run and the Quakes were on a solid heater against Texas opponents, besting both the Dynamo and Frisco. If Austin’s all-time history against San Jose was any indication (one win, two losses, and seven draws), locals were in for what many expected to be the more-often-than-not draw against their in-conference AppleTown Derby rivals. Instead, history was made, and it seemed like the tides had turned in Verde's favor. We saw a different Austin FC all night, starting with their early first goal resulting from the chain reaction of a Nicolás Dubersarsky dispossession linking to a clean Owen Wolff assist to Osman Bukari. That sequence was characteristic of Verde's entire night, managing possession more dynamically and confidently than they have all month. They won the game in the first half, having fixed whatever it was that Nico Estevez noted has been broken in recent games. The night was ruled not just by bad San Jose luck. Chicho Arango skying an early San Jose free kick from a dangerous position likewise characterized the Cristian Espinoza-less Quakes, who spent the night wasting or otherwise burning off set pieces rather than capitalizing on them, and going a moment too late or a moment too soon on their 19 shots compared to Austin's 9. Going into tonight, San Jose had 50% more goals conceded (48 to Austin's 32) and half as many clean sheets (4 to Austin's 8). Myrto Uzuni's second goal in the 33rd minute off of clean service in from Bukari would have nicely knit together with those season-long trends had Bruno Wilson not Amro-Tareked Austin to a third goal in the 77th minute. Has Austin found their second half of the season form? ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) One could say either Wolff's assist to Bukari leading to the opening 12th-minute goal, or Stuver's save in the 59th that prevented the score going level. It's got to be Dubersarsky's dispossession that led to Wolff's assist and Austin's first goal. That defined the momentum and character of the first half, which is when this game was won. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The clenching moment at the end of first half stoppage time, where a luckier San Jose would have buried a very good chance they had to pull one back. ## One thing you might have missed Jon Gallagher was ostensibly playing left wing, but he spent plenty of time dropping to left back as well, freeing up Biro to roam freely as a moving target agent of chaos. Oh, and Mateja Đorđević made the team sheet in his first eligible week. His official roster number is 35\. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin has now beaten San Jose by more than one goal for the first time in club history. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Austin has beaten San Jose twice in 2025, once in the Open Cup Quarterfinal, and now at home. Decision Day away in San Jose is now an opportunity to define the Nico Estevez era of the club against a long-frustrating rival. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Is this sustainable with all of those international call-ups? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'A lot of room for me to improve': Mateja Đorđević meets the media URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvsj-083025-mateja-djordjevic-introduction/ Last updated: 2025-08-29T12:07:50.000Z Now that Mateja Đorđević has arrived in Austin, the club figured it was time to get him out in front of the media. Ahead of Saturday's pivotal match against the San Jose Earthquakes, Đorđević debuted before media members on Thursday about his time in Austin so far. While the center back may not get on the field this weekend, Oleksandr Svatok's impending departure for international duty with Ukraine suddenly makes Đorđević the third center back available, with Julio Cascante a likely starter alongside Brendan Hines-Ike, for the Sept. 7 match against Sporting Kansas City, despite his limited runout this year (548 minutes, 10 appearances, seven starts, compared to 1868 minutes last season and over 2000 minutes in each of the previous three seasons). "When I heard the first time that Austin FC wanted to sign me, I was really interested," Đorđević said. "I was really interested in that because I think it's a good opportunity for me, and MLS is a really good league and really good for young players. "It's a lot of room for me to improve in Austin," he added, praising his new club. "I think I will be able to do that here." Not entirely effusive in his answers throughout the nearly eight minutes of interviewing, Đorđević did have nice things to say about his new home, sharing, "A lot of people told me that Austin is most beautiful city in the USA, and for now, I think it's really beautiful." He also talked about his acclimation process, noting, "I need to adapt to the team play," and unsurprisingly, given the shared experience of new players from Europe, "The heat ... I \[am not\] used to that so much. But like everything, I need to adapt to heat and play style and everything." He also indicated that while he's a typical defender in that he likes "clearances and slide tackles," he also enjoys when his team has possession. While he might not be as adept in offense as Cascante (and we know relatively little about his game compared to other incoming players coming from higher-profile leagues), he could bring versatility to the back line — though you should probably temper expectations about extended minutes this season. ## 'We need to learn' Meanwhile, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez faced local media for the first time since his team returned home from suffering a 3-2 loss at Montréal, following a pair of home draws against Houston and Dallas – a three-match winless run which clouds their playoff picture. "The most important thing is we need to learn from what happened against Montréal," he said. "We need to learn from what happened in the first half against Dallas." "Against Montréal, we had a really good response in the second half. We got unlucky with the penalty," he observed, referring to the Mikkel Desler handball allowing the Prince Owusu PK that proved to be the decisive goal. "I was very sure we were going to tie the game because we were on top of that game at the end of the second half." "We started ... with a lot of technical mistakes with the ball or missing balls, the decisions we made," Estévez said. "Some of the plan that we had in our defensive side, we kind of forgot about it was supposed to do. And in the second half, we address it at half time, and I think a much better job with just \[adjusting\] a couple things. We talk about things that we planned, but we wouldn't do it, and then we started doing it. And I think it's about how we can start the game — like we don't need to get punched in order to respond; we can be the ones that punch the opponent." He expressed optimism ahead of the 8th vs. 9th place match that he and his team suddenly find themselves in – possibly preceding an 8th vs. 9th play-in game to start what would be only a second playoff appearance in the club's history, possibly against this very team. "I think we have all the ingredients to make a good performance against San Jose," before observing, "The sport can go in different ways," citing their topsy-turvy rivalry — not counting the recent Open Cup win that went to a PK shootout, Austin's 1W 7D 2L against the Quakes, including a thrilling 4-3 win in April 2024 highlighted by Sebastián Driussi's 101st-minute goal, a swampy 3-3 draw in August 2022 that featured Matt Bersano in goal for the Quakes (prior to his time in Austin), and a 4-0 loss in 2021 that still registers as one of the club's lowest moments four years later. A win would not only vault Verde over San Jose to get them at least 8th, with a chance to get as high as 6th (should Portland lose to Minnesota and Austin make up what's currently a four-goal goal differential gap), but would at least make this weird regular season series more uniform with two wins each and the mess of draws remaining between them. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Faltering down the stretch: A look at Austin FC's post-July performances URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-post-july-performances/ Last updated: 2025-08-26T12:06:25.000Z When July turns to August in Austin, what it means depends on who you are. For residents throughout the metro area, it's a time to brace for some of the most unrelenting heat of summer. For parents, it's a scramble to get school supplies and back into the routine of sending kids off to their classrooms. For Austin FC, though, it's been a time of the year in which they struggle to get results — often at peril of missing the playoffs with those less than satisfactory performances. In 53 regular-season matches that Verde have played in August, September, and October – plus a few stray November matches in 2021 — they've compiled a 13W 29L 11D record, for 0.94 points per game. That's decidedly below their total regular-season tally of 55W 69L 38D and 1.25 PPG. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-24-at-7.20.49---PM.png) Be it the cumulative effect of heat that typically doesn't begin to ebb until October, the grind of multiple competitions, the hunger of late-season opponents, or some combination of these, Austin FC tends to play its worst soccer at the point in the season when it matters most. Let's explore year by year. ## 2021: Actually better from August on ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/2021-ATXFC-Aug-Nov.png) In a schedule altered significantly by COVID-19, the league did get in a 34-game season, but it took until early November to get there. Prior to Aug. 1, Austin rattled off a 3-8-4 record for 0.85 PPG. They actually improved when August arrived, weirdly not getting a draw in their last 19 matches, going 6-13-0\. That did include continued mastery over Portland at home and two home wins over Houston (play was more regionalized in 2021 as a COVID-19 scheduling byproduct), but it did also include the 2-0 loss at Frisco with a rotated lineup (including a Manny Perez and Aedan Stanley start!) that [fans didn't appreciate](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/we-ll-take-the-criticism-josh-wolff-explains-austin-fc-s-rotated-lineup-vs-fc-da?ref=verdeallday.com), and a 4-0 loss to San Jose prompting one of the most infamous [question-and-answer episodes](https://www.thestriker.com/2021/10/20/austin-fc-san-jose-earthquakes-recap-takeaways-paypal?ref=verdeallday.com) at a Josh Wolff press conference). It still stands as Austin's worst season — the 2025 team got past that 31-point mark winning against D.C. — and playoff elimination in 29 matches is the earliest they've done it in five seasons. Yet this is the one season in which the team actually improved its total points per game by what it did after July 31\. ## 2022: Skidding into the playoffs ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/2022-ATXFC-Aug-Oct.png) As you know, 2022 was a special year in which Verde finished second in the West and reached the Western conference finals. Still, a trio of losses to Portland, Nashville, and Seattle kept Austin from officially clinching until the Real Salt Lake match at home – Match 31 — thanks to a late Moussa Djitté hat trick that broke a scoreless deadlock. Austin finished the season on 1.65 PPG — easily a high-water mark — despite getting just 1.09 PPG by going 3W 5L 3D in their final 11 matches. (Doing the math another way, that's 12 out of 33 points down the stretch, whereas LAFC got 16 points on 5W 5L 1D to clinch the West's top seed.) Take out the 2-1-1 August, including the momentous 4-1 win over LAFC, and that leaves them with 1W 4L 2D in their last seven. In the midst of that, Felipe Martins tried to make Austin media a foil, prompting me to write an open letter [encapsulating fan frustration](https://www.thestriker.com/2022/09/11/open-letter-to-felipe-martins-play-like-you-want-praise?ref=verdeallday.com); the team did respond with the RSL win for a decent four-match sequence to close the season. But that three-match losing streak showed the cracks that would eventually fully manifest in that championship match in L.A. ## 2023: A forgettable stretch ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/2023-Austin-FC-2.png) Starting with a return from a bad Leagues Cup — in a season with an embarrasing Concacaf Champions League exit — Verde lost 6-3 to St. Louis SC, starting a second eight-match winless streak and dooming the team to one of the worst year-over-year performances in league history. In that final 11-match stretch, Verde got just one win and 0.64 PPG, the worst of their from-August-on performances in their history. (It's even worse than the two points from nine they've accumulated thus far in 2025.) Let's just move on from this one. ## 2024: Josh Wolff's last stand ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/2024-Austin-FC.png) Weirdly, at 1.22 PPG on a 3w 4L 2D record, this is the best from-August-on performance Austin FC's ever had, even beating out a 2022 team that fared much better. It started with a 2-0 win over Nashville featuring a Brad Stuver penalty save and an electric Osman Bukari goal — his first in Verde — which resulted in my writing [a recap](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-nshvatx-082424-wolff-bukari-yazbek-cascante/) in which I described Josh Wolff's mood as "jubilant" and described this as the start of a "playoff push." What happened? Well, a five-match winless streak happened, leaving Verde players visibly deflated in post-match locker room interviews thick with tension. A [1-0 loss to Houston](https://verdeallday.com/post-match-recap-atxvhou-092124/) left Verde cruelly dangling at the edge of the playoff elimination cliff for three more matches; while they still could get to a point total where the goal differential tiebreaker figured in, they had an absurd goal differential — in the neighborhood of 20 goals — to make up. They did get a 1-0 win at Portland in that stretch, but Dani Pereira's unusual goal didn't do much to chip away at that goal differential. Finally, putting everyone out of their misery, Verde lost 2-1 to the Galaxy in the penultimate match of the season, officially lodging the e next to their name in the standings. Wolff was fired the next morning, opening the door to a coaching search in which sporting director Rodolfo Borrell boasted about "names you wouldn't believe," which brings us to Nico Estévez in his first Austin FC season. ## 2025: How will this end? So far, Austin has a pair of draws and a loss from an August slate which looked like it could yield three wins. At 0.67 PPG so far in August, this push toward securing a playoff place is not starting well, and while Verde has a decent cushion over its two nearest challengers in 10th and 11th, continuing at this pace could easily dip them below the playoff line. The remaining schedule contains two tough home matches against LAFC and Seattle, but also includes four matches in which Austin can gain points over teams directly above and below them — a home match against San Jose on Saturday, a return leg against them on Decision Day, and away matches against Dallas and RSL in September. The other two matches on the schedule — away at SKC, home against a spiraling St. Louis that just fired its talismanic sporting director — appear winnable, though with this team and this time of year, "winnable" is doing a lot of work. For Austin FC, September has been the cruellest month in this late-season block, with a 2W 11L 6D record amassed over four seasons. 2025 presents an opportunity to reverse the trend and perhaps even clinch a playoff spot earlier than even before should results break right ... or it could also doom Verde to a continued pattern of late summer swoons looking more and more baked into future seasons' outlooks. While banking points early is a great indicator of success for MLS teams in general, it might even be more vital for Verde. Distressingly, they may have not banked quite enough at this point in 2025 to achieve their playoff goals. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'Maybe we needed to wake up': Assessing a surprising loss in Canada URL: https://verdeallday.com/maybe-we-needed-to-wake-up-assessing-a-surprising-loss-in-canada/ Last updated: 2025-08-24T14:00:25.000Z After Austin's [3-2 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-mtlvatx-082325/) on Saturday against a CF Montréal team teetering on the edge of playoff elimination *in August*, Myrto Uzuni had a message about the importance of team unity. "Now we have to be more together to continue to achieve our goals," he said, and that seems a perfectly fine statement on the surface. But context is important. That answer came after a long delay even getting an Austin FC player to appear at the press conference — more than 20 minutes passed between farewell salutations from Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez and Uzuni popping up on Zoom, looking not entirely thrilled to be before the media. In my fifth year of covering Austin FC post-match press conferences, I can't remember a longer gap between coach and player appearing, even in COVID-19 days when we stayed masked up in the press box to conduct Zoom interviews with players five floors below us in the same building. If the team was indeed committed to being together on Saturday night, it was perhaps starting that newfound togetherness in what one might cynically interpret — given the length of the wait and no explanation for why — as a collective reticence to face questions about its performance. (Though, after a biting loss such as this one, missing out on a chance to eliminate a playoff team — again, *in August*, by merely drawing that team, which came into the contest with just four wins in 27 matches — I understand the unwillingness to talk about it.) Estévez was more effusive, to his credit, especially in addressing my initial question about the defensive lapses that contributed to the loss. "No good, as you said," Estévez said. "It's very difficult to win a game when you concede three goals in the way that we conceded. All of them, we could have avoided them. It seems like it didn't go our way today in some of these situations, some because of the mistakes that we make, and some of it is from luck. But we weren't good enough in that side and we can do better, and we have to do better." The game did hold some positives on the offensive end — Uzuni and Wolff both scored their fourth goals of the season, with Wolff now getting goals in back-to-back contests, and Uzuni netting goals in three of the last five matches. "Our production on the offensive side, it was enough to win the game," said Estévez, pointing out that Osman Bukari had a good one-on-one opportunity to add to the tally, and Uzuni had another chance that went wanting. "There were a couple crosses that they went right there, and then no one touches." He noted that Montréal made it difficult in the first half – reflected in the hosts getting the match's first six shots and going up 1-0 early – by man-marking, an issue compounded by Verde players' positions, especially the fullbacks, being "too high" — something he addressed after halftime by dropping them deeper to create more space for wingers and midfielders. And yet Estévez, even when pondering the offense, said, "But you know, in order to win these games away, you have to do it really well defensively." ## Parsing numbers There's a likely reason Estévez didn't bring up xG as he now customarily does; Verde actually overperformed a meager xG, getting outpaced by a Montréal side that got to add a hefty PK value to its total xG. By FotMob's numbers, CFM won the xG battle 2.17 to 1.35, though expected goals on target (xGOT) was nearly even at 1.96 to 1.85 — emphasizing that the penalty really did ultimately make the difference in the match. (Well, that, and Verde's inability to produce an equalizer after Owen Wolff answered Prince Owusu's gift goal with a 77th-minute strike, bringing Verde to just a single-goal deficit.) Here's how it looked from the ASA numbers via Catalina Bush. ![Chart showing xG, momentum, and average field position in MTL-ATX match 8/23/25](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Club_de_Foot_Montre--al_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-08-23.png) Montréal has more than double Austin's xG per that count, but what really jumps out to me here is how aligned the goals are with the momentum chart in the center of the graphic, and how pronounced Montréal's momentum is from just before halftime — when they retook the lead – to a few minutes after the PK, when Wolff's goal sparked a burst of Verde activity. You can also see in that graphic, looking at the players' average positions, how high up the fullbacks were, even with the second-half adjustment figured in. You can also see how Austin played more centrally, whereas Montréal's fullbacks and wingers were positioned much wider. But the teams had about the same average line for defensive actions — which was fairly far forward — and field tilt only favored Austin 58-42\. Austin's two goals came on their best-positioned chances; they weren't able to do anything with their poor or average shots. (CFM got its opening goal off Hennadii Synchuk's "average" shot, which comes from distance from goal — he still managed to get an open shot between defenders who failed that particular transition defense test.) ![Shot map and chart showing xG for MTL-ATX 08/23/25](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Club_de_Foot_Montre--al_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-08-23.png) And, finally, the goals added ratings confirmed what you saw with your eyes; Uzuni, Wolff, and Bukari all excelled, while Mikkel Desler — dinged in large part for his handball resulting in a penalty kick — was down with Oleksandr Svatok (who the G+ metric consistently does not like at all) at the bottom of the ratings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Club_de_Foot_Montre--al_v_Austin_FC_gplus_2025-08-23-1.png) Uzuni, asked about his performance, downplayed any individual accolades that Saturday's match might have given him. "This is coming by hard work, the people on the club know very well," he said. "The people outside the club, they don't know nothing about that. I'm working a lot to be more consistent, to score a lot, to help the team. But as I told you before, we are \[all\] sad. I'm not happy about my goal or my performance, because this game is not individual, this is collective. And I think we are going sad in\[to\] Austin, and we have to prepare so strong, because San Jose is a good team, and we have to make good performance. We have to give to our fans, because I think they deserve, after two draw at home, they deserve to be happy and together, \[with\] three points." ## About that San Jose game Next Saturday's home match against the Quakes is critical in the race for the play-in places, now that Verde has dropped seven of their last nine possible points, going winless in the three August matches following their most convincing offensive output of the year against D.C. United. The worst-case scenario I laid out [in Friday's article](https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-mtlvatx-082325/) happened last night – Austin lost while San Jose beat Houston, allowing the Quakes to clamber into 8th place. While Austin's now dropped to 9th, it was helped in somewhat solidifying that position by Minnesota beating Real Salt Lake and LAFC drawing Dallas. That leaves Austin four points ahead of RSL and five points ahead of FCD, and Austin's got one more match to play than both of those teams. Still, a Verde win next Saturday would allow them to regain at least 8th and possibly edge past 7th-place Colorado, as well as chipping away at a 10-goal gap in goal differential — though realistically, if hosting the play-in game comes down to the goal differential tiebreaker, it's likely that San Jose will prevail, given that goals are coming much easier for the Quakes right now. (Its 52 goals are double Austin's 26, though the Quakes' defense has let in 48 goals to Austin's 32.) "You never want to lose a game," Estévez said. "But maybe we needed to wake up, because I think our performance against Houston and Dallas were okay ... Against Houston, probably we did a really good job there, and it was like probably the last minutes where we didn't do a good job. "Sometimes you need to lose a game in order to give a step back to realize that if you don't do well, you can get punished," he continued. "And then everything that you work for and you gain during this time, you can lose it. And then now we're in that situation, we have to step up. And it's not about effort, it's not about willingness, because I saw a group in the second half going after the game, trying to tie the game and win it the game. But we got short, and in any match game it's very difficult to score multiple goals. Now that we are scoring multiple goals, we are lacking on closing \[off\] those goals on the defensive side." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: CF Montréal 3, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-mtlvatx-082325/ Last updated: 2025-08-24T01:46:31.000Z An early goal from Hennadii Synchuk was matched by Myrto Uzuni late in the first half, but a Dante Sealy goal right before halftime and a Prince Owusu penalty kick kept Austin FC from knocking CF Montréal out of the 2025 MLS playoff race. The Canadian hosts got a 3-2 win over their Texas guests at Stade Saputo in La Métropole on Samedi soir, keeping their very slim playoff hopes alive and chipping away a bit at Austin's more robust playoff hopes. Owusu looked his threatening self early, but it was actually the 19-year-old Synchuk getting free in Verde's final third, with Myrto Uzuni's errant pass springing Olger Escobar free, who then found Synchuk with a downfield pass to get him within reach of goal. Synchuk then evaded Brendan Hines-Ike's flatfooted defensive attempt on the way to getting an open shot to go in for the match's opening goal in just the 9th minute. Synchuk nearly got a second from distance in the 16th minute, sending the shot just over, contributing to a game stage in which CFM got the match's first six shots before Verde finally got one via Uzuni's sliding attempt in the 24th minute. Uzuni would finally get Verde on the board in the 40th minute, with Mikkel Desler getting parallel to him near the goalmouth, and sending in a short cross that Uzuni was able to head in, wedging in between 21-year-old goalkeeper Thomas Gillier and defender Efraín Morales (a 21-year-old supplemental player) to get into position. (Uzuni's still not doing goal celebrations, by the way.) But CFM would get another goal in first-half stoppage time, with Dawid Bugaj (also 21) sending in a cross to Dante Sealy; the former FC Dallas player (who Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez once coached) beat Desler in the box and then beat Stuver with his shot. Estévez made an uncustomary halftime sub, bringing in Nicolás Dubersarsky for a flagging Ilie Sánchez, but Montréal kept up its attack while Verde flagged. Just about halfway through the second half, Montréal was able to score again, with Desler awkwardly extending his arm as a ball was being kicked into the box. That ball struck Desler, it was an easy penalty call, and Owusu finally got his name on the scoresheet with a well-taken PK. Owen Wolff provided some hope in the 77th minute with his second goal in as many matches (and his fourth of the season). Wolff then risked getting a second yellow for a post-goal fracas in which he tried to grab the ball from Victor Loturi, who was beaten on the play and then retaliated by holding the ball inside the goal and not giving it up, not even for referee Allen Chapman who arrived on the scene to award Loturi a yellow for his antics; he also gave one to Gillier for getting into a push fight with Wolff. (If Wolff didn't have a yellow already, he likely would have gotten a yellow here.) ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Maybe it wasn't even going in, but let's salute Osman Bukari for getting off a 38th-minute shot that tested Gillier and got Austin's offense to come to life for an essential goal. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Again, a penalty kick foul is not technically a goal allowed, because the penalty taker still has to make the shot. But, my word, that extended arm from Desler for the handball was horrific. ## One thing you might have missed Austin FC legend Brandan Craig got into the match in the 63rd minute. (Craig was loaned to Verde by the Union in 2023 for an international spot and $125,000 in GAM. Craig never saw the field for Austin, but only played in one match for the Union. He's now played in 18 for CFM.) ## One nerdy tidbit It bears repeating: Montréal got the first six shots of the match — eventually winning the shots battle 13-11\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative In losing, Verde failed to get a road win against a Wooden Spoon-contending opponent and bring their away point total equal to their home point total. Though this is their first loss in six matches (dating back to June 28), they've also gotten two points out of a possible nine against three teams currently below the playoff places. ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm curious as why it took so long for Austin to find any kind of offensive cohesion; even Bukari seemed stymied by CFM's defense early. [You'll want these quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'Personal circumstances': Austin FC sends player out, rather than bringing one in, at the transfer deadline URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-mtlvatx-082325/ Last updated: 2025-08-22T15:20:41.000Z While other teams were bolstering themselves for the playoff run on Thursday, including a few surprises, Austin FC had a surprise of its own. While the Colorado Rapids brought in Paxton Aaronson to fill in the Đorđe Mihailović-sized hole they created earlier this month, and FC Cincinnati engineered a reunion with Brazilian striker Brenner, the Verde front office set up Thursday's most obvious press conference question by announcing that midfielder Nicky Beloko — recently arrived from Swiss club Luzern, and appearing in one closed-door exhibition match during the Leagues Cup break — was being offloaded to Swiss club Lausanne-Sport due to "personal circumstances." Asked about the makeup of the team – now down one central midfielder who didn't get a chance to appear in a game of any circumstance, and without a rest-of-season replacement incoming for Brandon Vázquez following his season-ending injury – Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez indicated he's confident in the squad he has. "This team, these players, have shown that they can do things well and I am very happy with the group that I have," Estévez said in Spanish, citing the abilities of players like Besard Šabović, Robert Taylor, Jáder Obrian, and Jon Gallagher to slot in between Myrto Uzuni and the back line to fill out midfield and winger spots, adding, "We have very good possibilities and options." He did grant, however, that Saturday's opponent — CF Montréal, hosting in Stade Saputo, where Verde haven't played since 2022, will provide a test not necessarily indicated by their modest season record. "It's a tricky game because, as you said, the same as D.C. \[United\], everyone thinks that you should win that game because what it says in the table, but what I see when I analyze a team is the quality of the players, and they have quality players at top, like \[Prince Owusu\], the forward, is really good forward and \[Dante\] Sealy, I've coached him, is a really dangerous player." Owusu, after a slow start to the season in which he rivaled Vázquez and Uzuni for the worst goals minus expected goals in the league, now has 11 goals on the season plus four assists, while Sealy is second in goals with four. Estévez will also need to change his lineup from recent weeks, as Dani Pereira is out with yellow card accumulation — earlier in the week, that knowledge led some to speculate that Beloko might finally be activated on the Verde roster. "If we have the mentality and we do things well, we can have the opportunity to win there," he said, noting that they've managed that in recent road matches — accumulating a 5-6-1 away record so far in 2025, for 16 of a possible 36 points compared to 19 of 39 gathered at home. ## 'No easy games in MLS' Mikkel Desler concurred. "We cannot be tricked by 'this is supposed to be an easy game,'" he said. "There are no easy games in MLS, plus when we play away, it's always super difficult, as everybody knows, to get three points away. But we've been doing well away, and I think we have a momentum right now, even though we didn't get three points in the last two games, I think there's definitely a sense of us improving, of us getting better as a team, and hopefully the reward will come on Saturday." "If we had gone away with three points in those two games, most people have said that's fair enough," he added. "We did a lot of good things to deserve the three points, but we only got one in both of them, and that's not good enough." In case you missed [Tuesday's article](https://verdeallday.com/2025-playoff-race-western-conference-seven-teams-four-spots/), Austin's still got the easiest remaining slate of games gauging by opponents' points per game, and the match against Montréal coincides with Portland hosting San Diego and Colorado traveling to the Galaxy. A win Saturday combined with Timbers and Rapids losses could vault Verde into 6th, while a loss plus a San Jose win could put Austin in 9th behind its emergent rivals — with those teams facing off in Austin the following Saturday. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A race to the bottom (of the playoff places): Breaking down seven teams vying for four spots URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-playoff-race-western-conference-seven-teams-four-spots/ Last updated: 2025-08-19T13:00:12.000Z As the dust settled on what MLS calls Matchday 29 of the 2025 MLS Season, anywhere from seven to nine matches remain for most Western Conference teams, and a clear three-tier structure has emerged, with Austin FC firmly in a middle tier of seven teams angling for the bottom four playoff spots. We'll begin by establishing tiers and then getting into the remainder of the race. First, here's the top tier. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-18-at-9.56.15---AM.png) LAFC, thanks to all the tournaments they were in, will play another 10 matches, currently three points up on 6th-place Portland, who have just eight games left. Also, LAFC just picked up Son Heung-min, who is beginning to click with the rest of the team, even unusually deployed as a No. 9\. The Black and Gold could certainly move up from 5th in the coming weeks. Also, let's just get the bottom three out of the way. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-18-at-9.57.17---AM.png) SKC, in 13th place, is five points behind 12th-place Houston. The two teams below them have had dismal seasons. Go ahead and count those three out. That leaves us with seven teams in the middle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-18-at-9.59.50---AM.png) Eight points separate 6th from 12th, and the current playoff line is at 32 points, which 9th-place San Jose stayed parked at after its 2-1 loss to San Diego FC, giving up goals in the 81st and 84th minute after capturing a lead in the 72nd minute. With Houston and Dallas both just three points off that mark, and with San Jose giving up leads like that, either of them getting up to 9th is conceivable. RSL, on 10th and with Diego Luna and a whole cache of new strikers, is even more conceivably a playoff team. Let's look at the seven teams, shall we? ## Portland Timbers ### 6th place, 37 points, 10W 9L 7D **Matches remaining:** 8 **Schedule:** 8/23 @ San Diego, 8/30 @ Minnesota, 9/13 vs. New York Red Bulls, 9/20 @ Houston, 9/24 @ Vancouver, 9/27 vs. Dallas, 10/4 @ Seattle, 10/18 vs. San Diego **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.58 **Recent developments of note:** Santiago Moreno recently got jettisoned to Brazilian side Fluminese after clearly not wanting to be there, and the Timbers' front office added Norwegian DP winger Kristoffer Velde and is rumored to be bringing former Inter Miami Matias Rojas back to MLS after a spell with River Plate. **Prognosis:** They're clearly reloading for a stretch run, but they've also got a very difficult schedule. I predict they'll still make the playoffs, but wouldn't be surprised to see them dip into the play-in round. (I don't feel like Austin would fare well against a souped-up Timbers.) ## Colorado Rapids ### 7th place, 34 points, 10W 11L 6D **Matches remaining**: 7 **Schedule:** 8/23 @ LA Galaxy, 8/30 @ SKC, 9/13 vs. Houston, 9/20 @ Dallas, 9/27 vs. Minnesota, 10/4 @ RSL, 10/18 vs. LAFC **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.20 **Recent developments of note:** Đorđe Mihailović got moved to Toronto FC and wrote [a heartfelt Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/DNEamwGOGks/?ref=verdeallday.com) to fans who reminded him that he used to play for Montréal — the two Canadian teams enjoy one of the most bitter rivalries in MLS. They have won two matches since Mihailović left, but it feels like that's a "lose now" move and dooms their chances once they get in the playoffs. (This is a team that got bounced in last year's first round on a 9-1 aggregate score over two matches.) The Rapids also made loan deals to bring in center backs Rob Holding from Crystal Palace (not to be confused with [Rob Halford from Judas Priest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtuoFv4dcwM&ab%5Fchannel=JudasPriestVEVO&ref=verdeallday.com)) and Noah Cobb from Atlanta. **Prognosis:** The Rapids play four matches where opponents average 0.94 PPG but then a final three with an average of 1.53 PPG. If they don't bank points before that Minnesota game, they could miss out on the playoffs. More specifically, an ill-timed slide followed by matches against tougher opponents could land them in 10th. ## Austin FC ### 8th place, 35 points, 9W 8L 8D **Matches remaining:** 9 **Schedule:** 8/23 @ Montréal, 8/30 vs. San Jose, 9/7 @ SKC, 9/13 @ Dallas, 9/21 vs. Seattle, 9/27 @ Real Salt Lake, 10/4 vs. St. Louis, 10/12 vs. LAFC, 10/18 @ San Jose **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.15 **Recent developments of note:** There's not much in the way of player acquisition; Nicky Beloko and Mateja Đorđević technically came over, but really seem more like players being stashed for 2026, with Nico Estévez pretty much relying on a core of 14 players. **Prognosis:** It's still the easiest overall schedule any of the playoff teams have down the stretch, even with the LAFC match moving to the October international break. They are getting a little better at scoring than they have in prior weeks, and they're not losing matches ... so they probably do enough down the stretch to get into the playoffs. I just don't know how well they'll do or not do once they reach the playoffs. They currently have to (per today's standings) win a play-in match at home against the Quakes and then try to dispatch SDFC in a three-game series. ## San Jose Earthquakes ### 9th place, 32 points, 8W 11L 8D **Matches remaining:** 7 **Schedule:** 8/23 @ Houston, **8/30 @ Austin**, 9/13 vs. LAFC, 9/20 vs. St. Louis, 9/27 @ San Diego, 10/5 @ Vancouver, **10/18 vs. Austin** **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.44 **Recent developments of note:** Defensive midfielder Ronaldo Vieira, a former England youth international, came from Sampdoria to join Bruce Arena's squad. **Prognosis:** That's a really tough seven-match stretch (for the most part) to finish out the season. Arena may will them to a top-nine finish, but it's conceivable they have at least three losses and a couple of draws in there ... they may struggle to get to 40 points, which I don't believe will be enough. ## Real Salt Lake ### 10th Place, 31 points, 8W 11L 8D **Matches remaining:** 8 **Schedule:** 8/23 vs. Minnesota, 8/30 @ Seattle, 9/13 vs. Kansas City, 9/17 vs. LAFC, 9/21 @ LAFC, **9/27 vs. Austin**, 10/4 vs. Colorado, 10/18 @ St. Louis **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.39 **Recent developments of note:** RSL's made some moves, including picking up Nigerian striker Victor Olatunj from Sparta Prague, 20-year-old U.S. Youth National Team forward Marcos Zambrano, and if that's not enough strikers, new designated player Rwan Cruz from Botafogo. RSL started the season a little thin up top after jettisoning Chicho Arango; that's not the case now. **Prognosis:** On paper, this is now a really good team with enough talent to get into the playoffs. but they're also facing an incredibly tough schedule down the stretch, including two matches against LAFC just four days apart ... though, if they get to October in striking range, they do play a rivalry game at home followed by a Decision Day match at St. Louis. ## FC Dallas ### 11th place, 29 points, 7W 11L 8D **Matches remaining:** 8 **Schedule:** 8/23 vs. LAFC, 8/30 @ LA Galaxy, 9/6 @ St. Louis, **9/13 vs. Austin**, 9/20 vs. Colorado, 9/27 @ Portland, 10/4 vs. Galaxy, 10/18 @ Vancouver **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.21 **Recent developments of note:** Most of the big moves have been outgoing, with Lucho Acosta's departure the most significant, though Dallas also could go Ewing Theory as a result. They also moved Marco Farfan to Tigres. Christian Cappis, a former FC Dallas Academy player, returned from Norway's Viking FK; you might remember Cappis and Diego Rubio getting yellows for an onfield fracas in the opening frames of the most recent disappointing draw. **Prognosis:** Right now, FCD gets the edge over the Dynamo in the standings by having a slightly less atrocious goal differential (-8 vs. Houston's -9). Though Houston might be slightly better built for a run at the top nine, the Toros also have a slightly easier schedule. Decision Day is against the Whitecaps at BC Place, but depending on what they have to play for, Dallas could be the beneficiary of rotation that would leave, say, Thomas Müller off the pitch. ## Houston Dynamo FC ### 12th place, 29 points, 7W 11L 8D **Matches remaining:** 8 **Schedule:** 8/23 vs. San Jose, 8/30 @ St. Louis, 9/6 vs. LA Galaxy, 9/13 @ Colorado, 9/20 vs. Portland, 9/27 @ Nashville, 10/4 vs. San Diego, 10/18 @ Kansas City **Average PPG of remaining opponents:** 1.24 **Recent developments of note:** The Dynamo brought Antônio Carlos back to MLS from Fluminense, and sent out Nico Lodeiro to his boyhood club in Uruguay – given that Lodeiro wasn't nearly as impactful for Houston as he was for Seattle in his heyday, or even with Orlando, this isn't that big of a deal. **Prognosis:** Having to play Nashville and San Diego back to back at a crucial juncture could be enough to put the Dynamo out of playoff contention, though they've got a mix of playoff hopefuls and bottom-dwellers in the four matches prior (including the Sept. 6 match hosting the Galaxy, rescheduled from July 25's rainout), and they also have a winnable Decision Day match. ## Could it come down to goal differential? With wins as the first tiebreaker per [MLS' competition guidelines](https://www.mlssoccer.com/league-reports/competition-guidelines/?ref=verdeallday.com), and goal differential as the second tiebreaker, you might worry about Austin's current -5\. But not to fear: Austin's currently faring better than the aforementioned Dallas and Houston three and four back, as well as RSL (-6). Colorado's even with Austin currently, and even Portland doesn't have much of a cushion at -2\. San Jose, curiously, is at 3, with 50 goals scored (to Austin's 24) and 47 allowed (to Austin's 29). If you're using the rule of thumb that 45 points gets a team at least to the play-in game, which is true most years — though it did take 47 points in the West last year — Verde need to find 10 points in their remaining nine games to hit that threshold. Given their proclivity for draws lately, they'll almost get there if they just do that, though getting wins in their most winnable matches (starting with Saturday at Montréal, and on Sept. 7 at SKC) would also certainly help. They very well could rue the ref decision and subsequent capitulation that turned three points to one match before last against Houston, and that late goal Atlanta scored to scratch another two points also looms a bit here. (With just those four points added, Austin's in 6th with a one-win lead on 7th-place Portland in the first tiebreaker.) But the good news is that Austin's got its fate firmly in its hands — the currently unlikely scenario is getting 21 points in its last nine games to secure 9th, and that's to stave off RSL running off eight straight wins to finish the season. Each subsequent result Austin secures better crystallizes the playoff picture. Nothing is secure yet, but it's certainly a better situation than in 2024, when Austin's 25th match was a 2-2 draw against Charlotte, right before the Leagues Cup break, leaving Austin on 31 points, only to go 3-4-2, getting 11 in the final nine matches when 16 was needed. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We're trying everything to win games here': Reflections on a second straight Copa Tejas home draw URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvdal-081625-nico-estevez-brad-stuver/ Last updated: 2025-08-17T11:27:02.000Z Austin FC's not losing games these days — they're now unbeaten in their last six matches, including their most recent Open Cup PK win — but they're also not winning, with Saturday's 1-1 draw against FC Dallas moving their home league record to seven draws vs. four wins and two losses. And Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez feels for the fans who left Q2 Stadium frustrated. "I have to send a message to our fans, because we're trying everything to win games here," he said. "The one thing that we most desire, the one thing that must frustrate us, because we want to win with our fans. We know how much sacrifices they do, how much they support us. They were behind us all the time, every game, but today, we felt it again, and we were able to tie the game because they were helping. And it's a pity that we cannot close those games and win it, and we have to just keep working." He noted that while he called for some adjustments to speed up ball circulation at halftime, which resulted in better play — including Owen Wolff's first goal at Q2 Stadium — that desire to win might have impacted the final product in the wrong way. "What I feel is the emotion to give a win to the fans here sometimes make us rush, and in the last passes, in the last actions, and we have to learn how to manage better those emotions and from the beginning, try to get more continuous chances against the opponent." But he's also seeing the match as a sign that the team is getting better as the season progresses. "We've improved a lot in our style of play and the way that we're playing, how we are dominating games and opponents, and we're imposing our style of play," he observed. Likening the season to a marathon, he added, "You have moments in the marathon that you feel really good, other moments that you're struggling. You have to be mentally really strong, because every team is playing for the same goal and the same objective. We have to be consistent. "And these results that we don't deserve to have, don't have to put us in like a sad mode, you know? It has to give us motivation to try to overcome these moments and results, because the performances are saying a different thing." ## Concerns up top Despite Wolff's goal, Verde were still only able to muster just one on the night — and while there's an argument to be made that Myrto Uzuni should have earned a penalty being taken down late in the match on a Jáder Obrian-led breakaway — the 18 touches and one shot indicate a second straight match in which the designated player displayed offensive anemia. "Think about how Dallas was defending," Estévez said. "He had three players, a strong, physical ... they were all the time, grabbing him, pushing him, not letting him play comfortably. Even \[with\] that, he found some moments where he could be dangerous. And some of the times we didn't find \[him\] well with the passes, but other times we did it. "These games are difficult for the forward because you are not touching the ball much, he added. "And sometimes, when he comes, he comes with a lot of traffic. There are a lot of players around, and it's difficult for those. We hope now that we are going to play in a way to have a little bit more space and find him in better positions, but we keep working." Again, Estévez invoked expected goals, which did favor Austin, though American Soccer Analysis' numbers reflected an underwhelming showing for both sides. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Austin_FC_v_FC_Dallas_XG_2025-08-17.png) Stuver ascribed the goal let in to "a really funky play where we win the ball, they win it back, we challenge for it, it gets deflected again." Here's the moment when Shaq Moore (the wide-open player on the right) shoots. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-17-at-7.05.43---AM.png) The player nearest to Moore is Wolff. The defense is caught up in the chaos, dealing with the players in the middle, but vulnerable on the outside — which was characteristic of Verde throughout the first half. ## It's still progress, though Goalkeeper Brad Stuver didn't quite acknowledge the frustration in the same way his coach did, given the team's recent body of work — 4-1-3 in the last eight league matches. "We're on a two-game win streak away from home," he observed. "Because we didn't get the points we needed at home, we need to pick them up away from home. So for us, it's just staying motivated to get the three points in Montréal," which would indeed get Verde closer to only the club's second playoff appearance in its five-year history. With the draw, and with two more Western Conference matches to be played on Sunday, Verde are 8th in the table, with a 9-8-8 record and a -5 goal differential that would likely not favor Austin if that factors into tiebreaking. (Wins are the first tiebreaker, and right now, San Jose has just eight, while 10th-place RSL has nine.) Unless you're eager to see Austin in a play-in match involving San Jose, you're rooting for San Diego to beat the Quakes, and then just so newly-crowned Copa Tejas winners Houston don't get any ideas about moving within reach of playoff positions, you're also all Vancouver fans tonight. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, FC Dallas 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvdal-081625/ Last updated: 2025-08-17T02:53:27.000Z U.S. Men's National Team fullback Shaq Moore scored at Q2 Stadium wearing red, white, and blue on Saturday night — but as it was the Toros' version of the colors rather than the Yanks' — only a small pocket of FC Dallas cheered the match's opening goal, coming toward the end of a first half dominated by Austin FC. But then Owen Wolff equalized and Verde anticipated a second goal that didn't come, leaving the teams to split the points with a 1-1 draw and gifting the 2025 Copa Tejas trophy to Houston Dynamo FC — who, in fine Copa Tejas tradition, wasn't on the field when it was officially decided. After a fairly underwhelming first 15 minutes, Sebastian Lletget had the first moment of danger shortly after, fizzing a pass across goal that a runner making a far post run would have gotten onto. A moment later, Wolff earned a foul at the edge of the box, which Diego Rubio sent just wide. Rubio also distinguished himself getting a yellow card in the 24th minute, goading FDC midfielder Chris Cappis into a yellow, for the first cautions from Armando Villarreal, who would end up keeping the whistle in his pocket during a few key moments in the match. In the 26th minute, Verde dodged a bullet when Guilherme Biro appeared to commit a handball foul in the box — with Dallas players' reactions impending their defensive movement, allowing Osman Bukari to hilariously get out on a break and send in a cross that was snuffed out — and despite looking like it was PK-worthy, it blessedly wasn't given. (Perhaps that was a gift from PRO after last week's penalty call that maybe shouldn't have been called, albeit at Dallas' expense.) Then, after some promising moments from Austin — including Owen Wolff displaying some Bukari-like ball mastery in Bukari's preferred part of the field, followed by a Biro shot from distance that struck the top of the bar — Dallas struck in the 37th. Petar Musa set up Shaq Moore for the goal with a pass toe-poked to the outside, getting him open against Verde's suddenly disorganized defense, and that score stood going into halftime. Anderson Julio came on for Musa to start the second half, and within two minutes of the restart, Moore had another run at goal, getting a close-in shot that was wide-open but well off target. But then, in the 51st, Wolff got his third goal of the season and first ever in Q2 stadium, with Bukari getting the ball deep in on the right side, passing back to Mikkel Desler, lofting a rainbow pass in front of goal that Wolff headed in. Just after the hour mark, Bukari got loose down the right side, and Verde nemesis Lalas Abubakar, one-on-one against him, appeared to make contact, yet that didn't attract attention from either Villarreal or the VAR crew in VARlington that stepped into the decision-making process last week. Bukari had another chance in the 72nd, hitting the side netting with his shot. FC Dallas answered the looming Verde threats by putting in two midfielders who like using mononyms — Kaick and Deedson. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez chose the 76th minute, following a hydration break, to bring in Jon Gallagher and Jáder Obrian to replace Wolff and Desler as his first subs of the night. Obrian led an 84th-minute two-on-two break, in his first significant action, getting a pass to a quiet-on-the-night Myrto Uzuni, who couldn't quite handle the initial pass, went back to get it, got barreled over by Osaze Urhoghide, and stayed down slapping the turf in frustration when he didn't get the penalty. Despite six minutes of extra time given, and with CJ Fodrey on as an additional sub, Verde couldn't get the needed second goal to get the win, despite a break in the final minute that ended with a weak rolling Fodrey shot from distance, and then a last-gasp free kick earned by Besard Šabović that Brad Stuver sent from midfield to no avail. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Seriously, go back and watch Wolff and then Biro almost score in the 34th minute. Pretty great display of prowess (that sadly didn't result in a goal). ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The execution on the best chance in stoppage time showed why Fodrey doesn't get a lot of minutes and that he's still needing to develop better decision-making skills. ## One thing you might have missed Well, thanks to the MLS Season Pass broadcast, got to confirm that was quite the stiff-brimmed hat that Eric Quill was wearing! ## One nerdy tidbit Twenty-one minutes into the match, Austin FC had a 78%-22% possession advantage. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative The good news is Austin now only has one loss in its last eight matches. And yet, this is the third disappointing draw in this stretch — this was a Dallas team, on this night, that a lot of the league's teams would have been able to put up two goals against. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We're curious about the late subs and the lack of subs. [Subscribe for tomorrow's quotes](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Drew Epperley of Big D Soccer URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-drew-epperley-big-d-soccer-atxvdal-081625/ Last updated: 2025-08-16T12:48:31.000Z Greetings from New York City! Taking a quick break here from walking more than 20,000 steps a day, marveling at art and architecture, and now being able to say I have eaten fried pork ribs and takoyaki in a navigation-resistant Asian mall in Flushing, Queens, to report in on tonight's match. (Due to the trip, which enters the "dropping off my kid at college" phase tonight, we'll push pause on Emergency Podcast for this week. There's still the five-part Monday Night Live pile of audio if you haven't worked through that yet. It's the first meeting with FC Dallas this year, remarkably, so I went ahead and reached out to one of my favorite FCD authorities, Drew Epperley of Big D Soccer, to talk about a team that was in transition in the offseason and once against finds itself in transition. (Also, I [returned the favor](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/opposition-research-austin-fc-with-verde-all-day/?ref=kitchen-sink-newsletter) here, if you're curious about what intel Frisco fans are getting on us.) To the questions! ### **So, Lucho Acosta started the year with FC Dallas and now he's off to Brazil ... how was his time there and what does the team do moving forward?** To quote Peter Campbell on Mad Men: “Not great, Bob, not great.” The five goals and one assist weren’t terrible, but when you bring in a guy like Acosta to lead your attack, you expect more. We knew going in from talking to folks in D.C. and Cincinnati that if things are going well, Acosta is great to work with on and off the field. If things aren’t going his way, then expect a bumpy ride. We got the bumpy ride and then some as his final weeks in Dallas were met with disappointing play on the field, a violation of team rules on a away trip that forces the team to suspend him for a couple of games (though they listed him as ‘out’ for personal reasons), and then when the two sides appeared to be back on the same page the play of the field didn’t improve. Getting a transfer for him was actually a good sign that the team admitted to making a mistake by bringing him in this season and were willing to do what they could to give \[FCD head coach\] Eric Quill the right building blocks for his style of play on the roster. **How has Eric Quill been as a head coach so far? Do you think he's going to be the head coach by this time next year?** At this point, I have to wonder if they hadn’t brought in Acosta in February where this group would be. They had a massive roster turnover before the season and with that came so many new faces in the lineup early on. Chemistry was an issue for the first two or three months of the season. Yet, they found results away from home to keep them at least within a shot of the playoff line. Which was good, since their play at home before the last month had been rough. Like, historically rough; only the [famed Southlake season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003%5FDallas%5FBurn%5Fseason?ref=verdeallday.com) was worse. Overall, he’s been a decent coach. More importantly, he hasn’t lost the locker room during any of the struggles this season. I think because of that and the moves the club has made recently both incoming and outgoing, we’re going to still be talking about him this time next year. **Perhaps relatedly, what would you say the team's identity is this year? And based on that, can they do what they need to do in the remaining matches to make the playoffs?** The identity before last week was all about figuring out how to work with Acosta. Now, it is a bit clearer. They’re getting more comfortable in this 3-4-3 or 5-3-2 kind of system that Quill has landed on that doesn’t require a lot of possession. They want to sit back and absorb what other teams put in front of them and then work for a counter attack with their speed up front and finishing from Petar Musa. It has worked pretty well as of late, with ten goals scored in their last three matches. If they can keep that up, find a way to eliminate the defensive mistakes we’ve seen at times this season, I think they’ll actually sneak into the playoffs. We’re talking wild card at best, though. [Get ready for this weekend's coverage](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'It's always special': Nico Estévez gets ready to face his former team URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvdal-081625/ Last updated: 2025-08-15T12:47:21.000Z For a portion of last season, Austin FC head coach was looking at Copa Tejas from a more northern perspective, coaching FC Dallas. He was, in fact, on the winning side of the [May 11 2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/post-match-recap-dalvatx-051124/) over Austin in Frisco. Now, Estévez faces his former team on Saturday night at his new home stadium, and he's looking forward to it. "It's always special when you play against a team that you worked \[for\] before," he said, noting that the feeling he had playing Columbus when he was with Dallas will be similar to playing Dallas as Austin's man in charge. "It's something that my parents have dedicated me on, that is to be grateful, grateful for the people that give me confidence to be in the project and lead a project. And I think I'm always going to be grateful with all these clubs and the people that decided to give, because at the end of the day, they bet on me." ## 'The thing we have to work on' He did also acknowledge, though, that this is a rivalry game — albeit one that's lost some luster now that Verde is out of the Copa Tejas running following last Saturday's 2-2 draw against Houston. "I think all these types of games are very intense mentally," he observed. "You have to be ready for everything. And for us, it's how we can take away some of that mental part that we used against Houston and recharge, and then we can \[use that\] against Dallas. "These are always unpredictable," he added. "These derby games are special. Because of that, it doesn't matter what position you are in the table, it doesn't matter what form you're coming from." As Estévez sees it, losing the lead to draw against the Dynamo was unfortunate but is still happily uncommon for his team. "We've had only two this season where we were winning and a team came back. It was Atlanta \[[on May 14](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvatl-051425/)\], and then Houston. That in this league is something that you see a lot of times, and then I think we've done a really good job so far this year to not be in that position." Claiming his team had control of the match until minute 86 last time out, he assessed, "We didn't handle well the quick attacks that they had; we were too open and too spread \[out\]. And this is the thing that we have to work on, when we don't move all together and attack all together ... because we didn't score a goal, and we conceded a goal, everyone is more pessimistic or more negative ... what we have to do is to think about how we can do better in those last minutes and then improve for the next game." ## 'We had good conversations' Starting with the Colorado match on June 7 — and even with a couple of goose eggs in there – Austin's scored 12 goals in the last seven matches. That's one more goal than Verde's scored in their first 17\. Estévez says the uptick in goals is reflective of the team's reinvigorated commitment to offense. "We had good conversations about not only the forwards scoring. It's about the full team, and then putting the fullbacks in position to score, the attacking midfielders and the wingers in position to score," he said. "If everyone had a little bit more and is more aggressive going forward ... that will help the team to score more goals and will be more dangerous, because the opponents' defenders will have to be aware of other players, and this will free space for the forwards to score." Osman Bukari, who has been dynamic in recent matches, feels that the Toros setting up with five in the back will present him with opportunities to continue that. "It's a good game for the wingers, because when they play five in the back ... the wingbacks are always high, so you have one against one," he noted. "We need to be focused on just playing as Austin FC, and we don't need to focus on them more. We just need to focus on Austin FC, how we have to play, how we have to score and defend. "So now, I think yesterday and today, that's what we are doing on training, watch some of their videos, the way they move, the way they defend ... it's going to be a tough game, but at the end, we will see what is happening, but I'm sure we are going to do much better than the Houston game" — ruing the loss of a two-goal lead at several points in his turn at the mike. Asked how he's going to hurt Dallas other than exploiting one-on-one matchups, he laughed, "I think, at the moment, I don't need to give them the tips." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Are they getting better? Looking at Austin FC's 2024 summer signings one year in URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-summer-2024-signings-improvement-osman-bukari-mikkel-desler-oleksandr-svatok/ Last updated: 2025-08-13T16:36:41.000Z In the summer of 2024, Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell brought in Osman Bukari, Mikkel Desler, and Oleksandr Svatok to the roster – a key inflection point in Borrell's reclamation project, which would include a new head coach search three months later. Only one of the three players got [an awkward mid-afternoon welcome party](https://verdeallday.com/osman-bukari-welcome-event-borrell-on-svatok/) at the Continental Club, but all three have elevated to the starting rotation, and despite some [goals added quibbles](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-goals-added-2025-guilherme-biro-oleksandr-svatok/) with one of them, they're all arguably essential to their current status as a playoff-bound team. But how are they growing and evolving one year in? To answer that, I do it one of my favorite ways for you today – hit up FBref and explore some charts and tables. ## Osman Bukari First off, let's review how to [pronounce his name](https://austinfc.app.box.com/s/55y186iy78a2pfxw0yew5ix3k57o1epf/file/1571373047560?ref=verdeallday.com). And now, with my twice-a-year soapbox moment in which I favor BOO-ca-ree (with the lightest of first syllable accenting) over Boo-CAR-ee, to approximate how I heard him say it *when I asked him when he first got to Austin*, let's look at how he's doing this year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-1-.png) And now, let's look at his 2025 (in red) vs. his limited minutes in 2024 (in blue). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-vs.-Osman-Bukari.png) Again, while it's limited minutes in 2024, there's a bit more defensive work in his game reflected and a little more shooting, but a little down on three of the stats that you're like to see Bukari excel in as an ostensibly playmaking winger: shot-creating actions, assists, and non-penalty expected goals plus expected assisted goals (npxG+xAG). (He is still just a shade under the top third for attacking midfielders and wingers in FBref's Men's Next 14 Competitions, which groups MLS and Liga MX with second-tier European leagues like the English Championship, Eredivisie, and Spanish Segunda. And he's best in possession, though surprisingly low for successful take-ons, given what we've seen him do in recent weeks. Speaking of recent weeks, look at his uptick in numbers in the last four matches, starting with the one against the Revs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-13-at-9.52.46---AM.png) In 29 appearances and 22 starts in all comps, he's gotten a quarter of his shot-creating actions, a third of his goal-creating actions, and close to a quarter of his total touches in those most recent four matches. The numbers are telling me what my eyes are telling me. To borrow from [the Beastie Boys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEVfHmjKOrM&ref=verdeallday.com), "Yo, I think he's starting to peak now, Al." ## Mikkel Desler Remember that Desler missed a good chunk of the season with injury, so we're looking at limited minutes in both seasons, but we already have a good sense of his fundamental soundness. Here's how his game translates to cold hard stats. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Mikkel-Desler.png) Those are outstanding pass completion, clearance, and tackle numbers, and those are also reasonably robust offensive stats for a fullback. Here's how those 780 minutes compare to 2024's 489 minutes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Mikkel-Desler-vs.-Mikkel-Desler.png) There's not the defensive consistency all across the board that there was last year, though the clearance numbers and offensive numbers took quite a jump up. Here's something else I found amusing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-13-at-10.05.43---AM.png) That's All-Star Guilherme Biro at the very top of this list! ## Oleksandr Svatok So, remember in the goals added article (and on the recent [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-i-wrote-a-play-about-gam-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000721294513&ref=verdeallday.com)\[\[1\]\]), when we talked about Svatok being a capable center back even though goals added didn't rate him much? Here's what we meant. This is what he's done this year so far. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Oleksandr-Svatok-2-.png) Also, he did play a little over 400 minutes in 2024, which was apparently not enough to give him a 2024 chart, but those minutes did get folded into his Last 365 Days chart, so we can look at that to get a sense of his evolution. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Oleksandr-Svatok-4-.png) Based on this, he's up in clearances and tackles, and a bit down in interceptions, but still has solid numbers there, and though he's not completing as many passes (or even attempting more passes), he's getting more touches. This is pretty commiserate with what you see on the field; he'll stop attacks and dispense with the ball, and that's pretty much his game. He's not going to do a lot on the offensive end, but even when paired with Brandon Hines-Ike (and definitely when paired with Julio Cascante), he's the more stay-at-home center back. ## Guilherme Biro Biro came in the winter window at the start of 2024, so we can do this same exercise with him. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Guilherme-Biro.png) Those are absurdly good numbers in three of four defensive categories, and he also does a decent amount of chance creation. (Looking deeper into the stats, he's also in the 91st percentile for the very specific category of goal-creating actions by drawing fouls, which I just find amusing.) Here's how he compares to 2024 Biro. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Guilherme-Biro-vs.-Guilherme-Biro.png) That's a pretty profound shift from being more of a one-on-one player (the "successful take-ons" part of that chart) to being more defensive-minded and also doing better to set up teammates to score. And, of course, while he hasn't had the most conventional route to the All-Star Game, he didn't look out of place in his brief time on the field. While Desler arguably had a bit more growth in his game based on the comparison chart, Austin FC is better set at both fullback spots, comparing this year to last year. There's one more player I want to check out, though, just because of the hype he's been getting, *including from me*. ## Owen Wolff I tell fellow media people from around the league, especially when doing question exchanges, that Owen Wolff is making The Leap this year, and a lot of that is pure eye test, as well as the early-season assists he was racking up. Is he making the leap, though, according to the charts? Here's 2025 Wolff. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff.png) So, Wolff's not a 10, but he's doing some 10-adjacent things well. He's good at moving the ball forward, both dribbling and passing, and moving the ball against defenders. He's in an appreciably good place with assists and shot-creating actions. One weird thing: His pass completion numbers aren't great, but they're appreciably better if you compare him to attacking mids and wingers – where he's been playing more this year – than midfielders, which I believe has a lot to do with attacking mids and wingers attempting more passes into the box where defenders are stationed. So, here's 2025 Wolff compared to a year ago, using midfield numbers for both. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Owen-Wolff-vs.-Owen-Wolff-1.png) With the exception of clearances and blocks being different — and the drop in clearances might be because 2024 had some fullback minutes in there as well — you see where the perceptible if not dramatic changes are. He's better on the ball, he's upping his offense numbers, and there's a spike in blocks. It's improvement to be sure. And with Wolff turning 21 on Dec. 30\[\[2\]\], we could be watching a player ascending appreciably over the next few years as he approaches his peak years — whether it's with Austin FC or a European team that wants to see how his MLS-honed game translates to their league. \[\[1\]\]: Which featured my new one-act play "GAM Burrito," which might be the funniest two minutes, including the set-up, in Emergency Podcast history. \[\[2\]\]: He's at 110 league appearances and can't even legally drink for another four and a half months! [Click to subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'Really doubtable': Grousing about a PK call and its resultant Copa Tejas disappointment URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvhou-080925/ Last updated: 2025-08-10T17:54:27.000Z In the two previous matches played prior to Austin FC's [2-2 draw](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvhou-080925/) against Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday night, opponents were the beneficiaries of late penalty calls that allowed them to get to the spot and score penalty kicks against Brad Stuver. With the LA Galaxy and D.C. United, those PKs were awarded in stoppage time and merely allowed those teams to make losing scorelines a little better. On Saturday night, however, the call on Robert Taylor — just two minutes after he entered the game, ostensibly fouling Pablo Ortiz at the edge of the 18-yard-box — was game-changing, allowing Jack McGlynn to get the Dynamo on the board with an 80th-minute gift goal and put them in position to get a crucial Copa Tejas draw. And that pattern of calls against Verde from Professional Referee Organization (PRO) officials hasn't escaped head coach Nico Estévez's attention. "We have three straight games that we've been given PK against \[us\] ... all three PKs \[were\] really, really doubtable," he observed. "Even today ... I mean, we have meetings with PRO and everything, and they talk about the PK has to be clear, doesn't have to be soft, and and then even the way that the player goes down. I mean, this player went down like three seconds after that, he felt something that he was minimal. They say it was minimal. He's facing backwards also, and then he is trying to get an advantage to put himself in the position. And it's obviously not a PK." PRO had an explanation for both the penalty call and the lengthy Video Assistant Referee review process that contributed to nine minutes of stoppage time in which both teams futilely sought a match winner. > PRO on the penalty decision on Taylor: "The initial action was a careless trip inside the penalty area after review." But why did VAR take so long? "The delay is due to the VAR protocols and the review process, which involved analyzing footage at various speeds and angles." 1/2 > > — [Phil West (@philwest.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vb2qhuyilsg64a6yisxe77ej?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-08-10T04:34:47.861Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vb2qhuyilsg64a6yisxe77ej/post/3lvzhdvq4sc2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) > More from VAR on why so long: "This thorough review was necessary to ensure an accurate assessment before the final decision was made." Also, PRO reminds us: "The Laws of the Game state, 'There is no time limit for the review process as accuracy is more important than speed.'" 2/2 > > — [Phil West (@philwest.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vb2qhuyilsg64a6yisxe77ej?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-08-10T04:34:47.862Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vb2qhuyilsg64a6yisxe77ej/post/3lvzhdvqbok2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) ## 'We wanted to win' And yet, once the ball hit the back of the net to halve the deficit, Estévez saw the match as changed — and irrevocably so, given that his team wasn't able to score. "Until the PK, we've seen what we are seeing with the progression of the team," Estévez said. "How well we were playing, really compact on defense, but also with the ball, very dynamic, very lively, really dangerous the whole game, with good control, having the poise and the patience to to find the right moments to break, \[with\] the offense, the defending opponents' line." He mentioned accumulating more than 2 goals' worth of xG without the benefit of getting a PK of their own — by MLS' count, 2.9 to Houston's 2.5 — and said, "We have to continue with that." (By Catalina Bush's ASA-driven count, Austin actually got out-xGed, 1.86 to 1.51.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Austin_FC_v_Houston_Dynamo_FC_XG_2025-08-10.png) "Obviously, we are not happy with the result," Estévez continued. "We wanted to win for us, for the fans and for the club, and to keep climbing in the table. But we know how difficult the league is ... what we have to learn is, after the decision that was against us with the PK, have a little bit more control." ## 'We just didn't keep up' Both Stuver and Osman Bukari noted that as frustrated and angry as the team was following the match, they'd can't forget it — they'll need to review tape on this game and learn lessons to apply to the remainder of the season. "We started well," Stuver said. "We played extremely well in the first half, we controlled the game, and then as the game went on, they made adjustments, we made adjustments, and we just didn't keep up with the flow of the game. "And we have to realize that going into the final stretch of the year, at the end of games, we're going to get a little bit of chaos, and we need to match that intensity, and we need to match that kind of knowledge that it's not always going to be pretty. We needed to learn our lesson from the D.C. match, when we went into halftime up two, came out a little bit flat, and they scored a goal. We didn't learn our lesson." ## 'We were pushing hard' As Estévez said, the team did display some encouraging attacking in the first half, with Bukari and Owen Wolff particularly dangerous in setting up goals — with Wolff sending in the corner kick that led to Ilie Sánchez's successful double-dip attempt to highlight an overall impressive match, and with Bukari working some on-ball wizardry before lofting an alley-oop pass for All-Star Guilherme Biro to nod home. "We were pushing hard, we were attacking more than in the second half," Bukari observed. "In the second half, we didn't have enough chance to be in their box, but the first half, we were pushing hard, and everybody was always in their box to find their way." While Bukari appears to be about as confident as he's been since becoming Verde, he only modestly puts his confidence at "70%" right now, noting that more goals will allow him to move that up. After a resurgance of sorts for Myrto Uzuni over the last two games, he reverted to a relatively quiet outing on Saturday, with (per FotMob) 24 touches and just a single shot. Estévez had an explanation for why Uzuni didn't have a more impactful match. "We didn't have good service today to provide in a way that he can make a difference," Estévez said. "I think some of the balls were too heavy, and then arrived to the goalkeeper too early. Some of the other balls weren't good there, and we have to keep working and making sure that we can provide those balls to him to score." However, Uzuni's pedestrian 48 G+ rating (with a mean of 50) wasn't even close to the worst performance on the team. You can probably surmise who earned that. ![Graphic showing Robert Taylor with a G+ rating of 25 (with a mean of 50)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-10-at-8.52.55---AM.png) That's not Oleksandr Svatok's 19 from the D.C. United match, which inspired our [recent examination](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-goals-added-2025-guilherme-biro-oleksandr-svatok/) of goals added, but it's close. As for newcomer Nicky Beloko, who didn't even make the roster on Saturday, Estévez said he's still rounding into match readiness, and anticipates a time soon when "he will be in the same condition to fight to be in the roster. That, right now, is difficult, because everyone is working hard." ## Copa Tejas scenarios (if you care) The draw also closed off the path to what's theoretically the easiest annual trophy for Verde to earn. "Well, that sucks," Stuver said flatly after I walked him through the Copa Tejas math that puts Austin on the outs for the second straight season, confirming (along with Estévez during his press conference) that the trophy was something they'd talked about — though for Stuver, getting home wins and moving into better playoff position once clinching is his most pressing results-related concern. With the draw, the best Austin can do is get two wins against Dallas, to equal the seven-point total Houston's amassed in its 2025 MLS matches involving Texas teams. Verde would then lose on the first tiebreaker, which is points won in the matches involving the tied teams. With Houston beating Austin in both league matches this season — Austin's Open Cup win doesn't count — Houston wins that 4-1 (though it feels like 6-0). There's one scenario in which Houston and Dallas tie on seven points, which would happen should Dallas beat Austin in one match and draw in the other. However, Houston wins what the Copa Tejas site says is the second tiebreaker — goal differential in matches between the tied teams. In the season opener, Amine Bassi put Houston up before Dallas came back to win 2-1, while Houston blanked Dallas 2-0 in the return leg. Should Austin beat Dallas next week, though, Houston would clinch its first-ever Copa Tejas — with its two rivals still ahead on two trophies each. It's still likely that Austin will finish above the other two Texas teams in the standings, where they still currently sit, but in this contest, the best they can do now is be a spoiler on behalf of a team that is more of a rival Sunday than they were on Saturday. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Houston Dynamo FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvhou-080925/ Last updated: 2025-08-10T03:46:30.000Z Captain Ilie Sánchez and All-Star Guilherme Biro scored outrageously high xG first-half goals, but then Jack McGlynn answered back with two late ones of his own, as Austin FC drew with Houston Dynamo, 2-2, in a Copa Tejas meeting on a brutally hot Saturday night at Q2 Stadium. It was a reasonably lively first half hour, with the best chance for Verde coming from Osman Bukari, getting his head on an Owen Wolff diagonal cross in the 25th minute from close in. But in the 31st, Verde got the goal that felt inevitable, with Sánchez heading a Wolff corner kick to force a Jonathan Bond save, and then pouncing on the rebound first for the easy putback. Then, in the 41st, after Bukari was the soccer equivalent of Allen Iverson with some nifty endline moves freezing two Dynamo defenders, he floated a cross to Biro, who was quite close in and quite unmarked, having peeled away from Griffin Dorsey at just the opportune moment, for the finish. Wolff nearly got a goal seven minutes after the restart, taking in a pass from Rubio (made as Ondřej Lingr bore down on Rubio, making contact just after the ball left Rubio's foot, sending Rubio into a certainly-not-embellished roll on the ground), and fizzing in a cross-the-box shot that just went wide of the far post. Chances tipped Houston's way as the second half drug on, including a scary Lingr backheel shot in the 73rd minute that Stuver had to dive to parry away, with away being as far as Mikkel Desler in the goalmouth, who wisely hit in it the direction of Shawarma Point to get it out of play. But a tussle between sub Robert Taylor and Pablo Ortiz in the box led to Taylor being whistled for a penalty, a lengthy VAR review, and the penalty being given — followed by McGlynn ruining the clean sheet. That ignited Austin again, who then got a free kick near-goal from Dani Pereira, just bouncing it past the far post. Then Bukari nearly got a goal minutes later, isolating himself against Bond. But McGlynn struck again in the 89th minute, hitting a shot from outside the box that took a weird deflection off Oleksandr Svatok's foot on its way in. In the slightly more than nine (!) minutes of stoppage time — mostly due to a referee watching a lot of one play over and over — neither team could get the deciding goal, and the match ended on the foot of Pereira, who skied a free kick from just outside the box. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) It's really just an Owen Wolff highlight reel. As flashy as Bukari was, Wolff took a lot of opportunities to show a poise that you just don't expect a lot of 20-year-old players to have. In the 12th minute, Wolff deftly stopped a Dynamo break with a takeaway, and then led an attack about 30 seconds later that resulted in Bukari getting close enough for a cross that Bond scooped up easily, and then got his own shot off 30 seconds later. This all really just led to a perceptible momentum shift, but it was good to see him playing so well as a two-way midfielder. Then, right before halftime, he nearly engineered a third goal, getting in a pass to Diego Rubio that a Dynamo defender had to make a last-gasp tackle on to challenge the (only 0.09 xG) shot. And that was just the first half! ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Technically, a penalty is not a goal allowed, and it didn't really look like more than feet getting tangled and Taylor sort of inadvertently stepping on Ortiz's foot, but after such a solid defensive effort, it's a little distressing to throw an opponent a lifeline that late in a match. ## One thing you might have missed In the 17th minute, Stuver clearly tried for an assist, hurling a ball to Bukari with such force that he sent himself rolling out of the 18-yard box. ## One nerdy tidbit According to MLS' xG calculations, Ilie's initial header setting up the goal had an xG of 0.11, and the follow-up shot had an xG of 0.85\. (Hat tip to Trevor Allison for noticing that before I did.) ## Where this fits into the season's narrative You can stop caring about Copa Tejas again, for starters. With the draw, Austin can't get more than seven points (with both Frisco matches remaining) to match Houston's seven (who has played all four games), and the Dynamo have the first tiebreaker on head-to-head points. Also, it's a draw to start an August where 12 points looked possible, but 10 out of 12 still are. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Clearly, I'm going to ask about the late collapse if someone doesn't beat me to it. [Get tonight's quotes delivered to you in the morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Bayou City Soccer's Dustyn Richardson URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-bayou-city-soccer-dustyn-richardson-pre-atxvhou-080925/ Last updated: 2025-08-09T15:47:45.000Z It's a momentous day here at Verde All Day; it's the two-year anniversary of my launching this site, it's the debut of my new one-act play GAM Burrito on the latest [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-66-i-wrote-a-play-about-gam-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000721294513&ref=verdeallday.com), *and* it's a Copa Tejas day. To commemorate the latter, we checked in with Dustyn Richardson at [Bayou City Soccer](https://www.bayoucitysoccer.net/?ref=verdeallday.com), who was kind enough to do a quick answering of three questions. I returned the favor on that site and expect that to go up a little later today. To the questions! ### How was Leagues Cup? Three matches, three losses, but what do you think Ben Olsen learned about the team from the experience? Results-wise, it was a disaster. Three losses, all at Shell Energy Stadium, is not how you want to perform in any competition. With that being said, after the loss to Tigres in the first match, \[Dynamo head coach Ben\] Olsen used the remaining two games to rotate the lineup and get guys minutes who haven't had as many this season. Olsen has been saying for weeks that he has been trying to find out their best lineup, and importantly, their best attacking options, and by the end of the tournament, he said we were no longer going to have to hear that from him. So, does that mean they worked out the kinks in Leagues Cup and are ready to go for league play? We're about to find out. ### How has the integration of new players (especially Jack McGlynn and Ondřej Lingr) been overall? Does it feel like everyone's understanding their roles, or do you think there's still more work to be done here? McGlynn has certainly come in and figured things out quickly. At the beginning of the season, he was playing deeper in midfield, but was quickly moved into the right wing role that Coco Carrasquilla played and has thrived there. Recently, Jack has drifted a lot more centrally and even deeper some, a move Olsen says is just to get him on the ball more. The other new pieces, like Lingr and Duane Holmes, still seem, at times, to be a round peg in a square hole. But, with what Olsen said that I referenced in the first answer, perhaps everyone's roles are much clearer now, and they are ready to start playing like it. ### Currently, the Dynamo's 11th in the West on 1.13 PPG and a -9 goal differential ... do you see a realistic path for them to get to the playoffs or do you expect them to land in that "just missing the playoffs" zone? I think there is definitely a path. They should be able to hold off Dallas and Sporting Kansas City below them, and you would like to think they are good enough to overtake San Jose and especially Colorado now. But that's on paper. The way they've played this season has led to many more questions than answers. Their home form has been dreadful. The saving grace for them? Their final 10 games feature matches against San Jose, St. Louis, Colorado, and SKC, all teams they will need to, and probably should, beat. At the end of the day, I think they can sneak into 9th place, but after watching this team all season, I wouldn't say there is high confidence in that. [It's our anniversary](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Notes from a press conference on a day when Austin FC welcomed $175,000 in GAM to the club URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvhou-080925/ Last updated: 2025-08-08T11:47:56.000Z Before we get to Thursday's press conference, ahead of Austin FC hosting Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday to re-restart this hiccupy part of the season, let's get into one of the nerdier and funnier things that the club has done in its history — and, yes, I'd like to think that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell did this just to prove that he's mastered MLS roster rules. On Wednesday, a simple press release came out: Austin FC bought a 2025 international roster spot from the Philadelphia Union for $50,000 in 2025 GAM. Without getting too much into it, GAM (General Allocation Money) is MLS-specific currency that teams can use in different creative ways to meet the league's salary cap requirements. (This [Moontower Soccer episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py3KTfoj8q4&ab%5Fchannel=MoontowerSoccer&ref=verdeallday.com) hits it pretty comprehensively starting at the seven-minute mark.) Typically, a team doesn't buy an international roster spot — especially in the middle of a transfer window like we're in right now — without planning to use it on a player. With Brandon Vázquez going to the season-ending injury list, his senior roster spot opens up for the remainder of the season, but he can only be replaced by a domestic player (an American player or a player who has a green card) right now, because Austin FC used its last international spot – one over the allotment of eight each team gets at the start of the season — on [Mateja Đorđević](https://verdeallday.com/mateja-djordjevic-signing-roster-spots-available-austin-fc/). Widespread speculation about that purchased extra international slot led to Austin fans and media looking for the Anthony Precourt green smoke tweet that precedes most signing announcements. But then, just two hours after Thursday's press conference concludes, we get this: *Austin FC announced today that the Club agreed to a trade with New England Revolution. Austin received $100,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and $125,000 in 2026 GAM in exchange for a 2025 international roster slot.* That's right: In about 24 hours, Verde paid $50,000 in GAM for an asset Philly had and then sold it to one of Philly's mild rivals for a profit of $175,000 in GAM. With the Revs in 11th in the East, and 10 points below the playoff line with 10 matches to go, they're going to need an epic final push just to make the playoffs ... where they'd be likely to meet Philly in the first round. I've got a call out to The Blazing Musket about any players on their radar who would be worth paying three to four times the "normal" amount of GAM to secure a needed international spot. Is Neymar suddenly available? Does Antoine Griezmann want to play where Tom Brady (and Maxi Urruti) played and watch the Celtics in his downtime? And would a player of even that caliber be able to drag a Revs team, led by a coach who has become so unpopular among supporters that they wrote [an open letter requesting his dismissal](https://www.theblazingmusket.com/p/caleb-porter-curt-onalfo-respond?ref=verdeallday.com), over the line? In short, Verde's the beneficiary of a very unusual move, even if it didn't meet our expectations of a new player. But at least we do have one new player to talk about who's apparently getting closer to getting into a match. ## Beloko watch According to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, Swiss/Cameroonian midfielder Nicky Beloko finally got some game action in Sunday's successful closed-door scrimmage against Charleston Battery. Estévez commented that Beloko hadn't played since May, and still needs more time to adapt. But Diego Rubio, also part of Thursday's conversation, likes what he's seen so far. "He's a very strong guy, very strong, very physical," Rubio observed. "He's very fast in small spaces ... yeah, we like him. I know it's not easy to come in the middle of the season. It's difficult to come in the start of the season and get adapted to a new league, different schedules, sometimes you play eight games in one month, and then you play two games in two months ... It's not easy. You have long flights. You play away three, four times in a month. So I will say that he needs to adapt. He needs to adapt. He has this time to do it." He also observed, "He came from Switzerland, where the weather is not like this," understating that there's "a couple degrees difference," before reiterating, "He needs to adapt. I see him; he's doing very good." As for Đorđević, Estévez indicated visa issues are still being worked on, making it increasingly look like getting him was a "stash for 2026" move rather than a "will play some minutes in 2025" move. ## Just hoping for another good month Estévez didn't put much stake in the significance of the next two matches being Copa Tejas contests, even invoking the "one game at a time" cliche, but he provided some month-by-month perspective on where he sees the season. "We went to May ... we had a lot of games, and we weren't as successful as we wanted on results. But June was a very positive month. July was a very positive month. And now we have August, and we have to try to make another positive month to put us in a good position to to start September on the right foot." Indeed, Verde went [winless in league play](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sdvatx-053125/) in May, but went 4-1-1 in a combined match-light June and July to get to 7th in the West with one and two games in hand on the Rocky Mountain rivals just below them. Finishing in 7th, as the table currently stands, would mean a best-of-three playoff series with a Thomas Müller-enhanced Vancouver (which sounds pretty daunting), but at least it would be a second trip to the playoffs in the club's history. ## 'It's not easy because you want to play' My partner in podcasting, Moisés Chiullán, got an interesting response from Rubio about the realities of playing when you're not an inked-in every-match starter. "When you are a competitor is not easy," he reflected. "To be honest, it's not easy because you want to play. You want to be in there, \[even\] five or ten minutes. When you have competition at the end of the day, you have five changes, and there are 25 players, you know that it's going to be only 16 players, maybe sometimes less. "When you are younger, I think it's more difficult," he added. "Maybe you don't think about the consequences of getting mad, getting angry, but it's totally normal. I don't see that as bad. I see that as that they want to compete. They want to play. I mean, you want to have players that get mad after the game when they don't play. I mean, of course, you need to be happy if we win. If we lose, it's fine if everybody gets mad. You want to help. You want to have players that help. But after, come to the training, 100%, because that's when you try to win your spot. You can get mad one day, but after, you need to change the reality and say, 'I want to be good,' because that way I can help the team too. It's not only the 11 players \[on the field\], because if the other 11, the other 15, push the guys that are playing, it's going to make the team way better." Perhaps you might see this as Rubio using time before the media to address a [certain seemingly unhappy teammate](https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/jader-obrian/stats/?ref=verdeallday.com) who has just 538 league minutes and no goal contributions after leading the team in goals last year. Perhaps it's a more innocous general observation on the importance of everyone on a team that is currently somewhere between the "keep doubting us" xG-defying chippiness of the 2022 squad and the despondence of the 2024 team that wilted down the stretch and was cruelly in the "mathematically still alive but come on now" zone in Josh Wolff's final weeks as head coach. But, certainly, Rubio's insistence that he and his teammates push to get on the field and make everyone better is an encouraging indicator of fight. Heading into the next two games with a chance to make a statement about Texas supremacy, and that not being something to salvage a bad season, it's a good place to be. [To subscribe is to support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### From Brad Stuver to the essential Van Halen question: It's a Leagues Cup hiatus mailbag URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-leagues-cup-mailbag/ Last updated: 2025-08-06T12:56:18.000Z I love questions. I tell people that my favorite thing about being a journalist is I get to be professionally nosy and ask people questions. But I also love to answer questions, even if I initially grapple for an answer or need to get back to the asker after I've had the chance to do some research. That's a good enough way as any to introduce this latest mailbag — thanks to those who offered inquiries (mostly through Slack) to keep this content train rolling. ## Dallas asks: What would Stuver’s ceiling be if he was performing like he is but 20 years old? Oh wow! 90 seconds of internet research tells me people can't arrive at a real consensus except to say that goalkeepers peak later than outfield players, but the collective wisdom puts it anywhere between 28 to 35, with some keepers still excelling in their early 40s, though not everyone can be Gianluigi Buffon. I'd say, if Stuver was just 20, and putting up numbers leading the league like he is now (and like [we explored on Sunday](https://verdeallday.com/hes-a-keeper-turns-out-g-also-loves-brad-stuver-and-loves-just-one-mls-goalkeeper-more/)), you'd have a true generational talent who would definitely be getting national team callups (and might be off to a random U-23 World Cup). It'd also be impressive if Stuver was doing the amount of community work as a 20-year-old that he is now. (But let's just enjoy him as a 34-year-old who doesn't appear about to fall off anytime soon.) ### Logan asks: In 10 years, how do you think we will look back at Messi's time in MLS? Will he have a David Beckham level impact or more of a Steven Gerrard? Or somewhere in between like a Zlatan? Any other players that you think will have that Beckham-level lasting impact on the sport in the U.S.? Aside from being the greatest player in the league to repeatedly snub an All-Star Game (which I want to stick to his reputation more than it probably actually will), I'd argued he's enabled a whole other level of attention on the league coinciding with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV being a literally global platform. As MLS Commissioner Don Garber recently revealed, the average number of people watching an MLS match now is a modest 120,000, and I'm curious what happens when you take Messi's Miami out of the mix. The Nutmeg News, a soccer parody site that's often incisively on the nose, followed the Garber announcement with [a spoof article](https://www.thenutmegnews.com/current/2025/7/23/shocking-admission-as-commissioner-of-mls-reveals-that-approximately-28-people-are-watching-cf-montreal-games-on-apple-tv?ref=verdeallday.com) saying only 28 people are watching CF Montréal games on Apple, and their match-average audience may indeed be closer to that than 120,000\. The book's still being written, though. At the moment, the Inter Miami he's built around them is reminiscent of the 2003-2004 Lakers team that was supposed to be dynastic when it brought Karl Malone into the fold to join Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Gary Payton. They got to the finals and lost (to the Detroit Pistons), showing that you can't necessarily win an arms race of talent and translate that to trophies. He's probably more like Zlatan than Beckham at this point, but with a Beckham-level of marketing around him. Given when Beckham arrived and where the league got to, I don't think there's another player out there who could have that level of impact in 2025\. ### Michael Bartlemay asks: Is the recent run of form both in the win column and the goals scored column just because the schedule got easier, or do you see something structurally different that’s made us better? Certainly [the schedule has helped](https://verdeallday.com/strength-of-schedule-austin-fc-stats-ppg-standard-deviation-z-score-nerdery/), but Mytro Uzuni — whether buoyed by Nico Estévez's [boundless love](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-quotes-dccvatx-072625-nico-estevez-myrto-uzuni-osman-bukari/) or less encumbered as he was when he had to calculate where Brandon Vázquez was on the field — has helped by scoring goals and now being a threat that players have to factor in. And it's slow in coming, but he's gathering a chemistry with Osman Bukari, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira that's showing up in goals. (Goals, plural, in a single game!) Also, even though they're rivals, the next two games are at home against a Houston team that just got knocked out of Leagues Cup (including a satisfying-for-me 4-1 loss to Tigres) and an FC Dallas that is most of the way to sending a disappointing Lucho Acosta to Brazil, where maybe he'll be happier. At the risk of [courting the trouble we do](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-56-maybe-there-a-monkeys-paw-in-the-mail-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000716951813&ref=verdeallday.com) when we predict wins, I like our chances here. ### Don Hauk asks (via [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)): How do you think Vázquez getting hurt impacted Rodo’s decisions on roster build for this transfer decision? Actually, it probably hasn't impacted what sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is doing too much, other than allowing him to dip into "hey, got a player you want to loan us for half a season" waters. I do think that it's going to make clearer that two of Austin's three designated players look increasingly redundant, making it a little more challenging to get a truly impactful chance creator. That's still the biggest need, and with the Kervin Andrade rumors apparently cooled off, I'm increasingly pessimistic that it's going to happen. ## Soccer questions that aren't 100 percent soccer (perhaps my favorite kind) ### Ben Stahl asks: Are there any MLS journalists that you think doesn’t get enough love or hate for their work in the league as a whole or singular club. I'm aghast that The Athletic let go of Pablo Maurer, leading him to tweet things like "One of the only decent things about being unemployed is that Monday no longer matters." If you're wondering what he's about, start with his journey to find the three dudes in hard hats who became [the original Columbus Crew logo](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2682819/2021/07/01/columbus-crew-mls-logo/?ref=verdeallday.com), or his journey to find the [water fountain that Landon Donovan posed with](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1448748/2022/05/26/usmnt-2002-photo-shoot/?ref=verdeallday.com) in what his article called "the most famous photo shoot in American soccer history." Someone hire Pablo please, or lets hope he goes DIY and courts subscribers. Coming up on the two-year anniversary of going solo and bringing coverage directly to fans, I can say that it's hard but worth it. (And, again, thanks to all of you who support the work I'm doing here.) ### Scott K asks: You can take three players with you to a back alley bar brawl (I have no idea why you are going to a back alley bar brawl, but you are).... you must pick one defender, one midfielder and one forward from the current FC roster. Who do you choose? Someone immediately answered this on Slack and took two of my three answers. For forwards (less to choose from now, unless you think that Vázquez's crutches would come in handy), it's clearly Uzuni. His hardscrabble upbringing and determination makes him a must-have. Defenderwise, Oleksandr Svatok's the obvious choice. You don't even need to line them up for me; give me the one who looks most like Ivan Drago. Midfield's tough ... the person who jumped in to answer took Besard Šabović, and I understand the rationale, but I'm going to make an unconventional choice. I want someone who doesn't look at first glance like he'd do much in a fight, but is actually deceptively strong and scrappy and would bring a little bit of impish sauce to the battle and to the *Anchorman*\-style, "Boy, that escalated quickly" conversation after. That's right: I'm bringing Owen Wolff. But also, can we add Diego Rubio to the mix to escalate tensions and ensure that we have this fight? ### Natalie B asks: What do you think was the most impactful moves have been thus far in the secondary transfer window? AKA, will we ever beat LAFC again? I feel like you're leading me into saying Son Heung-min, which is a move I'm actually delighted with as an Arsenal fan for the Tottenham tears alone. (I pause here to give a friendly wave to Andrew, Lee, and Bernadette, my favorite fans of one of my least favorite teams.) But I'm going to say Rodrigo de Paul. From what we've seen in Leagues Cup, he's instantly got a handle on how to play with teammates he's never played with before (save for Messi on the national team), and he adds a dimension they'll need in the playoffs. Suddenly, they're scary again. Honorable mention goes to Thomas Müller in Vancouver. I don't quite know how that's going to work, especially with Ryan Gauld coming back into the fold (probably), but I'm very excited to see it in action. It's an excellent way for the front office to respond after moving Pedro Vite, and now you can see the logic that defied us all when the move got made. ### Dan Lewis asks: Suspending any financial or other reality limitations.What one DP dream player would you bring into the existing Austin FC lineup to fill the remaining games of the season in BV9’s DP slot?No dream is too big no contract unbreakable, maybe the one restriction being a player not currently in the MLS. Dan, don't threaten me with a good time! I don't know why Tigres is going to punt on the 2025 Apertura like this, but I'm watching Tigres-LAFC as I type this and believe it would be so incredibly fun to rent Andre-Pierre Gignac for four months. Yes, he's 39, but he's also scored 190 goals in 347 appearances for Tigres over the last decade. Barring that, and even with a Brazil to Europe and back to Brazil and a doping scandal controversy, I'd love to see Gabigol in MLS and why not four months in Austin for that? ### Trevor asks: Who are some of the MOST MLS players in your eyes? I think we have to start with Dax McCarty: Played his entire career in MLS with six different clubs, captained many of those teams, 558 appearances in all comps (plus two for the Des Moines Menace MLS retirees' pickup team in 2025) ... and 26 goals. That's puro MLS! Your question cited examples including Tommy Thompson, and that's a good shout, including learning Duolingo to better speak to his coaches and players, which I totally respect. ### Trevor also asks: Which owner/sporting director would be most likely to try to spend GAM on their DoorDash order? I'm going to say the Revolution's Curt Onalfo, who is currently responding to open letters from supporters to fire Caleb Porter, as the [Blazing Musket](https://www.theblazingmusket.com/p/caleb-porter-curt-onalfo-respond?ref=verdeallday.com) reported. (By the way, we sat next to the Blazing Musket crew at the All-Star Game; they're standup dudes who deserve a better team to cover.) But will DoorDash go all the way out to Foxborough to deliver? ## Now, for some music ### Alex M asks me what he asked Moontower: What was the first album you bought with your own money? Not to step on Moontower's toes, but I can't resist this question. Back in the '70s, several entities marketed what were called record clubs. They sucked you in by getting six albums for a penny, and then you had to buy several albums over the course of a few years at totally inflated costs to fulfill the Faustian bargain. Having recently bought my first 45 with my own money — "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers, which was the mid-'70s version of New Kids on the Block, but Scottish — I had a couple of their albums as part of my six. I also grabbed a couple of Barry Manilow albums, including his double live album, a John Denver album, and to round it out, a John Williams album featuring mostly Star Wars music. Yes, to answer the follow-up question, I've always been a nerd. ### Nick asks, Van Halen or Van Hagar? Gary Cherone is not an option. Given that I took a clunky yellow headphone radio set to bed some nights as a middle school student in the early '80s to listen to KISW-FM ("Seattle's Best Rock"), and one of my formative moments was hearing a Van Halen interview dominated (as you would expect) by David Lee Roth, and given that 14-year-old me found him incredibly funny and cool — again, this was the '80s, I grew up in the suburbs, I would change, and pretty horrifically, *he* would also change. I was a devoted OG-era Van Halen fan, following the hard rock/metal to punk rock trajectory that defined that whole decade in Seattle and directly led to grunge. But after *1984*, and Sammy Hagar's entrance, I was disappointed, but also discovering Metallica. To drive the point home about David Lee Roth > Sammy Hagar, let's let Parry Gripp (before he became a prolific kids' music artist) tell it: Might as well "Jump," indeed. Actually, I'd make the case that *Fair Warning* is the last great Van Halen album, and "Panama" was the last heroic vestige of vintage DLR-era Van Halen before Everything Was Ruined, but that takes us far off the path of soccer. (But if you're still with me here, you're my favorite brand of Verde All Day reader!) [Subscribe! Verde All Day's about to turn two!](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### He's a keeper: Turns out G+ also loves Brad Stuver (and loves just one MLS goalkeeper more) URL: https://verdeallday.com/hes-a-keeper-turns-out-g-also-loves-brad-stuver-and-loves-just-one-mls-goalkeeper-more/ Last updated: 2025-08-03T14:43:27.000Z Who doesn't love Brad Stuver? Since winning the starting job from presumptive opening day starter Andrew Tarbell in April 2021, Stuver's been a fixture in goal for Austin FC for the franchise's entire history, making 155 league appearances and getting 599 saves in those matches. Only a brief bout with COVID-19 and another with the goal apparatus in Houston sidelined him in the five years he's played with the team. His first All-Star selection, and his performance during the week, made him one of the feel-good stories of Austin's turn as host, with Jon Arnold noting, in his excellent [profile for MLSSoccer.com](https://www.mlssoccer.com/allstar/2025/news/brad-stuver-austin-fc-goalkeeper-goes-from-overlooked-to-all-star?ref=verdeallday.com), *Austin have allowed the fewest goals this season (24) in the Western Conference with Stuver backstopping the team. The goalkeeper is also top five in several advanced metrics that measure a goalkeeper’s skill relative to the shots faced, including a Post-Shot Expected Goals minus Goals Allowed number of +4.6, good for fourth in the league.* And there's another metric that favors him. We recently visited goals added (G+) for [outfield players](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-goals-added-2025-guilherme-biro-oleksandr-svatok/), learning that it's a superstat that likes All-Star Guilherme Biro more than any other player in the squad. But goalkeepers have their own G+ measures, and Stuver's second on a list with some names you'll recognize as among the league's best by reputation alone. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-8.27.22---AM.png) Only Zack Steffen, splitting goalkeeping minutes with Nico Hansen for the Colorado Rapids this season, bests Stuver in the conglomorate of six categories (with shotstopping as the baseline and five other categories – claiming, fielding, handling, passing, and sweeping — sprinkled in). [American Soccer Analysis](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2021/6/20/valuing-goalkeepers-with-goals-added?ref=verdeallday.com) provides an explainer here if you want to dig in a bit more. The group up top includes fellow All-Star Dayne St. Clair, the Red Bulls' well-regarded Carlos Coronel, and RSL's Rafael Cabral, who outduelled Mexico's first-choice keeper (and 2025 All-Star starter) Luis Malagón in arguably [the best Leagues Cup match so far](https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/highlights-club-america-vs-real-salt-lake-july-30-2025?ref=verdeallday.com#highlights-club-america-vs-real-salt-lake-july-30-2025). Beyond that top group, including a Matt Freese who is a bit off his 2024 highs, there are still some good names in the second tier, including Portland's James Pantemis, who I can't not call "Jimmy Pants." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-8.27.35---AM.png) Beyond there, you have some surprises, including Sounders mainstay Stefan Frei and Whitecaps All-Star and Crossbar Challenge hero Yohei Takoaka slightly below Charlotte journeyman David Bingham (on his fourth MLS club since 2017) and slightly ahead of Portland's Maxime Crépeau (who lost the starting job to Jimmy Pants earlier in the season) and Orlando's Pedro Gallese. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-8.27.46---AM.png) Incidentally, Bingham only has 200 minutes so far this season, with last year's Goalkeeper of the Year, Kristijan Kahlina, still getting the Sir Minty's share of Charlotte's minutes but only registering a -0.98 G+ this season, putting him below Brad Guzan and the currently-injured Tarbell. As with the outfield players, the goals added calculation attempts to give a picture of a player's entire on-field value, beyond the advanced goalkeeping metrics that FBref offers (including one that historically favors Stuver.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-03-at-8.42.06---AM.png) That's an important metric because it looks at the cumulative xG of all shots heading toward goal off an attacker's foot, head, or in tribute to Gyasi Zardes, another body part, how many goals are expected to count from those shots, and how many of those *don't* go in based on work the goalkeeper is doing. The per 90 numbers flatter the Dynamo's Blake Gillingham, but the total number is arguably more important, showing the influence of an effective goalkeeper throughout the season. Weirdly, FBref doesn't like Stuver's per-shot totals compared to other goalkeepers so far in 2025, but likes everything else about his game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Brad-Stuver.png) And as you can see, in comparing 2025 to 2024, he's been consistent over both seasons, while allowed to venture forth a little more offensively. (2025's in red; 2024's in blue.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/-FBCharts--Brad-Stuver-vs.-Brad-Stuver.png) ## Yes, but what about the future? Stuver is 34 and working on a master's degree in public policy from [Oregon State's online program](https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/news/brad-stuver-empp/?ref=verdeallday.com), so he's clearly thinking at least a little bit about life after soccer, though 34 is relatively young for a goalkeeper — especially one like Stuver who didn't log a ton of game miles before he jump-started his career in Austin after backup roles in Columbus and The Bronx. Verde still does have, for the time being at least, an heir apparent in Damian Las, who is distinguishing himself among USL Championship keepers (even though FBref stats for USL-C are less robust, so we'll key on save percentage here): ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-03-at-8.59.48---AM.png) The random tidbit that jumps out to me on this list: Las has a better save percentage than Bill Hamid, a USMNT-capped goalkeeper who won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2014 when playing with D.C. United (and who now finds himself with Miami FC). It's conceivable that Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell declines to activate Stefan Cleveland's option for 2026 and readies a transition by bringing Las in to serve as Stuver's backup ... or it's also possible that Las is moved to an MLS team where he could more immediately challenge for a starting keeper role, though that's a possibly more tenuous situation than learning and growing in the system where he's developed prior to his two straight Louisville loan spells. As Las clearly outgrew MLS Next Pro and needed the jump up in competition levels to get to USL, he may also be ready to challenge himself beyond USL this season — especially if his league-leading Louisville City (currently tied on points with the Charleston Battery atop the East) win a title this fall with him between the sticks. Given the longevity of MLS goalkeepers and Stuver's performance, Borrell will certainly, automatically activate his 2026 option year and then ink what could be Stuver's last long-term contract with Austin (assuming a three-year deal with a fourth-year option, which seems in line with Borrell's past moves and appropriate for such a core player). For all the questions remaining with the Verde roster — the lack of a true attacking midfielder, Owen Wolff's viability as an MLS lifer anchoring Austin vs. a valuable asset to flip to Europe for further roster building, the Brandon Vázquez/Myrto Uzuni front line dilemma – Stuver and Las provide the quintessential Good Problem to Have at one of the most key positions. (Even with the situation needing some management at season's end to have a clear course set for next season.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### What loves Biro but doesn't love Svatok? We revisit G+ for 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-goals-added-2025-guilherme-biro-oleksandr-svatok/ Last updated: 2025-07-30T13:11:48.000Z The number jumped out in the list of stats from Saturday night's [4-2 win over D.C. United](https://verdeallday.com/dcvatx-072625-match-recap/). As good as the four goals were for Austin FC — a total they hadn't registered since Sebastian Driussi's stoppage-time goal on April 6, 2024, allowing Verde a dramatic [4-3 victory over San Jose](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-4-san-jose-quakes-3-040624/) — D.C. United did get two goals in the game. And as Catalina Bush ran the numbers from the match, shared on her excellent [MLS Analytics Bluesky account](https://bsky.app/profile/mlsstat.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com), it was clear who event tracking attributed the goals allowed to, and how that blame was reflected in the team's goals added (G+) ratings. Go to the Austin FC column and look at who's at the bottom of the list. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/DC_United_v_Austin_FC_gplus_2025-07-26.png) I commented on Oleksandr Svatok's 19 (set against a mean score of 50) in my [Sunday morning article](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-quotes-dccvatx-072625-nico-estevez-myrto-uzuni-osman-bukari/), and since then, my friends from the North End Podcast and Moontower Soccer made arguments which could be boiled down into a few simple statements, which I mostly agree with: - Svatok wasn't entirely to blame for the first goal (as Osman Bukari didn't track a runner, contributing significantly to D.C.'s advantage); - Svatok actually did a great job containing Christian Benteke for most of the evening (and when he did give up the penalty late in stoppage time, it was inconsequential); and - On the whole, Svatok's pretty good (and certainly better than that 19 indicates). Compared to center backs in MLS and comparable leagues around the world, per his 2025 MLS spider chart, Svatok excels in clearances and interceptions if you're just looking at volume: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Oleksandr-Svatok-1-.png) But if you look at G+ throughout the season, Svatok is at the bottom of the list of Verde players — which is either an indictment of Svatok's game (or at least elements of it) or an indictment of G+ as a reliable measure of a player's impact on the game). But then again, this season, G+ loves All-Star Guilherme Biro. But perhaps we need to revisit G+ as a concept first. ## What is G+? We covered this [a while back](https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-austin-fc-la-galaxy-new-york-red-bulls-2024/), in the context of Riqui Puig's incredible 2024 season, but it's worth circling back. According to John Muller — featured on the [most recent Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-62-bringing-up-mls-predictions-to-national/id1742052077?i=1000719716849&ref=verdeallday.com) — writing in [American Soccer Analysis](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/what-are-goals-added?ref=verdeallday.com), goals added (G+) is a superstat that "measures a player’s total on-ball contribution in attack and defense. It does this by calculating how much each touch changes their team’s chances of scoring and conceding across two possessions." As an example: *At the moment a player receives the ball at midfield, their team might have a 1.5% chance of scoring on that possession but also a 1% chance of conceding on the next possession. That situation isn’t very valuable. But if they play a throughball from there into the final third, their team is now in a much better situation and might have a 6% chance of scoring and only a 0.5% chance of conceding. The pass would be worth the difference in their team’s situation before and after it, or (0.060 - 0.005) - (0.015 - 0.010) = +0.050 goals added.* G+ is expressed as a decimal — and in 2025, just for reference, Lionel Messi leads the league with an 8.60 (meaning his actions bring his team 8.6 more total goals than they'd have without him), while Biro leads Verde with a 1.33\. I'm calling G+ a superstat because it's measuring six different components of a player's overall game and calculating a total score based on these components. Those are: - **Shooting,** which is self-explanatory; - **Receiving,** which is successfully receiving passes (something that registers in the FBref spider charts we share from time to time); - **Passing,** which is making a pass (with easier passes scored more for the passer and harder passes splitting credit to acknowledge the receiver getting in position to successfully get on the end of a riskier pass attempt); - **Dribbling,** including carries, take-ons, miscontrols, and dispossessions; - **Interrupting,** including tackles, interceptions, blocks, clearances, recoveries, and contested headers; and - **Fouling,** including both fouls committed and fouls received. Here's the best of MLS, with names that won't surprise you (except for Noah Elie): ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/League-G--best.png) And here's the Best of Verde (with individual stats listed alphabetically left-to-right from dribbling to shooting): ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Verde-G--best.png) Biro is best, according to this, in the receiving, interrupting, and passing categories, whereas Brandon Vázquez was best at receiving and worst at dribbling. Julio Cascante, among the perennial G+ team leaders, once again has passing as his best category, though it's not as substantial as it's been in past years (and certainly his relative lack of minutes might be contributing). Here's Mid Verde, with Owen Wolff as the last of the positive contributors: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Verde-G--mid.png) And here's the bottom of Verde's G+ rankings: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Verde-G--worst.png) While it seems like the Interrupting category would be Svatok's forte, it's actually his worst category, contributing -1.32 to his overall -2.04\. Part of that has to do with how G+ penalizes mistakes that lead to goals — feeding in part to the observation I made Saturday night in the post-match press conference (and several other times this season: Occasional defensive lapses leading to goals are hurting this team. ## Why Svatok scored so low against D.C. I reached out to Bush about the low Svatok score from Saturday, and she dug into the numbers. She pointed out that giving up a PK only drops a player a max of -0.25 goals added, and based on the chart of his defensive actions, puzzled as to why his score was so low. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Oleksandr_Svatok_defensive_actions_2025.png) But then I brought up his whizzing by Peglow on the first goal, and Bush then was able to put it together. Failed actions don't plot but do register, so that -0.18 came mostly from Svatok failing to interrupt Peglow (yet in position to do so) before he got off the shot. (There's also the missed tackle near midfield, marked with an X, which did plot.) As G+ accumulates during the season, Svatok collected -0.43 G+ toward his -2.04 season total from just this match, mostly from two plays. That seems harsh, but then again, those two plays resulted in two goals scored against Verde — or 7.6% of the goals scored against Verde so far. Take those two goals off the board, and Verde's giving up just one goal more than one goal per game over the course of the season. (The 1.13 goals against match average is still among the league's best, of course ... but take away defensive lapses and it could be so much better.) ## There's (statistical) hope As you might surmise, G+, like xG, doesn't tell the whole story, and there are even modifications to G+ that are telling a more thorough story. In 2023, Mike Imburgio sought to explain [net goals added](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2023/9/28/net-goals-added-combining-complementary-possession-value-metrics?ref=verdeallday.com), which brings G- ([goals subtracted](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2022/8/8/introducing-goals-subtracted-g-?ref=verdeallday.com)) into the equation. This gets into way more math than you want in your life, but here's a sampling from the article to give you a sense of why G+ doesn't tell the whole story: *Defensive actions valued by g+ are things like tackles, interceptions, fouling opponents, and clearances. Valuing these types of actions is helpful and necessary for a full understanding of the game. Surely, a holistic value would allow for players that win the ball back from their opponents constantly to gain credit for it.* *However, this also means that players that prevent those situations from ever entering their area of responsibility in the first place get no credit from doing so in g+. Even worse, players that consistently allow dangerous possessions in their zone before winning the ball back or clearing it will rack up g+ defending value. Luckily for us, g- does measure this by allocating g+ allowed to the opposition across a team (for a more detailed explanation, check out the explainers for* [*open play*](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2022/8/8/introducing-goals-subtracted-g-?ref=verdeallday.com) *and* [*set piece*](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2023/4/7/goals-subtracted-g-set-piece-edition?ref=verdeallday.com) *g-). Without g- to tell us that the player consistently allows these dangerous situations to happen in their zone, this player might look like the best defender in the league. Combining defensive g+ and g- tells the whole story. And as it turns out, both sides are necessary to see the full story: players that rate highly on defensive g+ do not tend to rate highly on g-, or vice versa.* So, that gives a fuller picture of Svatok (and, to be real, Cascante). Here's how Svatok measures up on this chart, with G- showing he's essentially at 0, with defensive G+ still dragging him down. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-7.30.36---AM.png) Just for fun, here's Cascante over his Verde career. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-7.33.27---AM.png) There's certainly an effect with the coaching change, and even with the emphasis on defense that the 2024 season brought, on Cascante's shift from offense to defense. But looking at his overall net G+ numbers, they appear to be on the decline (though this could also be a function of smaller sample size). ## What it all means Svatok is still a first-choice center back, and given that Mateja Đorđević just got here and is young, will likely continue in that role next to Brendan Hines-Ike. However, when it comes time to determine Cascante's role with the team at the end of the season, his exit could allow for a center back upgrade that would make the position more competitive. Player evaluation is a complex matter, and it's certainly going to take more than even a comprehensive stat like G+ or net G+ to fully refute what the eye test has been telling me over the course of the season. And yet, this is a team still in the process of being built to sporting director Rodolfo Borrell's satisfaction — if such satisfaction is ever possible — and coached to its full potential. Đorđević filled what isn't even the most glaring obvious team need, and there are still moves to be made in the summer transfer window and at season's end. While I fully expect Svatok to be part of this team for the next few years — his contract says so — G+ provides at least some perspective as to how players are contributing, and perhaps numerical evidence that no starting outfield player Verde has should be inked into the lineup — not even All-Star Guilherme Biro. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'Un poco de amor': Highlights from Nico Estévez and Osman Bukari's comments after a decisive win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-quotes-dccvatx-072625-nico-estevez-myrto-uzuni-osman-bukari/ Last updated: 2025-07-30T13:13:57.000Z We all need a little love and support from time to time. That's true for all of us just trying to get by in this crazy world, and as Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez shared in Spanish following [Saturday night's emphatic 4-2 win over D.C. United](https://verdeallday.com/dcvatx-072625-match-recap/), that's true for Myrto Uzuni — who had a rough entry into MLS for an initial few months that included being a continent away for the birth of his child, but is now looking more settled with a goal in each of his last two league matches. "I simply gave him a little love that we all need from time to time," Estévez said in Spanish. "Things don't always go the way we want, and I believe he just needed someone to believe in him ... we need someone to believe in us to fulfill our dreams, improve, and do things right. I believed that at that moment he needed support—above all, someone who would stand by him—because he deserves it for all the work he does and everything he accomplishes." Uzuni's goal, on a throughball from Brendan Hines-Ike, was not only the most highlight reel-worthy play of the match, it also was a superb illustration goals added (G+), the [American Soccer Analysis superstat](https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-austin-fc-la-galaxy-new-york-red-bulls-2024/) looking at six key contributing factors in a player's game and how they contribute to the most important stat of all — the one on the scoreboard that determines wins, draws, and losses. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-27-at-8.15.18---AM.png) ## However You'll notice something else on that G+ chart, which sets a mean at 50, with the worst players usually settling in at the low 30s or even the high 20s. Oleksandr Svatok — embarrassed on the first goal by skating past goalscorer João Peglow and flagged for wrestling with Christian Benteke, giving up the PK Benteke converted for the second and final goal — finished with a 19, the lowest an Austin FC player has attained in G+ all year. (Incidentally, Svatok was also lowest on the team in the previous match, getting a 30 in Austin's 2-1 win against the Galaxy in Carson – a game he left with a concussion that he's perhaps not quite fully recovered from, given this performance. Honestly, looking at the numbers over the whole season — how I spent part of my Sunday morning; you're welcome — G+ dislikes Svatok as much as it likes Julio Cascante, who has been among the best G+ players for Austin FC over its history.) I asked Estévez about the continued concern about defensive lapses leading to goals — contributing to the 26 goals allowed which still registers as one of the league's best two-thirds of the way in — and he attributed it more to the talent of MLS offenses than any particular failing of his players. "I think it is very difficult," Estévez explained, noting that all Verde opponents will mount attacks requiring defense. "If it's something this league has, all the teams have good attackers, and then it could be individual quality, it could be collective quality and combinations. If we expect that we are not going to concede chances, or we're not going to concede to the opponent ... we don't really understand the difficulty of this league. "When you go to DC, this is a team that can score a ton of goals," he added. "Analyze their game since last year, and it's a team that has scored a lot of goals, and concede a lot of goals. But why is that? Because they have quality players ... in the second half, they changed a little bit. They put more players inside, they put their fullbacks high, and at the end of the day, they have the quality to create. We adjusted really well, we put on an extra central midfielder with \[Besard\] Šabović, that gave us more stability, we closed those gaps that we were conceding, and we controlled the game again. "Then, I think we had really good reaction to their initial start in the second half, but also in the first half, we could score more goals and have the game more in control ... Besides that, I'm very pleased from the effort. It was really, really humid. It was difficult in the end, but the guys put in an amazing performance." To be fair, the amazing performance came against a team in quite a bit of a rut — as the Washington Post's excellent Steven Goff wrote in [his final article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/07/26/dc-united-austin-sell-the-team-audi-field/?ref=verdeallday.com) in his 40 years as a staff writer, disgruntled fans chanted, "Sell the team!" during the second half, with new Swiss coach René Weiler sidelined overseas waiting for a work visa, and interim coach Kevin Flanagan presiding over a team that's now winless in their last nine matches in all competitions — eight league matches plus the 5-2 capitulation to Nashville in the Open Cup (after leading 2-0), which ended up being the last match Troy Lesesne coached. > Austin FC, MLS's lowest-scoring team, scores twice in the first half against D.C. United, which is giving another abysmal performance at home. "Sell the team!" chant picks up in the supporters' section. Booing at the halftime whistle. Hopeless. > > — [Steven Goff (@stevengoff.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xmpucggyk4sy3mdmeca4irep?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-07-27T00:33:56.829Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xmpucggyk4sy3mdmeca4irep/post/3luvtedp4uc2e?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) ## 'He made the right decision' Osman Bukari had another excellent game, not playing as high up as he normally does (he's RW on the chart, with LW Owen Wolff playing more advanced on average), but still connected to the action — best exemplifed by the incredible team goal he finished by nutmegging D.C. goalkeeper Luis Barraza. (It starts at 3:05 on [this highlight video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGT%5F2So5mq0&ab%5Fchannel=MajorLeagueSoccer&ref=verdeallday.com); be prepared to watch it several times to appreciate it fully.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/DC_United_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-07-26.png) "Always this situation is always like this, when it's either he shoots or he gives me the pass," Bukari said of the pivotal moment in which Dani Pereira — who took the initial pass from Stuver, played it upfield to Owen Wolff, and then got on his horse to enter the box to receive Wolff's return pass — laid it off to Bukari, who rewarded the unselfish choice by scoring. "He has to decide, because the position he is in, he can shoot and he can give me the pass," Bukari explained. "He made the right decision to give me the pass, because I'm always there waiting for the ball. If he decided to shoot, it's good; if he decided to give \[it to\] me, I think is the perfect way. It's either he scores or I score. So I think is mature ... his decision-making is very, very well at this moment, because the way he decided to fake to shoot and give it to me because all the defenders, they didn't notice he's going to give me the pass, and at the end, he give me the pass ... he did a great job on this assist." (Incidentally, Goff, to give you the D.C. perspective on the goal, characterized it as "allowing Austin to go end-to-end with no resistance." He reassured the media that, although they are thinking about the looming Open Cup match against Minnesota in September and the chance to make history by hosting a tournament final, they're also very boringly one game at a time in their approach. "We have to keep on playing and believing ourselves and just doing whatever we have to do to be in the playoffs," he said, noting that the next two games are derby games (against their Copa Tejas in-state rivals) and therefore carrying increased weight. He did say, however, given the confidence they're playing with, "I think we will be the favorite in the Minnesota game when we go there," which is a bold prediction. ## What's next Thanks to the start of Leagues Cup, which Austin FC will not take part in, the next game comes Aug. 9 at home against the Dynamo, followed by a home game against FC Dallas on Aug. 16, an away trip to Montréal, and hosting San Jose (to continue what we've dubbed The Series with No Chill) to round out the month. Can Verde get at least 10 points from those next 12? It's possible. But also, it's MLS. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: D.C. United 2, Austin FC 4 URL: https://verdeallday.com/dcvatx-072625-match-recap/ Last updated: 2025-07-27T01:49:11.000Z Myrto Uzuni and Owen Wolff each scored in a second straight match, Osman Bukari finished off one of the most fun team goals in the team's five-year history, and Robert Taylor got his first goal in Verde for good measure, as Austin FC beat D.C. United 4-2 on Saturday night at Audi Field. It didn't take long for Verde to get their first appreciable chance courtesy of a 3rd-minute corner kick from Owen Wolff — the first of two inside a half hour that came appreciably close to scoring — and they dominated possession in the early going. In the 14th minute, Diego Rubio hit a scorcher from about 25 yards out that just landed outside the post. Then, Austin finally got the throughball it was looking for in the 22nd minute, with Brendan Hines-Ike threading a pass to Uzuni, who suddenly is looking like an in-form goal scorer. Verde continued first-half dominance, with Uzuni drawing a foul just outside the 18 in the 38th minute, allowing Diego Rubio the chance at a free kick that, after much preparation from the D.C. defense, clanged into the wall, but resulted in a few additional chances ending with Rubio skying a shot into the south end seats. (Audi Field is only one of two stadia I know of — Goodison Park being the other — that has the press box and broadcast camera facing east instead of west.) Then, D.C. got a goal less than three minutes after halftime in one of the most shameful defensive displays we've seen in a while, with Gabriel Pirani working the ball past Mikkel Desler (who bit on a juke move), passing to João Peglow, who put Oleksandr Svatok on skates to ruin the clean sheet bid. Austin got back in control with a true team goal in the 60th minute, starting with a line-breaking Brad Stuver pass to Dani Pereira, who advanced the ball diagonally to Owen Wolff, who found a charging Pereira, who sent a diagonal pass into the box to Bukari for the finish. Then, because chaos, Pirani answered with what looked like a goal two minutes later, with a relatively quiet (at that point) Christian Benteke serving as the pivot passer to free Pirani into the box, but he was deemed to be just offside. Shortly after the ruling, former Austin FC player Jared Stroud was subbed on. Robert Taylor, who once again came on as a sub, scored at the start of 10 (!) minutes of stoppage time, but later in the yawing extra pointless gap of time, Benteke won a penalty after grappling with Svatok in the box and falling down, and then converted his penalty after making a stutter step that fooled Stuver. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Right before Wolff's goal, All-Star Guilherme Biro hit a shot from distance that tested Luis Barraza. (It's fun to say All-Star Guilherme Biro.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Owen Wolff delayed yellow card wasn't great, but Svatok giving up the penalty on Benteke was less great (but ultimately immaterial). ## One thing you might have missed I'm not going to say that Dani Pereira did a lot of midriff baring in this match, but he's definitely repping Calvin Klein via his underwear — a revelation unfolding between the first two goals. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin led possession at halftime by a sizable margin: 64.6% to 35.4%. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative This is the classic "bonus game," as Andrew Wiebe coined it — a winnable match against an opponent in the other conference — and by winning it, Verde ended the match 7th in the West. They haven't yet locked up a playoff spot — to be fair, no one has — but this gets them appreciably closer, and not that it matters playoff-wise, but they're also getting closer to evening up their negative goal differential. Starting with the Atlanta draw that should have been a win, they're now 4-2-5 in their last 11 (for 17 of a possible 33 points). This is also the most goals they've scored in a match all season! ## A question we have heading into the press conference There still seems to be one big defensive lapse a game, no matter how well Verde plays. It's worth asking Nico Estévez his thoughts on that. [In case you want tonight's quotes in the morning ...](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### It's good and yet it's worrying: What the Mateja Đorđević signing means for Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/mateja-djordjevic-signing-roster-spots-available-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2025-07-25T16:30:32.000Z On Thursday, Austin FC announced what Tom Bogert pretty much confirmed at our Monday Night Live event at Hopsquad Brewing close to 72 hours earlier: Serbian center back Mateja Đorđević is coming to Austin FC as a U22 Initiative player. As you can see from his video shared by the club on Instagram, he's thrilled to be part of sporting director Rodolfo Borrell's project. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMgJYHwpcbE/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Austin FC (@austinfc)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMgJYHwpcbE/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) However, with the signing comes two limits hit that — for now, at least — complicate the quest to bring in other summer transfer window signings, especially the attacking midfielder that many Austin FC fans believe crucial to enabling more goalscoring. With Đorđević signed (which you'll also see rendered as Djordjevic, but we like to use diacritics wherever we can), Austin FC has its 20th and final (for now) senior roster spot filled, and what's more, the international slots look like this at present. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-24-at-2.16.27---PM.png) Again, the key words are *for now* and *at present* — as Borrell can certainly offload players to open up senior and international roster spots. But as you can see from the above list, there's really only one name on this list of nine that's viable, and that's Chicho Arango goal appreciator Jáder Obrian, as all other players on the list seem to be settled in to Verde life and actively part of Nico Estévez's plans. (Obrian, by contrast, has 21 league appearances but only 525 minutes, five starts, and zero goal contributions, so out of these nine, he seems to be the sole expendable player on the roster — unless Nicky Beloko is seen as a Besard Šabović, but it doesn't seem the Verde way to move a new father halfway through his first season.) At least one possible move remains — and with a move or a buyout involving Obrian, it would make a certain kind of sense. But let's first see what we've got with Đorđević in at center back. ## We have a chart! (Actually, a few charts) Even though we've got a small sample size of a little more than 600 minutes over the last 365 days, the Serbian Superliga (where Osman Bukari's former team, FK Crvena zvezda – aka Red Star Belgrade — currently leads the league once again) is part of the Men's Next 14 Competitions that FBref tracks, so we have a spider chart showing what Đorđević has done. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Mateja---or--evic--.png) So, by these limited numbers (which also incorporates MLS players as part of a large pool), Đorđević is best with successful take-ons, progressive passes, and tackles. Here's how he matches up against Leo Väisänen, the center back he's ostensibly replacing, using Väisänen's 2024 MLS numbers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Leo-Va--isa--nen-vs.-Mateja---or--evic--.png) Curiously enough, Väisänen and Đorđević give you about the same in tackles and blocks (and they're good numbers), but Đorđević is better in progressive passes and shot creating actions — begging the question, is Đorđević somehow a better Julio Cascante, for when the question of his option year comes up at the end of this season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Julio-Cascante-vs.-Mateja---or--evic--.png) Well, actually ... Cascante's numbers are better overall, especially where offense and general ball-handling and passing is concerned, but Đorđević does more of the deep-in defensive work (which you probably would have guessed knowing Cascante's game as you do). So, let's compare the other center back with a good deal of data to look at. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Brendan-Hines-Ike-vs.-Mateja---or--evic--.png) I was surprised to see the offense and defense for Hines-Ike; I would have assumed more defense for Hines-Ike, and though the clearances part of the chart is impressive for Hines-Ike, he's been among the MLS leaders, yet his 5.84 per 90 is only the 67th percentile (and he's woefully in the 1st percentile for both tackles and interceptions. Let's go ahead and round it out with Oleksandr Svatok. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Oleksandr-Svatok-vs.-Mateja---or--evic--.png) Put Svatok next to Đorđević, and you've got a center back hitting above the 60th percentile in all four defensive categories. (And given the take-on and progressive passes numbers that Đorđević, plus the general reputational badassery of a Ukrainian next to a Serbian, and that's possibly the best center back pairing Verde could roll out.) ## The Andrade question With Kervin "Tuti" Andrade not yet snatched up by a Serie B team, and with Fortaleza reportedly evaluating whether to send the 20-year-old Venezuelan playmaker on loan, it's still possible to dream that Rodolfo Borrell could swing a deal to bring in an extremely fun player. While he's got a small sample size with Fortaleza for the Men's Next 14 — and increased playing time would be a reason for the Brazilian club to move Andrade to MLS in the first place — since today's a chart day, look and drool. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Kervin-Andrade.png) Aside from being in the first percentile in non-penalty goals — certainly concerning — those are amazing offensive numbers otherwise, though the discrepancy between shots and goals is Something to Work On. Still, if you 're looking for chance creation as well as really nice defensive numbers for an attacker ... well, let's just say this is a project that I find potentially exciting. (Of course, there's got to be a player out to get this player in on the last U22 spot available to Borrell. But I'm sure – through the one remaining buyout, if nothing else — that could be arranged.) [An invitation to, yes, subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Thursday Three: Snippets about and from Brad Stuver, Guilherme Biro, and Don Garber himself URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-all-star-game-morning-after-quotes-stuver-biro-garber/ Last updated: 2025-07-24T13:25:29.000Z After several successive late nights of recording a Who's Who of MLS on smartphones and other recording devices, the throng of media who came to Austin — joining those of us who do it here all the time – is on the other side of the [2025 All-Star Game extravaganza](https://verdeallday.com/mls-all-star-game-2025-recap/). Without further fanfare, here's a look at some of the most salient quotes from last night. ## 'That gave me chills' "The way that they welcomed their hometown hero, Brad, onto the field, honestly, that gave me chills," Sebastian Berhalter told Moisés Chiullan in the locker room free-for-all after the match, and indeed, one of the biggest clusters of media descending on a player happened when Brad Stuver held court after two successive nights — between his All-Star Skills Challenge performance and holding Liga MX's finest scoreless for more than a half hour of play — that raised his profile leaguewide. Stuver learned he'd getting the starting nod about an hour before gametime, with head coach Nico Estévez mindful of minutes restrictions that some MLS teams relayed about their players — especially those active in an unusual (and unusually heavy) Friday night slate. "I'm fortunate enough to have that every single game day," Stuver assessed. "Every game day feels just as special as the first time, like it doesn't wear off, and I'm just so grateful and just so thankful to be here in Austin and representing. I can't thank the fans enough for supporting me through everything." The event gives players an opportunity to get to know each other better as colleagues, which Stuver said he appreciated. While it might create cognitive dissonance for fans to see an Austin player delighted by the actions of regular-season nemeses like Minnesota's Michael Boxall and LAFC's Denis Bouanga, Stuver's grateful for the perspective the experience provided. "It was a great week getting to know these guys on a personal level," he said. "Obviously, going against the guys, Liga MX's best players, best strikers, I'm showcasing what I kind of knew about myself all along, that I can be in the elite level of this league. And for me, this isn't just the end-all be-all. It's not the final stop. For me, it's about staying consistent and trying to be better. And I mean, there's another All-Star Game next year, and I need to maintain this level to help my team." ## A surprise for Biro Estévez was faced with an issue on Wednesday morning. Definitive word finally came that the two Inter Miami entrants, Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba, wouldn't be participating in the game despite the fan votes and keen interest in seeing them. While MLS had already prepared by calling in extra attackers, the math on minutes that left backs in camp could play didn't add up to 90 — meaning that the squad needed another left back. "It's a funny story," Estévez began, relaying that after a 9 am team meeting, he got word about Alba's absence — which is how Austin FC fullback Guilherme Biro not only became an All-Star, but got a coveted-by-fullbacks No. 2 on a jersey he'll get to keep forever. "I think he was very happy and surprised when it was announced to the team and to him, and he helped us as another player, and I think that he did a good job," Estévez assessed. Biro relayed (thanks to We Are Austin TV's Alex Sanabria doing Portuguese-to-English translation on the fly) that he got the call-up when he was in the middle of his own training session independent of the All-Star squad he'd suddenly been tapped to join. "Once I received the call, I trained harder and then got out of training and prepared for this," Biro said of a whirlwind All-Star journey that lasted about 15 hours. ## Finally, some numbers There's definitely more to dig into on Commissioner Don Garber's address to media — which I'll get into as soon as possible in written or in podcast form — but one of the most newsmaking moments came when he gave insights on the audience that Apple TV's MLS Season Pass is generating. "The Apple deal has grown," he boasted. "We're averaging 120,000 unique viewers per match. That's an increase of almost 50% compared to last year." When called out later about it being the first time that the league has revealed such numbers, he quipped, "There you go, breaking news," before talking about a broadcast strategy that's still evolving — with less of a Saturday night logjam of matches this year compared to last year, but with the bulk of matches still in a time frame in which 17 of the most faithful groups of viewers aren't watching streams because they're instead watching their teams live in stadia. "Remember that every single game is treated exactly the same on MLS Season Pass," Garber said. "So how do you evaluate the fact that we have games going on simultaneously, way more games going on simultaneously than any other league? So we're not putting one or two games on on a Saturday and then the next game on a Saturday or a handful of games regionally on a Sunday. Other leagues have a Game of the Week or the Game of the Night, or Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV. All of our games for the most part, are on Saturday, all up against each other. "So if you have 120,000 unique viewers across that, that's a lot of people aggregated ... depending on what week it is, you've got over a million people that are unique viewers to a match. What we're struggling with, and I think what the industry is struggling with, is there has been no system to be able to evaluate how people are in a subscription service, how they're viewing and consuming games, and what is the metric that matters most? Is it average minute audience? Is it unique viewers? Remember, we're on a subscription service, which is very different than just having your games available on a linear network. So we and Apple have just been trying to figure it all out." He promised more numbers and more drilldown in the future, but initial reactions on Bluesky were more alarmed than encouraged, with veteran satellite radio personality [Jason Davis noting](https://bsky.app/profile/davisjason.bsky.social/post/3luoeo7ippc2v?ref=verdeallday.com), "This is especially insanely bad when you consider that MLS on Apple TV is a GLOBAL product." What was also puzzling was how those averages were assessed, and if viewing numbers from teams like Inter Miami and LAFC were grossly inflating those averages. Not to disparage St. Louis City SC and Charlotte FC, but I'm left wondering how consistently large an audience is really out there for teams like that, especially when they're competing in the same time slot with higher-profile teams that have more star power. (Definitely more to come on all the Garber comments; while there was a lot of noncommittal commissionerspeak in there, there were also some hints of news coupled with a sense, from the reporters' questions, of what issues are most prevalant for the league's fans, defenders, and critics.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: MLS All-Stars 3, Liga MX All-Stars 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/mls-all-star-game-2025-recap/ Last updated: 2025-07-24T03:44:20.000Z In the end, the dream of Lionel Messi playing in Q2 Stadium didn't materialize, but for those who showed up, the 2025 All-Star Game provided a memorable capstone to a five-day multi-layered – starting with Soccer Celebration at Auditorium Shores this past weekend — showcasing Austin, Austin's stadium, and on this night, Austin FC's goalkeeper gloriously well. The MLS All-Stars, on the strength of three goalscorers who have a combined 43 goals on the season so far, beat their Liga MX counterparts, 3-1, in the Wednesday night match before a (or so the scoreboard claimed) sold-out crowd that was animated — in large part because of La Murga de Austin bringing Verde gameday atmosphere to the balmy setting. MLS took the lead in the 28th minute, with LAFC's Denis Bouanga, thwarted on his shot attempt, but getting the rebound, sending a cross in to a lurking Sam Surridge of Nashville SC — who has rivaled the entire Austin FC squad in recent weeks for more goals scored — who headed it in. The crowd endured a lengthy review from VARlington, but the goal stood, and Bouanga and Surridge pressured Liga MX goalkeeper Luis Angel Maragón again — with Bouanga striking the post and Surridge putting in an attempt on the rebound. From there, MLS head coach Nico Estévez made his first big line change, which included Stuver giving way to Minnesota United FC and Canada's Dayne St. Clair, and the two biggest MLS offensive threats of that third of the match coming off for the Union's Tai Baribo and Nashville's Hany Mukhtar, who provided some flashy moments but couldn't add to the scoreline before halftime — even when Mukhtar was in solo on Maragón in the VAR-boosted stoppage time. Tai Baribo put the MLS team up 2-0 in the 51st minute, finishing a break that started with a takeaway by Columbus' Max Arfsten and reached its final form on an assist from Columbus' Diego Rossi that led Baribo in. Wunderkind Gilberto Mora got Liga MX on the board in the 64th minute, spoiling the collective clean sheet with last night's crossbar challenge hero, Vancouver's Yohei Takoaka, giving up the goal. But, to his credit, he made other saves when the game got at its most pinched for the MLS defense. Brian White put in an insurance goal in the 80th minute, crashing the box to slot home a Philip Zinckernagel pass. (The cutting in from the left and diagonally passing in worked particularly well for MLS on Wednesday night.) ## How Austin FC fared Brad Stuver got the start for the MLS All-Stars, making sense as Stuver knows the stadium, his own head coach was filling out the starting lineup, and he shone in the [All-Star Skills Challenge](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-all-star-skills-challenge/) during his time in goal for the cross and volley challenge. He got the biggest cheer in the pregame introductions, where they awkwardly brought out an MLS and Liga MX All-Star player simultaneously, save for the dual Evander-Sergio Ramos introduction (which, while I really like Evander and would like to think the cheers were for him, Sergio Ramos has a lot of fans out there). Stuver made his first critical play successfully, rushing out on a ball that was leading Liga MX forward Alexis Vega to goal and kicking it away to safety, and then made his first big save on a Brian Rodriguez shot, and then another on a breakaway chance by Sergio Canales. Guilherme Biro, perhaps the most surprising All-Star selection in All-Star history, came in just after the 75-minute mark to raucous applause. He did not do anything rash to draw attention to himself, which given the game state, is fantastic. ## Immediate reactions from what I saw Judging from Bouanga's play, it will be fortunate for Austin that he'll either be on international duty away from LAFC or (if you're believing the rumors) moved to Club America before Verde plays their rescheduled match against the Black & Gold at Q2 Stadium on Oct. 12\. Bouanga looks very able to score multiple goals, even on Verde's firmed-up defense. Though Evander wasn't able to affect the scoring directly, he looks very much the leading MVP candidate, and should FC Cincinnati win the Supporters' Shield and/or MLS Cup, he'll be the principal reason why. (I'm not predicting that, but I'm not *not* predicting that.) Given the vociferous booing when Andrew Wiebe, doing pregame commentary, mentioned Lionel Messi by name, skipping out on this All-Star Game could have a tarnising effect on his MLS legacy. Certainly, it's not going to erase all he's done, and Miami could certainly be electric in the playoffs, but if I were making plans to attend the 2026 All-Star Game, I'd be very skeptical about Messi being part of that game no matter how many votes he secures. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Giant skeeball contraption on Q2 Stadium pitch = life's dream realized, as All-Star Skills Challenge comes to Austin URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-all-star-skills-challenge/ Last updated: 2025-07-23T12:55:36.000Z During interminable City Council meetings in 2018, when the future of a soccer team in Austin hung in the balance, one of the things that sustained me was the thought of — once a team got here and a stadium got built, of course — seeing an All-Star Game come to Austin and have the league's attention turn to our fair city for one night. *Two nights*, of course, if you count the mayhem of the All-Star Skills Challenge (introduced in 2018, and staged two weeks before the franchise-enabling City Council vote) — and *two leagues*, with not-yet-foreseen inclusion of Liga MX into the festivities, making the hosting of the annual event even more enticing. So, on Tuesday night, my heart sang as I walked into the stadium and saw all the video game-styled contraptions on a familiar field. The shooting challenge targets at the North End goal. The weird light-up passing targets sponsored by Bounty. The living room lounge in the center circle, daring the players to be the first one to sit on a plush white couch in front of thousands. And, of course, the giant skeeball apparatus in the spot where Man of the Match gets awarded after every Verde home win. As far as nuts-and-bolts events coverage goes, Skills Challenge is like Quidditch — yes, we're going Harry Potter here — and using that metaphor, the Crossbar Challenge is like the Golden Snitch. What happens before, and whatever points are accumulated, are fun but an ultimately meaningless prelude to the two teams locked in on one quest. In that, the hero of the hour was Yohei Takoaka, shooting right after Brad Stuver from 36 yards out, to help beat a Liga MX who seemed to contend at one point that one of their attempts from the 18 was incorrectly not credited. "He's got some of the best technique, honestly," said Whitecaps and All-Star teammate (and former Austin FC loanee) Sebastian Berhalter after the match. "He hits side volleys better than anyone on our team." But we also got: - Verdisimo as the most human and most cheered of all the mascots, of a group that also included the Union's inimitable Phang, the roundly-booed Dynamo Diesel, Charlotte's perplexing yet regal Sir Minty, and an Old Spice mascot that appeared to be an anthropomorphic deodorant stick; - YouTube sensation IShowSpeed being included as the opening act of the shooting challenge and finishing on a very streaky 25 points (but better than Liga MX's first entrant, and equal to Diego Luna); - Vince Young and his son throwing footballs into the giant skeeball machine; - Brad Stuver getting three saves and only letting one ball through in the cross & volley challenge; - Clint Dempsey doing better than Sebastian Berhalter in the passing challenge (though Evander bested them both); and - A surprise Speedbump appearance — and, of course, they put Speed together with Speedbump, because why would you not take advantage of that. ## 'I'm so proud of Austin' Stuver, who said he prepped for the crossbar challenge in a session with Julio Cascante, going one for eight in what sounds like not much prep at all, was thrilled to see Austin fans show out as well as they did, largely filling the sections of the stadium that were open, including the lower bowl (minus the South End) and the second deck of the East stands. "The amount of people that came out tonight was great," Stuver said. "With a skills challenge, it's a little difficult because it's not a real game, and it's just kind of segmented. So to have that many people in the stadium, I'm so proud of Austin has been showing up to all the events. They've been showing out, showing what Austin is all about — the culture, the fan base, everything. So to have them out tonight, it was fantastic. And I'm assuming it's going to be a sold out crowd tomorrow." ![Brad Stuver greets crowd at 2025 All-Star Skills Challenge](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/stuver-asg-skills.jpg) **Brad Stuver was thrilled to see so many come out on Tuesday (Alex Rubio)* It might be a disappointed crowd if they're there to see Lionel Messi. For the second straight day, he was conspicuously absent from training, Inter Miami teammate/sidekick Jordi Alba was a late scratch from the Skills Challenge competition. ESPN and Men In Blazers' Herculez Gomez reported that Messi should be traveling to Austin today but that his status is still shrouded in mystery, whereas his Liga MX counterpart Sergio Ramos indicated that he'll show up for the big event Wednesday after that was also in limbo. > There were reports that Sergio Ramos wanted more money to attend the MLS vs. Liga MX All-Star Game. Looks like Liga MX/Rayados met his price! According to other reports, Messi will travel to Austin tomorrow, but have not seen anything about his playing availability. > > — Herculez Gomez ([@herculezg.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pwbhyijbi6higgb5gytp6ike?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com)) [July 22, 2025 at 9:56 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pwbhyijbi6higgb5gytp6ike/post/3lulzhihfec2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) For others, though — including those who didn't grow up with all-star games — the Skills Challenge provided an opportunity for fun and fellowship for players bought in. "As a European player, you don't try events like this often," said San Diego FC standout Andres Dreyer, echoing a Bluesky post from writer John Muller — one of the panelists from our Monday Night Live event — commenting on the brash and unabashed spectactle of an all-star event, perhaps epitomized by Goalie Wars, as only American sports can deliver. > The European mind cannot comprehend this > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3kmyeu4ic4asefuvh22kzbyh/post/3lultiwyvek2l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) > > — John Muller ([@johnspacemuller.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3kmyeu4ic4asefuvh22kzbyh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com)) [July 22, 2025 at 8:10 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3kmyeu4ic4asefuvh22kzbyh/post/3lultiwyvek2l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) "The shooting one was more fun, because I wasn't expecting to break the record and do so well with it," said FC Cincinnati's Evander, who followed Monterrey's Sergio Canales' record-trying 64 points in the target-hitting contest by besting all before him with a 72\. "I think, in general, everything was fun ... even more happy because we won tonight." "It's a good thing, because we win together and we play for the first time together too," said LAFC's Denis Bouanga of the experience. "The Skills Challenge, for me, is the best enjoyment of the four days." Though the event was about cultivating camaderie among players who are usually rivals, Bouanga confirmed that his son was responsible for feeding one rivalry — playing EA Sports FC as LAFC, getting a 10-0 lead on Vancouver (largely due to digital Bouanga), and doing so where the Whitecaps' Brian White got to see it arriving at training. "He told me that this morning," Bouanga confirmed. "Last year we played maybe eight to nine times against Vancouver, and I scored a lot against Vancouver. But I don't know why he takes LAFC against Vancouver." Oh, I think we know why. ## Coverage plans for tonight (and beyond) To dip in with a quick programming note, expect a story tomorrow wrapping up both MLS Commissioner Don Garber's annual State of the League address (happening at 6:30 pm in a press conference room that's going to be absurdly full) and the All-Star Game itself. Also, on the other side of All-Star, our plan is to release some bonus content drawing from the Monday Night Live event we did at Hopsquad, which wouldn't have been possible without Hopsquad's willingness to open its doors on Monday night, and OtraXFavor and We Are Austin TV's involvement in handling all the hard parts and enabling us to just sit and talk to some outstanding guests. Also, keep an ear out for the Soccerwise feed, which will have a segment (following a fun Dani Pereira interview they did) featuring all the local podcasters in the Verde Best Ball league, where you can hear me getting booed for admitting to having drafted a Dynamo player earlier in the year. [To subscribe is to support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### This feels familiar: What to make of Austin FC being 8-8-6 at the All-Star Break URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-8-8-6-2025-record-identical-to-2024/ Last updated: 2025-07-20T17:42:52.000Z On July 6, 2024, Austin FC moved into playoff position – if you're not bogged down in semantics around the play-in game and consider 9th place the playoffs – with a 2-1 win over NYCFC, improving to 8-6-6 on the season. Only July 16, 2025, Austin FC also moved into playoff position – if you're not bogged down in semantics around the play-in game and also consider *8th place* the playoffs – with a 2-1 win over LA Galaxy, improving to 8-6-6 on the season. Reminded of this by the Austin FC Ireland account, which does comparisons for all five seasons as a regular service, this got us thinking about this 22-game mark as a pivotal juncture. > For comparison purposes, this is how this season is stacking up against prior years after 22 games played. #AustinFC > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:libcmnoo4kr6izapkdeh2vdy/post/3lu65heco5k2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) > > — Austin FC Ireland ([@austinfcireland.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:libcmnoo4kr6izapkdeh2vdy?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com)) [July 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:libcmnoo4kr6izapkdeh2vdy/post/3lu65heco5k2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) You know what happened to close out 2024, and in case you forget, I'm here to quickly remind you that you don't want 2024 to repeat itself. Verde finished on a 3-6-3 skid which included a 1-0 loss to Seattle and a 3-1 loss to Dallas in the following two games, a 2-2 draw to Charlotte (which included Mikkel Desler's debut), a Leagues Cup break that included two improbable home wins to Liga MX giants Pumas and Monterrey (followed by an away loss at LAFC per the tournament organizers' scheduling whims), a win away at Nashville that featured the best Osman Bukari in Verde goal to date, and then a five-match winless streak that put the team on the brink of playoff elimination — a ridiculous, mathematically-quite-probable brink that put head coach Josh Wolff in limbo. The playoff hopes, and Wolff's tenure at Austin, ended with an away loss to the LA Galaxy; Wolff was dismissed the following morning, and interim coach Davy Arnaud won the meaningless season finale over the Rapids. Of course, there are reasons to hope that 2025 won't be like 2024\. Let's start with the schedule. ## What's next for Austin A month ago, we discussed [the relatively "easy" schedule](https://verdeallday.com/strength-of-schedule-austin-fc-stats-ppg-standard-deviation-z-score-nerdery/) for Verde down the stretch based on opponents' points per game; since posting that article, the team's only played three matches. They lost to Seattle, drew against New England at home, beat the Galaxy, and its home match against LAFC — one of the trickier tests remaining on the regular-season schedule – was delayed due to catastrophic flooding in Central Texas and got moved to become the penultimate match of the season during an international break in which each team's biggest scoring threat will likely be across the Atlantic. Here's the remaining schedule (with their current places in the table for regular-season matches): - July 26, at D.C. United (14th in the East) - Aug. 9, vs. Houston Dynamo FC (11th in the West) - Aug. 16, vs. FC Dallas (12th in the West) - Aug. 23, at CF Montréal (15th in the East) - Aug. 30, at San Jose Earthquakes (9th in the West) - Sept. 6, at Sporting Kansas City (13th in the West) - Sept. 13, at FC Dallas (12th in the West) - *Sept. 17, at Minnesota United (U.S. Open Cup semifinal)* - Sept. 20, vs. Seattle Sounders (4th in the West) - Sept. 27, at Real Salt Lake (10th in the West) - *Oct. 1, U.S. Open Cup final (optimism!)* - Oct. 4, vs. St. Louis City SC (14th in the West) - Oct. 12, vs. LAFC (5th in the West) - Oct. 18, at San Jose Earthquakes (9th in the West) There's a bit of a Leagues Cup gap, a bit of Open Cup congestion for at least one match (hopefully two), but it's pretty much a match each Saturday against mostly the bottom tier of the league. To put the ease of the schedule another way, 10 of the remaining 12 regular-season matches are against teams that are 9th or below. Take the two matches against San Jose out of the equation, and exactly 2/3 of the games are against teams who would miss the playoffs if today's table was the final one. The next six matches are against teams with a combined 0.98 points per game, with a combined 33-69-40 record. Of the six, all but San Jose already have double-digit losses on the season. That's not, of course, a guarantee that Verde will stack wins — consider the recent scoreless draw against a Revs team that's now 6-10-7 (on 1.09 PPG) — but the schedule we regarded as favorable is particularly favorable heading into and through the Labor Day holiday. ## Who's coming? Who's going? The summer transfer window opens on Thursday, July 24, the day after the All-Star Game, and we already know of one incoming player. Nicky Beloko, most recently with FC Luzern in the Swiss Super League, was pledged back in January and will be available when Austin plays at Audi Field on Saturday — and since he's already been training with the team, you might expect him to make a sub appearance. With the rumor that Dani Pereira is off to Coventry City — a move several years in the making if you believe all the past and present reporting (which includes what Pereira himself told We Are Austin TV) — Beloko becomes a roughly like-for-like swap in central midfield, making the roster a little more flexible for sporting director Rodolfo Borrell to do work — though international spots are still at a premium. There's also the somewhat baffling rumor that Diego Palacios is coming from Corinthians on a loan, and there's enough smoke around that rumor that you should expect it to be announced soon. Palacios (still just 26, despite being a pro since 2014) certainly provides Verde an upgrade at left back, but given the need in other positions (attacking midfield, center back, and now striker thanks to the Brandon Vázquez injury), it's a little puzzling as a move unless it's coupled with another outgoing player. Given that Palacios is a left back, perhaps it's Žan Kolmanič that could be going out, though there have also been rumors about Jáder Obrian heading to Colombia. As Jon Gallagher has played a lot of wing this season and Robert Taylor remains on this roster, perhaps Guilherme Biro will function as the temporary fourth center back solution until the offseason, when I would expect Julio Cascante to either sign a new, more club-friendly contract or move from the club, and center back would become even more of a need position. (Remember that Verde's been playing with three true first-team center backs since moving Leo Väisänen just four months ago.) There are a few more incoming player rumors we should keep on the radar, just in case: - Kervin "Tuti" Andrade, a very fun attacking 20-year-old midfielder who would be a U22 Initiative player — according to the latest wave of rumors, his current club Fortaleza may be willing to let him go on loan for a year, with Orlando, Austin, and unnamed Serie B teams in Italy reportedly among the suitors; - Mickaël Nadé, a 26-year-old French defender with Ligue 2 side Saint-Étienne (the same league that served as the pipeline for Desler and Moussa Djitté to get to Austin FC); and - Mateja Đorđević, the latest rumored center back signing – he's a 22-year-old Serbian with Serbian SuperLiga team FK TSC Bačka Topola, best known in soccer circles for its youth academy developing Dušan Tadić (who you might remember playing for Southampton, Ajax, and Fenerbahçe. At present, Verde has one international spot left, and it's a ninth spot secured in a trade; they'll be back to eight next year unless they're able to make a deal to grab another spot. Obrian leaving would free up another spot, but the other seven belong to Beloko (who just got here), Biro, Bukari, Oleksandr Svatok, and three players who arrived in 2025 — Nicolás Dubersarsky, Besard Šabović, and Myrto Uzuni. It's hard to imagine, of those seven, who would be able to secure a green card or who would be dealt so relatively soon after getting here. (Biro, having arrived in January 2024, has the longest tenure of those seven, and Obrian arrived via the league's Re-Entry Draft the month before Biro arrived.) ## The MVP candidates so far If you have to look for one MVP on the team, Brad Stuver is the most obvious choice. He's finally an All-Star (and arguably might have been this season even with another coach selecting), he has eight clean sheets to match his career high (with 12 more attempts to break it), he's fourth in the league in post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed at +4.6 (meaning he's let in 4.6 less goals than you'd expect given the saves he's had to make or attempt), leads all goalkeepers in passes of more than 40 yards completed (with 126), and Austin's currently second-best in goals allowed with 24 — with only Philadelphia doing better with 23 (and having used two goalkeepers). Though it hasn't really shown up on the scoresheet as dramatically, you could also make an MVP case for Owen Wolff, who is the co-leader in goal contributions and assists, secured the penalty kick allowing Verde to take its Open Cup quarterfinal game to a shootout, and then converted the winning penalty kick to get them to the semis — and he's doing that from a supplemental roster spot as a 20-year-old. While Wolff might not be the pure No. 10 that Verde clearly needs, he's arguably the closest player to that on the roster right now (other than Diego Rubio, who has many more miles on him), and should the team find its way to the playoffs, Wolff will likely have a hand in that. Certainly, the two remaining healthy designated players will have to pick it up, and other players will need to add to their current season-long goal tallies of zero, one, or two. But even if Pereira isn't headed out, which would leave Wolff as the midfielder with the most Verde appearances – we're still counting Gallagher as a defender, right? — Nico Estévez will be counting on Wolff to continue to perform. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### A guide to All-Star Week URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-guide-to-all-star-week/ Last updated: 2025-07-20T19:57:49.000Z Having trouble keeping up with all of the official, unofficial, and in-between events that have been announced for MLS All-Star Week? We put this post together for you to help, and will add to the live/website version of it if and when things are added and changed, so make sure to leave that tab open on your phone through Wednesday. ## Saturday, July 19 ### **Nico Estevez & Brad Stuver Meet and Greet** **Domain Northside Lawn** *through 3 pm (you just missed it)* … with a 30-foot soccer ball folks! Was wrapping up as we were editing and posting this! Hope you had fun! ### Laundry Project Hangout with Brad Stuver **Hopsquad Brewing, 2307 Kramer Lane** *3-5 pm* A laid-back chance to hang out with Brad and donate money for this year’s Laundry Project. (They’re all set on supplies; don’t bring them!) ### La Murga de Austin Vinyl Release **ABGB, 1305 W. Oltorf St** *starts at 6 pm* Celebrate La Murga’s big vinyl release! Los Verdes and other folks will be tabling at what is sure to be a good time. ### Party with the Pirates & The North End Podcast **Shipwreck’d/The Eleanor, 307 W. 5th St** *starts at 9 pm* The Pirates will be kicking off All-Star weekend in style and full regalia with a trip to the pop-up pirate bar on 5th. The bar offers discounted drinks if you dress up as a pirate! ### MLS Soccer Celebration at Auditorium Shores, Night 1 **Auditorium Shores, 900 W. Riverside Drive** *6-10 pm* Try the new Whataburger “Prickly Pear Whatafresher” alongside various “brand activations” like Audi letting you test drive their cars and Captain Morgan handing out replica Captain armbands (designed by Austin “Year of the Dragon” tifo artist Bobby Dixon). Both days, the Michelob Ultra/Vanta mini pitch will play host to various challenges and competitions, signed jersey giveaways, and unique VIP All-Star experience package prizes for winners. *Saturday-specific stuff you should know about:* 6:30-8 pm: Cobi Jones signing at the Caterpillar booth 8-10 pm: A promised Austin FC player “surprise meet and greet, a skills showdown, and giveaways to include a signed jersey and tickets to the Skills Challenge at the Michelob Ultra/Vanta mini pitch. ## Sunday, July 20 ### Chris Wondolowski at JD Supermarket **JD Supermarket, 8807 Cameron Road** *4-6 pm* This is [not a drill](https://www.instagram.com/jdssupermarkets/p/DMQbkTsBf88/?ref=verdeallday.com). ### ATX All-Star Futbol Fan Fest **Lustre Pearl East, 114 Linden Street** *5-10 pm* Street soccer, merch and ticket giveaways, MLS and LIGA MX All-star merch, all with a live DJ, live muralist (Austin’s own Nando), and on-site tattoo artist. Local artists will also have work available for sale, and with the crew who run Barrio Club de Futbol organizing along with a host of local and national partners, it’ll be a [hot spot](https://www.instagram.com/p/DL78Do-x1jZ/?img%5Findex=1&ref=verdeallday.com) in a busy weekend. ### MLS Soccer Celebration at Auditorium Shores Night 2 **Auditorium Shores, 900 W. Riverside Drive** *6-10 pm* See Saturday's entry above, and watch out for surprise Austin player signings at the Austin FC x YETI lounge based on what we saw on Saturday, plus *Sunday-specific stuff you should know about:* 6-9 pm: Diego Valeri and Gyasi Zardes signing at the Caterpillar booth 8-10 pm: Michelob Ultra/Vanta Mini Pitch juggling challenge, open play, penalty shootout competition, and a surprise MLS Legend meet and greet. Giveaways to include Q2 Stadium tour, All-Star tickets, halftime recognition, and a tunnel walk experience on gameday. 8-10 pm: Live music from Austin bands Me Nd Adam opening for Sir Woman ### MLS All-Star After Dark, Night 1 **Continental Club, 1315 S. Congress Ave** *starts at 10 pm* The party starts at Continental Club with a soulful set from Willie Pipkin & Friends. ## Monday, July 21 ### MLS Player Meet and Greet **Dick’s Sporting Goods at The Domain, 3210 Kramer Lane** *2-5 pm* Meet RSL and USMNT's Diego Luna, Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge, and our favorite Wolff. ### Monday Night Live! presented by Verde All Day, We Are Austin Media, and OtraXFavor **Hopsquad/Kramer’s/Dough Squad, 2307 Kramer Lane** *5-10ish pm* Hopsquad is usually closed on Mondays, but will opening up to fans from all MLS and Liga MX fanbases the night before Skills Challenge for our extravaganza, featuring panel discussions from local and national media and our own special spin on things. ### Austin FC midfielder Owen Wolff Meet and Greet **Parmer Field, 13000 Harris Ridge Blvd.** *6:30-7:30 pm* Our favorite Wolff is the opening act for the first of three nights of actual soccer players doing actual soccer things. ### MLS Next All-Star Game **Parmer Field, 13000 Harris Ridge Blvd.** *7:30-9:30 pm* ### MLS All-Star After Dark, Night 2 **Hotel Vegas, 1502 E. 6th Street** *10 pm* Night two gets loud, local, and full of flavor! Pull up to Hotel Vegas for Austin Cumbia All Stars and PERREO Club All-Stars. ## Tuesday, July 22 **Dani Pereira and Trill Burger at Sneaker Politics** **Sneaker Politics, 221 West 2nd Street** 12:30-2:30 pm Dani will be signing from 12:30-1:30 pm at this first of [Dani-is-everywhere events](https://www.instagram.com/p/DMOVsbFT30O/?ref=verdeallday.com). Also, Trill Burgers! ### Liga MX Player Appearances **Dick’s Sporting Goods at The Domain, 3210 Kramer Lane** *2:30-3:30 pm* Meet Tijuana and Liga MX wunderkind Gilberto Mora, Cruz Azul's Carlos Rotondi, and Toluca's Marcel Ruíz. *4-6 pm* Meet the legendary Luis "El Matador" Hernandez. ### Soccerwise/Kickback Live at Haymaker with Dani Pereira **Haymaker, 2310 Manor Rd** *starts at 4:30 pm* Happy hour starts at 4:30 pm, with the “opening act” listed for 6 pm (which might include Phil West among other local media folks). David Gass, Susannah Fuller, Tom Bogert, Jordan Angeli, and Heath Pearce will all be holding court with special guest Dani Pereira. ### MLS All-Star Skills Challenge **Q2 Stadium, 10414 McKalla Place** *8-10 pm* For the sickest of the sickos. They just announced “ISHOWSPEED” will be joining, along with some Hall of Fame retired legends. Also, on both Tuesday and Wednesday, MLS is hosting a Future of the Game exhibit inside the Lexus Club starting when gates open. ### MLS All-Star After Dark, Night 3 **C-Boy's, 2008 S. Congress Avenue** *starts at 10 pm* Wrap up All-Star After Dark at C-Boy’s with the legendary D-Madness and Grooveline Horns. ## Wednesday, July 23 ### Special Olympics Unified Sports MLS All-Star Game: East vs West **Parmer Field, 13000 Harris Ridge Blvd.** *starts at 9 am* The 2025 Special Olympics Unified All-Star Game, presented by MLS and Coca-Cola, will feature East and West All-Star teams comprised of players with intellectual disabilities (Special Olympics athletes) and without intellectual disabilities (Unified partners). ### MLS All-Star Game **Q2 Stadium, 10414 McKalla Place** *8-10 pm* The reason for the season! Unless he suffered a grievous injury on his (we assume) private plane, Messi plays at Q2 for the first time. ### The Thursday Three: We hear from a coach, a player, and a referee on the Galaxy road win URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-thursday-three-we-hear-from-a-coach-a-player-and-a-referee-on-the-galaxy-road-win/ Last updated: 2025-07-17T13:59:05.000Z Following [Austin FC's 2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-lavatx-071625/) over LA Galaxy in Carson on Wednesday – completing the season sweep over the current MLS champs, as the Verde comms team helpfully pointed out — we were doing the customary wait for head coach Nico Estévez and a player to do the post-match interview, but I was waiting for another quote. Namely, through Galaxy pool reporter Josh Guesman, I'd put in a question to referee Ricardo Fierro about a non-call that raised my eyebrows, and to PRO's credit. I did get an answer. But in the words of fellow referee Filip Dujic, "[HOWEVER](https://x.com/RobUsry/status/1804694583089000698?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1804694583089000698%7Ctwgr%5E0444c7a6659f2ad41442cef40be5dd1583973aa2%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5Fc10&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fmls-ref-goes-viral-for-bait-and-switch-var-announcement-calling-back-st-louis-city-sc-goal-175708375.html&ref=verdeallday.com)." Let's get to Myrto Uzuni first, though, as we got some spice from Estévez on that topic as well as the refereeing. (Estévez was in a spicy mood following the match, and come to think of it, given the yellow card he was shown, spicy during the match as well.) ## Maybe we just don't know soccer I asked about what appeared to be a perceptible difference in Uzuni's play and if something had been said or imparted in training that gave him that extra confidence. After all, though he did react to some of the missed opportunities and saved shots during the match, it didn't register as the same level of angst as even as recently as Saturday's Revs match, where he observed one miss by hiding his face in his jersey. Weaving through three defenders (albeit Galaxy defenders, but still) and connecting on a shot from distance to open a match's scoring does wonders for a striker's confidence, it would seem. But to Estévez, the Uzuni of Wednesday was as good as the Uzuni who couldn't score three days prior. "He had a similar game that he had the other day against New England," the coach said. "I think against New England, he played amazing. And today, he played also amazing. The difference is, the other day, he didn't score. Today, he has a score and because people just look at that, what it looks like for you guys, is a little bit different. For me, it's the same. "I think he's playing really well, and I have total confidence on him and total belief on him since day one," he added. "It's just about time that he started scoring goals, because he has the quality, it has been proven ... Every other thing, every other noise, every other criticism is bullshit, and it's \[from\] people that know very little about soccer." Diego Rubio, who got the assist on the game-changing and potentially Uzuni-season-changing goal, indicated that a happy Uzuni makes for a happy team. "It's good," he said. "I mean, we all know what happened last week with Brandon ... it's a sad, I'll say, moment for us, especially in the middle of the season, but we know that we have Myrto. Last game, he had many chances, and today, he has that chance, and he scored." He added, "This is huge for everybody," and after emphasizing that more scoring still needs to happen throughout the team, he posited, "It's good confidence for the rest of the season and for the next game that is going to be in 10 days." ## Let's talk about some calls I couldn't even get out my entire question to Estévez about the refereeing before he jumped right in energetically. "Really bad! Terribly bad!" Estévez exclaimed, and then followed up with my note about his yellow card by saying, "I didn't even know what is coming. I wasn't even warned or anything. I mean, a team that should have a red card already," seemingly referring to Edwin Cerrillo's two yellow-card-level fouls after earning an early yellow, "and the PK, he's not even \[making\] contact there," pointing out the call that Fierro made on Mikkel Desler, whistled after appearing to be within his rights posting up against Joseph Paintsil on the endline. "It's crazy, but it's what it is," Estévez said. "We know always that we play against teams like LA Galaxy, \[that\] has that history around the league. It's always difficult, and we have to play against them and against anything else that is in the game. "They overcomplicate the games," he added. "For the games that we've seen between Galaxy and Austin. It was a very easy game to call, and I think he missed some of the big calls," before promising he would "try to help" by taking some concerns to the league and to PRO. Here's my question to PRO about a foul I thought was worthy of a yellow card — though it didn't get a replay from the Apple TV crew that showed two different substitute cards up close and made other baffling production choices throughout the match, start around 42:26 if you're watching the replay. (Contact's not made until 42:37, but you get to hear the announcer say "Guilherme Beer" if you start the stream there.) ### In the 43rd minute, it appeared Cerrillo (#6), already on a yellow, sucker-punched Uzuni (#10) in the ribs. Why was there no stoppage of play or review given that a possible ejection was in the balance? *In the 43rd minute #6 Edwin Cerrillo of LA Galaxy made negligible contact in the back of Austin's #10 Myrto Uzuni. The incident was checked by the VAR, who did not feel there was a clear error with the on-field decision, feeling the incident did not rise to the level of violent conduct.* I respect the sticking to guns and calling it "negligible contact," which implies a bit of selling it on Uzuni's part. But I also, from the ocular evidence before me, find it a little more than negligible. ## On believing when no one does Estévez once again developed a narrative, late in his press conference, that media is perhaps turning on the team – or at least we're not consistently true believers —and he's a rock in the face of that. "The message was clear," he said regarding what he's told the team. "I believe in you; believe in your teammates. When results are not coming, you know people abandon you ... you know, it could be you guys. It could be some fans ... and then in the difficult moments, they can feel that it's my job to show them that we believe in them, and I think they show that they're a good team. They show that they can play really well, as they did in the second half and the first half, and they can grind in and hold our soul and have the resiliency that is important to hold results. "Sometimes, things are not going your way. Sometimes, you are not scoring the goals that you want, but you're having the chances ... it's very easy to abandon the players and coaches and everyone when things are going the wrong way, but the difficulty is to stick together and believe in the place that we have, believe in everyone that is around the team, that we're a good team, and that we can make good things as a team. And I think they showed up to them." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: LA Galaxy 1, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-lavatx-071625/ Last updated: 2025-07-27T00:05:50.000Z In one of the fierier rivalries Austin FC finds itself in at this juncture of the 2025 season, the team traveled to Carson on Wednesday night and got goals from Myrto Uzuni and Owen Wolff to notch an important 2-1 road win against the mercurial LA Galaxy. The match started with some weird vibes, including an inadequately deflated ball (see "One thing you might have missed"), an Edwin Cerillo yellow followed by what should have been a second yellow, a near own goal by Oleksandr Svatok, and a couple of would-be Osman Bukari assists left wanting. Austin had its first real Galaxy-induced nervy moment in the 26th, with a turnover in the Galaxy's end turning into a break the other way that ended with a worrying number of Galaxy attackers in the box and a loosely guarded Joseph Painstil ripping a shot that went just wide of the post past a diving Brad Stuver. Uzuni got on the scoresheet in the 40th minute, getting a pass fed to him by Diego Rubio near the edge of the box; he then weaved through three defenders and confidently took a strike with his left foot to score without hesitation or doubt, and it is so nice to finally type that after weeks of not typing that. Soon after, there was a fracas that started with Cerillo appearing to punch Uzuni in the ribs (check it out at 42:41 on the replay), and somehow ended, not with Cerillo getting tossed for what could have been his third yellow (or just a straight red), but with an aggrieved-for-his-teammate Guilherme Biro and angry head coach Nico Estévez both getting yellow cards. (We have a question out to PRO via our Galaxy counterpart about the non-call.) After 15 minutes of 10 minutes of first-half stoppage time — yes, this was a ridiculous match – the teams returned from halftime with the hosts providing the first scary moment. In minute 49, Gabriel Pec got clear of defenders cutting in toward goal and let a shot rip that got past Stuver, hit the post, and squirted across the face of goal before the All-Star keeper was able to kick it out of danger. Wolff sent Uzuni free moments after that for what was nearly his second, but Uzuni placed his shot where Galaxy 'keeper Novak Micovic was able to grab it. But Uzuni was the catalyst on the second goal, forcing Micovic to commit as he went goalward; the ball somehow got loose, evading the keeper, and bounced over to Wolff, who kept his composure and got his shot in past a Galaxy defender trying to play goalie without using the two most important appendages a goalie has. At the start of eight minutes of second-half stoppage time, Joseph Paintsil got a fortuitous penalty call from referee Ricardo Fierro (in case you want to remember that name) after tussling with Mikkel Desler on the end line. Maybe it was a push, maybe it was just allowable shoulder-to-shoulder defense, but Paintsil converted his own penalty to put the match's outcome into a bit more limbo. Bukari very nearly made it moot a moment later, getting in through the box to seek an insurance goal, but his shot was right at Micovic. But Paintsil got one more chance off that Stuver had to dive to save, in the 11th minute of eight minutes of second-half stoppage time to close out the game. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Bukari's move toward goal and feathered pass across the six early in the match would have given Austin the early lead had Uzuni been quick enough to get on it, but we're again seeing how good he's becoming. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) That near own-goal from Svatok. Woof. ## One thing you might have missed About 5 1/2 minutes in, the match was stopped so they could get a ball that was pumped up enough to use, as Brad Stuver noted it didn't have sufficient air. There *are* other balls in the stadium, you know. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin finished with just seven shots to the Galaxy's 15\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's a welcome road win and it's got Verde on a 3-1-1 swing in their last five matches. Four points from their last six is pretty good, though six out of six would have been better considering how disappointing that Revs' home draw was. ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm curious to know if Uzuni got any different guidance heading into this match, or did anything special to show confidence, or if this was just the law of averages kicking in. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Alex Ruiz of the Galactic Tribune URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-alex-ruiz-galactic-tribune-lavatx-071625/ Last updated: 2025-07-16T13:15:33.000Z The saga continues on Wednesday night. The spicy rivalry between Austin FC and the LA Galaxy — which has devolved into heated and pushy extracurriculars the last two times the teams met — heads to Carson on Wednesday night for another installment in the series, currently favoring the Galaxy (who have five wins, three losses, and a draw against Verde). ## But first, a passing map Before we delve into Alex Ruiz's [excellent insights](https://www.galactictribune.org/?ref=verdeallday.com) (on the site where you'll also see me answer his questions about Verde), I did want to visit one quick note from Saturday's frustrating 0-0 match against New England. Looking at the passing map and the average position of players, it's fairly clear to me that Galaxy coach Greg Vanney will focus on protecting the left side of their final third given what Osman Bukari (RW in the graphic) is doing relative to everyone else on Austin. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-16-at-7.34.54---AM.png) Given that the thickness of the line indicates how much passing is happening between the players, the relatively light involvement of Myrto Uzuni (CF in the graphic) remains a concern. It's fine having pushed-up wingers like this as long as they're cutting passes back in to the striker — and as we've noted prior, the 16th-minute square pass resulting in Uzuni's best chance of the night should have been enough, but sometimes desperation kick saves just happen. Also, despite the Galaxy's unfathomably slow start, the defending MLS champs (they are still that) have been playing more like that than the Wooden Spoon candidates they've been for the majority of 2025\. (Alex gets into why in his answers). ## Also, a hearty hello to ¡Vamos Verde! fans Also, I'll be answering questions on a stage tonight! The excellent duo that does ¡Vamos Verde! (KUT's Juan Garcia and Jimmy Maas) are doing a [¡Vamos Verde! Live show](https://www.kut.org/station-information/2025-07-08/join-us-for-vamos-verde-live-july-16?ref=verdeallday.com) tonight at Central Machine Works (4824 East Cesar Chavez Street) ahead of tonight's very West Coasty 9:30 pm kickoff. They're announcing it as a 7 pm start, with the Austin Chronicle's Eric Goodman and me holding court starting about 7:30 pm. I'd love to see you there. (This is probably also a good time to mention Monday Night Live, the show that we're doing with our friends at We Are Austin TV this coming Monday, 5-10 pm at Hopsquad ahead of the All-Star Game, with national and local media folks answering questions we put before them.) ## Now, your regularly-scheduled Foreign Exchange To the questions! ### After a historically bad start, LA's only lost one of its last six, including a pair of wins in its last two games. What do you attribute the turnaround to, and is this something they can keep up? One of the main reasons for the LA Galaxy's better run of form is the stability within the team now. You go back a few months, and there were a lot of things keeping LA from getting into a groove. Injuries to Gabriel Pec, Joseph Paintsil, and Marco Reus made it hard for the Galaxy to find that consistency and grow in the attack. The Galaxy gave Greg Vanney a multi-year contract extension, which shut down all the chatter about whether he would be gone a year after winning the MLS Cup. The team has also finally settled on its preferred backline with Novak Micovic and Julian Aude taking starting roles. Reus has been the key figure in the Galaxy's competitiveness in every game it plays since the mid-point of the season. The former German Player of the Year has 12 goal contributions (five goals, seven assists) in his last 12 matches for the Galaxy. This stretch has coincided with his healthiest stretch of the season, where he’s played 90 minutes multiple times and not been sidelined for injury reasons. A player like Reus reads the game faster and smarter than every player on the pitch. He’s showing his individual qualities but also making everyone else around him. Also, keep an eye on Matheus Nascimento. The U22 striker has taken some time to break into Vanney’s starting XI, but the wait has been worth it. The Brazilian adds energy with work rate and he’s starting to build strong chemistry with the rest of his teammates in the attack. He has five goal contributions (two goals, three assists) in his last six appearances for the Gs. ### Back in April, you noted that the team was missing its quarterback (Riqui Puig) and that Diego Fagúndez might be the backup quarterback they need. Has that indeed manifested, and what kind of season is he having? Fagúndez has played a role for the Galaxy this season, but not necessarily as the catalyst or leading man. Reus has been the quarterback for the club with Puig out, instead of the former Austin FC man filling that role. He’s not a player who is going to create a moment of magic by himself or add an extra layer of dynamism to the pitch. He’s best when he can find pockets of space and move the ball forward in the attack. Fagúndez has been playing alongside Reus in the middle of the park, which has allowed the Galaxy to flow better in the attack. His familiarity with the Vanney’s system allows LA to play its soccer compared to when Lucas Sanabria is out on the pitch, who is still getting comfortable playing in this possession-based system. Fagúndez is also a key figure in the Galaxy locker room. Vanney has talked about how he is always moving around the different “cliques” within the team, such as the group of veteran players, the Spanish-speaking contingent, and the young players on the team. It’s hard to find Fagúndez without a smile, and he’s been one of the best at keeping morale up despite the club spending most of this season at the bottom of the Supporters' Shield standings. Don’t expect Fagúndez to be picking up many goals or assists, but he keeps the ball moving and gives LA some stability with him in possession. He’ll look to score against Austin FC and continue his mission to score against every MLS club. ### We understand there are some new tensions between Galaxy fans and the front office that have nothing to do with Chris Klein. Can you explain what's going on? And could it impact what kind of turnout the game will have on Wednesday (which I imagine is already going to be a lighter crowd than usual given it's a midsummer Wednesday in Carson)? The Galaxy fanbase is essentially speaking on the issues that the club has yet to publicly address or acknowledge. The ICE raids in Southern California, which have been happening since the start of June, have brought some unrest and worry to the immigrant community here. LAFC and NWSL side Angel City FC released statements to acknowledge and provide solidarity with the community during this rough time. However, the Galaxy didn’t make any public statements about the situation, which didn’t sit well with a lot of the fanbase. The silence of the club became a major talking point on social media, and it eventually became visible in the stands. On the Galaxy’s first home match since the start of those ICE raids, the Victoria Block supporters lifted a tifo that said, “Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants” and walked out during the 12th minute of the match. Dignity Health Sports Park fell quiet, and the drop in the atmosphere was highly noticeable. In LA’s most recent match against D.C. United, both Victoria Block and the LA Riot Squad were silent in the stands. I expect the silent protest from the supporters will continue on Wednesday night. On social media, a growing number of Galaxy fans have made it known that this situation has caused them to put their season-ticket memberships on hold. It’s a situation that could’ve been avoided, and fans have started speaking out about it more. In my conversations with people in the front office, there has been dialogue from both sides about this situation. I was told that both sides don’t view this current situation like the 2023 fan boycotts. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between the fans and the club develops as the season goes on. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We lost the shape; we lost the plan': Assessing another home draw that felt like a loss URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvne-071225/ Last updated: 2025-07-13T17:41:08.000Z At the start of Saturday night's press conference following Austin FC's 0-0 home draw against the New England Revolution, head coach Nico Estévez did the thing he's been doing more than once this season: Citing the expected goals his players generated, assessing his team as unlucky in not capitalizing on chances, and even asserting, "It's a game that, if you play \[it\] 10 times, nine, you win." But he also had some criticism for how they closed out the match, noting, "At the end, we lost, we lost the shape, we lost the plan ... we just have to be patient," before saying the chances were there. "We were pushing. We were having effort, but not clear ideas," he said of the closing phase of the game, which included Jon Gallagher's mishit final third pass toward the end of stoppage time earning Estévez a [Face of the Week "award"](https://x.com/MattDoyle76/status/1944224125343367278?ref=verdeallday.com) from MLS' Matthew Doyle. "Until that, we had clear ideas on how to score goals." He also noted that there might have been a bit of a hangover effect from Tuesday's marathon Open Cup match against San Jose that propelled them into the tournament's final four. "We're coming from a really difficult game," he said, "Look at San Jose, look what they did today," pointing to their 4-1 loss at Minnesota. "It's tough to come back from 120 minutes, travel, everything ... I know that everything that the players do is in order to win, but we need to win as a team. We were disconnected at the end of the game, and it was at the end of the game that I didn't think we would deserve to win the game. We were pushing, we were having effort, but not clear ideas. I think, until then, we had clear ideas on how to score goals." Those included two golden Myrto Uzuni chances — receiving a square ball in front of goal from Osman Bukari in the 16th minute, which he shot where Revs goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic could kick it away, and an 81st-minute attempt that struck the crossbar. "He worked really hard, and he should be the man of the match today, making us win," Estévez said in assessing Uzuni's performance. "I feel if he continues to have those chances, he will help the team scoring goals." While he did admit that Uzuni could improve his accuracy, something he said he and the coaching staff would work with him on, he also noted, "He created enough chances today to make the difference in the game. I'm really happy at the end of the day; some games, we've seen that he didn't create those chances." While Robert Taylor got in as part of a triple sub near the hour mark — rotation made essential by the mileage that Tuesday's match put on him — his inclusion into matches from the get-go is one of the few substantial lineup changes available for Estévez to shuffle a team that's now managed just 15 goals in 21 matches. Only Estévez intimated that Taylor — who got 22 starts for a 2024 Miami team full of global superstars – isn't ready yet. "To start, you have to deserve to start," Estévez said, instead giving Diego Rubio the starting nod in a lineup reshuffled by Brandon Vázquez's season-ending injury. "He has to keep working hard in order that he's available as a starting player ... he's making progress. We ask a lot of our wingers, but he still needs a little bit more time. "I'm not saying that he's not going to start on Wednesday. He could start on Wednesday," he added. "He's making progress, but we have to analyze a lot of things for the game, how everyone recovers, how everyone is ready to go. I think the good thing today is we used a lot of players," again noting the wear that Tuesday's match put on the squad, "and that rotation will help us to be a stronger team for Wednesday." ![Diego Rubio on the ball in Austin FC's match against New England](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/rubio-on-ball.png) **Diego Rubio got the rare start for Austin on Saturday (OtraXFavor)* ## Player perspectives On a night where you could hardly blame players for not wanting to talk, both Brad Stuver and Ilie Sánchez provided some insights on the match and where it fits into the long season. "Moving on in Open Cup was a goal of ours," Stuver said in assessing the week. "We made into the semifinals; that's something that we haven't done before in the club, and obviously it gives us two games before we can lift the trophy, and we're very focused on that when the time comes. Tonight, again, being able to draw at home feels a little bit like a loss, just because you want to take away three points when you can. And we have 13 games left, and we know we need to make up ground, so we need to rest up and be ready to go." "We know that we have a good group of guys, but we are still not getting it where we want to be, and that's more with the approach of putting our individual qualities towards the collective more than just going out there and trying to shine," Sánchez said. "We have to take the positives, but we have to be also self-critical with ourselves, and know that tonight it was about repeating and repeating what we knew worked and what we saw work a few times throughout the game," he added. "So sometimes it's not about performing physically, but also, how much can you be consistent mentally, doing what you know it's going to work against the opponent with the ball, but also without the ball .. especially when you come from a midweek game with the extra time, that emotional game with all of what happened to Brandon, we need to be tougher, mentally, repeating what works against the following opponent." ## What's next Of course, that following opponent is the LA Galaxy, who beat D.C. United 2-1 in Saturday's late match on the strength of a Marco Reus goal and a Diego Fagúndez goal — improving their season record to 3-13-6, because it's been that kind of season for them. After the All-Star break, Austin will play D.C. at Audi Field — coming off that loss in Carson in new head coach René Weiler's debut. Then, Verde won't play again until their next home match, coming Aug. 9 against the Dynamo to kick off a key Copa Tejas stretch including an Aug. 16 match hosting FC Dallas. With just a St. Louis-Portland match set for Sunday that won't change Verde's place in the standings, they currently stand ninth in the conference, meaning that if the season ended today, they'd have to travel to San Jose for the play-in match. That, of course, is where they'll be for Decision Day, so figure on this newly-keen rivalry having an outsized effect on Verde's playoff fortunes. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, New England Revolution 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvne-071225/ Last updated: 2025-07-13T02:38:53.000Z Austin FC, coming off an Open Cup match they won without scoring in open play, again failed to score from open play on Saturday night against the New England Revolution at Q2 Stadium — but they also held firm, getting a 0-0 draw that was more exciting than the score might indicate. Verde got the first shot on goal for either side just past the 15-minute mark, and it was tantalizingly close, with Osman Bukari cutting inside and getting a cross to a waiting Myrto Uzuni, who tried to wrong-foot Aljaz Ivacic and instead sent a shot that Ivacic was able to kick-save away. Uzuni reacted in the way you might expect him to react. ![Myrto Uzuni with head in jersey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/uzuni-head-in-jersey.png) **We've all had moments like this; just not in front of a pretty full stadium (Alex Rubio)* In the 28th minute, Bukari again found space down the right flank, this time feeding to Mikkel Desler running to his outside in parallel, but shooting into the side netting. Then, Luca Langoni nearly scored in the 30th minute (see worst Verde moment), instead hitting the post past an outstretched Brad Stuver to make things a little more interesting. Dani Pereira went on a solo run into the final third and the box in the 37th minute, getting off a shot that deflected off a Revs defender Mamadou Fofana — again very nearly a goal. But then the next two big chances, one each on either side of halftime, belonged to New England, including Langoni beating Desler in the 47th minute to get in a pass to an arriving Thomas Chancalay, who stung Stuver's palms on his quick-reflex shot. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez made a rare early triple sub at minute 57 to get Robert Taylor, Besard Šabović, and Oleksandr Svatok into the game. Bukari had another one of Austin's missed chances in the 67th, getting in on goal once again and trying to fool Ivacic with a near-post shot. (He didn't fool him.) Owen Wolff got into the match right after that attempt, and in the 75th minute, attempted to reactivate his PK-drawing magic from Tuesday's match, drawing contact in the box from Brayan Ceballos but not getting rewarded by referee Rosendo Mendoza (who you may remember issuing Brendan Hines-Ike two quick yellows in the waning moments of the home match against the Galaxy back in April. A moment later, another Bukari shot on goal, another Ivacic save — matched two minutes later by Stuver saving against super sub Leo Campana. Two minutes later, Uzuni struck the crossbar with a close-range shot — the last appreciable chance for either side. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Though it was ultimately fruitless, Bukari's move toward goal to get Uzuni his early chance was one of several fantastic individual efforts from the Ghanaian winger, who is really fun to watch even if it's painful to see this offense squander all the chances they're able to extricate. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Langoni shot came with a leading pass from Carles Gil — which is something you should game for when playing the Revs, and because once Langoni received the pass, he burst into the open field with Julio Cascante trailing. *Decidedly* trailing. ![Luca Langoni getting past Julio Cascante for a shot](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/cascante-trailing.png) **Julio Cascante got beat on this play (OtraXFavor)* ## One thing you might have missed At halftime, Ilie Sánchez, in his captain's role, had an extended conversation with Mendoza, accompanied by Žan Kolmanič. Then Stuver got some time with him, as did Guilherme Biro, still wearing his substitute's penny. Also fun: In the 65th minute, Revs sub Maxi Urruti kicked a ball knocked out back into the field to help his teammates set up for a free kick, and then did a little golf swing miming move that I really didn't expect from him. ## One nerdy tidbit MLS rated Uzuni's missed 16th-minute chance at 0.59 xG, which is three-fourths of what a penalty kick gets. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative A draw was not optimal against a relatively beatable team at home, and now Verde have two remaining July matches on the road with a big Austin-centric All-Star spectacle in the middle of that. ## A question we have heading into the press conference For all the questions that we've asked about offensive production, I'm weary to ask that again, but curious about the triple sub so relatively early, and if it's time to try Taylor as a starter (I think so) or something different formationally that might unlock this still-padlocked offense. [Subscribe now to get the post-match quotes tomorrow am](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Jake Catanese of The Blazing Musket URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-jake-catanese-the-blazing-musket/ Last updated: 2025-07-12T13:17:10.000Z The folks doing excellent work on the New England Revolution (and affiliated teams) at [The Blazing Musket](https://www.theblazingmusket.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) reached out to do a question exchange ahead of Saturday night's match at Q2 Stadium. Of course we couldn't resist! Here are our questions that we put to Jake Catanese; we anticipate that our return answers will be up later today as we prepare this (perhaps by the time you're looking at this). We also have the latest [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-56-maybe-there-a-monkeys-paw-in-the-mail-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000716951813&ref=verdeallday.com) up with insights about this and some upcoming matches, plus some Open Cup and All-Star talk. ### **More than one MLS coach has been fired immediately upon losing to Austin FC. Caleb Porter strikes me as a coach, given how things went last year and how they've been going lately, on the hottest of seats. Do you think the "Austin curse" could strike again, and how would you feel about Porter's dismissal?** I am not aware of the Austin Curse, though I don't doubt its potential. The Krafts are not usually quick to pull the trigger in firing coaches, which made the mid-season Brad Friedel axing a few years ago very surprising. Porter's seat should be very warm because of the expectations the team and Porter established prior to the start of the season. Last year**,** the hope was to basically take the same roster that Bruce Arena had near the top of the East, and this year to get back in the playoffs. Porter had the benefit of a complete retooling in the offseason and could argue that the team sitting on their hands a year prior was detrimental enough to give him another chance. This year, constant injuries up front (which we'll get to) have been the biggest culprit, as well as just absolutely woeful finishing. The larger problem with Porter is that his possession-based style doesn't really suit the Revolution's current roster. This is a team that wants to play fast and direct, and when New England does that, they generate great chances, but they just can't finish them. Carles Gil's goal against Miami was a solo effort from pressuring in the attacking half, generating a turnover, and then going forward immediately, and the former MVP just did all the steps by himself. The Revs had some success switching to a 5-3-2 wingback setup, allowing fullbacks Peyton Miller and Ilay Feingold to attack more freely, but dangerous crosses into the box just don't have that Adam Buksa target player to head them home anymore. If Porter is going to stay beyond the rest of the year, he needs to transition this team into a far more aggressive and countering outfit and take advantage of the speed and skillsets at his disposal. ### **New England sought to shore up the offense in the offseason, bringing in Leo Campana for all the GAM and adding our old friend Maxi Urruti. How are those moves panning out, and what do you think the offense needs to produce more (if that indeed is what the Revs need to fare better)?** Okay, the strikers ... let me explain. No, there is too much; let me sum up. The Revolution were set up to play a 4-2-3-1 formation around Carles Gil at the No. 10/CAM position to start the year. It went badly, and the Revs pivoted to the extra centerback because they were getting very little production out of the wingers ... then the injuries started. Campana has missed two stretches with various knocks. Tomas Chancalay returned in May from a season-ending injury last year, while Luca Langoni missed a month. Additionally, on loan, Ignatius Ganago has been out the past few weeks with an injury he picked up from international duty. This has forced New England to play numerous combinations up front with varying degrees of success, but the two actual strikers (Campana and Ganago) were the usual frontline players during their winning streak in April. The short version is the Revs have been playing a lot of pure wingers at striker, and it shows. Runs in and around the box are late, no one is able to stretch the backline or occupy multiple defenders, and the finishing has been bad. I think as soon as the Revs are able, they should switch back to the 4-2-3-1 to get more attackers onto the field again and save the 5-3-2 to close out games, but being able to use both effectively is a good thing. Ideally, having Ganago back to serve as the target option is the biggest benefit to staying with the two-striker setup, as the Cameroon international was strangely effective in the final third at drawing penalties. As far as Maxi Urruti, [he's a complete character and is fitting right in](https://x.com/SethMan31/status/1939133127328440429?ref=verdeallday.com). Ideally, he'd be coming in off the bench and causing chaos late in games, but he's had to make a few starts and, like everyone else, has had mixed results. I think it's a great group of players that if fully healthy should be above the playoff line, but they just haven't had any consistency in their partnerships and it's a tough ask to change everyone's roles all the time and be effective. ### **What's going on with the proposed stadium in Everett, and how eager are the fans for such a move? (And while you're on the topic, let us know what the soccer experience at Gillette is really like — they let Revolutionary War cosplayers shoot guns after goals!)** Asking the Connecticut guy about Robert Kraft stadiums is ... an interesting concept considering the[ Patriots and Revs should be in Hartford](https://www.patriots.com/news/new-england-patriots-terminate-hartford-stadium-agreement-149106?ref=verdeallday.com). Everett is a good site, but it needs a lot of environmental rehab and political red tape to get cleared before we even start thinking about leaving Gillette. The biggest hangup for me is the public transportation aspect, Boston's subway system (the "T") has a likely deserved reputation for mediocrity and unreliability. The Everett site is nowhere near any current stop on the T, and the plan as of now is very limited parking onsite, so there is going to have to be a major improvement somewhere. Now I have direct access into NY/NJ with MetroNorth and the NJ PATH for games at Yankee Stadium (and whatever the Pigeons are building next to the Mets and Citi Field) and Red Bull Arena. If the Revs move, I'd be taking Amtrak from New Haven into Boston and then likely walking to the downtown T hub and then still walking a mile over a bridge to cross the water over to Everett. The Revs need an SSS; the cavernous Gillette and its turf field is not exactly a selling point for the team. But I also don't think the Krafts should build on a site that isn't suitable for fans either. For my money, the Bayside Expo site that was explored almost a decade ago was the best site for the team. If and when a stadium happens, at this point, shovels in the ground won't be enough for most of us to believe it's happening. We're gonna need the players to walk out and the referee to signal for the kickoff, and even then there will still be a few non-believers. As far as Gillette goes, its sightlines are good despite being set back away from the field. Parking is usually free, tickets are reasonable, and the Patriot Place mall offers a lot of places to go pre- and post-game. The commuter train out of the Boston area should run more often than just when Messi shows up, but that wouldn't help me in any way. The Musket Men are the best; Diego Fagundez celebrated with them multiple times. It's probably the most iconic thing the Revs have, though there is the [Gillette Lighthouse](https://www.gillettestadium.com/lighthouse-landing/?ref=verdeallday.com) thing now, too. The short-lived Tea Crate toss pregame thing died quickly cause it got panned, but [I liked the idea but think the team just skimped on the number of crates.](https://www.theblazingmusket.com/p/in-defense-of-the-tea-crate?ref=verdeallday.com) Revs games are a lot of fun; it just helps when the team is actually good. [To subscribe is to support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Who steps up now? Assessing Austin FC's prime goalscoring options now that Vazquez is out URL: https://verdeallday.com/assessing-austin-fc-prime-goalscoring-options-vazquez-out/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T22:38:03.000Z 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's either ill-suited or uncomfortable with the left wing position in a 4-3-3 formation, and doesn'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. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni.png) As a reminder, this is how he looked in his most recent season in La Liga. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-1-.png) 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. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/07/-FBCharts--Diego-Rubio.png) 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](https://verdeallday.com/cj-fodrey-austin-fc-exclusive-interview/) 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. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'It wasn't our best game': Austin FC assesses staying alive and advancing in the U.S. Open Cup URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sjvatx-070825-open-cup/ Last updated: 2025-07-09T13:34:11.000Z In keeping with his policy of not being too high or too low — even following one of the most [dramatic wins](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-open-cup-sjvatx-070825/) in club history Tuesday night to advance Austin FC to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals — Brad Stuver sounded more like a critical coach than an exultant player following the shootout win. "It wasn't our best game, that's for sure, but we talk about finding a way to win and finding a way to advance in this tournament," Stuver assessed after the match, which ended 4-2 Austin's way in penalties after the teams dueled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and 2-2 after the 30 minutes of extra time. "And I think the guys dug deep. They knew that it was going to be a difficult game, and even when we weren't at our best, we found a way to claw ourselves back twice, and then we go to the PK shootout, and obviously, we advance. "There's a lot to unpack about this game, but for us, the momentum that we get from moving on and just the idea that we can win ugly is something that we could take away as a positive," he added. "But there are plenty of things that we need to address and make sure that we button up going into the last 14 games of the regular season." Head coach Nico Estévez was similarly analytical. "We didn't have a great first half," he said, responding to my question about the team's resilience in coming down from two deficits — in a game in which they were outshot 27-11 and didn't get their first shot on goal until Brandon Vázquez's penalty kick in the 65th minute. "I think we had some plays, some crosses that arrived, but we were losing the ball. We were a little bit too spread \[out\]." He credited the team for executing the adjustments the coaching staff made throughout the game, including — as he explained in a lengthy Spanish answer — formation shifts necessitated by the particularly stern defense Estévez asserts the Quakes were throwing at his offense. "We adjusted some things in the second half," he added. "We changed our buildup and it helped us to get the goal and to get chances. I know the Uzuni chance \[in extra time\] could be offside, but it was product of the tactical adjustments that we made ... even in the second half of the extra time, we made another adjustment and help us to be more aggressive in the score and provoke the PK and \[get the score to\] 2-2. "If we go back, how difficult it was for us when we were down in the score to get back and win games — today, we were knocked \[down\] one time, 1-0, we tie. They scored the second, then we scored to tie, and then we were able to build that resiliency that you mentioned, that creed and that belief in PKs to win the game. It's not easy to play away in a cup. Cup games are always difficult. San Jose has a lot of quality, and we knew it was going to be difficult. But I'm really, really happy for the team, and I'm really happy for the fans." ## Concerns about Vázquez The lingering shadow over the match, of course, is the non-contact injury to Vázquez forcing him to exit on a stretch just moments after scoring his goal — which his reaction and his appearance on crutches in the obligatory road victory post-match photo. While fans online played Hopeful Orthopedic Surgeon after the match to assess what the injury could be other than a torn ACL, both Estévez and Stuver projected concern ahead of the most important MRI of the season. "We don't have anything that gave us 100%," Estévez assessed. "It could be 50/50 ... every player is different. I've seen different mechanisms of different players, and I think we have to wait. Obviously, it was a tough turn and mechanism that he did with the knee, but we'll see. We'll see what the scan says to us, and we hope and we pray that it is not very severe." "I saw it happen live, and I just saw the off-the-ball, non-contact \[injury\], and I saw him go down," Stuver reported." And normally, anytime that happens, something's not entirely right. He was in a lot of distress, and as he was going off, we still don't really know the extent of the injury, but all of us told him right then and there that we had him, we were going to win the game like he's done a lot for us, and we wanted to make sure that he knew that we were all behind him. And I know that we'll see in the coming days, the severity of everything, but for now, we just as a team, as a collective, we're behind him and we're going to support him with anything that happens." ## 'You kind of get tunnel vision' Per CBS Sports' tally, Stuver had nine saves — his best tally of the year in any competition — and provided some candidates for any kind of footage MLS would like to put together to show his acumen as a shot-stopper ahead of the All-Star Game he'll play in. Asked about whether he was in a "flow state" in this match to make some of the saves he did, Stuver responded with humility and praise for his teammates, who all-but-completely withstood a barrage of shots following the worrying opening goal just 12 minutes in, enabled by Guilherme Biro's defensive lapse allowing Ousseni Bouda to penetrate into Verde's final third and find Cristian "Chico" Arango with an assist. "You have these games where you kind of see things a little bit faster, you kind of get tunnel vision, and you start reacting a little bit more," Stuver said. "And I was fortunate that that type of game came tonight, and I was able to make some saves and help the guys out. But big credit to the rest of the guys. You saw them throwing their bodies on the line. Biro was clearing things off the line. Brendan \[Hines-Ike\] was diving headfirst in the box to try and deflect a shot. It's one of those where everybody was putting their body on the line to try and get a win. For me, I'm just happy that I was able to make the saves that I did, and obviously, going into the PK shootout, we did our research." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: San Jose Earthquakes 2(2), Austin FC 2(4) URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-open-cup-sjvatx-070825/ Last updated: 2025-07-09T12:44:56.000Z In one its most epic victories in its five-year history, Austin FC gave up an early goal to Cristian "Chicho" Arango, equalized on a second-half penalty thanks to Brandon Vázquez, weathered a storm of shots to get to extra time, gave up a goal to a sub for a sub, Benji Kikanović, and then evened it up once more on a Myrto Uzuni penalty kick, leading to a kicks from the spot finale after 120-plus minutes weren't enought to settle it. That all added up to Verde winning 4-2 in PKs, now headed to St. Paul to face Minnesota United in the tournament semifinals — with the chance to host their first final should they win that match. But Vázquez went down with a knee injury shortly after scoring his goal — and while it's too early to know for sure, it had the look of something serious and even season-ending, dulling the glow of the victory quite a bit. Verde gave up the opening goal in the 12th minute, thanks to Ousseni Bouda peeling away from Guilherme Biro, and once defender free, whipped in a pass to Arango directly in front of goal. Having slipped past Brendan Hines-Ike and with Mikkel Desler forced into covering, and unable to get into an ideal defensive posture, Arango froze Stuver with a shot into the upper right corner of goal to take the lead. A minute later, Preston Judd won a free kick at the edge of the box — with a yellow-carded Hines-Ike lucky to not give up a penalty kick. (The foul looked very close to being inside the box but was not, per the refs.) Close to 20 minutes in, Jon Gallagher had a wonderful pass into Vázquez that looked almost but not quite perfectly timed as an equalizer. Quakes defender Reid Roberts slowed up Vázquez just long enough to trip the timing; Vázquez came up from his slide complaining to the ref (if my lip reading's on point) that Roberts tugged his jersey. (Calling what happened a tug would be, forgive the pun here, a stretch.) In the 33rd minute, Osman Bukari found space down the right side, had his pass blocked back to him, and carved out space from the defense to get off a shot that hit the near post. That was easily the best chance of the half for Verde. The second half brought more of the same, with Verde still mounting no shots on target past the hour mark. But then, in the 63rd minute, Vázquez earned a penalty kick, getting clipped by Max Floriani and then converting the PK he earned to make it 1-1\. (It took 65 minutes, and the referee setting the ball in front of goal while everyone had to stand around, but Verde finally got its first shot on target.) That led Quakes coach Bruce Arena to make the two subs Austin was counting on yet dreading when the starting lineups were announced — Cristian Espinoza and Josef Martínez. Just minutes after his equalizer, Vázquez went down awkwardly with no one around him, covering his face with his hands once down for a prolonged period, looking like a player who knew he would be out for a while and consumed with rehab to get back on the field. The Verde defense weathered a scary moment just past the 80th, with Stuver caught out in front of goal with Arango taking a shot on a rebounded ball from a DeJuan Jones charge forward, but the visitors were able to hold fast, then got their own chance on a breakaway leading with Robert Taylor shooting just wide. Uzuni, put in as a sub in the 65th minute for Bukari, had a chance in the first minute of stoppage time, but sent his close-range shot straight to Quakes keeper Daniel. Tensions flared toward what was supposed to be the end of stoppage time when Mikkel Desler caught Espinoza on the knee with an errant stud, drawing blood and the winger's ire as it also ended his sub stint for the night. With stoppage time even further extended, Verde had to withstand one more assault on goal in the 13th minute past the 90, with Stuver saving successive shots from Arango and Mark-Anthony Kaye. In extra time, it looked like Stuver was going to come through with a valiant effort again in the 99th minute, starting with a Martínez shot from close in that Stuver palmed onto the crossbar, but thanks to placing seven attackers in the box and engineering multiple chances, Kikanović – who subbed in for Espinoza — rolled his shot under Stuver to finally retake the lead. Uzuni then looked like he evened it up in the 105th, heading in a header off a corner kick, but was rightly ruled offside. But he'd get another chance to score following Owen Wolff drawing a penalty kick on a Mark-Anthony Kaye step-in, and confidently sent his shot under a diving Daniel to bring the teams level once more. In the final sequence, Stuver saved Arango on the opening kick, and saved a poor Jones effort in the third round. Austin didn't even need the fifth turn in the shootout, with Wolff clinching it — the fourth straight Verde player to convert. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Bukari's movement to get his first-half shot off was beautiful, and a good reminder of why he's a designated player (though I'd still like to see him go a full 90, which he's done just twice since March 8). But it was the chaos control in front of goal that gave Verde the extra-time lifeline, with Stuver and his defense in ultimate bend-don't-break mode. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The only thing worse, for a fan, than to watch a star player go down is to see him stay down while you Google "torn meniscus" as a "hopeful" alternative to the "torn ACL" research you already know will be bad. I'm preliminarily gutted for Austin's DP No. 9\. ## One thing you might have missed As Desler went down a second time following harsh knee-to-knee contact, several minutes before their incident, Espinoza "helpfully" extended a hand to help Desler up, and Uzuni pulled his arm away. ## One nerdy tidbit The Quakes finished with 27 shots, 11 of those on target. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative Given how this season's going, the Open Cup is a surer bet than MLS Cup for Verde winning a trophy. Verde's now one step closer following an incredibly gutsy effort. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We'll clearly ask about the Vázquez injury, but we're pretty sure we know what the answer's going to be. [Subscribe here; we stayed up very late writing this](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with veteran Quakes reporter Robert Jonas URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-robert-jonas-pre-open-cup-sjvatx-070825/ Last updated: 2025-07-09T00:25:49.000Z Ahead of tonight's Austin FC match against the San Jose Earthquakes (9:30 pm CT, yipes is right, on CBS Sports Network, CBS Sports Golazo Network, and Paramount+) in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 U.S. Open Cup – barely ahead – we checked in with Robert Jonas, a veteran Quakes reporter who also serves as the club's pool reporter. (Like me in that role, he's the one who asks referees questions when there are questions to be asked.) Let's get to the questions and the answers he dictated into his phone and sent over! ### How has Bruce Arena been as a manager so far, and how would you characterize his leadership of the team? (Is this the same Bruce Arena we know from past MLS stops, or is he different this time around?) Bruce Arena has come into San Jose recognizing what a challenging situation it was. This is an organization that has failed to live up to any sort of expectations for many seasons. In fact, it haven't hosted a home playoff game since their stadium opened a decade ago. He recognized, from his perspective of being the LA Galaxy coach, what it meant to run an organization successfully, albeit with more resources than in San Jose. He doesn't lack desire to find results, not just for the first team and in coaching, but also as a technical director in the organization. All of this together, that gravitas of being the winningest manager in MLS, the take-charge attitude, the player first mentality that I think he has — he really looks after his guys — has made the organization just more comfortable with winning, more amenable to success, and it's just that attitude change that has been a real big plus. ### It looks like Chicho Arango and Josef Martinez are coexisting well this year ... what's contributed to them combining for 18 goals (which is more than the entire Austin FC team has scored this season)? I'm not sure anybody expected that the Quakes would be at the top of the league for scoring, but when they did make massive investments to bring in Arango and Martínez — two guys with pedigrees and a lot of goalscoring experience — there was an expectation that this team would certainly be better than they were in season's past. Match them with Cristian Espinoza, who has arguably been the Quakes' MVP of this team for many seasons now, and that's a very formidable trio up top who really work well together. Because you don't have one player demanding the ball —but technically almost three players demanding the ball — it actually gets distributed in a much more equitable way and guys are getting their shots. I've always felt if you have one outfield player demanding the ball every time ,then you try to funnel it to him, and there are some opportunities. Here, we see Martínez getting the ball off to Chicho, it's going around the horn, and a midfield that's willing to feed all three of those guys makes a very interesting and sometimes unpredictable offense. I think that's been a real advantage in unlocking defenses in a way this team couldn't do in the past. ### How important is Open Cup to Quakes players and fans? Does this feel winnable right now, or is it an achievement just to be getting this far? I mentioned earlier how San Jose hasn't hosted a home playoff game in over a decade ... well, there's very little in the trophy case in recent years. That's something that, when Bruce Arena arrived, he recognized that anything that can gather attention from fans, get the players excited, and get the local media excited, like an Open Cup run, is something that he wanted to pursue. In the previous rounds, he didn't hesitate to play starting lineups as opposed to playing reserves, and he made very clear talking to the press that he wanted his players to take this seriously. He was looking at it seriously, and they were looking at every game as an opportunity to advance and get them closer to their first hardware in what seems like many, many years. So is it going to be important on Tuesday, absolutely, and you know there are going to be some guys in the lineup who have maybe fewer minutes than some of the other starters, but it's not going to be a bunch of names you don't know. Certainly, he'll have players like Chicho and Josef available off the bench \[if they don't start\] ... we're very much looking forward to an exciting game in San Jose and looking forward to seeing how far the Quakes can take their Cup run. [To subscribe is to support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Sizing up San Jose: Austin FC's first 2025 match against the Quakes has incredibly high stakes URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-sjvatx-open-cup-070825/ Last updated: 2025-07-08T14:00:23.000Z The San Jose Earthquakes are a familiar foe for Austin FC fans. After all, the first-ever Verde match in Q2 Stadium, back in June 2021, was a scoreless draw to the Bay Area team, and they share a wild lore. That includes: - Two 4-3 matches (including one of the most dramatic home wins in team history); - A 3-3 draw on a hot and swampy August 2022 night, which included Sebastián Driussi scoring a brace against future teammate Matt Bersano; - A 4-0 away loss in October 2021, such an apparent capitulation (from the eye test that day) that it generated a media question about the team quitting that became known in Verde media lore as the "bullshit question" (as that's what former head coach Josh Wolff regarded it as, despite visual evidence to the contrary); and then - Last time they played, which was 14 months ago, a 1-1 draw in which Brendan Hines-Ike equalized. But they've never played in an Open Cup match before — let alone an Open Cup quarterfinal in which the winner is then just two wins away from lifting a trophy with more than a century of history behind it. And since it's been a while since the teams have faced each other — their regular season matchups come in late August at home and on Decision Day on the road — let's briefly update you on the cast of characters. ## Bruce Arena is the head coach The 74-year-old veteran coach, who earned a reputation as "the MLS whisperer" for his multiple MLS titles with the LA Galaxy, moved to the West Coast after a stint with New England that ended on a significantly sour note involving "[insenstive remarks](https://sports.yahoo.com/bruce-arena-addresses-england-revolution-232200761.html?ref=verdeallday.com)." He's brought some of his former Revs players with him, including veteran midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye, former Austin FC and San Jose defender Nick Lima, and boomerang England youth international Noel Buck, who went from the Revs to Southampton to the Quakes after some thinking he was off to England for good. He's also got them playing better than they did in 2024, which given their 6-25-3 record and Wooden Spoon, is hurdling a low bar. ## There's enough ball for all the strikers One eyebrow-raising part of the Quakes roster rebuild this last season was bringing in Josef Martínez — an at-times on-point striker, but not nearly the same following his 2020 knee injury — in addition to Cristian "Chicho" Arango, a bit of a surprise move given that he was excelling with Real Salt Lake (but also missed out on the '24 All-Star Game serving an anti-harassment suspension the league issued; read into that what you will). With 17 regular-season appearances each so far this season, Arango has 10 goals (on 76 shots, third-highest in the league), and Martínez has eight, showing that they can co-exist after all. (And Cristian Espinoza, who has added four goals, is now also tied for second in the league with 11 assists, and leads the league in key passes with 70.) MLS being what it is this year, none of them are All-Stars heading to Austin, though cases could be made for both Arango and Espinoza based on stats alone. ## Not bad for the '42nd best player' If you haven't watched the Quakes much this year (and those West Coast games start quite late, plus a number of their games overlap with Verde matches), Beau Leroux might not be on your radar. He's got four goals (including [this recent beauty](https://www.espn.com/video/clip/%5F/id/45606528?ref=verdeallday.com) against the Galaxy) and four assists in a little more than 1500 minutes. That's particularly impressive given that he was the No. 42 pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft — the same draft in which the Quakes picked up rotational defender Jamar Ricketts with the 13th pick. (That's the same draft in which Austin fans got to know [Nate Jones](https://verdeallday.substack.com/p/austin-fc-selects-nate-jones-mls-super-draft) for an hour, including a bit of digging on my part to discover his favorite vegetable is "potatoes," before he was moved to the Rapids.) Another SuperDraft pick of note, Ousseni Bouda — my pined-for Right to Dream/Stanford forward in the 2022 edition, passed over for Kipp Keller, *which seemed like a good pick at the time*, is finally relatively flourishing under Arena's tutelage, with three goals in about 700 MLS minutes, a decided uptick from prior years. ## Watch the red cards One intriguing trend for the Quakes to be mindful of – four of their last five matches have included sendoffs, although to be fair to the Quakes, only two of those games included red cards issued to Quakes players. That includes the Quakes' Saturday night 1-1 draw hosting the Red Bulls, in which DeJuan Jones exited six minutes on a second yellow card after his team found an own-goal equalizer to offset an Emil Forsberg opener. Austin FC, meanwhile, hasn't had a player exit a match via ref since Julio Cascante was issued a red card on May 21 in stoppage time of the team's 3-1 Open Cup Round of 16 win over the Dynamo. [Subscribe to get access to tonight's quotes tomorrow](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Gold Cup Final: How the U.S. Men's National Team reminds me of Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/gold-cup-final-usmnt-austin-fc-parallels/ Last updated: 2025-07-07T19:04:46.000Z It's not surprising that the U.S. and Mexico got to the Gold Cup final on Sunday night, and a win for either team wasn't going to be surprising, given that the U.S was 16th in FIFA World Cup rankings before the tournament started, with Mexico just one rung behind them. The 2-1 Mexico win in Houston came about thanks to El Tri answering Chris Richard's early set piece goal — an impressive header that ricocheted off the crossbar to land just over the goal line — with a Raúl Jiménez goal later in the half and then a late Edson Alvarez set piece header that might have been ruled offside in pre-VAR times. But it also came about because of Mexico's dominance on the ball, with the U.S. giving away the ball too much, not being able to consistently get the ball into the final third, combined with the momentary defensive lapses that offset otherwise solid goal-preventing play. In other words, the U.S. on Sunday was reminiscent of the worst of 2025 edition Austin FC, but in red, white, and blue instead of verde and black. The 60%-40% possession advantage Mexico enjoyed seemed greater, and so digging around the numbers a bit in morning-after mode, I found a more telling indicator of Mexico's dominance on Sunday: The eight players with the most touches were wearing black and gold, starting with defender Johan Vásquez with 91 touches. You have to get down to Chris Richards, with 61, before you find an American name on the list. Diego Luna, who elevated himself to World Cup roster status with three goals and electric performances throughout the tournament, only got 37 touches and was stymied in ways he hadn't been in previous games. Of course, it's not all about touches — Raúl only had 29, but those included him getting past Richards and Tim Ream inside the U.S. box to score the equalizer. But that is an indicator of how momentum shifted until El Tri finally scored the inevitable-feeling match winner. In the final, the U.S. didn't have anyone to match Raúl. Patrick Agyemang, who finished the tournament with two goals, had just one shot in the final. He did help in a chaotic first-half stoppage time sequence, starting with an awkward Alex Freeman attempt, getting a pass in to Luna, who overhit his attempt — and that was one of the best opportunities of the night. Agyemang couldn't score in this most important of tournament matches — but his teammates couldn't do so from open play either. Sebastian Berhalter, with the free kick assist on the lone U.S. goal, continued what's been an amazing year for him, but while the newly-minted All-Star played well this Gold Cup, it's still unlikely that we'll see him on the World Cup roster next year as the high-profile players who stayed away from this year's tournament — certainly a topic for pundits to break down in all the post-Gold Cup assessments — come back into the fold. After the match, Alexi Lalas, wearing an oversized cowboy hat on the Fox broadcast, tried to put a positive spin on the tournament, claiming that Mauricio Pochettino and the players who did show up forged an identity for the team that those stayaway players will have to adapt to once they return. I'm not quite sure that when Christian Pulisic and the rest of the prodigal sons, when they do return, will indeed adjust, and given the uneven play the U.S. had during the tournament — including a match against Saudi Arabia at Q2 Stadium that Roger Bennett described in his Raven newsletter as "Spirit Airlines levels of performance" — *identity* might be doing a lot of work. As with Austin FC in moments this season, you can see the flashes and the vision and the What Could Be of it all, and by virtue of co-hosting next year, the U.S. doesn't have to sweat qualification, and can just focus in their preparations on whatever that identity is ultimately going to be. Sunday's loss could be a pivot point for the U.S. as it looks toward what might be its most-watched tournament ever, just like Austin's recent loss to the Sounders could be a pivot point to whatever kind of playoff run they might be able to mount (assuming they make it). But with both teams, questions persist as to whether the pieces all fit, what the team's defining characteristics are, and how they'll perform the next time they take the field. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Spending the night, and other assorted tidbits from a press conference before a glut of games URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-media-availability-atxvlafc-070525/ Last updated: 2025-07-05T13:04:11.000Z Have you been enjoying the relative ease of the June schedule, in contrast to May, where games came in a fevered rush and felt perhaps a little more obligation than celebration by that San Diego away match? Well, prepare for a July — at least the first half — that's going to be more like May than June. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez addressed the upcoming burst of schedule congestion as one of the main topics of conversation at Thursday's media session, ahead of Saturday's home match against LAFC. For one, Verde players won't sleep in their own beds Tuesday night, following the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match at San Jose, as a way to mitigate the weekend-midweek-weekend cycle they're about to embark on. They'll play four games between Saturday and July 16, before the All-Star break and the start of Leagues Cup brings more June-like yawing gaps between matches. "We'll spend the night there in order to sleep well and recover coming after the game," Estévez revealed, adding that traveling late after a West Coast match "makes us struggle with sleeping hours, and doesn't help on the recovery side. We'll stay there, come back on Wednesday, train Thursday and Friday, and play Saturday against New England. I think after the New England game, we'll have two to three days to prepare, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, to prepare our travel on Tuesday to LA to play at the Galaxy." He added, roster-wise, that it's very much a "one game at a time" approach — but that Robert Taylor could see a more expanded role (commensurate with his [recently revealed $575,000 salary level](https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-all-star-comments-san-diego-leads-west-mlspa-salary-guide-release/)) in the coming matches, now that he's (according to Estévez) recovered from an injury he incurred shortly after arriving in Austin. "We just wanted to give continuity to some of the players that were playing more minutes, and that's it," he shared. "But I think he's doing a really good job, and he's getting in and as always, when you're a new player, it takes a little bit longer to get into the team. But I think he's doing a really good job, and we are working with him to use him. We have now a good stretch of games, and we're going to need everyone." ## First thoughts on Beloko Estévez also got the change to weigh in on Nicky Beloko, the newest Austin FC player, announced on Monday as the first signing of the 2025 summer transfer window — though he pledged to Verde back in January. "He's a dynamic central midfielder," Estévez offered. "He can play in different roles on the midfield, like eight, six, but also could play in wide areas, if you need more controlling \[of\] the game, or more work rate and all these things." While Estévez appeared to welcome that positional flexibility, we didn't get any new answers based on this to the questions about Ilie Sánchez, who has seen a playing time dropoff in recent matches, theoretically set to see more with another midfielder in the equation. We also don't know if Beloko's acquisition is a Jenga move that precedes a move away for either Dani Pereira or Owen Wolff — who while both would be missed for what they bring to the team, also have the most trade or transfer value of the group of Too Many Midfielders. ## 'A good learning lesson' Both Estévez and Brendan Hines-Ike expressed disappoinment in the team's most recent performance in Seattle, and are aware of the challenges that a talented LAFC brings. "LAFC is LAFC," Hines-Ike said. "They still have the same quality players that are there for the most part. And knowing LAFC and knowing how they perform, and speaking a lot with Ilie about how they respond to games like they had against Vancouver, they will be here to play and to win. So we need to be ready for that." He colorfully added that coming off that loss, LAFC will have "the knife between their teeth." As for last week's performance, Hines-Ike noted the team's aware that the goals they gave up — and how those happened — represented a regression from what they'd managed in their previous two wins. "Both goals that happen ... were a chain effect," he observed. "It starts with an individual error, or two individual errors, that lead to more individual errors, right? For us, especially as a back line, we have to remember first and foremost, that the objective when you're broken down from a midfield is to then regain your back four as quickly as possible ... which even looking for the first goal, we do regain the four as a line, and then we quickly lose it right as the ball comes in. "And I think just those little principles, which we've harped on a lot throughout the year and we've done quite well with, can be, again, a product of being on break, not having the rhythm of doing that on a regular basis at the same time," he added. "I think that's been our biggest strength this year that we've talked about. I remember talking about with you at the beginning of the preseason, that when we're broken down in transition, that we get our guys behind the ball and regain numbers so we don't get countered on. It's something we've talked about and something we've been good at for the most part of the year." He then reassured everyone the defense will be ready for an opponent they nened to be ready for, describing the players as having a "heightened" awarness that Jesus Ferreira and Danny Musovski were able to deliver. "That's a really good learning lesson for us coming into a game like this against LAFC, because no matter that it's at Q2, it will be a similar scenario where if we make mistakes, they will punish us quickly." [Subscribe and support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Nicky Beloko is Verde ... but is he a difference maker or a redundancy? URL: https://verdeallday.com/nicky-beloko-new-austin-fc-signing-luzern/ Last updated: 2025-07-01T13:39:34.000Z As it turns out, the first signing of the Austin FC 2025 summer transfer window was committed all the way back in January. Nicky Beloko, the Swiss-Cameroonian midfielder who most recently played for FC Luzern in the Swiss Super League, was officially announced on Monday as the latest Austin FC player, but signed a pre-contract back in January, and has been preparing to play in MLS for longer than we previously knew. While he won't be able to officially appear for the club until the summer transfer window opens July 24 — meaning he'd first be available for the July 26 match at D.C. United – the club's press release noted he can begin training with the club on Tuesday morning and already has his P-1 Visa secured, meaning it's a safe bet that he was in Austin when he recorded this "hello, guys" video (or, at least, when the club released it on Monday afternoon). > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLiS9kkpsv5/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Austin FC (@austinfc)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLiS9kkpsv5/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) By now, you've likely heard about the [jersey release party](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kit-release-party-2025-plus-good-news/) in February — the one where Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell cavalierly let me know Myrto Uzuni was just days away from arriving in Austin to quell speculation. There, he also let a fan know that a new player was coming, of a nationality (or, as it turns out, two nationalities) requiring that fan to add a flag patch to his vest of flag patches celebrating the nations of past and present Verde signings. Fans dialed in spent part of Monday connecting dots to realize Beloko was that player. From what limited information we have about him — as the Swiss Super League isn't especially well tracked by world football data collectors – we know the following: - Per [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.us/nicky-beloko/profil/spieler/382774?ref=verdeallday.com), he is most typically deployed as a central midfielder: He can pass, he can defend, he can cover ground — it's got the jack-of-all-trades variety of praise that I believe came our way when [Besard Šabović signed ](https://verdeallday.com/besard-sabovic-signs-austin-fc-2027-2028-option/)with the club (and we at least had some limited-minutes charts on him). - He's signed through 2028 with a 2029 option — given that he's 25 now, Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has deemed him solid enough to lock up for what are presumably his prime years with the door open to renewing him for his late prime. If you haven't seen him in action yet, here's some video from 2023-24 that shows him in action, starting with him showing off his crossbar challenge skills with a shot from distance. (What does it say about the highlight reel compilers that the first clip out of the gate is an impressive attempt that nonetheless, based on striking woodwork, doesn't even count as a shot on target?) What we can also glean about him, based on his Swiss Super League stats alone, is he's not an appreciable source of goals and assists, but based on all this highlight footage — despite one impressively athletic stop of an attack — he's not quite a destroyer defensive midfield type either. He's, in soccer position parlance, an 8\. Specifically, the wild card variety of 8 who does a lot of things reasonably well but not one specific thing emphatically well (like feed attackers key passes or shut down opposition attacks or deftly connect a back four to a front three). In other words, he might just be a lot like Šabović, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira. While all those players possess some slight differences in their games that make them granularly distinctive, they're still largely interchangeable central midfielders playing for a team that's currently scoring 0.75 goals a game. That brings us to loud vociferous complaining from MLSSoccer.com's Matthew Doyle which I think is actually warranted. And it also brings me to a recurrent frustration I've had every season, and we're now on the fifth — there's not anyone remotely close to a heliocentric No. 10 on this team who yearns, above all else, to rack up assists. ## Pining for a 10 A few weeks ago, we broke from the Verde All Day policy of not getting prematurely excited about a transfer rumor by indulging in the [Kervin "Tuti" Andrade rumor](https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-colvatx-060725-kervin-andrade-transfer-rumor-fortaleza/). He's a 20-year-old Venezuelan international, currently with Brazilian side Fortaleza, described by [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/ecuador-venezuela-live-updates-2024-copa-america-score-result/hlmxyHw8Ywk5/StJ4oUac1QiW/?ref=verdeallday.com) last year as "a little magician of an attacking midfielder, a one-man through-ball workshop who loves to skip past defenders and also takes a mean free kick." Keep that in mind when explore Doyle's assessment of Austin in the wake of the team's 2-0 loss to the Sounders on Saturday: > Austin don’t look like they’re quitting, they just look like a team that spent $35m on attacking players and somehow managed not to buy even one guy who can complete a fucking pass. > > — [Matthew Doyle (@mattdoyle.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tjvo32l37yduf3hq2wifq7et?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-06-29T14:16:43.972Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tjvo32l37yduf3hq2wifq7et/post/3lsqubsxrh22z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) And then, he doubled down in his weekly power rankings (where Austin is unsurprisingly 18th) by saying, "Please god go acquire someone who can pass the damn ball." While Beloko could turn out to be a serviceable and even solid addition to the squad when all is said done, he also took one of the two remaining senior spots and international spots Verde had on its roster. They're now down to one senior international spot, which because of the Leo Väisänen departure, is likely being saved for a center back. (To briefly acknowledge another rumor, it wouldn't be surprising if that center back is Mickaël Nadé, a Saint-Étienne defender who looks like a Borrell signing and would also give Beloko someone to speak French with.) While an additional center back would be good, that would take the final senior roster spot for a team that is now relying heavily on ostensibly-do-it-all midfielders that don't generate assists. Owen Wolff co-leads the team with four, but his count is set piece heavy, with Osman Bukari (also with four) generating the most open-play assists from his wing position. (Four is still not a lot; Andres Dreyer currently leads the league with 14, and Manu García and Philip Zinckernagel lead among midfielders with nine each. By contrast, Pereira has one and Šabović has one, so four is a lot for this team, where Diego Rubio in his 209 minutes has the same 1g/1a total as Uzuni in his 1228 minutes and 10 times the salary\[\[1\]\].) ## Could someone be out? It's possible that Andrade is still in the plans, but the plans are reliant on a current midfielder leaving in the summer transfer window. If I were to bet on one candidate, it would be Wolff, who has raised his stock appreciably this season. He's young enough and good enough to conceivably make the move to Europe; Austin would just need to find a suitor meeting his valuation (or field an offer from an interested team), and determine that the money gained could be appreciably reinvested in the roster\[\[2\]\]. It's also conceivable that Pereira could move, most likely in a player for GAM move within the league. Given his age and ceiling, Pereira's more likely to entice an MLS team than a European one; I could see him providing midfield depth to a team looking to make a deep playoff run. Also, the North End Podcast has floated another possibility regarding a midfielder we haven't talked about: Ilie Sánchez, who has gone from captain and opening-day starter to not appearing at all in the most recent match, not starting since May 28 against RSL, and not going a full 90 since the match against the Whitecaps on May 17\. They describe a midseason retirement and a move to coaching as having a "non-zero" chance of happening. That would conceivably leave Austin a little thin at the 6, but that's sort of what Šabović has been (sort of) doing in recent weeks, in a game plan that puts out two or three central midfielders depending on the formation, with Austin FC head coach effectively waving his hands and saying "Do some midfield things." The concern there, of course, is that's had mixed results. Against the Red Bulls, the team looked decisive and in control thanks in large part to midfield play; against the Sounders, they looked toothless and overwhelmed against a team of players who know their roles and a coach really good at assigning and making clear those roles. Every transfer window is a Rubik's Cube, and we're currently once again at the stage where the colors are all jumbled. It could just be a couple of moves from getting solved, or it could continue as a jumble of colors by the end of the window. Now that we know quite early it's being worked on, it's time to see if anything unexpected follows what's expected. \[\[1\]\]: If you're looking at guaranteed compensation per the new salary guide out last week — which is different from the base salary listing — Rubio's at $208,000 and Uzuni's on $2.25 million. \[\[2\]\]: Of course, with Wolff still a supplemental player rather than a senior player, it doesn't fix that crucial element of roster building. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### 'We had our opportunities': Was the loss at Seattle less thorough than the scoreline tells us? URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-seavatx-062825-nico-estevez-remaining-strength-of-schedule/ Last updated: 2025-06-29T14:33:27.000Z To hear Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez tell it, following his team's [2-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-seavatx-062825/) at Seattle on Saturday night, all they needed was a single goal to mount a result-generating comeback. "When you play against teams that you know are very balanced, the difference is made when you can score a goal," Estévez said after the match. "You know, I think we had our opportunities and we didn't. I'm pretty sure if we \[get the\] score \[to\] 2-1, we will have the opportunity, as the game was going on, to tie the game. It's a weird feeling, because we did a lot of good things against a really good team, but we didn't get anything." Indeed, in what is perhaps more a stat to lead you to question rather than trust xG, the American Soccer Analysis model has Austin FC winning the vaunted xG battle, and with Jesus Ferreira's goal right before halftime being the only good xG value chance the Sounders got all night. ![Chart showing shots and xG in the SEA-ATX match on June 28, 2025](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Seattle_Sounders_FC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-06-29.png) MLS' numbers incidentally told a different story, with the Sounders besting Verde 2.1 to 1.8 in xG, with the Ferreira chance being near automatic at 0.93 to amass nearly half their numeric chance creation. Perhaps the eye test told you something different last night? ## 'I think we responded really well' Despite going down right before halftime on Ferreira's goal — with the former FC Dallas star being *same scourge, different shirt* — Estévez expressed positivity about his team's post-halftime performance. "I think we responded really well in the second half," he assessed. "At the beginning, we had control of the game. We're winning balls. We were having crosses. We also had a lot of set pieces, and then again, with a mistake with the press, in a miscommunication on who had to release and who had to go, we left Svatok in a one-v-one situation, something that we worked this week on those situations, but unfortunately we couldn't resolve," before reiterating his endorsement of the response. Reflecting something Estévez specifically said about seizing momentum in the second half, Verde (here depicted in black, because the hosts also use green as a primary color) did fare better in the momentum chart in the second half — albeit after the Sounders seized the 2-0 lead via Danny Musovski beating Oleksandr Svatok one-on-one and placing his shot where Brad Stuver (and, indeed, no goalkeeper in the world) could get to it. ![Chart showing positioning and momentum in the SEA-ATX match on June 28, 2025](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Seattle_Sounders_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-06-29.png) Though Seattle grabbed the lead at the end of a first half in which Austin managed just one shot on target – not counting, of course, Guilherme Biro nearly Tareking a rebounded Musovski shot past Stuver in the 20th minute — Verde had largely contained the Sounders' offense before that momentary collapse. Unfortunately, we've seen this movie before: Verde puts up a strong defensive effort, contains most threats, but then a defensive lapse or two combined with an inability to score — they now have just 15 goals in 20 matches this season — leads to a loss. ## 'Some problems at times' Challenged about the first goal in both English (by me) and Spanish during his portion of the press conference, Estévez admitted, "Hemos tenido en algunos momentos algunos problemas" ("We have had some problems at times"), due to the Sounders being able to beat Austin's pressing efforts and getting a player free, creating mismatches that led to both successful scoring opportunities. Estévez talked about, in the moments that the Sounders took advantage, of being mindful of their speed and of spacing so as to not be susceptible to the mismatches and overloads that they created on the two goals. But he also talked more holistically about the extended break his players got to be on thanks to the international break — a break the Sounders played through thanks to their Club World Cup commitments. "There is a lot of more to do in that play, from a lot of players, and we have to work," Estévez said about this first goal, where Biro in particular got caught out of position, leaving Ferreira free on the back post to finish. "I take responsibility on on that, because my job is to prepare these players to solve those situations ... sometimes when you have a break, you lose a little bit of focus. And when we were having a good run of results, we got this break that helped us a little bit. And we now know that if we are not 100% and we are not focused in some areas, the opponent can punish you." ## What happens next? On Saturday, Verde will host an LAFC team that, like Seattle, crashed out of the Club World Cup in the group stages. In their earlier meeting this year, Biro scored the lone early goal in a surprise 1-0 win for Verde; that win is arguably their best road result of the year to date. If the [playoffs](https://www.mlssoccer.com/league-reports/competition-guidelines/?ref=verdeallday.com) started today, Austin would travel to Colorado for a one-match play-in game for the right to face San Diego in a best-of-three series. As it stands right now, I could see Austin getting a win — having beat the Rapids in Commerce City just last month — but then falling to the surprisingly good expansion side in either two or three matches. (Conceivably, Austin could muster a home win, but given the recent performance at San Diego, I believe getting an away win there is beyond their grasp as currently constituted. *As currently constituted* is key — the summer transfer window opens in less than four weeks, and new players could patch perceived holes and make the difference between ekeing into the playoffs and more resolutely punching a ticket. Currently Austin's four points from fifth and five points from 11th or 12th, and it's conceivable that level of volatility could continue right up to Decision Day. And though Saturday's match was a loss, it's also one of the toughest matches that was remaining in what is a [remarkably easy late-season stretch](https://verdeallday.com/strength-of-schedule-austin-fc-stats-ppg-standard-deviation-z-score-nerdery/). Now with the Seattle match in the rearview, the remaining opponents in front of Austin ratchet down from an average of 1.121 PPG to 1.09 PPG. (And that gets even lower after next Saturday, with LAFC at 1.63 PPG when we did the calculations, down to 1.05 PPG.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### At the Whistle: Seattle Sounders FC 2, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-seavatx-062825/ Last updated: 2025-06-29T04:39:29.000Z Jesus Ferreira might be in a different jersey now — it's not the FC Dallas one he once took off and displayed to Austin FC supporters following scoring an 89th-minute match winner in a May 2023 contest you might have forgotten – but he's still a nemesis. Ferreira broke a scoreless deadlock just before halftime, and Danny Musovski added a goal early in the second half, leading the Seattle Sounders FC to a 2-0 win on Saturday night. The Verde loss, on the temporary grass surface at Lumen Field, keeps themfrom adding to their two straight wins in June, following a winless slog of seven league matches in May. Verde's offense was largely punchless throughout the match. You might argue that Verde's best shot of the first half came from Guilherme Biro, who hit the post — though at the end of the field where the Sounders were shooting. (See the "worst Verde moment" entry below.) Save for that heart-in-throat sequence — which started with Danny Musovski dueling Oleksandr Svatok and getting the better of him on his shot attempt — the match stayed relatively quiet much of the half, especially where Austin's offense was concerned, managing just 0.11 xG in the first 45\. Biro was credited with Verde's first shot, a blocked effort in the 20th minute; they got their next one via Vázquez's initial long-distance attempt in the 35th. But then, in the second and final minute of first-half stoppage time, Ferreira got to a corssfrom Paul Rothrock, making a far-post run, unmarked because — not to put too fine a point on it — Biro was absolutely lazy on defense, jogging centrally toward goal and letting Ferreira drift into an advantageous position for a 0.93 xG shot. Less than nine minutes following the break, Musovski got isolated one-on-one with Svatok, and though Svatok played reasonably tight defense on the forward — who is also something of an Austin FC nemesis, having scored a late game winner in 2021 at Q2 Stadiuim while with LAFC — he was able to make a turn to buy some space and get his shot off just inside the far post. Austin had a 67th-minute chance via a Brendan Hines-Ike header which went harmlessly over the bar, and a minute later, Ferreira nearly had a second goal via a would-be assist from sub Ryan Kent, who got in toward goal via a stepover that left sub Osman Bukari flat-footed. Verde had several chances quite late in the match, via Jon Gallagher and Diego Rubio, to get on the board, but couldn't convert on those opportunities. Reed Baker-Whiting — one of the five teenagers from the infamous "five teenagers" Sounders win over Austin in 2021 — got sent off with a second yellow in the 89th, but it didn't help Verde's cause. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Brad Stuver was brought into action in the 41st minute to get a glove to a ball sent in by Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, though not technically a shot, was still a dangerous ball moving in the vicinity of goal that needed to be dealt with. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 11th minute, Musovski got off a shot that Stuver got a piece of, but the ball caromed off the post and then squirted out to Guilherme Biro. Biro then reflexively kicked the ball, presumably trying to clear it out, but hit it horrifyingly right toward goal, reminiscent of Amro Tarek's notorious close-range own goal in Verde's historic 2023 loss to Violette. (The post bailed him out.) ## One thing you might have missed The walk back to the locker room at halftime included some extracurriculars between Rothrock and Dani Pereira, following Rothrock manhandling the Austin midfielder in a late-half skirmish. Pereira was heated in that post-whistle exchange and had to be held back before suddenly and abruptly running into the tunnel heading to the locker room. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin finished the three Cascadia away matches losing by an aggregate score of 8-1\. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative With a chance to get its second three-match win streak of the season, Austin instead fell flat in a test against a strong away opponent. Assuming Austin makes the playoffs, this indicates how they might fare in a best-of-three series in which they have to play two matches away. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We're curious to see what Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez will say about the defending on the goals. [Subscribe now and get tonight's key quotes in your inbox by morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Jeremiah Oshan of Sounder at Heart URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-jeremiah-oshan-sounder-at-heart-seavatx-062825/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T15:59:13.000Z It's finally a game day again! And it's a late one in Seattle, with the MLS Season Pass stream starting at 9:30 pm CT, as Austin FC vies for a third straight win in league play and a perfect June. And, as we learned and shared on the latest [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-54-broken-sandals-and-glorious-grass-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000714922457&ref=verdeallday.com), expect the match to be played on the grass laid out over Lumen Field's notorious turf for the Club World Cup matches taking place there earlier this month. That news came from Jeremiah Oshan, founder of Sounder at Heart, the best source for Rave Green info. I submitted info for their [opposition scouting report feature](https://www.sounderatheart.com/2025/06/opposition-scoutin-report-austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com), which included projecting that Robert Taylor would start given Myrto Uzuni's questionable hamstring. Also, Seattle's coming off a less-than-optimal Club World Cup run where they lost three games on said grass in their home stadium; to paraphrase *Ferris Bueller's Day Off* on Austin FC's behalf, "We didn't even have a Club World Cup run; we have to envy yours." Jeremiah was gracious enough to give answers to three questions we had. Here's seem insight on the other MLS green. ### How was the Club World Cup experience for the Sounders, and how do you expect them to be in their first game back — flat and disinterested, or remotivated for league play and ready to beat a more beatable team than the three they've just faced? The Sounders definitely sound like a team feeling like they built some positive momentum, despite losing all three Club World Cup matches. They were competitive in each one while playing three world-class opponents. The big test obviously comes this week in their return to league play. I’d like to think they’ll come out motivated, but we’ll see. ### The Sounders aren't sending anyone to the All-Star Game; given the team they built during the offseason, how much of a surprise is that (from the start of the season perspective; I'm guessing you might have expected it at this stage of things)? I wouldn’t say I”m surprised that they didn’t get anyone into the All-Star Game, in part because it’s such a crapshoot. That said, I think Cristian Roldan is one of the bigger snubs and Albert Rusnák had a solid bid as well. ### Perhaps related — what has your impression been of Jesus Ferreira, and why is he not adjusting as well as I assume the front office hoped when they signed him? Ferreira has definitely been a disappointment, at least from a production perspective. We figured he’d provide a bit more scoring punch, but he’s been both more of a playmaker and a more cerebral player than we expected, too. He seems to have won over Brian Schmetzer, anyway. [Subscribe in preparation for match coverage](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-2.png) ### The Thursday Three: What we learned about Nico Estévez's All-Star picks, a sneaky night of MLS play, and the Austin FC roster URL: https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-all-star-comments-san-diego-leads-west-mlspa-salary-guide-release/ Last updated: 2025-06-26T12:21:21.000Z While Austin FC news on Wednesday was dominated by the [MLS All-Star roster selection](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-all-star-game-roster-selection-austin-fc-players-brad-stuver-brandon-vazquez/) – finally giving Brad Stuver his due and returning Brandon Vázquez to the All-Star ranks after he backed in three years ago — it also coincided with the long-awaited first 2025 edition of MLS Christmas. MLS Christmas is, of course, the [MLS Players Association Salary Guide release](https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide?ref=verdeallday.com), in which we learn the information about player salaries that we don't get from MLS front offices. For nerds like us (and perhaps like *you* — that's a compliment), it gives us perspective on a given team's current roster build (and how the sporting director is constructing the team), and which players might be able to fit (or not fit) in future transfer windows. ## Estévez will start Messi Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez went on MLS Countdown on Wednesday evening to talk about the 12 players he selected and the entire 26-man roster. Among the most salient points he made in the short interview: - **His first two picks were his players.** "The exercise that we did as staff is we start\[ed by\] picking players that are doing really well this year, and then we stopped when we had 40 ... I'm gonna take my guys, Brandon and Brad, because I know them and how hard they work ... but obviously I'm going to be the bad guy, because there are a lot of players that haven't been selected that should be also here. Sorry about that, to be a coach, but a lot of players deserve to be in this roster." - **He acknowledges the roster is attacking-heavy.** "There are a lot of good attackers that can make the fans enjoy, and everyone that is watching the game enjoy, and even the players playing with each other, enjoying a little bit the game against a good opponent." - **He's not going to *not* start Lionel Messi**, even coming off a heavy stretch of matches including the Club World Cup knockout phase. "I don't think there's a coach in the world that would put Messi on the bench. I think he will play, and then when he's tired, he will get out." Where in the formation he'll slot in, or what formation Estévez deploys, will be an intriguing question for those intrigued by the All-Star Game. Personally, I'm waiting for a bit of pundit and other teams' fan fallout over Vázquez's selection; after all, seven of the 10 leading goalscorers in the league heading into Wednesday's matches, including Kévin Denkey, Dejan Joveljić, and Sam Surridge (more on him in a second), were passed over in voting and selection. Also personally, I'm hopeful that he scores enough goals between now and the actual All-Star Game to where Vázquez is among the upper echelon of goal scorers right now. [](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sca%5Fesv=031453346484e3fe&sxsrf=AE3TifM%5FdM0UOqc-jXcIwqhCoxz4OqJtQQ:1750938362625&q=dejan+joveljic&si=AMgyJEsS9yFPUNnJcpkaSNMRXqlEejqdhfJ0onlgXPeQr5cCaNndAJIeFTNmXFJ5novgXoc6HWDo%5FFV3O-BXihx17Ld2Pag3Q96VfyVtHcDvZKC-3kp43bw%3D&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiO34LZgY-OAxUuJe8CHQ%5FoLGYQyNoBKAB6BAgtEAA&ictx=1&ref=verdeallday.com) ## About last night Wednesday brought a slate of Club World Cup games, including Inter Milan's win over River Plate, in which we learned that former Austin FC designated player Sebastián Driussi's new teammates are a [bunch of jerks](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6443567/2025/06/25/inter-river-plate-esposito/?ref=verdeallday.com), but it also brought significant MLS action. Surridge got a hat trick in Nashville's win over New England to get up to 15 goals in league play, moving into the Golden Boot lead and likely putting himself in contention to be an All-Star replacement should a starting forward be injured. More germane to Austin, though, is San Diego beating Vancouver 5-3 at BC Place to move into the Western Conference lead on the goals scored tiebreaker. One-time Austin FC trialist Milan Iloski scored four goals in the goalfest to bring his season total to nine; between his performance and Sebastian Berhalter's All-Star selection (remember, Berhalter was loaned to Verde in 2021), it was a bad night for hindsight. Was former Austin FC sporting director Claudio Reyna a genius to bring them both in or a fool to let them loose? Let the debate begin! (Or not.) ## We have some more numbers We learned what new Austin FC players are making on Wednesday, and how they fit into the overall roster budget, thanks to MLS Christmas. Highlights included: - Midfielder Besard Šabović, currently on the cusp between regular and rotational starter, is making $550,000; - Fullback Mikkel Desler, back from an injury taking him out for a difficult stretch of the season, remains on the $550,000 he was on last year; - Robert Taylor, brought in to bolster Austin's midfield but whose role has been limited so far due to injury and acclimation, is on $575,000; - Ilie Sánchez, who started the season as team captain but has failed to crack the starting lineup in recent matches, is making $600,000, down considerably from the $1,267,875 he was making at LAFC last season. While none of these players are at the TAM threshold of $743,750 — only Julio Cascante is at present — they're all a salary tier up from Guilherme Biro ($275,000) and Brendan Hines-Ike ($325,000). Just keep this all in mind, if not when summer transfers are announced, when the roster gets its inevitable end-of-season shuffle. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ![Dani Pereira ad for Austin Telco Federal Credit Union](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250-1.png) ### Putting the Dos in Cinco Uno Dos: Nico Estévez selects two Austin FC players for 2025 MLS All-Star Game URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-all-star-game-roster-selection-austin-fc-players-brad-stuver-brandon-vazquez/ Last updated: 2025-06-25T22:45:29.000Z Finally, Brad Stuver gets his lifetime achievement All-Star selection ... and he's going into the squad with a teammate who's been there before. Brandon Vázquez, who made the team in 2022 as a replacement selection, joined Stuver as part of Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez's allotment of 12 players. In all, 26 players made the 2025 squad, who will play the Liga MX All-Stars at Q2 Stadium on Wednesday, July 23\. ![Brandon Vázquez banging drum after being named Man of the Match at Austin FC match](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/brandon-vazquez-drum.jpg) Now two-time All-Star Brandon Vázquez, getting Yeti Man of the Match honors at Q2 Stadium earlier this season (OtraXFavor) Former Austin FC player Sebastian Berhalter, guy-you've-heard-of Lionel Messi, and Austin FC nemesis Denis Bouanga are among the 12 players voted in by a combination of fans, players, and media. Two players, including current top-choice USMNT striker Patrick Agyemang and El Tri/San Diego FC standout Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, were selected by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Here's the full roster: **GOALKEEPERS (3)** - Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United FC / Voted In) - Brad Stuver (Austin FC / Coach’s Selection) - Yohei Takaoka (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Coach’s Selection) **DEFENDERS (8)** - Jordi Alba (Inter Miami CF / Voted In) - Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection) - Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In) - Michael Boxall (Minnesota United FC / Voted In) - Alex Freeman (Orlando City SC / Voted In) - Jakob Glesnes (Philadelphia Union / Coach’s Selection) - Andy Najar (Nashville SC / Coach’s Selection) - Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati / Coach’s Selection) **MIDFIELDERS (6)** - Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In) - David Da Costa (Portland Timbers / Coach’s Selection) - Evander (FC Cincinnati / Voted In) - Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake / Voted In) - Jeppe Tverskov (San Diego FC / Coach’s Selection) - Philip Zinckernagel (Chicago Fire FC / Coach’s Selection) **FORWARDS / WINGERS (9)** - Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC / Commissioner’s Pick) - Tai Baribo (Philadelphia Union / Voted In) - Denis Bouanga (LAFC / Voted In) - Anders Dreyer (San Diego FC / Coach’s Selection) - Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano (San Diego FC / Commissioner’s Pick) - Lionel Messi (Inter Miami CF / Voted In) - Diego Rossi (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection) - Brandon Vázquez (Austin FC / Coach’s Selection) - Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In) The Stuver and Vázquez selections may raise eyebrows outside of Austin, though Stuver has been regarded as one of the league's best and most and consistent goalkeepers since winning the starting spot in Verde's inaugural season. The Vázquez selection, like the Lozano selection, builds on a Liga MX-to-MLS narrative that adds a layer to the rivalry match between the two neighboring North American leagues. With Vázquez's goal against the Red Bulls in his most recent match, he joined Lozano in reaching the five-goal tier in 2025 league play.\[\[1\]\] Here are some fun facts the league provided in its press release worth inclusion: - *Sitting atop the Western Conference, *Vancouver Whitecaps FC* leads the league with four selections to the MLS All-Star Game: midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, defender Tristan Blackmon, goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, and forward Brian White. All four players are making their MLS All-Star Game debuts.* - **Fifteen players are represented on MLS All-Star are first-time representatives:* goalkeepersBrad Stuver andYohei Takaoka, defenders Tristan Blackmon, Michael Boxall, Alex Freeman, and Andy Najar, midfielders Sebastian Berhalter, David Da Costa, Jeppe Tverskov, and Philip Zinckernagel, and forwards Patrick Agyemang, Tai Baribo, Anders Dreyer, Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, and Brian White.* - *Expansion side *San Diego FC* is represented by three players on the roster: Anders Dreyer, Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, and Jeppe Tverskov. The three players are the most by an expansion team since Atlanta United in 2017 (Miguel Almirón, Greg Garza, Michael Parkhurst).* - *Of the 26 players on the roster, *Columbus Crew forward Diego Rossi has the most career All-Star selections with four* (2019, 2021, 2024-25), while LAFC’s Denis Bouanga (2023-25), Philadelphia Union’s Jakob Glesnes (2022-23, 2025), and FC Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson (2021, 2024-25) have three selections each.* - **Sixteen different countries (by place of birth) are represented on the roster,* led by the United States with nine players and Denmark with three – Anders Dreyer, Jeppe Tverskov, and Philip Zinckernagel. Countries with at least one representative include Argentina (one), Brazil (one), Canada (one), Denmark (three), England (one), France (one), Honduras (one), Israel (one), Japan (one), Mexico (one, New Zealand (one), Norway (one), Portugal (one), Spain (one), United States (nine), and Uruguay (one).* - **The roster features six players aged 24 years old or younger,* including Alex Freeman (20 years old), Diego Luna (21), Patrick Agyemang (24), Max Arfsten (24), Sebastian Berhalter (24), and David Da Costa (24). A pair of Inter Miami stars represent the oldest players on the roster in Lionel Messi (38 years old) and Jordi Alba (36).* - **Two players on the MLS All-Star roster – Brandon Vázquez (Austin FC) and Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano (San Diego FC – have previously played in LIGA MX.* Vázquez appeared in 49 matches for LIGA MX powerhouse CF Monterrey in 2024, scoring 14 goals. Lozano began his professional career with Pachuca, where he made 149 appearances and scored 43 goals and 31 assists during his time at the club (2014-17). Lozano led Pachuca to the Liga MX title in the 2016 Torneo Clausura and the 2016-17 Concacaf Champions League championship campaign.* If you're looking for additional Austin FC players to get representation for All-Star Week, the league has projected early July for selecting contestants for the All-Star Skills Challenge, which takes place Tuesday, July 22\. As Emergency Podcast listeners know, we're rooting for Osman Bukari to get a platform to showcase his speed and his dribbling ability. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* [Subscribe for more All-Star Game buildup](#/portal/signup) \[\[1\]\]: Yes, we know many more MLS players have more than five goals at this stage of the season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-970x250.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-728x90-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-728x90-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/This-is-Dani-Ad-728x90.png) ### Easy as 1.121: How some nerdy strength of schedule stats will make you happy about Austin FC's last 15 matches URL: https://verdeallday.com/strength-of-schedule-austin-fc-stats-ppg-standard-deviation-z-score-nerdery/ Last updated: 2025-06-25T03:34:08.000Z If you have this nagging sense that Austin FC's had a really difficult season to date, and that it can only get easier from here, do we have some stats for you. This journey started a couple of days ago when I began pondering Austin's strength of schedule over these first 19 games – including a winless-in-league-play May – and how it compared to the strength of schedule Austin will face in the remaining 15 games. With names like CF Montréal, St. Louis, SKC, and the hapless Galaxy on the schedule to come, it's got to be easier down the stretch, right? That's when I checked in with Chase Hoffman, who brought me into the American Soccer Analysis fold a while back, telling me about the [perspective-shifting (or at least reinforcing) conference](https://verdeallday.com/american-soccer-insights-summit-report-rice-university/) I attended at the start of this year. If I need to get to a next level of numbers nerdery, Chase is one of the first people I check in with. I'd initially run some numbers to attempt a strength-of-schedule calculation, using points per game as the metric. I found that if you took Austin FC's first nineteen opponents – that includes counting Vancouver, San Diego, Minnesota, and Portland twice, as Austin's played each of those teams home and away already — added all opponents' current points per game (starting with adding 2.06 to 2.06 to get Vancouver's lofty contribution), and divided the total by 19, Verde's opponents have an average 1.425 PPG in that half-plus-two-games so far this season. In May, Verde played seven league matches; opponents they faced that month had a 1.571 PPG average. If those seven teams were an MLS Voltron getting that PPG over a whole season, it works out over a full season to be a little over 53 points. (Our Voltron would have been good enough for 6th in the East or 4th in the West last season.) But Verde's average PPG for the remaining 15 matches? 1.121 PPG. The question I threw out to Chase was how that compares to other MLS teams. He came back, after some math, with charts and talk about standard deviation, which I surmise collectively makes us fun at parties, but only certain kinds of parties. Can I interest you in some charts to show how good Austin FC might have it? ## Some charts Here's the first encouraging visual to show you how an opponent group averaging 1.121 PPG (like playing 2023 Austin over and over\[\[1\]\]) shapes up. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Western-Conference-Remaining-Opponent-Average-PPG.png) And then, also, here's a quick and dirty table to show the march Verde has been on up to this point. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-24-at-6.52.45---PM.png) Yep, that's the second-hardest schedule in the West, only "bested" by the Galaxy, who are clearly *having a time of it* this season. Conversely, look at the top four in the West, who happen to occupy four of the seven lowest opponent PPG spots. Maybe there's a correlation between San Diego FC looking so good and the teams they've had to face so far? In a chart involving just the West teams, here's what's come before compared to what's coming next. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Western-Conference-Opponent-PPG--Played-vs.-Remaining.png) For LAFC and Minnesota, it's about the same. For San Diego and Portland, it's appreciably harder. For 8th-place San Jose, who Austin still has to play twice in league matches, including on Decision Day (and, of course, once in the Open Cup), it gets harder. It also gets harder for FC Dallas, in 10th place, and Austin will play that rival twice. Austin also has to play 6th-place Seattle twice, including on Saturday night in Seattle, catching them at potentially the best possible time to catch them in Lumen Field\[\[2\]\] — though Seattle's schedule also eases up post-Club World Cup compared to pre-Club World Cup (and certainly *during* the Club World Cup). And then just for fun, here's how home vs. away looks down the stretch. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Western-Conference-Remaining-Opponent-PPG--Home-vs-Away.png) An away opponent average PPG of less than 1? Yes, please! You're following me so far? Let's get into standard deviations now, which I'm only now getting better at understanding, which will help us grasp how remarkably significant the lower strength of schedule number down the stretch is. ## Let's get really nerdy Here's a good definition of standard deviation from the [National Library of Medicine](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/oet/ed/stats/02-900.html?ref=verdeallday.com): "A **standard deviation** (or σ) is a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean. Low, or small, standard deviation indicates data are clustered tightly around the mean, and high, or large, standard deviation indicates data are more spread out. A standard deviation close to zero indicates that data points are very close to the mean, whereas a larger standard deviation indicates data points are spread further away from the mean." Then we've got to cover Z-score, which is, [per Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/z/zscore.asp?ref=verdeallday.com), "a statistical measurement that describes a value's relationship to the mean of a group of values. Z-score is measured in terms of standard deviations from the mean." Following so far? "Z-score is a statistical measure that quantifies the distance between a data point and the mean of a dataset. It's expressed in terms of standard deviations. It indicates how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean of the distribution. "If a Z-score is 0, it indicates that the data point's score is identical to the mean score. A Z-score of 1.0 would indicate a value that is one standard deviation from the mean. Z-scores may be positive or negative, with a positive value indicating the score is above the mean and a negative score indicating it is below the mean." Now here's another Z-score tidbit to keep in mind. "In most large data sets (assuming a normal distribution of data), 99.7% of values lie between -3 and 3 standard deviations, 95% between -2 and 2 standard deviations, and 68% between -1 and 1 standard deviations." Here's where that comes into play, starting with standard deviation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/All-MLS-Strength-Of-Schedule-Standard-Deviation-From-Mean--Lower-Means-Easier-Schedule-.png) See how that falls off a cliff when it gets to Austin? And look at St. Louis at the mean, and how more than half the MLS teams are above the mean in their remaining games. And now, this! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Western-Conference-Strength-of-Schedule-Z-Score--Lower-Means-Easier-Schedule-.png) Remember that 95% of datasets typically have between Z-score values from 2 to -2\. Austin's very close to a Z-Score of -3\. In other words, that's highly unlikely variance from the mean. In this case, it works in Austin's favor as the opposing strength of schedule is almost three times easier per the stats math. Or, at least it has the potential to be that. Austin has to play the games, first of all. Keep in mind how the strength of schedule looks now will look at least slightly different by the end of the season due to teams getting hot or cold adding or shedding points to affect their overall PPGs. Also, because it's MLS, teams can change their composition about 2/3 of the way through their seasons — due to a transfer window scheduled when most of the world's leagues are between seasons. So, let's say Antoine Griezmann decides he really wants to play in San Jose under Bruce Arena\[\[3\]\], and moves there in the summer transfer window. Even with the challenge it takes some players to adjust to MLS from overseas leagues, I'd hazard a guess that a Quakes team with Griezmann is better than a Quakes team without him. Certainly, at least some teams will pick up difference-making new players in the summer transfer window. Some of those teams will get better and play better than their late June PPG average indicates. We just don't know which teams those will be. Who knows – one of those teams might even be Verde. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: Sorry to bring that up, but that team was at 1.15 PPG, and you're all familiar with how that looks. \[\[2\]\]: Considering they just crashed out of the Club World Cup with three straight losses, albeit to PSG, Atlético Madrid, and Botafogo, which are difficult teams. \[\[3\]\]: For illustrative purposes, of course, though the prospect of this happening is certainly worth entertaining just for the sensible chuckles. ### You can probably count on that June 28 Seattle vs. Austin match happening: Sounders on brink of Club World Cup elimination URL: https://verdeallday.com/you-can-probably-count-on-that-june-28-seattle-vs-austin-match-happening-sounders-on-brink-of-club-world-cup-elimination/ Last updated: 2025-06-20T17:58:18.000Z The Seattle Sounders are straight up not having a good time playing some of the world's best teams in their own stadium. On Thursday, the Sounders suffered their second defeat in two Club World Cup matches, setting up a "so you're telling me there's a chance" match against reigning UEFA champs Paris Saint-Germain on Monday (at 2 pm CT). As an Austin FC fan, you're invested because should (if not *when*) the Sounders fail to get out of its group Monday, the June 28 match between the two distinctive shades of green in MLS will be on as scheduled — and it's possible that head coach Brian Schmetzer will want to rotate his lineup to match Verde's vacationing restedness. Seattle's not quite eliminated yet, even by losing to Atlético Madrid 3-1 on Thursday, as Botafogo's surprise win over PSG later that day does set up an improbable scenario that starts with the Sounders handily beating PSG to get into the knockout rounds. Here's the current Group B table. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-20-at-9.28.04---AM.png) As [The Athletic (routed through the New York Times)](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6434652/2025/06/20/club-world-cup-group-how/?ref=verdeallday.com) offered: *At the Club World Cup, though, the first tiebreaker is teams’ head-to-head records. If only two teams in a group are level on points, the side that won their match finishes higher. If their head-to-head result was a draw, they cannot be separated by goal difference or goals scored in their head-to-head, so the decision would go straight to the group-wide metrics — first, overall goal difference, followed by overall goals scored. If both of those are equal, the teams’ disciplinary record is the final tiebreaker, with the last resort being drawing lots.* *If two or more teams are level on points, their position in the group is first determined by results in the matches between the sides that are level. If those are equal, goal difference from the matches between them is the next metric, followed by goals scored in the matches between them.* If Atleti beats or draws Botafogo, both those teams go through to the knockout rounds regardless of anything PSG or Seattle does. Botafogo winning does open the door to Seattle getting through with a win over PSG, but then there's a three-way tie for second that would get into goal differential among the teams that played. (PSG beat Atleti 4-0, which complicates Atleti's path, but Seattle would still have to put in some goals to make the math work in their favor.) ## What is Austin FC up to? According to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, [in comments](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvrbny-061425/) following last Saturday's 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls, most of the players are expected to return Friday from a mini-vacation that the 27 teams not participating in the Club World Cup were able to enjoy. However, Myrto Uzuni and Osman Bukari – new dads with babies across the Atlantic in Spain and Ghana respectively – were allowed extra time away for some father-child bonding time, appropriate given Sunday was Father's Day. And though there's nothing on either player's Instagram account featuring the new babies — it seems like maybe the Swoontower team should get on that — we did notice that Uzuni's completely wild gender reveal video is still pinned to his account. If you haven't checked it out yet, treat yourself. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCRWBF1AAff/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Myrto uzuni 🦁 (@myrto\_uzuni)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCRWBF1AAff/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Following the Sounders match, Austin FC is due to host LAFC the following Saturday, with the club planning a fireworks show (sponsored by Texas Lottery, because all things Austin FC are sponsored) as the match is the day after the July 4th holiday. The [video promoting it](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1431151264564647) shows fireworks from the home opener, with kids accompanying the players wearing ski hats. I predict that no one will want to wear a ski hat that day. Also, though, there's a chance that the match could be postponed pending how far LAFC goes in the tournament. Done dirty by organizers, LAFC had to play its opener against Chelsea in the middle of a weekday afternoon in Atlanta (nearly 2200 miles from its home stadium), and will play ES Tunis, who lost its opener 2-0 to Flamengo in Philly. It's arguably the easiest of the three matches they'll play, and they'll need to win to have any hope of passing either the English or the Brazilian powers. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'You best believe I had a chip on my shoulder': An American legend comes to Austin URL: https://verdeallday.com/clint-dempsey-roger-bennett-austin-interview/ Last updated: 2025-06-19T17:40:30.000Z The way Clint Dempsey tells it, there was a little more than luck involved in one of his trademark goals — the equalizer that allowed the U.S. to "win" a 1-1 contest against favored England in the 2010 World Cup — even though he considers it one of his luckiest goals ever. "My mentality was always empty the clip," he said. "Gotta get some shots off every game. It wasn't the best shot, but the thing about those Jubilani balls, you hit them, different things would happen than normal. So if you don't buy a lottery ticket, you'll never win. "Honestly, to be to be real with y'all, throughout my career, there wasn't a lot of lucky goals that I had, and I feel like that was the most lucky. And it was almost felt like it was my sister helping me out. You know what I'm saying? I had a sister who passed away" – Jennifer, at age 17 in 1995, of a brain aneurysm — "It was honestly, that's what I felt on that goal, that ... there was some help. So for me, that that was a special moment." Roger Bennett, interviewing Dempsey at B.D. Riley's Irish Pub in Mueller ahead of the U.S. men's national team match vs. Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening for a Men In Blazers special, marveled at that revelation, noting, "Every goal is more than the goal. The best moments in football is when all of humanity is represented in." (Bennett also had some nice things to say about fan culture in Austin, saying at one point about watching Austin FC play on TV, "You want to leap through the television set and be there.") Dempsey also noted that his perspective playing in England, and how he and his fellow Americans were regarding leading up to the match, gave them a sense of determination – or, as he put it, "You best believe I had a chip on my shoulder." The hour-plus conversation involved some other interesting insights on the U.S. team as it plays a Gold Cup without some of its best players, as a tune-up for a World Cup it's co-hosting next year — with fellow co-host Canada looking like a better bet to make a deep run in the global tournament even though the actual odds don't reflect it yet. ### On how players are being developed "You don't have enough kids playing freestyle like pickup or street soccer," Dempsey observed. "Sometimes you can't be coached. You need to just be out there and try stuff. But at the same time, there's always something you can learn from someone about certain runs that you can make, how you can position your body. "I understand the concussion protocol and not being up with the head to a certain age, but they need to make sure they teach these kids how to head properly, using your forehead. And it's just such a tool on set pieces, corner kicks, crosses. And I just think it's kind of a lost art." ### On the joy of nutmegging "That's what I love the most ... watching Ronaldinho, Denilson, watching players like that take people on and meg them ... you always want to talk trash to somebody. I mean, scoring goals was great. Getting assists was great, but I don't think I realized until I got into the professional league that, like, that's how you make your money. If you're someone who puts a biscuit in the basket or helps create goals, that's how you're going to have a long career. So I kind of switched my mentality to trying to meg people less and score more." ### On Malik Tillman's importance in the Gold Cup run "When you're a starter, you kind of feel that the coach respects you and has got your back. Also, getting goals ... I mean, there were certain stages throughout my career when I scored, I kind of felt that I belonged, and I think that's what he's feeling right now. You saw what he did at PSV, how well he plays, and the swag that he has when he plays over there. "And now getting those two goals, it's kind of like, all right, I'm doing my thing, and he can get that confidence, and you can see more of like his true talent that he has, and he can start to express himself. Because it's always different when you're someone that's coming into a team and maybe a little bit new, to try to fit in. And I think now he's taking that opportunity with both hands, of having some of the other players that are out, and has a chance to really step up and be one of the biggest players for us in this Gold Cup." He added, "Everything is calculated when it comes from a coach, in terms of how he can get his best out of his players. And you've got to build up the players that are there, that are fighting for you, and then you also got to make the players that are not in. It's next man up, and you being out of the team is just kind of like being injured or not having an opportunity to play. Someone else can come in and take your spot. "And that's any team that I've been a part of. The best teams that I've been a part of, you always feel like you could be on the chopping block, and if you don't play well in training, then you're not going to get into the starting lineup. So if you can create a culture through training that there's always a chance to fight to get into the starting lineup, and the roster is just not set from the start. Those are the best teams I was a part of." ### Praising Diego Luna "The thing I like about Diego is he's got a nose for the game," he said, eliciting laughs as he perhaps unwittingly alluded to Luna's broken nose during a January friendly against Costa Rica that [grew his legend](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/%5F/id/45445099/usa-diego-luna-broken-nose-life-changing-career?ref=verdeallday.com). "In the Trinidad game, knowing that the defender was getting his head down, playing it back, he was able to sniff that out, pick the pass off, but also keep cool, calm, and collected, make the pass to Tillman and get the goal. "The other thing I like about him, he fights hard, he presses, he tries stuff, you know, he's not someone that is afraid to do a drag scissor, chop somebody up, or do behind the leg pass. That's the things that you kind of need. You need to mix up your game, and you need to keep the other team off balance. So those are some of the things that stood out to me. And also what stands out is when times are darkest, light shines brighter, and he's one of those lights." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We're getting what we deserve': Looking at a suddenly rosier picture for Austin FC thanks to two straight wins URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvrbny-061425/ Last updated: 2025-06-15T13:47:40.000Z If you have bemoaned going through seven Austin FC matches without a win in league play during May – and I know some of you have – take another look at the [form guide](https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/form-guide/?year=2025&ref=verdeallday.com) this morning. That's Austin firmly in the middle of the MLS pack\[\[1\]\], with two straight wins and only one loss in their last seven, heading into an international break sitting 7th place in the West following [a 2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvrbny-061425/) over New York Red Bulls on Saturday night. Now, starting with a trip to Seattle in two weeks' time\[\[2\]\], Verde's next two opponents are starting Club World Cup assignments on Sunday and Monday respectively, while players from the 27 other MLS teams get nearly a full work week off to reset. For Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, the relatively good run of form they've arrived at from a form-guide-half-full perspective is indicative of how they've playing even though the more dismal form guide patches. "This is a resume of the last month and a half," he observed. "I told the players, we did good things throughout this month and a half, and we didn't get rewarded. And I think the last two games, we are getting what we deserve to get throughout this month and a half. And this is sports, this is soccer, and I think there are a lot of positives in these last two games, and there are a lot of things to keep improving. "As I always said, winning or losing, we still need to improve and to get better, but I'm really, really happy for the effort that the team played to in the good moments of soccer and then after to suffer and to get the result and to go on a small break that we have now with a positive mindset." Estévez complimented his team for incorporating some halftime guidance, building on how the team sought to play against a traditionally high-pressing Red Bulls defense, grabbing the lead on a 51st-minute goal with lots of passes in the buildup, before Osman Bukari picked out Brandon Vázquez with an assist to cap off one of Verde's best-ever team effort goals. That pass exemplified something that the final third/box pass chart showed: Much of Austin's offense was being generated up the right side where Mikkel Desler and Bukari were patrolling. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Austin_FC_v_New_York_Red_Bulls_quad_2025-06-15.png) "\[At\] halftime, we just addressed some details that helped us in the second half to have more fluidity in our ball circulation and break their initial pressing," Estévez said. "But the idea in the plan was the same from the beginning. Sometimes you can do it more often. And I think the other day against Colorado, we saw some things like that; against San Diego in the second half, the same. And I think we have to keep being consistent on creating those overloads and penetrating as we did, and to create our scoring opportunities." ![Austin FC's Osman Bukari chasing after ball in match vs. Red Bulls](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/osman-bukari-vs-red-bulls.jpg) **Osman Bukari continues to dazzle (Alex Rubio)* ## Defense is key Though Austin's defense did give up one goal, the deflection off Vázquez — off what I'll call a long Emil Forsberg ball toward goal, as stat services differed on whether it qualified as a shot — means that Red Bulls' only shot on goal (per MLS' count) came at the very end of the match, from Forsberg's foot on a free kick. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who came into the match as one of only eight players in the league so far this season with double-digit goals, was effectively neutralized, with two blocked shots amounting to just 0.19 xG. The Red Bulls have collectively put up multiple goals against eight opponents this season — including a 7-0 pasting of the Galaxy, who still qualify as an MLS team though their 1-12-5 record might indicate otherwise, that Estévez specifically referenced to illustrate their quality. Per ASA's charting, though RBNY got off more shots than Austin, most of them were poor, speculative efforts, compared to Austin's most selective and more surgical attempts. ![Shot map and xG chart for Austin FC vs. RBNY](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Austin_FC_v_New_York_Red_Bulls_XG_2025-06-15.png) "A lot of their goals come in transition," said Brad Stuver after the match. "It's the Red Bull DNA. I played in the East for several years, and going up against the Red Bulls, they have this unique identity where they love to high press, they know the keys to go, and then they turn it over to go straight to goal ... We hindered their ability to transition. We played a little bit more pragmatic, and we did try and play out of the back a little bit, but when we knew that we were getting trapped, we tried to get out of that trap. So, for us, it was just about not playing into their strengths. And I think the guys did a great job." ## Unlocking Uzuni? Myrto Uzuni didn't get into the match until the 70th minute, having just gotten back from international break, and his new shiny white soccer boots barely got scuffed with only eight touches on the night – though one of those was a potential assist on what turned out to be the last significant action of the match, in the form of an overhit Jáder Obrian shot that wasted Uzuni's good work on that play. Estévez revealed in the press conference that while Uzuni got to finally hold his newborn son – born in Barcelona a few months prior – he got very limited bonding time due to the bubble that national team players find themselves in during international windows. (Estévez put Uzuni's time with the baby at 20 minutes; Uzuni told Moisés Chiullán it was more like 10.) That will get remedied as players leaguewide head out on mini-vacations this week (save for those in the Gold Cup or in Club World Cup). Estévez is allowing Uzuni and Bukari (another dad with an infant child across the Atlantic) a little extra time away from the team to bond with their progeny before returning to training. "I always do that with the players that live very far away," he clarified, regarding the extra time granted to recharge. I know how hard it is." He also predicted, regarding the father-child quality time, "I think this is going to help both to come with a new energy, and hopefully Uzuni's family can come with him, or soon, in the summer, and he can have everyone here, because I think this is one of the things that probably is more affecting him." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\] And significantly above Dallas and Houston for those of you tracking that. \[\[2\]\] Provided Seattle doesn't advance in the Club World Cup; their group makes that a prohibitive prospect, but soccer. ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, New York Red Bulls 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvrbny-061425/ Last updated: 2025-06-15T02:46:12.000Z Austin FC, playing its only home match of June, got an early goal from Guilherme Biro, then an Emil Forsberg-engineered Brandon Vázquez own goal, then an actual second-half Vázquez goal, to lead the hosts to a 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night. For the second straight match, Austin notched a sixth-minute goal to open the scoring — this one came in the second phase of a corner kick, with original taker Owen Wolff getting back to the ball once jettisoned out of the six-yard box to put it back in; that led to Biro authoritatively heading it home. Red Bulls returned with their own goal off the second phase of a corner kick in the 23rd minute, with Brad Stuver punching out a ball that got back to Forsberg outside the 18\. Forsberg then put in a ball that might have been more pass than shot, but it pinged off Vázquez and past Stuver to equalize. Verde managed to create some good opportunities toward the end of the half though they did not deliver well on them (see Worst Verde Moment), and the teams went into halftime tied. Verde got on the board again about five minutes into the second half for what turned out to be the winning goal, with a long sequence of possession and passing leading to Bukari's deft pass to Vázquez inside the six-yard box, giving him an easy finish to retake the lead. An offside call took away what looked at first to be a well-worked Owen Wolff goal the 73rd minute to extend the lead further, and Red Bulls still had a chance to spoil the victory in the match's final frames. Despite several opportunities to do so, including two free kicks just outside the 18 awarded to Forsberg off calls the home fans didn't appear to like, Verde held tough, and even got a chance of their own off the second attempt, which Stuver parried away, leading to a break and a would-be Myrto Uzuni attempt that a hard-charging Jáder Obrian shot toward goal a little too overzealously. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Following the goal, Verde had several long spells of possession showing an aptitude for progressing the ball incrementally and purposefully. While there's still not a true No. 10 on this team, Owen Wolff did have some moments, and at times during the second half, it looked like there was a little 10 in all of them. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 45th minute, Wolff played Bukari into the box, and while Bukari could have shot sooner, he did put in a dangerous ball that Carlos Colonel managed to kick away. There really should have been another shot on goal from that rather than some thwarted attempts, but thwarted attempts from multiple players is what we got. It wasn't all offensive ineptitude in this match, of course, but moments like these make moments like the second Verde goal seem less likely. ## One thing you might have missed If you weren't in the stadium and watching the broadcast, you might have missed the two banners that went up in the supporters' section around the 34th minute expressing views about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – specifically at the 32:52 mark, as an apparent nod to LAFC's 3252 supporters' group, commenting on the current situation in Los Angeles. The banners stayed up for about eight minutes, and in minute 36, the cameras did catch several seconds of those organically capturing the match action. ## One nerdy tidbit Technically, Red Bulls didn't have a shot on goal in the first half (with the own goal in, but managing six shots total next to Austin's four (two on target). In fact, the Forsberg free kick that Stuver saved deep in stoppage time was the visitors' only shot on target of the match. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's now two straight wins with two goals each match for Verde, meaning they've gotten more points in two June league matches than in seven May league matches. It also leaves Verde decently above the playoff line heading into the international break. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Verde looked more purposeful in possession in the second half, so wondering if there was halftime instruction that enabled that, or if that was part of the game plan from the start and it just took a while for Austin to get to that level of execution? [Subscribe to get all the quotes tomorrow](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with The Seeing Red Podcast's Mark Fishkin URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-the-seeing-red-podcast-mark-fishkin/ Last updated: 2025-06-14T14:19:24.000Z We don't get to think about the Red Bulls all that often, except when we do. Even though the New York Red Bulls are in the Eastern Conference, Saturday night's match at Q2 Stadium marks the third time the teams have played one another in five years. In 2022, Verde lost a seven-goal thriller in Q2 Stadium, going down 4-1 before mounting a late comeback that just fell short. In 2023, Verde traveled to Jersey and drew 1-1 thanks to a Emi Rigoni own goal early in the match followed by a Sebastian Driussi goal just before halftime. To mark the occasion, we checked in with Mark Fishkin, who goes back to the MetroStars days with the Big Apple-adjacent team. If you need a Red Bulls podcast in your life, he offers [The Seeing Red Podcast](https://seeingredpod.com/?ref=verdeallday.com); in the meantime, here are some insights as to what the reigning Eastern Conference champions (still in the U.S. Open Cup mix just like Austin, by the way) are up to. ### Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has reached double-digit goals; what were the expectations for him going into the season, and is this surpassing them? (And can he keep this rate of scoring up?) Choupo-Moting has been a difference maker for New York. While fans were expecting to see him play often (he appeared in every league match in the first half), they didn't expect him to play an average of 83 minutes per appearance. He could be the first 20-goal scorer the Red Bulls have had since Bradley Wright-Phillips was here. Now, with four of his ten goals coming from the spot, there's some concern, but by and large, Choupo-Moting has absolutely surpassed expectations. ### People without much knowledge of the Red Bulls default to the "energy drink soccer" concept? To what degree are the Red Bulls playing that style this season (low possession, lots of pressing, lots of countering is how I read that), how are they deviating from that, and why? New York has moved away from their traditional "energy drink soccer" style considerably under Sandro Schwarz. While, yes, the Red Bulls continue to press ferociously at times, the team is much more comfortable holding possession than any team since Jesse Marsch brought the concept to New York in 2015\. Part of the reason is having a player like Emil Forsberg in the middle of the formation, who is so comfortable with the ball at his feet. The other is the maturation of so many other attacking players over time. ### Last year, the Red Bulls got to MLS Cup and ran into a bit of bad luck that day. How realistic is it that they'll return, and if they do, what do you see as the keys to how they'd get through the East playoffs (and can they do it as a lower seed like they did last year)? If New York's run from the seventh playoff spot to coming up one goal short in MLS Cup teaches anything, it's that truly anything can happen in the playoffs. The Red Bulls' defensive unit came up massive against Columbus in the first round, and goals from unexpected sources (centerbacks, central defensive midfielders) carried them to the final. Hopefully New York will be able to ride the club's best-in-MLS home form (7-1-1 in the league) to a higher seed and leverage home field, but stout goalkeeping, team defense, and veterans showing up will determine their playoff fate. [Subscrbe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Are bonus games still a thing? Looking at Austin FC's history against Eastern Conference teams URL: https://verdeallday.com/are-bonus-games-still-a-thing-looking-at-austin-fcs-history-against-eastern-conference-teams/ Last updated: 2025-06-12T22:16:33.000Z One of the greatest wins in Austin FC history brought about one of the greatest digs the team's ever encountered. For those who remember April 16, 2022, you'll remember that Austin FC was down 2-0 in the 80th minute at D.C. United, and you'll remember that the visitors roared back with three goals in ten minutes and stoppage time change, and you'll remember that the comeback started shortly after Pollo — the de facto rubber chicken mascot who started as a "[drunk idea](https://www.thestriker.com/2022/05/08/pollo-fc-trevor-blow-austin--fc-fans-good-luck-rubber-chicken?ref=verdeallday.com)" and became a beloved club icon – was returned to the Verde contingent after being confiscated by an overzealous security guard before the match. And you might remember that after the match, a [stunned Chris Bils](https://www.thestriker.com/2022/04/17/austin-fc-dc-united-takeaways-comeback?ref=verdeallday.com) took in the fact that Verde sat above the top of the West following that improbable win. And then Andrew Wiebe launched the concept of the "bonus game," in an exchange with Austin fan Kevin Morris, which led me to write [a column](https://www.thestriker.com/2022/04/17/from-the-west-stand-andrew-wiebe-austin-fc-win-over-dc-united-reaction?ref=verdeallday.com) titled "Maybe someday, Andrew Wiebe will believe in Austin FC, too," which may have had some part in the "Keep Doubting Us" narrative that Verde fans rallied around until they hit the LAFC wall in the Western Conference Finals that year. But maybe, looking at it with hindsight, Wiebe was onto something? Wiebe defined a bonus game as a "match vs likely non-playoff team not in your conference, thus a win feels nice but it’s neither an indication of being an elite team nor does it deny a direct competitor points in the playoff race." Update! I got a quote from Wiebe explaining the reasoning (and the dynamic at the time) a little bit clearer: *My memory – and listen, in the ETR (Extra Time Radio) days, takes flew fast and furious and often off the cuff in the heat of conversation – is that Austin supporters were flooding my mentions (credit to you all for being passionate and vocal) with way-too-early claims of greatness.* *Beating what was the year before a HISTORICALLY BAD Cincinnati at home on opening day was fun, no doubt, but not a referendum on Austin’s quality. Same for Miami the next weekend.* *“Bonus games” was another way of saying “settle down, it’s a long year and beating bad teams cross conference in Weeks 1 and 2 will not define your season.” The idea of Bonus Games is still a thing. In-conference games naturally have more bearing – three points for you takes three points from a direct playoff rival – on the standings at the end of the year and thus playoff positions. However, the version Austin fans know (and perhaps still loathe) was very specific to their situation in 2022 … and I hope was a whole lot of fun banter for all of us!* Specifically, and I surmised this is what he was after, Verde benefited from starting the season with a 5-0 win against FC Cincinnati (who looked like they were headed to a fourth straight bottom-dwelling season but turned out to be Actually Good) and a 5-1 win against Inter Miami (but this was Brek Shea's Miami, not Lionel Messi's Miami). Those two matches, plus the comeback win against D.C., got them on a 3-0-0 start against East teams that season; they'd finish 6-1-1, only losing a home match to a Red Bulls team they'll again host on Saturday night (though certainly different than the team they faced at that time). If you're judging by points per game, Verde's best season against the East came in 2022 — perhaps unsurprising given Verde experienced a lot of superlatives that year. Their 2.375 PPG in 2022 (in matches against eight East opponents) edged out their 2 PPG in 2023, though that season, Verde managed to go undefeated in all six West vs. East matches with a 3-0-3 record. In 2024, Verde had a decent but less successful 2-2-2 record. As I explored [a couple of weeks ago](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-turn-historical-perspective-austin-fc-halfway-point/), Austin FC finished 2022 at 1.64 PPG and 2023 at 1.14 PPG, so they finished far worse overall than they did against East teams. (That doesn't necessarily mean that Austin should lobby to move to the East, though they would have made the playoffs in 2024 with their West-heavy record were they suddenly moved to the East.) In two 2025 matches against East teams, Austin FC has a loss to Cincinnati, which was the just result based on Evander's play alone, and a draw to Atlanta United, which looked like it would be a narrow win until sub Jamal Thiaré equalized in the second minute of stoppage time. In 2021, with a schedule still borked by COVID-19, Verde only played two East teams, losing to Nashville (which was West in 2020, East in 2021, West in 2022, then back to East by 2023), and then drawing Columbus 0-0 in the second-ever home match in Q2 Stadium.\[\[1\]\] That means if Austin loses to Red Bulls on Saturday night, it will be on its worst form against East teams ever in a single season, with a home match against New England and away trips to D.C. (hide Pollo!) and Montréal (cacher le poulet!) remaining. ## But are they bonus games? Of the eight teams Verde played in 2022, five were playoff teams per the perfectly-reasonable seven-teams-make-it standard, and Charlotte finishing in 9th place meaning it would be a playoff team by today's standard. Of Austin's 2022 opponents, only Atlanta (surprising) and D.C. (not so much) were below past and present playoff lines. Visiting the 2022 MLS season previews to confirm the preseason calculus on those teams led me to a certain set of predictions I'm just going to include here so you can reminisce. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-10-at-9.48.23---PM.png) In 2023, Verde won three of four from non-playoff teams (10th place Montréal, 12th place D.C., and 15th place Toronto). It drew Miami away, though it was just barely pre-Messi Miami. Against the two playoff teams, Verde drew 5th-place New England and 8th-place Red Bulls. Incidentally, while 3-0-3 against the East, Verde was 7-9-12 (or 1.17 PPG) against other West teams and missed the playoffs, even with the "bonus games" that effectively kept it from getting much worse.\[\[2\]\] Against non-playoff East teams in its first four seasons, Austin is 6-2-3, or 1.91 PPG, which is definitely better than its lifetime 52-67-35 record in regular season games, good for just 1.24 PPG (calculating 191 points against 154 matches). ## But are the Red Bulls good? The current standings will tell you, perhaps deceptively, that the Red Bulls are an enigmatic team. They're 7-1-1 in what is being called Sports Illustrated Stadium and then they're 1-5-2 on the road. They're currently 6th in the East; at first glance, they appear to be the East version of LAFC and Seattle, currently 5th and 6th in the West, in part due to a similarly glaring home/road discrepancy. That's when I turned to Mark Fishkin, a longtime Red Bulls expert and co-host of The Seeing Red Podcast. What he's saying leads me to believe that Austin FC might be catching the New Jersey-based team at just the wrong time, after catching a number of teams at seemingly just the right time this season. "The Red Bulls started this season on a very mediocre 3-3-3 clip, but since then, they've won seven of 10 and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Open Cup," he observed. "While there is a big discrepancy in their home record vs. their one away, the team won twice on the road in May, a 4-1 win at Colorado Springs in the Cup, and at original rival D.C. United in the league. New York has scored 10 times over their last three matches, while conceding only twice. "The Red Bulls will be buoyed by the return of 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Lewis Morgan, who has played only a single match this season before picking up another injury," he continued. "He's back healthy now, and may see the field on Saturday. While the jury's out over whether the Red Bulls are 'good,' the team is in the best form of the season." So, while bonus games might exist, it doesn't appear that the Red Bulls match will be one of those. And although you might argue that Verde were gifted one bonus game this year, you can also see that those results aren't always guaranteed. Jamal Thiaré certainly had something to say about that. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: That's one of the few home matches I've missed in five years; I did watch that match from Finn McCool's in New Orleans, though. \[\[2\]\]: For what it's worth, 2023 is a year where 10th-place Portland would have leapfrogged Charlotte to be 9th place in the East, in the way that 10th-place Austin would have leapfrogged Atlanta to make the East playoffs in 2024\. ### 'I don't care about the stats today': Assessing an unusual-for-Austin FC two-goal win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-colvatx-060725/ Last updated: 2025-06-08T15:35:22.000Z One of the most impressive things about Austin FC's [2-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-colorado-rapids-0-austin-fc-2/) over Colorado Rapids on Saturday night – the team's first league-play win in 49 days, its first two-goal match in league play in 76 days, and its first two-goal league play win in *287 days* – was how they weathered the Rapids' attack. Despite the hosts getting 19 shots (five on target), and mounting an xG of 3.7 per MLS' count, Verde secured the shutout and returned home from the Rockies just three points off the pace of 4th-place Seattle (playing Vancouver tonight) and fifth-place Portland. I asked Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez how that happened, and he started with one simple word before defending an offensive performance that wasn't being attacked. "Soccer," he remarked. "I don't care about the stats today, because if we capitalize on the chances that we had at the beginning, it is no game, but this is a really, really difficult place to play. Really, really difficult. Not a lot of teams can win \[here\]. It's my first win here as a coach, and in four years, it's really, really difficult. It's chaotic, it's altitude, and I think we showed personality. "We probably had our best expected goals away, that you didn't mention, and then in one PK that didn't go, a clear PK, and we're happy because we got the reward that we didn't in May, when we deserved to win more games because we had more expected goals than our opponent. And this is why it's really, really difficult, this job, this sport, and sometimes it's easier to see from the outside." (He then went on to talk about Seattle's good fortune in facing a Vancouver team that will be missing multiple starters on Sunday night thanks to illness suffered playing the Concacaf Champions Cup final in Mexico last week, the second straight year that's happened to an MLS team.) Technically, Austin players didn't score both those goals, as the insurance goal came on a corner kick own-goal, with Rafael Navarro and Brendan Hines-Ike going up for a ball that definitely ended with the ball caroming off the back of Navarro's head, but likely would have been scored had Hines-Ike been able to cleanly get to the ball — his positioning on the play was fantastic, and Owen Wolff did well to deliver the ball to him. ## A boost for Bukari Osman Bukari engineered the first goal, credited to Mikkel Desler and assisted by Dani Pereira, and played one of his best overall matches in Verde. (Here's a reminder that he had the best goal of his MLS career that last time Austin beat an MLS opponent 2-0 — again, 287 days ago, against Nashville.) Buakri also set up a free kick that Brandon Vázquez very nearly got in (almost mirroring the goal he scored against Atlanta earlier this season) in the 50th minute — evading Sam Bassett, who took several attempts to get close enough to him to bring him down to impede his progress. "One of the things that we talked about this week is that we have more quality than what we're showing, and then some of the games that we're playing, we're doing okay, but we have more quality than just doing okay — and it is the moment now to show the quality that we have," Estévez reflected. "And I think every player took it personally in that sense, and they did their job really well, and they showed that quality, and although it wasn't perfect, because we were missing some passes, some chances that we created well, and we have to keep improving and asking the players to show their quality there. In the case of Buka, I think he showed why he is an important player for us." "Today, I was very, very happy about Buka," said Desler. "I also told him that his work rate today, especially defensively as well, was incredible. He was a beast, man against man, and he won his duels. So I'm very pleased and happy about that. That makes my job so much more easier. And I told him that, and I hope that's something that we all can continue building on." ## ASA vs. MLS Though the xG number on the MLS site cleaved pretty closely to what Apple TV reported (3.46 to 1.66 in the Rapids' favor), MLS Analytics (using American Soccer Analysis' xG values) told a different story, with Austin actually winning the xG battle per their metrics, despite what the distribution says. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Colorado_Rapids_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-06-08.png) You can see from the shot map, despite the xG calculation discrepancies, all that Austin's defense had to weather — including a set piece near halftime leaving Josh Atencio alone, with a rebound falling to him 12 yards out, taking a shot that Desler was able to head away, saving a goal after scoring one. Here's another interesting graphic from the match. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Colorado_Rapids_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-06-08.png) Clearly, Austin had a strong start but as the game went on, from about the midway point of the first half on, the Rapids gathered more momentum while building out (as the passing map shows) very balanced distribution and very advanced distribution. By contrast, even with Bukari's work on the right side, playing more advanced than Vázquez, look at how much more Verde did on the left. Here's more passing data to parce. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Colorado_Rapids_v_Austin_FC_quad_2025-06-08.png) And as further evidence of Verde defending deeper after getting the initial goal, here's the defensive actions map. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Colorado_Rapids_v_Austin_FC_def_2025-06-08.png) As we've seen earlier in the season, this is a way that Verde can win. And although I didn't get to ask about it — despite how Estévez took my first question, I kept my pair of questions positive and centered on this much-needed win — the absence of Myrto Uzuni wasn't felt. Or, rather, it might have been felt more positively, given how much of the attack went through the left side, with Guilherme Biro leading all Verde players with 68 touches (per FotMob) and serving up the most passes into the final third (per MLS Analytics). Certainly, when Uzuni returns from international break, Estévez will need to continue on the project of making him work with the rest of the offense, though on Saturday, the offense worked better than it had in recent matches where Uzuni was present yet ineffective. But that's a next week problem. For now, it's a win, and a two-goal win at that. It's worth pausing and enjoying it before the next reasonably-paced June match arrives. (June, so far, has been much more enjoyable than May.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Colorado Rapids 0, Austin FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-colorado-rapids-0-austin-fc-2/ Last updated: 2025-06-08T03:41:35.000Z Mikkel Desler was the beneficiary of some early Osman Bukari work for an early 1-0 lead, and Austin FC got an additional insurance own-goal in the second half, getting a welcome 2-0 win at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Saturday night. The opening goal came just six minutes in, with Bukari forcing the issue with a ball in toward the goalmouth. When goalkeeper Nico Hansen dug it out, Bukari calmly collected the rebound, and passed it to an approaching Pereira, whose shot glanced off Mikkel Desler, who directed it in toward goal. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ From there, Austin put additional pressure on Hansen, though Ted Ku-Dipietro had a great chance a half hour in that Stuver needed to repel. Verde, conversely, had an additional chance before halftime on a Brandon Vázquez that ended up a bit short. Austin added to its lead in the 66th minute on a set piece — it initially looked like a Brendan Hines-Ike header off an Owen Wolff corner kick, but then it appeared to actually be a Rafael Navarro own goal. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ Each team had interesting chances after that, but nothing that amounted to anything ultimately outcome-changing. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Vázquez very nearly got the match to 3-0 on a one-on-one chance in the 85th minute that Hansen was able to catch. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 82nd minute, Connor Ronan got free for a shot that Brad Stuver was able to save. It was an easy save in the end, but the kind of shot that has bitten Verde in recent matches. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative It's a much-needed win allowing Austin FC to leapfrog a rival. Was this coming, given some recent hard-luck matches? ## A question we have heading into the press conference Not quite sure how to artfully ask this, but wondering how much easier it is to set a lineup not having to put Uzuni into it. (You don't have to wonder about the effort being put into the left wing role in the same way, yes?) [Celebrate this win by subscribing](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: We check in with Burgundy Wave's Matt Pollard for another Rapids preview URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-we-check-in-with-burgundy-waves-matt-pollard-for-another-rapids-preview/ Last updated: 2025-06-07T19:57:42.000Z On March 8, Austin FC hosted the Colorado Rapids, losing 1-0 due to letting in a Rafael Navarro goal and not being able to match it. At the time, we checked in with our friend Matt Pollard from [Burgundy Wave](https://burgundywave.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) and decided to do it again ahead of Saturday night's Commerce City contest to complete the season series. (Unless they, know, meet in the play-in game in October. Given their records right now, could totally happen!) (Emergency Podcast was, however, [split on a prediction](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-51-trapped-in-a-san-antonio-car-show-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000711930179&ref=verdeallday.com) as to whether Verde would break the current eight-match winless streak going in league play.) To the questions! ### Both Cole Bassett and Zack Steffen are out for this match ... how will those absences affect the Rapids, and who should we expect to see in the lineup for them? Nico Hansen will start in goal. He has been a wonderful surprise this season. He joined Colorado Rapids 2 basically on a flier. Two injuries later, he started a home game against Seattle Sounders. He's done very well for a guy who's played four games. He's calm and collected when he has to make a save. He's been aggressive coming off his line. He made a PK save look easy at Portland last week. Steffen's obviously a better keeper. Hansen might not be as good playing out of the back or organizing the defense. But he's making it work. He's yet to be at fault in the three goals he's given up. Without Cole Bassett, this Rapids midfield is in flux. Chris Armas has tried a few formations and combinations this year with mixed results. He presses very well from a deeper role and still makes it easy for Colorado to get in transition. And he contributes with goals. He could have been Best XI last year. Nobody else on this roster does what Bassett does. Oli Larraz is press-resistant and very skilled on the ball. Josh Atencio has as good a defensive work rate. Connor Ronan does all the things good but isn't elite at anything. Colorado returned to the 4-2-3-1 after his injury and got two home wins. Then the Portland game happened. I don't know what the formation will be. Expect Larraz to be the 8, Atencio at the 6, and everyone around them to pick up slack. ### At 6-6-4 and with a -4 goal differential, there's some strong middle-of-the-pack energy around the Rapids right now. Is that where they're fated to stay, or is there hope they can get beyond that into a safer playoff position by the end of the year? My podcast cohost Rabbi Mark Goodman and I both had them 6th in the conference in our preseason predictions. I'd say they're slightly behind that right now. They've had a number of injuries to deal with. They prioritized Concacaf Champions Cup to start the year and nearly got that first-ever result at LAFC. Armas has played the kids and several of them are getting better. Things started clicking this time last year. Let's see what happens. If you told me they finish just outside the top four and have a first-round exit in November, I would not be surprised. As with Austin, there are currently no Rapids in any of the [positional top fives](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-all-star-voting-update-which-players-lead-the-way-2025-austin-first?ref=verdeallday.com) for All-Star voting. If Nico Estévez asked your advice for which Colorado player he should add to the roster (as he will get to pick 12 players), which player would you suggest and what's your case? If one Rapids player is going to the All-Star game, it has to be Đorđe Mihailović. He's the straw that stirs the drink. He had 11 goals and 14 assists last year just in MLS play. He's got seven and three so far this year. He scoress banger free kicks and he's good on pens, all while doing all the other pressing and possession requirements. The only other one you could really make the argument for is Zack Steffen. His post-shot expected goals are much improved from last year. But he's been injured and I think there are some better candidates out there. I would be shocked if Colorado got more than one MLS All-Star, given the roster selection has been a popularity contest for years. But I would be surprised and disappointed if they didn't get any. Sam Bassett and Jackson Travis both have a shout for the MLS Next All-Star team. [Probably more fun to subscribe now that May's over](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Maybe this team just needs a little magic: We spice up a midweek press conference dreaming of Kervin Andrade URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-colvatx-060725-kervin-andrade-transfer-rumor-fortaleza/ Last updated: 2025-06-06T13:29:15.000Z Certainly, if you're an Austin FC fan, you want to forget about a May that took a bitter April-ending 2-0 loss to Houston and built on it all the way to an eight-match winless streak in league play, thanks to seven hard-luck league games during the month. If not for a pair of Open Cup wins also thrown into the month, the 0-3-4 stretch might have gone down as arguably Verde's worst month in its 4 1/2 year history — and it still might. It sounds like the coaches and players want to forget about it as well. "It's important to mentally and physically get away from the month of May," Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said in Thursday's press conference, in the middle of this suddenly luxurious time we have known in the past as A Week Between Games, ahead of Saturday night's match against Colorado in Commerce City (not to be confused with Denver, though they're close). "It was really heavy, loaded with games in different competitions," he continued. "We played against really good teams this month, teams that we've already played twice against the top three in the in the league, and I think it's important that we ended up the month learning a lot about ourselves, what we can do, what can improve. And having a couple days off to reset, the guys have come back with a really good mindset and really good willingness to change the the results that we are having lately. We've had really good trainings so far, and we could be focused on some things that were important for us." ## A premature injury report The team also remains mostly healthy but is having its depth nominally tested once again heading into Saturday's match at Colorado. Estévez indicated that Julio Cascante, sidelined toward the end of the 2-0 loss against San Diego FC on Saturday with a hamstring injury, won't be available. Myrto Uzuni is off on international duty this weekend, though given his recent run of form in his last two matches — 30 touches, three shot-creating actions, no goal-creating actions and just a single shot (not on target), while logging 158 largely anonymous minutes — he's very nearly been on international break over the past week. But all other Verdes should be ready to go on Saturday, including Brendan Hines-Ike, who was out for "personal reasons" that Estévez will leave up to the player to disclose, meaning that we might get a chance to ask on June 14 after the home match against Red Bulls, when the moment will already clearly have passed. Estévez also talked about struggles in getting Mikkel Desler and Robert Taylor as many minutes as he'd have liked toward the tail end of the month. "The issue that Mikkel had is he had a very long injury, and we didn't have time to give proper real trainings," he explained. "We tried mixing \[him\] up with the second team, playing with them, scrimmages during the week. Dani \[Pereira\] was different because he didn't miss that much, and with the training that we prepared and the scrimmages with the second team, we felt that he was ready to but now it's different. We think they can be ready. "Robert, it was a little bit different situation," he continued. "Even though that it wasn't a very long injury, he wasn't playing with Miami, and then he was just playing with us 30 minutes. And it's more precautionary for him to build his minutes towards the season as we progress, but going forward now, is that still the case?" What's at stake on Saturday? Should Austin not win, it becomes the team's longest regular-season winless streak – longer than the two separate eight-match struggles in the 2023 season when Alex Ring was deployed as a because-we-have-to center back, and longer than the eight-match winless season dropped into an expansion campaign that bore the fruits of a roster built in the midst of a pandemic by Claudio Reyna – who hasn't had a job in soccer (at least, one we know of) since parting ways with Austin FC in 2023, *for reasons*. ## Tuti, take me away I'm not the only Austin FC media person who has expressed cynicism about this team's fortunes in recent weeks. I [offered some reasons](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sdvatx-053125/) to believe on Sunday morning, but I was also writing those in the midst of a very nice San Antonio hotel getaway that I enjoyed in spite of spending several hours of it watching a Verde team that's become increasingly less fun to watch over the past two months – unless the Open Cup is involved. Let me give you something fun to watch. To quote Dora the Explorer, when she breaks the fourth wall at the end of every episode and asks people what they liked about the episode, but referring to the totality of this video, "I liked that, too!" As with many highlight videos of this ilk, this Kervin "Tuti" Andrade video praising him as "The Little Magician" is more to highlight the potential that could be rather than getting irrationally excited about what's already there. Yes, you have some bangers and assists included, as well as some plays that don't quite come off — but at least his ideas are clear and his intent is encouraging. Also, if you don't have 10 minutes to invest in that video, just watch this clip of a recent [golazo for Venezuela](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFMCo1NvAe1/?ref=verdeallday.com), or [the assist](https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/copa-america-jamaica-vs-venezuela-jun-30-2024-game-boxscore-132300?ref=verdeallday.com) he had at Q2 Stadium on Eric Ramírez's goal (Yes, he's Dani Pereira's sometimes-teammate on the Vinotinto; we'll get to that in a bit.) Andrade's just 20, meaning he's make-ready for a Under 22 Inititative (U22) place on the Austin roster — which would allow sporting director Rodolfo Borrell to meet Fortaleza's transfer fee to pry him from Brazil, pay him commensurate to his potential, and not have to worry about finding TAM or a DP spot for a few years per the club-friendly U22 parameters, provided he fulfills that potential. (Hopefully, if that happens, you play that situation better than the Galaxy when Dejan Joveljić aged out of his U22 roster designation and they had to move him to SKC, but we're getting way ahead of ourselves here.) We all know, of course, it's very possible that the Andrade rumor is just something that a content creator floated for clout, or something hatched by Andrade's agent. But given that Tuti hasn't had a ton of minutes at Fortaleza, and given Austin's desperation for creative midfield play, maybe he would be remarkable given a chance to get regular minutes in MLS. Here's a spider chart that might excite you and horrify you all at once. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/-FBCharts--Kervin-Andrade.png) Two things jump out to me, even though it's quite a small sample size. First, the shot-creating actions and assist numbers are at the top end of the chart. Those stack up very respectably against MLS, Liga MX, and Brazil top-flight players, plus others in respectable European leagues — as this is the Men's Next 14 Competitions category his stats are being measured by. But look at those non-penalty goal numbers! Being in the first percentile is ... *fine* if you're passing to players who are scoring. But you'd still expect enough chances to come your way so you're not the worst at scoring, which is what this chart says. Would you welcome San Jose's Cristian Espinoza on this Austin team right now? Sure you would! Look how the two line up. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/-FBCharts--Cristian-Espinoza-vs.-Kervin-Andrade-1.png) And here are a couple of comparisons a little closer to home; aka the most creative midfielders Verde are currently deploying. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/-FBCharts--Kervin-Andrade-vs.-Owen-Wolff.png) And this one. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/-FBCharts--Kervin-Andrade-vs.-Daniel-Pereira.png) Andrade's not getting a ton of playing time right now, which is part of what's driving the rumor, so there's not a lot of data to parse. But at Thursday's media availability, Pereira had a lot of [nice things to say](https://x.com/WeAreAustinTV/status/1930721295349539150?ref=verdeallday.com) about Andrade. In response to We Are Austin TV's question, he praised Andrade for his vision and stamina and ability to play multiple positions, including forward, winger, or should Verde somehow ever have a need for this, the 10\. Perhaps it's a little too premature to be thinking about the transfer window and what lies ahead. But it's definitely more fun to look ahead to July than to look back at May. And it could continue to be that should June give us what May gave us. [Support what we do](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'It was very difficult for us': Assessing a challenging May for Austin FC (and what's next) URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-sdvatx-053125/ Last updated: 2025-08-08T11:04:40.000Z As it turns out, my May prediction of a 2-3-2 slog through a difficult schedule of opponents wasn't so far off. With the [2-0 loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sdvatx-053125/) to San Diego FC on Saturday night, Austin FC extended a winless streak to eight with one of the losses I expected, albeit to a surprisingly good expansion teams with potential All-Stars Andres Dreyer and Hirving "Chucky" Lozano showing why we very well could see them in Austin in what we can now officially dub "next month." Had Austin managed wins rather than desultory 1-1 draws against Real Salt Lake and Atlanta United — wins that I wasn't alone in predicting — I would have had it exactly, despite the fan in me wanting the team to make the journalist in me look excessively pessimistic. Verde held a truncated post-match press conference on Saturday night – mostly due to clock management mindfulness around noise restrictions preventing late-night flights out of San Diego, but also because there was less general appetite to talk than there might have been. While head coach Nico Estévez was mostly his typically verbose self, goalkeeper Brad Stuver was as curt, clipped, and visibly angry as Austin media's ever seen him post-match. We have a few quotes to share followed by some silver lining observations you could use at this phase of your fandom. ## 'I'm not happy about the first half' Estévez did provide some frank observations about what he saw. "I'm not happy about the first half that we played today with the ball," he said. "Defensively, we were well-positioned. We had a good understanding on how they could punish us ... We won the ball and created some transitions, but we weren't clean enough today with the ball, and we lost the ball too early. And you could see like, if we keep the ball, we could be more dangerous against them." "In the second half. I think it changed," he continued. "I think we started very well in the second half, dominating, putting the ball in their box. We had the Brandon \[Vázquez 47th-minute\] chance. We had a couple situations that we created corner kicks, free, kicks, throw-ins that ended up in their box, and we were dominating this opponent." But then, discussing the 60th-minute goal that changed the match, he described it as "difficult," assessing, "We can defend that action better, but great for them to do that play. And after, I think we responded well, in a way that we had the ball, I think with the substitutes that we came in, we brought right away new energy, new quality. And right away we responded well, but when we were with them, and it was very difficult for us after a long month playing a lot of games. And beside that ... it was moments where we could create some dangerous plays." I present a couple of charts from MLS Analytics that beg to differ. Note the momentum chart in the 15 minutes following halftime — sure, it's green, but it indicates only a slight bit of momentum interspersed with momentum going the other way. Also, look at the total 0.25 xG created by Austin on eight shots, all deemed poor chances per American Soccer Analytics xG metrics, vs. the great and average chances that SDFC turned into goals. ![Chart showing momentum and passing maps for San Diego FC vs. Austin FC](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/San_Diego_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-06-01.png) ![Chart showing shot attempts and other offensive stats for San Diego FC vs. Austin FC](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/San_Diego_FC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-06-01.png) Pressed further to explain the first goal, he said, "We were a little bit higher than we planned in that play; credit for the run of Lozano and credit for the pass, and after, I think we had time to do a good job defensively. There are things there that we can do better, and how we drop and how we regain. But this team has quality. We knew that is difficult to keep them \[to\] zero." I submit a screenshot of Luca de la Torre as he's receiving the ball. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-01-at-7.38.45---AM.png) This is a prime example of Verde getting caught out in transition. Prior to this, you have Jon Gallagher and Oleksandr Svatok chasing Lozano after a long ball is lofted to him from an unmarked center back. Svatok could have trusted Gallagher to handle Lozano so he could then in turn track the incoming de la Torre. In the meantime, Onni Valakari arrives into the box, with Julio Cascante nominally tracking him. It ends with Gallagher trying to serve as a one-man wall rather than being in a place to challenge de la Torre, with Cascante moving toward de la Torre (which would leave Valakari open should a Stuver save of the de la Torre shot deflect into his range). It's not the easiest finish for de la Torre, but it's one that the capped USMNT player can convert. ## 'I'm going to disagree with you' Stuver took umbrage with the contention from one of my colleagues that Verde didn't display the mentality to win. "I'm going to disagree with you, the fact that the team didn't want to win," he said. "We went down a player, and we were still pushing to get a tie out of that game. So I'm not exactly sure what you saw, but the first half they they controlled the ball a lot more. We know that they're a good team. They like to combine in the middle, and we didn't solve that problem well enough. And then we got out of the first half, we were tied 0-0, and then in the second half, we were able to control a little bit more of the ball, and we had a little bit more possession, and got going forward. "We had the first couple shots on goal in the second half, and then we got caught, and then we went down a player. So even when we lost Julio \[Cascante\], when we were playing down a player for 15 minutes, 10 plus five extra at a time, we were still going for a tie. So I guess I'm seeing something different." Answering my question about the recurring isolated defensive lapses that spoil otherwise bend-but-don't-break efforts, he offered, "They're a good team. They combine well, they get a lot of numbers around the ball, and they have players that are putting the ball into the back of the net. So we knew that we were going to have to have a really big defensive performance, and like I said, take away the second goal, because we were down a player, and we are pushing a lot of players forward to try and tie the game away from home. "The second goal is just a transition goal, and we're down a player, and guys are exhausted from trying to go for the tie. But, ultimately, we need to control the ball more. We need to have a little bit more possession. We need to be smarter with our passes, and we have to be cleaner with our touches all over the field. And that'll translate to having more chances in front of goal. And we need to start putting the ball in the back of the net." As for Estévez's halftime message, Stuver revealed, "That wasn't good enough, and it wasn't from top to bottom. We were just out of position. We weren't collecting balls, we weren't playing the correct passes, we weren't keeping the ball when we won it. We did all the hard work, and then we just give the ball right back. We were lucky to get out of the first half 0-0 and away from home. That's always a good thing. When you go into halftime and you're 0-0 and you can make adjustments, and then go into the second half, and you can see that the tide changed a little bit there. In the second half, we started getting a few more chances, but at the end of the day, we just weren't good enough as a collective." Finally, as the cherry on top of this sh\*t sundae, another of my colleagues asked Stuver to assess a May that brought no league wins and just four of 24 points. "It fell short of our expectations," Stuver said. "We're happy that we made the quarterfinals of the Open Cup, but in league play, it fell short of expectations that we had. We wanted to go into the halfway point in a playoff position to gear us up for the second half of the season, and that didn't happen. We didn't collect enough points to be in a playoff spot. So now we have to push even harder through the summer and into the fall to make sure that we're in the playoffs toward the end of the year." ## Silver lining time Okay, enough with the sad. Let's reflect on what might give you hope heading into the second half of the season. First off, the worst is over. Verde already have had their home-and-aways with the three top teams in the conference (Vancouver, Minnesota, and San Diego), and did manage to extract five points from the 18 possible — getting results from two home matches and the trip to Minnesota. That could make a difference come Decision Day – because, unless things dramatically change, I believe we're looking at a team that is jockeying to get into one of the last remaining playoff places. The schedule also lightens considerably in the summer. June brings a road trip next Saturday to Colorado which is tough but not San Diego or Vancouver tough, a home match on the 14th against the Red Bulls, and then depending on how Club World Cup goes, a trip to Seattle on the 28th. That will either get postponed or, perhaps more likely given the Sounders play Botafogo, Atlético Madrid, and newly crowned Champions League victors PSG, that match comes right on the other side of that row-of-murderers group stage. Then, Austin hosts LAFC on July 5 — provided that the Black & Gold aren't still battling through the Club World Cup they qualified for in a marathon match against Club América on Saturday night. There's already an away win against LAFC stashed in the five wins that Verde have accumulated so far this season. It's not inconceivable that the 5-7-5 Austin could be 8-7-5 heading into that match with LAFC. (And, if that gets postponed, it likely comes on the other side of LAFC juggling Club World Cup matches starting in mid-June and Leagues Cup matches starting in late July, neither of which will burden Austin.) We also don't know yet what the summer transfer window has in store. Certainly, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell sees the need for a creative midfielder and an additional center back to replace the departed Leo Väisänen, and the former need might be on its way to being filled by rumored U22 arrival Kervin "Tuti" Andrade, a young Venezuelan international described by [The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/ecuador-venezuela-live-updates-2024-copa-america-score-result/hlmxyHw8Ywk5/StJ4oUac1QiW/?ref=verdeallday.com) last year as "a little magician of an attacking midfielder, a one-man through-ball workshop who loves to skip past defenders and also takes a mean free kick." (Yes, please.) While I'm already seeing wishcasting from Verde All Day commenters about a new coach to replace Estévez, I find it highly unlikely that Borrell will punt on his handpicked coach after half a season. One MLS team already has jettisoned a late 2024 hire — St. Louis City SC's Olof Mellberg — but Purina Gang sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel ... how do we say this ... *puts himself out there* a little more than Borrell. If you read Pfannenstiel's [explanation of the decision](https://www.stlcitysc.com/news/st-louis-city-sc-releases-head-coach-olof-mellberg?ref=verdeallday.com) to part ways, it's a lot more about reifying the St. Louis City way than admitting a mea culpa. In short, don't despair. (Though I know it's not easy after a stretch like this.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: San Diego FC 2, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-sdvatx-053125/ Last updated: 2025-06-01T15:02:45.000Z With a contingent of several hundred Verde faithful cheering them on in a corner of Snapdragon Stadium, Austin FC made its first-ever trip to play expansion side San Diego FC. Luca de la Torre scored at the hour mark and Milan Iloski delivered a stoppage-time insurance goal to give the hosts a 2-0 win over Verde, who are now eight matches without a win, finishing 0-3-4 in what ended up being a futile May. In the first half, San Diego engineered a few dangerous chances but Verde did well to snuff them out, including Julio Cascante sliding in to break up a connection between Luca Bombino and Onni Valakari that might have resulted in a goal. Austin, conversely, didn't have much of the ball in the first half — though that wasn't surprising given SDFC's propensity to possess and this being a match in which bunkering and countering was evidently the best approach to take. They also absorbed some late first-half pressure (see worst Verde moments that weren't goals below) to get to halftime without giving up a goal. Verde nearly scored almost straight out of halftime, with Osman Bukari keeping a play alive by lofting a ball into Brandon Vázquez, who headed in a shot in front of goal that CJ dos Santos needed to save — Austin FC's first shot on goal all match. But their defense failed an hour in, with Hirving "Chucky" Lozano leading a break and de la Torre being the beneficiary, making a late run into open space to get off a high-percentage shot that went in. Head coach Nico Estévez infused some life into the lineup with a 72nd-minute triple sub getting Diego Rubio, Robert Taylor, and Mikkel Desler into the match, ending the nights for Vázquez, Jon Gallagher, and Nicolás Dubersarksky, and Austin got off two chances almost immediately after, courtesy of Myrto Uzuni and Dani Pereira. By the 80th minute, Estévez removed his other two designated players, with Jáder Obrian and CJ Fodrey spelling Bukari and Uzuni. But the most dangerous chance the rest of the 90 came from a Marcus Ingvartsen header that Brad Stuver saved, and then Iloski got the insurance goal in stoppage time. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Dani Pereira nearly scored a banger from distance in the sixth minute and didn't even injure his hip flexor doing it. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Verde let Alejandro Alvarado in toward goal in the 37th minute on a recycled chance, and his resulting bicycle kick just went over the bar. Three minutes later, Dreyer just went wide similarly free to shoot, though he had a more standard approach on his attempt. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative We're now at the halfway point of the 2025 season, and with the result, Austin's at 5-7-5 on the season, on pace for just 22 goals. ## One nerdy tidbit About 20 minutes in, Apple TV did a touch comparison between Lozano and Uzuni. Lozano already had 10 touches; Uzuni had a mere two. The two would, speaking of touching, collide in the 28th minute, resulting in a dangerous free kick opportunity that sizzled just wide of the post. (Uzuni would finish with 19 touches in another mostly quiet outing.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference Defensive lapses and offensive struggles are defining the 2025 season – I'm wondering how Estévez sees this first half of the season, and what gives him believe that this could be a team that peaks toward the end of the season to make noise in the playoffs. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Should you, indeed, vote for everyone from Austin FC? A primer for All-Star Game voting URL: https://verdeallday.com/should-you-indeed-vote-for-everyone-from-austin-fc-a-primer-for-all-star-game-voting/ Last updated: 2025-05-31T15:03:51.000Z After Wednesday night's [match against Real Salt Lake](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvrsl-052825/) — a 1-1 affair in which Austin FC needed nearly 93 minutes to score a goal and salvage the draw — head coach Nico Estévez was asked about the [All-Star Game voting](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2025-mls-all-star-game-voting-fans-vote-now-austin?ref=verdeallday.com) that just opened up. With Austin FC being the host team for the MLS vs. Liga MX contest, Estévez will get to select 12 of the 26 players himself, but fans do get a say, contributing to voting in another 12 of the 26 players (with Commissioner Don Garber getting to pick the remaining pair). So, if Estévez wanted to reward Verde players (and that's not an unusual thing for MLS coaches to do), he could just do that himself. But he encouraged fans to show their love for Austin players in the balloting. "I will tell everyone to vote our players, because they're really good players, and they can do a really good job on the MLS All-Star team," Estévez said. "And they they deserve to be there, and hopefully in the next games, they also can have good performances and then make the fans vote." That would be great ... but can Verde players make enough of a leap in the next few matches to get from where they are now compared to other players at their respective positions to be the class of the league, using just 2025 metrics as a guide. MLS All-Star voting Even if you don't vote for Austin players, you should be part of the process. [Vote! ](https://www.mlssoccer.com/allstar/2025/vote/?utm%5Fsource=mlssoccer&utm%5Fmedium=ed-link&utm%5Fcampaign=asg-fan-vote) Let's look at how the competition stacks up and who might have a case. ## What does the Dax say? On the [realtor site](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-all-star-2025-which-players-deserve-your-vote?ref=verdeallday.com), Dax McCarty weighed in with his early nominations for All-Star picks, and after naming the obvious Lionel Messi, he ran through a number of candidates which didn't include Austin players (but also no other Miami players). Three of the players he singled out — Andres Dreyer, Hirving Lozano, and cut-and-paste first-teamer Jeppe Tverskov — will presumably feature in Saturday night's San Diego vs. Verde match. His list also reveals a lot of good forwards and midfielders — meaning, as we discussed in the just-up latest edition of [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-50-theres-a-car-in-my-face-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000710667747&ref=verdeallday.com) — that the league could stage a compelling East vs. West All-Star match at this stage of its development. At center forward, for example, he lists the Union's Tai Baribo (leading the Golden Boot race with 13 goals), the Whitecaps' Brian White (at 10 goals, and emerging as a viable MVP candidate), and the Fire's Hugo Cuypers (eight goals for a Fire team that's still evolving), and acknowledges that it's hard to leave off Kévin Denkey (nine goals for a really good FC Cincinnati). So far this season, 40 players have at least five goals. Brandon Vázquez is in a group of respectable names with four goals, but there are names beyond the four listed you'd pick in his position — like Sam Surridge (nine goals for Nashville), Cristian Arango (eight goals for the Quakes), and, as another cut-and-paste standout, Dejan Joveljić (seven goals for SKC). When you look out to the wings, which ostensibly includes Messi, you also have the Quakes' Cristian Espinoza, LAFC's Denis Bouanga, Portland's Antony, and Orlando's Marco Pašalić from McCarty's list in addition to Dreyer, and you also have to consider the Crew's Diego Rossi and his seven goals. I can't see Estévez passing over this block to do a solid for either Mytro Uzuni or Osman Bukari, who optimistic fans thought might be in this conversation before the season started. Owen Wolff's arguably been Austin's best player all season, but the All-Star midfield has to start with Evander, and Martín Ojeda has been stellar for Orlando as a No. 10\. I could see Diego Luna getting a vote on the fun factor alone (but he's also got the numbers to back it up), and Pep Biel is having a strong season for Charlotte. McCarty also threw in Vancouver's Sebastian Berhalter as a possibility in the midfield, and of the two USMNT's coaches' sons, he's having the better season. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to see him make it. ## So, does anyone merit consideration? Brad Stuver getting a lifetime achievement award as one of three goalkeepers wouldn't be as eyebrow-raising as Wayne Rooney giving Tyler Miller a spot in 2023\. Stuver's got six clean sheets on the season, which is toward the top of the league, and though his underlying numbers have been a little off compared to past seasons where he had to stand on his head, he hasn't needed to stand on his head as much this season, and has registered some solid saves. It also helps that there's no obvious goalkeeper candidate. Minnesota's Dayne St. Clair and Orlando's Pedro Gallese were the two of McCarty's three I could get behind; he also forwarded the Rapids' Zack Steffen, but I argue that Portland's James Pantemis or Vancouver's Yohei Takoaka have better 2025 resumes. Is there a Verde field player who could crack the roster? Let me throw Brendan Hines-Ike name into the ring. He's currently seventh in clearances among all MLS players, and though there are a number of good center backs who might not draw votes in the way that known entities like Walker Zimmerman and Matt Miazga might, Hines-Ike is also a fantastic story in an event that likes to feature fantastic stories. Of course, when Austin's defense only let in three goals in the first seven matches, the case for Hines-Ike was clearer — "centerpiece of the league's best defense." He's still an anchor for a defense that has only allowed 18 goals in 16 matches, good enough for top-seven in the league using just the goals against metric. Yet, the combined 10 goals allowed against Vancouver, Houston, and Minnesota in that dismal stretch of the season — albeit with Austin's most recent win thrown in that mix — tarnished the defense's reputation. That might be coming back some, with Verde only allowing three goals total in their last four league matches (all draws), but is that enough to elevate Hines-Ike? It's hard to make a case for that, but it's harder to make a case for anyone else on this squad as things stand. [To subscribe is to support](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The Thursday Three: Turning to Ted Lasso in these trying times URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvrsl-052825-atxvrsl/ Last updated: 2025-05-31T14:33:51.000Z Yes, Austin FC did get a goal on Wednesday night. But it took more than 92 minutes to do it, it was just a single goal via a right-place, right-time Diego Rubio, and it resulted in a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake, in what was arguably the most winnable match of the month — extending both a seven-match winless streak and four straight draws in league play. So, naturally, I started Wednesday night's press conference asking about the continued lack of scoring and possible innovations to jump-start an offense which has only produced more than a single goal in one of 16 league matches so far this season. I didn't expect to be transported by Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez to Season 1, Episode 6 of *Ted Lasso*, but, sure, let's hear the man out. ## Maybe rituals will help "We had 2.4 expected goals today," said Estévez, drawing from a different model from what we saw that gave his team a scooch more than 2 xG on 12 shots. "I don't know we might have to do ... I don't know if you've watched *Ted Lasso* \[\[1\]\]; we might have to do some kind of thing like that, to take that bad luck that we're having around." (To refresh you, new arrival Dani Rojas encountered what players believed to be a cursed training room, and to break the curse, Coach Lasso had each player bring an item of great personal significance, which they would then collectively burn in an on-field bonfire to break the curse.) "But I think when you have 2.4 expected goals, and you have some of the chances just right there, right in the six-yard box, and you don't capitalize ... that's difficult for me," he continued. "We didn't play well for me ... I wasn't happy, because I didn't feel that we had control until the end of the game. We had some control, but not consistently during the game, and we switched some shapes to have the control, and then we got it, and then we lost it, and then we changed things." He went on to say that thanks to changing some players (with late subs), they "won the game, the battle," perhaps saying that in not losing that match, that was in effect a win. "You could see like the players start feeling the fatigue of the month ... but at least we got a point, and now we have to go to San Diego and try to beat them again." Here's a look at xG and where the shots came from per MLS Analytics. ![xG chart for ATX v. RSL on May 28, 2025](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Real_Salt_Lake_XG_2025-05-29.png) ## Managing Myrto 16 touches, no shots, and despite eight of 11 completed passes, no chances created. For a player who pledged to score goals and break records upon his arrival to Austin, Myrto Uzuni is in the midst of a very concerning first chapter to his MLS story. He's one of seven Verde players with just one goal on the season — fellow designated player Brandon Vázquez, with four league goals to his credit in 2025, is the only player on the team that currently has more than one. "It was difficult because they had a very tight back line with the midfield line," said Estévez on how RSL made life difficult for Uzuni. "It wasn't too much space. We create a lot from wide areas, more on the right side, with \[Osman\] Bukari, with Owen \[Wolff\] and with \[Jon\] Gallagher, and those crosses couldn't arrive to where he was. "I think even in the chance that Brandon hit the crossbar, Uzuni was right there, even if Brandon doesn't arrive there, he was there to score the goal," he continued, referring to the 22nd-minute Vázquez header, engineered by Bukari, that was just inches from being a 2025 highlight reel moment. Here's a look at the passing map. Uzuni is LW, and Bukari (with a much higher average position on the field) is RW. Again, in a match that screamed out for incisive wide play, Uzuni's average position is quite central and quite close to Vázquez. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Real_Salt_Lake_main_2025-05-29.png) Estévez went on to ascertain that Uzuni did have some good moments in link-up play, but that again, the RSL defense complicated his night. But good MLS attackers are supposed to be able to break down generally lesser MLS defenders (given how many MLS rosters are built). We saw Bukari do that repeatedly on Wednesday night. Uzuni and Estévez figuring that out could be a key difference maker between playoffs and no playoffs. ## 'Let us know how we did' Ilie Sánchez was initially reluctant to talk to media because, in his assessment, he "didn't have a good game" and given that, "it didn't make much sense" to opine about the match. He did, however, stay with media members long enough to entertain Moisés Chiullán's extrapolation of Estévez thinking about some sort of luck-bringing ritual, wondering how fans could play a part in lifting the invisible force field that seems to be manifesting in front of goal match after match. (He was also the last player before media in the locker room, speaking to his continued awesomeness as a captain and a human being.) "Please don't take my words literally, but the fans also need to express — and I think they're already doing well — how they feel about the performances, how they feel about us not scoring, how they feel about the good performances we had. So when we feel the difference between when they are happy or when they are not happy .. stick with the team for 90-plus minutes after the game, \[then\] let us know how we did ... And I'm not saying they have to complain, they have to boo ... they just have to come here and feel that they are part of the result that we are having game after game." Acknowledging that a big contingent of fans will be making the trip to San Diego this weekend — a match that he and Besard Šabović will miss, getting the magic yellow cards on Wednesday night resulting in the accumulation suspension \[\[2\]\] — he said he'd welcome their presence while owning the responsibility the players have to honor that support. "It also gives us the extra motivation that once we step on the field," he said of the fans making the trip. "We know that we have that support, and we know that people spend their money, their time, their energy, to come support the team, but also to be part of that performance," he said. "Again, that won't help the team more than the training that we have tomorrow, the training that we have on Friday, and how we prepare for that Saturday game." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: Of course I have \[\[2\]\]: Ilie's yellow card led to the free kick upon which RSL scored, and Šabović got with his deep into stoppage time. Not great! ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Real Salt Lake 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvrsl-052825/ Last updated: 2025-05-29T03:18:26.000Z In Austin FC's first weather-delayed home match of the 2025 season — thanks to a pre-match gullywasher that left your correspondent less than dry thanks to a badly-timed stadium arrival — the hosts let in a Willy Agada set piece goal but got a timely Diego Rubio goal in stoppage time to squeak out a draw against Real Salt Lake, 1-1, at Q2 Stadium on Wednesday night. RSL engineered its first real heart-in-throat moment in the 15th minute, with Dominik Marczuk getting off an open shot that a running-toward-goal Brendan Hines-Ike was able to backheel before it crossed the line – though right into the path of an onrushing Diego Luna, who inexplicably pulled his point-blank shot wide (but Austin fans will certainly take it). Verde did the same to RSL fans seven minutes later, with Osman Bukari blazing past a pair of RSL defenders to get near goal, and then serving a cross to Brandon Vázquez he headed into the crossbar. Alas, no goals at halftime. (Certainly something you're familiar with by now.) Woes in front of goal continued into the second half for both teams, when Luna stepped up for a free kick opportunity created by an Ilie Sánchez American football tackle worthy of a yellow card. He placed it where Agada could head it home. Nico Estévez responded by putting Dani Pereira on for his first appearance since the hip flexor injury match against Houston on April 26, and then in the 72nd, Guilherme Biro got off Austin's first shot of the half – a header that bounced into the turf and then, in an indication of how Verde's night was going, over the bar. Then, it was time for an 80th-minute triple sub, with Diego Rubio, Robert Taylor, and Žan Kolmanič entering the fray. Finally, in the third minute of stoppage time, a short corner kick played to Kolmanič led to one of his laser-like crosses, finding Rubio for the equalizer. Despite salvaging the draw, neither team could find a winner, though Luna came alarmingly close on what would be the final play of the match. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The move that Bukari made to get clear of the defenders to set up the Vázquez attempt was electric and filthy and all the things you want out of a speedy winger with the ability to set up goalscorers. Thanks to Alex Rubio, we've got the moment captured in three quick successive photos once he's gotten Pablo Ruiz to slip. ![Osman Bukari getting around an RSL defender (first of three photos) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/buka-1of3.png) ![Osman Bukari getting around an RSL defender (second of three photos) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/buka2of3.png) ![Osman Bukari getting around an RSL defender (third of three photos) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/buka3of3.png) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Letting Marczuk and then Luna through for a 15th-minute shot that had 0.7 xG was a perilous moment that they more survived than dealt with. Perhaps it foretold a future goal? ## Something you might have missed Sam Junqua went in as part of an RSL triple sub in the 58th minute. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he's played for both FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo FC. He moved to RSL this season; it's the first non-Texas team he's played for in his MLS career. ## Where this fits into the season's narrative We're bringing this category back, as this is the last home match of the first half of the season, and this is the type of match (12th place opponent, only DP on the roster not even making the trip to Austin) demanding a win. Coming back to get the draw showed heart and desire, but between this draw and the draw earlier this month against Atlanta, six very gettable points became two, and those four missed points could be the difference between playoffs and no playoffs. ## One nerdy tidbit Both teams got to at least 1 xG by halftime, with RSL assembling 1.2 on its seven shots vs. Austin getting to 1 with its five. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We hate asking the same question match after match, but we're now at 11 goals in 16 matches, and seeing encouraging signs from just two of the three designated players — Myrto Uzuni (who we're only now just mentioning) only had 16 touches and no shots. What will it take to get him more involved? (Notably, only one Austin FC player has more than one goal virtually halfway through the season.) [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We're not happy with the draw': Reflections on a good (in a vacuum) result that still leaves Nico Estévez wanting more URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-minvatx-052425-nico-estevez-zan-kolmanic/ Last updated: 2025-05-25T14:31:41.000Z If you were to tell Austin FC fans at the start of the season that they'd face the second-place team in the West (and a dark horse Supporters' Shield candidate) on the road in a congested May schedule, and battle that team to a 1-1 draw, fans would probably take that result happily and bank it — especially after the value of single road points was drilled into them by a former coach, and especially if informed that the draw would follow a 3-0 home loss to the same well-built team just weeks before. But current Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, despite having positive reflections on his rotated midfield and unusual five-man backfield, registered disappointment with the outcome — even though Verde did grab a point and deprived Minnesota United fans the chance to sing "Wonderwall" — their tradition following home wins. "We came here to win," he emphasized. "No, we're not happy with the draw. We came here to win, and I think we had the options to win the game, very clear options. But for me, the positive today, it's when you come to play against this team, if you feel like you're going to be a fancy team and you're going to play \[your\] game, you can look at the other teams, their scores that they got when they came here. We knew that it was going to be an ugly game, a very ugly game, because that's what Minnesota \[does\] really well. It makes every team looks really bad, you know ... and they don't care about it." He didn't just see Austin matching Minnesota not-nice throughout the match. "There are a lot of positives on this game as a team, as a cohesive and connected and a hard, solid professional performance, but we came here to win, and we wanted to win here, and we need to get better in order to win," then directing his attention to hosting Real Salt Lake on Wednesday and "get the good things that we got today, analyze the things that we have to be better and compete to win the game at home and give that happiness to our fans." Part of the reasoning for the unusual-for-Verde roster, which put Besard Šabović and Nicolás Dubersarsky in front of three center backs with two wingbacks astride them to create a 3-4-3 formation, was the rotation required after several weeks of Wednesday and Saturday matches, including a successful Round of 16 Open Cup win involving many first-choice starters. Per Jon Gallagher after Wednesday night's match, beating Houston to advance to the Open Cup quarterfinals left the players happy yet not satisfied as of yet, determined to work and progress in that tournament until the trophy is theirs. "We're a little bit short in midfield to play with three central midfielders," Estévez said on his lineup choice Saturday, acknowledging that Dani Pereira's absence due to injury (not to mention Robert Taylor's absence) has left them short. "They've been playing a lot, and then we needed to change on that side to play with two central midfielders, analyzing in detail Minnesota, their last results lately, at home and also away. They've been a very strong team here. Most of \[their opponents\] have played with a back line of four, and \[Minnesota has\] dominated the boxes in those games." Estévez was particularly pleased that his team was able to engineer an equalizer after conceding an early set-piece goal to Michael Boxall in the 16th minute, engineering a well-executed team goal involving multiple players en route to Žan Kolmanič's first-ever MLS goal in 83 appearances. "When we concede a goal, it was difficult for us to get back in the game and get back \[to\] score and and I think in the last two away games we we have been able to do it," the coach said, citing the Open Cup comeback against El Paso as a critical test of that. "We are having a better mentality to deal with those moments. And as I have always said, this league is about responding all the time, because it's very balanced. Every team is good. Every team has quality players. Every team can win the game," before remarking, "We have been responding really well lately, and then we have to keep going and keep doing it again." ## 'I have zero concerns' One looming concern for the team — an overall lack of goal scoring, but particularly for record-signing striker Myrto Uzuni — continued on Saturday, with some fluffed chances accompanied by the hands-on-head marker of frustration that's distressingly and increasingly becoming his 2025 signature move. He did have a goal contribution on Saturday, providing the assist on a smart, unselfish play, but it came after Gallagher encouragingly paired with Osman Bukari up the right flank, Bukari let the counter attack with speed to outrun a trio of Loons defenders in hot pursuit, and then fed Uzuni with a pass leaving him one-on-one with a sole defender at the top of the box. Here's a screenshot capturing Uzuni's Choose Your Own Adventure moment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-25-at-8.20.12-AM.png) Uzuni could have slid to his right to attempt a shot, or moved to his left to progress the goal into the box and increase both his and Bukari's chances to get a higher-percentage shot. He instead makes the unselfish and ultimately fortuitous choice, laying off a pass for Kolmanič, not even visible in the frame until a second later, allowing the fullback to shoot with the calm that comes when a hard run is rewarded with the ball being in just the right spot to smash it home. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-25-at-8.35.57-AM.png) Robin Lod is doing well to keep pace with Kolmanič, but not well enough. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-25-at-8.37.07-AM.png) That's the moment at which he makes contact, and clearly Dayne St. Clair leaves himself vulnerable to a shot to (per the attacker's perspective) the whole right half side of the goal. Here's the screenshot of the ball crossing the line — note the ball's location (the white blur on the line) and St. Clair's post-dive positioning. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-25-at-8.39.02-AM.png) And, like that, Verde equalizes. "I have zero concerns," Estévez said of Uzuni's continued lack of scoring. "He's a top striker, and he showed today ... he had an assist for Kolmanič. All the chances that he had, they were created by himself. None of them was an assist or something from someone ... Sometimes. goals come and go, and then for him, it's about the time that he worked, he's going to score those ... the amount of chances that he created by himself today is amazing. Not too many strikers that can do that in this league." Two graphics from the match (from MLS Analytics) show concerning snapshots of the match, illustrating that the lack of Verde's offensive generation does not just start and end with the struggling striker. First, on the main graphic that also shows xG and momentum, look at how little Uzuni (LW in the graphic) is involved in the overall passing network (players are showing in their average field position, and the thicker the line, the more passes between the two players connected by that line. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Minnesota_United_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-05-25.png) And then, passes into the Loons' box. There are just *five* (including the assist). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Minnesota_United_FC_v_Austin_FC_quad_2025-05-25.png) ## 'We talk a lot' Kolmanič, clearly happy about the goal and tapped to handle post-match media duties to represent the players, revealed that he and Uzuni communicate on the field thanks to the Albanian player having mastered multiple languages. "We talk a lot, obviously, me and Myrto, speaking \[the\] Croatian language," said Kolmanič, providing us new intel. "So we understand each other; we always try to talk, especially now when I play as a wingback. I told him that I'll be running every time that he gets the ball," complementing all the players involved in the buildup, but especially Uzuni. "Maybe he hasn't been scoring goals, but he runs his ass off every every game," Kolmanič stated. "I told him that I'm gonna be there regardless, and I was also determined to make the run. And I was screaming, so thankfully he did hear me, and it was just a great action from beginning to end. I'm glad I was just able to capitalize and finish the action." He was also more forgiving about the result than his coach. "There's been a lot of games now in May, and Minnesota is a very good team on the road and at home, especially \[since\] they have their unique playing style, which is a lot of long balls, picking up second balls. And they're very good on set pieces. They've got big boys that are coming into the box. So we did concede one. But to come to sustain that for 90 minutes and not concede any more, we're happy with that. We're happy to get a point on the road. But we also had our own chances that we could have scored. And I'm sure that they're gonna get there in the future, so no worries about that." With the draw — still leaving them on a six-match winless streak but also on a run of three straight tie contests — Verde does nudge up in points per game, with their updated 5-6-4 record lifting them to 1.26 PPG, as well as getting up to 0.66 goals per game and elevating their season-long goal projection from a record-tying (in the wrong way) 22 goals to 23\. Verde remains in 9th, tied on points with San Jose thanks to Griffin Dorsey's stoppage-time goal allowing Houston to salvage a point in a that's-so-Earthquakes 3-3 draw — fitting for the Quakes vs. former Quakes match, held in the Dynamo's original home city before the OG MLS franchise moved to Texas and adopted its new orange-clad identity. Hearing Austin's coach and players say they're unbothered and that goals will come is certainly preferable to resignation and despondency. To state the obvious, a draw is better than a loss and a goal is better than no goals. Now, can they move into a place where they're winning and scoring multiple goals a match? That's likely what they need to elevate from their current might-make-the-playoffs tier to something more positive and concrete. Perhaps that comes Wednesday, against an opponent for which Verde has been able to deliver good feelings for Q2 Stadium crowds in past seasons. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Minnesota United FC 1, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-minvatx-052425/ Last updated: 2025-05-25T02:39:03.000Z Žan Kolmanič equalized — for his first MLS goal ever — 11 minutes after Michael Boxall got a fortunate early goal, and Austin FC drew with Minnesota United FC, 1-1, at Allianz Field on Saturday night. Verde started the match out in a three-center-back formation, with Guilherme Biro joining Oleksandr Svatok and Brendan Hines-Ike in the back three, with Kolmanič and Jon Gallagher functioning as wingbacks. Brandon Vázquez got a turnover gifted to him in the 4th minute and sent a shot beyond the 18 that tested Loons 'keeper Dayne St. Clair, but the Canadian international was able to deal with it. But in the 16th minute, Boxall got free in front of goal on a corner kick, slipping past Jon Gallagher to head in a recycled pass past Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver to grab the early lead, and then a minute later, Tani Oluwaseyi forced Stuver into a save on a header with the potential to double the lead. But somewhat against the run of play, Gallagher triggered a counter attack in the 27th minute, getting a ball down the right flank to Osman Bukari, finding Myrto Uzuni with a central ball, which he then shuttled to his left to meet an onrushing Kolmanič for the goal. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez decided to reinforce via a sub just after an hour passed, bringing in the more experienced Ilie Sánchez. Brendan Hines-Ike did well to save a 64th-minute effort from Joaquin Pereyra, who hit a shot on a play started by a long Boxall throw. Then, Estévez made a couple of curious but probably warranted subs, bringing in Owen Wolff and Jáder Obrian for Vázquez and Bukari at the 70-minute mark. While Austin had to weather a particular hairy moment in the 82nd minute on a Kelvin Yeboah shot that Stuver saved, they hung on — though Uzuni had several more late opportunities that he squandered. That leaves Austin winless in its last six matches, though it's now three straight draws to improve its recent stretch of matches to 1-4-4\. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) The Hines-Ike defensive play was perhaps reflexive but absolutely saved a goal. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) About a half hour in, Uzuni was engineering a promising attack but then ran into Vázquez to thwart the forward momentum, and ended up taking a weak shot despite getting himself in good position. Uzuni also butchered a chance near halftime, bringing a pass down but transforming it into an off-balance shot. ## Something you might have missed Joseph Rosales subbed in at halftime. He was supposed to be serving a three-game suspension for alleged racism against Vancouver's Emmanuel Sabbi he [claims did not take place](https://x.com/MNUFC/status/1922743427927584968?ref=verdeallday.com), and got to serve the third match of the suspension in Open Cup, an entirely separate competition overseen by a body other than MLS. Curious. ## One nerdy tidbit Austin lost the shots battle, 18-9, and the shots on goal category by 8-3, but did elevate to 1.0 worth of xG by the end of the match (to Minnesota's 1.4). ## A question we have heading into the press conference This is a formation that I don't believe we've seen from Austin before? Why this one now? And why start Nicolás Dubersarsky over Owen Wolff given their relative experience? [Subscribe today for quotes tomorrow](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the turn: Some historical perspective on Austin FC at the season's halfway point URL: https://verdeallday.com/at-the-turn-historical-perspective-austin-fc-halfway-point/ Last updated: 2025-05-24T14:25:45.000Z Thanks to a May full of schedule mayhem, the halfway point of the season — if you're counting by games rather than the calendar — comes May 31 in San Diego, when Austin FC faces the league's newest expansion team. It wasn't all that long ago that Verde was Southern California-bound as the league's newest expansion team. Forty-nine months ago, Austin FC trekked to what is now BMO Stadium for its inaugural match against LAFC. And since then, they've mounted what is one of the worst points-per-game (PPG) values in league history, while SDFC (albeit a small sample size) has one of the best. What happens in these next three matches — starting Saturday night against a strong Minnesota United squad, followed by a Wednesday home match against Real Salt Lake and next weekend's trip out West — could tip Verde closer to its second playoff appearance ever, but with a current record of 5-6-3, it's likely they'll remain in a group of teams clustered around the 9th-place marker, whose postseason fate could ultimately be decided in the final few matches of the season. And if that's the case, Austin FC will have to do something in the second half of the season it hasn't really done before. Which led me to do something I haven't done in a while. ## Let's make a table It's table-making time! I did this to illustrate better where the team currently stands compared to past seasons. Records are displayed in the American wins-losses-draws format. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-24-at-8.37.29-AM.png) Of course you know that 2022 was, by far, Verde's best season, and at the halfway point, were on 2.11 PPG before having a 5-7-5 second half of the season to finish on 1.64 PPG, good enough for second in the West, but reflecting some of the being-found-out elements that ultimately led to a decisive loss in the Western Conference Finals. Aside from that, Verde's best first half of the season came last year, getting to 7-5-5 following a win against Sporting Kansas City that led hopeful fans to ponder the playoffs (and less hopeful fans to ponder playoff qualification meaning Josh Wolff's continued tenure). But the team then went on a 4-9-4 collapse in the second half of the season — the exact same record they mounted their first half-season of existence, in a season where Manny Perez and Aedan Stanley combined for 19 appearances almost evenly split — to drop from 1.52 PPG to 1.24\. 2023 is the only season in which Austin finished on better points per game at the end of the season than at the halfway point – a barely-perceptible jump from 1.12 to 1.14, getting 20 points in the last 17 matches as compared to 19 in the first 17\. I've also included goals per game and goals against per game in the table to give you a sense of the relative lack of goal events this season compared to all others. At just 0.64 goals per game in 2025, Verde are on pace for a 22-goal season. That would match D.C. United's 2013 season for least goals in a 34-match campaign. That ended up as a dismal 3-24-7 campaign (led by current Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen) in which they still hilariously qualified for CONCACAF Champions League as the last-place team in MLS by virtue of winning the U.S. Open Cup. Verde would also only give up just 39 goals if current averages bear out, which would be the team's best defensive season in five per that metric. (Still, though, I have a feeling that only 22 goals would be the topline story on the 2025 season ... especially if Austin still managed to make the playoffs.) ## What's causing this? Perhaps Austin's literally feeling the heat of summer? While the heat is supposed to be a home-field advantage for Austin players training in unforgiving summers, as we've been led to believe by past and present higher-ups, perhaps it's not, and its effects on players could be having a measurable summer swoon, given the dramatic dropoff in what remain the team's best two seasons. Perhaps, also, losing begets more losing. For as joyous as the win was on August 26, 2022 – the historic night in which Austin beat LAFC 4-1 — the next three matches brought losses to Portland, Nashville, and Seattle by a combined 8-1 score, revealing some very concerning team tendencies briefly tempered by the Moussa Djitté Hat Trick Match that got Verde into the playoffs. (But then Austin went winless in their final three matches of the season, needing a PK shootout to beat 10-man Real Salt Lake before finally getting a 90-minute win in the conference semis against Dallas. You know what happened after that.) And in 2024, Verde started the second half of the season with a five-match winless streak, which they then replicated later in the season, which ultimately sealed their playoff-less fate. During that summer, we witnessed a team losing faith in their coach in real time and its star player functionally checking out, eventually being stripped of his captaincy to add to a very funereal locker room climate. 2025's brought a new coach and new optimism with it, and though that optimism might be wavering a bit for some. But there's also a burgeoning sense — as Ilie Sánchez told it Thursday in [an uplifting media session](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-48-ilie-held-a-masterclass-and-we-just-had/id1742052077?i=1000709382030&ref=verdeallday.com) you can hear for yourself — that progress is being made and the team might be trending upward rather than downward. The cumulative data from the four past seasons tells us to expect a dropoff in points per game as Austin FC makes the turn into the second half of the season. But this is also a team that has shown itself capable of creating new and happier data to put into the mix. Past may not be prologue when we close the 2025 chapter, and as we discussed in the [just-released latest episode](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-49-no-end-to-the-hypotheticals-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000709686696&ref=verdeallday.com) of Emergency Podcast, June and July bring a much more manageable schedule than May, at a time when key players are returning from injury. Summer is upon us. Now we'll see what Verde does with it. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The Thursday Three: Observations from a historic (for Austin) Open Cup win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvhou-052125-open-cup-ilie-sanchez-post-match-comments/ Last updated: 2025-05-22T13:52:20.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez did downplay what was arguably the best scoring performance of the year on Wednesday night. Brandon Vázquez's moment of individual brilliance, Osman Bukari's successful penalty kick, and then Bukari's possession leading to a deft assist to a clinical finish by Ilie Sánchez. He also downplayed the potential of the 3-1 win over Houston in Open Cup play — putting Verde just three wins from its first non-Copa Tejas trophy — portending future positive performances, noting that the team has played better with less joyful outcomes, again returning to his chestnut that "sometimes, soccer is a lie." But in a quick three snapshots from last night, there are perhaps some signs that a challenging May has been made better by the team reaching this milestone – the farthest they've gotten in a tournament to date – and that Verde will come out better for having endured it in the second half of the regular season, which starts in June. ## On the designated player forward rotation "We knew Brandon couldn't go 90 minutes because he ended up in the last league game with a knock in the knee, and then he's been struggling to recover, and we knew that he was going to be subbed," Estévez said. "And then in order to not lose potential, in order to have a strong team at the end of the game, we wanted to bring in Myrto, who could play in different positions from the bench. And also we knew that if we are winning, that Houston is a team that goes into the attack, and then we could find spaces for him as as we did. And so he helped us a lot, because we needed some energy from his side." "Everyone did a really good job," he continued. "I told the guys, I'm very proud of the players that came, everyone that came from the bench today gave us the extra energy that we needed, even though it was a moment that we were suffering and we didn't have much of the ball. They did an amazing job to keep the score, and also, in some moments, we could score more goals with some good counterattacks." ## On multiple scorers getting involved "I think good teams are those that there are multiple players that score goals, and we only focus on the forwards, and it's not fair," said Estévez, reminiscent of some Josh Wolff observations in 2024, albeit when Austin FC didn't have a player of Vazquez's caliber leading the line. "It's true that they have to do it. But I think the best teams are the ones that have more than two or three players that score goals, set pieces for the center backs, and \[Guilherme\] Biro, that he already scored a goal in this \[campaign\], this shooting that \[Besard\] Šabović had a couple of times. Some of them will go to goal and arriving like Ilie did today, having that desire to score and to finish the game." ## Ilie, on his team's offensive progression "The quality that we have individually, especially on top, we cannot allow ourselves to not take advantage of that," the captain said, as "And that comes first individually. We need to have that desire, that urgency, that willingness to do things well, but also it comes with teamwork and patterns that we can adjust, we can improve, in the final third. The better we play — with the ball, without the ball — the clearer the chances will be for our forwards to then take advantage of their quality. It's as simple as that, but football is simple, right? So the more we can focus on ourselves and work towards that, the better we'll be to get the results that we all want here. That's the main goal that we have here." Incidentally, this quote was part of an eight-minute Socratic lecture from Professor Ilie, standing out as one of my favorite moments of media-player interaction in my seven-plus years of covering Austin FC (from the time it was just a twinkle in Anthony Precourt's eye). It was so great that me and my partner in Verde All Day, Moisés Chiullán, immediately recorded a quick intro and outro (at midnight!) and got it up as a post-match [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-48-ilie-held-a-masterclass-and-we-just-had/id1742052077?i=1000709382030&ref=verdeallday.com), embedded here for you to take in what we took in. Definitely more reflections to come from this win and what Verde representatives said after. (And, in a hasty update we just did here shortly after publishing, we learned Austin will travel to San Jose either July 8 or 9, with the potential to host both the semifinal (should Chicago beat Minnesota in that quarterfinal match) and the final.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, Houston Dynamo FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-us-open-cup-atxvhou-052125/ Last updated: 2025-05-22T04:34:51.000Z The Open Cup dream is still alive. In a Round of 16 U.S. Open Cup match featuring Texas teams at Q2 Stadium on Wednesday night, Austin FC bounced Houston Dynamo FC 3-1, on the strength of a Brandon Vázquez opener, an Osman Bukari penalty kick conversion, and an Ilie Sánchez strike to cap off an excellent five-minute stretch in the second half. The win puts Verde into the quarterfinals just two weeks before All-Star festivities come to Austin. Head coach Nico Estévez set a lineup that tipped toward going for it, with two of their front line designated players starting, with its current first-choice fullbacks, and perhaps most significantly, with starting goalkeeper Brad Stuver starting after Stefan Cleveland's shaky Cup performance against El Paso two weeks ago. The Dynamo, in the meantime, started with a lineup that said "we're going to overwhelm them with subs in the 60th minute if needed," leaving Ondřej Lingr, Jack McGlynn, Ezequiel Ponce, Amine Bassi, and Griffin Dorsey on the bench, and running out 36-year-old Nico Lodeiro and 20-year-old Brooklyn Raines as two of their more notable starters. It took Verde just 43 seconds to force a corner, with Vázquez getting forward for several attempts (if not calculable shots) in the early stages of the game. The referee also let an early potential yellow card slide when Franco Escobar palmed the ball in Verde's defensive third about 10 minutes in. For a moment in the 15th minute, a clever Jáder Obrian breakaway was developing, with both Vázquez and Bukari not impossible to pick out with a pass. (Going for the streaking Bukari alone on the wing, rather than Vázquez with three defenders converging on him, might have been the choice.) Parked on just one shot heading into the half-hour mark, Vázquez changed that on his own, receiving a pass in traffic, working himself toward goal past Pablo Ortiz, and taking an off-balance, tough-angled shot near the end line he was able to connect on. That's all Verde was able to do the rest of the half, though, and the Dynamo came out of the locker room making two subs, including Jack McGlynn (for Artur), who immediately made his presence felt with a shot forcing Stuver into a save. Verde got a lifeline in the 54th minute, with Obrian sending in a shot that struck a sliding Franco Escobar in the hand. Bukari converted the PK, and got the insurance goal they've struggled to get in most of their matches this season. But there was more to come. Four minutes later, Ilie contributed to his quest to get more Open Cup wins than either Dallas or Houston — okay, *maybe that's Emergency Podcast's projected quest for him* — by slotting in a goal past both a 'keeper and a defender on the line. Shortly after, that brought a trio of Austin subs, getting Žan Kolmanič, Besard Šabović, and Uzuni into the fray. The Dynamo, unsurprisingly, brought on Ponce and Lingr in an effort to chip away at the lead, and then got that via a 70th-minute Ponce goal, in which he slipped in between Julio Cascante and Oleksandr Svatok to spoil the shutout. The Dynamo continued to put Verde on their heels for much of the final stage of the match, but weren't able to get another shot past Stuver, finishing with 10 after Brooklyn Raines picked up a second yellow for a foul on Uzuni. But Verde also finished with 10, with Cascante getting sent off for a foul on Lingr that appeared to be the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. In getting the win, Verde will at least go as far as they've ever gone in a cup competition, finding out at 10 am CT on Thursday morning (on the Golazo Network) who they'll play in the Elite Eight either July 8 or 9\. And, with FC Dallas knocked out in PKs by New York Red Bulls earlier in the evening, Austin FC is the last Texas team standing in the tournament. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Bukari's effort in front of goal to keep the ball in Verde's possession for long enough to get the assist off to Ilie was wonderful. He's quite good on the ball. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Does putting out the lineup card count? Don't get me wrong; I liked it a lot, and I enjoy seeing Stuver in goal immensely. Yet, seeing Cleveland lose the Cup 'keeper spot — a role that capable backup 'keepers typically, traditionally handle — I have to wonder if Rodolfo Borrell is eyeing the market for a new Stuver backup. When Cleveland arrived on Christmas Eve 2023, he was one of the most capable No. 2 goalkeepers in the league, having spelled Stefan Frei for stretches of 2021 (15 starts) and 2022 (seven starts). ## Something you might have missed In the 39th minute, Owen Wolff had a rug-pull defensive move, poking the ball away from Toyosi Olusanya, snuffing out an attack and causing Olusanya to fall — but cleanly. ## One nerdy tidbit There's not much to work with, given the few stats available, but Verde lost the shots battle in the first half 7-4\. (Not the 7-4 the fans in the South End sing about — and speaking of the South End, it hasn't ever acquired a good nickname. But I believe some people are trying Enchanted Broccoli Forest on for size.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference I'm wondering if Uzuni not starting was rotational or motivational. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with veteran Dynamo journalist Victor Araiza URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-victor-araiza-match-preview-atvhou-052125/ Last updated: 2025-05-21T11:26:22.000Z While many of you, as Austin FC fans, have feelings about the Houston Dynamo and their fans — completely understandable! — there's one thing I relish about Verde vs. Orange matchups, and that's the opportunity to check in with *Striker* alumni Victor Araiza. In advance of tonight's match against Houston to decide who gets into the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals — at 8 pm CT, at Q2 Stadium, and it could be a long night if it goes to extra time) — I asked my friend some questions about a team that's got a solid Open Cup history, having won in 2019 (denying the Union in a stretch of the Union totally Susan Lucci-ing the Open Cup\[\[1\]\], and 2023 (when the Dynamo got some temporary newfound fans as they denied Inter Miami a trophy). Also, to catch you up on Austin FC doings, Nico Estévez was a bit "mystery box" about tonight's possibly-rotated lineup, though he did say that Dani Pereira and Mikkel Desler took part in an 11 v. 11 scrimmage as part of this week's preparations — a sign that one or both might be ready to see limited minutes. He also gave encouraging platitudes about the mindfulness of what his attackers needed to do to put goals on the board — now it's just a matter, as it has been for weeks, to apply all that. (Reminder that Verde haven't put up multiple goals against an MLS side since their home win against San Diego on March 22\. Yes, that's close to two months ago.) To the questions! (His answers about the Dynamo might echo some 2025 Verde laments ...) ### Given Houston's recent successful history with Open Cup, how seriously do you think they're taking this year's tournament, and how close to full strength to you expect them to be? No question, they'd like to win it. Especially if the Dynamo struggle to make the playoffs, it gives the team a fallback position with the diehards. I was a bit surprised that they let Phoenix Rising FC take them to extra time because they have enough quality players to overpower a USL Championship side. Of course, part of that was squad rotation, which did the Dynamo in last year against Detroit City. I don't think that would be the case against Austin FC because of the rivalry and the two-match win streak in the league. Ezequiel Ponce missed the game against FC Dallas and Erik Sviatchenko has been out for a few games, so those are two key names that may be doubts, but Ondřej Lingr and Jack McGlynn should be on the field. That said, there's no reason Austin FC can't beat a full-strength Dynamo. Olsen's already planted the excuse of an unfair home-field advantage in his prematch presser just in case things don't go as planned. ### Houston's been busy bringing in new players to support big signing Jack McGlynn ... how are they working out and which one's making the biggest impact? McGlynn is coming into his own with this Dynamo side. He just won them the Texas Derby with a great game-changing moment. He's also got a couple assists off set pieces. His goal decided the Open Cup win at Phoenix in extra time. He's been the most impactful signing so far, but time will tell if he can carry them through the entire season or if they need him to. Ondřej Lingr has a few goals in his short time, including one against Austin in the last encounter between the teams. Given his pedigree with teams like Feyenoord and Slavia Prague, there should be more in store. Of course, many players in the Olsen era have arrived strong but tend to get overcoached or hindered by his tactics\[\[2\]\] — some tamed completely like the case of former DP Sebastian Ferreira or the now-traded Aliyu Ibrahim. ### What's the general fan vibes around Ben Olsen and the team this year? Is it as good as last year? Do you consider last year to be good? (Aside for that final game, that is ...) The fans love Olsen. He says all the things they want to hear and he's got a silver tongue to weave his way in and out of why results go or don't go the team's way. There are a few that see through his tactical deficiencies, but it's a silent minority among the Dynamo faithful. Most supporters probably consider last year to be good because the team made the playoffs. I think they held back against a beatable Seattle team, which brings up the team's continued struggles to score goals. The red cards, especially Herrera's, overshadow a lot of what the Dynamo were doing wrong offensively to keep themselves from being MLS Cup contenders. Olsen is in no danger of losing his job. As long as he makes the playoffs, he'll be fine with fans and ownership happy with meeting that bare minimum (whether anyone admits it or not). His direct superiors — GM Pat Onstad and Technical Director Asher Mendelsohn — are his boys, and aren't going to hold him to any fire unless they're pressured to and there's zero criticism in Houston. Austin FC fans have plenty to be pleased about in that sense. Unless Olsen changes his tactics, it's hard to see the Dynamo ever winning an MLS Cup during his tenure. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: This is a very deep cut reference! (She was a soap opera actress who was nominated for an Emmy close to 20 times before winning.) \[\[2\]\]: See? Austin fans aren't the only one with this complaint! ### 'I see one team': Sizing up a match with lots of good but no goals URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-morning-after-atxvvan-051825/ Last updated: 2025-05-18T11:56:29.000Z In recent weeks, you might have been concerned that what you saw from Austin FC on the field didn't quite line up with head coach Nico Estévez's rosy assessments. Know that after Saturday night's 0-0 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC – in a match in which Verde engineered 15 or 16 shots (depending on your stats service), five of those on target, in an encouraging performance – that the manager's view of the match probably aligned better with yours. "Today, it's what we want to become — a team that is able to perform the way that they perform against the best team ... definitely in the West, probably the league right now," Estévez said. \[People are\] giving a lot of praise to Vancouver about how amazing a team it is, how hard they are, how good they are, and then they come here, and we were able to ... I didn't see them today. I saw one team." I'll let the MLS Analytics main graphic (with xG) speak for itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_XG_2025-05-18.png) Estévez contends that the team that looked more cohesive against the Whitecaps than they did even three days earlier against Atlanta — getting to a home draw in quite a different way – is undergoing an evolutionary process that also involved that Atlanta match. "It takes time, because there a lot of new players and it takes time, and then the players play with the pressure," he added, praising their efforts in a 2-1 road loss to Cincinnati and saying his team deserved more from the Atlanta match, despite failing to either put in an insurance goal or defend for long enough to not let in the equalizer. Perhaps think of it this way: If you predicted May results as I did, you had the Atlanta match as a win and the Vancouver match as a loss. They've secured two points instead of three in that two-match stretch, and even though they're now 1-4-3 in their last eight matches, they've also halted a three-match winless streak with two straight results. ## Challenging his players On Saturday morning, Estévez said he reviewed April's 5-1 loss to the Whitecaps at BC Place and decided to take a different tone with his players prior to this match. "The first thing that stood out to me is we didn't win our matchups. And I told everyone, 'You better win your matchup today.' And I think it worked very well, and our guys stood up, and then they were better in their matchups," adding that Whitecaps striker Brian White, who torched Verde for four goals in April, was neutralized – largely through center back Oleksandr Svatok limiting the Golden Boot candidate's mobility. "It's about mental toughness," the coach continued. "It's about resiliency. It's about desire ... an opportunity to beat a really good team ... an opportunity to play with determination as a team. And as I said, I think we are playing more together." Goalkeeper Brad Stuver commented on the Estévez challenge after the match. "He's still building relationships with all the guys," he observed. "He's trying to find what works best to motivate us. And when we lost 5-1 in Vancouver, you know that tone kind of comes out because he's right. We didn't win our battles, we didn't win our goals, and the 50-50 matchups weren't there. So tonight, during the team talks, we talked about what it means to win your duels, what it means to win the second balls and just winning that individual battle. Because if every single one of us win the individual battle, it'll show in the team." ## Bukari played like a star (a Red Star?) Osman Bukari, activated on the right wing and playing like someone who wanted to show he belongs on this team — or that perhaps the rumor that his former club (Red Star Belgrade) wants him back this summer is true and he's auditioning accordingly — contributed to and felt the improved cohesion. He also noted that he and his teammates prepare differently for each opponent — even though, as Ilie Sánchez noted in his comments after the match, the compressed schedule didn't allow them a lot of time to game plan for the conference leaders. "I don't want to talk about Red Star, because I'm a player of Austin FC, and I have a contract for three years," he said in response to a question about the rumor. "So right now, I just need to focus on here. I don't want to talk about Red Star, if they are interested or not. That one is between the clubs. For me, I'm here. I know I have a contract here, and I came here to play. "So whatever will happen. I'm just focusing on Austin FC, who I know. I don't know anything. I saw it on the media too, as you are saying. So me too. I just read it, so I don't know what is going on, but I'm just here. I'm an Austin FC player, so I'm just working with Austin FC, and I have to focus on Austin FC right now." He was responsible for some of Verde's best chances in the match, including a header forcing a save in which he got considerable (perhaps surprising) height, and triggered a green light show with a deft move toward goal, rounding 'Caps 'keeper Yohei Takaoka to get the ball in the back of the net just before halftime, though it was ruled offside and rendered premature. (Looked nice, though.) "I'm a professional player, so I have to have the confidence and believe in myself. I know what I can do. I just need to work on it and focus every time, then just doing the best I can do \[for\] the team, to play as a team player, to work with my teammates. So everything is confidence. So I just need to have more confidence. And my teammates have to give me more confidence ... we help each other." ## What comes next As with the Atlanta match, Estévez kept his starters on the field for perhaps an inordinately long time, resisting a substitution until the 82nd minute, saying in part it was because those starters deserved to be out there — even though *out there* included kickoff conditions of 95 degrees and 51% humidity. Verde now has a crucial Round of 16 Open Cup match on Wednesday, in which Estévez observed the calculus has to now be if players can go the possible 120 minutes that extra time would bring should the match be tied after 90 minutes. He also revealed that though Mikkel Desler and Dani Pereira are training with the full team, both remain about a week out from game activation, while Robert Taylor's hamstring issue will keep the but-wait-he-just-got-here player out another two to three weeks. That match is, of course, an intrastate battle against a Houston team coming off a Texas Derby win against Dallas on Saturday night. After all match results were in on Saturday night, Austin remained above the playoff places, but just barely, landing in 9th, with its goals for (nine) and goal differential (-7) still disadvantageous for any secondary tiebreaker needs come Decision Day. (The first tiebreaker in MLS is wins; they're currently tied on those with 8th-place San Jose, but goal differential's currently keeping the Chaos Kings above Verde in the standings.) Then, with just a three-day turnaround after what could be a marathon match, Verde plays three matches in eight days to round out the month. ## About last night (a housekeeping note) One quick housekeeping note: Some of you astutely observed last night's recap included a Latin phrase in the initial version that went up and went to your inboxes. I'm going to blame residual effects of a very busy couple of weeks combined with my rapt attention and delight in how Austin was playing for my leaving in placeholder text (and also, since it was for that worst moment category, struggling to find legitimately bad Verde moments in the run of play). Know that, should there be an error in what goes out on email, I do appreciate the heads-up, but I may have already seen that error before you – I recommend clicking the "view in browser" link that's at the top of those emails. That helps with SEO as well! As ever, I appreciate all of you who subscribe and support this work. You're why I choose to chronicle each match as it happens and publish match recaps at the whistle. [Consider subscribing, if you're not already](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvvan-051725/ Last updated: 2025-05-18T02:45:16.000Z Austin FC looked the better side for most of 90 minutes on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium, but despite dominating in shots and shots on goal, could only muster a 0-0 draw against the conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Though the first half was scoreless, it wasn't for lack of Verde trying. The hosts looked more purposeful than they did just three nights prior against Atlanta. Osman Bukari, in particular, looked lively from the jump, making a nifty turn on Ranko Veselinović in the third minute en route toward goal, and appearing to score in the first minute of stoppage time, neatly rounding goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, on a play called back for offside. In between those bookend Bukari moments, Verde dominated in scoring chances, getting nine shots to the Whitecaps' two, and all three shots on goal in the half. Despite all the encouraging moments from Bukari and Brandon Vázquez – and there were quite a few, as the players exhibited a cohesion they've rarely exhibited this season – they weren't able to get the crucial first goal. As our friends at The Third Sub [skeeted on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/thethirdsub.ca/post/3lpfvqj33q22k?ref=verdeallday.com), "Austin really has done everything but score in this first half." Verde picked up where they left off after the break, starting with a Besard Šabović sizzler in the 48th minute after Bukari served him up a pass; it was right at Takaoka but with considerable power. Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen made four subs, including getting on the speedy, dangerous Jayden Nelson — and the refereeing appeared to tip very much in Vancouver's favor, raising Verde head coach Nico Estévez's ire — before the manager finally went to his bench in the 81st, putting on Nicolás Dubersarsky for Owen Wolff and Jáder Obrian for Vázquez. Bukari again had one more chance to get Verde ahead in the 83rd minute, but Takaoka came through again. By the match's end, Verde won the shots battle 16-5 and shots on goal 5-2\. But they're still parked on nine goals after 14 matches – on pace to barely break 20 for the season. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Of the plays that weren't wiped from the record, Bukari getting elevation to put in the 28th-minute header forcing Takaoka into a save was arguably the best shot in the first half. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Owen Wolff allowing himself to get a yellow for dissent toward an assistant ref, after enduring a particularly egregious football tackle, wasn't great, and might have led to his subbing out. We imagine some things might be said about the calls on the field. ## Something you might have missed In the 34th minute, among the various headers and other attempts, Brendan Hines-Ike had a half-decent chance at a butt goal. Also, about the hour mark, press box conversation turned to Ilie tucking in his jersey — we think that's the first time he did so this season. It might be a thing to ask him about. ## One nerdy tidbit Even though your eyes might have told you Verde was dominating, the Whitecaps had a possession edge of less than a percentage point at halftime, and it got even narrower by the hour mark (but still tipping the visitors' way). ## A question we have heading into the press conference Verde appeared so much better and more purposeful in possession in this match than in Wednesday's ... what changed? Is it better performance or was there something strategic other than putting Buka on the right? [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Har Johal of Daily Hive Vancouver (plus the latest Emergency Podcast) URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-har-johal-daily-hive-vancouver-emergency-podcast-episode-47/ Last updated: 2025-05-17T20:36:48.000Z Busy weekend here! Be sure to hydrate if you're going to the match; it's insanely hot, and humidity's supposed to be around 80% at game time. That's not fun ... To commemorate match day, we're going to do a combo post, starting with this week's installment of Emergency Podcast. That's available on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-47-dizzy-and-dehydrated-in-the-middle/id1742052077?i=1000708796017&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nkB6Aor5bSIXxTf8sx63f?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0lGSBvVRjM&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player below. Also, we reached out to [Har Johal](https://dailyhive.com/author/har%5Fjohal?ref=verdeallday.com) of Daily Hive Vancouver, who was gracious enough to answer questions we had about the team Austin FC just faced last month. ### Last time we saw Vancouver, they were beating Austin handily thanks to four goals from Brian White. How are the Whitecaps now compared to the last time these two teams played? Since meeting Austin on April 12 at BC Place and demolishing Verde 5-1, the Whitecaps continue to dominate on the pitch. Vancouver is 4-0-2 across all competitions since that first meeting vs. Austin, which includes a pair of wins over Inter Miami CF in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals. Brian White continues to lead the line; the Whitecaps striker is tied for third in MLS with eight goals scored and he was named MLS Player of the Month for April. Vancouver has outscored the opposition 12-5 in that six-match span, which also includes a pair of clean sheets. They are a team that can create several scoring opportunities at one end while also playing lockdown defense at the other. A rematch against Austin should bring out the best in both teams. ### Ryan Gauld has been injured for a quite a while now ... what's the expected timetable for his return? Currently there is no timetable for Gauld’s return to the pitch. The Whitecaps skipper has been sidelined with a left knee capsule sprain since March 8th. The Scottish international continues to work his way back to full strength. In recent weeks. Gauld has been running laps during Whitecaps training and working out in the gym. The Whitecaps don’t want to rush Gauld back until he feels that he is completely ready. *(Yes, they've been doing all this over the last two months plus without him ...)* ### Who is a player who might be a bit under the radar we should keep an eye on Saturday and why? Sebastian Berhalter has been phenomenal in the midfield for Vancouver this season. *(Hey, we know that guy!)* His defensive ability has often been a standout attribute, but this year, we’ve seen Berhalter add more offensive contributions. Berhalter has scored four goals and added five assists across all competitions. He has also taken on more of a leadership role. Berhalter has received praise across MLS and it has been suggested that he should be in line for a potential call-up to the U.S. Men’s National Team roster. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The Thursday Three: Quick quotes from a Wednesday night draw that feels like a loss URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-atxvatl-051425-nico-estevez-jon-gallagher/ Last updated: 2025-05-15T13:29:00.000Z When you've got a Wednesday night match that starts at 8 pm and has a delightful Unified game after the press conference concludes — also ending in a 1-1 draw between the Austin and Atlanta teams, though with a lot more joy involved — you still have to get kids out the door to school on Thursday morning at the regular time. Hence, I'm doing something a little streamlined for this one — three quotes giving a sense of how head coach Nico Estévez, and in this case, fullback Jon Gallagher, are assessing what turned out to be a disappointing draw, given that Jamal Thiaré scored a stoppage-time equalizer thwarting what looked like it would be a return to gutsy, defense-dependent 1-0 wins. Despite Verde keeping Atlanta from getting off a shot for a 47-minute span of the match, they also only scored one set piece goal and couldn't secure the insurance goal that would have made Thiaré's goal moot. ## On the decision not to make subs until nearly 80 minutes in the match "I think we built that momentum after the first goal that it was very difficult for me to change anything because we were very close to scoring a second goal," Estévez said. "I didn't want to touch anything, because we were all over them. I mean, it was unbelievable. And then we just have to learn that we have to score goals when we build momentum and this is the takeaway today. What I told the players, there is a moment that we have to knock out the opponent. And we have to have the killer mentality to do it." Then, after an allusion to Thiaré's goal not being called offside\[\[1\]\] being akin to "the lottery," on a play where he felt the scorer was "ahead of the ball all the time and the entire play," he had general platitudes for his team. "But other than that, I'm very proud of the effort of the players. It was a very difficult game, with the heat after playing and coming from Cincinnati, against a really good team with really good players, even though they \[aren't having\] a good moment. And I think if we check our last two performances, comparing \[the losses to\] Minnesota and Houston, we are \[taking\] steps forward to become the team that we want to be." ## On playing Bukari on the left and Uzuni on the right If Estévez really is invested in playing his "ideal 11" as much as possible in May — and it appears his players were exhausted by the heat toward the end (more on that in a bit) — theoretically it should involve Osman Bukari at right wing (where ocular evidence tells us he's best) and then Myrto Uzuni at left wing (and that's debatable, but clearly Brandon Vázquez is the first-choice center forward, so if you have to play Uzuni on the front line and 4-3-3 is the best formation, that's where he goes). But Bukari started at left wing with Uzuni on the right, and though having them swap throughout the match would be a tactical option, that didn't really happen save for one corner kick. Estévez had an explanation. "We wanted to create an overload on the right side and have someone that stretched the line, like Myrto. You could see in the second half a couple of times, he did a really good job on that. And we had Bukari more isolated for one-on-one situation, for crosses ... at the beginning of the game, it took us a while to find Buka and to try to connect with him, but throughout the game, as the game went on, we were able to have more opportunities to find him." ## On letting in the goal A spent and gracious Jon Gallagher answered a lot of media questions post-match, with many of his teammates getting to the sideline as soon as possible to take in the Unified match. "We look back at those last two minutes, especially the goal, and there's a recognition that we have the win in our hands, and we just need to be a little bit more cohesive," Gallagher assessed. "Maybe the guys from the back have got to tell the guys in front to get more compact and deny space in between the lines, which we didn't do. I think the ball gets played into them centrally from a long ball, and they pick it up and go behind us with some nice play, but ultimately, it could have been stopped." Answering my question about whether anything's changed between the first seven league matches (three goals allowed) and the most recent six (13 goals allowed), he said, "The system is still the same and the defensive principle is still the same. Maybe we've just been a bit lackluster in certain moments, which obviously happens in Cincy with a quality player in Evander and some quality play on us tonight, too." But he also pointed out, "Honestly, I'm a little dizzy right now, just because I'm so dehydrated and put in a big shift Saturday, a big shift last Wednesday, and a big shift on the Saturday before then. So I'm feeling it, but that's my game and I try to do it for 90 minutes, go home, and get some sleep." ## Where are things now? At this point in May, I figured Verde would be 1-1-1 en route to a 2-3-2 month in league play; instead, they're 0-2-1 with arguably their two toughest league matches of the month on the horizon. Vancouver, coming to Austin on Saturday, and Minnesota, where Austin travels next Sunday with a Round of 16 Open Cup match hosting Houston in between those two weekend tilts, have a combined 14-4-7 record, and though they'll then return to face an RSL team currently 11th in the conference, they close out May traveling to 2nd-place San Diego. In their past seven matches, they've beaten a Galaxy team that has failed to win in 13 tries this season, drew a pair of home matches, and lost four. That's a concerning stretch after starting with four wins in their first six matches, and though they still sit 8th in the conference, they could conceivably be below the playoff line by the time they return from Minnesota. While the schedule gets a little more sane and manageable in summer, and summer is likely to bring new players to round out the roster, it's important to bank points at this stage of the season as well as in the early stages of the season. Clearly, that's not happening at present, if five points out of the last 21 is any indication. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\] We attempted to ask PRO about the offside call, but there was a *systemic issue* I'm still trying to sort behind the scenes, and the referee ended up not fielding the question, leaving me (and you) in the dark. ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Atlanta United 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvatl-051425/ Last updated: 2025-05-15T16:23:34.000Z On a balmy night with the kickoff temperature in the low 90s, Austin FC capitalized on a Brandon Vázquez free kick goal from distance to outlast Atlanta United, 1-0, through 90 minutes at Q2 Stadium on Wednesday night. But then the fourth official announced six minutes of stoppage time. The visitors only needed two minutes of those to find a late Jamal Thiaré equalizer to spoil what looked like a home win — ending as a 1-1 draw instead. While Verde forced a corner just 10 seconds into the match, Atlanta threatened first, with a mishit Jon Gallagher ball triggering a Miguel Almiron breakaway ending in him shooting (blessedly, if you're an Verde fan) straight at newly-bearded goalkeeper Brad Stuver. The first half hour tipped Austin's way possession-wise (at around 60%), yet the visitors got six shots to just two for the hosts — who finally got their first shot on target in minute 37, where a cross to nowhere ended up getting recycled to Osman Bukari, playing left wing rather than his preferred right wing, who hit a masterful shot forcing Brad Guzan into a leaping save. On the resulting corner kick, Ilie was on target with his long attempt but it hit an Atlanta defense traffic cone en route to goal, making it easier for Guzan to deal with. Verde would manage a few more attempts after that but the match went into halftime knotted at zero. Verde looked a bit more lively after the break, and after Vázquez won a free kick getting fouled about 25 yards from goal, he took that free kick and landed it in the top corner of the goal to grab the lead. Atlanta subbed in four players by the time Austin decided – at minute 79 – to make its first subs, getting Jáder Obrian in for Bukari and Žan Kolmanič in for a gassed Owen Wolff. Two more dry shirts entered the match for Austin in the 85th, with Vázquez and Besard Šabović giving way to CJ Fodrey and Nicolás Dubersarsky. From there, the hosts went into full clock-milking mode, and that didn't quite work, with Thiaré getting free on a goal in the second minute of stoppage time that appeared to Stuver (and to many in the stadium) to be offside. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Bukari's 37th-minute attempt forced Guzan into his first save of the game and seemed to shift Verde's offense into a higher gear. Also, this isn't really a moment per se, but Verde kept the Five Stripes from taking a shot (we'll frame it that way) for more than a half's worth of time, between minute 21 and minute 68\. (Not a shot on goal; a *shot*.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) While there's no single moment that particularly stood out to me – I believe Myrto Uzuni's close-in miss didn't really happen because of an offside call – the team looked sluggish and uninspired for a lot of the first half. (And still didn't score a goal from open play, for the record.) ## Something you might have missed Head coaches Ronny Deila and Nico Estévez were very "What are you going to wear?" — in matching black T-shirts, black skinny jeans, and black shoes. ## One nerdy tidbit Seven of Austin's nice first-half shots came in the final 10 minutes of the half (including two minutes of stoppage time). ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why the wait until the second-half hydration break to make subs? [Subscribe; there will be quotes](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the inestimable J. Sam Jones from Five Stripe Final URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questionsj-sam-jonesfive-stripe-final-atlanta-united-atxvatl-051425/ Last updated: 2025-05-14T12:08:30.000Z Welcome to what I dubbed "The Constant Disappointment to Us All Derby" on Tuesday morning's [Soccer Down Here](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/austin-fc-atlutd-preview-with-verde-all-days-phil-west/id1198314717?i=1000708365395&ref=verdeallday.com). Like the Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man GIF, Atlanta United and Austin FC have a few things in common this year — shiny new expensive attackers acquired over the offseason, a new coach with MLS experience hired right after the end of a season barely breaking the 40-point mark (though, in the East, that was good enough to get Atlanta to the playoffs and to a richly hilarious first-round win over Miami), and a 2025 that's been less successful than expected so far. But certainly, there's more to the Atlanta United story than that, right? To find out, we turned to the person we love turning to on matters ATL (and matters MLS weirdness, when we can) — J. Sam Jones of [Five Stripe Final](https://www.fivestripefinal.com/?ref=verdeallday.com). Here's how he delivered. ### Like Austin, Atlanta signed a talented striker for a lot of money in the offseason. What's the early verdict on Emmanuel Latte Lath, and why isn't he scoring more (for my best ball fantasy team, as well as for the Five Stripes)? It’s clear he’s a tremendous talent. The pace, the on-ball ability, the understanding of space inside the 18, it’s all there. What’s not there is a game model and a supporting cast that will allow him to be the Golden Boot contender he seemed destined to be on arrival. There are only so many Brooks Lennon crosses that can sail over his head before you start to feel genuinely bad for the guy. What’s truly remarkable is that Atlanta’s front office made their two biggest offseason moves—Latte Lath and Miguel Almirón—with pace and Alexey Miranchuk in mind. They envisioned a world where Latte Lath, Almirón and Saba Lobjandize were sprinting in behind back lines to get on the end of pinpoint passes from their Russian No. 10\. Instead, per FBref, Atlanta United is ***dead last in MLS in throughballs.*** They don’t have any ideas on how to capitalize on an elite talent in MLS other than to send lazy crosses his way and pray he beats four defenders to the ball. It’s happened a few times. But it’s no way to live. ### Like Austin, Atlanta seems to be lacking defensive cohesion so far this season. Can you point to any reasons (or any players) why, or is it just a baffling mystery? After months of extensive research, I’ve come to the conclusion that Atlanta’s defense isn’t any good because Atlanta’s defenders aren’t any good. They’re ineffective in midfield and somehow getting slower by the week thanks to Ronny Deila’s decision to start a geriatric double-pivot of Miranchuk and Mateusz Klich. Luis Abram is a TAM center back who plays like a below-average defender at best. Derrick Williams is a great third-choice center back who starts regularly. Stian Gregersen is always hurt. Right back Brooks Lennon’s sole goal in life is to be angry that no one jumped 40 feet to head one of his 15 crosses per game into the net and he has no time for defense. Left back Pedro Amador — he’s pretty good actually; none of this is his fault. All of that manifests in a team that gives up hilarious goals. I mean, just some of the funniest things you’ve ever seen on a pitch. They come up with new clips every week. The latest came when they failed to clear the ball roughly 10 times and finally just watched as Miranchuk played volleyball inside his own 18 and hand-delivered a penalty to Chicago 14 minutes into what would be a 2-1 loss. Have I mentioned yet that this is the worst Atlanta United team ever by every available metric? ### Like Austin, Atlanta hired a coach at the start of the offseason with prior MLS experience who appears to be leaving the fan base underwhelmed. What, pray tell, is going on with Ronny Delia, and how soon do they swap him out for Stone Mountain's own Josh Wolff? (That's my podcast partner's working theory, at least) To be blunt: Not a whole lot that’s new. That Deila-led, ultra-talented NYCFC team that won MLS Cup in 2021 only earned 51 points (their lowest total since their expansion season) and then were God-gifted a path to a title. To recap, they beat: A mediocre Atlanta United side that fired their original manager 13 games into the season, a Revs side that waited 23 days to play a game (NYCFC won on penalties), a Union side missing 11 players due to COVID, and a Timbers side that wasn’t all that good (on penalties). Sometimes you catch a few breaks and have Taty Castellanos. Other times, you catch no breaks and rely on crosses and make personnel decisions that seem to be compounding multiple problems. Deila has a track record of short tenures at multiple clubs and of leaving fans unhappy by the ends of those tenures. Is this all his fault? No. Does he seem to be making things better? Also, no. That being said, the most likely outcome here is that Atlanta United will be frustratingly patient with Garth Lagerwey’s first-ever coaching hire. But external patience is already very thin in the fanbase. This kind of form can only keep going so long before Atlanta is forced to make a decision and bring in Wolff to save the team, a thing that’s definitely going to happen. [Subscribe, if you like](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Four losses, 12 goals: We analyze film on each one, as we've done before, painfully, to figure out the whys and hows URL: https://verdeallday.com/four-losses-12-goals-we-analyze-film-on-each-one-as-weve-done-before-painfully-to-figure-out-the-whys-and-hows/ Last updated: 2025-05-16T18:38:09.000Z Toward the end of the 2023 season, I set out on a masochistic exercise trying to explain why Austin FC had let in [43 goals in 27 matches](https://verdeallday.com/whos-to-blame-we-reviewed-all-43/) ... by watching all of them and classifying who was at fault. If you remember, or even if you didn't, this was inspired by something similar that my old Striker colleague Chris Bils did back in 2022, which in turn was, as I said the first time I did this, "inspired by a comment Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff made in the midst of the team’s defensive struggles during part of last season, where he said the team reviewed all the goals scored against them the past 10 games." Now it's a new coach and a newly constituted team – one that only gave up three goals in its first seven 2025 matches, but has lost by an aggregate 12-2 scoreline in the last four losses (and, thanks to a 1-0 win over the Galaxy in there, has been outscored 12-3 in the most recent five-match MLS stretch that's seen them go 1-4-0). A reminder on the four game state categories we're using when the goalmaking starts: - Set piece - Team is in defensive posture - Transition - WPIOOTBGW (When playing it out of the back goes wrong) And, of course, if there's a penalty kick, we'll look at what led to the PK. Let's dig in, with a really horrendous match to start us off. (Remember, in soccer, home team is listed first in a scoreline, regardless of who wins.) ## April 12: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 5, Austin FC 1 This is the match in which our perception shifted from "Austin FC is a top-notch defensive team" to "it's probably still a good defensive team that had a bad night, but now we're worried." (It's shifted further since then.) Also, you can no longer pull out individual goals on the MLS site, so we're going to just send you to the link to pull up all the goal highlight videos yourself. The ocular evidence: [https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/vanvsatx-04-12-2025/](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/vanvsatx-04-12-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) ### Brian White, 13' **Culprit:** Julio Cascante **Game state:** Transition Verde's Brian White-induced nightmare starts with this transition play in which Tristan Blackmon launches a pass up the right flank to Édier Ocampo, who moves up front preparing to cross to a hard-charging Daniel Rios or to White. As the play develops, Cascante is near Rios and Brendan Hines-Ike is near White. As Ocampo sends the ball into Rios, Cascante mysteriously peels away from Rios, possibly trying to intercept the ball, and then Rios puts a near, possibly unintentional but also possibly brilliant heel flick pass that drops right in front of White. (In this screen grab, Rios has received the pass and is about to heel flick it; Hines-Ike is between him and White, and Cascante is to Rios' left. Cascante is closer to Rios as Ocampo's pass comes in, and it looks like perhaps Cascante was trying to play the ball rather than the man, which I'm assessing was the wrong choice here.) (I'm going to show images from just two of these five goals. You'll get the idea.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-6.57.59-AM.png) While Hines-Ike got turned around on the play, it's because he was positioning himself in front of Rios, expecting a more conventional pass, and then wheeled around to see that White had found enough space to get off a shot. He scored and did a terrible dance, and though we didn't quite know it at the time, the rout was on. ### Brian White, 38' **Culprit:** Team (but also probably Jon Gallagher) **Game state:** In defensive posture (more or less) This goal happens with Verde settling into position as the ball gets worked to Emmanuel Sabbi about 25 yards from goal. He's facing up against Cascante, but there are three other defenders in the vicinity, and White gets in behind Cascante. Gallagher's closest and probably bears the most blame on this, but Hines-Ike or even Owen Wolff could have been more direct in trying to disrupt the play. Wolff actually pulls up as he reaches the 18-yard line to take in White scoring. ### Emmanuel Sabbi, 47' **Culprit:** Dani Pereira, Guilherme Biro **Game state:** Set piece At least Brian White doesn't score here! Pedro Vite sends in a corner kick, it bounces off Pereira's head as he's trying to defend a taller Ranko Veselinović (5'9" vs. 6'2"), and drops to Sabbi. Biro's in the vicinity, but isn't able to stop Sabbi from making it 3-0, less than two minutes after the restart. ### Brian White, 59' **Culprit:** Julio Cascante, Guilherme Biro **Game state:** In defensive posture Sabbi gets the ball to the end line and passes into the goalmouth. This is a classic case of "sometimes good things happen if you just get the ball in front of goal and let chaos happen." The ball ping-pongs around, and the shot before White's requires Stuver to dive to his right, rendering him temporarily out of the play. Hines-Ike astutely runs to goal, but at that point, the ball's fallen to White and neither Cascante or Biro, who are close enough to close in on him, actually do so. White shoots, Hines-Ike attempts to head it out, and the ball smacks him in the face, deflecting behind him and over the line as he falls to the ground. Just a brutal goal for Verde fans to watch. This is the ball right after it's left White's foot. It was good on the defenders to cover for Stuver on this, but it's asking a lot to repel a White shot from this close in and this open. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-6.47.52-PM.png) Also, everyone *does* deserve pizza. ### Brian White, 83' **Culprit:** Oleksandr Svatok (but also the referee) **Game state:** Transition This starts with J.C. Ngando trucking Pereira and winning the ball; it looks like a foul to me, but not to the ref, and the Whitecaps are off to the races. Ngando passes upfield to Ali Ahmed, Svatok's in position to deal with Ahmed but then gets turnstiled, and Ahmed leads White (running upfield to Ahmed's left) in on goal. White's able to slow-roll it past Stuver for his fourth goal of the night. It's so, so bad. ## April 19: Austin FC 1, LA Galaxy 0 Hooray! It's a clean sheet! No goals against to analyze here. The ocular evidence: [https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/atxvsla-04-19-2025/](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/atxvsla-04-19-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) ## April 26: Houston Dynamo FC 2, Austin FC 0 I suppose we have to. The ocular evidence: [https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/houvsatx-04-26-2025/video](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/houvsatx-04-26-2025/video?ref=verdeallday.com) ### Ondřej Lingr, 61' **Culprit:** Owen Wolff **Game state:** Transition This one's all on Wolff. It starts with Griffin Dorsey breaking down the right flank, and as he enters the box, a late-arriving Wolff knocks him off his feet. It looks like a penalty at first glance, but the referee doesn't blow the whistle, so Austin's free to play the ball out and recover. Unfortunately, Wolff chooses to move the ball toward the middle of the box, sends a pass across the field, and new Dynamo designated player Ondřej Lingr gets his head on the pass to intercept it. Notice Austin's defensive positioning (or lack thereof) when the ball reaches Lingr. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-6.55.50-AM.png) As the ball makes its parabolic arc up and then back down, Lingr determines he can volley a shot as its coming down. Wolff's teammates are a bit to blame here, as he's wide open when he intercepts the ball. Two of them rush toward Lingr, but they don't arrive in time, and the contest is no longer scoreless. It's quite possible that VAR would have sent Houston to the spot, but instead of at least having a 20% chance to stop a PK, Verde just conceded. ### Ezequiel Ponce, 79' **Culprit:** Team **Game state:** Transition This sequence starts with Brooklyn Raines passing forward to Amine Bassi. Besard Šabović is there to meet Bassi, but Bassi's able to get off a pass to Dorsey in open space, and the Dynamo are off and running. Verde tries to track back, but Dorsey's able to find Ponce in open space. How open? Check out this screen grab. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-6.52.26-AM.png) That puts Stuver in a terrible spot. Ponce makes it 2-0, and at that point, it's fairly clear that Austin's not going to come back. ## May 3: Austin FC 0, Minnesota United 3 Like the Houston match, this isn't fun, but it's necessary. The ocular evidence: [https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/atxvsmin-05-03-2025/](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/atxvsmin-05-03-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) ### Ilie Sánchez (own goal\*), 22' **Culprit:** Brad Stuver **Game state:** In defensive posture The Loons start this sequence from midfield, and it looks like a classic MLS possession: Offensive gets the ball to the outside and looks to work it back centrally as the defense looks to intercept or tackle to put the brakes on the threat. But what Verde are doing on defense here is kind of baffling. Besard Šabović tries to guard Joaquín Pereyra, who executes a one-two with Anthony Markanich (guarded by Jon Gallagher) and manages to get totally free of Šabović. Gallagher and Ilie come over to help, but Pereyra's still able to get off a shot that clips Ilie on its way toward goal. On its fairly slow-rolling, Stuver-should-have-this-handled way toward goal. And then, it simply squirts through his legs and trundles over the line. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-7.11.12-PM.png) Stuver owned this one, and he rarely makes this kind of mistake. But this was so, so, so, so, so bad. It's credited as Ilie's own goal, but I'm putting an asterisk next to that because: no. ### Anthony Markanich, 35' **Culprit:** Oleksandr Svatok **Game state:** Set piece This starts with Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair sending in a free kick from his own half. Stuver punches the free kick away, but only far enough away for the visitors to recycle it. Eventually, Jefferson Diaz gets in a cross to Markanich, who is able to elevate over Svatok and head the ball past Stuver. While Stuver could have done better on both phases of the corner kick, look at the moment the ball leaves Markanich's head. It's hard to see in the picture, but do you see the blond tuft of hair to the left of the 13 on Markanich's jersey? That's Svatok's head. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-7.14.43-PM.png) I believe Svatok was possibly trying to get low to get leverage to body him and disrupt the header, but also ... both are 6'1". It's concerning to see Markanich get this much elevation, and for Svatok to get this outmatched in this situation. ### Joaquín Pereyra, 90' + 1' **Culprit:** Team (but primarily Žan Kolmanič) **Game state:** WPIOOTBGW This starts with Žan Kolmanič lazily gliding a pass to Brendan Hines-Ike across the Austin half of the field. Hines-Ike could have better control of it, but also had Tani Oluwaseyi bearing down on him, so it might have been better for Kolmanič to pass back to Stuver and let Stuver push the ball out to Svatok, who is playing on the right side of what's functionally a three-man back line. Instead, Oluwaseyi wins the ball and gets off a shot, which Stuver parries away. The ball falls to Sang Bin Jeong, who attempts a shot that's then blocked by Kolmanič. But the block falls right to an open Pereyra, and you know what? It's just his night. Here's Pereyra uncorking with the closest defender at least eight yards away. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-7.51.54-PM.png) Fortunately, there's no more scoring after this. But this loss is bad enough to where we feel compelled to record a quasi-emergency Emergency Podcast. ## May 10: FC Cincinnati 2, Austin FC 1 And now, the Evander game. The ocular evidence: [https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/cinvsatx-05-10-2025/](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/cinvsatx-05-10-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) ### Evander, 12' **Culprit:** Besard Šabović **Game state:** Transition, then in defensive posture Yuya Kubo is trying to get past Šabović on the left flank. Šabović wins the ball and then loses it just as quickly, and it pops over to an open Evander. How open? Here's the screengrab right before he shoots. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-7.55.46-PM.png) Technically, just a 0.08 xG shot, but he's Evander. ### Gerard Valenzuela, 76' **Culprit:** Team **Game state:** Transition Though this should be the team in defensive posture, the switch to Lukas Engel sends Verde's defense scrambling. Engel is then able to find an open Evander, and Svatok and Wolff decide they better do something. This screengrab comes a second after the [I'm-saying-unmarked Evander](https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-cinvatx-051025-nico-estevez-jon-gallagher-evander/) (from my article on Sunday) has time and space to decide what he's going to do. Yes, they both converge on him as the ball leaves his foot, but it's clearly too late. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-8.16.43-PM.png) A second later, the chipped pass eludes Biro and is flying off Valenzuela's foot; when this ball is lofted, Valenzuela's still not in the frame, and Kolmanič lets Valenzuela run right past him to meet the pass. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-13-at-8.22.03-PM.png) Evander's just special. (And you can tell from the velocity with which this shot is launched how little a chance Stuver, or anyone you could put in goal, had to save it.) ## And now, the tally This is what we landed on for culprits and game states ... and again, four matches is a small sample size, even though we have 12 goals to assess. ### Culprits - **Team:** 4 - **Svatok:** 2 - **Cascante:** 1.5 - **Biro, Šabović, Svatok, Wolff:** 1 each - **Pereira:** 0.5 ### Game states - **Transition:** 5.5 - **In defensive posture:** 3.5 - **Set pieces:** 2 - **WPIOOTBGW:** 1 Right now, blame is pretty spread around, though Hines-Ike isn't directly culpable for any goals in these last four losses (though probably half-culpable for the Pereyra goal), and transition defense — which Estévez successfully addressed at his time at FC Dallas — is suffering again. And while it's probably still too small a sample size to damn Svatok and Cascante for their contributions to the capitulation, it also underscores that center back competition could help up the game of the three first-teamers who effectively voted Leo Väisänen off Center Back Survivor Island. (The best attacking center midfielder that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell can budget for should be the other.) Some things to watch in future matches, starting with Wednesday night in Atlanta: - Are midfielders getting caught out in transition? And is that happening to some degree because they're trying to get numbers forward to jump start the offense - How much are they missing Mikkel Desler? Fullbacks are technically responsible for only one of the 12 goals, but they're certainly contributing to goals allowed pinned on the team, and in the match against Cincinnati, Kolmanič would have been responsible for a WPIOOTBGW goal if Evander's 19th-minute shot have been just a few inches inside of the post it instead struck. - Will they learn from these last four losses? Having gone numb from just watching all these goals, I can only imagine what film sessions for Austin FC have been like over the last few weeks. If there's growth to be gained from the pain and suffering from four of the last five matches, and if it can't come against an Atlanta team suffering even more dramatically than Austin is right now, it's hard to see it coming anytime soon. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Marked is in the eye of the beholder: Assessing a baffling assessment about the latest defeat URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-cinvatx-051025-nico-estevez-jon-gallagher-evander/ Last updated: 2025-05-11T14:26:44.000Z The plot of Saturday night's match between Austin FC and FC Cincinnati – a 2-1 defeat for visiting Verde — is fairly simple. Evander, the protagonist or antagonist (depending on your narrative perspective) was given time and space in two key moments of the match to make remarkable plays. The first was his 12th-minute goal to give the hosts the early lead, and the second — following the adversity of giving away the equalizing penalty kick off the foot of former FCC player Brandon Vázquez — was a visionary 76-minute assist to a streaking Gerardo Valenzuela, evading Guilherme Biro to score emphatically and retake the lead. But in the post-match press conference, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez took on a literary device, known as the unreliable narrator, that Edgar Allan Poe employed to great effect — you, the reader, know that the narrator's version of the story diverts from reality, because of what else the author has revealed to you, but the narration adds another layer of depth and complexity to the work as you evaluate the characters and their actions. I got the first question out of the gate and asked about the game plan to neutralize Evander — an early MVP candidate and the principal reason Cincinnati retook the Eastern Conference lead last night. Estévez first praised Evander as (to paraphrase fancifully here) a talented player capable of thwarting a defensive strategy, which is a completely legitimate observation. Getting beat by great plays from one of the best players on the league on the road is a Normal MLS Occurrence. But then, he made observations about the plays that arguably asked fans, to quote George Orwell's dystopian novel *1984*, to "reject the evidence of your eyes and ears." "In he first goal, he was unmarked because it was a very quick play," Estévez said. "It was that a play that we were winning the ball, \[Besard\] Šabović was winning the ball, but the ball connected to the opponent, and the ball went to them, and then they just played quick and they we didn't have time to react to that situation. This is why he was unmarked." And then, on the second goal, "He's marked, he's with on the player. What he does is amazing. I mean, the way he does that is amazing. The guy that that scored the goal, he wasn't mark, but with one player in front of \[Evander\], what he did with he outside of the foot ... I don't think how many players you know that they can do that. And I think you can say this game was a win for a player, and that player made the difference in this game." Let me present some ocular evidence. ## Breaking down the second goal MLS's official goal highlight [video clip](https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/mls-regular-season/2025/matches/cinvsatx-05-10-2025/?ref=verdeallday.com) shows the progression of the play. I went ahead and captured a still from it that highlights a key moment in the sequence, which starts with loosely-marked wingback Lukas Engel passing to an open Evander at the top of the 18-yard box, from close to the same part of the field where Evander scored his goal. Notice something? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-10-at-10.02.47-PM.png) The caption notes, "Evander with some space," and indeed, he's got some. At this point in the play, Evander's got two passing options inside the box, and he could get either of those passes off before Oleksandr Svatok (in front of him) or Owen Wolff (to his right) could get to him. Here's the stunning part, though: Valenzuela, who scores the goal, isn't even in the frame. He'll enter from the right as Evander, having to choose once Wolff starts running toward him, chooses to chip the ball to the far post. Valenzuela makes a late run to get on the end of it and volley it home. What's further confounding about Estévez's version of the story — that Evander is marked and Valenzuela is not — is that Biro actually has a better chance to impact the play than Wolff did. Biro, however, tried to play the incoming ball rather than posting up on Valenzuela, whiffing on his attempting header, which allowed Valenzuela to receive the ball with the placement and the weight to enable the scoring. It was a great goal, but an even greater assist. "I guess marked is in the eye of the beholder," I told Estévez before asking my second question, with all of this freshly before me. He certainly knows more about soccer than I do, but I also know what I saw. Jon Gallagher assessed the performance after a longer-than-usual wait for a player to get him into the Zoom call, meeting Moisés Chiullán's question about having an impressive showing in keeping the margin to 2-1 and keeping themselves in the match for longer than some might have expected — given how one goal turned into much more than that when Austin faced a similarly talented Vancouver team on the road last month. "That's good to hear, because you obviously have your own opinion and feelings of the game, but you don't really know until you've probably come off the field and you get an idea of what the media thinks," he said. "You watch the game back, you get a little bit of a better understanding of how it actually went, but my initial reaction was that there was a lot of positives and really disappointed to not get a result. 'I thought we had really good moments," he said, before noting, "probably two preventable goals; they just happened to be in the right places at the right time. I think we deserved a point; I think that probably would have been fair." ## And yet, it's another loss The 2-1 loss to FCC, taken in isolation, is not so bad. But a 2-1 loss to FCC being a fourth loss in Verde's last five matches, and those four losses being by a 12-2 aggregate – with only one of those two goals scored from open play – is quite concerning. Verde's only scored two goals in one match out of 12 league matches this season, getting one goal in half those matches and failing to score in five others. If Verde were gutting out results on the strength of a single goal plus sturdy defense, as they were in the first part of the season, it would at least signal a burgeoning identity and lead to some level of success. For stretches of the second half, the defense looked like the defense that bottled up LAFC, St. Louis, and the Galaxy en route to 1-0 shutouts. And speaking of the Galaxy, my recent [Emergency Podcast exhortation](https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-46/) that, "It could be worse; you could be a Galaxy fan" got even more traction, given that this most recent loss came on the day that the Galaxy lost 7-0 to the Red Bulls in an MLS Cup rematch that makes me wonder about the future of Greg Vanney in Carson. But with only a Vancouver-LAFC match on deck today that won't change Austin's position in the table, Nico Estévez's team has dropped to 8th place, and its five wins and -7 goal differential could impact tiebreakers in future weeks with Colorado and Dallas, currently tied with Austin on 16 points and on either side of the playoff line. "I think if you analyze a little bit the game, I think we had a really strong start," Estévez assessed. "We had a really good couple \[of\] dangerous chances against them, and we concede that goal, I think we immediately responded." Responses measured in chance creation is one thing, and responses measured in goals is quite another. Here's a pair of player stats, courtesy of FotMob, that allow you to see how Austin's two most expensive scorers fared, including a mostly-invisible Myrto Uzuni: - Vázquez, 35 touches, seven touches in the opposition box, *two big chances missed* - Uzuni, 25 touches, *one touch in the opposition box*, *two passes into the final third* (playing, remember, on the wing) Austin hosts Atlanta on Wednesday, and given both teams' similar struggles this season — a new coach and new players underperforming expectations — the matchup appears on paper to favor Verde. Estévez indicated, to summarize the tenor of his post-match comments, that he sees progress in the team as it continues to evolve. But, given all that transpired in his session with the media on Saturday night, can we believe him? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: FC Cincinnati 2, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-cinvatx-051025/ Last updated: 2025-05-11T01:43:40.000Z Austin FC held some measure of hope for a half hour, getting a match against FC Cincinnati level, but the Eastern Conference powerhouse was too much at TQL Stadium on Saturday night. Thanks to a goal and assist by early league MVP candidate Evander, the hosts sent Verde back to Austin nursing a 2-1 defeat that could have been worse. It only took 11 minutes and change for Evander to get FCC's first goal, getting the ball just inside the 18-yard box with acres of space and time to shoot. Two minutes after Evander's goal, striker Kévin Denkey got free in front of Austin's goal to test goalkeeper Brad Stuver. Thankfully, Stuver was up to the test, though FCC was just one better-placed shot from making it 2-0, as was Evander just five minutes later. (See Worst Verde Moment below.) However, Verde were able to contain the initial damage, keeping it to a 1-0 deficit at the half, and FCC defensive linchpin Matt Miazga went out with an injury (later revealed as hamstring tightness) before halftime, getting spelled by former Dynamo defensive player Teenage Hadebe, getting his first minutes in nearly two months. Less than a minute after the restart, a Hadebe handball at the edge of the box led to a Vázquez penalty kick, which he converted, followed by a very subdued goal celebration given his status as a former beloved FCC player. Several minutes later, Hadebe challenged Owen Wolff as he moved toward goal, and it looked as if FCC might have to play the dreaded sub-for-a-sub card, but the Zimbabwe international was able to return. For a while, Verde was exhibiting some of the defensive prowess they'd mustered in their early matches. But then, in the 76th minute, they got Evandered again. With time and space just inside the 18 — not so far from where he scored his goal — Evander lofted a perfectly-weighted pass to the far post, where a hard-charging Gerardo Valenzuela emphatically finished, after the pass just evaded Guilherme Biro's attempt to head the ball away. (You've heard the cliche that soccer/baseball is a game of inches; this is a case where that's painfully true.) Osman Bukari made a late appearance, subbing for a largely invisible Myrto Uzuni, but it wasn't enough to avoid the loss many expected as soon as this match appeared on the schedule. It could have been worse; in the third minute of stoppage time, Denkey ran free on goal and set up Valenzuela for a shot, which Stuver was just able to parry away. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Stuver's save in the 57th minute on a Denkey header. Unreal how close that was. The save kept Austin in the match (for a while). ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 19th minute, with Verde hanging on to keep the match from going to 2-0, Žan Kolmanič dumped an errant pass straight to Evander, who sent in a wicked curling shot that bounced off the post. Just a few more inches to the inside, and it would have been a Goal of the Year candidate — completely at Austin's expense. ## Something you might have missed In the opening segment of the match, the Apple TV announcers went on a bit of a soapbox moment on Estévez having to deal with press conferences in which mean journalists brought up the lack of goals this team's scored, contending that both coach and players haven't had the chance to acclimate. (I believe we're talking about a team that's averaging 2/3 of a goal per match, yes? I mean, at least someone's watching us in action in our press conferences!) Austin had one last chance to score with time running out, but couldn't engineer an effective shot, and the referee sounded the final whistle as Verde players were attempting to reset. ## One nerdy tidbit Per FotMob, Austin led the xG battle at halftime, 0.95 to 0.64, without getting a single shot on target. (They would finish with two to FCC's seven while winning the xG battle 2.14 to 1.59.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference How do you leave an MVP candidate unmarked to factor into both FCC goals? [Subscribe to get coverage the Apple TV commentators are noticing](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Phil vs. The Cup, and The Cup might have won: Emergency Podcast, Episode 46 URL: https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-46/ Last updated: 2025-05-10T21:43:47.000Z We had a little fun in this episode, recreating something that happened in the press conference room before things started on Wednesday night. (Warning: There's also a bit of glitchy sound in spots; Phil was recording from a hotel room in San Antonio. We cleaned it up as best we could.) Also: In this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West (with Phil recording from a hotel in San Antonio) reflect on Austin FC's near-disaster against El Paso Locomotive FC in U.S. Open Cup play, discuss the upcoming match against FC Cincinnati, ponder lineup possibilities in future weeks given how long certain players remained on the field last Wednesday, touch on the other upcoming match against Atlanta, and give you several watch options for upcoming away matches. Listen on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-46-impromptu-obscure-open-cup-trivia-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000707853525&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2iUrCuCK9Q88DWJgTssjU1?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJUvGOhNKvY&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player below. And if you missed [Episode 45](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-45-a-bad-enough-loss-to-declare-this-a/id1742052077?i=1000706307777&ref=verdeallday.com), a quasi-emergency post recorded after the Minnesota loss, it might make you feel better. ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Queen City Press' Laurel Pfahler URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-fc-cincinnati-cinvatx-051025queen-city-press-laurel-pfahler/ Last updated: 2025-05-10T11:49:56.000Z If you're looking for info about FC Cincinnati, including an interview done this week with [former FCC player Brandon Vázquez](https://queencitypress.net/2025/05/09/qa-brandon-vazquez-talks-return-to-cincinnati-with-austin-fc/?ref=verdeallday.com), Laurel Pfahler with her Queen City Press site delivers the goods. We did a question exchange in advance of Saturday night's 6:30 pm CT matchup at TQL Stadium between one of the top teams in the East and whatever Austin might be at present. Here's what we asked and learned. ### Brandon Vázquez said after Wednesday's match that he has many fond memories of his time in Cincinnati. Is the feeling mutual among fans, and how do you think he'll be received and then summarily defended? Yes. Vázquez was beloved in Cincinnati. He went about his business the right way, always said and did the right things and was just a great success story. He went from being this quiet player who struggled to break into the starting lineup his first two years to a star contributor and was a huge part of the team’s turnaround from three last-place finishes at the start of FC Cincinnati’s time in MLS. Cincinnati had acquired Vázquez in Nashville’s expansion draft (from Atlanta United) for $150K in Targeted Allocation Money (at the time it was tradable) ahead of the 2020 season, and he thought it was going to be his big break because the team didn’t really have any proven forwards. A month later, FCC signed Jurgen Locadia as a designated player, and when Locadia left the next year, the club signed Brenner as a young DP. Vázquez didn’t get his chance until the end of 2021 when new general manager Chris Albright came in and changed the system under interim coach Tyrone Marshall. He started playing more, scored some goals and then built on that under new coach Pat Noonan in 2022 to become an MLS All-Star and Best XI player, tying Brenner as the team’s leading scorers with 18 goals. He is still second on the club’s all-time scoring list in MLS with 43 goals (behind only 2023 league MVP Luciano Acosta). I cannot wait to see the matchup of Vázquez and Matt Miazga on Saturday. Those two were pretty good friends and I think they are both so competitive it will bring out the best in both of them. Miazga is still getting back to his full form after 2024 PCL and meniscus surgery, but maybe this gets his juices flowing. ### Is FCC better with Evander than it was with Lucho Acosta, and what does Evander bring to this offense that's different from what they had before? In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. It was an unwanted reset for an attack that was expected to really take off with the addition of Kévin Denkey this offseason, but Acosta made it impossible for the club to keep him when he basically said “it’s me or GM Chris Albright.” Denkey watched how good of a creator Acosta was and that really excited him. Evander and Denkey just haven’t clicked yet, and while it’s impossible to know how well Acosta and Denkey would have worked together, at least with Acosta, it would have just been one player adjusting to a new environment. The timing of Acosta’s departure was just not ideal. If he had been traded sooner and Evander could have had a preseason with FCC, things might have looked a lot different. Individually, Evander and Denkey have been great. They could do so much more if they could get on the same page. There are two things that I think make Evander a better player for FCC in the long run. 1\. He’s a phenomenal free kick taker and a threat from anywhere he takes them, whether it’s shooting directly on goal or lobbing a perfect ball into the box, just out of reach of the goalkeeper and in a dangerous spot for FCC to attack. 2\. Unlike with Acosta, FCC does not have to run everything through Evander. He can create but the attack can move through other players, and Evander can still be a part of it without being the central focus. That will allow others to get more involved and make FCC more predictable. The downside to that is in games where FCC needs someone to take over, Evander just hasn’t shown us consistently yet that he can be that guy. He’s taken over in the sense of stepping up to score an important goal (or two), but in terms of just looking dominant on the field on a regular basis, he hasn’t done that yet. Evander also is still figuring out Pat Noonan’s requirements in how he wants his attackers (and really everyone) pressing. Those are things Acosta had down and it’s just a settling process perhaps for Evander. He was never going to be an exact replacement for Acosta, so it’s just a matter of this team figuring out how to get the most out of Evander and how to take advantage of his skill set. ### Since Vázquez and Brenner were combining to make Knifey Lion so effective (sorry, can't resist using that nickname at least once), the team's had quite the journey with strikers. Kévin Denkey appears to be the most effective striker the team's had in a while — what's your read on him and if the team's now in a good place in that key position? I try to temper expectations on new players because FCC has a history of bringing in some really talented forwards that just haven’t done well here or maybe took longer than expected to adjust, but I really like Denkey. On top of just being a really talented goal scorer, he’s driven and works hard, and I forget he’s only 24 years old because he’s so mature and focused on doing all the things he believes are necessary to be successful. He’s got a crazy routine to take care of his body, and he’s super intelligent as well. Denkey is everything FCC would want in a striker, and I think what he’s shown with six goals in his first 10 league games is just scratching the surface of what he’s capable of doing. Unfortunately, Denkey doesn’t solve all the problems at the striker position. Without a proven goal scorer last year, FCC moved Yuya Kubo and Luca Orellano from midfield/wingback to forward because they were the only other ones besides Acosta finding the back of the net. They both finished with 10 goals, but neither one is really a long-term solution up front. Kubo is most effective off the bench, and Orellano has struggled to adjust being so close to goal. He is a creative player who likes to dribble in from the flanks or try a deep shot, and a lot of that is lost when he’s in the front three (he plays forward or as a second CAM). Kubo has one goal, Orellano none. Sergio Santos has been a great second striker to Denkey, helping stretch the field with his speed to open space for Denkey, but he’s got one goal and a history of injuries that you always have to be concerned about. Corey Baird has been relegated to the bench and his skills et just doesn’t seem to fit with how FCC has been using him. Hence why the club is in the process of finalizing a deal to sign 40-year-old (!!) Kei Kamara. He’s coming on a supplemental deal, so it’s low risk, and he’s still a capable scorer in a bench role. I still expect FCC will be shopping for other options in the summer as well. It will be interesting to see how a struggling FCC attack matches up with that Austin defense that looked pretty good to start but lately has leaked more goals. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We needed one goal': Impressions from an epic improbable Austin FC comeback URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-ausvelp-us-open-cup-050725/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T12:06:28.000Z Austin FC was on the precipice of being on the losing end of what fans of the U.S. Open Cup tournament lovingly call a "cupset" — when a team at least one rung down the U.S. soccer pyramid beats a favored opponent to advance. Down 2-0 to El Paso Locomotive on Wednesday night as the clock clicked past the 70-minute mark, Verde experienced repeated, almost comical frustration in front of goal, with a Brandon Vázquez shot off the crossbar and a Myrto Uzuni early one-on-one chance repelled by goalkeeper Jahmali Waite vying for the most emblematic image of frustration. But captain Ilie Sánchez believed in his team's resilience. "We needed one goal," he said post-match with sage calm. "We knew that scoring that first goal would change things for us. "It could not have happened, but it happened ... it was everything the team needed to keep believing what being aggressive and playing forward with and without the ball was going to give us." He noted that Julio Cascante was inspirational at halftime in impressing upon teammates the importance of finishing chances, while head coach Nico Estévez gave guidance similar to what he's given in recent weeks in matches where Austin wasn't able to turn it around. Sánchez also understood the magnitude of the match, which included fans booing the players at halftime and expecting emphatic debates over the future of this team and its coach as a loss appeared inevitable. And yes, you could cynically say that Verde needed multiple fresh substitutes involving starting-caliber players, including halftime sub Osman Bukari, a designated player who has been experiencing his own frustration battles since arriving this summer. ## 'He ... changes the game for us' But, though Vázquez scored two goals and a Yeti Man of the Match cup, and Uzuni scored his first goal since his lone league goal March 30 at St. Louis, credit Owen Wolff for coming on and engineering both Vázquez goals with deft timely assists — in a match where fans despaired at seeing numerous green shirts passing to blue shirts. "I think the game probably opened up a little bit more and we get to see his strengths come to fruition," said Jon Gallagher of Wolff. "He comes on with probably fresh legs and changes the game for us with two assists, which was huge. I think they did a good job of staying compact in the first half, and we probably weren't as good and as secure on the ball as we needed to. "They gave us a tough match, obviously, and maybe deserved a little bit more out of the game," he assessed. "But we adjusted some things at halftime and played a really strong second half, but, yeah, we dug a hole for ourselves and didn't make it easy, which is obviously frustrating from a from a player standpoint, but that's part of the game and we survived and advanced." Sánchez noted the game was challenging for all involved. "It was not an easy game to play, not an easy game to coach, not an easy game to cover, and it's not an easy game, especially on a Wednesday night, to show up as a supporter." ## Thoughts from the coach Estévez was clearer happier with the win than with the alternative, and while happy to see his two high-dollar attackers score, he indicated Open Cup games are their own animal. "It'ss very difficult to analyze these \[Cup games\], these games that if you win, you're in, and you lose, you're out. It gets chaotic and it's difficult even to analyze. I think we have to learn from that ... I told the guys, we were coming from two tough games, and this is the reality, tough results, tough games, that we couldn't do our best performances, and we didn't show really who we are. "And I think that with these missed chances at the beginning of the game, it put the team in a in a difficult situation, and then I think we can use these as something that we have to believe in ourselves, we have to have confidence, because we have players that can be the difference. And we just have to play and make those plays with the determination that they showed in the second half ... and it can go better for us." Estévez noted that Robert Taylor, who had a notable limp in the locker room post-match, might not be immediately available for future matches with what he characterized as a hamstring sprain. Even with the win guaranteeing that a Round of 16 match against Houston at Q2 Stadium, either May 20 or May 21, will give his team two games a week through the May 31 trip to San Diego, Estévez will still try to field as many first-choice players as possible in this upcoming glut of games. "We have to put out the best lineup that we can every game, and now we have to recover our guys and see how everyone is recovering, and put a lineup that can compete against Cincinnati, because we go there to compete and try to to beat a really, really good team. But I think we have the tools, we have the players, and we'll have to make some some changes depending how everyone is recovering and but also during the game. We could adjust, maybe play 45 or 60 minutes, 90 and then, depending on that, we'll have all the others coming like we did today." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, El Paso Locomotive FC 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvelp/ Last updated: 2025-05-08T02:32:09.000Z In their first U.S. Open Cup match of 2025, entering in the Round of 32, Austin FC found three late goals in the span of seven minutes to spare them the embarrassment of being ousted by a USL side, outlasting El Paso Locomotive FC 3-2 on Wednesday night at a decidedly-less-than-full Q2 Stadium. If the intent of starting a lineup stacked with starters was to jump start the offense, it worked eventually, with Brandon Vázquez getting two goals and Myrto Uzuni getting the other, but a lot transpired before they scored. Verde had two chances inside of four minutes — a Žan Kolmanič free kick at the 3-minute mark that nearly squeaked in, and an Uzuni one-on-one opportunity 30 seconds later that ended with him firing straight at Locomotive goalkeeper Jahmali Waite. But after some additional chances that Uzuni and Vázquez couldn't make good on, an Austin player — well, a former Austin Bold player named Beto Avila you might remember, found open space in the box, nudged the ball past Julio Cascante (the closest defender on the play), and fired home to give the visitors the lead. Austin then got a response full of chances, similar to what they mustered in their home match against Minnesota on Saturday, including a Vázquez shot that bounced off the crossbar. But then, as in that match, they let in a second goal at about the same juncture of the match. In the 34th minute, Avila found himself on the end of a pass as the Locomotive moved forward, shot toward goal, and though Brendan Hines-Ike, got a head to it, it caromed right back to Avila, who got his shot past a diving Stefan Cleveland to double the lead and deflate the fans. The halftime whistle brought something dramatic: Audible boos from Austin fans, a rare occurrence – even audible through the insulated press box windows. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez made two halftime subs, pulling Diego Rubio i favor of Robert Taylor and bringing in Osman Bukari for Jáder Obrian. A would-be Hines-Ike goal on a Kolmanič free kick was waved off for being offside in the 50th minute, and Taylor got off a shot in the 52nd minute that tested White. Estévez tried two more subs at the hour mark, getting Owen Wolff and Ilie Sánchez on for Besard Šabović and Nicolás Dubersarsky, followed closely by Guilherme Biro for Kolmanič. Even with fresh starters in, it took until minute 73 for Verde to get on the board, getting there via a Wolff pass that split two defenders to lead Vázquez to goal. Then, Myrto Uzuni got a goal in the 76th minute, with Vázquez chesting down a Biro pass to tee the frustrated Albanian up. In the 79th, a play starting with a Cascante interception (!) led to another Wolff-to-Vázquez connection to give Verde their first lead since Vázquez put them up over the Galaxy late in the April 19 match — a span of 268 soccer minutes. From there, Verde held on after some Adventures in Goalkeeping moments from Stefan Cleveland, continuing his tournament duties from last season. Austin goes on to face the winner of the Houston-Phoenix match; Houston was up 1-0 midway through that match's first half as this match wrapped up. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Kolmanič had a fancy spin move progressing the ball toward goal in the 28th minute, leading to a foul and a free kick that was promising, leading to ... ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) ... a sequence following the free kick that included a Jáder Obrian whiff, a Besard Šabović shot that bounced off White, and then a Šabović bicycle kick that still had its training wheels attached, if you get my drift. ## Something you might have missed El Paso head coach Wilmer Cabrera exuded some big dad energy on the sidelines. We had the iPad to scan the Paramount Plus stream and really enjoyed the cutaways (and the Locomotive golf shirt he was sporting). ## One nerdy tidbit Austin led at halftime in shots, 9-7, before pulling out to a 21-14 edge heading into the 90th and an overall 21-18 advantage. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Does this win bring confidence given the goals came and the team pulled out a victory, or concern that it took so long and so many fresh starters to finally get more goals than a USL team? [If you feel for me sitting through that and doing that mid-match rewrite, subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### What's this about xG now? We look anew into what the metric might say about 2025 Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-analysis-xg-revisited-atxvelp-050725/ Last updated: 2025-05-07T17:12:30.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez raised some eyebrows on Saturday night with his mention of expected goals (xG). He referenced the stat a measure of how his team was mounting a response against a Minnesota United FC team that scored a first goal on Saturday night ... en route to a 3-0 loss. Yes, Verde might have been accumulating xG, but that didn't result in actual goals, and the loss wasn't just an isolated blip in an otherwise successful season — it stood as the third loss in four matches, by a combined score of 10-1, with a 1-0 home win over the winless Galaxy the only non-loss of this 10-2 four-match recent stretch. In Tuesday's press conference ahead on tonight's must-get-right U.S. Open Cup match against El Paso Locomotive, Estévez explained a bit more as to what he was after when we mentioned xG. After leading in with the observation that "much more possession in that game \[against Minnesota\] doesn't mean that you're going to do better," given the Loons' propensity this season to play without the ball, he used xG that Austin accumulated after each of Minnesota's first two goals to ascertain his team was managing purposeful possession. "The last game, until the first goal they had, we had almost 0.5 xG. They had zero after the first goal," he said. Overall match xG was impacted a bit because the first goal was ruled an own goal and the shot you saw with your eyes didn't technically count as a shot – which is also how Sporting Kansas City registered a 1-0 win against LA Galaxy on Sunday night having zero official shots, as its one ball sent goalward was deflected in by the Galaxy's Maya Yoshida. "We created two chances that put us in 0.7, 0.8 expected goals in that moment," he continued. "This is what I meant the other day about why I felt proud. After each goal, our xG was increasing because we had multiple chances. "After we conceded the second goal, we were flat," he continued. "It was emotional. It was a really hard punch into our face. When we came back from halftime, and we changed things, as I was saying, like the purpose of the possession, we changed the shape to build with three and two and be more aggressive and breaking the first line quicker, and then be more aggressive with the one in the center box." The aggressive play, which Estévez called for to create higher lines of confrontation to help enable the speed and verticality he said later are ideally the identity of his team, arguably left them vulnerable to the third goal scored against them in stoppage time – but, of course, that didn't so much change as the outcome as it merely heaped further indignity on the team. I have several thoughts on this before we get into some exploration of how badly Verde's underperforming their xG. ## Several thoughts on this To review what we've said before, xG is the measure of how many shots you're accumulating as well as the percentage chance that shot has going in based on where on the field the shooter is positioned, the shot angle, and the defensive pressure on the shooter — with the post-shot xG measuring how likely the shot is to land in the back of the net once coming off the shooter's foot, head, or other legal body part. Here's the shot chart per FBref, with the green line showing a goal scored. (Remember, the first goal in minute 22 is an own goal, so it doesn't show up in the chart, but it comes after Austin's first three shots and before Minnesota's first three official shots.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-07-at-6.11.32-AM.png) Yes, there are responses, but per FBref's numbers, Austin doesn't register anything higher than a 0.14 xG shot all night, though to be fair, Minnesota's goals came on xG chances of 0.06 and 0.03 xG, though those numbers belie that Anthony Markanic got leverage on Oleksandr Svatok for an essentially unchallenged header ([review the video](https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goal-a-markanich-vs-atx-35?ref=verdeallday.com#goal-a-markanich-vs-atx-35) if you want to see how posterized Svatok is on the play), and that Joaquin Pereyra is [wide open](https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goal-j-pereyra-vs-atx-90-1?ref=verdeallday.com#goal-j-pereyra-vs-atx-90-1) on the shot resulting in his (credited) goal. The MLS Analytics shot chart shows a little more starkness that the mounted xG as it shows a number of less-than-ideal chances. By definition, a 0.05 xG shot has a 95% chance of being dealt with. The Markanich chance wasn't deemed high xG, but once off his head, it had a 57% chance of scoring per the post-shot xG, as the defender contributing to the relatively low 0.06 xG value didn't impact the shot, and given Markanich's position on the field, it would have been a much higher xG chance were he open (which he essentially made himself once he got in the air, elevating above Svatok, to meet the header.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Minnesota_United_FC_XG_2025-05-04-2.png) The Loons made the most of their opportunities, getting off two average and 10 poor chances, per the American Soccer Analysis xG calculations, yet getting off eight of those 12 shots on target. By contrast, Verde had two good chances, seven average chances, and five poor chances, but only managed to get three of all those on target. If given the choice between one 0.3 xG chance and six 0.05 xG chances, which technically have the same xG value when adding the six lower chances together, I'd take the 0.3 xG one. If you have a player who can finish (hold that thought), a 0.3 xG shot will have a high likelihood of getting you a goal. But getting a shot on target is only part of the formula for scoring a goal. One of the enduring horrible memories from this match will be one of the xG accumulators following the first goal that Estévez praised — Myrto Uzuni's 26th-minute shot that went straight to Loons 'keeper Dayne St. Clair without troubling him. It's one thing to get in position to score; it's another to meaningfully threaten another team with shots that truly put them on their toes, which is at the heart of the disconnect that came from Estévez's post-match comments. Estévez used xG as the metric for showing what he saw as Austin's measurable response, whereas the eye test showed that Austin followed the first unfortunate goal by some weak attempts at equalizing, followed by a poor defensive effort that led to the second goal, followed by failing to get off another shot until the 49th minute. ## The larger issue: G-xG Verde is dead last in one category this season that tells a lot of the story: goals minus expected goal, which measures efficiency with the chances they have. In 2022, Verde famously overperformed xG to a second-place finish in the West and a run to the conference finals, but they're on track to underperform xG in 2025 by an even greater margin. In 2025, Austin has mounted a -6.9 G-xG (13.9 xG per FBref’s numbers), contributing to an overall -6 goal differential on the season. That GD is tied with Houston, with only five teams in the league currently worse. Only 0-8-3 Montréal has scored fewer goals than Verde at this point in the season; even the also 0-8-3 Galaxy have one goal more than Verde at this stage. In 2024, these were the five most underperforming their xG teams, which I've noted along with how those teams ended up doing in the overall standings. (Note that FBref’s numbers don’t figure own goals into the goal totals, in case you’re wondering why these goal numbers might differ a bit from what’s in their MLS standings if you’re cross-referencing those.) - Nashville SC, -7.6 (37 goals, 44.6 xG), 13th in the East, missed playoffs - San Jose Earthquakes, -6.4 (39 goals, 45.4 xG), Wooden Spoon, missed playoffs - Atlanta United, -6.4 (45 goals, 51.4 xG), 9th in East, just made playoffs - Chicago Fire, -4 (40 goals, 44 xG), last in the East, missed playoffs - New York Red Bulls, -3.5 (53 goals, 56.5 xG), 7th in East, lost in MLS Cup A mixed bag there, to be sure, but given that Atlanta would have missed the playoffs were they in the West, last year’s trendlines moved more toward missing the playoffs for teams that underperformed your xG, though the four biggest underperformers were also four of the seven lowest scoring teams, along with Austin, New England, and Toronto, who all missed the playoffs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-06-at-11.01.57-AM-1.png) (Atlanta, the best of the worst seven, were also tied with Houston and Charlotte on 45 goals scored; all three of those teams made the playoffs, with Charlotte underperforming xG by -1.7 and Houston actually overperforming xG at 1.9.) Here's Verde's G-xG through the years: - 2024: -0.6, missed playoffs (with -9 GD) - 2023: +5.5, missed playoffs (with -6 GD) - 2022: +13.1, led league in overperforming xG and made playoffs (with +16 GD) - 2021, -12.2, missed playoffs (with -21 GD) As you see, last season marked the one time they've arrived at just about the number of goals their xG said they'd achieve. The eye test tells you that Austin players are struggling to finish their chances, and G-xG bears that out. Brandon Vázquez still "leads" all MLS players with a -3 G-xG, and Uzuni's right there in the mix with a -2.3xG, sixth-worst in the league. They're among other talented players like Hany Mukhtar and Denis Bouanga who are underperforming their xG, so it's not just an Austin issue, but only Nashville has two key attackers combining for a negative G-xG value in Austin's ballpark. Mukhtar and Sam Surridge have combined for a -4.5 compared to the Austin designated players' -5.3, though Nashville also erupted for seven goals in a single match (featuring a Surridge hat trick and Mukhtar brace), whereas Austin has seven goals total after 11 matches. While Wednesday's match against El Paso won't do anything toward those league stats for obvious reasons, the chance to get going against USL-level defenders could help unlock Uzuni and Vázquez (assuming they play, though Estévez did say they'd aim for an "ideal 11" in each of the upcoming May matches, though with Wednesday and Saturday dates, that could test the bounds of human performance). Certainly, the G-xG numbers show how critical it is to Verde's fortunes that those players are unlocked and that the goals scored get closer to what xG claims they should be scoring. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'I'm very proud of the team today, because we responded': Nico Estévez defends the arguably indefensible URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-quotes-atxvmin-050425-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-ilie-sanchez/ Last updated: 2025-05-04T13:43:13.000Z From the jump on Saturday night, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez faced perhaps the most challenging slate of post-match questions he's faced in his time with the club. In the wake of a [3-0 home loss](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvmin-050325/) to Minnesota United, dropping Austin FC from third to sixth in the Western Conference (and just one point above the playoff line), Estévez praised his players for not folding after going down following a bizarre own goal midway through the first half, defending what many disappointed fans would characterize as an indefensible performance from a team with playoff aspirations following a pair of ambitious offseason signings – aiming to frame the loss as one that can help a still-evolving team learn and grow. "I'm very proud of the team today, because we responded," he assessed, answering *Austin Chronicle* columnist Eric Goodman's question about the team's apparent inability to come back from deficits this season. "We didn't lose our minds. We created chances every single time. Before, with it 0-0, with 1-0, we had a couple of situations to score. And then with the 2-0, we have a couple of situations to score in the second half, we completely dominated the game, and we had chances to score. "But right now, the goals are not coming our way, but \[they\] will come," he added. "Now, it's painful. It's really, really painful, because it's not a game that you deserve to lose in the way that you lose, because the opponent didn't do too much. But we have to accept that this sport's sometimes cruel, and we're having that moment of cruelty against us." Within that answer, he mentioned more than doubling up the visitors on total xG, which while technically true, belies the fact that Minnesota was quite efficient with its chances and Austin was wasteful with its chances. It also overlooks that Austin got considerably fewer shots on target (losing that metric 8-3), with both teams lacking quality chance generation throughout the night. (As you can see from the chart below, the two goals the Loons scored that weren't own goals came off technically poor xG chances per American Soccer Analysis' scale, and I'm surmising based on the eye test that the own goal would also register as a poor chance had it not clipped Sánchez' heel en route to Stuver's uncharacteristic failure to trap a routine soft shot.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Minnesota_United_FC_XG_2025-05-04.png) In the somewhat rambling answer to Goodman's follow-up question about how the performance lined up with the team's standards, Estévez clarified, "I never said I was proud of the performance. I never said that. I'm proud of the guys ... You know how hard it is for these guys to be right now there. You know how hard it is that they gave everything that they could. I don't think you guys \[are\] put in their position. It's painful. And they had the chances they create. They dominated an opponent that came here, that is good, that made the playoffs \[last year\]. We didn't make the playoffs. "The standards of this club are high, but the reality right now is that we are not ready," he added. "It's a process, and either we go all together in this or we just want to kill ourselves. And this is not the moment to blame anyone. It's not the moment to separate the guys. It's the moment to be together. We all made mistakes. They put a lot of effort there. They did more than their opponent to score more goals. And for whatever reason, this is sport. This is why this sport is so difficult. It's unpredictable." There was more to this answer, including him saying, "I'm proud, because they work so hard during the week to prepare this game. They came back after this dreadful plight, and they tried and they tried, and sometimes things are not going your way, but we just have to keep going again and again and again. If things are going well, we go again. If things are not going well, we go again. And that's it. But I think if we only focus on the result and the numbers. I think we all can have the type of judgment of the situation that doesn't go with the reality of what we saw today." ## Facing an additional concern Estévez contrasted this performance with one producing similar quotes and observations — Verde's 5-1 loss at Vancouver on April 12 – yet that disastrous match launched what I'm seeing as an even more concerning trend than the team only mustering seven goals through this nearly a third of the 2025 season – which is next to last in the league, attributable in large part to a trio of designated players in Mytro Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez, and Osman Bukari who are (by the typical metrics and the eye test) underperforming. Austin FC has now lost three of its last four matches by a combined score of 10-1\. It's a contrast from a team with a stout defense to start the season, letting in just three goals in its first seven matches en route to a 4-2-1 record including two impressive (certainly compared to what we've seen lately) road wins. When I asked about the recent losses and their concerning margins, he went into an encapsulation of the three goals against them in this recent match rather than broader diagnostics about the divide between the first seven matches and these last four. "The first goal is a disgrace," he said of what was credited as an Ilie Sánchez own goal, but what goalkeeper Brad Stuver put his hand up for as his mistake. "The opponent didn't do much, as I said ... the first goal is a mistake that we had, and you usually don't have those mistakes. The second goal is coming from a set piece, and they're a very strong team, and it's coming from recirculation, and we have to be better there. "And the third goal is just ... it's another mistake that we had, and you consider, it's not because we weren't bad on defense. I think when we were defending, they didn't do much, and we won the ball. It was more in transition moments, in moments where we didn't have control of the situation, and it's where they are a good team, and we kind of suffer \[in\] some of their transitions, and we have to learn from that, because we will play them soon again." It's not just that Minnesota looms on the schedule May 24, when Austin travels to the Twin Cities as part of a seven league match May. In their next three matches, Verde's opponents have combined for 49 goals in 32 matches, and in Cincinnati and Vancouver, will face what is currently the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the Supporters' Shield race. Estévez also claimed that the Loons' shift from their typical 5-3-2 formation to a 5-4-1 required some adjustment. But to hear Stuver tell it, the low-possession, transition-dependent style Minnesota came with – incidentally, a style Austin's employed and been comparatively effective with this year – was exactly what they were prepared to expect. "When you look at tonight, it was all about transition and it was all about long balls over the top," Stuver said. "When you look at Houston, it was a little bit different. So it's just dealing with the team that we have in front of us, knowing the strengths that they have, and we went into this game knowing that they want to hit us in transition, want to hit us with long balls, so the defense knew what we were up against ... One mistake from me that leads to the first goal. It changes the whole dynamics of the game. "We knew that we were going to have a lot of the ball," he assessed. "We knew that they were going to play long. We knew that they were going to have pace and power up front. We had a plan in place to stop it. But, like I said, when you make a mistake and you give up a goal, then things have to change, and we are chasing the game a little bit more, so our tactics change a little bit to get that goal back. So that's on me, and that's not on anybody else or the game plan that starts, because when you go down 1-0, you have to change things to get back in the game." And yet, as you can tell from Saturday night's passing maps, neither team looked particularly connected — even though Verde dominated in field tilt for the first time this season, securing 64% of the match's final third passes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/05/Austin_FC_v_Minnesota_United_FC_main_2025-05-04-1.png) (And yes, that's Sánchez and Vázquez occupying the same average position on the field, and a heat map showing the inverse of some early defense-first victories that Verde secured.) ## Perspective from the captain On a night on which at least one previous Verde captain might have slipped out of the locker room without facing press questions, Sánchez stepped up for those media members who went directly to the locker room rather than staying in the briefing room for what turned out to be 25 minutes of Estévez holding court. "I think we lacked playing with urgency," Sánchez assessed, noting that the game state led them to take more risks, shifting from the mindset in which Verde "scores the first and from there grows." By contrast, he noted, "Minnesota came to play its game," and echoed his coach in determining that there's more work to do in training in the coming weeks to halt the current momentum slide. "They fight for each other, on and off the field, with and without the ball," he noted of his current teammates, reflecting on the time when he was with LAFC sizing them up as opponents. "We had very tough games that we played here against them and pretty much the core group of the players were similar to the ones we have this year, so we cannot lose that. They had it for pretty much since the beginning. They built that with a lot of effort and a lot of commitment from everyone here." Similarly, Estévez struck a similar tone of hope and optimism, seeking to put the loss in perspective, while pointing out that teams have the potential to learn more from losses like Saturday's than from wins. “I am an optimist, a person who believes everything in life happens for a reason, and this defeat happened for a reason as did the one in Houston, and I believe that team \[will\] forge themselves suffering and experiencing the worst.” ## What comes next For Austin FC, expect a quick turnaround leading into Wednesday's initial U.S. Open Cup match at home against El Paso Locomotive, including a press conference tentatively scheduled for Tuesday to preview that match as well as Saturday's upcoming road trip to Cincinnati. For Verde All Day, I've hit the 2000-word mark in this article on the post-match press conference and only feel like I'm scratching the surface ... so, in some form, be it a follow-up article or a somewhat-of-an-emergency Emergency Podcast, expect a Part Two before fans gather in Q2 Stadium once again. (In his parting words to media members on Saturday night, Sánchez looped in the Austin FC press corps as "part of the process" in this team finding its way. While I don't feel quite the level of frustration that some fans exhibited post-match, I do see a spectrum of outcomes in the coming weeks, including ones that could trend very badly. Let's just say we're going to learn a lot about this team by the end of May.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, Minnesota United FC 3 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvmin-050325/ Last updated: 2025-05-04T02:36:34.000Z An unfortunate own goal pinned on Ilie Sánchez was all Minnesota United needed to sour the start of Austin FC's packed-with-games May, but they then scored two more goals after that to heap additional misery on the hosts, sending Verde down 3-0 Saturday night on a perfect-weather late spring evening ruined by soccer. The Loons seemed content to let Verde have the ball early, and to head coach Nico Estévez's credit, Verde showed a couple of new wrinkles in progressing the ball forward, include two early feeds to Osman Bukari, including a 10th-minute move that got the Ghanaian one-on-one against Loons 'keeper Dayne St. Clair, able to protect his goal. But very much against the run of play in the 22nd minute, Joaquín Pereyra sent in a shot that clipped Sánchez's heel, still looking ripe for saving, especially for Brad Stuver. But the rolling ball instead squirted through Stuver's legs, feebly crossing the line, and the Loons were on the scoreboard. Then, in the 35th minute, Markanich got to a Bongokuhle Hlongwane cross, on a play that started with a long pass from St. Clair, leaping above Oleksandr Svatok to double the lead. Estévez got to the hour mark without subbing, and then pulled both wingers in the front three for Diego Rubio and — making his Austin FC debut — Robert Taylor. But despite that infusion of energy, Verde appeared to be doing more crossing and hoping, and Minnesota seemed largely content to defend their two-goal lead. Estévez then tried to infuse more energy into the match, pulling Besard Šabović and Jon Gallagher for CJ Fodrey and Jáder Obrian. It momentarily appeared Guilherme Biro scored in the 77th minute, but clearly moved offside as the ball was about to be threaded to him for the easy-but-there's-a-reason-for-that finish. Taylor showed flashes of what he might become for this team, including sliding in and just missing on an 84th-minute cross from Brandon Vázquez in front of goal. In the first minute of stoppage time, Pereyra let loose with a shot from the edge of the box that found its way past Stuver, finally getting a goal after losing credit for what he might have thought was his in the first half. Austin would finish, per the Q2 Stadium scoreboard, with 65% possession and zero goals. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) There was a nice Owen Wolff-Myrto Uzuni interchange down the left side in the 13th minute, as well as the aforementioned bursts forward. But, again, those moments were most pronounced early in the contest (and didn't lead to any actual scoring). ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Uzuni took a free kick at the edge of the box toward the end of the first half that turned out to be one of Verde's best chances to score. His resulting shot went well over the bar. It wasn't the worst free kick ever taken, but added to the overall disheartening mood. ## Something you might have missed We got at least two Uzuni hands-on-head moments following missed chances in front of goal. It's getting to be a regular thing with him now, it seems. ## One nerdy tidbit Thirteen minutes into the game, Austin FC had an 85% to 15% possession advantage over the Loons. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Was Austin expecting to get the amount of possession they did so early in the game, or did that catch Austin off guard? (Once again, they didn't produce with those opportunities to be on the ball. That might not be their strong suit. They may not *have* a strong suit offensively right now.) [Subscribe now; get all the quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Predicting all the May results and more: Emergency Podcast, Episode 44 URL: https://verdeallday.com/predicting-all-the-may-results-and-more-emergency-podcast-episode-44/ Last updated: 2025-05-03T15:07:54.000Z We started this one with my daughter gloating about Vancouver's dismantling of Miami (captured in the photo upon the Whitecaps' first goal being scored, before the Fox folks even credited Vancouver with the goal but made sure to focus on Sad Miami Player) and then went from there. (The foam finger was delivered from Vancouver directly from Whitecaps content creator extraordinaire [Sarita Patel](https://x.com/saritareports?ref=verdeallday.com), one of the best people in MLS, who handed it to me in the tunnel by the locker rooms, leading to an odd post-match interview session where I talked to Austin players with the tip of a foam finger protruding from my laptop bag.) In this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West declare T.S. Eliot wrong and contend that May is the cruelest month with its massive slate of matches, Phil goes through some game show questions and predicts the team's May record, they share initial thoughts about Robert Taylor coming to the team, fret about Minnesota United FC's talent, and finish out with some happy club news as well as a travel report from Moises' trip to Houston. Listen via [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-44-apprecitement-and-excapprehension-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000705927982&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SsGzM3kwiFyIarUuyVPAK?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AahM4no7Zw&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player. ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions about MNUFC with the Black Hart's Wes Burdine URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-minnesota-united-fc-black-hart-wes-burdine/ Last updated: 2025-05-03T01:50:47.000Z Before I knew Wes Burdine as owner of the [Black Hart of St. Paul](https://www.blackhartstp.com/?ref=verdeallday.com), a wonderfully unique soccer bar within a shortish walk of Minnesota United FC's home stadium, I knew him as a fellow Howler collaborator back in the day when Howler was first bursting onto the scene and helping launch some soccer writing careers. Burdine, in addition to keeping a truly open-to-all bar open — he bought the bar in 2018 and turned the mainstay LGBTQ+ bar with drag shows into a mainstay LGBTQ+ *soccer* bar with drag shows — maintains a deep knowledge of the hometown Loons. (I still fondly remember walking up to the door to start 2022 MLS All-Star Week and seeing the "Welcome Realtors" sign out front – a joke that maybe only soccer journalists really appreciate. It's really a perfect place to have a beer, meet other soccer fans, and nerd out about the sport you love.) Speaking of nerding out, I reached out with some questions. ### Minnesota United has appeared to be, for the last few years at least, a team consistently good enough to make the playoffs but not quite good enough to win a title? Is there a sense among fans that this year is different, and if so, why? I think there is definitely a feeling that Minnesota is in the top third of the West this year. The West is usually a couple of great teams and a whole lot of mediocre. I've felt we've been a good mediocre for a long time. This year, I think Vancouver is great and there are a couple of pretty good teams and I put Loons in that category. That said, this three-game stretch of Vancouver, Austin, and Miami is one that I look at as the first real test. If Minnesota want to be a real contender, they need to win in Austin. But the second part of your question is can they do more than just get into the playoffs? I think fans are having fun (I am at least), but this team and Ramsay need to prove that they're more than just fun. ### Bongokuhle Hlongwane is, among all the good things that he is, one of the most non-defender defenders available in MLS Fantasy. What does he do to make this team better, and how is he typically deployed? (We hear with Kelvin Yeboah possibly out, Hlongwane may be an actual forward this weekend.) The entire Loons set up is so different this year that I don't think I've fully understood how it all is working and so it's hard to answer that question about Bongi. He's been used as a wingback and he's been surprisingly good at times defensively. His best role is off the ball and popping up into space. Or, being on the ball with a lot of space (perfect for a wingback). If Yeboah is fit, we'll see Bongi in that wingback role, but with our struggles in creating, I think Ramsay will start playing around more with moving Bongi closer to goal. ### Now that head coach Eric Ramsay's settled in, what's the general vibe around him and his leadership? Can he last as long as Adrian Heath did? Some of the Ramsay excitement comes from seven years of having a coach who hated the fans and the fans hated him. That said, Ramsay has a lot of support in Minnesota. He's a positive, thoughtful coach, but he's also quite obviously clever. His use of defensive midfielders in the third CB role so they can move into the midfield is really fascinating to watch. And it's also fun to watch a coach who is obviously trying things. It helps that those shifts often get results. Will he stay for seven years? Doubtful. I think at best we have him for another season after this and then he gets poached by an English club. I just hope he wins us a trophy before then. ### Bonus question: Why is the Black Hart of Saint Paul the happiest place on Earth? I'll give you the extremely earnest answer. Black Hart is the happiest place on Earth because it's a place where people come together, people of all kinds. It's really encouraging and lovely to be around queer joy and I think a vast majority of soccer folks who show up want to be part of a space like that. It was really hard for me to sell people on the idea that soccer fans wouldn't just bro the place out, but we've been able to keep the place mega-queer and have soccer be part of it. I love it. It gives me a lot of joy. ### 'It's a team with a big winning mentality': Robert Taylor meets Austin media, praises new team URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvmin-050325/ Last updated: 2025-05-02T04:00:57.000Z To hear Robert Taylor tell it to Austin media on Thursday, he's thrilled to be leaving a team featuring Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Sergio Busquets — though also a team feeling the fresh sting of a Concacaf Champions Cup exit — to this new-to-him Texas team. "We like to play pretty aggressive attacking football, which really fits my style," Taylor said regarding what he's learned of Verde so far. "So I like to run it behind a lot. And we are aggressive. When we try when we lose the ball, we try and win it back immediately. Those are all things that I like to do on the field as well. So I think that the idea and the identity of the team fits really well." Taylor praised where the team's collective head is at, saying, "The energy of the team, it's super. We want to win games, and you can see it's a team with a big winning mentality. So that stands out in training a lot." He also sees himself in the overall project as both a winger and midfielder, noting, "As long as I can build a connection with everyone, I think that will help." Taylor also pointed out he's not entirely unfamiliar with Austin FC, having played in the stadium before — in 2022, when a pre-Messi, late-stage Brek Shea Miami lost 5-1 to Verde in the second match of the season. "We went to check out the field two hours before the game, and the fans were already there," he recalled. "So that already got to me. I was like, wow, the fans are really great here. The atmosphere was amazing." Taylor also checked in with fellow Finnish international Leo Väisänen as the trade went down, noting that they're good friends and he's been providing reliable intel. "I've been speaking with Leo a lot, and he had nothing but good things to say about Austin," Taylor confided. "So that obviously got me also really excited. And before, before even just getting traded, I was asking about Austin, how he likes it, and how he's getting settled down. And he had a really good time." Taylor's new coach, Nico Estévez, provided an overarching observation about his newest player: "He's ready for everything. It's more like how we want to use him and how we also want to take care of him, but he's ready for anything that we ask." Which is good to hear, because Thursday also brought more definitive news about midfielder Dani Pereira's injury, originally projected as a quadriceps injury keeping him out four weeks. That's not quite the case. ## Joy, pain, sunshine, and rain Estévez revealed on Thursday that Pereira's injury is a little more involved than initially suspected – and involving a slightly different part of his body. "It's an injury that is between four and eight weeks, and \[if\] everything goes in the right way, \[it\] could be four to five weeks, it may be four to six," he shared. "It depends \[for\] every player, how how they heal, how they recover. But he's doing well. He's making progress already this week and then I think the next week, he will start doing some things on the field." It turns out it's a hip flexor injury, and if you peruse the [Cleveland Clinic info page](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23978-hip-flexor-strain?ref=verdeallday.com), what's here aligns with the eye test from last Saturday. (Based on the timetable Estévez gave, it sounds like a Grade 2 hip flexor injury, meaning it doesn't require surgery like a Grade 3 would, but it's not an ice-and-rest bump in the road a Grade 1 would be.) "He tried to hit the ball harder than he has ever done it," Estévez explained. "And then when you try to do those things, sometimes your body is not ready for that, and that happened to him." On the bright side, fullback Mikkel Desler is nearing a return, with Estévez saying (in Spanish) that he'll likely resume training with the team by the end of the week. His return is a bit of a moving target, but here's a quick look at the spectrum in which we could conceivably see him: - May 14, vs. Atlanta - May 17, vs. Vancouver - May 21, Open Cup match should they get past El Paso - May 24, at Minnesota - May 28, vs. RSL - May 31, at San Diego Given the timeline, I can't imagine he wouldn't see minutes any later than the Vancouver match (though game state could be weird against the MLS-team-most-on-fire-right-now), and an Open Cup match seems like an ideal situation for starting him should that present itself. Faced wth a question about who Estévez might play in the glut of matches coming in May, he gave a fairly vanilla answer that also made tactical sense: "The selections will be based on the best players that we have in that moment to win the game, on the physical side, mental side, tactical and technical side, and the opponent that we play against, and we want to put on the field the best team possible every game." On its face, that all makes sense, but my read on this is Desler as soon as possible, and Taylor as much as possible, but that might be just me. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The curious case of Myrto Uzuni URL: https://verdeallday.com/curious-case-of-myrto-uzuni/ Last updated: 2025-04-30T14:55:55.000Z We're 10 matches into Myrto Uzuni's MLS career, and it's hard to explain why the Albanian designated player – brought to Austin FC from Granada for a reported $12.3 million transfer fee on Jan. 24 – only has one goal so far. Since arriving in the States, he's become a new father – with his wife giving birth to his new son back in Barcelona – and he's emerged as a humble, hard-working, affable teammate who is doing and saying many of the things you'd want a player to do and say. And he's not just any player – he's the player who boldly grabbed the No. 10 jersey vacated by the club's all-team leading scorer and arguably most talented player to date, who left after his goal output dwindled from 22 in an MVP-caliber 2022 to 11 and seven in the two subsequent years. In that final season in Verde, Sebastián Driussi scored on 10.4% of his 67 total shots and 29% of his 24 shots on target to finish with what many characterized as a disappointing end product for a player of his stature and salary. It's early times, but Uzuni has scored on just 5% of his total shots and 12.5% of his shots on target so far this season, and were to get as many shots on target as 2024 Driussi at that scoring rate, he would have three goals. FBref looks at [shooting statistics](https://fbref.com/en/comps/22/shooting/Major-League-Soccer-Stats?ref=verdeallday.com) for 692 different MLS players (so far) in 2025\. In the goals minus expected goals category, measuring how much a player actually scores compared to what xG says that player should be scoring, Uzuni is No. 4 on that big list with a value of -2.0, meaning his xG chances add up to 3.0 so far, and he's only scored the one goal. Teammate Brandon Vázquez is alarmingly at the very "top" of the list, with a -2.9 (two goals minus 4.9 xG) helped along by a missed penalty kick. Whether paired up top in a 4-4-2 or split in a 4-3-3 slotting Uzuni in as a left wing, neither player has been able to find a groove in what's been a slow-starting partnership, despite combining for a decent 7.9 xG. (If Vázquez had five goals and Uzuni had three right now – putting them on pace for 17 and 11 respectively – we'd be talking much more differently about them. But in Saturday's match against Houston, which Vázquez missed with illness, Uzuni had the chance to be the offense's main focal point. He responded by only getting 10 touches, the lowest he's had in his seven starts and his lowest since a meager four touches in his 29 minutes debuting as a sub at Portland. He got off a single shot in the 41st minute, registering 0.28 xG on a glorious would-be assist from Jon Gallagher, only to shoot the close-range attempt straight at Dynamo goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, then leading to a chaotic sequence that brings about a Jáder Obrian attempt but is ultimately fruitless. Watch Uzuni in [the highlights clip](https://www.austinfc.com/video/highlights-houston-dynamo-fc-vs-austin-fc-april-26-2025?ref=verdeallday.com#highlights-houston-dynamo-fc-vs-austin-fc-april-26-2025), on the sequence that starts at 0:57 and goes until about 1:15\. When he flubs the attempt, does he attack the goal anew? He does not. He wheels off to the side and puts his hands on his head in disbelief, then floats back into a quasi-ready position to serve as an outlet, as his teammates struggle to retain possession against a collapsed Dynamo defense. Finally, as a Besard Šabović giveaway fully extinguishes the barely-hanging-on chance in front of goal, Uzuni again stops and puts his hands on his head in what might be his most concerning bad-body-language moment of the no-longer-all-that-young season. After the match, head coach Nico Estévez [expressed belief](https://verdeallday.com/houvatx-042625-post-match-quotes-nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-dani-pereira-injury/) that "one day we'll score the goals." I'm no longer convinced that Myrto Uzuni believes that. ## Numbers tell a story First of all, this is 2025 Myrto Uzuni through eight appearances, comparing his numbers to other forwards around the league. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-2-.png) You probably notice that aside from a few encouraging spikes, Uzuni has a pedestrian and even terrible radar chart distribution. I'm going to point you to the three lowest and most distressing stats here: - Second percentile (with first being the worst you can have) in progressive passes received; - Second percentile in touches; and - Fifth percentile in non-penalty goals. In short, these three stats together tell you he's not seeing a lot of the ball and is therefore not scoring. But other than pass completion, he's not doing much in any of the possession categories – a disappointment given Granada-era highlight reels in which we saw him marauding down the field with massive progressive carries en route to creating his own shot. The issues with getting the ball to him were evident in the passing map from last Saturday. (He's the CF in this map, and the thicker the line, the more passes between the players. While Houston's map is also not ideal, you can see the difference in getting the ball to attacking players.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Houston_Dynamo_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-04-27-1.png) Uzuni's pass completion rate of nearly 82%, which is quite good, is tempered by his only attempting about 16 passes per 90\. If you connect on that rate with that few passes, you're completing about 13 passes over the course of entire match. Just a little more than one per 90 registers as a progressive pass — which has a complicated metric based around the idea of getting it 10 yards closer to goal, so part of the issue could be that he's playing up top a lot, but is also playing out wide some. Let's compare him to another big-splash signing that happened this offseason. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Ke-vin-Denkey.png) Kévin Denkey, unfortunately for Verde, is not an Eastern Conference abstraction; he's a player that Austin FC will have to defend against on the road when the team travels to Cincinnati in less than two weeks. Right now, Denkey is contributing a lot more in many different categories, and is looking like (with his six goals on 4.5 xG) the striker that FCC has been missing since, well, Vázquez scored 18 goals for Knifey Lion in 2022\. Speaking of Vázquez ... ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Brandon-Vazquez-2-.png) While they're both disappointing on the offensive end, the striking thing about the two together (pun wasn't going to be intended, but I sort of like it now) is the defensive numbers that Vázquez has been able to put up, and he's still doing much more with possession, though he's in the 2nd percentile in pass completion, which even for a target center forward isn't great. Speaking of disappointing, Emmanuel Latte Lath "only" has five goals for a struggling Atlanta United, but it's been a streaky five, with two in the opener, two matches without a goal, a three-match run with one goal each match, and then the last three matches without a goal. He's averaging a shade under 26 touches a match, but averaging 31.5 touches in matches when he scores vs. 21 a match when he doesn't. Here's what that looks like. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Emmanuel-Latte-Lath.png) Also, Latte Lath comes to Q2 Stadium in 15 days. Yes, they'll face a striker with six goals who came in on a $16.2 million transfer fee and then face one with five goals who came on a $22 million transfer free four days later. Good times! Here's a look at Uzuni compared to a striker he just played against. First, the 2025 numbers (which is not great for both, but non-penalties and goals favor Ponce). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Ezequiel-Ponce-1-.png) Now, we'll shift this to the last 365 days for both to work in those stats. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Ezequiel-Ponce.png) With three goals, Ponce leads in the most important metric of all, and while Uzuni's contributing more on defense over the past full year (as Ponce isn't contributing much as all), he's also getting more progressive passes in and more touches overall. (This season, those aren't happening a fantastic amount as the Dynamo work to reshuffle their midfield, but Ponce is still getting the service that's helping him get more shots (26, six more than Uzuni, though Uzuni does have one more shot on target at this stage). And finally, let's look at a striker new to MLS in 2024, with a new baby who struggled in the early part of his debut season in a Nico Estévez system, but eventually came good with 16 goals by season's end. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Myrto-Uzuni-vs.-Petar-Musa.png) As we covered in our [preseason exclusive interview](https://verdeallday.com/breakfast-with-nico-an-early-morning-interview-with-austin-fcs-new-head-coach/) with Estévez, Musa did eventually acclimate and settling into scoring. But as we've previously discussed, most of those goals came after Estévez was relieved of his duties (which Musa apologized to Estévez for, as he tells it) and FC Dallas shifted to a more attack-minded approach (though at the expense of what they'd built defensively, and the team still missed the playoffs though playing at a much higher PPG pace under interim coach Peter Luccin, who still remains an assistant coach at FCD). Given their styles of play, what Musa is becoming might be more a model for what Vázquez might recapture. Just for fun, here's a look at Musa's past 365 days vs. the breakout Vázquez season of 2022\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Brandon-Vazquez-vs.-Petar-Musa.png) Musa is parked on three goals right now after 10 matches, but perhaps he's a slow-starting forward even when there's not a new league and new weather and a new baby to navigate. ## So, what now? Fans and players have been talking about a metaphorical dam holding back all the goals Verde are capable of scoring, with the notion that just a single goal could unleash it. The recent home match against the Galaxy set up for that, as the defending champs have one of the leakiest defenses in the league, but Verde couldn't muster a goal (even having been awarded a penalty kick) until the 81st minute. They've scored two goals in one of ten matches, one goal in five matches, and no goals in four matches. This past weekend, Nashville matched Austin's season output in a single match – albeit, a weird one against the Fire. Uzuni wants to score. He's said so. His face has said so after missed chances and post-match locker room interviews about missed chances. The next opportunity to do so comes at home on Saturday, though it is against a Minnesota team that's only let in 10 goals so far this season – the same as Austin. Presumably, Uzuni and Vázquez will be on the field together again, putting their chemistry and compatibility back in focus, not to mention their combined and vast xG underperformance. Whatever resources the club can muster – including a sports psychologist, which is a [well tapped in prior years](https://www.austinfc.com/news/conditioning-the-team-presented-by-abacus-plumbing-hillary-cauthen?ref=verdeallday.com) – now is the time. Austin's hold on third place is tenuous given the keen competition in the West, Saturday's match starts off a month of eight and possibly nine matches, and the team's ability to hang onto one-goal leads appears increasingly to be Brendan Hines-Ike-dependent. Uzuni said he came here to score goals and break records. We admired the ambition at the time. It's now time to make good on that ... to avoid his being added to the list of Austin FC designated players falling short of expectations. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'One day we'll score the goals': Austin FC, after 10 matches, teetering between hope and hopelessness URL: https://verdeallday.com/houvatx-042625-post-match-quotes-nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-dani-pereira-injury/ Last updated: 2025-04-27T19:31:01.000Z Several things can be true at once. After 10 matches, Austin FC is 5-4-1, playing at a 1.6 point per game clip that would produce the club's best season since 2022, just off the 1.65 PPG pace that got them second in the West. After 10 matches, though, Verde have scored just seven goals, second lowest of the 2025 MLS teams who have played 10 matches to date, only better than a CF Montréal team that has invested far less in their attacking corps than Verde has. Austin FC's still second in the West pending the outcome of Sunday matches, which will still likely leave the team no worse than fifth. But the team's also lost its last two away matches by a combined 7-1 margin, and has a worrisome three of five losses in away matches played so far. Wins at LAFC and St. Louis could prove pivotal when it comes time to assess Decision Day odds, but this could be a team trying to answer the question "Will we make the playoffs?" versus "How many home matches will we play?" if current worrying negative trends chip away at their current position — second, yes, but just four points above the playoff line. Austin's [2-0 loss to Houston](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-042625/) on Saturday wasn't just the fumbling of an opportunity to snatch a road win against a reeling team. Sure, the Dynamo's acquisition and immediate deployment of Ondřej Lingr arguably has earned them 40% of the points they've now amassed this season, and Saturday's outcome is a reminder that most MLS teams aren't the sum of early-season slow starts, and just because the Dynamo only averaged 0.56 PPG through their first nine matches, that doesn't mean they'll continue to play at that pace. But they also had 11 players either questionable or out on their injury list on Friday, and though some of the questionable players were fit enough to make second-half sub appearances, a good deal of MLS success is making the most of your opportunities – racking up a good home record, getting results on the road as possible, and no matter what the venue, beating teams when they're vulnerable. ## About the scoring Naturally, the first thing on my mind after Saturday's match was Verde getting just seven goals in their first 10 matches, despite a good first 30 minutes in which the visitors were winning the possession battle and had engineered 0.17 worth of xG (per MLSSoccer.com's metrics) on three shots. While not stunning, it certainly bested Houston's single 0.09 xG attempt in their first half-hour, even if the momentum chart showed considerable flatness. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Houston_Dynamo_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-04-27.png) The passing map shows little connectedness among the front three players and not much service to those attacking players – perhaps a worrying sign that the offense that looked so potent in creating chances against the Galaxy eight days ago is inconsistent. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez didn't see it that way. "In the first half, we had a couple of really good actions from Jáder \[Obrian\] running behind from \[Osman\] Bukari, and then crosses from \[Jon\] Gallagher joining also. And we have a really good linkup in place in the first half, using \[Myrto\] Uzuni and then playing wide and then attacking the box. "Today, we had really good service, and in some of these situations, for us, it's just that we have to score," he added. "\[If\] you don't score, it's really difficult to win a game ... we have to keep working and trying to be better on that ... Offensively, in the first half, besides those moments, we were a little bit flat. It's true that we controlled the ball, but I miss a little bit of more verticality and aggression from our side, something that we took at halftime ... right away from the beginning of the second half, we were more vertical. We adjusted a couple things in the positioning of our center backs, that they were too low," noting that he also adjusted fullback positioning and sought for wings to run in behind. Moving from tactics to *The Wizard of Oz*, Estévez sought for a less heart/more brain approach to play, but also expressed a confidence in what Austin was doing with a bewilderment that it didn't – as it hasn't for so many matches now – resulted in goals. "I think we had very clear chances today ... one day we'll score the goals," he asserted. "This is the only thing I can tell \[you\] ... I mean, I cannot, I don't have a crystal ball, right? "We can be more aggressive in a moment, as we were in the second half at the beginning, but the chances are there, and the opponent didn't have much chances to score," he added. "And I hope that this changes. Sometimes there are moments that teams have \[when\] they don't score goals, but I'm very optimistic that we will score goals." The shot chart from Sebastián Bush's MLS Analytics – which featured a more dismal American Soccer Analysis-calculated xG disparity than the league site had – shows that Verde engineered no great or good chances in mustering only two shots on target. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Houston_Dynamo_FC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-04-27.png) As Saturday came to a close, Brandon Vázquez – who wasn't even active for this match due to illness – still led the club with two goals through 10 matches. Uzuni, a club record signing who scored 35 goals in 87 league matches for Granada (49 of those matches in La Liga, where he managed 12 goals against some of the best defensive units in the world), is on pace for just three goals this season, as is Bukari (who scored 19 goals in 57 league matches for Red Star Belgrade prior to coming to Austin). I peeked in on a lot of fan comments last night, as fans tend to vent after tough losses and there's quite a bit to parse through. One fretted along the lines of "players seem to be good until they get to Austin," and though that's certainly a sweeping statement ignoring the likes of Brad Stuver, Brandon Hines-Ike, and 2021 and 2022 Diego Fagundez, I understand the sentiment and the genuine concern behind it. Estévez believes that his players will score the goals one day. Last season, when his team struggled out of the gate with 10 goals in the first 10 games, goals did come — but largely only after he was dismissed on June 9\. He's likely not to be dismissed in 2025 given that he's been Verde less than six months, but he's certainly got to be experiencing an uncomfortable déjà vu about now. ## Midfield concerns The third shot Austin took in the match was a fateful one – a long-distance effort from Dani Pereira leaving him injured after getting it off. "I think he's going to be a long time out," said Estévez, clarifying that it was a quadriceps injury, and not revealing much beyond that pending tests early next week, but suspecting that it could be a month or longer – and not just any month, but a month crammed with seven league matches, at least one U.S. Open Cup match, and then a second depending on whether Austin can beat El Paso at home in that tournament Round of 32 contest. While Owen Wolff exited the match intact, he may have suffered a bit of ego bruising given that it was arguably his worst match this season. The first (and, as offensive woes continue, deciding) goal came on a double error from the 20-year-old – first bodying Griffin Dorsey in the box for what could have been a PK-worthy foul in the eyes of referee Chris Penso, and then making a bad pass when Penso gave the advantage, which effectively functioned as an assist to Lingr, who chested down the ball and slotted it just inside the post and just past a diving Stuver. Ilie Sánchez, being a good captain in answering a question about Wolff's mistake, defended his play in Saturday's post-match video press conference by pointing to the entire season's body of work. "What do you want me to say to our best player so far? There is nothing to say to Owen ... other than to keep doing what you're doing," he assessed. "He is the one that's been putting the team on his shoulders." While Wolff has had a fantastic season so far, Saturday's performance indicates that in addition to everyone having at least one occasional off-night, the Verde roster is still incomplete. The newly-Robert Taylor might provide the sort of spark Lingr is providing for Houston, and he might be the missing creative piece that Verde needs to link a still-solid defense with an offense hungry for goals. But, also, he may not ... and the concerns that arose and then stuck in 2023 and 2024, whether it was injuries or lack of scoring sending a bubble team under the playoff line, could surface in a sickeningly familiar way once again. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Houston Dynamo FC 2, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-houvatx-042625/ Last updated: 2025-04-27T21:28:23.000Z New Houston Dynamo FC signing Ondřej Lingr scored his second goal in as many games, and Ezequiel Ponce added his third goal of the season, leading the hosts to a 2-0 win over Austin FC at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night – sending Verde to the bottom of the still-barely-formed Copa Tejas standings. Verde started the match without leading goalscorer Brandon Vázquez, who was listed as questionable on Friday with illness, meaning that Austin opted for a front three of Jáder Obrian, Myrto Uzuni, and Osman Bukari to start together for the first time in a regular-season match. Verde looked quicker to the ball and more willing to have the ball early, gathering 54% possession in the first 20 minutes despite trends from both teams to the contrary. Dani Pereira ripped a shot from distance in the 29th minute that nearly went in, but appeared to hurt himself on the landing, leading to Besard Šabović subbing on and altering head coach Nico Estévez's sub patterns. Arguably Houston's best chance of the first half came on a free kick by Jack McGlynn, resulting from an Ilie Sánchez foul on Ponce (yellow carded for a dive earlier in the half on a similar play) that Brad Stuver had to palm away. (There was also an Amine Bassi bicycle kick in there that hit the post, but because Griffin Dorsey was offside in the build-up, it doesn't count.) Verde had a double chance a moment later in a chaotic sequence in front of goal, starting with Jon Gallagher springing Uzuni toward goal on a long diagnoal pass, and Obrian attempting to put the ping-ponging ball on frame. Alas, it would remain scoreless at the half. McGlynn got the first real chance of the second half, working toward goal from the flank to put in a shot just whizzing past the post. Bukari returned the favor a moment later with a similar shot. In the 57th minute, Verde dodged danger when Dorsey broke downfield after an Austin corner attempt, finding Basse with a pass inside the box setting him up for a shot – which he thankfully scuffed. Then, disaster struck in the 61st minute; Owen Wolff made contact with Dorsey in the box, and rather than whistling for the foul, referee Chris Penso let play resume, and Wolff made an ill-advised pass that Lingr chested down at the top of the box and whizzed past Stuver to give the hosts the lead. Then, in the 79th minute, another ill-advised pass – from substitute Žan Kolmanič – led to a turnover and a Dynamo break, ending with Dorsey finding a fairly open Ponce for a fairly easy shot. Verde engineered one promising chance in the 82nd minute, but didn't do much offensively overall in the second half, and remain with just seven goals in 10 matches. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) In a match without a whole lot of Verde flash, the pass from Gallagher to Uzuni springing him for the first-half chance was a beaut. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Pereira's landing on that long attempted shot looks like an injury of at least a couple of weeks as Verde goes into one of its most congested parts of the season. That might even be worse than Wolff on the goal sequence (which was quite bad). ## Something you might have missed If you didn't see Pereira's 16th-minute cross after a Dynamo turnover following a Dynamo throw-in, it skimmed just past a sliding Uzuni and sliding Obrian, just to be doubly frustrating. ## One nerdy tidbit Per MLSSoccer.com's stats, Austin FC finished with a 0.5-0.2 xG "advantage" at halftime (with more than half of that coming on the Uzuni attempt). It finished with Houston climbing to 1 xG and Austin fizzling out at 0.7\. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Why so flat and uninspired after such a relatively energetic beginning? (We'll ask about the Pereira injury as well.) [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'You cannot have everything in life': Nico Estévez reminds Austin FC delayed gratification is a thing URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-houvatx-042625-robert-taylor-cj-fodrey-injury-report/ Last updated: 2025-04-26T14:34:04.000Z Once again, Nico Estévez is weighing in on the nature of humanity in discussing a soccer team on pace to amass 60 points (surely placing them at or near the top of the West standings) while only scoring 26 goals.\[\[1\]\] "We humans, we want everything, right? But you cannot have everything in life," he observed in Thursday's press conference ahead of Saturday night's Copa Tejas match against Houston Dynamo FC, commenting on Austin FC's continued defensive prowess and offensive struggles. "Then if you take a risk on going forward, you know you are leaving something in behind. "And then it's that balance between, okay, let's go, and if we score, we'll be happy, and then the opponent won't have the opportunity. But I think we can find a better balance on that. I think sometimes we we could have better protection there. We could choose the moments to move forward better, but I think it's a learning process." That could now be remedied to a degree by sporting director Rodolfo Borrell's surprise signing on Wednesday. Borrell brought in Inter Miami player Robert Taylor to bolster Verde's attack, providing appreciable depth at the wing position where he's typically deployed, though he's also capable of playing centrally. As Estévez told it Thursday, he's the very type of player Austin could utilize. "He's a winger that can play on the right and the left," Estévez observed. "He can also play inside as an attacking midfielder. It's a different type of profile of the the wingers that we have ... he has a really good sense of the last pass, crossing from deeper positions. He's very vertical. He's always thinking to to play to the forwards and and he has proven \[himself\] in the in the league with Inter Miami, and he also brings that maturity, that experience and that willingness." Taylor – likely to wear the No. 16 jersey he wore at Miami, previously occupied by Hector Jimenez – been a known entity in MLS for a while, not only for his abilities as a Finnish international with versatility, but also as a player that the Herons – with their high-dollar stars and roster constraints – might be willing to deal to make sure they're compliant with league rules. "In the offseason, Rodo mentioned to me that he's looking for reinforce that position," indicating that Borrell had floated the idea to IMFC's front office even then. "Rodo always told Miami that if in any moment ... they would be open to to do a trade with him, please tell us." Assessing how it developed right at the end of the primary transfer window, allowing Verde to finally secure an 18-man senior roster following Leo Väisänen's departure to BK Häcken on March 24, "Everything worked well." But as Estévez reminded us, you can't have everything in life — including Taylor on the squad for Saturday's match. Taylor was with the Herons in Vancouver for their Concacaf Champions Cup when the trade went down, and then returned to Miami to take care of personal business. Estévez indicated Taylor would be training with the squad by Tuesday in advance of two upcoming home matches: Against Minnesota in league play on May 3 and in the U.S. Open Cup tilt against El Paso Locomotive on May 7\. ## There are players out, and then there are *players out* Friday's injury report revealed one unpleasant surprise for a Verde team still in search of goals – striker Brandon Vázquez is questionable with illness, following a match in which he amassed 2.1 worth of xG and missed a penalty chance but redeemed himself with a late goal to dispatch the Galaxy 1-0 in the team's most recent match. That could open up some playing time for CJ Fodrey, whose contract extension through 2027 with 2028 and 2029 options was announced Friday. For now, Fodrey retains his Generation Adidas status and supplemental roster spot, integral to his roster value. One other notable absence to account for on Saturday isn't an injury – it's Brendan Hines-Ike, out with a dubious (in our view) double yellow card ejection in the waning moments of last Saturday's victory. To help fill out the roster, VerDos center back Antonio Gomez was called up on a short-term agreement, as he was for matches last year (as part of the famed "Sal and Tony" pairing that led us to find our inner Italian restaurateur). But Estévez believes that Austin's just fine even with just Julio Cascante and Oleksandr Svatok as the team's two healthy available actual center backs. "We feel like Tony is doing very well in the last weeks ... we feel like it can be a good option for us," Estévez said, also noting that Guilherme Biro and Ilie Sánchez could also be deployed at center back should they be needed. But there are worse situations than Austin FC's current unavailable roster, which also includes Mikkel Desler, still recovering from a hamstring injury. Look at Houston's injury list heading into Saturday's match. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-26-at-9.05.25-AM.png) The questionable list includes, in Sviatchenko and Kowalcyzk, two key starters, and Bartlow's been a solid defensive piece for the Dynamo, drafted 6th in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft that brought Dani Pereira and Freddy Kleemann to Austin. Commenting on Hines-Ike being out, Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen said in his Friday press conference, "Cascante maybe comes in, unless they've got something else that I don't know of. He's a good player, but I don't see that being a huge dropoff. I like Hines-Ike. I think he's good, he's experienced, poised at his soccer level and his IQ is really high, but they're deep. I don't feel bad for them." \[\[1\]\] Hat tip, of course, to Landon Cotham of Moontower Soccer for doing the math on that. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ## Sign up for Verde All Day Your home for Austin FC coverage and analysis Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ### Foreign Exchange: Three Dynamo questions with Bayou City Soccer's Dustyn Richardson URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-bayou-city-soccer-dustyn-richardson-houston-dynamo-houvatx-042625/ Last updated: 2025-04-26T00:58:20.000Z You know what's fun? Copa Tejas in April is fun! Austin FC travels to Houston tomorrow night for its first intrastate match of 2025, playing a 1-4-4 Dynamo that just got a new impact player, after making a big surprise offseason player-for-dumptruck-full-of-money trade. We talk about that all with Dustyn Richardson of Dynamo site Bayou City Soccer; we returned the favor with [answers to quite a few questions](https://www.bayoucitysoccer.net/dynamo/previewing-houston-dynamo-vs-austin-fc-with-verde-all-day?ref=verdeallday.com) that went up earlier today. ### I imagine that 1-4-4 is not the way you envisioned the 2025 season starting (or maybe you saw the outgoing vs. incoming players and did) ... what do you attribute the slow start to? The outgoing players are definitely a big reason. Losing Hector Herrera, Coco Carrasquilla, and Micael was a big blow, and the Dynamo have taken their time to replace them. Jack McGlynn has shifted to the Carrasquilla role in recent weeks, and that has been a spark for the team. That move, however, leaves the Herrera role still with a big question mark. Micael's loss on the back line has been maybe the biggest as the Dynamo have had to use Femi Awodesu at center back and Erik Sviatchenko has battled injuries. Not to mention, Houston has used four different starting goalkeepers this season. With new signings now getting into the team, hopefully for the Dynamo, their slow start is behind them. ### Being in the room where it happened [when Pat Onstad revealed](https://verdeallday.com/american-soccer-insights-summit-report-rice-university/) (sort of) the Jack McGlynn-for-cash trade, what do you make of him so far? As I mentioned in the previous answer, McGlynn has already changed positions and he is excelling in that role. He started the year playing deeper in the midfield and just wasn't on the ball as much as the coaching staff wanted. He moved to the right midfield role in the win over LAFC and scored his first goal for the club. McGlynn has played that inverted winger role ever since and he is much more involved in the offense and he's very good shooting from distance with his left foot. I think, overall, he has been as advertised and he still has a lot of growth ahead of him as he doesn't turn 22 until the summer. ### The Dynamo just brought in Ondřej Lingr; how do you think he'll fit in with McGlynn and the rest of the front six, and how do you think Lingr and McGlynn will compare to Coco Carrasquilla and 2023 Hector Herrera? (We won't make you revisit 2024 Hector Herrera) Judging by one game, Lingr is going to win the Ballon d'Or. Kidding, of course, but scoring a late equalizer on his debut has created even more buzz around the Czech attacker. I think that remains the big question – just where Lingr fits into the lineup when he starts. If you ask Ben Olsen and the front office, it seems their original plan for Lingr was to play him in that right midfield role, but McGlynn is doing so well there, it will be hard to move him from there. If I had to guess, I think they either move McGlynn back in the midfield, which Olsen has said is a possibility based on matchups, or he plays in the pocket behind Ezequiel Ponce with Amine Bassi moving wider. That Coco-HH midfield of 2023 was among the best in the league but if Lingr and McGlynn can click and get on the same page quickly, they should have a lot of success. All of these options are a good problem to have, and that is without even mentioning Duane Holmes getting into the lineup soon and Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quinones returning from injury in the next month or so. ### Bonus question: So, former Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff is now Houston Dynamo assistant coach Josh Wolff. How is he being received by a fan base that rooted against him for four years? When Wolff was first announced, there were a number of fans who seemingly didn't want anything to do with him because of his Austin ties. Olsen talked him up in one of his press conferences as his biggest signing this offseason ([a tweet](https://x.com/BayouCitySoccer/status/1892994695241822590?ref=verdeallday.com) which we are still getting engagement on!) and that seemed to only spark things more. The Dynamo have a coaching staff with a few guys who have been head coaches, including Kenny Bundy (Dynamo 2) and Juan Guerra (Phoenix Rising), so adding Wolff, in my opinion, just adds another voice that they can lean on throughout the year. It's much ado about nothing really as Wolff is not really seen from or heard from to fans and even us in the media. [Get everything here](#/portal/signup) ### Is field tilt really a sign of dominace? Exploring an emerging Austin FC paradox URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2025-field-tilt-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-04-24T12:10:22.000Z If you want a statistic to help you get a sense of which team's dominating a match that goes beyond xG, field tilt is theoretically one that could do it. Field tilt is the percentage of total final third passes in a match your team has, and clearly, it's an indicator of your team's ability to consistently put the ball into dangerous places. For example, let's say Team A has 30 final third passes in a match and Team B has 20, making 50 total. Team A would have 60% field tilt in that match, and that metric, combined with xG and possession, could give you a clearer picture of who had most of the ball – and, by the eye test at least, dominated. However, as you likely know from having watched Austin FC this season (or, to gauge the inverse of what I'm about to say, past seasons), just because you have a lot of the ball or even put the ball into dangerous areas, that doesn't mean you're scoring consequential goals or even scoring at all. Austin's third match of the season was March 8, hosting Colorado. The teams achieved even field tilt, each getting 50% on the night, and per American Soccer Analysis numbers (as conveyed by the excellent [Sebastián Bush](https://bsky.app/profile/mlsstat.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)), had 1.09 xG to the Rapids' 0.81\. Of course, Colorado did one thing Austin didn't do in that match: Scored a goal, courtesy of Rafael Navarro in the 18th minute to secure the 1-0 win. That match is noteworthy, field tilt-wise, in that it's the last match Verde's gotten 50% or higher this season. After dominating field tilt with 74% in their opener against SKC, and getting 53% in the 1-0 loss at Portland (conceding just the late free kick goal), Austin FC's registered the following field tilt values (with xG and final scores included for reference): - ATXFC at LAFC: 21% (1-0 win, 1.24 xG) - ATXFC vs. San Diego FC: 10% (2-1 win, 2.15 xG) - ATXFC at St. Louis City SC: 30% (1-0 win, 0.77 xG) - ATXFC vs. Portland Timbers: 39% (0-0 draw, 0.74 xG) - ATXFC at Vancouver Whitecaps FC: 39% (5-1 loss, 0.89 xG) - ATXFC vs. LA Galaxy: 43% (1-0 win, 3.14 xG) Here's what that final third passing looked like in the match against the Galaxy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Austin_FC_v_Los_Angeles_Galaxy_quad_2025-04-19.png) Interestingly, not a lot up the middle for either team. In a new wrinkle added to Bush's visualizations, we get an additional element in the next chart – who was responsible for passes *into* the final third. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Austin_FC_v_Los_Angeles_Galaxy_fin3_2025-04-19.png) That's Jon Gallagher, Owen Wolff, and Besard Šabović combining for more than half of those passes moving play into the danger zone. Guilherme Biro and Myrto Uzuni also contributed. (On the Galaxy side, it's Edwin Cerrillo, Emiro Garces, and Isaiah Parente combining for half, and Diego Fagundez, theoretically quarterbacking the team, is way down the list.) As you might expect, in the three-match win streak making up the middle third of the season to date, in which field tilt averaged just over 20% but they scored the four goals xG projected they would, Verde didn't have a lot of possession. They mustered 29% against LAFC, 24% against SDFC, and 36% against City. Since then, they've gotten much closer to 50% possession, actually getting there in the most recent win against the Galaxy. (Overall, per FBref, Austin's 28th in the league in possession with just 43.9%, and with Houston coming in at 8th with 52.8%, I'd expect Saturday's contest at Shell Energy Stadium to be one where Verde might cede possession and end up on the short end of the field tilt equation.) But, as Moontower Soccer's Landon Cotham delightfully mathed on Tuesday's podcast, Austin's on pace to get 60 points on just 26 goals – a points per goal ratio that would set a record for what would be a very obscure but telling stat. Indeed, is Austin FC sneakily efficient? Or are they just the offensively frustrated and defensively sound (with one glaring exception north of the border) team our eyes tell us they are? ## More numbers! As you might have surmised from the field tilt numbers, Verde's toward the bottom of the league in both passes into the final third and passes into the penalty area. Specifically, they're 26th in final third passes with 237 (Columbus leads the league with 400) and 24th in passes into the penalty area with 61 (the Whitecaps have 107). However, they're seventh in crosses into the penalty area with 22, which may not surprise you given that a number of these are burned in your mind for good and for bad. They're also 13th in key passes with 85 – those are passes leading to a shot. You already know they're not racking up assists: Owen Wolff has three of the five the team's gathered so far, with all of his in dead-ball situations, and of their 14 goal-creating actions per FBref (the two offensive actions leading to a goal, which can include fouls and take-ons), only seven come from live passes. Only Osman Bukari and Diego Rubio can claim an assist in the run of play for Verde so far this season. (The deflection on Žan Kolmanič's pass to Brandon Vázquez by Emiro Garces negated the assist he really should have earned.) Verde should have more assists as well as more goals. In fact, expected assists are 8.6 and expected assisted goals are 8.1, so the assists minus expected goals assisted value is -3.1, 28th in the league. They're also 28th in the league in goals minus expected goals with -5\. Montréal is dead last in both of those categories with an A-xAG of -4.2 and a G-xG of -5.8, but that team's also 0-6-3 and currently neck-and-neck with the Galaxy for the Wooden Spoon race. How might [new acquisition Robert Taylor](https://verdeallday.com/and-here-you-thought-nothing-would-happen-before-the-window-closed-austin-fc-wrests-robert-taylor-from-miami/) improve this? While his number wasn't called a lot so far this season, only getting two starts, four appearances, and 198 minutes to date (hence his availability to Austin), he's got an xG + xAG per 90 minutes rating of 0.74, with 0.57 of that being xG, with one goal so far. In 2024, that number was 0.35, split evenly between xG and xAG, in 1644 minutes, working out to five actual goals and three actual assists, or a goal contribution about every 200 minutes. In 2024, though it was a different Austin, a 0.35 xG+xAG per 90 would have placed him near the top of the list in that category – third among players with starting minutes if you consider a late-arriving Bukari to have starting minutes, logging just over 600\. I've highlighted Gyasi Zardes in this chart to show where Taylor would land, which is right above him. ![Chart showing xG + xAG for 2024 Austin FC players](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-24-at-6.54.35-AM.png) Remember, this is a team that ended up with 39 goals and 29 assists in an overall concerning Verde performance; the current 2025 squad, though in a much better place in the standings, is on track for 26 goals and 19 assists. I predict we'll see more of Taylor in the coming weeks as he gets integrated into the squad, which I assume will be a Nico Estévez priority. It might not immediately improve field tilt – after all, Miami only has 11 more final third passes than Austin right now (though it's played one less match). But his insertion into the action could bring elements of what Verde need to get more goals and put more matches more comfortably away than the 1-0 nailbiters that we're getting all too accustomed to viewing. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### And here you thought nothing would happen before the window closed: Austin FC wrests Robert Taylor from Miami URL: https://verdeallday.com/and-here-you-thought-nothing-would-happen-before-the-window-closed-austin-fc-wrests-robert-taylor-from-miami/ Last updated: 2025-04-24T04:04:14.000Z It might have not been the most obvious move, but it's one we've thought about before. Robert Taylor, an Inter Miami winger who appeared surplus to that team's needs, and a times a bit of a budgetary burden, has come over to Austin FC in a trade on Wednesday evening – on the final day of the MLS 2025 primary transfer window – amounting to as much as $750,000 in general allocation money (GAM) — $450,000 in GAM this year, $250,000 in 2026 GAM, and a conditional $50,000 GAM. In return, Taylor – a 30-year-old Finnish international with an English father, hence the very English-sounding name – will add MLS-tested veteran mettle to a squad that's not all that it could be offensively at the moment. Playing his MLS career entirely with Miami after years playing in Scandanavia, Taylor has 18 goals and 18 assists in 116 total appearances with the Herons. Though he's primarily a left winger, he can also play as an attacking mid or as a right winger. The press release from the club did not include the usual crafted Rodolfo Borrell quote indicating where he thinks Taylor fits into the master plan, but it's not a stretch to think that Taylor could be a left wing in a 4-4-2 that hasn't been functional so far, or could pair with Owen Wolff or Dani Pereira behind Ilie Sánchez or Besard Šabović in an enticing 4-3-3 midfield. While Taylor could end up being a backup at left wing for Myrto Uzuni, he seems destined to be more than that. And, as a bonus, since he was Lionel Messi's teammate with the Herons and presumably shook his hand, if you get to shake Taylor's hand, you're only one handshake removed from the GOAT. (You better believe I'm going to shake his hand when I get the chance. Then you could be two handshakes removed from Messi shaking my hand!) ## To the charts! It's been a while since we got to do this. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Robert-Taylor.png) I see a player who does some things pretty well – putting together passes, handling the ball, and scoring and assisting fairly well. His defensive numbers aren't stellar, but he's arguably not needed for that. He compares well to another player considered a might-be-nice addition to Verde as we've perused MLS rosters in recent offseasons. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Da-niel-Sallo-i-vs.-Robert-Taylor.png) And he's not quite operating on a designated player level, as you can see comparing him to Osman Bukari. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/-FBCharts--Osman-Bukari-vs.-Robert-Taylor.png) As a needed 18th senior player on the squad, he's a good choice. Verde could use some attacking options, and though a pure No. 10 would be welcome, Taylor provides a flexibility nearly on par with Wolff, though more comfortable on the wings and with a decade more maturity. We'll see how it shakes out, but initially, it could be the best inside-MLS move since Brendan Hines-Ike 15 months ago. ### 'We're just missing a little bit of luck': Sizing up a win leaving Austin FC second in the West URL: https://verdeallday.com/post-match-quotes-analysis-atxvla-041925/ Last updated: 2025-04-20T19:38:30.000Z While only three points separated second from seventh in the Western Conference standings after a wild Portland Timbers-LAFC draw closed out the matchweek's action, Austin FC is on the happier side of the ledger, with its [1-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvla-041925/) over LA Galaxy pushing the team to a 5-3-1 record and 16 points, edging third-place Minnesota on the wins tiebreaker MLS users to contrast itself from other leagues. Thanks to absorbing a 5-1 loss last week, Verde still has a goal differential of -1\. At this stage of the season, that's not as unusual as you might think: If the season ended today, Austin would host LAFC, also with a -1 GD, in a best-of-three first-round series (assuming the playoff format in 2025 is the one used last year), and Dallas would travel to Seattle for the play-in game with its also-less-than-optimal -1 GD. Still, it's Austin's fourth win of the year by a 1-0 margin — six of their nine matches so far have hinged on a single goal — and the defense reasserted itself after a troubling performance at Vancouver to register its fifth clean sheet of the year. "Overall, to be honest, for me, it's been the most complete game that we've played so far here at home, on the offensive side and in the defensive side," Estévez said. Final third actions and finishing still remain a concern for coach and players alike; in the post-match comments, Estévez noted, "The thing today was that we should have scored at least two or three goals," as evinced by Brandon Vázquez failing to convert a penalty kick that Osman Bukari earned in his fourth minute of substitute action, and the hosts' 3.2-0.9 xG advantage (per FBref's numbers), on 16 shots (five on target), with five of those Verde shots registering at least a 0.15 xG. ## 'We've still got a lot to work on' "I still feel like I should have done more with the opportunities," Vázquez said about his afternoon, though he did say his goal left him both ecstatic and relieved – but ultimately not satisfied. Asked what the team would bring into its next match against Houston, he said, "Hunger," adding, "We've still got a lot to work on. So we've just got to keep stepping onto the pitch every single day in training, give 100% and make sure we keep improving." Myrto Uzuni, who also couldn't convert several prime chances, including a seventh-minute bicycle kick that skimmed over the crossbar, expressed continued frustration. "The team is improving because we have a lot of chances," he said. "We're just missing a little bit of luck; I think you see every shot is close to the goal ... the goalkeeper can do nothing in my two shoes, on my bicycle and then also on the diagonal," referring to his 23rd-minute curling shot (only 0.03 xG per FBref, but looking more promising IRL) that Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy had to paw away. "So I think it's a bit of luck, but \[what's\] important is \[getting\] the three points." I asked him, "Do you wish the crossbar was about six inches taller on that bicycle kick?" He just ruefully smiled and nodded. Thanks to We Are Austin TV, the moment was [captured for posterity](https://www.instagram.com/p/DIrfnnJOCs2VIiBF7LqFpv03IBngxfgbJnv3nk0/?ref=verdeallday.com). ## Is fighting for your right to party a good idea? I've wondered for a time about the wisdom of Austin FC celebrating home wins with the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right to Party" — a definite departure from what Minister of Culture and minority owner Matthew McConaughey floated as a celebration song, Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River." Personally, I love the Beastie Boys. However, I wouldn't want to be a parent in the stands explaining the line, "Now your mom threw away your best porno mag" (penned, admittedly, in their pre-PC days), and with plenty of Austin artists to choose from – something the club has entwined itself with from before it had players and a stadium – certainly there's a victory-appropriate song with local ties suitable for all audiences. The ridiculousness of the song being used to celebrate wins reached a new plateau Saturday, soundtracking post-match skirmishes that erupted all over the field, capping off the tempers flaring in the match's closing minutes – flaring enough for Brendan Hines-Ike to get two yellow cards in quick succession, leading to his sendoff in the second minute of what began as eight minutes of stoppage time, but ended up a little more than nine. That melee included Joseph Paintsil trying to throw a punch (at least, that's how it looked to me reviewing the Apple TV footage) and being held back insistently for a long time by fellow Ghanaian national teammate Bukari, and LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney lobbing a choice expletive Guilherme Biro's way, as he breathlessly expressed to Moisés Chiullán in the locker room post-match. Estévez characterized referee Rosendo Mendoza as a "young referee" who has just started his MLS journey and a "good guy." While he said appealing Hines-Ike suspension is probably not a winning prospect given it would just put Mendoza's word against Hines-Ike, he does want to ask the league about how the stoppage time math added up to eight minutes. Estévez was particularly aghast at Christian Ramirez getting a concussion check on the field after the fourth official had already put up the board indicating he was being subbed out for Marco Reus – a decision that didn't escape several Austin players' curiosity as well as pretty much all of us in the press box. "I don't like to talk about refereeing," Estévez prefaced before answering my question about the refereeing and the distressing lack of discipline exhibited after the match. "What I'm seeing is ... there are teams that have more history. They became champions last year. They have a history of being a winning team. And then the tendency in every country is to go a little bit in favor of the bigger team. "And then I told the players after we need to earn that respect," he added. "We don't have that respect because we're a young team, and we haven't done a lot of things together in order to put ourselves in that position. And we just we cannot get frustrated with that, and we have to deal with that," before admitting that he expressed frustration with the Hines-Ike sendoff himself. "There's a little bit of history between the two teams now, over the past couple of years," Vanney said. "When he came here, Riqui \[Puig\] got tackled from behind, and he got hurt, and then there's a tackle on Riqui on the sideline a year ago at our place. You know, even in preseason, there are a lot of guys getting pieces of Gabe \[Gabriel Pec\] and others. So I think just the tensions between the group have risen over the last several meetings, and I think in the end, frustrations boil over a little bit. I don't think there was too much in it, other than just a lot of chirping back and forth." (We'll see what the [MLS Disciplinary Committee](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/topics/disciplinary-committee-decision/?ref=verdeallday.com) has to say about all this when they convene.) As for PRO's explanation? I'll share the questions and answers and let you assess. ### I'm going to ask about the Brendan Hines-Ike sendoff in two parts: First, what specifically did Hines-Ike do to merit the first yellow card? Austin #4, Hines-Ike, received his first yellow card for dissent by word. ### Then, what did he specifically do to merit the second yellow card (in such quick succession to the first)? *After receiving the first yellow card, Austin #4, Hines-Ike, continued to dissent by word and action.* Hines-Ike was not in the locker room during media availability (getting an early jump on his teammates to the showers, no doubt) to elaborate on the "words and action" from his point of view. ## What's next? Verde, back to second in the West as well as seventh in the Supporters' Shield standings, travels to Houston on Saturday in its first installment of the 2025 Copa Tejas. FC Dallas currently leads the standings by virtue of winning the Texas Derby opener to the season on Feb. 22, beating the Dynamo 2-1\. On Saturday evening, it took new signing Ondřej Lingr scoring deep into stoppage time (and then stripping in celebration – just his jersey and Catapult vest) for the Dynamo to salvage a 2-2 home draw against the Rapids. After that, May's a grind: Hosting Minnesota on May 3, hosting an Open Cup match four days later vs. El Paso, traveling to Cincinnati May 10, hosting a midweek match against Atlanta on May 14, hosting Vancouver on May 17, traveling to Minnesota on May 24, returning for yet another Wednesday match on May 28, and closing out May with a trip to San Diego (Austin fans' new favorite away destination) on May 31\. That's a lot of soccer! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, LA Galaxy 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvla-041925/ Last updated: 2025-04-19T19:54:40.000Z In an early Saturday afternoon match under ominous skies, Brandon Vázquez finally rolled the rock all the way up the hill, capping off an utterly Sisyphean match with a late goal, leading Austin FC to a 1-0 victory over LA Galaxy. Verde got pressure on early and often in the first half, with Myrto Uzuni very nearly scoring a legend-building goal in the 7th minute, pulling off a bicycle kick that went just over the bar, and exhibiting what's becoming trademark frustration for him. Despite some shots that Verde were able to work themselves into taking, including what was very nearly a hustle goal in the 36th minute when a sliding Brandon Vázquez forced Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy into a bad pass that Uzuni pounced on for a shot that defender Eriq Zavaleta headed away, they also had some unfortunate giveaways in final third passes that led to Galaxy counters. Gabriel Pec led the way on several of those, including a 28th-minute shot that worryingly clanged off the woodwork. Vázquez's frustrating journey in front of goal continued in the 45th minute when he took an off-balance shot that sloooooowly rolllllled past McCarthy and just past the far post. By the barest of margins, and everything else that transpired during the half, the teams went to the locker room scoreless — not shocking for a team averaging less than a goal a match. And then, in the first major chance of the second half, Dani Pereira got a would-be-assist to Vázquez (see "Best Verde moment that wasn't a goal" below) that the striker headed on the wrong side of the post, again keeping the match scoreless. Four minutes after coming on, substitute/designated player Osman Bukari earned a clear PK, which Vázquez set up to take. After some Galaxy shenanigans behind Vázquez, the snakebitten striker put in a weak kick that McCarthy easily saved. Sigh. Finally, Vázquez scored in the 81st minute, with substitute Žan Kolmanič sending in a deflected cross with enough zip to get to a grateful Vázquez, who got a toe on it from a spot where he couldn't miss. The ending was a little marred by Brendan Hines-Ike getting two quick yellow cards in succession for "poor sportsmanship" in the second minute of eight minutes of stoppage time (a thing I'll ask PRO about), and then it got really ugly after the final whistle, with multiple fights breaking out. But it still goes in the books as a win. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Pereira did about everything you would want him to do on Vázquez's 55th-minute attempt: Held the ball at the top of the box, got himself into optimal position to pass, sent that cross in on a well-defended Vázquez that only the striker could get to. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) You know what it is. ## Something you might have missed I hope you got to the stadium for the tifo just before the match (and up into the first minute of the actual match) ... lots of good artwork on display of all the players, but the Guilherme Biro one — featuring one of the most electric moments of This Rivalry's Rich Narrative — was where my eye went first (and, to be honest, lingered). Also, the Dani Pereira rendering led us to reminisce in the press box about the "hang it in the Louvre" goal and the fan who actually [hung it in the Louvre](https://www.kxan.com/sports-general/austin-fc/put-it-in-the-louvre-austin-fc-fan-displays-dani-pereira-goal-shot-in-paris/?ref=verdeallday.com). (Or, you know, at least displayed it there.) ## One nerdy tidbit Vázquez ended the match with 2.1 xG. (And one goal.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference We still have concerns about the final third passing, so we're going to ask about that. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### We meant to get this up earlier: Emergency Podcast, Episode 42 URL: https://verdeallday.com/we-meant-to-get-this-up-earlier-emergency-podcast-episode-42/ Last updated: 2025-04-19T18:10:29.000Z It's been a day ... but we've got the latest Emergency Podcast up here for your (retrospective) listening pleasure. Also, as we mentioned in the episode, if you can give to the Marcos Anaya, Jr., family [GoFundMe](https://gofund.me/625ab19c?ref=verdeallday.com), please do. In this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West talk not too painfully about last weekend's 5-1 debacle and where Verde goes from here, gives some vague hints about just how good the tifo at the Galaxy match is going to be, pay tribute to a fan we lost this past week, discuss why Verde need to win their next two matches, and close with Phil workshopping a nickname for a new rivalry that amped up a level. Listen (you know, after the match) via [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-42-scared-ad-boards-dont-advertise-things-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000704111019&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gchvVHU3H1rEBD53d8T8l?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fut7XjwXuh4&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player. ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with The Galactic Tribune's Alex Ruiz URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-alex-ruiz-galactic-tribune-atxvla-041925/ Last updated: 2025-04-19T12:30:45.000Z I love *Striker* reunions! The twice-annual match with the LA Galaxy is a welcome chance for me to check in with *The Striker* alum Alex Ruiz, a must-follow over on his site, [The Galactic Tribune](https://www.galactictribune.org/?ref=verdeallday.com), if you want to follow the doings of the 2024 MLS Cup champions. We had three (actually, four) questions for him and we got to return the favor; keep up with his site if you want to see how I'm presenting the state of Verde to the second-closest team to where I was born. (Yes, that's a Carson isn't so close to L.A. dig.) ![Map showing BMO Stadium and Dignity Health Sports Park](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-7.52.49-AM.png) This is why people in L.A. (and surrounding cities) own cars To the questions! ### **With Maya Yoshida out with injury and Zanka out with a red card, who might the Galaxy start in the back line this weekend, and how easy a time will Austin have scoring on them? (Or perhaps I should say, "How easy a time will a typical, reasonably offensively competent team have scoring on them?)** Whatever the Over/Under line is for goals the LA Galaxy will concede, I would take the over. The Galaxy defense has seen no consistency this season, with many players rotated out due to injury or the self-inflicted goalkeeping crisis between John McCarthy and Novak Micovic that saw both ‘keepers play with pressure to start the season. The Galaxy will likely start Eriq Zavaleta on Saturday; the former El Salvador international has played 45 minutes this season. Emiro Garces will be the other center back on the team; he can be reckless at times and struggles to defend crosses in the box. Austin has the players to make it hard for the LA Galaxy to keep a clean sheet. The Galaxy will give up chances, and the club has shot itself in the foot many times this season. Head Coach Greg Vanney and many of the players on the roster have talked about limiting these mistakes and not having to fight an uphill battle every match week. If the Galaxy can maintain control of the game and limit transition moments, the Galaxy could make this a hard game for the Austin attack. But again, that is “if” LA is capable of that - the club has yet to show any glimpses of that in 2025. ### **From my perspective, "hollowed-out midfield, and really missing Riqui Puig" is why the Galaxy are off to a bad start. Is that your assessment, or do you see additional issues with the team that's hampering it.** That assessment is correct, the Galaxy midfield was very reliable and consistent last season, but this year has been a different story. The departures of Gaston Brugman and Mark Delgado to other MLS clubs have left LA with little to no veteran presence in the middle of the park. Edwin Cerrillo has been the only consistent starter in the trenches, and he’s played in every game this season. Aside from the Waco, Texas, native, players such as Isaiah Parente, Tucker Lepley, Lucas Sanabria, Elijah Wynder, and Marco Reus have been in and out of the midfield lineup due to injury. There is no consistency in the most important area of the pitch. Without Puig, the Galaxy don't have a reliable playmaker who can create chances for others. The chance creation load has fallen on Gabriel Pec this season, but it means he’s getting the ball further from goal and cannot be in a position to score goals like he did last year. Joseph Paintsil has recently returned from a thigh injury that kept him out of preseason and for the first six games of the season, he’s added that direct threat that LA didn’t have to start the season. The midfield now has to support LA’s dynamic wingers and the results should follow soon. The Galaxy needs more chance creation and stability from the middle of the park. That hasn’t been there this season, but a familiar face to Austin FC fans could be a catalyst for change that LA desperately needs. ### **You recently wrote about our old friend Diego Fagundez and the role he might be able to have on the team going forward. Please share those observations and how those might have evolved from the time you wrote the article.** Despite the 1-1 result, you could feel a real momentum switch for the Galaxy after the game, especially with Diego Fagundez. After reaching 400 career MLS appearances and recording 150 goal contributions in regular-season play against the Houston Dynamo, Fagundez’s press conference felt like a breath of fresh air and life in a disappointing season for the Galaxy. His way of being direct about the poor start to the season, combined with his confidence that LA can turn this around, made you believe that was possible. He’s worn the captain’s armband in the last three games with Yoshida out, and he’s been the right player to be the leader for this squad. He’s well respected in the locker room as a leader and as “one of the guys” on the team. Fagundez has stepped up as a key leader for this group, and his voice holds much more weight than it did in the last two seasons. On the pitch, Fagundez can cement himself as a genuine key player for Vanney’s side. The 30-year-old hasn’t been one of the focal points of the squad since he arrived via trade in the summer of 2023, nor was he a huge factor in the Galaxy’s run to winning MLS Cup last season. But now he has that chance to be a game changer for the LA Galaxy and get the best out of the players around him. Fagundez started the season playing as a left winger because of Paintsil’s injury, and that was not the right fit for the MLS veteran. He doesn’t have that blazing quick pace that Paintsil provides, nor does he fancy taking on his opponents on the dribble like Pec. He’s now playing as the central playmaker in the middle of the pitch with Paintsil and Pec on either side. As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy doesn’t have a consistent playmaker, but Fagundez playing at the 10 could help boost the underwhelming attack. In my article earlier this week where I mentioned that Fagundez could be the player to “quarterback” the Galaxy, I included quotes where Vanney praised his ability to read the game and understand his system. Vanney believes that Fagundez can be the player who adds some consistency to the chance-creation struggles the team is going through. The stats show he’s been the LA Galaxy’s best chance creator despite playing on the left wing. He needs to bring that level of creativity to pull the strings in the midfield and allow Pec, Paintsil, and striker Christian Ramirez to worry about being in the right position instead of looking to force touches on the ball. Fagundez’s free-kick goal on Saturday night showed that he can still provide game-changing moments in an instant. He’s headed into Austin motivated to score and jumpstart the Galaxy. ### **Also, as a bonus question, when is Marco Reus coming back? Asking for my Verde Best Ball league fantasy team.** Reus has trained all week with the LA Galaxy, but Greg Vanney wouldn’t say if he would play this weekend. Vanney is very conservative when it comes to returning players from injury. It will be a game-time decision on whether he will be on the gameday roster; seeing him get a start in Texas would be quite surprising. I’m sure you’re like the rest of the LA Galaxy fanbase: Disappointed that Reus hasn’t been impactful when he’s on the pitch and that his injury problems continue to come up. [Support!](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'I see the MLS 2024 champions': Verde won't underestimate an opponent yet to win in 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/i-see-the-mls-2024-champions-verde-wont-underestimate-an-opponent-yet-to-win-in-2025/ Last updated: 2025-04-18T14:06:13.000Z Right out of the gate on Thursday, at Austin FC's media availability, head coach Nico Estévez fielded a question about the LA Galaxy's moribund start to the season. Through eight matches, the O.G. franchise – coming to Austin for a 12:45 pm Saturday matchup – has yet to win, has let in 15 goals, and has only scored six to match Verde's fan-worrying total. "What have you seen out of them through the first few months?" floated the Austin American-Statesman's Colby Gordon. "I mean, I see the MLS 2024 champion," he responded. "This is what I see." While not underestimating Verde's opponent, he's also not outwardly bothered by Saturday's calamitous 5-1 loss against Vancouver, a concerning outlier at best and a harbinger of losing to come at its worst. "We've shown that after two defeats against Portland and Colorado, we responded very well against LAFC," he said. "This is sports. Sports is not about a linear way to succeed. It's about ups and downs, and when we win, we celebrate all together, and when when we lose and we're knocked out, we get back \[up\] together." ## 'We just have to learn' The journey to healing from the team's worst loss in 10 months, according to Estévez, began with the idea of a "reset." "I found with the experience that I had, like when things happen like that, you just have to reset and go back. And then we went back to preseason, and we talked about who we are, and we talked about our strengths ... and we just reset and start a new precision here,'" he said. "You could see the energy was different," he said upon laying that out, "and it's like we're building something, and we had just this down part of the process to get something that we want to get, and we just have to learn and use that as a as a motivation to beat the champions from 2024." Owen Wolff had similar observations in his time with the media Thursday. "The last game definitely wasn't one of our better performances, but we watched it back, we reviewed it and we learned from it and \[we'll\] just get better and get ready for this game this weekend," he asserted. Estévez did provide some insights on the learning that needed to happen. "The forwards were ready to press high in every moment, in order to win the ball and to score goals, and the back line and the midfield line wanted to help," he said of last Saturday's performance. "But then we were too spread \[out\], and the back line, because the opponent had runners, had to drop and we were too spread \[out\] and large in the game. "And then, now, as a coach, is how these answers and these thoughts from their players – we, as a staff and with the players – can bring together and have the same thought and then connect everything," he continued. "What we saw the other day is, at times, a disconnected team ... it's not about we didn't run, or there's not effort there. It's like we were disconnected. Then what will happen is, when you are disconnected, you open the field, and it makes so easy for the opponent." He added, "What also happened is you get frustrated because you are not getting success in your actions and and then this gets in your mind, and then you lose focus, and you lose energy," before going on to say that the focus needs to include (stop me if you've heard this one before) goals. We also got a Mikkel Desler injury update: He's closer to a return, but it sounds like full training with the team is still about a week away, so expect his return to action in what's going to be a full and challenging May, in part because a second competition is introduced into the schedule. ## Open to it Though Estévez said he's solely focused on the Galaxy this week — because he is a professional coach bound by the professional coaches' "one game at a time" mantra — the U.S. Open Cup came up in conversation Thursday, as Austin FC learned it would enter the fray on Wednesday, May 7, playing El Paso Locomotive in the venerable tournament dating back to 1914, despite recent efforts from MLS Commissioner Don Garber to limit his league's participation. (In 2024, as you'll remember, Austin was one of a number of clubs represented by its MLS Next Pro team rather than its first team. That first-ever USOC match for Austin FC II didn't go well, unless you're affiliated with Foro SC, which [dispatched VerDos](https://verdeallday.com/assessing-austin-fc-ii-2024-us-open-cup-exit/).) "I'm coming from a country \[where\] the cup is always important," Estévez said. "It's always important because it is the most traditional and historical competition in every country, where you give the possibility to teams that are playing in different divisions to challenge the players the teams that are playing in the first division ... It's an unpredictable competition. We're going to take very serious the competition, as we always do. Ay competition that we compete, we participate. We want to compete for the best, but as we do with the league, one game at a time right now." He described El Paso thusly: "Good team, great coach with experience in MLS, Wilmer Cabrera," the former Houston Dynamo skipper, "with players that have played in MLS, even Liga MX ... I already had a lot of experiences last year against Tampa Bay, before against Tulsa. And those teams always exceed their level against MLS teams. We're going to expect the best El Paso team possible and we'll prepare accordingly ... it could be a good path to get something good." Wolff was more direct when asked about it, referring to teammate Dani Pereira's observation in a recent local interview about it being a winnable tournament with a very finite number of matches. "I see it as another opportunity to win something, a trophy," Wolff said. "So I think we should take it. I think we're going to take it seriously, and hopefully do what Dani said and win the tournament." [Get access to everything](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### It's not so bad: Some hopeful stats remain in the wake of a painful Austin FC loss URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-analysis-first-eight-matches-xg-xag-defensive-numbers/ Last updated: 2025-04-15T13:37:36.000Z You might not be feeling great about that [5-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-vancouver-whitecaps-fc-5-austin-fc-1/) that Austin FC suffered to Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday. That's totally understandable. But if you're looking for solace in numbers, you might have to do a bit of digging to get what you're looking for ... but they're there. In what I'm intending as a public service, let me walk you through some of them today. ## They can still make the playoffs (doing less overall than they've already done) Last week, [I determined](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-playoff-places-seven-matches-vs-whole-season-analysis/) that seven of the nine teams in the West in the past two seasons who were in a playoff place after seven weeks stayed there. Of course, Austin was the one team that was in a playoff place both those seasons that dropped out by season's end, but they were barely in that top nine at that juncture in 2023 and 2024, and their 2025 start was more reminiscent of what they accomplished in 2022\. The math's still there for Verde to make the playoffs, even coming off a loss that showed them to be the weakest they've been all season. They're still on a 1.63 points per game pace with what they've done so far, which works out to around 56 points, which would have been good for 5th in the West and 4th in the East last season. To get to the 45-point mark that usually serves at the playoff-placing floor, Austin FC would need to play at a 1.27 PPG pace the rest of the way. If you believe this team can go 8W-9L-8D or 9W-9L-5D for the remainder of the season, they'd arrive at exactly 45 points with that record. But let's look at some other numbers showing what they've done so far. ## Spreading the wealth If you were worried about how goals might be concentrated among a few players this season — what few goals there have been so far, to be fair — that hasn't been the case. The good news is that through eight matches, Verde have six different goal scorers, including both starting fullbacks, one of two young midfielders the club has invested years in developing, and all three designated players. The bad news, of course, is that each of those six players only has scored one goal, but as we'll see with some other numbers in a moment, it doesn't have to stay that way. Three players who haven't scored yet have at least 0.3 xG accumulated so far this season, an indicator that they'll eventually make good on a chance and join the scoring party. Two of those, Owen Wolff and Jáder Obrian, seem more likely to do this than Besard Šabović per the eye test, as he's has had a worrying series of botched attempts. Yet Šabović has gotten himself in really good positions to score in accumulating his current xG — it's not just a great number of poor attempts adding up. He has seven shots, with just one technically on target, for 0.4 xG. That certainly could be better, but he's at least getting set up to contribute. Wolff, meanwhile, has set himself up as more of a distributor, leading the team with three assists. But should the offense develop its chemistry, it's conceivable that Wolff will be the beneficiary of front-three assists. (Or, in their current state, front two plus whatever Osman Bukari is doing, which is something a lot of us are collectively hoping head coach Nico Estévez will, you know, take a look at.) ## Underperforming the numbers Verde shouldn't have just six goals, if you believe that xG neatly correlates to goalscoring. Currently, their G-xG rating per FBref numbers is -2.9, meaning that with 8.9 xG and only six goals, you'd expect them to have three more than they actually have. Only seven teams in the league have greater negatives in this category, which indicates either finishing problems, bad luck, or some combination for Verde. The eye test as well as the xG values on their chances tell us that Brandon Vázquez and Myrto Uzuni are getting in position to score. Similarly, Austin's A-xA is currently at -2.3, working out to just five assists to their 7.3 expected assists, with only six MLS teams currently worse. If you believe this is a law of averages matter, look for Verde to possibly right this against a Galaxy team that has given up nearly two goals a match so far this season, and will be missing a starting center back, Zanka (who has not been great defensively), thanks to a red card issued last week in LA's draw with Houston. (Their best center back, Maya Yoshida, is also expected to remain out. We know who to reach out to about this development to learn more, and we'll be doing that soon.) Speaking of Houston, Verde travels to H-Town to close out April, and the Dynamo have let in 12 goals so far this season. If Verde can't score goals against two of the four most sieve-like teams in the West over the next two matches, there's more than a law of averages issue in effect. ## Some defensive numbers are still good So, Vancouver outperforming a 4.5 xG with five goals on Saturday didn't do wonders for Austin FC's sterling-up-until-then defensive numbers. But despite that performance – hopefully a mere outlier – the team still has some numbers worth celebrating. Verde are still tied for fifth in clearances and they're second for tackles in the defensive third, two numbers that indicate that despite what happened on Saturday, they're still better at absorbing and expelling attacking threats than most of the other teams in the league. They've also secured clean sheets in half their matches, tied for league-best with four other teams, most of whom are (like Austin, let's remind ourselves) in playoff places. And they're still fifth in the West in xGA, even after all the xGA water they took on in their last match. ## Always look on the bright side of life That might not be a lot to go on, but the fact that there's only one bad loss in the first eight matches already makes 2025 better than last year. At this stage of 2024, they also had three losses, but those included the opening day loss to Minnesota (with that first half arguably being the worst half of soccer the team's ever played), the infamous 2-0 loss to Orlando (where they achieved 0.16 xG on three total shots while racking up 57% of mostly-pointless possession), and the 1-0 loss at St. Louis (62% possession for two total shots, both by Sebastián Driussi, registering 0.32 worth of xG). Of course, numbers only go so far to make one feel good or bad about a soccer team. The numbers I'm eager to see Saturday are pretty basic ones: How many goals Austin scores, how few they let in, whether they can win and get to 16 points in the table against a team that only has three points which has them dead last in the West. While it's still possible for Verde to get to the playoffs if they don't win their next two matches — there's plenty of soccer in the season left, after all — the disappointment will be palpable if they can't win at home Saturday and at least draw away at Houston. Those teams are arguably struggling more than Austin right now, and given what we've seen of them in recent weeks, they're certainly beatable. Numbers say Austin FC is still at least a decent soccer team. Will their performances the next two matches say the same? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We are ashamed': Austin FC reacts to its worst loss in 10 months URL: https://verdeallday.com/post-match-analysis-vanvatx-041225/ Last updated: 2025-04-13T14:23:34.000Z On June 1, 2024, Austin FC traveled to Sandy, Utah, gave up a hat trick to Chicho Arango and a brace to Anderson Julio, and got a late goal from Alex Ring (on a PK) to finish out [a brutal 5-1 loss](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-recap-rslvatx-060124/) coming in the middle of a five-match winless string. On Saturday, Verde followed a similar trajectory in [losing 5-1](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-vancouver-whitecaps-fc-5-austin-fc-1/) to Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with a late Dani Pereira goal showing the barest signs of life after Brian White vaulted into a tie for the MLS Golden Boot league with four goals to bring his season total to six. In assessing the loss, a second straight winless match following a promising three-match win streak, head coach Nico Estévez was more effusive and self-flagellating than his predecessor was after that similar RSL loss. While Josh Wolff called his team's four-goal loss to RSL "humbling" in an ultimately humbling season, Estévez went further in assessing Verde's loss to the Supporters' Shield leaders. "I always believe that games like these help to build the mentality of the team," he said. "We are ashamed about how we represented our city today, and we'll make sure that these things don't happen. We can lose a game. It's part of the game. We lost against Colorado. We lost against Portland, but we have to lose with our values, with our identity, being ourselves, fighting, leaving everything there, and when we are not playing 120%, we we are an average team, and this is what we showed today." Brendan Hines-Ike, who served as captain in the loss and took a shot to the face attempting (and failing) to make a goalline save on White's third goal, in arguably the match's most emblematic moment, considered the loss a personal affront to him and his teammates. "It's a game that is brutal when it gets like that," he said. "It can absolutely crumble to your core, when you're taking a beating like that ... it's a testament and a test for us as men to see what we're about, what we're about as a team. And for me, it's a moment to unify the group." Indeed, after the loss, Hines-Ike revealed that "togetherness" was the theme of the team's post-match assessment, noting that it "wasn't the time to start throwing fingers" or trying to analyze the match. "I can count probably on my one hand the amount of times I've gone through something like this in my career, and I've played for 11 years now," said Hines-Ike, reminiscent of Ring's post-RSL loss comments last year. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you remember it." ## 'We gave them too much space' It's one thing to lose a match to a better team — which the 6-1-1 Whitecaps very well might be, even when missing a few key players. It's quite another, though, to put in a defensive performance that moves the season stat line from a league-leading three goals allowed to eight, meaning that eight MLS teams have now allowed fewer goals than Verde (but with three of those teams set to play today). Per FBref's numbers, Austin allowed a collective 4.8 expected goals against (xGA) over its first seven matches, averaging 0.68 per match. On Saturday, the team gave up 4.5 xGA and the Caps still overperformed that, even with Brad Stuver saving a PK that brought nearly 0.8 xG to the equation. (By the way, we put a question to PRO via Whitecaps pool reporter [Felipe Vallejo](https://bsky.app/profile/felipevfc.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com), curious about the rationale for the foul leading to Daniel Rios' attempt from the spot. PRO came back with “In the 71st minute of play, Austin #20 Dubersarsky committed an offense by holding the shirt of Vancouver #24 White," so after last week's better effort from PRO to answer questions responsively, we're back to this.) "Vancouver right now is a team that everything goes their way, everything," Estévez assessed. "Every rebound, every play, every mistake from the opponent ... and we knew that. We knew it was going to be a game that if we concede something and we disconnect a little bit or make mistakes, they're going to take it because they're in that moment." Allowing White to score four goals was, in Estévez's view, the result of a good player having a good game, asserting that he's "probably one of the best strikers that we have in the league, one of the best American strikers. And then I think, today, it's very useless to talk about pointing \[fingers\]," noting that in addition to the requisite scouting, "We had a meeting with the back line yesterday, showed clips, everything we do ... as professional as you could imagine." Looking at the goals added rating, with 10 Whitecaps players at or above the mean vs. just five Verde players, it's clear who had the better night. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_v_Austin_FC_gplus_2025-04-12.png) But Hines-Ike was more critical where Estévez in evaluating what happened. "It fell apart because we gave them too much space," he said. "And it's a team that we understood would take advantage of those opportunities from the get-go. I thought we were not terribly well set up. I thought that we were somewhat in the game, but a team like that, you give them an inch, and they take it. We came in flat. We came in flat. It was just a performance tonight where we just didn't meet our standard. "Our standard is we have to be full go every single minute of every single game to have a chance to compete with these types of teams in this league, and that's what's been our success this year," he continued. "Our willingness to duel and work hard and just battle and stick to principles and that got lost tonight." He also complemented White, granting, "We obviously are very well aware of his his talents, and he exposed us. And, it's again a very good opportunity for us to take this one on the chin and move forward and learn from it, especially because there are a lot of good players like him in this league that will be watching this and looking to do the same thing." ## A painful visual I hate to share this, but here's the xG comparison per MLS Analytics and the ASA xG calculations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-04-12.png) It's not only the xG disparity that stands out – it's 27 total shots for Vancouver, 11 on target, and 10 in the great and good tiers vs. just one good chance for Verde. (According to FBref, Austin's best chance of the match was Myrto Uzuni's fourth-minute chance isolated with the keeper – at 0.22 xG, per FBref's slightly different calculations.) (To contrast that, White's goals came on shots at 0.37, 0.55, 0.6, and 0.16 xG. Pereira's goal, as he's sometimes wont to do, was the result of a 0.02 xG shot. At 27 yards out, only a speculative Jon Gallagher shot at minute 69 was longer.) The momentum chart in the center of this graphic is also telling. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-04-12.png) The passing network also shows two potentially concerning things: Thick lines indicating a lot of passing among the back four (for those of you on guard for Horseshoe of Sadness sightings), and Uzuni and Vázquez being in about the same spot for their average positions. With the Galaxy coming to Austin next week, and with center back Zanka receiving a red card early in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw against the Dynamo (with Diego Fagundez scoring to salvage the point), it appears a match in which (provided Maya Yoshida remains out with a hamstring injury) Verde could bounce back. That Houston couldn't put away a 10-man Galaxy likely speaks more to concerns about the Texas team than any surging confidence in what the defending MLS champs can do. But certainly, for Austin FC, I'd expect next Saturday's match to be better. It certainly can't be much worse than what we all just witnessed. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 5, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-vancouver-whitecaps-fc-5-austin-fc-1/ Last updated: 2025-04-13T01:53:25.000Z In a battle between the West's No. 1 and No. 4 teams on Saturday evening (late afternoon local time) at Vancouver's BC Place, Austin FC lost 5-1 (!), with Brian White scoring two first-half goals and two second-half goals to propel the Whitecaps more firmly into the Supporters' Shield lead as the league's first six-match winner. After a relatively fun first frame that included Myrto Uzuni going one-v-one with Whitecaps 'keeper Yohei Takaoka (resulting in a less-than-satisfying chip) and what looked like Brad Stuver scooping up a mouse and escorting it off the field in his large padded gloves, things got less fun for Verde in the 13th minute. Édier Ocampo sent a cross into the heart of the rarely-vulnerable Austin defense, and then Daniel Rios redirected it with a deft backheel to White, who then did what Brian White is very good at doing. Verde then found themselves in an unfamiliar position in its 2025 campaign — looking to equalize. Then, in the 38th minute, Stuver sent a goal kick right to Ralph Priso, who then found Emmanuel Sabbi with an upfield pass, who then sprung White past the uncharacteristically flat-footed Verde defense for his second goal of the half. Austin had one fantastic chance before half, with Jon Gallagher finding Vázquez in front of goal with a would-be assist that the striker then flubbed. The Sisyphean ordeal continues. Within two minutes after the restart, Sabbi scored on a corner kick with defensive positioning that again went wanting. (Verde players were there, to be fair, but didn't move or put up resistance as Sabbi slid forward to receive a pass in a position where Stuver was left unable to keep the shot out.) And in the 59th minute, White got his third goal running free in the box following a shot off the post that caromed off Brendan Hines-Ike's face on the way in (who, to credit him, did make a valiant effort to defend the goal). Stuver did staunch the bleeding by saving his first PK goal of 2025 from Daniel Rios, also saving a shot coming in the ensuing post-miss melee. But he couldn't keep White from scoring a fourth goal following that save, making Brian White fantasy owners very happy. Not that it mattered in the final scoreline, but Dani Pereira scored an outside-the-box banger to ruin Takaoka's clean sheet in the 90th minute. My seven-year-old daughter, predicting a 2-1 win for a Whitecaps team she inexplicably loves, assessed, "My perfection was wrong." ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Other than Stuver saving the mouse? We're going to give it to the several would-be assists from Wolff and Gallagher. With better finishing, this would have at least been a closer match. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 33rd minute, with Austin breaking toward goal but Brandon Vázquez being confused about where to place the ball, Owen Wolff was nevertheless able to salvage the play, getting the ball into a dangerous place in the box and then teeing up a shot with a smart backheel pass to Besard Šabović. Šabović then skied what should have been the equalizer. Less than five minutes later, things got much worse. ## Something you might have missed Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen was very amused by the Stuver mouse rescue. ## One nerdy tidbit Prior to the save on Rios, Stuver has saved [four of 25 MLS PKs](https://www.transfermarkt.us/brad-stuver/elfmeterstatistik/spieler/300600?ref=verdeallday.com) he's faced, the last coming against Hany Mukhtar last August. Two of his four career saves, awesomely, came against Chicharito. (Take that, Chicharito.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference "So, you've had your first absolute stinker of the year. What do you do to regroup?" [Subscribe to get today's quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The (improbable) math says Austin could be Supporters' Shield leaders tonight: Emergency Podcast, Episode 41 URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-improbable-math-says-austin-could-be-supporters-shield-leaders-tonight-emergency-podcast-episode-41/ Last updated: 2025-04-12T16:41:49.000Z As we're fans of weird math, especially weird math that works out in Austin FC's favor, we did some to start off the latest episode of Emergency Podcast, which went up bright and early this morning. From the episode description: In this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West get nerdy on the completely reasonable series of events vaulting Verde to the top of the league, discuss their upcoming marquee match against Vancouver, miss Vanni Sartini, discuss Austin's playoff chances now that the team's banked 13 points in their first seven matches, celebrate Riley Thomas, and bring in a special guest with a score prediction. Check it out on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-41-very-nearly-supporters-shield-leaders-if/id1742052077?i=1000703261308&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ozfxryXB6FDaotTmKNdDZ?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq1NZb6Rp4A&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player below. ### Foreign Exchange: Learn more about the Whitecaps with The Third Sub URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-sam-rowan-third-sub-vancouver-whitecaps/ Last updated: 2025-04-12T16:11:07.000Z While we had resident household Whitecaps expert Emmeline West on the most recent [Emergency Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-41-very-nearly-supporters-shield-leaders-if/id1742052077?i=1000703261308&ref=verdeallday.com), sometimes we want a source a little closer to the source. That's why we reached out to Sam Rowan of [The Third Sub](https://thethirdsub.ca/?ref=verdeallday.com), providing [a pretty solid preview](https://thethirdsub.ca/2025/04/11/whitecaps-austin-fc-meet-in-stylistic-mismatch/?ref=verdeallday.com) of what's to come on Saturday night as well as some answers to our specific questions about the matchup. (Our preview for the [6:30 pm contest](https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-vanvatx-041225/) is here.) ### Despite some key injuries to players and switching out a head coach in the offseason, Vancouver's first in the West after seven weeks ... is this a surprise to you? If so, what do you attribute this surprise success to, and if not, why aren't you surprised? I think the fact that Vancouver is first has certainly been a surprise. The fact that they are a good team is not though. This was a side that was competing near the top of the West for most of last season, but they had a terrible run of form to end the year, paired with being limited by the international breaks, and that dropped them all the way down to 8th. Even after that, they went toe-to-toe with LAFC in the first round after dominating Portland in the play-in match. There hasn't been much in the way of roster turnover, so this is a group that knows one another and has proven they can be highly competitive. That being said, I do think the coaching change has been a huge boost. Jesper Sørensen’s system has favored more possession, and he has allowed individuals to be more creative and play to their strengths. Vancouver has been getting goals from everyone on the roster, and the possession has led to less pressure on the defensive unit. I don’t think anyone in Vancouver knew that Sørensen’s system would work as well as it has, especially with some key players out. ### Speaking of injury, what's the prognosis on Ryan Gauld, Jayden Nelson, and Sam Adekugbe? (Those of us in Austin are certainly less eager to see them back than you are.) In terms of those injuries, Sam Adekugbe is the only player who has returned to full training as of right now. I could see Sam potentially coming off the bench against Austin, but the others are still at least a week away. ### We've been talking a lot over the past week about the Weird Turf of BC Place. Do Whitecaps players find it weird? If so, how do they use it to their advantage, and if not, what do they know about it that the rest of the league doesn't? Yes, the turf is weird, and yes, the Whitecaps definitely use it to their advantage. I think it really comes down to the bounces and the way the balls skips off the turf. While the ball lands relatively dead on the surface, it will also glide across it. So sometimes players are caught out by those low and fast balls coming at them. [Support our exchanges](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We cannot change everything for a game': Austin FC prepares for several layers of different URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-vanvatx-041225/ Last updated: 2025-04-11T12:54:18.000Z Yes, the turf in BC Place is weird. After last Saturday's 0-0 draw against Portland, Austin FC midfielder Dani Pereira granted that it was, answering my question in the affirmative, the "weirdest turf in the league." It was also the first question out of the gate for head coach Nico Estévez, preparing his squad to face Vancouver Whitecaps FC, surprisingly the conference's best team through seven weeks. Add in Verde's positive 4-2-1 start, and Saturday's contest (with the odd 6:30 pm start time) is an unexpected marquee matchup involving two top-four West teams, even if it wasn't selected by the league's site as one of the three [must-watch matches](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/matchday-8-what-to-know-for-this-weekend-s-must-watch-matches-2025?ref=verdeallday.com) of the weekend. "It's a challenge because that turf is a little bit different than others," he said of BC Place's notorious surface, which the [Caps' site](https://www.whitecapsfc.com/matchday/bc-place?ref=verdeallday.com) helpfully says is "Polytan Ligaturf 240 RS+ all-weather turf, which has recived a FIFA 2-star rating," also found in home stadiums for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Red Bull Salzburg. "It is very bouncy ... and we just have to be smart, and don't try things that can put us in a difficult position," he added. "But it's also a turf that you can play. But we have to decide where areas we have to do it, and what moments and what parts of the field is inside or outside. But we cannot change everything for a game. We just have to adapt some things and adjust, as every team does when they go and play there." Estévez has been impressed with what Vancouver's done this season, not only in managing their MLS matches, but thanks to their late comeback draw against Pumas on Wednesday, advancing to the Concacaf Champions League semifinals against Inter Miami. But he also asserts, "I think we have the right qualities to go there and make it a really, really hard game for them and try to get the win." That's not just naive optimism; the Whitecaps are dealing with injuries to mainstays like designated player Ryan Gauld and Canadian international fullback Sam Adekugbe, along with Jayden Nelson, who has been one of the most exciting emergent new players in the league this season before being sidelined with a hamstring issue. Plus, CCL brings some schedule congestion to a mix that includes upcoming league matches against the likes of Minnesota and LAFC. Also, once again, Estévez emphasized to his squad that they're getting in good positions to score and just need to close the deal, and in a concerning nod to last year's press conferences, confided to media that designated players Myrto Uzuni and Brandon Vázquez are scoring some fantastic goals in training sessions. We'll set aside the talk of goals for now. Just know that Verde, with five goals on the season, is underperforming what FBref has as an 8.2 xG, with Vázquez and Uzuni stuck on one goal a piece despite much higher individual xG values (2.7 for the American and 1.9 for the Albanian). Estévez is aware. The players are aware. But also, Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka is tied with Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver for most clean sheets in the league with four. Would another 0-0 result be a surprise? ## Fullback questions remain With Mikkel Desler still a couple of weeks from returning — Estévez said on Wednesday, "We expect him probably ready for around the beginning of May, to be ready ... hopefully, at the end of April, to start training with a group. He's progressing really well and we just have to be patient." Over the last four matches, Verde has activated successive Short-Term Agreements for SuperDraft pick and current Austin FC II player Riley Thomas. Those have all been expended without Thomas actually seeing the field. To fill that hole in the lineup — and given what the club's done of late, we'll likely get an answer to this query later today — Verde has three options: - Go ahead and sign Thomas to a supplemental agreement, which would allow him to bounce between the first and second team like CJ Fodrey and Jimmybryant Farkarlun for as long as he's needed (or, God forbid another injury, he's needed again); - Plug another VerDos fullback in with a Short-Term Agreement, which, while a downgrade from Thomas, will only be an emergency activation given that existing first-team players can slot in at fullback if absolutely needed; or - Sign a brand-new-to-Verde player to a supplemental deal or even (since they do have a domestic spot available and need to get up to 18 senior roster spots following the Leo Väisänen transfer to be MLS compliant again) a low-salary senior deal. Moontower Soccer floated the idea of ex-Earthquakes fullback and famed [Duolingo Spanish learner Tommy Thompson](https://blog.duolingo.com/can-you-learn-language-with-duolingo/?ref=verdeallday.com), and it's not the worst idea. ## 'I don't try to take yellow cards' The club made Besard Šabović available to the media on Wednesday, so of course the topic of yellow cards came up. In Saturday's match, Estévez was concerned about the number of cautions referee Drew Fischer distributed – including one on Šabović that puts him tied for the yellow card lead with Vázquez per MLS stats after seven games. "I don't try to take yellow cards, but I try to play aggressively as much as I can, but not over the edge," he reasoned. "I think the referees here maybe can be sometimes a little bit too soft with the free kicks, but yeah, of course, I'm thinking about it, but I'm also trying to play on the edge." Šabović hinted he's acclimating well to life in Austin, in part because of his burgeoning friendship with Uzuni. "I have Albanian roots, and he's also Albanian. So we speak Albanian sometimes or almost all the time. And as you said, he comes from Europe. We came at the same time to Austin, so it was very easy to link up and be friends." Also, Šabović was asked about turf – and given that he most recently played in Sweden, turf's something he's familiar with. "I've grown up on turf, and the last two and a half years before I came here, I played on turf. So for me, it's very nice," he said. "Everybody likes real grass when it's good, but artificial, it's always consistent, even if it's bad weather or good weather. So I think that's the thing they like. It's always consistent." Clearly, Šabović has never played in Vancouver. But should Saturday's lineup hold form with recent ones Estévez has chosen, he's about to. [Support this work](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Have Verde done enough to make the playoffs? What performance after seven MLS matches tells us about the whole season (and post-season) URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-playoff-places-seven-matches-vs-whole-season-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-04-08T13:03:18.000Z If there's not a maxim to this effect, there should be: You don't know how any MLS team is going to do at the start of the season. The LA Galaxy, for now the reigning MLS Cup champs, picked by many (not me) to finish among the top teams in the West, is currently dead last in the conference. Seattle Sounders FC, also picked by many to be among the best in the West (including me), are currently 12th, though they're notoriously slow starters. Meanwhile, expansion team San Diego FC is second in the West, and a Union team that [worried one of their most observant writers](https://bsky.app/profile/sportsdoctormd.bsky.social/post/3lh56cbjyzs2e?ref=verdeallday.com) heading into the season is third in the East. Just like everyone predicted! Oh, and an Austin FC team that quite a few pundits predicted would be toward the bottom of the West is instead fourth after seven matches — with the chance to pull even on points with current conference leader Vancouver (another surprise) should they grab an away victory on Saturday. While MLS preseason predictions are notoriously off base, the season does largely reveal itself at about the seven-match mark. With 34 matches in an MLS season, seven matches means a team's already a scooch more than 20 percent through its schedule. And while you don't know how a team's going to fare in MLS at the start of the season, it's much easier to predict if that team's going to make the playoffs at this stage of the season. And if you're an Austin FC fan, I have some good news for you. (I'm reasonably sure.) ## Seven of Nine: Not just a Star Trek character In 2023, MLS launched its maybe-too-many-teams playoff format, in which nine teams from each conference make the playoffs. There's a big asterisk-laden debate on this one, as some contend that the teams who make the play-in matches (the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in each conference) aren't really *in* the playoffs, but I contend that if you are playing a match that follows the end of the regular season by reaching a certain place threshold in the table allowing you to be there, you are officially in the post-season. Looking at the 2023 and 2024 Western Conference tables after seven matches and after all 34 matches, I found that in each season, seven of the top nine teams in the table at the seven-week mark remained in the top nine. Only two teams that were below the playoff line after seven matches were able to supplant two teams in the top nine by season's end. Remember, both seasons included pesky bye weeks, so we have to factor in that a few teams only played six matches after seven weeks. Also, know that we're going to talk about points per game in some of this, and to get to what's generally a playoff-clinching 45-point season (though that's varied some in recent years), you have to play at a 1.32 PPG clip to get there. In 2023, the top nine after seven weeks looked like this: 1. Seattle (7 played, 16 points) 2. St. Louis (7 played, 15 points) 3. LAFC (6 played, 14 points — and they'd win their 7th game to get to 17 points) 4. Dallas (7 played, 11 points) 5. *Minnesota (6 played, 11 points)* 6. San Jose (7 played, 11 points) 7. Houston (6 played, 9 points) 8. Vancouver (7 played, 9 points) 9. *Austin (6 played, 7 points — and they'd tie their 7th game, 0-0 at home against Vancouver, to get to 8 points)* See those two italicized teams? Yep, those are the two that were in playoff position and then dropped out. This is what the final table looked like, with their points total (and teams making the leap in bold): 1. St. Louis (56) 2. Seattle (53) 3. LAFC (52) 4. Houston (51) 5. **RSL (50)** 6. Vancouver (48) 7. Dallas (46) 8. **SKC (44)** 9. San Jose (44) Remarkably, RSL had six points after seven matches, and SKC had THREE points — failing to get a win in their first 10 matches. SKC had to play at a 1.52 PPG rate over their last 27 matches of the season just to get into the playoffs — but then won their play-in game and knocked out St. Louis to be Peak MLS that season. Austin, meanwhile, flubbed its position playing at a 1.19 PPG pace in those final 27 games. (Extrapolated over a full season, that pace gets you a 40-point season. Austin finished with 39\. They somehow lucked into a playoff place at 1.16 PPG after seven matches.) In 2024, it was largely the same story in the West. Seven of nine teams in playoff position after seven weeks of the season remained there — and Austin was one of the two in a play-in spot that dropped out by season's end. Here's the table after seven weeks of the 2024 season: 1. Vancouver (6 played, 13 points) 2. LA Galaxy (7 played, 12 points) 3. RSL (7 played, 11 points) 4. Minnesota (6 played, 11 points) 5. LAFC (7 played, 10 points) 6. Houston (6 played, 10 points) 7. *SKC (7 played, 10 points)* 8. *Austin (7 played, 9 points, 2 wins, -1 goal differential)* 9. Colorado (7 played, 9 points, 2 wins, -2 goal differential) Yep, Austin was in position to host the play-in game after seven matches, but went 1.22 PPG in their final 27 matches to finish on 42 points. (If they'd been in the East, they would have passed Atlanta for the ninth and final playoff spot in that conference. But they're in the West.) The final standings looked like this: 1. LAFC (64, beating San Jose 3-1 on Decision Day to take the West by a single goal's worth of goal differential) 2. LA Galaxy (64) 3. RSL (59) 4. **Seattle (57, after starting with six points in the first seven matches and going 1.89 PPG over the remaining 27)** 5. Houston (54) 6. Minnesota (52) 7. Colorado (50) 8. Vancouver (47, who went 1.25 PPG in their final 27 after playing 2.17 PPG in their first six to drop from first to eighth) 9. **Portland (47)** ## But wait, there's hope So, yes, Austin was in a playoff place after seven matches in 2023 and 2024 and was the only team to fail to make it both seasons. That doesn't bode well. However, standings-wise, 2025 is looking more like 2022 than the two subsequent years. In 2022, after seven matches, Verde was 4-1-2, in second place in the West, on 14 points. They remained in second throughout the season, playing at a 1.62 PPG clip their last 27 matches; that, combined with the 2 PPG pace in their first seven, left them with a 1.65 PPG rate for the whole season, only bested by three other teams in the league. In 2025, at the same juncture, they're 4-2-1, at 1.86 PPG, in fourth, on 13 points. To get to 45 points right now, they'd have to play at a 1.18 PPG clip the rest of the way, just above the 1.15 PPG level they got to for all of 2023\. And they certainly seem capable of better than that just for the way they've played defense. Also, if you're theorizing that they've been in an "easy" part of their schedule, San Diego and Portland currently sandwich them in the standings, and they've played two other playoff place teams so far (Colorado, now in 7th, and LAFC, now in 9th, though that's probably going to improve.) Their opponents to date have a collective 16-17-9 record, for a collective 1.36 PPG. Their next seven opponents (Vancouver, the Galaxy, Houston, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Vancouver again) have accumulated a PPG to date of ... 1.4\. At the start of the season you might have surmised this upcoming block of matches constituted a tougher stretch than the teams they first faced, given it is against a group of six 2024 playoff teams. But because this is MLS, teams' relative strengths change from year to year, especially for the Galaxy and their hollowed-out midfield. If there's bad news about what they've achieved so far, it's that the draw with Portland dropped them to fourth, and were the playoffs to start today, they'd match up with the No. 5 Timbers, and given indications from these two recent games, they don't square off against them particularly well. But you should also expect some shifting in the table over the year. After all, just four points separate 4th from 10th in the West today, and in the final standings for 2024, only five points separated 6th from 9th, while in 2023, only three points separated 7th from 10th. While teams in the upper tier of the conference tend to create some separation to ensure their place in the playoffs, teams on the bubble often have their fates hinge on such thin margins. And while it might be difficult to put the weight of an entire season on just a few late-season results, you could also make a case that Austin's 1-0 loss to Houston (on a late Coco Carrasquilla goal) on Sept. 21, coupled with the 2-1 loss to moribund Toronto the week before, did enough to drop Verde resolutely below the playoff line and into the slow death spiral that finally officially ended with Oct. 5's 2-1 loss to the Galaxy. Verde may now have the cushion built up in these first seven matches, given where you might expect the ebb and flow of the season to go, to avoid such bubble-induced match-by-match dependency. But there's no guarantee that being in fourth now means they'll be in fourth at the end of the season. The trendlines of the past two seasons indicate that they're likely to be in the playoffs given what they've been able to do in this first crucial juncture of the season. But they've also bucked those trends before to their detriment. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'It looked like a playoff game today': Assessing Austin FC's first draw of 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-quotes-atxvpor-040525-nico-estevez-jon-gallagher-myrto-uzuni/ Last updated: 2025-04-06T14:02:59.000Z Nico Estévez was an assistant coach with Columbus Crew in 2015 when his club lost the MLS Cup it hosted to the Portland Timbers. So it's no wonder that Austin FC's coach has a lot of respect for the team that came in and handed Verde their first draw of 2025 — a [0-0 slugfest](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvpor-040525/) leaving them third in the West on Saturday night after Vancouver and San Diego's wins. "Sometimes I feel like you guys underestimate the opponents," he said to Austin media members after the match. "How many MLS Cups have they won? How many finals have they played, and then how many hosting?"\[\[1\]\] You know, I think sometimes we have to have respect the history. We have to have respect to the opponents, and we have it, and we know how hard it's going to be. It looked like a playoff game today — the style of play, the energy, the duels." Estévez also got philosophical later in that answer, before returning to a becoming-familiar-refrain, noting, "I think it's important to to value what we are doing. Humans desire always what they don't have. And right now, we are really solid on defense and and we are having more issues to score goals, but we did enough today to score at least one or two goals." Myrto Uzuni, in his post-match locker room comments, described his continuing Sisyphean journey in front of goal (12 shots, four on target, and just one goal so far) as "painful." "This is my job, so I'm living for that," Uzuni said. "I came here to score goals, to win. So for me, it's painful when we are not winning \[and\] I'm not scoring." However, he also put the result, which preserved what is now a four-match unbeaten streak, in perspective, noting, "I think we are in good way. Three wins, one draw. So I think we are doing a good job, but also we have a lot of things to be better. We know that. So we are working to be better." ## 'Like two boxers' Jon Gallagher has his own analogy at the ready when media asked him to assess the match. "It was probably a fair result. They had one or two looks at goal, just like we did," he observed. "It was a pretty even contest, and it just felt like two boxers taking jabs at each other. Neither team wanted to open up too much." "It's not the end of the world," he noted. "It's a point. It's a long season. Maybe in another world, we're careless and we lose that game. We'll take the point and move on. "Yeah, I think guys are disappointed, which is a good thing," he added. "It just shows the how far this group has come. We're in a good place. We've got to stay positive. The guys were frustrated at halftime, too, but a couple of us have been around the league. This is a tough Portland team. They're gritty, they make it difficult, they get numbers behind the ball ... it's not going to be, they come here and we win 3-0 or 4-0\. It's difficult, but we made it difficult for them, too." Austin's result, combined with Sporting Kansas City's 2-0 win over rivals St. Louis City SC, celebrated by their social media team with a [devastatingly funny Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/DIFrqQEO%5F%5Fj/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com), means Austin now has the best goals against number in the league, only having allowed three goals through seven matches. Were the playoffs to start today, assuming the 2024 format is in operation in 2025, Austin would host the first and third (if necessary) matches in a three-match series against FC Dallas, which would clearly be rich with narrative. *(It's still early, of course, but later this week, I'll delve into how a team's record after seven matches correlates to overall finishes.)*\[\[2\]\] ## What the data says Overall, Austin's defense was more effective than Portland's, measuring by xG and the distribution of chances overall. Per MLSAnalytics, it looked like this. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Austin_FC_v_Portland_Timbers_XG_2025-04-05.png) Per ASA's xG numbers, Austin got the better overall chances, and the defense limited the Timbers to only average or poor xG shots, though the Timbers did better to put those lower-chance shots on target. Also, these numbers differ a bit from MLS's numbers, crediting the Timbers with seven shots on goal and six Stuver saves, which is easily a season high for him. Now at 19 saves on the season, Stuver's still off the pace of saves leader Kristijan Kahlina, who has 33, but he's tied with the Whitecaps' Yohei Takaoka with four clean sheets to lead the league in that category. (Perhaps that's an indicator of a better defense that's not so goalkeeper-reliant.) FBref's chronicling of shots revealed that the Timbers' best chance of the night was Kamal Miller's stoppage-time corner kick header, with 0.09 xG per its numbers. (That site had Austin winning the xG battle 0.7 to 0.5, with four chances rating at least a 0.1\. The goals added chart shows just what a boxing contest it was, with individual players challenged to impact the match per that multi-faceted metric — only Dani Pereira, Osman Bukari, and David Da Costa reached a rating of 60 or higher. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Austin_FC_v_Portland_Timbers_gplus_2025-04-05.png) ## What PRO said With the new online system of sending Professional Referee Organization (PRO) questions, we get up to three. I asked my three and hit send without seeing if Drew Fischer would make another questionable call after the one in the 80th, but it turns out I was fine to hit send. I've gotten pretty dismissive and often curt responses in the past to my PRO inquiries, so even though getting civil and measured answers that aim to make a case *should* be a low bar to reach, PRO did well tonight, even though I still don't agree that the Timbers were blameless in all three cases. Let's take them one by one: ### Why was there no PK awarded for Portland's Ayala (24) in-the-box takedown of Austin's Uzuni (10) in the 25th minute? *The Portland defender makes a fair challenge for the ball, plays the ball, and the contact is then incidental to this fair challenge.* I'm questioning whether a two-handed shove to knock down an opponent is incidental, but I at least see the rationale in operation. ### Why was there no PK awarded for Portland's Fory (27) in-the-box takedown of Austin's Vázquez (9) in the 35th minute? *There is normal football contact between the Portland defender and the Austin attacker, and the Austin attacker subsequently loses his footing and goes to ground. This is therefore no foul.* "Normal football contact" has now entered my lexicon. Expect me to dip into that well over the next few weeks at least. (You've been warned, fellow press box denizens.) ### Why was there no PK awarded for POR's Fory (27) in-the-box takedown of Austin's Vázquez (9) in the 80th minute? *Normal football contact occurs as a result of the Austin attacker slowing his run. This causes the defender, who is playing in a normal way and tracking the ball, to collide with the attacker. There is no foul.* I'm guessing Vázquez didn't see it that way, but then again, Vázquez did recover enough from the contact to get up, receive Jon Gallagher's pass, and again head in the best chance of the night (and Austin's only shot on goal). I asked Estévez in the post-match press conference if he would have called any of the three PK calls that referee Drew Fischer passed on, if he were an objective referee. "I haven't checked," he said. "It's difficult. What I thought it was very like ... too many yellow cards. I don't think the the game was that hard to show some some of the yellow cards for both teams." And yet, given the combativeness of this contest, one might make a case that the yellow cards were warranted. But we only get to ask PRO three questions per the new system; it's something to monitor the next time Fischer refs an Austin match. In the meantime, Austin's done with the Timbers for the season — unless they face each other in a playoff match. If that happens, we know what we're in for — a battle in which goals are precious and rare, largely dependent on defense. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: I know this one! They've won the one in 2015, they were in two other finals, hosting against NYCFC in 2021 and traveling to Atlanta in 2018\. \[\[2\]\]: As a teaser, in the West in 2024, seven of the nine teams above the playoff line after seven matches remained there. ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, Portland Timbers FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvpor-040525/ Last updated: 2025-04-06T04:17:32.000Z Maybe you sensed one of these matches was coming. In a rematch of a contest played just five weeks ago, Austin FC and Portland Timbers FC fought to a tense, frustrating, ultimately fruitless 0-0 draw in a cool, Cascadia-feeling Q2 Stadium. Verde put pressure on Portland from literally the first minute of the game (see Best Verde moment that wasn't a goal below), and conversely kept the Timbers from getting a single shot until David da Costa let one fly in the 33rd minute. Drew Fischer also made his presence felt as the center referee, failing to call either the 25th-minute David Ayala takedown of Myrto Uzuni in the box (which seemed handsy) or the 35th-minute clip of Brandon Vázquez by Jimer Fory (which seemed substantial). Austin's defense held under the sporadic pressure the Timbers were able to mount, most notably a 41st-minute goalline clearance by Guilherme Biro when Brad Stuver was down after sliding to beat Felipe Mora to a dangerous ball, and the match remained scoreless at halftime. The defensive effort continued as the Timbers began to ramp up their possession, forward momentum, and shots on target. Verde finally got its first shot on target in the 80th minute, when Jon Gallagher took a ball wide and found Vázquez, who had been knocked down in the box on the sequence and then got up to head in a shot forcing James Pantemis into a leaping save. Then, Austin found new life and new momentum, putting in more dangerous attempts, including an 85th-minute Uzuni shot that just missed after he worked himself away from defenders at the top of the box, an Uzuni 89th-minute close-range shot he dragged wide, and a Dani Pereira shot in the third minute of stoppage time that just skipped past the far post. Verde escaped a late heartbreaking loss near the death, with Stuver going down to save a shot from former (for a glorious) 15 minutes in the expansion draft) Austin FC defender Kamal Miller. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Verde forged two chances within the first three minutes showing developing chemistry and a desire to get on the front foot. Seventeen seconds in, Osman Bukari found Vázquez for a shot he mishit from a good spot, and then in the third minute, Biro worked the ball to the end line and then found Uzuni with a pinpoint pass he headed just wide. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) In the 20th minute, Pereira challenged Antony in the open field as the Timbers broke forward, and Antony spun past him with a shoulder nudge on the way toward goal. After Brendan Hines-Ike talked about wanting to see the team improve its defensive higher up the field, that play was a microcosm of what still needs to improve. Also, what's up with the heartbeat getting pumped up over the PA in the 64th minute on a Verde corner kick in front of your most fervent group of fans? I'm not a fan of stadium ops inserting themselves into a moment that should just be organically electric on its own? ## Something you might have missed I made sure to post [this](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social/post/3lm47247cb22x?ref=verdeallday.com) before halftime to make sure people didn't miss Phil Neville's animated coaching. ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative With the chance to go 5-2-0 on the young season (which is now about 20% done, though!), Verde got its first draw of the season, finishing their season series with Portland with a draw and a loss. Let's hope Austin doesn't get Portland in the playoffs, amirite? (Let LAFC knock them out.) ## One nerdy tidbit While Austin FC got its first shot in the first minute, its first shot on goal didn't come until the 80th minute — at which point the shots advantage was tipping significantly to the visitors. (It ended 14-11 to Portland, but with a 7-1 shots on goal advantage.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference Austin looked dangerous and goal-hungry in the first phase of the match but couldn't get a goal in this match. What's it going to take for the goals to finally come? [Subscribe to get today's quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Stumptown Footy's Sam Svilar URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-with-stumptown-footys-sam-svilar/ Last updated: 2025-04-05T21:16:05.000Z When you're evaluating the most fun MLS soccer site names to say out loud, [Stumptown Footy](https://stumptownfooty.substack.com/) is inarguably among them. Also, if you're looking for Portland Timbers intel, they're a great place to start ... which is why we turned to the site's Sam Svilar to answer our burning questions about The Other Weird City Soccer Team heading into tonight's match. Also, this Instagram picture from the club, apropos of nothing, is hilarious: > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/p/DIEbvAdR0Xn/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Portland Timbers (@timbersfc)](https://www.instagram.com/p/DIEbvAdR0Xn/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ### What’s going on with Jonathan Rodriguez, and in his absence, how have the other attackers (particularly Felipe Mora and Antony) been doing? For the longest time, we weren't really sure either! He was injured most of preseason, and then returned to Uruguay to work out visa issues. The good news is that it sounds like (according to \[Timbers\] head coach Phil Neville) that's close to being sorted, and he is anticipated to return to training within the next week. Neville expects him to "return to the field" by the end of the month, so he appears to be on track to make his 2025 debut soon. That being said, his return isn't super urgent. Antony has gotten off to a hot start with three goals in two games (four total on the year), and if he can consistently show that final product — the biggest knock on his game so far — then he could be a valuable contributor this year. Felipe Mora is starting to wake up as well, with two goals in the past three games, and his hold-up play is proving especially valuable to help bring Antony or Santiago Moreno into the play. Six goals in two games for Portland is nothing to sneeze at, but the question is if that pace is sustainable. ### David da Costa’s new to the league — what percentage of his powers do you see him at now compared to where he’ll be at the end of the season? I would say he's at like 50-60%, and trending upwards. Da Costa is very willing to combine with his fellow attackers, not being afraid to drift into the midfield to collect the ball. He is also a willing dribbler from basically anywhere, and appears more ready to ride a challenge than his predecessor at the number 10 position. His biggest growth area is building chemistry with his teammates, and learning their tendencies so he can find them with that final pass. Too often he'll zig when others will zag, but I expect that to develop as the season goes on. He won't hit Evander heights, but I wouldn't be shocked if he is in the 10g/10a range by season's end. ### We figured Phil Neville might be on the proverbial hot seat early were the Timbers to have a bad start, but given that it’s been pretty good, what’s the front office and fan opinion of him? I agree that his seat would have been warm — but it's stayed cool so far. I think the entire city was ready to grab the torches and pitchforks after that 4-1 opening day debacle of a loss, but Neville's squad has buttoned it up and showed that they might be more gritty than last year. They're already off to a better start through six games than last year, so things are tentatively trending up. As long as the side keeps getting results, the fans will be on his side. Timbers GM Ned Grabavoy has a bit of a higher opinion of him than the fans in my opinion, so it would take a big collapse and this team missing out on the postseason entirely (or another wild card round exit) for temperatures to turn. And for what it's worth, none of those outcomes are out of the question in 2025. [Subscribe](https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvpor-040525/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Was Myrto Uzuni made in a lab? If so: 'Thank you, lab': Emergency Podcast, Episode 40 URL: https://verdeallday.com/was-myrto-uzuni-made-in-a-lab-if-so-thank-you-lab-emergency-podcast-episode-40/ Last updated: 2025-04-05T20:57:53.000Z In this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West talk about Austin FC's three-match win streak, why getting closer to goal to take shots might work out better for them, why they like Brendan Hines-Ike and Myrto Uzuni so much, what they expect in the rematch with Phil Neville's Portland Timbers, and the VerDos match next Friday you might want to consider going to see. Listen on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-40-a-soccer-player-made-in-a-lab-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000702327569&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4S41PXgNzwdFwNytNTtYWY?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo4qQiC1OBU&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player below. ### 'It gives you so much energy': How defending as a team has bolstered Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvpor-040525/ Last updated: 2025-04-04T12:11:37.000Z Brendan Hines-Ike loves seeing players paid to score goals working on defense. "I get excited when I see guys that are not defenders defend really hard," Hines-Ike observed at Thursday's Austin FC media availability. "That makes me really proud, when you have these forwards tracking back and running their tails off. I'll give you an example, and we used it as a team earlier in the week, \[in the\] last play of the game. \[Jáder\] Obrian comes into the game, he pressed that center back for over a minute to prevent him from kicking the ball along. That kind of stuff is immensely important for us. That kind of things is what makes our team get to the next level. It's the dirty work, it's the boring work, but it's what makes a difference." Hines-Ike spent much of his time Thursday talking about how the team's defensive effort has helped Austin FC to a three-match win streak and the team's current second-in-the-West standing — on the line when Verde hosts Portland on Saturday night at an unusual 6:45 pm start time. He had special praise for new teammate Myrto Uzuni and his incredible workrate, which has been on display since he's first taken the field. While he was brought in as a goalscorer and only has one to his credit so far, Hines-Ike notes that his willingness to defend has been inspirational. "When you see that, as someone in my situation, \[or\] someone who's a central midfielder ... and you see your front guys working their tails off, it gives you so much energy as a group, as a defender, to know, 'Man, those guys are working.' We've got to be right there with him; keep pushing.'" ## Not perfect yet Hines-Ike also identified what the team still needs to work on defensively — even while they've only allowed three goals in six matches, only bested by a St. Louis team they scored on and held scoreless on Sunday. "Defensively, we're still trying to work on being a team that's defending higher up the field," he admitted. "We are very clearly good at defending in a low block, understanding that in the box, we do everything we can to prevent the goal from going in and maybe even 20 yards outside of that. But can we do that same thing, but higher up the field, build more pressure higher up the field, be a mid-block to high-block team at certain moments, high press team, if it's a opportunity, But at the same time, it's just still hammering home the small things, being in right positions for transitions you know and taking defending seriously." He noted that last year, they spent a lot of time defending in chaotic end-of-match situations that led them to expend more energy than they perhaps needed to — leaving them vulnerable to late-match attacks. The St. Louis game was an example of that. "We had the 65 minutes that we played where we felt very in control of the game. And then there was the last 25 where, because we had the \[weather delay\] break, we immediately went into, 'Okay, it's the end of the game, and we'll just sit back and defend.' And we ended up defending way too much in the last 30 to 35, minutes, which we've talked about as a group. We can't do that anymore." Part of that, he floated, could be remedied via offense. "The biggest thing we've talked about is when we get into situations where we start to have a momentum and a rhythm in a game, and maybe we score a first goal, to capitalize and take another goal," he observed. "That's the biggest thing. It'll just give us a little bit of a time to let the oxygen out and know that ... because I think we are a team comfortable being in a 1-0 lead, a 2-1 lead, but we have a much bigger capacity to put these games away. "And I think the entire team knows that, with the quality that we have, the group that we have ... We've talked about let's find moments in the game where it's five to 10 minutes, where, if we're on somebody, let's be on. Let's put this game away, put it to bed — similar to what San Diego could have been. We could have done it last week with St Louis, where we had two or three opportunities after Myrto's goal to just be like, 'All right, the game is done. You're never going to come back into it.' Now, we can sit if we want to sit; if we want to keep going, we can push." ## Player updates Perhaps the biggest piece of news coming out of Thursday's press conference from head coach Nico Estévez involved Uzuni and a different kind of looming international duty – the imminent birth of his child in Barcelona, necessitating a trip back to Spain sometime soon. "I think in the in the next 10 days, anything can happen," Estévez revealed, noting that the decision rests with Uzuni and the team will be supportive of whenever he feels he needs to travel wifeward. The next match after Saturday's tilt against Portland is a long away trip in the opposite direction from Europe, at conference-leading Vancouver on the following Saturday (at another unusual time slot, albeit a much more forgiving 6:30 pm vs. the typical 9:30 pm West Coast road start time). Depending on how that goes, Uzuni could theoretically miss either that match, the following match at home against the Galaxy (a Saturday afternoon match with a 12:45 pm start time), or both. Estévez also indicated that Mikkel Desler is recovering from his hamstring injury on schedule (but don't expect him to get time on the field quite yet). [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### When a soccer player and a ball love each other very much: How Austin FC goals are made URL: https://verdeallday.com/when-a-soccer-player-and-a-ball-love-each-other-very-much-how-austin-fc-goals-are-made/ Last updated: 2025-04-04T01:20:37.000Z Over the course of a season, xG gets more meaningful, but to truly understand it, you have to see how a team selects its shots, how many shots it gets, and then what it does once it gets those shots off. Thanks to a [new project](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sebastian.bush/viz/MLSTeamxGCharts/xG?ref=verdeallday.com) from [Sebastian Bush](https://bsky.app/profile/sekbush.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com), my favorite MLS and NWSL data visualizer working today (and the force behind the [MLS Analytics](https://bsky.app/profile/mlsstat.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) Bluesky account), we can now get a better sense of how Austin FC is getting its 2025 goals compared to its 2024 goals under a new head coach and a new system — though as we're reminded after each game in this young season, it's still early. Let's start with, per American Soccer Analysis, reviewing what's a great chance or good chance vs. an average or poor one. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/xGTiers.jpg) If you're getting off a shot in that Great xG range, you should be converting a little more than every other one, whereas if you're in that Good xG range, you should be getting a little less than one in four to go in. Only 19% of MLS shots have an xG of 0.15 or above, but those shots account for 58% of all goals. Just over half the shots taken are in the poor zone — often calculated as such because of distance, but sometimes for other reasons. Per [StatsBomb](https://statsbomb.com/soccer-metrics/expected-goals-xg-explained/?ref=verdeallday.com): *Each xG model has its own characteristics, but these are the main factors that have traditionally been fed into the large majority of Expected Goals models: distance to goal, angle to goal, body part with which the shot was taken, and type of assist or previous action (throughball, cross, set-piece, dribble, etc…). Based on historical information of shots with similar characteristics, the xG model then attributes a value between 0 and 1 to each shot that expresses the probability of it producing a goal.* Sometimes those poor shots go in — 13% of all MLS goals started as shots with an xG of 0.01 to 0.05\. But only 2% of those shots go in ... and as we'll see from Austin FC's 2024 season, sometimes it's even less than that for a team in a given season. (Hint: You probably remember both of 2024's poor xG goals pretty well.) ## Analyzing 2025 (so far) Let's look at what Austin FC's done so far in 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/AllShotsSoFar.png) With only five goals through six matches, we're dealing with a small sample size, and the lone poor xG shot resulting in a goal so far this season was Guilherme Biro's goal against LAFC. Four of the five goals, by contrast, had an xG of at least 0.15, and three of them had an xG of at least 0.33 to put them in the Great xG. Here's what the goals look like. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/GoalsSoFar.png) Biro's goal is a tiny red dot all-but-obscured by the yellow circle marking Myrto Uzuni's goal against St. Louis on Sunday. The closest-to-goal circle in Osman Bukari's face-goal against Sporting Kansas City (roughly 0.4 xG), the one at the corner of the six-yard box is Brandon Vázquez's goal (also roughly 0.4 xG), and the one farthest back is Jon Gallagher's goal against SDFC (close to 0.43 xG). (We should also note here that American Soccer Analysis uses its own xG system with some modifications on what Opta puts out. That's explained [here](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2015/4/14/expected-goals-methodology?ref=verdeallday.com), and that's what Bush uses. As I was telling a friend who checked in with me backchannel after this published, "xG is in the eye of the beholder.") Here's what all of Verde's shots for 2025 look like so far. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/AllShotsSoFar-1.png) This includes one odd-looking Good xG chance – the one from Austin's own 18-yard line. That's the last-minute Jáder Obrian shot that went wide after CJ dos Santos came up on the deep-into-stoppage-time corner kick to try to salvage a draw. Nothing else is particularly outlandish on the chart, though Verde are woefully underperforming their xG so far, and they're clearly unproductive with shots outside the box — as well with the average xG shots they're securing inside the box. They're actually only overperforming expectations on poor shots, but that's something that is likely to come back to the average as they take more poor xG shots over the course of the season — unless one of those 1-in-50 chances do go in. Here's something instructional: I've grouped the two losses together into one graphic, which shows shots and goals accumulated up to that point in the season, when they were 1-2-0 and a bit of worry was setting in. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/TwoLossesTogether-1.png) There's one great chance in there — Uzuni's flubbed and rued attempt against the Rapids, and an overall xG average that's less than what they've accomplished all season. Twenty-seven of the 33 shots are average or poor, making up 1.56 of the nearly 3 xG they amassed in those two losses. Now, measure it against the SKC win. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/ATXvSKC.png) Without Bukari's goal, it's 11 shots getting about 0.94 xG total, but there's a higher proportion of Good/Great xG shots. Compare that with the San Diego match. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/ATXvSD.png) The only shot from outside the box was Obrian taking a chance on an empty net. Weirdly, that's the only "Good xG" chance, but there are four Great xG shots in there, and Verde went two-for-four there, good enough to secure the win. As a result, Verde got nearly 28% of their xG in just this one match. It's not exactly radical analysis to say that it's better to get inside the box before taking a shot, but a typical distribution over the course of a season will have a fair number of shots ripped from outside the 18\. Here's 2024\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/2024xG.png) Those two Poor xG chances that Verde converted? The Biro wonderstrike in the thrilling 4-3 home win vs. SKC, and the Dani Pereira against-the-run-of-play goal at Portland late in the season that kept Verde's fingernails clinching to the lip of the playoff cliff. And here are the Great xG chances from that snakebitten season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/2024Great.png) That's only nine goals from 21 Great xG chances, less than the expected average. Converting just three more of those in the right spots might have been the difference between making and missing the playoffs. ## So, how are these goals made? Looking at xG's only one piece of the puzzle. It's still early in 2025, but here's a chart for what's leading to the goals so far in 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Buildup2025.png) So, "set piece pass" is doing some work for Bukari's goal, as the deflection off Julio Cascante from Owen Wolff's corner kick is being counted as a pass here, but so far, Austin's only registered goals in three of the five categories. Contrast that with what happened in 2024\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Buildup2024.png) Set pieces, taken together, accounted for just 18% of Verde's non-penalty goals. Individual play accounted for more, which makes sense given that Sebastián Driussi was on this team. This is how all MLS teams made goals in 2024 — Verde was a bit more dependent on progressive passes and individual play, and short of the 26% of goals scored from set pieces. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/2024AllTeams.png) Looking at 2022 and 2023, it's evident that Verde held to a similar game model with similar goal distribution — albeit with more success on set pieces in 2022 — even if they had drastically different results. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Buildup2022.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/04/Buildup2023.png) This is something I'll be monitoring throughout the season, now that the tool's live and the offense is churning into being fully operational. I expect that over time the numbers will shift into more varied distributions — but will Verde continue to be as set piece dependent as they were in their first matches? And when will we see some individual play lead to goals? *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### A successful 'business trip': Reflections following Austin FC's third win in a row URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-successful-business-trip-reflections-following-austin-fcs-third-win-in-a-row/ Last updated: 2025-04-01T00:51:50.000Z 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](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/recap-austin-fc-1-minnesota-united-fc-0?ref=verdeallday.com), 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. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/St._Louis_City_SC_v_Austin_FC_main_2025-03-30.png) 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). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/St._Louis_City_SC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-03-30.png) 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. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/St._Louis_City_SC_v_Austin_FC_quad_2025-03-30.png) ## 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.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: St. Louis City SC 0, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-stlvatx-033025/ Last updated: 2025-03-31T11:57:19.000Z Austin FC, going to one of their own personal houses of horror (currently known as Energizer Park), rode Myrto Uzuni's first-ever Austin FC goal to a 1-0 win on Sunday afternoon, making it three straight triumphs with the sun still out at the final whistle. Austin FC answered the question, "Who wants this ball on the field?" in the affirmative, getting the bulk of possession through the first half hour, though it wasn't until Uzuni's 33rd-minute goal, assisted by an incisively-penetrating Osman Bukari, that Verde got their first shot on target. Brandon Vázquez got off a quality attempt three minutes later, saved by fill-in St. Louis goalkeeper Ben Lundt, which would be the closest Verde would get to adding to the lead prior to halftime. St. Louis had a couple of different chances to equalize shortly after halftime, including via a wickedly-curling Marcel Hartel top-corner shot in the 53rd minute that Stuver was able to paw away. St. Louis also engineered a 65th-minute heart-in-throat moment, with Hines-Ike blocking a shot near the goal line and then clearing it. Verde looked as it they might have doubled the lead in the 59th minute, but that goal was called back for being quite offside in the buildup. After an unwelcome weather delay, the hosts brought on a pair of impact subs, João Klauss and Tomáš Ostrák, to try to influence the match. That led to some defensive sequences you've become uncomfortably familiar with in recent matches — a lot of danger created by (in this case, Purina Gang) attackers, but with Verde defenders able to hold position and prevent a goal. (Though some of that was admittedly hairy.) ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) In the 17th minute; Verde won a corner, and then entered a second and third phase ... and then, save for a few quick turnover blips followed by Verde winning the ball back, kept the ball for most of the next five minutes and then beyond, leading to an off-target header in the 24th minute providing a proper St. Louis reset. Though Verde didn't win the first-half possession battle, they got reasonably close to 50/50 thanks to this sequence. And, of course, the 53rd-minute Stuver save. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Less than a minute into the (first) restart, Jannes Horn sent a ball in toward a rushing-toward-goal Conrad Wallem; Brendan Hines-Ike sought to clear it, but Wallem got to the ball just after Hines-Ike, causing a ricochet shot over goal that just as easily could have gone into the goal. ## Something you might have missed Right after the final whistle, we got a few glimpses on the Apple TV stream of the small but hardy group of fans who made the journey to St. Louis. ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative Verde got its third straight win on a weekend afternoon; perhaps this is good and they should play more of these? Sadly, they'll revert back to Saturday night matches with next week's return leg at Q2 vs. Portland, but this win got Verde to 12 points and a 2 PPG average through their first six matches for the first time in club history – even beating out the hot 11-point start in 2022\. ## One nerdy tidbit The halftime possession battle was barely won by St. Louis, with Verde getting 48.9% thanks to a late-half St. Louis surge, but won the first-half xG battle 0.66 to 0.18\. (That battle would end around 59-41% for the hosts, with the final xG battle going 1.2 to 0.9 for the hosts as Verde only managed two shots on target all match — with the 36th-minute Vázquez shot being the last.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference It's taken six matches into the season, but we've finally got one front-line designated player assisting another on a goal ... how does this follow from Friday's narrative about the team's identity building as they get to know each other's rhythms better? [Subscribe to get today's quotes tomorrow morning](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsd-032325/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### A born identity: Austin FC, beginning to define themselves five matches in URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-press-conference-quotes-pre-stlvatx-033025/ Last updated: 2025-03-29T20:43:23.000Z It's not that Austin FC wants to avoid having the ball, head coach Nico Estévez assured media members he spoke to on Friday ahead of Sunday's match at St. Louis City SC. That's just the way it's been working out. "I think our possession drop in the last two games \[is because we've played\] two different style of teams \[that are\] position based," Estévez said. "It's not that we want to have the most position, but we also we don't want to have low possession." While crediting the job LAFC and San Diego FC did — albeit in a pair of daytime wins over the last two weeks – he also noted, "We can find a good opportunity to increase our possessions, also being a threat against the opponent in all transitions." And even with the low possession numbers, Verde find themselves second in the West at this early juncture of the season, in which storylines are beginning to align. There are the clear teams in trouble — a CF Montréal team that's already fired its coach, a Revolution team that just scored its first goal as I sat down to write this (in its fifth match of the season), and three West teams (Houston, LA Galaxy, SKC) without a win through all of their first five tilts. There are the teams that definitely look playoff-bound, including teams like LAFC and Miami projected to do well, as well as some surprises with double-digit points so far — though injuries and slumps can thwart the forward momentum of teams (like Vancouver, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Nashville in 2025) who start well out of the gate. Austin, second in the West on nine points, is still in that "could be a mirage, but more likely could be a solid playoff team at worst" zone, with more definitive table-shaping to come in the next month. But according to Estévez, there's an identity emerging. ## 'A team that is difficult to beat' "We are a new group, and we have new players, a new staff, and we're building towards something that we believe that we can create an identity that everyone knows and is very recognizable for everyone when they see Austin FC," he said. And though he cautioned, "We are not there yet," he also noted there are some defining characteristics emerging. That starts with Verde being "a team that is difficult to to beat, a team that has a good mentality when they don't have the ball, everyone works hard, vertical in moments on transition and also build up." He also indicated that with time will come consistency. "When things are not going well, or we're struggling, we always can get back to our base," Estévez noted. "And I think identity helps. It helps you to know who you are, why we're doing that, and then from there, we can build and to not forget what our strengths are and who we are as a team and on the pitch. It's something that we can see — the mentality of the team, the togetherness, the working hard, the resilience, the grit and determination on going forward ... games when we have to go forward, the verticality, and then we're finding now how we apply that to playing with the ball and without the ball. "And I think without the ball, we are aligned those values and that identity," he added. "I think, with the ball, we're finding the ways, the verticality, the speed, the determination, the aggression on attacking." He also sees the team making progress in dealing with the press on both sides of the ball, including breaking through a defensive press to provide for quick attacks. "I think we're going in that direction, but it's still early." ## He should have more Brandon Vázquez, the player tapped to answer media questions, was man of the match in last Sunday's win. Though he scored a goal in that match to open his 2025 account, he expressed disappointment immediately after the match to have not converted on more of his chances, and that lingered for him throughout this week. "Overall, I've had good performances in helping the team attack, in transition to attacking," he observed. "I've been playing a bit deeper than usual to try to combine with the midfield to transition into attacking ... Nico's doing a great job in analyzing what we need to improve on, and he's worked with me individually, with the attacking coaches, so we can get the best out of myself and the team. But, you know, I'm never satisfied with my performances. I always want to keep improving. I always want to keep helping." For Estévez, though, believes the scoring from his designated player forward will — like everything else still need to coalesce for his relatively-new team — develop over time. "He did a really good job to put himself in a really good positions to score goals, and I think this will make him believe on the way that we will attack," Estévez said. "He's going to have the chances and he's going to score goals for us. It's to keep learning about the players, keep finding their best positions, their best movements, the best way to the type of game model that we want to play, how we want to attack. And from there I think we will see our forward scoring goals." Vázquez sees some wisdom in that. "It's gonna take a little bit, but the more time we spend on the field together, during training, doing finishing drills, having a partnership, the more we're gonna understand each other, our habits, our tendencies," he reflected. "I think it's important that we get as much time together as possible, so that we know what each of us is going to do without even looking. We're on the right path to be there soon, so I'm excited about that." [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Justin Horneker helps us make sense of St. Louis City SC URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-justin-horneker-helps-us-make-sense-of-st-louis-city-sc/ Last updated: 2025-03-28T23:06:33.000Z Five matches into the season, Austin FC and St. Louis City SC have some [uncanny similarities](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-analysis-ppda-xg-xga/), including low possession totals, defenses putting up impressive numbers (that may not tell the whole story), and perhaps not as many goals as they'd like. The teams will face off on Sunday at St. Louis' Energizer Park (née CityPark), at 1:15 pm, making it the third straight afternoon match (and second straight Sunday) they'll play. Justin Horneker, who covers the Purina Gang and more for [Talkin Soccer](https://talkinsoccer.substack.com/), was kind enough to answer three questions for one of Verde's nemesis teams — dating back to the club's first-ever MLS regular-season match in 2023, which we're just not going to talk about if that's okay with everyone. ### **Like Austin, St. Louis has a new head coach who was hired early in the offseason ... how has Olof Mellberg been so far, and does he have a distinctive style (or, at least, an approach) that's impacting the team?** The early returns on Olof Mellberg have been great, but there are some worrying trends that may become bigger talking points if his team can't find a way forward in the attack. Defensively it's been great. St. Louis has only allowed one goal through 5 games this season and has been very good at limiting the dangerous opportunities that sank their 2024 hopes. Mellberg's switch to a three center back system has really solidified the back line, but it has come at the expense of the attack, so far. City SC will press high up the pitch but have been interested in defending in a mid-block, blocking the passing lanes, and trying to force a turnover with the opposition pushed high, then countering through quick passing sequences designed with Marcel Hartel's ability to run onto a ball into space. So far, the club has had good results, but have only scored from open play in one match this season. ### **Like Austin, St. Louis is toward the bottom of MLS possession rankings at this stage in the season. Is this indicative of how they play under Mellberg, or is there something else affecting their numbers?** The low possession numbers are absolutely a feature of the approach. While they aim to be more comfortable in possession, they are still – ideally – at their best when they can limit transition opportunities and force clubs to possess the ball as they stuff the middle. It's been successful, and they're getting great goalkeeping from Roman Bürkii and Ben Lundt who will be starting against this weekend as Bürki recovers for a minor fracture in his hand. ### **So, tell us more about this Eduard Löwen red card last week ... and how St. Louis might adjust in his absence?** That's definitely the biggest question of the weekend. Edu Löwen hasn't been as effective in the attack this season, but his excellence on set pieces won three points for St. Louis the last time out at Energizer Park. If Mellberg sticks with the 5-3-2 formation, then I'd expect Alfredo Morales to start, as he's been the like-for-like replacement for Löwen this season and has actually been a solid progressor of the ball. However, there could be a curve ball with Tomáš Ostrák ready to step back into regular minutes following complete recovery from his long-term injury. There's also the possibility of Mellberg throwing a curveball and pulling in homegrown midfielder Miggy Perez but that seems unlikely as he did not train with the first team this week. ### Who wants this ball on the field? Perhaps neither Austin FC nor their Sunday opponent URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-analysis-ppda-xg-xga/ Last updated: 2025-03-28T21:14:28.000Z It's a weird thing to see given Austin FC played a possession-heavy style its first four years under former head coach Josh Wolff. Through five matches — in part absorbing just 24% possession (per FBref) in their 2-1 win over San Diego FC on Sunday — Austin FC has just 43.4% possession, 28th out of 30 MLS teams. One of the two teams below Austin, St. Louis City SC – with 40.4% — hosts Verde on Sunday, which brings up the question of how the teams will play each other. St. Louis actually had the bulk of the possession in its 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union last time out, but held the ball just 29% of the time in its 0-0 draw against San Diego (getting a mere 0.1 xG), and 30% in their 3-0 win over the Galaxy, in which they won the xG battle 2.0 to 1.8\. There's another less-known stat in which they're also next door to each other to provides a clue as to how both teams play — or as the case may be with Nico Estévez's version of Verde, how they *can* play if the situation calls for it. ## Let's talk about PPDA (not PDA) Thanks to Paul Harvey, whose [2025 MLS Dashboard](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/paul.harvey6100/viz/2025MLSDashboard/TeamDefensive?ref=verdeallday.com) has come alive, we can look at stats like PPDA\[\[1\]\] — passes per defensive action — to take cold, hard data and line it up next to the eye test. Coaches' Voice has a good explainer [here](https://learning.coachesvoice.com/cv/ppda-explained-passes-per-defensive-action/?ref=verdeallday.com), with this key passage crystallizing it: *The number of passes made by the opposition \[within the zone from the edge of the center circle in the attacking him to the endline the team is defending\] is divided by the number of defensive actions made by the out-of-possession team to give a number for PPDA. These defensive actions are tackles, interceptions, challenges (or failed tackle attempts) and fouls. The number that this calculation produces gives a value to the intensity of the out-of-possession team’s press.* ![diagram of soccer field showing where PPDA is calculated](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-27-at-9.38.59-AM.png) **It's the shaded zone (Coaches' Voice)* Verde is tied for second in this metric (along with Atlanta United), with 10.5 passes per defensive action. Only St. Louis is higher here, with 10.6 PPDA — odd given that St. Louis has a reputation (albeit, under initial head coach Bradley Carnell) for being a pressing team. Coaches' Voice has a bit of an explainer: *Pressing is also far more than the events that are included in PPDA. By only including on-the-ball events – tackles, interceptions, challenges and fouls – that a pressing team make, you are ignoring all of the work the rest of the team does. Much of the effectiveness of a press comes in how exactly the player challenging for the ball is supported. The shape of the team and distances between players is absolutely integral to their success. Also, a pressing team could force a misplaced pass in a dangerous part of the pitch without ever making a tackle or challenge to win the ball, but merely by pressing as a group near the ball.* Like the goals added metric that loves Julio Cascante, PPDA doesn't factor in off-ball actions, making it useful in telling part of the story but not all of it. A high PPDA doesn't necessarily mean that an opponent is passing at will through your defense en route to goal. Indeed, Verde's still second in the West in goals allowed — with St. Louis first, allowing just a single goal (even with first-choice goalkeeper Roman Burki out) – and first in xGA of all teams that have played five matches. (Miami's played just four and has a 3.4 xGA compared to Austin's 3.6.) Recall this Brad Stuver quote from [a few weeks back](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-assessment-quotes-atxvskc-022225/): "We've been working on having each other's backs and getting compact and making sure that we always have someone there to make the play." That approach has been clear throughout the season, especially in last Sunday's match, which had Verde defending a one-goal lead (that they couldn't build on, but that's a whole issue we're keeping an eye on) for more than an hour against one of the most possession-happy teams in the league. Here's what Verde *is* doing with their defensive actions so far (all stats from FBref): - Tackles + Interceptions: 121 (18th in MLS) - Clearances: 142 (11th in MLS) - Blocks: 56 (14th in MLS) In other words, they're about the middle of the pack overall. Their tackle percentage against dribbles is something to work on (at 47%, it's 27th overall), especially with 53 of their 79 tackles coming in the defensive third — which leads the league. Curiously, they're dead last in middle third tackles with 21, whereas true high-pressing teams tend to rack up many more middle third tackles. Per the Dashboard, they're also second in negative field tilt, a further indication that the ball makes its way to Austin's defensive half of the field quite a bit. ## On the offensive end Just because Verde doesn't have a lot of the ball doesn't mean they're not active when they do have it. Per FBref, Verde is still top third in shot-creating actions (currently 9th), lead the league in deadball goal-creating actions (with three, all belonging to Owen Wolff), 8th in key passes (passes leading directly to a shot), and 15th in progressive carries, all leading to being 15th in non-penalty xG (npxG). And given that they haven't yet gotten a penalty kick awarded to them yet — something you're painfully aware of – their xG is exactly the same as their npxG. (And, thanks to their sturdy defense, 5th in expected goal differential per 90, though there's a gulf between their total xGD of 2.7 though five matches and their actual goal differential of just one.) That's a 6.3 xG, by the way, versus just four goals in 2025\. Perhaps they'll close the gap on that Sunday, with Myrto Uzuni set to return from international duty and given that he's responsible for 1.3 of that 6.3 xG without a goal. It's true that St. Louis has only allowed one goal all season, coming against a Philadelphia team with 1.4 xG to just 0.2 xG for Sunday's hosts. (They're not usually that anemic; they've gotten to an xG of 2.0 twice this season, despite their two absolutely offensive clunkers.) But that all depends on how much of the ball Verde wants. They might not want a whole lot of it. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: We'll leave the PDA talk to Swoontower Soccer, which recently discussed how smoochy the 2025 version of the team has been. ### Life after Leo: Can Austin FC roll with three first-team center backs until summer? URL: https://verdeallday.com/leo-vaisanen-transfer-to-bk-hacken-austin-fc-center-back-situation/ Last updated: 2025-03-25T01:03:30.000Z On Monday morning, Austin FC announced news that was already out there already — center back Leo Väisänen has moved from Austin FC to Swedish club BK Hacken, and although the club doesn't announce financials on such moves, rumors swirling around the move set the transfer fee at $550,000\. The final numbers on Väisänen aren't hugely impressive — one goal and one assist in a little under 2,600 MLS minutes, with only 13 appearances and nine starts in 2024 and no appearances at all this season. The right LCL tear knocking him out of the 2023 U.S. Open Cup loss against Chicago Fire FC is, in a sad way, a defining moment for his time at the club, setting in motion an injury history that persisted into 2024, including a puzzling end-of-season shutdown that then-Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff intimated was very much Väisänen's decision. While the 27-year-old did show promise at points in his time at Austin, and seemed a solid character guy when healthy and able to play, he did also command a TAM-level salary not commensurate with his contributions. And while he did allow me to perfect the "control-U followed by A" keystroke sequence to get the umlauts right in his name, this doesn't have the same level of shocking goodbye that, say, the Diego Fagundez move had. Even before the latest round of rumors, some of us surmised a move like this might be in the works. That leaves Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell with some short-term and long-term considerations about what to do at center back. ## The case for waiting until summer The primary transfer window ends April 23, and the secondary transfer window starts July 24\. With Julio Cascante getting time in Sunday's win over San Diego FC, Verde will have three healthy available first-team center backs again once Oleksandr Svatok returns from international duty. Guilherme Biro stepped in at center back for the bulk of Sunday's match – shifting from center back to left back to finish out the full 90 once Cascante came on — and accounted well for himself. That, combined with Žan Kolmanič having a good outing at left back, means that Verde effectively has a four-center-back rotation if you count Biro as one of the four. The team also has the ability to bring in Antonio Gomez and Nico Van Rijn from VerDos on three additional Short-Term Agreements each (with two appearances in those three call-ups). Gomez and Van Rijn were called up together on Sunday, but if they're staggered over six matches, that gets the team through six of the 18 matches between now and the start of the summer window. With Väisänen's exit, Borrell has three senior roster spots, and two of those are international. If the goal is to get a center back to push for a starting role, waiting until summer likely expands the pool of players to Europe, which is where Borrell has looked to remake much of the lineup over the last few windows. ## The case for acting now There's no guarantee that players will stay healthy, and though Verde's defense has emerged as one of the best even with early-season injuries to Cascante and Mikkel Desler, 2023 showed how just a couple of back line injuries can have a cascading impact on a team's ability to defend. The fundamentals might be sounder this year under head coach Nico Estévez, but there's increased risk in losing additional first-choice pieces. If there's a domestic target in mind that could plug and play from a pool of out-of-contract or out-of-favor center backs, it could help Verde to have a more stable back line in the short term, and then allow Borrell to go after two difference-making attackers or midfielders to challenge some of the more underperforming ones still getting significant minutes. The Matt Hedges signing in 2023 was concerning because of the spend required, complicating the already-pressurized salary budget when he was brought on board, but the idea was sound: Get a center back who knows the league well enough to step in without benefit of a preseason with the squad. Certainly, head coach Josh Wolff had a greater comfort level plugging Hedges into the squad without significant onboarding, compared to earlier stopgap measure Aleksandar Radovanović, who arrived on loan March 22, 2023, and didn't get a start until May 17, getting seven appearances total (four of those starts) before he was back off to Europe. But Estévez isn't Wolff, and it's possible that a center back signing now could work into the defense he's built in his first year – already impressive in some key metrics – compared to the Wolff Era defenses that ranged from middle-of-the-pack to among the league's worst. (Consider they let in anywhere from 48 to 56 goals a season in their first four, and save for their debut season when they were 19th in tackles plus interceptions, finished 26th *at best* in that category the other three years, including dead last in that stat in 2022 (the good year). ## Choose your own adventure (as Rodo) What you would do might be different from what Borrell would do, even if you feel you've got a sense of Borrell's master plan, which you likely don't given some of the relative unknown names he's brought in over the last few windows along with the very well known Brandon Vázquez. Relying on a left back and a couple of VerDos players (the best of them requiring an international slot, thereby making elevation to a supplemental deal a much harder sell) for three months to round out a center back rotation doesn't seem wise, but it does seem doable barring further injuries. Certainly, there's a plan in place — when we get to talk to Borrell again, I'm sure we'll hear that the Väisänen deal was months in the works, and perhaps by then, the grand plan for center back (plus the other current open roster spots) will be fully revealed. Until then, it's a vaguely uncomfortable situation that Verde fans know all too well. There might indeed be a point in the near-future where you might even say, "We could use Leo Väisänen about now." But it's more likely that you'll say, no later than August, "Borrell effectively turned Väisänen into New Player X" — whoever that might be. Then again, it might be sooner. Until you hear officially, check in on Tom Bogert's social media accounts, put on your metaphorical "What would Rodo do?" bracelet, and contemplate the options. [Subscribe and support this work](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'Winning is really important': Reveling in a second straight win vaulting Austin FC to second place URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-recap-atxvsd-032325/ Last updated: 2025-03-25T02:20:42.000Z Looking at the first seven matches on the 2025 Austin FC schedule, it certainly appeared that wins were possible, though two of the unlikeliest among those were LAFC away — a test for any MLS team — and hosting a San Diego FC that started the season undefeated in four matches. And yet, with the [2-1 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsd-032325/) over the expansion team on Sunday, Austin FC has three wins in five tries during the young 2025 season, sitting second place behind perhaps-equally-surprising Vancouver in a Western Conference that has LAFC in third (also on nine points) and then teams four through 11 registering at least six points after five matches. "We knew that we could exploit the transition moments, the space behind the back line," said Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez after the match. "Overall, \[we're\] happy for the win, because at the end of the day, winning is really important, and put us in a good position. Winning two games in a row is also good. But we know we have to keep getting better, keep progressing." Estévez, like several of his players, rued not scoring more, as Brandon Vázquez in particular had multiple chances to add a second or even third goal to the one he did (finally) get in the 10th minute, ending a season-starting 370-minute drought for both him personally and for the team getting a goal from open play. Vázquez said after the match that he was happy to get his first goal — especially having it come at home and against the team playing in the city where he grew up, and just across the border from where he started his pro career. However, he expressed disappointment that he missed on those chances to score more. The winning goal — which had to stand for over an hour after San Diego FC brought the margin to 2-1 — came on a heads-up play from Owen Wolff, now grouped with 11 other players in the three-assist club, just behind Kai Wagner (with five) and Pep Biel (with four) in the MLS assists race. All Wolff's assists have come from set pieces so far, but Sunday's was unique — on a quickly-taken restart that left the visitors stunned and the home fans delighted. "Something that we talk \[about is that\] the best set piece is the one that you see the opponent not organized," Estévez said. "And then we talk about quick restarts, \[how\] they could hurt not only San Diego, other other teams, because players tend to use the moment to have a fresh air and breathe and then go." He added, regarding executing in the way Wolff did, "We can talk \[about\] it, but at the end, it's a credit to Owen, because he's a player that has this instinct that street players have ... he did a really good job on that, and we're really happy that he decided that because that helped us." Jon Gallagher, the happy recipient of that heads-up play, noted that he and Wolff first noticed San Diego might be susceptible to such a play while taking ice baths together and watching video on the opponents." "We made eye contact real quick, and I just took off," Gallagher said of the moment, which started with two San Diego players with their backs to the ball after the foul was whistled. "And I think he knew ... they didn't kick the ball away or anything. So it was perfect ... We watched the video and, like, there's a split second, I look and I'm on my bike. Owen just kicks it. I do my thing. I run." And there's something else to take from the match, largely thanks to Wolff — Verde players got into some advantageous one-v-one situations thanks to smart passing, and as MLS Analtyics shows us, shot selection in this match was much better overall compared to prior 2025 matches. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin_FC_v_San_Diego_FC_XG_2025-03-23.png) ## Congesting the midfield Estévez said that the defensive plan involved deploying central midfielders to block passing lanes, which included starting Wolff and Dani Pereira on the wings. The passing network map from the match shows tight average positions for players reflecting much of the defensive work they were doing. (A couple of notes on this: The initial passing map here had a glitch that obscured positions; this is a more accurate rendering showing the disparity between Vázquez and Diego Rubio's positioning as forwards (with Rubio, designated here as LF, in line with the midfielders), and Wolff (the CAM) up even higher than Vázquez, along with how tucked in the fullbacks were. As MLSAnalytics' Sebastian Bush told me, the passing maps show data from the team's initial formation to when the formation shifts ... which, in Verde's case, is at halftime (whereas SDFC stayed in a 4-3-3 for the first 73 minutes). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin-FC_v_San-Diego-FC_main_2025-03-23.png) "I wanted to try something different," Estévez said, noting his inspiration came from watching San Diego's opening weekend tilt against the LA Galaxy, which put the rest of the league on notice about how good the expansion team might be. "And then we just came up with, as a staff, with this idea of it was going to be a midfield battle, and then we just need to have midfielders in to win the midfield battle." Gallagher also noted that the coaching staff prepared them well for what they needed to do defensively. "As we're told this week by the coaching staff, they lead the league and runs behind the line, and they want space in behind, want to suck you into the middle and then play it over the top," he said. "So we knew we were going to sit a bit lower and hit them on the transition. "San Diego is a team where they want the space in behind, and we didn't give that to them," he added. "Once you nullify that, I felt that they didn't have a lot." (We're going to skip the graphic that shows 90/10 field tilt for SDFC, but know that it exists.) ## The most DP-like performance didn't come from a DP Another uneven performance from Osman Bukari — getting a 31-minute sub role, credited with one shot on target plus some other chances left wanting, plus one potential assist for Vázquez reflecting that they're still learning each other's rhythms – led me to ask about the theory that's been floating about: Is Bukari observing Ramadan and its dawn-to-dusk fasting requirements, and is that affecting his game? From the press box, we were able to see that he did drink water during a break in the action, and Estévez confirmed post-match that he's not fasting — but merely working through a rough patch. "I think sometimes players just need a reset," he said of his most senior designated player. "There are things that he started really well, had really good position ... but players have moments. They're humans, you know," before pointing out that Vázquez was on a scoreless streak prior to Sunday, but on the day, "he could have score a hat trick, and I'm really happy that he has scored. "In Buka, we couldn't find him in those situations," he added. "Right now, it's about building his confidence, working with the player. And it's managing." Wolff, on the other hand, led the team in goals added ratings and continued to show the leap that's made from last season to this season. (Also, the line shows where on the player's career G+ distribution this particular match was; per that metric, borne out by the eye test, Wolff has once of his best matches ever.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin_FC_v_San_Diego_FC_gplus_2025-03-23.png) "Everyone can see how every single game, he adds something else to his game," Estévez declared. "He's became one of the important players on the team. When things are tough, he's communicating with players. He's changing things on the field. He's communicating with the bench. And we just have to be patient with a young player like him, because he's giving the right steps. And just we have to enjoy, how many assists he \[could have\] had today, if our attackers scored the goal, could be maybe a record in the league today. "He's providing a lot on the defensive side," he added. "Defensively he's working really, really hard. I think he's becoming that consistent, connected player that can make a difference in this league." On the whole, it was a positive result from a Verde squad that could have run up the score, but did enough to secure a win and a trajectory toward the playoffs. "We definitely were more threatening today," Gallagher said, in response to my question about whether Austin was now closer to the "scoring in bags and bunches" prediction he floated on Thursday. "I would have loved to have had that third goal to give us a bit of a cushion, but we love to make it interesting at Q2." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, San Diego FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvsd-032325/ Last updated: 2025-03-24T10:08:01.000Z It finally happened, friends. After 370 minutes, Austin FC got a goal from open play for the first time in 2025\. That goal, on a Diego Rubio-assisted throughball that Brandon Vázquez put away – how I've been waiting to write about a Vázquez goal — led to Verde getting a 2-1 win against San Diego FC at Q2 Stadium in a "Sunday Night Soccer" match that started in the bright sunlit 3 p.m. hour. When Rubio challenged SDFC keeper CJ dos Santos on a long Brad Stuver pass just a shade over 10 seconds into the match, it looked as it might be the sort of Austin-on-the-front-foot game you'd expect in a matchup against an expansion team, though San Diego did start the season with a four-match unbeaten streak. Then, when young center back Ian Pilcher got a yellow card in the third minute for a foul on Vázquez that had a good DOGSO argument connected to it, it gave Verde even more opportunity to pressure a back line that was also reconstituted due to injuries and international duty. Vázquez's goal was the first from open play all season, yet the second goal nine minutes later was Verde returning to its set piece ways, albeit on a quick kick by Owen Wolff after a San Diego foul. While opponents near Wolff has their backs to the play, *absorbing the injustice of the whistle*, Wolff deftly found Jon Gallagher with an outlet pass that he then controlled and took to the house for what would ultimately stand as the match winner. It wasn't all perfect in the first half, though; Verde gave one back in the 27th minute, letting SDFC's offense work it around to Luca de la Torre to make good on a shot. (Hilariously, from the press box, we heard a single, isolated "Yeah!" from a lone fan who cut through the silence.) Five minutes after the restart, Rubio nearly got Verde back up to a two-goal lead, getting free on the right flank but getting his shot just wide of the far post. Then there was a lot of Vázquez almost getting a second goal, including a 57th-minute attempted chip and a 59th-minute shot that sailed just over the bar. Then sub Osman Bukari got into the almost party with his own flubbed high-percentage chance which owes to dos Santos making an excellent last-ditch attempt on the ball. In the final half hour of the match, Verde had to play more defensively to deal with the San Diego momentum shift, which included an 86th-minute corner kick header from SDFC captain Jeppe Tverskov that glanced off the corner of the crossbar. But they held on for their third win of the season and now, suddenly, Verde find themselves second in a crowded West race. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) It wasn't just one moment, per se, but in my head, I'm celebrating a delightful montage of all the passes getting Verde players into enticing one-v-one situations, even if many of them were frustrating in their finishes. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Brendan Hines-Ike foul on Luca Bombino on the 45th-minute free kick took away what looked like it would be another set-piece goal, four minutes after Vázquez went too hard and too high with a shot where he again was led to goal by a precise Wolff long ball. Being up 2-1 isn't a bad way to go into halftime, but being up 3-1 would diminish hope for the visitors just that much more. ## Something you might have missed Yes, that was Andrew Wiebe, in Western wear appearing like it only recently made it into his closet, interviewing Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez as the teams headed into the locker room for halftime. ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative By hanging on for the win, Verde has vaulted to second in the West (!) just five weeks into the season. The goals aren't yet coming in "bags and bunches," as Gallagher alluded to on Thursday, but you can see the progress from week to week. And, for the first time this season, a pair of goals in a match! ## One nerdy tidbit At halftime, Verde was losing the possession battle 71% to 29% but winning the xG battle 1.64 to 0.47\. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We're curious about this strategy to let San Diego have so much of the ball and yet getting the bulk of the true scoring opportunities. The finishing still needs some polish, but Estévez has to be happy with the ideas manifesting on the field five weeks in. [Subscribe to get today's quotes tomorrow morning](https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-match-recap-lafcvatx-031525/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### It's probably fine: A less-than-full Austin FC squad faces surprising San Diego FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-atxvsd-032325/ Last updated: 2025-03-23T21:47:12.000Z Austin FC is going into Sunday's matchup with San Diego FC a little thin in its ranks. Myrto Uzuni and Oleksandr Svatok are off of international duty. Mikkel Desler is definitely out with a hamstring injury, and while Julio Cascante is making progress with his hamstring injury, it's not at all a sure thing that he'll get a runout. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez characterized Cascante's status in Thursday's media availability as "day-to-day." Oh, and Leo Väisänen is on international duty but also quite possibly never to return to Austin, as the rumors about the Finnish defender going to Swedish club BK Hacken are moving into the "significant smoke" category. That's leading Estévez to invoke Austin FC II names like Antonio Gomez and Riley Thomas to perhaps bolster a team with one healthy and able-to-start center back. (It's all you, Brendan Hines-Ike.) In case you're counting, Thomas (the SuperDraft fullback) made the trip to Los Angeles last week. Per MLS's Short-Term Agreement rule, a player like Thomas (primarily playing for the MLS Next Pro affiliate) can get four roster call-ups maximum, with two appearances maximum. Thomas didn't appear in the match, so he can still be activated on Sunday if needed, plus in one other match. But the expected departure of Väisänen – one of just two TAM players currently on the roster, with arguably the least club friendly contract in the squad — would perhaps necessitate Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell needing to pick up another center back this window. (Matt Hedges has said he's available! But there's also a Tom Bogert-delivered rumor that he's trying to reconnect with FC Dallas.) Jon Gallagher joked about his Swiss Army knife status on Thursday, first saying, "Maybe I'll be playing goalkeeper at this point — maybe the last position I've got to play for this club." But then, when asked about playing center back, he reminded media that he got pressed into duty at the position in Austin's marathon [U.S. Open Cup loss](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/diego-fagundez-and-austin-fc-frustrated-after-us-open-cup-loss-to-san-antonio-fc?ref=verdeallday.com) to San Antonio back in 2022\. "I don't think we'll see that again," he said. "Hopefully not." ## Trying to stay classy Of course, San Diego – undefeated in its first four matches this season, and, since it's an expansion team, its first four matches ever — is grappling with its own issues. Though both teams aren't releasing their injury reports until later today, media reports have star winger Hirving Lozano returning to practice rehabbing his own hamstring injury (it's going around!) but still unavailable for Sunday. Less significant, but still affecting how head coach Mikey Varas will set his lineup: Anibal Godoy is out on international duty, playing a role in Panama's 1-0 win over the U.S. men's national team on Thursday, which included an instant classic goal celebration involving a just-sitting-there Thierry Henry. Andres Dreyer, another of San Diego's designated players, has been the hub for what's been an impressive-at-times offense, Luca de la Torre has been a smart addition to that squad, and Jeppe Tverskov looks to be an impressively sixy 6\. ## About those goals ... Austin FC is still looking for its first goal from open play, which Gallagher addressed, saying that they all need to "trust the process" they're creating. "We're trying to implement new systems and build new connections. I think Brandon \[Vázquez\] and Myrto played for the first time together just only two weeks ago. So it's not going to gel just like that. And I know fans obviously want to see goals and a return on the investments we made, but I see it every day in training, and everyone else does. "So I think there's a quiet confidence among us that we will start scoring in bags and bunches. So, yeah, just trying to keep a calm head and not worry too much. I think what's helping is that if you look at the performances, the team actually has been playing really well. And maybe I'm biased, but I feel that the team's creating chances, getting into good positions to score, defending well, playing as a unit. And the next thing obviously to come is the goals. So hopefully this weekend." Estévez commented on the process as well. "I think it's a process, and we would love to be already in the right spot, but we just need a little bit more time. And sometimes teams settle right away, and with some teams it takes a little bit more time. I think on the defensive side, we have settled very well, but on the offensive side, it is true that we are taking steps, shorter steps, to get where we want to be." [Subscribe](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'Austin was built to host great events': What we learned from Tuesday's MLS All-Star Game announcement URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-all-star-game-austin-details-andy-loughnane-far-too-early-roster-prediction/ Last updated: 2025-03-19T12:37:01.000Z The soundbite from Austin FC president Andy Loughnane was a little awkward in its timing, given that SXSW had just announced a downsizing of the [annual festival](https://www.kut.org/austin/2025-03-17/sxsw-austin-tx-march-interactive-film-music-festival?ref=verdeallday.com) on Monday, in part coinciding with the demolition (starting next month) and rebirth (by 2029) of the [Austin Convention Center](https://www.kut.org/austin/2025-02-26/austin-tx-convention-center-construction-new-design?ref=verdeallday.com). But it expressed a sentiment that still nods to Austin lore, resonating with longtime residents, regarding the city hosting the 2025 MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 23 (and all the hoopla scheduled in the several days prior). "Austin was built to host great events," he declared, "and this is just going to be another in a long storied tradition of hosting great events here in Austin." In making the case for Q2 (that was set into motion once the stadium started being built, based on how the league likes to feature newly-opened stadiums for All-Star), Loughnane mentioned its role in hosting World Cup qualifiers and Gold Cup matches, as well as noting the league last brought its All-Star Game to Texas — specifically, in Houston, in what was then known as Reliant Stadium, for a 5-2 drubbing by Manchester United. Loughnane also announced (though he was clipped by about 45 minutes by the league announcing it) that the Liga MX All-Stars will once again be the MLS All-Stars' opponent. ![Andy Loughnane at Q2 Stadium for press event](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-18-at-8.06.24-PM.png) **Andy Loughnane shared some details about what's coming in July (Austin FC Communications/video still)* That's perhaps a bit of a disappointment to those hoping the league was finally moving back to its East vs. West matchup roots, which it's better positioned to do now than when MLS first died it. But keeping the new tradition is certainly better than what happened in 2023, when MLS departed from the North American All-Star format it introduced for the 2021 edition of the annual event, to again go with a European club – as it did from 2005 (with Fulham!) to 2019 (with Atlético Madrid winning 3-0, punctuated by a Diego Costa goal in stoppage time, because of course). *(2023 brought with it a 5-0 Arsenal beatdown that left this Arsenal/MLS fan conflicted and a little bewildered. That's also where I learned that D.C.'s Audi Field is only one of two soccer stadiums in the world – Everton's Goodison Park being the other – that has its press box/cameras face west instead of east. Sunset glare at Audi Field is painful, y'all – but not as painful as American Arsenal fans adopting English accents*\[\[1\]\] *to cheer on their preseason squad dunking on MLS's best.)* If it follows the trajectory of past MLS All-Star Games, you should expect the following – some of which Loughnane confirmed, and some of which he might not be yet entirely sure of, as the league controls the bulk of the All-Star programming. - Starting on Sunday, expect national MLS media to converge on Austin and experience opportunities for local soccer fans to experience live podcasts and the like. (In 2022, in the Black Hart's back room, as a bonus for those who went to the Twin Cities' turn at hosting, The Cooligans' Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco, who started out as comedians before branching out into soccer podcasting, each did comedy routines. I can't promise we'll get a repeat of that, but there should be fun for those who listen to more than five soccer podcasts a week; *I know you're out there*.) - On Monday, expect the activations downtown to go into full effect, including a likely community service opportunity and something Loughnane obliquely referred to as a "celebration of soccer." (Loughnane did say there would be quite a bit happening downtown, very possibly centered at the Fairmont if Austin brass gets any say in the matter.) - On Tuesday, the glorious Skills Challenge takes place, which fundamentally asks its participants, "What if soccer was reduced to players just navigating an elaborate set of props cribbed from [*Big Brother* challenges](https://bigbrother.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Recurring%5FCompetitions?ref=verdeallday.com)?" The event also incorporates Goalie Wars, which is perhaps the real celebration of soccer. - And on Wednesday, the match itself – for which season ticket holders and waitlist folks will get a crack at before tickets go on sale to the general public a week from today. ## But who will represent MLS? As head coach of the team hosting, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez will coach the MLS All-Stars and get to select 12 players on the 26-man roster, with fans selecting 12 and MLS Commissioner Don Garber selecting two. Here's a far-too-early prediction of who gets voted in: **Forwards:** Lionel Messi, Inter Miami; Luis Suárez, Inter Miami; Emmanuel Latte Lath, Atlanta United; Denis Bouanga, LAFC **Midfielders:** Evander, FC Cincinnati; Brian Gutiérrez, Chicago Fire FC; Andres Dreyer, San Diego FC **Defenders:** Kai Wagner, Philadelphia Union; Jordi Alba, Inter Miami; Jackson Ragan, Seattle Sounders; Maya Yoshida, LA Galaxy **Goalkeeper:** Kristijan Kahlina, Charlotte FC Yes, that goalkeeper pick annoys me, but I feel like Kahlina's going to get some All-Star vote drift from his 2024 season, which really picked up recognition and praise and eventually [accolades](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/charlotte-fc-s-kristijan-kahlina-named-2024-mls-goalkeeper-of-the-year?ref=verdeallday.com) in the second half of the season. As MLS noted when he was named Goalkeeper of the Year, "The 32-year-old Croatia native was the only MLS goalkeeper to rank top-five in both saves (121) and goals against average (1.09), while finishing tied for first in shutouts (12) and leading the league in save percentage (75.63%)." Sometimes it's just a math aggregate like that. Incidentally, the All-Star selections that year were Roman Bürki, Hugo Lloris, and Indonesia-boosted Maarten Paes, leaving Kahlina and two other more deserving GK candidates home. One was Matt Freese, arguably the best goalkeeper last season. The other, of course, was (nodding to Flight of the Conchords here) [definitely in the top three](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jLDZjMF3tk&ref=verdeallday.com): Brad Stuver. Will Stuver get a lifetime achievement award in 2025? He's got a decent resume brewing in 2025: Anchoring one of the better defenses in the league, only letting in 0.5 goals per match, and an 80% save ratio. (Incidentally, Stuver's 2024 numbers were comparable to Kahlina's: a league-leading 143 saves, a 1.41 goals against average, eight shutouts, and a save percentage of 74.8%.) There might be more splashier initial picks, including San Diego's C.J. dos Santos (who is having a surprisingly good statistical season given he's a relative unknown on an expansion team), but Estévez picking Stuver wouldn't turn the heads that, say, D.C. United manager Wayne Rooney did when he elevated Tyler Miller to the 2023 All-Star squad despite him having just a 62.8% save percentage. (His option was declined after the 2024 season and he's currently without a club. That happened 18 months after his All-Star selection. Life comes at you fast?) ## Which Austin FC player might join Stuver? Stuver getting onto the All-Star squad in 2025 wouldn't be a stretch, but right now, a second Verde selection would be. In 2024, the All-Star team had seven forwards/wingers, 10 (!) midfielders, nine defenders, and three goalkeepers — and given that whoever Garber chooses is a bit of a wild card, those numbers could change slightly in 2025.\[\[2\]\] Given what Verde spent on DPs, it seems like one of Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez, or Osman Bukari would be a candidate, but they don't have the stats that players like Tai Baribo, Hugo Cuypers, Christian Benteke, Cristian Espinoza, Alonso Martinez, Jordan Morris, or Rafael Navarro have right now. All of those names would rightfully vault over Verde names if All-Star picks needed to be made today. As for midfielders, Luciano Acosta still plays in this league. Eduard Atuesta has three assists so far for a high-scoring Orlando team still trying to figure some things out. Miami's Telasco Segovia is turning some heads; he has four goal contributions already. David Da Costa would be an exciting addition to the squad. Right now, Owen Wolff looks like Verde's best midfielder, and so far, the best candidate for a Verde field player to get the nod, though he might be considered a bit of a homer pick at this stage. (But if you need a designated corner kick specialist for a phase of the game, he might just be the guy.) Given that Austin's defense has been doing well, it's possible for Estévez to choose a Verde defender with justification, but MLS All-Star defenders typically fall into one of two categories: A reputation pick (think Walker Zimmerman or Miles Robinson) or a defender scoring a lot of goals (2023 Jon Gallagher, or, so far, 2025 Andrew Gutman or Sam Adekugbe), which could also include a fake defender like Luca Orellano. Fake defender? Don't believe me? Charts! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/-FBCharts--Luca-Orellano.png) That's ... well, that's stark considering the defending numbers, but, uh, pretty dominant in nine categories. (Orellano would also be objectively fun as a wingback free to roam with MLS All-Stars like Evander or Bouanga to combine with; you just need a center back good enough to slide over and defend against Liga MX wingers.) Meanwhile, speaking of charts, here's where Stuver is as a goalkeeper compared to MLS and its equivalent leagues. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/-FBCharts--Brad-Stuver.png) And here's Kahlina, because, sure, why not. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/-FBCharts--Kristijan-Kahlina.png) And here's a comparison chart. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/-FBCharts--Kristijan-Kahlina-vs.-Brad-Stuver.png) All told, I'd still rather have Stuver, but Kahlina is better overall statistically based on this. (But I'd still rather have Stuver.) Again, it's still early in the season, and if Uzuni catches fire and scores six or seven goals in the next five matches, he likely enters the conversation as one of the nine or ten best 2025 attackers in MLS. But he's not there yet, and I doubt Estévez would gift an All-Star spot to a field player. Keep an eye on Owen Wolff, though. (No, seriously.) [Subscribe and support nerdery like this](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: The rest of you Premier League fans do this too! (Or, at least, you know people in your fan base who do.) \[\[2\]\]: In 2024, Garber chose Héctor Herrera (a pick that made way more sense for 2023) and Darlington Nagbe, who the official site delightfully dubbed "still among the best midfield metronomes in MLS." ### Sizing up shot-creating actions (a stat for which Owen Wolff is currently Lionel Messi's equal) URL: https://verdeallday.com/sizing-up-shot-creating-actions-austin-fc-sixth-in-mls/ Last updated: 2025-03-18T12:17:24.000Z Austin FC hasn't scored a lot yet in 2025\. In fact, the team's scored about as little as you can while getting to six points in four matches. (You could actually do it on a single goal, by winning a match 1-0 and drawing the other three 0-0, but the two they have now isn't much more than one.) And yet, they're currently sixth in a key metric that leads to shots, and eighth in actual shots — a very different story from the last year, when they were among the lowest in the league in shots and shots on target even though they were converting a great deal (but perhaps not enough) of those shots on target. Per [FBref](https://fbref.com/en/comps/22/gca/Major-League-Soccer-Stats?ref=verdeallday.com#all%5Fstats%5Fgca), shot-creating actions are "the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, take-ons, and drawing fouls." It is possible for a single player to get credit for multiple actions, and you can indeed be credited for a shot-creating action to set up a shot that you yourself take. After four matches this season, the Quakes lead the league with 120 shot-creating actions, with leader-among-all-players Cristian Espinoza registering 27 on his own. Austin's got 101, good for sixth in the league, setting up 55 shots, though only 13 of those shots are on target, with that 23.6% rate 27th in the league. Osman Bukari leads Austin with 17 SCAs, and his 4.65 SCA/90 rate is 24th in the league. Owen Wolff is second on the squad with 13\. Lionel Messi also has 13 at this stage in the season, but he's only played two of four matches. (He's probably going to get a lot more before 2025 is over.) But Wolff's 3.67 SCAs/90 is currently besting the SCA/90 rate from true No. 10s like Emil Forsberg, Carles Gil, and Daniel Gazdag, as well as some other impressive names like Robin Lod, Wilfried Zaha, and Jack McGlynn. While Vancouver's Jaden Nelson has an SCA/90 north of eight right now, besting everyone, Wolff's in a broad conversation of current MLS players who are creating. American Soccer Analysis' goals added metric also loves Wolff; he's currently best on the squad in the passing and dribbling categories making up two of the six measures, adding up to a G+ of 0.08, good for sixth overall on the squad. (G+ still loves Julio Cascante best; he has a rating of 0.21.) (See [this article](https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-austin-fc-la-galaxy-new-york-red-bulls-2024/) if you want to get a better sense of goals added and what it shows.) ## Yes, we also have to talk about goal-creating actions As far as goal-creating actions go, defined by FBref as "the two offensive actions directly leading to a goal," Verde only have four collectively as a team, which is tied for 27th in the league with the Galaxy. Wolff has two of those four, both off of corner kicks. (Brandon Vázquez and Julio Cascante have one apiece, and Cascante's came from the ball that bounced off him and into Bukari for the winning goal in the SKC match. Vázquez somehow got credit for forcing the corner kick that led to the goal in the LAFC match.) It's no wonder that the three teams leading the Supporters' Shield race right now lead in goal-creating actions with at least 4.25 per 90\. The other team that's done that, Orlando, has scored nine goals to equal Vancouver and Miami's output, with Philadelphia (who beat Orlando 4-2 in its opener) leading all with 11\. (Orlando's let in 10 goals so far en route to an early 1-2-1 record, whereas the three teams atop the Shield race each have goal differentials of +5 or better through four matches.) To show you that sometimes there can be a great disconnect between shot-creating action and goal-creating actions, Marco Reus and Diego Fagundez are two of the top 12 players in the league for SCA/90, with 6.24 and 5.28, but neither have a goal-creating action yet, and the Galaxy, like Austin, only have four GCAs total so far. ## So why is this worth knowing? If a team is generating shot-creating actions, it's creating shots. Last year's Austin team showed that you don't need a lot of shots or even shots on target to create goals if you've got good conversation rates, but it also showed that being on the lower end of the shots count certainly can correlate to low goal totals. Last season, Austin was last in the league in both shots and shots on target, and finished tied for 25th in goals with 39\. Not surprisingly, Austin was last in shot-creating actions, averaging 18.09 per 90\. Four matches into 2025, Austin's blowing past that with a 25.25 average. An 18.09 SCA/90 four matches into 2025 would land around 18th in the league, in between LAFC and Miami, though Miami has about one goal for every eight shot-creating actions at this stage of the season, which is a really good ratio. (Last year's Miami team had 731 SCAs and 78 goals, which is a goal for every 9.37 SCAs.) That's just one more piece of evidence that Austin's got better offense working in 2025 than it did in 2024, even though it's not showing up in goals as of yet. *(Note: FBref appears to have some connection issues as we're going to press with this. It's usually a reliable site; it's a good thing I pulled these numbers last night.)* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We are not there yet': An imperfect Austin FC team gets an early-season (dare we say it) signature win URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-lafcvatx-031525-nico-estevez-owen-wolff/ Last updated: 2025-03-16T15:15:30.000Z If I were to tell you that Austin FC rolled into BMO Stadium on Saturday afternoon getting just 33.9% possession, getting roughly half of its 1.0 total xG on a flubbed Myrto Uzuni shot from six yards out, and mustering just three shots on goal en route to its fourth straight 1-0 outcome in this strange-so-far 2025 season, you might assume that Verde fell to a Denis Bouanga goal. Oh, and I'll share another few bits of news to convince you Verde fell short: They've yet to score a goal from open play four matches into the 2025 season, and their two new designated players — Uzuni and Brandon Vázquez — have zero goal contributions. Yet, despite the statistical disadvantages, Austin FC got a 12th-minute set piece goal from Guilherme Biro — off a corner kick from early Verde MVP candidate Owen Wolff — for its first road win of 2025\. There might be prettier wins coming. Certainly, this team is capable of a multi-goal win, and certainly that's going to happen at some stage in its evolution. But given LAFC's prowess and Verde's traditional challenges at BMO Stadium, it's not entirely laughable to call this a signature win. However, in considering my question about whether this was that, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said a lot about his new squad exhibiting the right mentality but still being a work in progress. "We can talk about a lot of things that we're missing," he assessed. "We should play better with the ball. We we should have more calm in some of the decisions in the in the attacking third ... There are a lot of things that we have to improve, winning or losing, but we know that the important thing is I'm not worried about them scoring. They're gonna score goals. And then people are going to be very happy when they score goals." After talking about the team's improved chance creation — which included the Uzuni chance (.48 xG per MLS and .24 xG per FBref) standing as either side's highest-percentage attempt all match — Estévez maintained that Verde, in their current form, are no LAFC. "If you think that we are right now at the same level as LAFC, we are not being fair. LAFC, as I said the other day, is a team that consistently wins, consistently is a winning team, and we are not ... We are not there yet. We are building that. But it takes time. The courage, the determination, the connection, the sacrifice that the team showed, it shows the mentality of a team that wants to win, but in the middle of everything, we still need to improve. We have to play better." ## Let's review the data What jumps out from the MLS Analytics visualizations is how Verde dealt with LAFC's home crowd-fueled attack. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Los_Angeles_FC_v_Austin_FC_def_2025-03-15.png) The defense played much lower than LAFC, and though both teams were similar in their attacking-half defensive actions, Verde played much deeper in their own half, including two memorable moments between minutes 77 and 80 that showed Verde's tenacity. The first, of course, was Brad Stuver coming out of his goal area to collect a ball and getting up-ended by Timothy Tillman – leading Stuver to express his great displeasure and both players getting yellow cards as a result of the exchange. The second, around the 79:20 mark, started with Dani Pereira attempting an ill-advised pass that was jumped by Denis Bouanga. Pereira was able to hustle back and get an interception that then allowed Jon Gallagher to clear the ball out of bounds. While it's good that Verde was able to avert disaster in that moment, it's now the second straight match that Pereira has gifted a scoring opportunity to a player who scored at least 15 MLS goals in 2024\. That is a dangerous trend should it continue. Here's another indication of what Verde faced (and created) on Saturday. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Los_Angeles_FC_v_Austin_FC_quad_2025-03-15.png) Though it might be too early to worry about Osman Bukari — or is this maybe a Ramadan/fasting issue that resolves when Eid comes on March 29? — as well as central midfield play, these graphics show final third passes primarily coming from the non-Bukari side of the field and passes into the box coming from the wings. The shots map (with MLS Analytics showing more xG distance in its Opta-sourced stats than MLS or FBref) shows that half of the 10 shots came from outside the box, with only four (two on target) coming from optimal areas inside the box and in front of goal. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Los_Angeles_FC_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-03-15.png) "We just were trying to be more pragmatic and trying to get a result," Estévez said post-match. "And this is on me. I think this time we talk about we have to be more aggressive, we have to be more brave to win away. We can't just defend. It was \[in\] really good moments that we got that, but ... you have an opponent that didn't allow us to do much more. We'll learn from that, and then we'll grow as a team." ## Short and to the point Owen Wolff, who got the corner kick assist in his 100th match with Verde, was tapped at the player to speak to media, and was as truncated as Estévez was verbose. "Being able to get more comfortable within the team and around the guys as well, for sure, has helped me elevate my game," Wolff said about the excellent start he's had to the season, with his two assists putting him in the goal contributions lead for Verde's young season. "Being able to learn from the coaching staff and the new players that we have brought in also helps a lot." He didn't shy away from a direct question about that coaching change and its impact on him. "I've known Nico for quite a while," Wolff said, as the two Austin head coaches were assistants together in Columbus and with the U.S. Men's National Team. "Being able to learn from Nico's ideas there, they have similarities and differences from what I've had in the past with my dad and the coaches that we had last year. \[It's\] just being able to be open and willing to learn from Nico and his ideas." He also was part of a new-look midfield, with Besard Šabović replacing Pereira as a starter for the first time this season. "I think it's important that we learn how to play with each other," Wolff said of the change. "For sure, it's going to be a long year, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of rotation, so being able to work on that chemistry and that connection is important for us." ## The standings Heading into Sunday's matches – including a Timbers-Galaxy match that would need to be a Timbers rout to change the standings — Austin's 7th in the West with a 2w-2L-0D record and a 0 goal differential, with two goals scored and only two goals allowed. While they're six points off the pace set by red-hot Vancouver, they're also grouped with LAFC, RSL, and San Jose on six points, and ahead of Seattle and their two Texas rivals. While the standings don't mean much at this stage — unless you've fallen off the pace like a Houston or a Galaxy — Verde are in a decent spot right now. Keeping pace with the pack and getting a road win helps their playoff chances, even though it's far too early to be thinking about playoffs – except for those teams that have already dug themselves a hole. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: LAFC 0, Austin FC 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/at-the-whistle-match-recap-lafcvatx-031525/ Last updated: 2025-03-15T22:01:52.000Z In a match that held true to the inherent paradox at MLS' core, Austin FC went to BMO Stadium in Los Angeles as significant underdogs and came away with a 1-0 win on Saturday afternoon, thanks to Guilherme Biro's 12th-minute set piece goal and tenacious defense throughout the remainder of the match. Verde struck first in the 12th minute, on an Owen Wolff corner kick that found Biro's head and then squirted past LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Though LAFC dominated first-half possession, up 62 to 38 after the first 45, Verde did well to thwart the hosts, and had several additional stellar first-half chances, including a 40th-minute Jon Gallagher shot from distance that went just wide of the far post (very nearly bringing back some good 2023 flashbacks to go with the bad 2023 center back injury flashbacks). Are you familiar with the Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull number, "On the Floor?" That was the story of the early second half, with various Verde and LAFC players going down under mininal contact, but with the referee letting them play. Myrto Uzuni had several opportunities in front of goal again, including a 57th-minute shot from six yards out, registering 0.48 xG, that he understandably registered dismay in missing. Then Osman Bukari went on a run in the 65th minute, going wide with a shot after doing a lot of work (though it had considerably lower xG than Uzuni's attempt. Some fireworks ensued in the final frame of the match, with Timothy Tillman undercutting Brad Stuver when the Austin 'keeper went to collect, leading to some tensions and jostling and both players getting yellows for their efforts. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) In the 49th minute, I got to use my first legitimate "What a smart choice by Ilie" of the young season for his unmarked shot at the top of the box that went just wide. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) Did not like the Bukari giveaway allowing Timothy Tillman to feed Cengiz Ünder around minute 25\. Ünder didn't miss his open chance by much. Also, didn't like the Besard Šabović miss three minutes later that could have made it 2-0\. (Ultimately didn't matter though.) ## Something you might have missed Not 100 percent sure where Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez got his shirt, as it isn't a current MLSStore.com offering (as far as I could Google), but he's already blown past former head coach Josh Wolff in Verde merch worn on the sideline. ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative It's Austin FC's first road win of 2025! And, perhaps not the prettiest of wins, but out of four matches, it's Verde's signature win and a signal to the rest of the league that something positive is happening in Central Texas. ## One nerdy tidbit Sure, it took until the very last bit of the match, but Verde cleared 1 xG and won the xG battle over the hosts, who managed just 0.8 xG. ## A question we have heading into the press conference Still no goals from open play, and still no goals from the team's two DP forwards ... but I assume Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez feels good about this win. [Subscribe to get today's quotes tomorrow morning](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: We go back to the LAFC well with MLSSoccer.com's Justin Ruderman URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-lafcvatx-031525-justin-ruderman/ Last updated: 2025-03-15T15:49:58.000Z If there's an Austin FC vs. LAFC match on the horizon, we're talking to Justin Ruderman. Before he became a regular with MLSSoccer.com doing matchday coverage, Justin was the LAFC beat writer with *The Striker*, and he still keeps an eye on what the perennial power is doing. We thought, therefore, it was a good time to tap him for a Foreign Exchange contribution (especially since he reached out upon hearing the Ilie Sánchez news to tell us how much we'd love him). Here are our questions and his answers. ### What's your overall evaluation of the offseason moves? Did LAFC's front office do what it needed to do to reset the lineup, or are there still holes in it that concern you? Both. LAFC is a team with heavy roster turnover every offseason, and it almost always works. This year, their moves have been similar to those that general manager John Thorrington made ahead of the 2022 season (yes, when LAFC won the double) in targeting known MLS commodities. That season, it was players like Kellyn Acosta, Ryan Hollingshead, Maxime Crépeau, and, of course, Ilie Sánchez who led LAFC to the promised land. Now, the Black & Gold picked up the best backup striker in MLS in Jeremy Ebobisse, did arguably the best defensive business in the league with Nkosi Tafari, and added reigning MLS Cup champion Mark Delgado to soak up reliable minutes in midfield. That said, there are concerns, particularly in terms of creativity. While talisman Denis Bouanga stuck around, their next three leading goal contributors — Mateusz Bogusz, Cristian ‘Kike’ Olivera, and Kei Kamara — are all out the door. Venezuelan youngster David Martinez and homegrown Nathan Ordaz look ready to fill Olivera’s boots, as Ebobisse does for Kamara, but the injured Odin Thiago Holm has yet to suit up for LAFC. Even when he does, he’s unlikely to replicate the high standards Bogusz produced to earn a club-record transfer to Cruz Azul alongside Omar Campos. At least the Black & Gold have all three designated player slots filled ahead of the season — a rarity for the club — following the recent acquisition of winger Cengiz Ünder on loan. Unfortunately, the tip of the attacking DP spear, Olivier Giroud, has yet to score his first MLS goal. LAFC need him to get going. *(Note: It won't happen Saturday; he's listed out with injury.)* ### LAFC's one of those annoying "contender for multiple trophies every year" teams ... what are your early predictions for how they'll fare in all they're eligible for this season? Close but no cigar is the vibe I get from LAFC this season. That was the story for the club in 2023 and nearly again last season if not for a diluted U.S. Open Cup triumph. However, the first team will not participate in that competition this year, leaving only four possible trophies. LAFC are currently four games away from their third Concacaf Champions Cup final in five years but have drawn Inter Miami in the quarterfinals, making their first title look unlikely. These difficult opponents, especially from the MLS Eastern Conference and Liga MX, are my concern in the CCC or Leagues Cup. While Western Conference teams get a slight advantage (assuming the East is better) in the Supporters’ Shield race, Seattle Sounders look primed to take that mantle should it be a team from out West. All this to say, a five-game run to MLS Cup with only one Eastern Conference opponent in the final seems the best opportunity for Black & Gold silverware. ### This will be LAFC's first 2025 match playing against Ilie Sánchez ... does the team miss him, or have they found a suitable replacement? Again, both. Off the field, he is dearly missed as a leader within the locker room, club, and broader LA community. As I’m sure Verde fans have quickly learned, he is a world-class leader and incomparable person. That cannot be easily replaced. On the field, fans are happy with Igor Jesus as Ilie’s defensive midfield replacement. While the Brazilian does not carry the experience of a 34-year-old, LAFC opted for the limitless energy of a talented 22-year-old. Thus far, it looks like Thorrington made the smart choice. *(Yes, Justin appreciates "smart choice" jokes as much as we do!)* ### Another week in which we talk about Austin FC and food: Emergency Podcast, Episode 38 URL: https://verdeallday.com/another-week-in-which-we-talk-about-austin-fc-and-food-emergency-podcast-episode-38/ Last updated: 2025-03-15T14:25:55.000Z The latest Emergency Podcast is live! *This week, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West are not worried about the Mikkel Desler injury, or no goals from open play from Austin FC in the first three matches, or the early working theory about 2025 Dani Pereira, or the match at LAFC on Saturday, or last night's VerDos match that ended like a certain first-team match from a couple of weeks ago, or the great emotional attachment people seem to have with their Whataburger, but they might be a little concerned about whether or not the sandwich artists at Thundercloud can get it together for people who just want to adhere to arcane Lenten dietary requirements.* Listen on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-38-decidedly-unworried-about-all-these-concerns/id1742052077?i=1000699288782&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3mgLDbTF8ygAzpqcTBgmaH?ref=verdeallday.com), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDNeaXuPDA&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or the embedded player below. ### See you in May: Austin FC's back line officially gets thinner with injury update URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-preview-lafcvatx-031525-nico-estevez-brad-stuver-mikkel-desler-injury-update/ Last updated: 2025-03-14T12:59:12.000Z Seeing Mikkel Desler pull up with a hamstring injury directly below the press box during Austin FC's 1-0 loss to Colorado on Saturday immediately led to some math – and some on-the-fly medical diagnosis – from those of us watching from that perch. *Did this look like a four-week injury? A six-week injury?* We got an answer in Thursday's media availability: Desler's out for six to eight weeks, and head coach Nico Estévez predicts it will ultimately be on the longer side of that range. And, in the short term, expect Jon Gallagher to start at right back in Desler's place for the foreseeable future, starting with Saturday's match in Los Angeles against LAFC. "Jon is a great option for us as a right back," Estévez said in response to media members playing coach. "When he came in in the game, he helped the team a lot, and he did a really good job on that." He did also hint that Austin FC II players could be elevated to the first team via the Short-Term Agreement mechanism, which allows up to four call-ups and two match appearances per player under an MLS rule fans have become familiar with over the past two seasons. It's not quite the Great Center Back Crisis of 2023, yet — and Estévez did hint that Julio Cascante will soon, cautiously, be worked back into training – but it's something that hovers over the early part of the season despite Estévez's reassurances. "You can see all over the league, every team has some issues with injuries," he said. "Some of them right at the beginning in the preseason, they had injuries, some of them are getting now. When the competition starts, the intensity and the level of demand on the physical side is you go to the limit, and these things can happen. But overall, I think the rest of the team feels good. "Even Mikkel, talking with him, he felt really good," the head coach added. "He didn't feel anything. It was more like the action that he did. He forced too much, and this, if it's a normal action, he wouldn't have any problem. It was just because it was very unaesthetic kind of action that he did ... and unluckily, he got hurt, because he's a guy that takes care of himself. But I think the team is doing well. We have really high numbers on the physical side, compared to other teams in the league, and we just have to keep going ... and hopefully, everyone can be healthy." ## Looking at the numbers Estévez did nod toward we pointed out on Tuesday – Verde currently is [the best in MLS](https://verdeallday.com/what-would-you-say-you-do-here-austin-fc-leads-in-one-key-defensive-metric-but-is-last-in-another/) in expected goals allowed – and had a few more stats at the ready. "We conceded 0.42 expected goals," said Estévez, referencing [StatsBomb](https://statsbomb.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) in breaking down Saturday's performance. "It's the lowest that we've conceded so far. But I didn't feel like we were that good on the defensive side ... this is the feeling, after review that, we made some mistakes defensively." Conversely, numbers showed that the team did well to create chances. "Depending on Opta or StatsBomb or whatever you look at is different, but around 1.5, 1.7, that's a really high number, so far from what we've done. But for me, we need to get better.\[\[1\]\] The mentality, the attitude, the intention was there, but maybe the poise, the ruthlessness\[\[2\]\], it wasn't there, and then it's about like how we can be cleaner in those moments, and after reviewing the tape, we get into really good spots, really good situations with advantages, and it's just to make better decisions." ## A secret weapon? Brad Stuver, holding a puppy during his turn with the media, also had positive things to say about the defense. "The commitment to defending has been excellent," he observed. "I mean, even if you look at last year, our defensive numbers were better than they were in the first three years. So we've been trending in the right direction from a defensive standpoint ... and this year, the guys have really taken that role seriously, and they know that if we don't give up goals, we're in a better position to get points and win games. "But I think overall, just the way we're playing, we're structured in a little bit better position where, if we do lose a ball, we're in a better position where we won't get hit in a counter attack. And overall, the two goals that we've given up are a set piece and kind of like a lost ball into a transition. So our set defensive structure has been showing to be pretty strong, and that's not to say that we need to stop working on it. It's something that we need to drill in and keep focusing on as the year goes, because as long as we don't give up goals, we'll be in a better position to win." He also noted that he and his teammates have a bit of an advantage in scouting Saturday's opponent, LAFC, that they typically don't have with other opponents. That advantage, of course, is Ilie Sánchez, who ended his three-season tenure with the club in November after a playoff loss to Seattle. "\[He\] obviously has a little bit more insight into the mentality and maybe some things that you can't get from watching film," he said. "Ilie has been great about just talking about the mentality that LAFC has. But for us, we know what they're about. We know how dangerous they can be in counter-attacks. And just having someone that's been there, to tell you exactly what you're saying is true, is very beneficial." [Subscribe](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: FBref, our go-to, had the xGs at 1.3 to 0.7\. \[\[2\]\]: Yes, that dreaded Wolffian word. ### 'What would you say you ... do here?': Austin FC leads in one key defensive metric — but is last in another URL: https://verdeallday.com/what-would-you-say-you-do-here-austin-fc-leads-in-one-key-defensive-metric-but-is-last-in-another/ Last updated: 2025-03-11T17:14:05.000Z Three matches into the 2025 season, Austin FC leads the league in one key defensive metric — indicating the defensive philosophy that goalkeeper Brad Stuver discussed after the team's opening clean sheet win is working. But then there's another key defensive stat that Verde's dead last in the league in, indicating that something's at work that doesn't conform to your usual expectations of an effective defense. It's a paradox that got me thinking about the classic line from 1999's *Office Space*, a movie which one could reductively describe as being about getting away with doing as little as possible yet succeeding. The line, of course, is asked to an Initech employee by one of the efficiency-evaluating Two Bobs: "What would you say you ... do here?" Let's delve into the paradox. ## What's impressive so far Following the Feb. 22 win over Sporting Kansas City, Stuver said that an impressive interception Mikkel Desler made on Dejan Joveljić in front of goal, instrumental in preserving a clean sheet, was indicative of the team's defensive philosophy, forged this preseason under new head coach Nico Estévez. "We've been working on having each other's backs and getting compact and making sure that we always have someone there to make the play," Stuver observed. Over the next two matches, both 1-0 losses, that philosophy was largely in play, yet the goals happened as a result of costly defensive lapses – an issue carrying over from last season. A team can play well for most of 90 minutes, and do all the defensive work needed to prevent goals, but one momentary let-up can be costly – as it was on a David Da Costa free kick and a Đorđe Mihailović throughball to Rafael Navarro to decide their two losses. As Brendan Hines-Ike observed following the loss away at Portland on March 1, "Soccer is a cruel game." Yet, over three matches, as online soccer personality Tutul Rahman [pointed out](https://bsky.app/profile/tutul.bsky.social/post/3ljyg7lhpb22m?ref=verdeallday.com), Verde leads the league in expected goals allowed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-11-at-6.53.30-AM.png) That means opponents are averaging around 0.63 xG per match against Austin, whereas the Fire are allowing their opponents nearly 2.4 xG per match. That's got to be a sign of a stingy defense thwarting their opponents, right? Lots of tackles and interceptions to break up attacks? And clearances as well? *(By the way, you should read that series of questions in the voice Stewie uses to grill Brian about his novel-writing plans in these classic Family Guy clips.)* ## Check this out Actually, the tackles plus interceptions metric that FBref uses as part of its defensive stat tallying shows a much different story. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-11-at-6.56.43-AM.png) Yep: Austin's last in that category. Verde are also about the middle of the pack in clearances, and in case you were wondering if Stuver's goalkeeping has been keeping Verde in matches, Austin's also last in post-shot expected goals with 1.3 and last in PSxG per shot on target at 0.18, meaning that Stuver's facing the least amount of danger of MLS's collection of keepers. And yet, Austin (with Stuver obviously in the keeper role all 270 minutes so far) toward the bottom of the PSxG plus/minus goals allowed metric at -0.7, in a category Stuver normally excels in. (It is still early, and it's based on two goals allowed on seven shots of target, with an average-so-far save percentage of 71.4%.) ## What's Verde doing, exactly? If you're wondering what's happening, the answer might lie on the offensive side of the equation. Through three matches, Austin's 9th in possession, registering 1913 touches, putting the team on pace for 21,680 touches for the season, which would best 2024's 19,154, which put them bottom third of the league despite former head coach Josh Wolff's premium-placing on possession. So far this season, Verde have registered 54.7% possession, tied for 6th-most in the league, compared to 49.9% in 2024\. And Austin's toward the bottom in defensive penalty and defensive third touches, meaning that the ball's not spending as much time near their goal as it is for other teams. They're also 9th in touches in the attacking third and 13th in touches in the middle third. It's only three matches into the 2025 season, but compare that to 2024's numbers (28th of 29 teams in middle-third touches, and 24th in final-third touches), and it's absolutely encouraging. Some of those numbers from 2024 certainly reflect (in part, at least) Wolff's more conservative approach on the road, but some of them are also certainly a function of not having a particularly adept group of ball progressors or a system that lent itself toward a lot of dribble-dependent progression upfield. (It doesn't take a lot of touches to get a ball down the flanks and then cross it, compared to what the 2025 eye test is showing us.) This is an unfolding mystery, and I'll keep an eye on more data as the season progresses to see if Austin's still able to keep chances on the low end of xGA (measuring, I'll continue to remind you, number of shots times quality of shots), and if Austin does step up their actual defensive actions or if they're still able to control matches despite a lack of those. (And goals, of course. We're all waiting for more goals.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'We have to feel this pain of losing': Is Austin FC destined for a repeat of last season? URL: https://verdeallday.com/morning-after-analysis-atxvcol-030825/ Last updated: 2025-03-09T15:40:25.000Z With 19 shots to Colorado's six, four shots on targets to the Rapids' three, and a higher xG amassed over the course of 90 minutes on Saturday night, you might assume that Austin FC got a home win by outclassing the visitors in those key stats. And yet, Verde lost a 1-0 contest for the second straight match, confounding head coach Nico Estévez in a way reminiscent of how his predecessor was confounded for much of last season. "Well, after 21 shots, 19 crosses, it's difficult to not score a goal, right?" he began. "I mean, the numbers are there, we were there. "The positive is we improved a lot of the offensive plan, more than we did against Portland, even more than what we did against Kansas \[City\], and we played a team like Colorado, a playoff team last year, had an amazing season, played in Conca\[caf\] Champions \[Cup\], did a really good job against LAFC," Estévez reasoned. "It was a test for us. I think we had the energy. I think we competed, we fought, and it was just the detail, the thin line of us scoring a couple of the chances that we had, and we could win the game, and everyone will be very happy." Even though Myrto Uzuni came close on two close-in first-half chances, the final scoreline led Estévez to assess, "It's the moment that we have to feel this pain of losing, and the greatest has been, throughout the pain of losing ... how you respond, and how you come up after what is coming. Because I don't feel in the last two games, we deserved to have zero points." ## Delving through the data While it was a frustrating night that left many fans to theorize what could be happening — *Is it just chemistry that hasn't had time to fully bubble and fizz yet? Are we witnessing more poisoned fruit from the Berhalter coaching tree? Is the midfield flawed and to blame?* — it's important to remember that xG is a measure of shots times quality, and Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen came up with stops on the collection of quality chances Austin created. Here's the shot map from Saturday night. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin_FC_v_Colorado_Rapids_XG_2025-03-09.png) Though Verde still had six of 19 shots outside the box, including one from the edge of the MLS Stats graphic, this map shows an appreciable concentration of shots inside the box. While the offensive patterns looked chaotic and disconnected at times, Verde's attackers were getting into good positions. Looking at passes into the box, Austin outmatched Colorado, and had a balanced approach reflecting the different modalities they used — it wasn't just crosses from the flanks hoping to find an unguarded head or a stray far post runner. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin_FC_v_Colorado_Rapids_quad_2025-03-09.png) However, if you look at the comparative passing maps, the Rapids are clearly more direct, and on their goal, a very skilled midfielder got into position to send his assist to a very skilled forward who can finish when isolated one-on-one with a goalkeeper. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Austin_FC_v_Colorado_Rapids_main_2025-03-09.png) The thickness of lines, for those unfamiliar with passing maps, reflect the frequency of passes between players. Note the contrast between the thickness of lines among the Rapids' attackers – as well as the advanced position of left back Ian Murphy and later Anderson Rosa – compared to what Verde was doing. The Mikkel Desler injury around minute 70 was unfortunate – and though it's dependent on what the MRI on Monday says, Estévez confirmed it's a hamstring injury (which we saw with our own eyes given how Desler went down and how he clutched it upon going down), and my soccer-informed estimation is it will be in the three-to-four week window of recovery. The unfortunate sub occasion did give Jon Gallagher a chance to enter the match, and his connection with Osman Bukari was encouraging. They didn't have the time together to fully affect the match, but watch their linkup in upcoming matches (assuming Gally starts at right back next week against LAFC) to see that relationship flourish. ## The VARlington rug pull Twice in the match — for a 51st-minute takedown of Uzuni in the box by Chidozie Awaziem (who became the successor to the least-liked-by-Verde Rapids defender post recently occupied by Lalas Abubakar), and for in-the-box contact on Diego Rubio from Wayne Frederick in the second minute of second-half stoppage time – referee Marcos DeOliveira II pointed to the spot and then reversed it via the North Texas-headquarted Video Assistant Referee, which Moisés Chiullán has christened VARlington. Though the stoppage-time review was lengthy and looked credible enough for me to quickly draft a second lead on my match recap (assuming a made PK), it was actually the first reversed call that vexed Estévez the most. "The offside is very difficult, that they go back \[on\] that one, because there are no lines," he said. "There is no technology in in MLS ... the league doesn't have that technology, something that we as coaches want to have. The line between winning and losing is very thin, and for me, it's very difficult after not calling offside \[during the play\], to go and call offside \[via VAR\]. For me, if I was the referee, it is not clear and obvious to turn that call back on the PK." He then ruefully added, "I would love to have a referee that brave when I play away." In my role as Austin FC's pool reporter, I put a question to PRO, the MLS referee organization, about the rationale for the offside call. PRO came back with: "After analyzing the video, it was determined that the forward was closer to the goal line than the second to last defender." Well, PRO, thank you for explaining to me how offside works! (On the other call, PRO assessed Frederick made contact with the ball rather than Rubio, and that Connor Ronan did not commit a handball infraction on the incoming ball to Rubio, which was another element of that play discussed in the press box during the lengthy video review.) ## What the players said Brad Stuver had some choice words about that particular review. "We can never rely on the refs to make a game for us, but I would love to have five and a half minutes to go back, review something that I did on the field, and then change it. Must be nice to be able to have that." But he then pivoted to, "At the end of the day, those decisions aren't what are going to win that game for us. We have to take charge of our own destiny, and from here on out, we just know that we can't rely on anybody else but ourselves." Assessing the overall performance, he noted, "For those of us that have been here for several years now, we just have these lingering feelings from years past where these losses hit us a little bit harder. "We do have to realize that there are a lot of positives happening on the field right now. We're not giving up a lot of chances. We're creating a lot of chances. I think for us, it's just putting ourselves in better positions, and making sure that our attacking players in spots where we can give them the ball and they can do what they do best, and put the ball in the back of the net for us. It's just about capitalizing more on the chances that we have. And I think once that domino starts to fall, you'll see that everything will start falling into place." Uzuni, after making his first start and experiencing a frustrating night, nevertheless threw on a T-shirt over a towel and accountably came over to allow us to ask questions at the very end of our league-mandated time with players – the clock starts when Estévez's press conference starts, and that went nearly 25 of the 30 minutes we have total between coach and players. "Everyone is sad about this," Uzuni said. "Losing at home is painful, of course, because we are living for that ... And I think today, we didn't have the luck with us, because in the moment you have 26 chances, creating ... the most important \[thing is that you are creating \[as\] a team is not like you don't have chances." He posited, "I think in the next games, we'll have the luck with us, because I think today we deserved it more." He also acknowledged a developing chemistry between him, Brandon Vázquez, and Osman Bukari, even though the trio have combined for Verde's only goal in 270 minutes of the still-young season, and asserted that he's feeling good about that. He assessed, "We are giving everything on the pitch," which was especially true in Uzuni's case – he finished with 20 touches, four shots (with one on target plus one hitting the post), two shot creating actions, 9 for 10 in passes, and amassed 0.4 xG on his own (per FBref), all adding up to a G+ rating of 72 per MLS Analytics (with 60 the mean, only bested by Vazquéz at 74, Owen Wolff at 73, and Oleksandr Svatok at 73, before dropping to Guilherme Biro and Osman Bukari at 61 and plenty of sub-60 performances below that). With one Western Conference match still to be played on Sunday, Verde are currently 6th in the standings, three points off the conference-leading Quakes – with that last clause indicating we're still very early in the season and you should expect the picture to more clearly develop in the coming two months. Judging from Stuver and Uzuni's comments, they're aware of the need to score goals and are a bit stung from the recent losses. Measured optimism appears the collective mood, despite worrying injuries and the failure thus far to score from open play. Estévez and the players clearly see the thin line dividing winning from losing, with the determination to get over that line. But they now need to do that – and though they're off to a slightly better start than in 2024, when they registered two draws and a loss in their first three matches, the limbo they're in is concerning, and the collective preseason optimism of fans heading into opening day is facing some strong headwinds of reality. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 0, Colorado Rapids 1 URL: https://verdeallday.com/atxvcol-030825-match-recap/ Last updated: 2025-03-09T03:56:56.000Z Rafael Navarro had the kind of goal that Austin FC fans dreamed their new pair of attackers might score on Saturday night. Alas, for those fans, it was the only goal they saw all night, as the Colorado Rapids handed Verde their second straight loss at Q2 Stadium — a 1-0 outcome to mirror last week's loss to the Timbers. Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez talked to media on Thursday about the last meeting between these two teams being "chaos," and that was on display in the early going, with both teams playing with frenetic energy yet missing some cohesion. That was attributable in large part to the debut of the UVB front line, with Myrto Uzuni joining Brandon Vázquez and Osman Bukari in the starting lineup — and giving some early, tantalizing, promising glimpses of what this offense might become. Perhaps it will someday look like the more-familiar-with-each-other Rapids did in the 18th minute, when Đorđe Mihailović got enough time and space to send a well-weighted pass to Navarro, who chipped Brad Stuver and then had a rather impolite goal celebration in front of the Verde supporters. In the 51st minute, after quite a bit of almost for Verde, it appeared Uzuni had won a penalty after Guilherme Biro found him bearing down on goal with a pass, and Chidozie Awaziem pulled Uzuni down near the penalty spot we thought he might be headed toward. However, Uzuni was fractionally offside, still leaving Verde questing for their first goal. Several minutes later, Desler overextended going for a ball down his flank, and went down with what appeared to be a fairly significant hamstring injury, necessitating a sub-in for Jon Gallagher. (Shades of 2023?) Diego Rubio appeared to earn a penalty kick in the 2nd minute of stoppage time (after some extensive video review that kept the match's outcome in suspense), but it was ruled against Verde, depriving Vázquez a chance to get his first goal of the season in the highest-percentage way possible. ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) Uzuni had several almost-goals in the first half. In the 20th minute, it was the result of Owen Wolff getting free in the box and getting a pass across the goalmouth that resulted in chaos and Uzuni nearly getting it past a scrambling Zack Steffen. In the 43rd, Verde looked especially cohesive, with Dani Pereira sending Mikkel Desler down the right flank with a pass; Desler crossed to Uzuni, who met it with a strong header that Steffen had to get up high to paw away. On review, it looked like Steffen tipped it into the crossbar, but the MLS statisticians saw it differently, as you'll see with the nerdy tidbit below.) ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) I'm tempted to say the Matthew McConaughey/Woody Harrelson (and friends) "spontaneous" Pantalones commercial right before the second half started? (To be fair, the people doing shots, captured on the Jumbotron, had more shots on target than Austin did in the first half. Hey-ooooo!) Right after halftime, on a throw-in from Desler, Pereira collected the ball and ... led Navarro toward goal with a pass that was positively Kipp Keller-esque, nearly resulting in a second goal – fortunately for Austin, Navarro rushed his shot (and probably took it from too far out) and went just wide with it. *Concerning*. ## Something you might have missed In the 33rd minute, Biro probably should have gotten a yellow card for tussling with Cole Bassett in the interest of winning a 50/50 ball. Despite getting very hands-y with the Rapids midfielder, Biro not only avoided discipline, but was determined to have won possession. It was delightful. ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative It takes time for players to develop cohesion, and Uzuni accounted well for himself in his first start (plus being able to go 70 minutes bodes well for full 90s in his near future). But two straight losses and being on pace to score just 11 goals this season is worrisome. Vázquez being without a goal in 270 minutes of play is especially concerning. ## One nerdy tidbit Verde ended the first half with eight shots, and yet, for all the chaos and forward movement, only one shot on target. (They counted the 43rd-minute header as hitting the crossbar.) ## A question we have heading into the press conference Pereira had what was at times a baffling performance, and yet was the lone midfielder not subbed out. I'll be curious to know what Estévez saw in the performance that merited a full 90\. [Subscribe to get tonight's quotes tomorrow morning](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/verdeallday.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Foreign Exchange: Matt Pollard helps us learn about the Rapids URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-matt-pollard-colorado-rapids-atxvcol-030825/ Last updated: 2025-03-08T19:59:07.000Z It's time to start up this tradition again. In case you're not familiar with Foreign Exchange, it's a way to preview Austin FC's next opponent by checking in with someone who knows a lot about that team. For the Colorado Rapids, my go-to (who also made an appearance on the most recent Swoontower Soccer) is Matt Pollard, who oversees [Burgundy Wave](https://burgundywave.com/about-burgundy-wave/?ref=verdeallday.com), which has been around since 2010 and broke from SB Nation – when SB Nation went nuts and severed ties with multiple MLS creators – in 2023\. Matt is good people. Here's his responses to our three questions. ### Chris Armas was a ... surprising choice to succeed Robin Fraser, but he's coaching at a 1.49 PPG clip for the Rapids, which is typically good enough to be in the playoffs. How are the players and fans taking to Armas, and do you feel he's the right coach for the team? NO ONE thought this hire would work except Rapids President Pádraig Smith and Chris Armas himself. He rebuilt the culture and the mentality in a month. Tactically, it took some time to click last year. They found ways to get Cole Bassett and Đorđe Mihailović to work together in midfield without getting in each other's way. You might recall when he was an assistant at Manchester United, there was a rumor that players called him Ted Lasso because he was an American who didn't know what he was doing. I don't know about that, but he's Colorado's Ted Lasso in all the complimentary ways. Armas has won over everyone around the club. He's such a humble and positive guy. He's gone out to supporter events and let people complain to his face. He celebrates the individual successes of his players. Rapids fans aren't under any illusion about winning the Shield. They want a team that fights with energy, plays fun soccer, and gives young kids a chance. Armas is our guy. ### Rafael Navarro had 15 goals for the Rapids last year (with one assist), and Đorđe Mihailović had 21 goal contributions (11 goals, 10 assists) in 2024 ... would you say one's more integral than the other to the Rapids' success, or are they equally important? Mihailović is the Rapids' best player. He and Bassett are the team's two most important players. One of the stats I look for is how many touches Mihailović gets in the attacking half and the attacking third. If Bassett and the midfield do their jobs, Đorđe will get his touches. If he cooks, the team as a whole does well offensively. They'll win set pieces and be dangerous on them. Maybe they will win a penalty. The fullbacks will get involved. Mihailović will get looks for himself. Navarro will get service in good areas and score, just like last week. ### Last year, the Rapids were the 7th seed, got to the playoffs, and then lost to the Galaxy by a 9-1 aggregate ... is a first-round exit their ceiling as currently constituted, or can they do better considering players, coaching, and the rest of the West? That's the question. Mihailović had one good ankle for that playoff series (you might remember him hurting it at Q2 on Decision Day), and Bassett was out. If the Rapids are healthy and clicking, I believe they can make a conference final. They punched above their weight in Leagues Cup last year. Four straight wins against Liga MX teams. That PK shootout against Club America might be the club's best moment since winning MLS Cup in 2010\. They then got smashed in the Semifinal at LAFC 4-0. Just last week, they played LAFC tough in Champions Cup. They lost on away goals, with the aggregate being 2-2\. That 1-0 loss in the second leg at BMO was the best they've ever played there. On another night, they get a 0-0 draw and advance. The floor of this team has clearly been raised. Is a 1-0 loss at LAFC their ceiling? That remains to be seen. [Subscribe](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### A lack of goals and a debate over what ordering Whataburger tells the world: Emergency Podcast, Episode 37 URL: https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-37/ Last updated: 2025-03-08T18:07:29.000Z The latest edition of Emergency Podcast is here! ## Episode 37 synopsis Moisés Chiullán and Phil West ponder whether Whataburger is a sad food or a celebration food, before getting into the unfortunate result against Portland, the dearth of scoring (so far), the upcoming match against the Rapids, and the start of the 2025 season for Austin FC II. Also, remember to turn your clocks forward on Sunday to begin with what Moisés depicts as the tyranny of Daylight Saving Time. ## Where to get Emergency Podcast On [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-37-this-17-goal-pace-is-leading-me-to-make/id1742052077?i=1000698371672&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2K3YpfxYVToBhZ6BcAblhm?ref=verdeallday.com), or the embed below. ### The Backpass: Looking back on a busy February 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-backpass-looking-back-on-a-busy-february-2025/ Last updated: 2025-03-08T01:23:37.000Z In this past month, Verde went from playing preseason matches at Coachella to playing its season opener in wintry conditions. Oh, and along the way, the club announced its record signing and unveiled arguably its best-looking jersey (though there's certainly an argument to be made for the Dillo kit, so let's say completing its best-looking home/away pair of jerseys, which is objectively true). ## Podcasts **Episode 33 (Feb. 9):** [Oleksandr Svatok's Anger Is Already in Mid-Season Form Emergency](https://verdeallday.com/now-available-episode-33-of-emergency-podcast/) We covered Coachella matches, Mikkel Desler's absence, Myrto Uzuni's delayed arrival, and Besard Šabović's actual arrival. **Episode 34 (Feb. 16):** [Pronunciation Guide Emergency](https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-34-pronunciation-guide-myrto-uzuni-arrival-atxvskc-02-22-2025-preview/) This one includes discussion of the Heartbeat Kit (and its lively launch party), the Uzuni arrival, and the debut of the Austin FC player name pronunciation guide supercut. **Episode 35 (Feb. 25):** [Joe Lowery Thinks San Diego FC Might Be Pretty Good Emergency](https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-35-joe-lowery-mls-review/) Joe Lowery is the special guest on this episode, going through the first weekend of MLS action and the emerging storylines for the 2025 season. [Upgrade to Premium](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) _This post is for subscribers on the Premium tier only._ ### '14 to 28 days': Austin FC adjusting to their first injury of the 2025 season URL: https://verdeallday.com/media-availability-pre-atxvcol-030825-nico-estevez-dani-pereira/ Last updated: 2025-03-07T03:31:15.000Z Julio Cascante won't play Saturday. That's the most significant news coming out of Thursday's media availability, which was mostly rote fare – with one fun divergence engaging midfielder Dani Pereira being asked about the wave of blond hairdying taking over Verde, with Žan Kolmanič joining the party – and the one non-fun bit of news that skews the center back rotation. In the continuing early-season trend of *we're not going to compare coaches but we find ourselves comparing coaches*, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez not only answered the question about Cascante's health two separate times (once asked in Spanish, then asked in English), but he did so with more specificity than we're used to "Yeah, Julio has a hamstring \[injury\], grade 2a, that means in between 14 to 28, days \[of recovery\] ... he will be out against against Colorado, and then after this, how every player responds to that recovery the next week, we'll know more about when he could join the team." (Notably, I found a site that [went hard](https://www.dynamed.com/condition/hamstring-strain?ref=verdeallday.com#GUID-CB1DC8DE-29BE-4BB2-A15B-71CB7A4C9629) on the description, and let me tell you, "myofascial tear with hyperintense signal at fascial border extending into muscle" doesn't sound all that fun.) That puts Leo Väisänen into the rotation with the opportunity to either show what he can bring to Verde or what he can bring to a team that might be interested in acquiring his services, as I [mused on](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-roster-state-u22-initative-possibilities/) earlier this week. "I think we have four great center backs," Estévez said. "I think it is vital. When he came in, he did an amazing job. I think Leo has had really good precision. He's working really hard, and he fits really well \[doing\] the things that we are asking. "You could see him smiling and competing," he said of Väisänen, alluding to a fun competition that they staged for players at the end of today's practice. And I think it's positive; we're lucky to have those four center backs." (I'm now intrigued about this competition; perhaps [this Instagram clip](https://www.instagram.com/p/DG3aZbhpmxZ/?hl=en&ref=verdeallday.com) is part of it?) ## Respect for Chris Armas Chris Armas was a bit of a surprise when announced as Robin Fraser's successor as the new Rapids head coach in November 2023, having amassed a solid 33-27-11 record coaching the Red Bulls (for a 1.55 points per game average) from 2018 to 2020, followed by a disastrous 15 matches in Toronto, going 2-10-3 (that's an 0.6 PPG average) during a forgettable stretch of 2021\. After time as an assistant coach at Manchester United and Leeds, Armas returned to coach in MLS and he's about back to where he was with the Red Bulls, at 1.49 PPG after 47 matches. "Chris is an amazing coach, amazing person. I faced him a lot of times when I was in Columbus and he was at Red Bull, then when I was in Dallas and he was in Colorado," Estévez reflected. "He has changed some things that he was doing in Red Bull at that time. It's a very energetic team. Everyone runs, everyone fights, everyone goes forward. "They want to create dangerous plays. They get crosses. They're a dangerous team. ... but on the other hand, I think we also can hurt them, because we have a team with a profile of players that can do a really good job against the way they want to defend when they want to attack," he added. He predicted "a very, very intense and dynamic game," similar to the Decision Day battle they had last season, with the capacity for the same kind of chaos that happened in October. ## Uzuni watch Estévez was also asked what kind of workload Myrto Uzuni might get on Saturday, following his 29-minute, four-touch debut against Portland. "We'll see how he feels ... we saw him very energetic today. It's the way that he is as a player." He hinted that a start could be a possibility, saying that "he's ready to go." But he also didn't commit to that, noting, "If we decide he's coming from the bench, he can have more minutes than the last time for sure." "He's a top player who was in Europe, at Granada, in La Liga," said Pereira. "He's gonna bring quality. Just how everyone brings quality." He added, "I don't know who's starting, but if it starts, I'm sure he will give a good game. He's anxious, too. He wants to play. He said he didn't want to sit out the first game, the second game. He wanted to start, just like everyone, and I know he's pumped to get more minutes." [Join us](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### What's the current state of the Austin FC roster? And could it use a couple more U22s? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-roster-state-u22-initative-possibilities/ Last updated: 2025-03-07T03:03:10.000Z Perhaps Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is done making moves in this winter transfer window. But he might not be. Consider what's dubbed as MLS' primary transfer window for the 2025 season closes on April 23\. While that's later than any other league in the world, it's still , as of today, possible to get players from 24 other countries per [Transfermarkt's list](https://www.transfermarkt.us/statistik/transferfenster?ref=verdeallday.com)—including some South American and Central American nations where MLS teams (including Austin) have previously found players, as well as a few European outliers, including (which could be important for a reason we'll get to in a bit) Finland. First, let's look at where things stand. ## Where things stand Thanks to (we are assuming) an obscure roster rule that allowed Matt Bersano to make more than the MLS senior minimum salary yet still get listed as a supplemental player in 2024, Diego Rubio is listed as a supplemental player on this year's roster. That revelation — coming through MLS doing a roster info drop last week — means that Verde starts 2025 with the minimum required 18 players, but they have room to add two more senior players to hit the maximum of 20\. Of those, thanks to deals Austin made in the offseason plus Mikkel Desler acquiring his green card last month, one can be an international player, as Verde has eight of its nine currently taken up. Verde has also opted for the three designated player and three U22 Initiative player roster building track for 2025 (as opposed to what it [chose last year](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-clubs-declare-roster-construction-models-for-2024-season-x3431?ref=verdeallday.com) for reasons), and with Nicolás Dubersarsky (erroneously listed as a striker in MLS's most recent match report) as the team's only U22, Borrell could swoop in and get a pair of U22s to round out the roster as long as one has domestic status. Even though this doesn't affect the roster per se, but rather is more of an indicator of where Verde is in relation to the salary cap, only two TAM players remain —meaning that the two in question, like designated players, hit the budget cap at the maximum player salary level of $743,750\. Here's who is at what position. ### Forwards/wingers **Senior:** Osman Bukari (DP), Jáder Obrian, Myrto Uzuni (DP), Brandon Vázquez (DP) **Supplemental:** Micah Burton, Jimmy Farkarlun, CJ Fodrey, Diego Rubio ### Midfielders **Senior:** Nicolás Dubersarsky (U22), Dani Pereira, Besard Šabović, Ilie Sánchez **Supplemental:** Owen Wolff ### Defenders **Senior:** Guilherme Biro, Julio Cascante (TAM), Mikkel Desler, Jon Gallagher, Brendan Hines-Ike, Oleksandr Svatok, Leo Väisänen (TAM) ### Goalkeepers **Senior:** Stefan Cleveland, Brad Stuver **Supplemental:** Damian Las (on loan) ## Is there one more outgoing player? You could argue, at this point in Verde's evolution, that Borrell isn't saddled with any bad contracts. But you could also argue that Väisänen is the one bad contract on the team, as he's hitting the budget at the maximum salary level and has only made the bench in one of two matches — the game that Uzuni was held out for. Barring additional injury, the matchday 20 that Austin FC deployed in Portland is the most likely matchday 20 going forward. If Väisänen does go — either by April 23 or in the summer transfer window — he could either do so via contract buyout, as Austin's only used one of its two 2025 buyouts (on Gyasi Zardes, who was bought out even before 2025 officially started), or through some sort of dealmaking with another team, presumably in his native Finland, but maybe to Sweden (where the window is open until March 25) or Norway (where it's open until March 27). Also, it's entirely possible that Borrell keeps him around until summer to weather any possible center back crises that could manifest – to make an outstanding dad joke here, you might argue there's *Norway* he leaves before summer. (Sorry; couldn't resist.) It does look like Cascante, who came off in the first half of Saturday's loss at Portland, participated in training on Tuesday, which is a pretty quick bounce back from what initially looked to be (though no medical knowledge whatsoever) one of those arbitrary unspecified "three weeks!" types of injuries that plagued Arsenal a decade ago. It doesn't really hurt Austin to keep Väisänen around in the interim, as he has shown himself to be a capable center back when healthy – although moving him frees both a senior roster spot and an international spot, and gives Borrell a chance to boast (perhaps by the end of the summer window) that he has secured two productive players on the same salary the club was paying just Väisänen. ## Let's talk about U22s The U22 Initiative is, on its face, a high-risk/high-reward player acquisition model. On its face, it's an amazing developmental program — a team can take a flyer on a young talent, only being charged $150,000 or $200,000 against the budget regardless of the salary it negotiates with that player (within the U22 guardrails, that is), and that player can theoretically flourish into a designated player-level talent for a fraction of the maximum salary budget charge that a DP would command. For Austin FC, this hasn't quite worked out in the way the club presumably wanted. Rodney Redes, the club's first-ever signing, played 48 regular-season matches for the club, with 10 starts, one goal, and one assist in that time. (Here's [that goal](https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goal-rodney-redes-austin-fc-47th-minute?ref=verdeallday.com#goal-p-musa-vs-col-68) in case you don't remember it; he also memorably scored one against New Mexico United in Open Cup play.) Moussa Djitté, he of the playoff-clinching hat trick in 2022, didn't do much beyond that. Djitté only featured in 30 matches (12 starts), getting two goals and two assists in the 29 non-hat-trick matches. Žan Kolmanič has been the best of the U22s, or at least the most stable, getting 72 games (47 starts) throughout his career, which included one season cut short with [a knee injury](https://www.austinfc.com/news/zan-kolmanic-to-undergo-season-ending-surgery?ref=verdeallday.com) surgically repaired in April 2023\. He's yet to score a goal for Verde in regular-season action, though he does have nine assists, and he's aged out of the U22 ranks to become a senior roster player and rotational starter (at best). Nicolás Dubersarsky so far looks like an appreciable addition to the ranks, and could turn out to be the best of Austin's U22s when we look back on this years from now, but the bar is low ... and we don't know which U22s might be yet coming. ## No, I mean let's *really* talk about U22s The excellent Arman Kafai [just wrote about U22s](https://footyanalyticmusings.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-the-u22-intiative?utm%5Fsource=app-post-stats-page&r=1i9pg&utm%5Fmedium=ios&triedRedirect=true), declaring, "If you hit on a U22, you will pay dividends," before pointing out, "The Galaxy hit on Dejan Joveljic and had virtually four DPs in its 2024 MLS Cup run. Diego Gomez was an absolute hit for Inter Miami and was able to be sold to Brighton for $15m." But as he also says, "For every hit, there’s a miss. And for international U22s, there’s a boatload of misses." (And yes, he does bring up Redes among a few other duds.) And yet, he also quotes MLS' Matt Doyle who looked over the recent roster drops and assessed, "23ish of 55 non-injured U22 signings from overseas are starters," and "nine of 10 domestic U22s are starters," with the 10th being an on-the-bubble Chris Durkin with the Purina Gang of St. Louis. "The Colorado Rapids have employed the most interesting of strategies when it comes to the rule," Kafai said of Verde's upcoming opponent. "They’ve signed one of their academy graduates (Cole Bassett) and then went and picked off two other U22 players from other rosters (that also happen to be academy players) in Josh Atencio and Ted Ku DiPietro. All the players have had experience in MLS, and have played minutes for their respective clubs." He then charted a rough list of current U22 players, noting, "The Rapids’ three U22s have the most minutes played since 2021\. Portland is second, and Houston is third, with domestic player Jack McGlynn making up slightly over half of the minutes." Guess who's dead last on that list? Even lower than expansion club San Diego FC, who has only had two matches in its entire existence? Ben Wright also just visited [the topic](https://www.backheeled.com/mls-u22-initiative-success-transfers-youth-development-rules-scouting-spending/?ref=verdeallday.com) for Backheeled, and he got delightfully wonky with it. A sample: *MLS clubs have spent over $212 million on transfer fees for a total of 122 U22 Initiative players. You can find that math* [*here*](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cUIad7gjRbWjLJioGjhpaWer1iReJHMg8yVPHFdrQvk/edit?gid=0&ref=backheeled.com#gid=0)*.*\[\[1\]\] *In all likelihood, that number is even higher given the occasional missing reported transfer fee. Additionally, clubs have spent $55 million on U22 salaries.* *113 of those 122 players came from outside MLS, while the rest are homegrown players who have ‘graduated’ to U22 deals.* *The average U22 Initiative player, then, is signed for a $1.9 million transfer fee and earns around $460,000 in guaranteed compensation per season. While U22 signings have a real benefit of only hitting the salary cap at a maximum of $200,000, the actual financial cost is quite sizable.* He assessed that looking at the total sum of U22 players, their performances averages out to be nearly equivalent to the average MLS player. Looking at it from that perspective, having an average MLS player on the books for a Guilherme Biro or Brendan Hines-Ike salary is decent business. However, U22s also might require transfer fees and actual salary outlays that add up to be more than an average player spend. Ultimately, in Austin's case, it's Anthony Precourt's money, but we also know where Borrell stands on making wise spends and maximizing the budget that Precourt presumably gives him. (I don't think Borrell has carte blanche to spend, even in this winter window of considerable outlay.) He also looks at a major reason that MLS teams are sold on the U22 concept: Profit. "Of the 59 U22 signings who have gone on to leave MLS, we’ve counted just nine who have definitively been sold for a profit. 12 were sold for a loss, while 13 were initially signed on loan and not purchased. Details on others are murky at best, so it’s certainly possible that the actual numbers are slightly more favorable. But even in the most optimistic reading, MLS clubs aren’t turning these U22 signings into many meaningful sales to Europe, and not in ways that consistently raise their profile and the profile of the league." Yes, the Chicago Fire moved Jhon Durán to Aston Villa for $18 million just two years, but the Fire hasn't exactly made the wisest investments in players even when flush with cash – consider the Xherdan Shakiri debacle – and Durán now finds himself adjusting to [life in the Saudi Pro League](https://talksport.com/football/2982927/jhon-duran-cristiano-ronaldo-worrying-stat-al-nassr-trophy/?ref=verdeallday.com) with Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr. He then asserts, "In total, MLS clubs have earned $108,660,000 in outgoing transfer fees, just 51% of the total they’ve spent to acquire U22 players before even getting to salaries. Again, it’s likely that the transfer fee revenue figure isn’t quite high enough given the occasional missing reported transfer fee. Still, the general analysis holds." He isn't completely sour on the idea of U22s, and argues that MLS is getting better at developing players and selling, even while granting that MLS can be a challenging league to acclimate to – especially when you're coming off 14 goals in 113 appearances for Club Guaraní before being scooped up by an MLS expansion team as a pandemic rages around the world\[\[2\]\]. ## What should Borrell do? I'm still very much in the "Let Rodo Cook" camp. While it's too early to assess the most recent round of roster rebuild, especially given the [recent concerns](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-analysis-porvatx-030125/) some might be having about scoring goals, the squad is better now than when Borrell inherited it, and it should get even better as Borrell works with the few remaining roster spots he has (for now) and as the squad continues to (or, arguably, begins to) gel under head coach Nico Estévez. What this team needs is another question entirely. Could you argue for a true left winger to push Obrian for starter minutes and deploy Uzuni more centrally? Do you find a true attacking central midfielder and try that player in the middle of a 4-3-3, without really learning all that Šabović can do given time? Does the team need to get better at center back, despite being a lot better off than it was two years ago at that then-injury-blighted position. Two matches into 2025, questions are swirling around many MLS teams, not just Austin FC. But Borrell still has a chance to do something about it in the next seven weeks. He has two senior roster spots, two U22 spots, and an international spot to use. He presumably has an eye on players. He has an owner willing to spend money. He just needs to now make a diagnosis and move. [Join us](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: Which also has a reminder that Redes reportedly arrived with a $2.75 million transfer fee, which in retrospect, now seems absolutely absurd. \[\[2\]\]: It's really hard to let the whole Redes episode go, especially for those of us who tracked down Guaraní matches in Verde's infancy. ### The Morning After: Should you worry that Austin FC is on pace for a 17-goal season? URL: https://verdeallday.com/day-after-analysis-porvatx-030125/ Last updated: 2025-03-02T19:52:39.000Z Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez tasked himself with engineering better production in the final third following his team's generally positive yet concerning opening day 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City. In the moments following finishing on the losing end of a 1-0 scoreline against the Portland Timbers on Saturday night, Estévez once again took ownership over the squad's scoring paucity, concluding a thoughtful answer about what led to that with a simple, "La culpa es mía." ("It's my fault.") In his Spanish-language answer to We Are Austin TV's Alex Sanabria, he pointed out that Brandon Vázquez didn't get many opportunities to receive the ball and score — though his 34th-minute free kick was arguably Verde's best chance of the match, and that Myrto Uzuni "only managed three touches on the ball in 30 minutes," (only one of those coming in the Timbers' box, according to FotMob), which has as much to do with the players being slow acclimating with one another (so far) as it does with how the Timbers defended. "The blame is entirely mine because it's my responsibility to ensure that everyone knows what will happen when the game starts ... I changed the game in a way different from how we had prepared during the week, and that's likely to have hurt the players who came in," Estévez assessed. "When they made their entry, we changed, and the game started to slip out of our control; it opened up for them. That's when they become strong; they thrive on that. They aim to create chaos and find opportunities to exploit. In my eagerness to regain control of the match, I inadvertently hindered our attackers." He did, in response to my question about final third action, cite a few good opportunities that Verde engineered, but noted, "We have to be more consistent on those plays." ## It's a small sample size, but ... One connected pair of stats best exemplifies where Austin FC stands after two matches this season. They have yet to concede a goal from open play, but they also have failed to scored a goal from open play. In Saturday's match, all four of Verde's shots on target (from 11 total shots) came from outside the 18, for a combined expected goals (xG) of .11 (per FBref), though Vázquez's free kick had the second-best post-shot xG of the night at 0.15\. (The best came in the 5th minute, when Brad Stuver saved a short-range Felipe Mora shot in his best moment of the match.) ![Portland vs. Austin shot chart](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-02-at-11.50.40-AM.png) Here's what Verde's shot map looked like, courtesy of [MLS Analytics](https://bsky.app/profile/mlsstat.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com). (The open circles are shots on target; the shaded circles are shots off target.) ![Portland vs. Austin xG chart](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Portland_Timbers_v_Austin_FC_XG_2025-03-02-3.png) It's similar to what Austin managed against SKC, although Portland and Austin had about the same average height of defensive action, higher than Austin faced against SKC in the opener. ![Portland vs. Austin defensive actions](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Portland_Timbers_v_Austin_FC_def_2025-03-02.png) It wasn't the most anemic offensive performance of the evening — St. Louis City SC, who Austin faces March 30, only registered two total shots (though both on target!) and a lackluster 0.09 xG in a 0-0 draw against San Diego FC in the expansion franchise's first-ever home match. (*Sorry to you fans who paid a lot of money to see that!*) But, with Saturday's matches in the books, Austin is starting 2025 as it started 2024 – at the bottom of the league in a few key offensive metrics. ![MLS standard stats for 2025](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-02-at-1.11.06-PM.png) Again, to give a cautionary tale about xG and the more telling non-penalty expected goals (npxG), it's a better measure of what a team does the deeper into a season one goes, and it's a measure of quality times quantity, not just quality. But Austin's currently 25th in npxG per 90, and two of the teams below them are teams they played in what could be characterized (euphemistically, perhaps) as defense-dominant matches. In an indication of how much this early part of the schedule should favor Austin, three of the teams they'll face in the next month are currently 20th or lower in npxG per 90\. By April, they'll start going up against teams that are so far generating considerably more and better chances – putting the defense to appreciably sterner tests, as well as putting Estévez's reassurances about chemistry developing over time under more scrutiny. ## Is optimism dead? Perhaps our predictions on the [most recent Emergency Podcast](https://verdeallday.com/talking-tifo-portland-and-the-matches-beyond-emergency-podcast-episode-36/) about a 5-1-1 or 4-1-2 start after the first seven matches of 2025 were too optimistic? We could hardly be blamed for predicting a win on Saturday: Portland was missing a few of its best players on Saturday and David Da Costa was only starting his first match for the Timbers. That he went as long as he did – subbing off in stoppage time, but staying in long enough to deliver the late devastating free kick that gave the hosts all three points – was surprising in itself. "It's a difficult situation from both the defensive side and from a goalkeeper side, because when there's just a little bit of indecisiveness on who takes it and also expectation that somebody will touch it on that cross, I think it becomes nearly impossible to react to the last second where the ball bounces — the placement of the ball, the speed of the ball," Brendan Hines-Ike said after the match. "It's a very difficult situation to deal with. In hindsight, we said, you know, perhaps the line can be a foot higher to be even with the wall, just to give a little bit more of a cushion for Brad, but also just for us to have more space. But, yeah, it's one of those things where we'll look at it, analyze it, and it's a shame that that's where the goal comes from, obviously." If there's a positive takeaway from this match, it's that Austin players knew they should have at least gotten a result Saturday night, and they'll have a chance to exert payback on April 5 at Q2 Stadium when the teams meet again. "I think everybody in the locker room felt after the game, from the way the game went, that was completely undeserving for Portland to win the game in the way they did," Hines-Ike observed. "I think everybody felt we were the better team. I think that we felt that we were in control of the game for most of the aspects, and even for them, I think they'll understand that it's going to be a much more difficult challenge to come to Austin with our fans, with our energy. "The home games are the ones you go after, and you know that you have to get results for," he added, in an MLS adage we all grew far too accustomed to hearing last season. "So I think it will be, yes, revenge in our minds. But I think more it's a focus on ourselves and knowing that we are a very good team, and we should be able to take care of those teams at home with the right game plan pretty much every single week." So far, the defense has been up to the test, save for one major lapse 88 1/2 minutes into their first road match. But also, so far, the offense has generated some intriguing sparks, but precious little else. Indeed, with the players brought in during the offseason, that dynamic could be on the cusp of changing. That's what the coach brought in during the offseason has been pledging. Until it does, though, this start to the season could be quickly turning from how 2022 felt to how 2024 felt. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### After the Whistle: Portland Timbers FC 1, Austin FC 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/post-match-report-porvatx-030125/ Last updated: 2025-03-02T06:45:22.000Z It was a stalemate that seemed destined for a 0-0 draw, and then, thanks to one foul and one free kick just minutes before the end, it wasn't. ## The synopsis Austin FC lost its first match of 2025 — in its first away trip of the season — in heartbreaking fashion, losing 1-0 on an 89th-minute free kick by new Portugeuse midfielder David Da Costa following a questionable (in both the "why do that there" and "why call that there" sense) foul on Brandon Vázquez with the match winding down. As in their previous match, Verde engineered some good chances, and were more positive in production than they were in the first match judging from shots on target alone. But when it came down to final product in front of goal, Timbers keeper James Pantemis made the saves he had to, and Brad Stuver was frozen in his goalmouth at a critical moment. ## The key stats As alluded to earlier, Verde managed 11 shots to the Timbers' eight and four shots on target to the Timbers' two. Stuver saved a 5th-minute shot from Felipe Mora and then wasn't tested again with a shot on target until Da Costa's goal. Austin did lose the possession battle, but not by so much that it was especially telling, getting 46.4% to the Timbers' 53.6%. The Timbers edged Austin in xG, but it was nominal at 0.7 to 0.6, and as happened in the last match between these teams – in October in this stadium – the match was won on a low-chance shot, this one being a 0.04 xG free kick. ## An integral sub Though Julio Cascante's non-contact injury led to him being swapped out in the 42nd minute for Oleksandr Svatok – Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez said post-march he suspects that injury will be relatively mild though he'll know more when Cascante undergoes a scan on Monday – the anticipated sub-in for Myrto Uzuni happened in the 62nd minute, as part of a double sub that also brought in Besard Šabović. While Uzuni didn't register a particularly dynamic debut in slightly more than a half hour on the field, Estévez had positive things to say about the Albanian's debut. "I think he worked really hard," Estévez said. "He gave us a lot of energy. He helped us a lot of defending. And when we didn't have the ball, and when we had the ball, he was moving all the time, these moments that the pass was there and the opportunity was there to find him, but we didn't make the pass, because the movements were really, really good. And I think he just needs to keep working, keep getting his fitness in, because we see every single day his quality and in front of goal, his quality in training and in the game." ## Initial assessments "I think we want to be on the other side," Estévez said regarding the loss. "We want to be the team that celebrates, not the team who gets sad for that moment, because I think they guys put a lot of effort into the game. The game had different phases. I think at the beginning they start strong, as we expected, because they're playing at home. But I think after the first minutes, we controlled the game really well. We were able to start to create some dangerous plays that allow us to get into their box, getting some corner kicks and shots and overall, I think we grew throughout the game. "We have to create more," he added. "We have to be a team that can create more goal scoring opportunities today. We didn't a good job on that, but we didn't do a bad job to lose the game, to be honest." "Soccer is a cruel game," said Brandon Hines-Ike regarding the outcome, noting that Verde had opportunities to flip the 1-0 outcome their way. "We understood exactly what we needed to do. You know, we managed the game really well in a lot of moments, even in times when we didn't have possession. We just kept doing our work, the dirty work, sort of shifting and moving, a lot of good things. "And at the end, it feels very sour because of the way we conceded. And it was always going to be if they did concede something like that, and we understood that. So even more so, you know, something to be aware of and prepare us for future road trips. And, you know, it's the second game of the season. A lot of things to learn. And I think this is a group that keeps getting more gel together each game, and it's only going to get better." *We'll do our usual day-after coverage with additional quotes later on Sunday. (I was going to say tomorrow but it's already tomorrow!)* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Talking tifo, Portland, and the matches beyond: Emergency Podcast, Episode 36 URL: https://verdeallday.com/talking-tifo-portland-and-the-matches-beyond-emergency-podcast-episode-36/ Last updated: 2025-03-01T23:29:44.000Z We were so impressed with the opening match tifo (and the players' reaction to it) that we spent a bit of time on it in the latest Emergency Podcast. We also talked about some post-SKC match concerns we covered earlier in the week on Verde All Day, talked a bit about tonight's matchup against the Timbers, and projected how Verde might be after their first seven games – with a schedule that all of a sudden appears friendlier than what other teams might experience. (Also, a programming note: Tonight's At the Whistle match report may or may not be delayed a bit ... this is a night of moving parts and unusual match night circumstances for both of us.) Check out the latest Emergency Podcast on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-36-more-than-1-000-hours-of-painting-and/id1742052077?i=1000696994273&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7qfp1puBYI72uNdVANJDFp?ref=verdeallday.com), and in the embedded audio below. ### Seeing the forest for the trees: Austin FC prepares for their first road match of 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/media-availability-pre-porvatx-030125-nico-estevez-osman-bukari/ Last updated: 2025-02-28T01:49:50.000Z Nico Estévez started his Thursday media availability, prefacing the first road match of 2025, with some fairly obvious and benign comments spun from getting a win in its home opener. We'll share them all the same, just because we haven't had a quote like this after an opening match since the only other time Verde won one, back in 2022\. "I think after the first game, and all the expectation and waiting and hard work throughout the preseason, winning helps you to approach the weekend with a different mood. Everyone is connected, everyone is looking forward for what is coming next, and but at the end of the day, as I said, winning or losing, that game is passed, and we just have to be focused on the present, what we have in front of us. "That's Portland, and we just have to use that game to gain confidence, but also to to get better as a team, because it's just the beginning, and we have to be a better team as the season is coming." In other words, he's focused on the bigger, 34-match project of the season even taking it piece by piece. It's seeing the forest for the trees – or in this case, the Timbers, who will be without Austin FC legend Kamal Miller (who was taken in the club's expansion draft and then moved to Montréal 15 minutes later, on his way to becoming a 2022 MLS All-Star and a Canadian international approaching 50 caps with Les Rouges). While the defense will miss Miller, who got a red card 11 minutes into a disastrous home opener loss to Vancouver, they will likely give David Da Costa a start. He's the new designated player who played the second half on Sunday, being counted on to fill the Evander-sized hole in the Portland midfield, and he's got the potential to make the Timbers quite a bit better than they'd otherwise be. ## More goals, please The drive to get Austin to a better state needs to start with generating more goals. It's something that Estévez owned and tasked himself with after considering Verde's output against Sporting Kansas City last Saturday – 12 shots, sure, but just two on target and only a single goal. Though Estévez put part of the blame on SKC sitting deep and defending, he also recounted a sequence in which Osman Bukari and Jáder Obrian went to a ball in open space within range of goal with neither getting off a shot, an instance when Owen Wolff wasn't able to connect a cross inside the six with the goalkeeper already beaten, and Dani Pereira's 47th-minute skied shot from 12 yards out. "I think those are very, very clear chances that we could do better ... Other than that, I think we created spaces to be more dangerous. I think we created three against two \[advantages\] in the box, but the crosses weren't as accurate as we would like, or we didn't cross the ball. These are the areas that we have to be better, and as the games come on and the weeks come in, we can, as a staff, highlight that to the players and work with that, and hopefully in the next week, we can be better on those. "I think we are learning how our players move, even though there was a game plan, the action from Biro, the action from Pereira. It was a game plan. Attacked those areas and all other times that we didn't connect a good cross, I think is also them connecting better with their teammates and knowing how they move," indicating he expects improvement in this area over the coming weeks. ## Everyone's available, which means ... Estévez indicated that all players are available for selection Saturday, including recently arrived designated player Myrto Uzuni. "He is ready," Estévez said. "He has trained really well this week. Obviously, he's in a different stage than the others, and you can feel like he is a little bit tired from the week, but he's ready to go." Building on a theme, he said in response to a question about anticipating Uzuni and Brandon Vázquez playing together, "I think it's just to get them into that connection. You know, we're talking about how difficult it is sometimes to be connected, and then some things that we missed in the last game is going to be a good opportunity to them, to have an opportunity if they play together. Because, you know, depending on the game, it could be different. But it is important for us that when they play together, they get to know each other, and they get to bring this good connection that can help the team." He also, speaking of front line matters, got into whether to play Bukari on the right wing – which he appears better suited for – or left wing, where he played for the bulk of Saturday's match. "He has played on the right, but he plays on the left in the \[Ghana\] national team," Estévez observed. "When I joined the team, I analyzed every player, and I went deep on Buka to see what positions he could play ... I told him in preseason that I would like to interchange him from right and left to see how he can adapt to different solutions that we can find on him playing, and depending on the opponent, and so far he's playing there, and we'll see how everything is developed. We always try to find the best spots for the players." ## Speaking of Bukari ... Bukari was the player made available Thursday, indicating that getting to experience a full preseason with Austin FC was helpful for him, calling it one of the most important elements of playing soccer. "When you are in the preseason, you will be with the coach, the coaching staff and the players, the style of play," he said. "You learn a lot in the pre season, because you have time to adapt the environment, the system and everything. So for me, every time I'm in the preseason, when I go to a team, it's good for me, because that's the time I have to learn from the coach, because when the league starts, you don't have time, because the league is week after week." He was modest about the goal he scored, going to the "win is the most important thing" card, though he also said the goal brought him confidence. He didn't lack for confidence when talking about being guarded by multiple players last Saturday. "It's not that frustrating, because the more they bring more players to me, the more we have less players over," he said. "So I guess I have to be quick enough to release the ball fast. As soon as all the players they come around me, then I can give to another player so that they can change \[to the\] other side. So it's good." Hinting about his ability to elude players, he continued, "Three players coming to one player is good for the team. Just I need to protect the ball and release the ball to another player so that they can finish on the other side. So for me, it's no problem. And sometimes, too, I can go one against one, one against two, one against three ... it's not a problem for me as a winger." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Joe Lowery opines on San Diego FC and many others before covering Austin FC: Emergency Podcast, Episode 35 URL: https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-35-joe-lowery-mls-review/ Last updated: 2025-02-26T22:42:51.000Z We've got an unusual (for us) and fun (for all you MLS fans) Emergency Podcast just up: Joe Lowery, of [Backheeled](https://www.backheeled.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) and [Total Soccer Show](https://www.totalsoccershow.com/?ref=verdeallday.com) fame, shared his thoughts on the first matchweek of the 2025 MLS season after writing around 50,000 words worth of season previews. To give you a sense of what he noticed about Verde (currently 15th in Backheeled's power rankings, consistent of other leaguewide pundits), here's a glimpse at what he wrote about the 1-0 win over SKC: "Estevez mostly used lone-forward fronts during his time in charge of FC Dallas, but opted for a look that very much featured Owen Wolff playing on the same line as Brandon Vazquez for most of Austin's 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City. "While Wolff performed just fine in a more advanced role, there's little doubt in my mind that Estevez's shift to a front two was in preparation of club-record signing Myrto Uzuni's first start. Uzuni didn't feature over the weekend as he ramps up to match fitness, but the 29-year-old played more forward than winger in Spain and could be a neat fit next to Vazquez up top. Something to watch for." But the first part of our discussion centered on San Diego FC; that opening 2-0 win over the Galaxy on Sunday night might not be a fluke after all! Check it out on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-35-joe-lowery-thinks-san-diego-fc-might-be/id1742052077?i=1000696077773&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7hR2qSUOAWykOIbcKz0MQ3?ref=verdeallday.com), or via the embedded audio below. ### It's just one match ... but here's one worrying metric from the 2024 Austin FC season to revisit URL: https://verdeallday.com/one-worrying-2024-metric-shots-on-target-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-02-25T14:21:42.000Z It's just one match, right? Austin FC beat Sporting Kansas City [1-0 on Saturday night](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-022225/) to start 2025 with a win, and from a defensive perspective, it was a successful first outing, with players commenting on [playing tight and tough](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-assessment-quotes-atxvskc-022225/) in transition defense and in the relatively few times that SKC attackers threatened. But Verde only got off two shots on target on Saturday, out of 12 shots total, and the phrase "shot on target" is doing a lot of work for the match's lone goal. Last July, as Verde still held hopes for the playoffs following a win over NYCFC, I wrote an article looking at Verde's woeful [shots-on-target numbers](https://verdeallday.com/zeroing-in-austin-fc-math-shots-shots-on-goal/). At that juncture, 22 games in, Verde only had nine matches with three or more shots on target, compared to 13 with two or less (including five with two SOTs, five with one, and three with *none*). They finished the season with 39 goals scored, last in the West and only "bested" ("worsted," perhaps) by two East teams. Extrapolating from an extremely small sample size, Austin's on pace for 34 goals scored and just 68 shots on target this season. In 2024, Verde was lowest in the league with exactly 100 shots on target. (The Galaxy, league leaders in that category, had 195.) ## Where does Austin stand now? Just one match in, with all 30 teams registering a match, Verde is grouped with three other teams with just two shots on target. (One of those, incidentally, is SKC.) Only four teams fared worse in Week 1: Charlotte, Minnesota, and New England got one apiece, and the Rapids failed to get a single shot on target in what is, in the best-case scenario for that, a 0-0 draw. For total shots, Austin's 12 puts it in the middle of the pack. It's not Colorado getting off just two shots in that scoreless draw, neither of them on target, but it's also not Real Salt Lake, getting 22 shots and seven on target but landing none of them (in a 4-0 loss to the Quakes in which they "only" shot 14 times, eight on target), or Vancouver, which also got 22 shots but ten on target and four goals total in the rout of the Timbers. (That's going to be important info to hold on.) As for non-penalty xG, an indicator of shot quality times volume (see "[xG Means Nothing Anymore](https://verdeallday.com/xg-means-nothing-anymore-austin-fc-analysis-porvatx-100224/)" from the last time Verde played the Timbers), Austin's 0.9 is better than seven other MLS teams but a far cry from the Whitecaps' currently league-leading 2.8\. ## Wait, no, this is silly You'd be right in pointing out that this is just one match, and it's a match that only included Myrto Uzuni in pre-match waving to supporters. Put Uzuni on the field next to Brandon Vázquez and get Bukari on the other side of that, and you're likely managing more than two shots on target and 0.9 npxG in a given game just with the quality of that front three alone. (This is when we don't worry about Bukari only getting one goal and two assists in 619 minutes his first mini-season in Austin ... different time! Different circumstances!) [](https://imgflip.com/i/9lf693?ref=verdeallday.com) If you look at the [defensive actions map](https://verdeallday.com/day-after-assessment-quotes-atxvskc-022225/) from Saturday's match, which we visited in our post-match review, you'll see that SKC set its defense up in a low block for much of the match, making most of its defensive actions in its own half of the field. Here's how Portland set up against Vancouver on Sunday. (Remember, Austin FC legend Kamal Miller got a red card less than 15 minutes into this match, contributing to the Timbers getting thumped by the Whitecaps in their home stadium, which has now happened in their most recent two outings: the MLS West play-in match last year, which they lost 5-0, and Sunday's 4-1 season-opening loss.) ![Defensive action map for POR-VAN on Feb. 23](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Portland_Timbers_v_Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC_def_2025-02-23.png) This looks uncannily similar to the Austin-SKC match! The Timbers defensive action average height line is maybe two meters higher than SKC's was on Saturday, and the Whitecaps' was about two higher than Austin's, in a game that was arguably more open (thanks in large part to Vancouver's Jayden Nelson, who looks like a nightmare matchup for fullbacks). While it might be another low block for Austin to break down this coming Saturday, Portland will be missing a key defender and playing on a day's less rest. This should allow Verde's numbers to instantly improve (and, should all go well, make Timbers coach Phil Neville's seat a little bit hotter). ## One thing to be concerned about Another stat jumped out to me as I was perusing FBref — average shot distance. Verde is currently seventh (as in seventh-longest) after Week 1 with 18.3 yards per shot. Here's a look at all the shots in the match against SKC. What do you notice? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-25-at-5.27.05-AM.png) The only shot Verde took inside of 12 yards was Bukari's face-goal off a corner kick that first deflected off Julio Cascante. The next closest attempt was Guilherme Biro's just-wide header from 12 yards out in the 18th minute. While they managed five shots in an active stretch between the 16th minute and the 27th minute, three of those were from 28 yards or longer. Let's add this visualization from [MLS Analytics](https://statesidestats.shinyapps.io/mlsstatarchive/?ref=verdeallday.com), quickly becoming one of my favorite MLS resources, to show where the individual shots were coming from (four outside the box, four on the outer edges of the box, four more ideally central and close). ![Shot map for Austin vs. SKC, 2-22-25](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Austin_FC_v_Sporting_Kansas_City_XG_2025-02-23.png) While those long shots indicate positively aggressive play, they also are lower-chance attempts that seek to defeat a low block merely by shooting through it. None of those had an xG higher than 0.07, while Bukari got himself into the 0.38 xG zone with his goal, being close and not terribly well-marked. As you get a shorter average distance from goal down the table, teams are more in the four to eight shot-on-target range per game, which stands to reason. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-25-at-5.34.25-AM.png) If Uzuni does indeed play on Saturday, I'm expecting him (based on his highlight reel) to take some shots from distance. He does it enough to wind up with some highlight-reel-worthy goals, and those don't seem to be anomalies – he averaged 17.9 yards a shot with Granada in his '23-'24 La Liga season, with 58 shots, 24 of those on target, and 11 goals, getting off 2.13 shots per 90 minutes. Being accurate with long shots allows your team to force keepers into saves, and in Austin's case, Uzuni doing this gives players like Vázquez and Bukari opportunities to take advantage of positioning and sheer speed respectively to take advantage when a save attempt goes awry. It's also something we know Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez is thinking about. He put "find ways to get the ball to Vázquez" on his to-do list in his post-match press conference on Saturday, and perhaps that means more Besard Šabović as he works into match fitness, and perhaps it also means encouraging Owen Wolff do more of what he did in the attack. (Using American Soccer Analysis' goals added measure to assess on-ball actions, Wolff was second to only Mikkel Desler for the match, with Dani Pereira just behind them. Maybe Austin's going to be okay in midfield without a pure No. 10 to plug in after all.) So, in short, we shouldn't expect only two shots on goal per match to be the norm in 2025\. But if it settles into that over the first stretch of matches, it's certainly a thing to be concerned about – unless the defense forces the opponent into the same sort of play as Verde did on Saturday. (Then, it's just less aesthetically pleasing, unless you're a fan of stifling defense.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### The Morning After: Estevez assesses a clean sheet, dominating in midfield, and needing to finish better in an opening win URL: https://verdeallday.com/day-after-assessment-quotes-atxvskc-022225/ Last updated: 2025-02-23T17:29:08.000Z If you look at the very incomplete MLS standings with most (but not all) of the Week 1 matches played, you'll see that Austin FC is listed 4th in the West\[\[1\]\]. LAFC is right "above" Verde in the standings, even though they're on the exact same goals for, goals against, and goal differential. But, following the [1-0 win](https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-022225/) over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night in a cold and damp Q2 Stadium, Verde finds itself three points closer to securing a playoff berth and righting the listing ship that the last two seasons have been. Of course, it's quite early to read into that: Last year's bottom-dwelling Quakes are currently atop the West thanks to a 4-0 win over RSL that furthers new head coach Bruce Arena's reputation as the MLS Whisperer. While the win was welcome, Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez indicated the team still has some work to do, especially in the final third, where they managed 12 shots but just two on target, scoring the match's lone goal on a corner kick inartfully finished by Osman Bukari. (But it counted all the same.) ## 'I didn't do a good job setting him up' "I think we have to be better there," Estévez reflected. "It's interesting, because I think we arrive in really good ways. I prefer to arrive and to create very clear chances than to create a lot of crosses without any sense ... to have more control ... more with more quality. And this is a little bit the lie of the game, right? "Because if Brandon scores that one," referring to a Vázquez 82nd-minute shot that hit the crossbar, "and if Dani scored the one that he had," nodding to the 47th-minute close-range attempt that sailed over the crossbar, "you've scored three." Per MLS Analytics, neither team crossed the 1 xG threshold, though SKC sat deeper and focused more on defense, going without a shot in the first half hour and registering an average defensive action line much lower than Austin's. (The defensive actions graphic shows just how much more SKC defended inside their own box.) > Austin FC: 1 (0.91 xG) vs Sporting Kansas City: 0 (0.66 xG) #ATXvSKC | #AustinFC | #SportingKC | #MLS | 🤖⚽ > > — [MLS Analytics (@mlsstat.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6t6l7ub5onavxyoehyk7o5lw?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-02-23T04:03:29.017335+00:00](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6t6l7ub5onavxyoehyk7o5lw/post/3lisxbajnyv2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-23-at-9.03.33-AM.png) Estévez said it is on him (*Yes! Accountability from a head coach after his first match with Verde!*) to determine how to get better service to Vázquez in the greater quest toward more scoring. "His work rate was amazing, the way that he pressed, the way that he helped the team; also, the way that he won the area duels, some of the runs that he made in behind, a couple of the chances that he had," he assessed. "I think we, in the attacking side, we have to provide more. I think we were good enough, and I didn't do a good job setting up him or the team to serve him better. And I think it's something that I can improve, and I have to do better for the next games, because he was in great positions all the time. And if we can find him more, it will be great. But on the other hand, he was always with two defenders, and we found other players free because of that, and we were able to create good chances to score with other players." ![Brandon Vazquez versus SKC](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/brandon-vazquez-atxvskc-1.jpg) **Nico Estévez wants to get this man more service (OtraXFavor)* ## 'They controlled the midfield' Estevez also praised the midfield trio of Pereira, Owen Wolff, and Ilie Sánchez. "They were outstanding," he said when asked specifically about Pereira and Wolff. "They controlled the midfield with Ilie. Having Ilie helps to give them a little bit more organization. The game plan was based on them to give them the advantages, or when in the pocket, and Dani joining late in the pocket, first in the base, because he helps us a lot in the base with Ilie, and we create that special pocket with \[fullback Guilherme\] Biro a little bit low, Buka wide, Owen underneath in between the lines. And it worked very well. We were unlucky not to create more dangerous plays from those situations. But, I mean, they're really talented players ... and we're lucky to have them." As for Sánchez, Estévez noted, "He dominates the game. He understands the game. His understanding of the game is different. I had a great conversation with a coach about midfielders around the world, and it's funny. He had a conversation with an assistant coach to Hansi Flick at Barcelona, and he said, 'It's amazing. the midfielders here in Barcelona, we don't have to tell them much. We analyze the game, and every movement that they make is the right movement to make, and it is coming from a great education.' He's had a great career, good coaches ... we're lucky to have him and help the young players to grow in that understanding." ## A clean sheet to start Even though the match might have not been ideal from the offensive side, Austin did register a shutout in the opener, only leaning on goalkeeper Brad Stuver for two saves. The defense did well to shut down SKC's offense, particularly in the second half when head coach Peter Vermes subbed in Dejan Joveljić and Manu Garcia to kick his offense into a higher gear. That manifested in one particularly dangerous sequence in front of goal, in which Mikkel Desler cleanly stripped Joveljić of the ball as the striker successfully worked himself into tap-in range.\[\[2\]\] "They were dicing us up there a little bit in midfield," Stuver admitted. "Joveljić is a great player, and was able to find himself a little bit of space. And we got extremely compact at that moment, and Desler was in a perfect spot to make that clearance. And that's what we've been working on. We've been working on having each other's backs and getting compact and making sure that we always have someone there to make the play." "When it comes down to a situation into the box, it's reacting quickly," Desler said of his goal-saving play. "I saw he slipped through the central defense, and I went in behind him to try to cover him, and I managed to get there in time. And, yeah, it helped the team in that situation." Julio Cascante, giving a positive but measured account of the defense coupled with determination to work anew this week, praised Sánchez for what he's doing to stabilize back line play with his presence. "He gives you so much confidence the way that he plays, he just gives you \[that\] as a center back," Cascante said. "You do that comfortably, you can play with him, and he's not gonna do anything wrong. He has everything, the control and the quality, the class that he plays with ... it's impressive." Sánchez, complimenting the entire team's defensive effort, "Kansas City brought in good players from the bench, some of them starters for the football team ... and I think that we saw a better version of ourselves in the second half." And Jon Gallagher, a flexible chess piece who initially deployed as a left winger before finishing the match as a right back, observed, "You've seen games here in the past due to turn into basketball games in the last 30 minutes. We continue to dominate the last 30, but also keep it tight at the back and not allow transitions, which was really important. I thought everyone played a part." ## Coaching is key Both Stuver and Pereira, who have been with Austin FC for the club's whole history, noted a discernible difference with a new coaching staff at the helm. "Nico is very driven, but he tries to work with players around like what they're seeing," Stuver revealed. "He asks what we're seeing. He definitely implements his style and expects us to do things a certain way, but he tries to put us in the best position where he sees that we can benefit from it. "He doesn't want to make us uncomfortable in a situation," he continued. "He wants to give us the options, and then he wants us to make the decision when we go back and look, it might not always be the right decision, but he wants to give us at least two or three different opportunities on the field, so that when we have the ball, he's like, 'Okay, this is what you should see. These are the options that you have.' It's up to you to make the right one. That's something I really like about Nico." "Obviously, new coaches have new ideas," Pereira added, commenting on how they prepared during preseason. "That's something I think a lot of us were looking forward to. "We're all behind each other," he added. "You can see that we're so tight on the field, and outside the field, too ... We've started on the right foot, and hopefully we can keep it going." *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: Which is my preseason prediction if we're holding me to a preseason prediction. \[\[2\]\]: Somehow, this play is not in the league's highlight package for this match, but it should be. ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Sporting Kansas City 0 URL: https://verdeallday.com/match-recap-atxvskc-022225/ Last updated: 2025-02-23T15:40:25.000Z Austin FC started off its fifth season like it did its second — in unseasonably cold conditions in a home opener, facing a Midwestern team undergoing significant transition. And as they did in 2022, Austin FC won – though less decisively, getting an 1-0 win on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium over Sporting Kansas City on the strength of an Osman Bukari goal that was more right place, right time (or, rather, right *face*, right time) than art. Verde went possession-heavy in the first stages of the game, and both teams largely stayed tentative for the first 15 minutes before Verde began pushing upfield a bit, with Guillermo Biro missing just wide on an 18th-minute header on a promising breakaway, and Owen Wolff getting even closer on a 21st-minute shot from distance. Osman Bukari also had one adventure, going half the width of the field to escape one of a number of double-teams he faced in that half, getting a relatively soft shot from too far out in the 27th minute. Dani Pereira nearly got a goal within two minutes of the restart, skying a ball that Vázquez did his best to tee up for him, but then the match got into a more-cards-than-shots phase. In the 65th, Vázquez went on a break and very nearly engineered an own goal with a pass across the goalmouth, showing some signs of life. While Peter Vermes rolled out his two biggest offseason acquisitions to start the second half — Dejan Joveljić for Willy Agada and Manu Garcia for Jacob Bartlett — head coach Nico Estévez didn't use a sub until Jon Gallagher came in for Jáder Obrian in the 72nd. But on a corner kick from Wolff in the 78th minute, a ball careened off Julio Cascante's shoulder – certainly not his arm – and into Bukari's face. (However you can get it, right?) Vázquez nearly doubled the lead in the 82nd minute with a shot that caromed off the corner of the goal frame. In stoppage time, we got one moment of mirth, when Joveljić put his hands up to stop a ball going out of bounds, and referee Chris Penso conveniently forgot that hands aren't allowed in soccer. That got some meme-able reactions from Verde players and Estévez, but it was essentially the last action of the match . ## Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal) I'm really glad Brad Stuver is part of this team. Daniel Salloi got past the Verde defense in the 37th minute to get off an attempt, but Stuver got a leg save to it, and Agada hit a supporter in the fifth row on the rebound shot. Also, honorable mention to Mikkel Desler for taking the ball off the foot of a goalbound Joveljić with the game still very much in balance. ## Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed) The Pereira miss was a great opportunity to take the lead. It ultimately didn't affect the outcome, but made the second half considerably more tense. ## Something you might have missed Yes, at one point during the first-half (relative) flurry in front of goal, Brandon Vázquez attempted to touch a ball heading an odd angle across the goalmouth via a scorpion kick. (Didn't connect; would've been cooler if it did.) ## How this match fits into the season’s narrative Verde was one for four in season openers prior to Saturday night, and the one they won happened in 2022, kicking off their best season ever. A win in 2025 might not set Verde on the same trajectory it did in 2022 – 1-0 is not 5-0, after all – but it's three points more than Verde had after one match each of the last two seasons. ## One nerdy tidbit It took SKC up to the 30th minute to get off its first shot, though Verde failed to get off a shot in the final 18 minutes of the first half. ## A question we have heading into the press conference We're honestly curious to get a baseline assessment from Estévez on where the team is. While they has some encourage surges forward, especially in the first half, finishing is still an early worry ... and the reticence to put in subs is bringing back some concerning flashbacks to the previous era. But, also, nice to see a win! (And we can't resist asking about the exchange with Penso at the end.) [Subscribe](https://verdeallday.com/2025-food-and-bev-and-yeti/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Does hot chocolate sound good? Let us reveal new Q2 Stadium secrets as you're filing in for the home opener URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-food-and-bev-and-yeti/ Last updated: 2025-03-07T15:26:43.000Z Looking for hot chocolate this Saturday at Q2 to stave off the cold? Want to know where what new eats and drinks can be found? At this year’s Media Day, we sampled new food and beverage partners (La Barbecue, Mum Foods’ legendary “Rachel” sandwich, and the resurrected Mighty Cone) as well as new features from existing stadium vendors like 2024 freshman sensation Little Patagonia. Later the same day, we popped over to the Yeti Flagship store and learned about a new “bottomless refills” piece of Yeti drinkware making its debut this Saturday. Now that the Diageo deal and the Captain Morgan’s branding are gone, new on the beverage side of things are Deep Eddy Vodka and Matthew McConaughey’s Pantalones Tequila. Sources indicate that Austin Beerworks’ Pollo Pils will also make its debut at Q2 in 2025 as part of the local brew initiative. ## Hot chocolate this Saturday Stave off the cold tonight by finding hot chocolate at five different locations: in the Supporters’ Section in 103 at Munchie’s, on the East Concourse in Section 136 at Austin Table, the North End at Doubledave’s in Section 122 and at East Side Eats in Section 128, and upstairs on the Austin Telco Terrace in Section 314\. Austin FC Senior Executive Chef Sam Boijoly recommends a “spirited additive” to make it yet better. ## The foodmap and the foodplan In speaking with Boisjoly (who’s been with the club from the start), we learned a lot of effort is going into doubling down on what has worked well. Equal energy is being put into continuing to try new things and finding more ways to incorporate truly authentic Austin eats such that the stadium has a similar reputation to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Boisjoly wants Q2 to be just as great of a place to eat as it is to … you know, watch soccer. To help guide you around, we’re going to list the eatery, which section they’re found in, and what you want or need to know. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2-1.jpg) Arby's aren't the only ones who "have the meats" ### La Barbecue, Section 137 Taking over the southeast corner BBQ pit spot is newly Michelin-starred La Barbecue. Chef/owner Ali Clem told us that they are focusing on limiting their offerings to things they can sling hot and fast, making sure that they make a good first impression by turning their line with the rapidity needed in one of the busiest areas of Q2\. Regular menu items include chopped brisket and three-meat (brisket/pork/sausage) sandwiches as well as loaded Mac and Cheese. They tell us the plan is to rotate specials through, including pork chop sandwiches, brisket Sloppy Joes, pork and beef ribs, and the fans’ long-desired “ren faire turkey legs.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/mighty-cones.jpg) ### **The Mighty Cone, Section 137 “Rotating Partner” at Austin Table** Austin’s own Mighty Cone was recently bought up and brought back to life. Austin fans will get to relive days past with the OG Hot Crunchy Cones with your choice of of chicken, shrimp, or avocado (or all three in the “Monster”) drizzled in ancho aioli over mango-jalapeño slaw and a flour tortilla. Beyond the cones, they’ll also have hot honey sopapillas. ### OneTaco, Sections 122 and 134 In addition to their standard al pastor and carne asada tacos, they will now have breakfast tacos at both locations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/1.jpg) ### Little Patagonia, Section 126 The breakout hit of any part of the concourse last year was near and dear to the heart of the Chile-born Q2 executive chef. “That the fans embraced these empanadas was one of the biggest personal wins for me last year," he said. Added to the empanadas and choripans this year are Alfajores (dulce de leche sandwich cookies), guava/quayaba empanadas that are This Cuban Approved, and match day “Special Sweet Treats” that will begin by offering dulce de leche crepes. ### Mum Foods, Section 123 An Austin staple now in the North End brings their legendary “Rachel” sandwich generously stacked with Texas-style pastrami on locally sourced rye bread with Cole slaw, Swiss, and Russian dressing. I can always be in the mood for a Reuben, and I’ll gladly take the Rachel instead. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/brisket-cheesesteak.jpg) ### 512 Food Co. This is spread in multiple locations; here’s the hit list of news stuff and where: **Section 121: Brisket Cheesesteak Sandwich** (16-hour smoked brisket on a hoagie roll with queso & sautéed peppers & onions) **Sections 129 & 101: Patty Melt** (double smash burger on toasted rye with Louie sauce and Swiss) **Section 126, Loaded Sausage Mac n’ Cheese** (speaks for itself) **Section 137, S'more Nachos** (Buñuelos, chocolate cream, marshmallow creme and mini marshmallows) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/IMG_8108-2-1.jpg) ## New Yeti deal, new bottomless refill Yeti at Q2 The Yeti front of shirt sponsor partnership was renewed for a term of four more years. That number was not mentioned in the announcement or subsequent press release, but confirmed to us directly in the post-announcement scrum by Yeti’s head of marketing, Bill Neff. The renewal and the four-year term were not big surprises, but we got a couple of interesting specific teases, one of which we are breaking the news on. You may have a *whole lot* of Yeti tumblers and bottles already, but fans who attend every home matchday have a new one to add to their armada. Available in the stadium starting this Saturday is a Q2 Stadium-exclusive Yeti tumbler that gets you “all-you-can-drink fountain soda,” according to Austin FC president Andy Loughnane. We asked for further details and clarification, but none were available at press time. Turns out it’s a busy week! We also spied a new Yeti backpack that as of yet has not been publicly named, but is probably a variant of their Camino line of backpacks. Each was personally embroidered with the last name and number of the attending players Ilie Sánchez, Diego Rubio, and Dani Pereira, to name a few who were hanging out and shooting the breeze with Austin FC Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell. In a brief chat I had with Jon Gallagher, he mentioned that his fondest dream for the start of the season is to assist Brandon Vázquez’s first competitive goal for the club. “It would really bring our relationship full circle, all the way back," he said. Unselfish band of brothers vibes to start the season? We don't hate it. [Subscribe](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 2025 MLS Western Conference previews, Part 2: The Quakes can't possibly be as bad as they were last year URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-western-conference-previews-part-2/ Last updated: 2025-02-22T21:34:26.000Z We're rounding out our exhaustive look at MLS teams with the back half of the alphabet in the West ... which included Wooden Spoon winners bound to get better, playoff teams bound to get worse, and a perennial power that got even better in the offseason with the addition of two players you'd long associated with an Austin rival. ## Portland Timbers ### How did their 2024 go? Well, it went better than Austin’s. Austin notably beat Portland on a fluky Dani Pereira goal late in the season when both were vying for playoff places, but beat out Austin for the 9 seed and then got to host the play-in game for the stupidest reason ever — Vancouver’s home stadium was being transformed for a monster truck rally. The Whitecaps went on to beat the Timbers 5-0 in that playoff match. Felt karmic. Oh yeah, also, the Timbers had [a pretty terrible kit sponsor](https://www.timbers.com/news/timbers-terminate-corporate-partnership-with-dabella?ref=verdeallday.com) they axed just weeks into the arrangement, and then landed Tillamook, which was amazing for them. They kept Phil Neville as their head coach the whole season, which was not amazing for them. (He might be the first to go in 2025 if the Timbers don't do well; only Caleb Powell's seat at the Revs might be hotter.) ### Players In - Ariel Lassiter (F), Dec. 23, free agent - Joao Ortiz (M), Jan. 15, transfer from Independiente del Valle - Kevin Kelsy (F), Jan. 22, transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk - Ian Smith (D), Jan. 31, SuperDraft - Jimer Fory (D), Feb. 4, transfer from Independiente Medellín - David Da Costa (M), Feb. 17, transfer from RC Lens ### Players Out - Tega Ikoba (F), Nov. 1, option declined - Marvin Loría (M), Nov. 1, option declined - Mason Toye (F), Nov. 1, option declined - Eryk Williamson (M), Jan. 15, trade to Charlotte FC - Hunter Sulte (GK), Feb. 4, loan to Indy Eleven - Evander (M), Feb. 17, trade to FC Cincinnati ### Key player This is a key player out situation, and it’s Evander, though Portuguese midfielder David Da Costa is about as like-for-like as a GM can muster this late in the preseason. ### Fashion report The 50th-anniversary kit features a rich green and a stunning gold and even has a tree ring pattern using 50 rings to symbolize 50 years of the franchise, dating back to its NASL days. ![2025 Portland Timbers kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-portland-timbers-kit.png) We have 2025’s perfect kit. It’s amazing. Someone buy me this. (I will take a medium, and put Chara 21 on that in honor of the card-havinest player in MLS.) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 45.5, with two taking the under. I’m intrigued by Da Costa, and I like the Kevin Kelsy addition, but I think they didn’t fix what they needed to fix, and Evander’s a singular talent. ## Real Salt Lake ### How did their 2024 go? They finished third in the West on 65 points, which is great, but were ousted by Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, and had dismal cup competitions, losing to New Mexico United in their first U.S. Open Cup match and didn’t make it past the group stage of Leagues Cup. ### Players In - Tyler Wolff (F), Dec. 9, trade from Atlanta United - Forster Ajago (F), Dec. 13, Re-Entry Draft - Elias Manoel (F), Dec. 20, trade from New York Red Bulls - Sam Junqua (D), Dec. 23, trade from FC Dallas - Kobi Henry (D), Jan. 13, loan from Stade Reims - Mason Stajduhar (GK), Jan. 15, trade from Orlando City SC - Owen Anderson (M), Jan. 16, homegrown - Aiden Hezarkhani (M), Jan. 16, homegrown - Omar Marquez (M), Jan. 16, homegrown - Juan Gio Villa (D), Jan. 16, homegrown - Rafael Cabral (GK), Jan. 21, free agent - Ariath Piol (F), Jan. 23, transfer from Macarthur FC - Zack Farnsworth (D), Feb. 17, re-signed) - Max Kerkvliet (GK), Feb. 17, SuperDraft ### Players Out - Kevin Bonilla (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Maikel Chang (M), Nov. 27, out of contract - Zach Farnsworth (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Tomás Gómez (GK), Nov. 27, out of contract - Erik Holt (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Bertin Jacquesson (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Benji Michel (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Jaziel Orozco (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Ilijah Paul (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Delentz Pierre (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Rubio Rubín (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Marcelo Silva (D), Nov. 27, out of contract - Anderson Julio (F), Dec. 23, trade to FC Dallas - Matt Crooks (M), Jan. 10, transfer to Hull City - Chicho Arango (F), Jan. 11, trade to San Jose Earthquakes - Gavin Beavers (GK), Jan. 22, transfer to Brøndby IF - Kevon Lambert (D/M), Jan. 23, loan to Louisville City - Andrew Brody (D), Feb. 18, waived ### Key player This is definitely a key player out situation, as Chicho Arango has been moved on to San Jose, and RSL is taking a striker-by-committee approach to start the season. (Which, I was emotionally invested in RSL, I’d be very concerned about.) Diego Luna is poised to get to the next level, and his creation and tenacity will help this team, but he’s going to need attackers around him to succeed. ### Fashion report The Grid City Kit is a beaut. It’s using a checker design that makes it immediately distinctive in MLS, and the colors are on point. Also, this detail about the designs visible in the white squares: “The Grid City Kit's square patterns represent the architecturally famous grid system that shaped Salt Lake City's urban form. The kit pays homage to Utah's grid system, designed by settlers to fit a horse-pulled carriage.” ![2025 Real Salt Lake kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-real-salt-lake-kit.png) Perfection. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 44.5, with all three picking the under. This is probably the year RSL comes back down to Earth a bit. ## San Diego FC ### How did their 2024 go? Well, they ramped up to actually playing matches! The [badge reveal](https://www.sandiegofc.com/news/san-diego-fc-unveils-team-name-crest-brand-identity-reflecting-communitys-talent-diversity-and-spirit?ref=verdeallday.com) happened in October 2023 (gradients!), and their highest-profile signing happened in June, and it was only in December that they really set out to build their roster. ### Players In - Duran Ferree (GK), Dec. 13, free - Marcus Ingvartsen (F), Mar. 19, transfer from FC Nordsjaelland - Jeppe Tverskov (M), Mar. 19, transfer from FC Nordsjaelland - Chucky Lozano (F), Jun. 6, transfer from PSV Eindhoven - Paddy McNair (D), Jul. 25, free - Alex Mighten (F), Aug. 30, transfer from Nottingham Forest - Tomás Ángel (F), Dec. 9, trade from LAFC - CJ dos Santos (GK), Dec. 11, trade from Inter Miami - Christopher McVey (D), Dec. 11, trade from D.C. United - Heine Gikling Bruseth (M), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Hamady Diop (D), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Jasper Löffelsend (M), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Andrés Reyes (D), Dec. 12, trade from New York Red Bulls - Jacob Jackson (GK), Dec. 13, Re-Entry Draft - Aníbal Godoy (M), Dec. 19, free agent - Manu Duah (M), Dec. 20, SuperDraft - Pablo Sisniega (GK), Dec. 27, free - Anisse Saidi (F), Jan. 3, trade from Philadelphia Union - Emmanuel Boateng (F), Jan. 6, trade from New England Revolution - Franco Negri (D), Jan. 7, Re-Entry Draft - Onni Valakari (M), Jan. 13, loan from Pafos FC - Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (M), Jan. 14, transfer from FC Vizela - Luca de la Torre (M), Jan. 21, loan from Celta de Vigo - Anders Dreyer (F), Jan. 22, transfer from RSC Anderlecht - Ian Pilcher (D), Jan. 27, SuperDraft - Willy Kumado (D), Feb. 10, transfer from Lyngby Boldklub ### Players Out - Thiago Andrade (F), Dec. 11, trade to Toronto FC - Hosei Kijima (M), Dec. 11, trade to D.C. United ### Key player Hirving Lozano is the team’s best player and the face of the franchise. We’ll see a few games in (including the March 23 matinee in Austin) how much sense the team’s build makes, and whether Lozano is the hub around which the rest of the team can rotate. ### Fashion report It being San Diego FC’s first year in the league, they get two. I’m going to let the copy for the home kit speak for itself. “San Diego FC’s inaugural jersey is more than a kit – it’s a story woven into every thread of the jersey. Azul, the Club’s primary color, captures the boundless horizon where the ocean meets the sky, highlighting the beauty of San Diego’s coastal regions. Chrome details seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the jersey shine as a reflection of the city’s vibrant communities. The gradient side stripes, featuring the Club’s community colors, symbolize the connection between San Diego’s neighborhoods that define the city’s diversity. The inaugural jersey also features a ‘Chrome and Azul’ Jock Tag in the bottom corner of the front of the jersey, and also features a ‘State of Flow’ Tag in the back collar of the jersey, emphasizing the way of life that best describes the essence of San Diego.” ![2025 San Diego FC home kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-san-diego-fc-home-kit.png) And the away kit is white with an interesting pattern, but even the marketing copy admits more could be happening with it. “Inspired by the club's mantra – “Woven Into One” – SDFC's first-ever secondary kit provides a blank canvas for the people of San Diego to come together and imagine the future of the club. In future seasons, the club's secondary kits will be designed in conjunction with fans and local artists through focus groups, design workshops and community-driven campaigns to ensure each kit authentically expresses San Diego’s culture and spirit.” ![2025 San Diego FC away kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-san-diego-fc-away-kit.png) So, I’m guessing that’s coming with the 2026 kit? ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 37.5, with all three picking the under. I completely agree; they're an expansion team and I'm not seeing the logic behind their build. ## San Jose Earthquakes ### How did their 2024 go? It was a Wooden Spoon season, and how. A 6-25-3 record, good for 21 points. 41 goals scored, an MLS-record 78 goals allowed, for a -37 goal differential. Just an awful regular season. They also lost in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 to USL side Sacramento Republic and had one Leagues Cup rout in them, beating Necaxa 5-0, before bowing out with a “that’s more like it” 4-1 loss to LAFC. ### Players In - Ian Harkes (M), Dec. 9, trade from New England Revolution - Mark-Anthony Kaye (M), Dec. 9, trade from New England Revolution - Dave Romney (D), Dec. 9, trade from New England Revolution - Nick Lima (D), Dec. 18, free agent - Max Floriani (D), Dec. 20, SuperDraft - Earl Edwards Jr. (GK), Dec. 30, trade from New England Revolution - Chicho Arango (F), Jan. 11, trade from Real Salt Lake - Josef Martínez (F), Jan. 13, free agent - Reid Roberts (D), Jan. 14, SuperDraft - Kaedren Spivey (M), Jan. 17, homegrown ### Players Out - Carlos Akapo (D), Nov. 29, out of contract - Michael Baldisimo (M), Nov. 29, out of contract - Tanner Beason (D), Nov. 29, option declined - Jeremy Ebobisse (F), Nov. 29, option declined - Jacob Jackson (GK), Nov. 29, option declined - JT Marcinkowski (GK), Nov. 29, option declined - Alfredo Morales (M), Nov. 29, option declined - Will Richmond (F), Nov. 29, option declined - Tommy Thompson (D), Nov. 29, option declined - William Yarbrough (GK), Nov. 29, option declined - Casey Walls (D), Nov. 29, out of contract - Jackson Yueill (M), Nov. 29, out of contract - Emi Ochoa (GK), Jan. 17, transfer to Cruz Azul - Carlos Gruezo (M), Feb. 4, mutual contract termination ### Key player Though Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez should bring goals, the real key player here is new head coach Bruce Arena, who for all his irascibility, has a knack for raising a team’s floor no matter which team. He’s already entered the first phase of Arenaing the team by bringing in some trusted veterans. ### Fashion report Perhaps The Headliner Kit is a polarizing choice. “The kit, designed in partnership with punk icon Lars Frederiksen, celebrates the Bay Area's rich history of punk rock. The handwritten/newspaper-clipped artwork style represents the DIY ethos of punk rock, the blue-collar makeup of many fans in the Bay Area, and the underground subculture that sparks creativity in the region.” ![2025 San Jose Earthquakes kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-san-jose-earthquakes-kit.png) While I’m not 100% sold on the execution, I applaud a punk rock-inspired kit in 2025, and there’s something gloriously MLS 1.0 about a kit that declares “Bedlam at Buck Shaw.” (Remember: They’ll be wearing these for two years.) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 38.5\. All three picked the under; I'm picking the over. Again, Arena raises the floor, and we're only talking about needing to reach 39 points. 10-15-9 gets you there; that's what Austin achieved\[\[1\]\] in 2023\. ## Seattle Sounders FC How did their 2024 go? It was a year marked by battles with nemesis LAFC. The Sounders made it to the semis of U.S. Open Cup (playing matches at [Starfire](https://www.starfiresports.com/campus/?ref=verdeallday.com), which makes me giddy with nostalgia as I grew up about 15 minutes from this locale), losing to LAFC. They also made it to the quarterfinals of Leagues Cup, losing to LAFC. But they did beat LAFC in the playoffs before bowing out to the Galaxy in the West finals (the Riqui Puig ACL tear heroics game). ### Players In - Leo Burney (D), Dec. 11, homegrown - Travian Sousa (D), Dec. 11, MLS Next Pro - Jesús Ferreira (F), Jan. 8, trade from FC Dallas - Albert Rusnák (M), Jan. 9, re-signed - João Paulo (M), Jan. 10, re-signed - Paul Arriola (M), Jan. 13, trade from FC Dallas - Kim Kee-hee (D), Jan. 28, free agent ### Players Out - Sota Kitahara (M), Dec. 4, option declined - Nathan (D), Dec. 4, option declined - Raúl Ruidíaz (F), Dec. 4, out of contract - Dylan Teves (M), Dec. 4, option declined - Léo Chú (M), Jan. 8, trade to FC Dallas - Braudilio Rodrigues (M), Jan. 22, waived - Josh Atencio (M), Feb. 15, trade to Colorado Rapids ### Key players Jesús Ferreira moving from Dallas to Seattle was one of the more shocking moves of the offseason, and teammate Paul Arriola following suit was an even greater indication that the Sounders are in a bit of reinvention. As important as they’ll be, much of their success will hinge on how well they mesh with Jordan Morris. ### Fashion report Though we might have ribbed them a bit for a design reminiscent of SKC kits, the Salish Sea Kit was “designed in collaboration with artists representing the Puyallup, Muckleshoot and Suquamish Tribes” – who probably know nothing of Peter Vermes and a team that started its MLS life as the Wiz — “paying homage to the Sounders' deep connection to the Puget Sound and highlighting the club's shared responsibility as stewards of the greater watershed.” ![2025 Seattle Sounders kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-seattle-sounders-kit.png) It’s being widely praised, and rightly so. They’ve got what’s arguably the strongest home/away combo going. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 59.5\. They’re going to surpass this high over. They’ll be neck-and-neck with FC Cincinnati for the Shield. ## Sporting Kansas City ### How did their 2024 go? A little weird! They did get to the U.S. Open Cup final, losing there to LAFC but getting themselves into the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup as a result. They made it past the group stage of Leagues Cup then got dispatched by the Crew in the Round of 32\. They finished 13th in the West. Peter Vermes kept his job, having been head coach at SKC since 2009\. I previewed them for American Soccer Analysis; [nerdiness ensues](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2025/2/10/2025-mls-season-previews?ref=verdeallday.com). ### Players in - D - Ian James (12/6/24 - homegrown) - GK - Jack Kortkamp (12/6/24 - homegrown) - M - Jacob Bartlett (1/9/25 - homegrown) - F - Mason Toye (1/13/25 - free agent) - F - Dejan Joveljić (2/1/25 - trade from LA Galaxy) - M - Manu García (2/3/25 - transfer from Aris Thessaloniki) - F - Shapi Suleymanov(2/3/25 - transfer from Aris Thessaloniki) - D - Jansen Miller (2/13/25 - SuperDraft) ### Players Out - D - Robert Castellanos (11/14/24 - option declined) - M - Ozzie Cisneros (11/14/24 - option declined) - M - Danny Flores (11/14/24 - option declined) - D - Andreu Fontàs (11/14/24 - out of contract) - GK - Tim Melia (11/14/24 - out of contract) - D - Chris Rindov (11/14/24 - option declined) - F - Johnny Russell (11/14/24 - out of contract) - M - Rémi Walter (11/14/24 - out of contract) - F - Alan Pulido (1/7/25 - transfer to Chivas Guadalajara) ### Key player Manu Garcia is the chance creator that SKC has needed for a while. Now that they have plenty of good center forwards, they might have the offensive side of the ball figured out. (The defensive side is another matter entirely.) ### Fashion report It’s got light and dark blue, it’s got hoops, and it’s integrated the state line pattern into it. ![2025 Sporting Kansas City kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-sporting-kc-kit.png) It’s most definitely an SKC kit, doing what it’s supposed to do. Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 37.5, with all three picking the under. The offense is definitely better, but they're the type of team (as is San Diego) that could lose a lot of 4-3 matches. ## St. Louis City SC ### How did their 2024 go? It was a considerable dropoff from their hot 2023\. They finished 12th in the West, got to the Leagues Cup Round of 16 before losing to América, and lost to Houston in their first CCC foray. ### Players In - Timo Baumgartl (D), Nov. 29, free - Conrad Wallem (M), Jan. 17, loan from SK Slavia Prague - Alfredo Morales (M), Feb. 18, free agent ### Players Out - John Klein (M), Oct. 22, option declined - Jake Nerwiski (D), Oct. 22, option declined - Hosei Kijima (M), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Nökkvi Thórisson (F), Jan. 14, loan to Sparta Rotterdam - Selmir Pidro (D), Jan. 18, loan to FK Velež Mostar ### Key players They didn’t do that much to transform their roster, so expect Eduard Löwen, João Klauss, and Cedric Teuchert to lead the way once more. ### Fashion report It’s got a collar and a button, rare for 2025’s kit rollout, but otherwise, it’s red with just a splash of design. ![2025 St. Louis City SC kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-st-louis-city-sc.png) It’s fine. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 45.5, with two picking the over. I think they'll be under, as one of the playoff bubble teams that just misses out. ## Vancouver Whitecaps FC ### How did their 2024 go? They made the playoffs, though going 0-5-2 in their last seven matches dropped them to 8th. They lost to LAFC in a hard-fought three-match series, which is something they do, but they did win another Canadian Championship. Then, inexplicably, they parted ways with popular, charming, and irreverent head coach Vanni Sartini, and start 2025 under a cloud, as the club is for sale and might be moved from one of the best cities on Earth. ### Players In - J.C. Ngando (M), Dec. 11, re-signed - Ralph Priso (M), Dec. 11, re-signed - Tate Johnson (D), Dec. 20, SuperDraft - Jayden Nelson (F), Jan. 24, transfer from Rosenborg BK - Emmanuel Sabbi (F), Feb. 11, transfer from Le Havre AC - Adrían Zendejas (GK), Feb. 14, free ### Players Out - Joe Bendik (GK), Nov. 27, option declined - Levonte Johnson (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Fafà Picault (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Ryan Raposo (M), Nov. 27, out of contract - Alessandro Schöpf (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Déiber Caicedo (F), Jan. 12, transfer to Junior FC - Stuart Armstrong (M), Jan. 31, transfer to Sheffield Wednesday ### Key players Once again, it’s Ryan Gauld and Brian White, especially having moved some other key pieces like Fafà Picault, Ryan Raposo, and Stuart Armstrong. (Suffice it to say, this team did not get better in the offseason.) ### Fashion report Your standard Whitecaps white kit. Simple, attractive, nice use of light blue accents, but feels very safe. Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 45.5, with two picking the under. I think they're be under, but could still sneak into the playoffs. ## In case you missed the earlier installments [West, Part 1](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-western-conference-previews-part-1o/) (Austin through Minnesota) [East, Part 1](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-eastern-conference-previews-part-1/) (Atlanta through Montréal) [East, Part 2](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-eastern-conference-previews-part-2/) (Nashville through Toronto) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* \[\[1\]\]: "Achieved is doing a lot of work here ### Rodo holds court: Highlights from a 53-minute press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/rodo-holds-court-highlights-from-53-minute-press-conference/ Last updated: 2025-02-22T17:31:01.000Z Here's a sign that Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell had a lot to say at Friday's preseason media availability: The club uploaded the video file from the event in two parts. The overall tenor of the 53-minute dialogue – mostly monologue to be fair – is that Borrell's delivered a lot of the players that head coach Nico Estévez needs to be successful over the last two transfer windows, and now the coach and players need to deliver, with playoff qualification as the bare baseline for measuring success in 2025\. Here are a few of the themes that caught my ear. ## Establishing the timeline Here's what Borrell said about everything prior to the last two transfer windows, in song form. (Just the title, we hasten to add.) Specifically, he clarified, "I'm responsible from one year ago, not from one and a half year ago," even though he arrived in the summer of 2023\. "One and a half years ago, I landed here, couldn't do anything," he hedged. "So what's happened that year is what's happened that year. So from last year, yes, belongs to me. And listen, I'm happy and I'm proud that of the evolution, and again, from the situation that we were at, what we have been able to from that point, obviously, this is at the end of the day, is bringing players. Players need to fail together, play together, gel, and we have to get the results." If you count Stefan Cleveland, Jáder Obrian, and Guilherme Biro as the first true Borrell signings, he's since brought together a core of players that now make up the majority of Verde's best (in theory, at least) starting 11\. Certainly, Saturday evening's starting lineup against Sporting Kansas City won't feature all those players, but the lineup will probably feature only a few players (predicting Brad Stuver, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira) signed in the Claudio Reyna era, and maybe none from the Josh Wolff-Sean Rubio era. Here's a full lineup you could make from players arriving since Christmas Eve 2023\. ![An Austin FC lineup featuring players Rodolfo Borrell signed](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-22-at-9.05.12-AM.png) And per Tom Hallock's eagle eye, here's a better one. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-22-at-11.30.51-AM.png) ## Explaining big-dollar moves Regarding Myrto Uzuni, the recently arrived Albanian attacker for whom the club dropped a record transfer fee, Borrell was measured in explaining making the move for him (even in the face of one notable media personality already declaring that he's not worth the spend). "The way he approaches the game was very clear in his press conference. He had lots of hunger and determination," Borrell said. "He has proven this for many years now. Also, the experience in the game and the capacity to score goals, which is one thing that very clearly we were struggling with last year, no? So not only putting that weight on the shoulders of Brandon Vázquez, who obviously was brought in for the same reasons ... to have two in this area of the pitch, hopefully it makes it easier and better for the team." When challenged on moving Sebastián Driussi to River Plate, with said notable media personality contending Driussi no longer wanted to be in Austin, Borrell quipped, "I got $10 million for a player who didn't want to be here. Win, win, you made my case easier." ## Some MLS Next Pro side-eye While Borrell praised the work that Austin FC II head coach Brett Uttley is doing, he also downplayed the importance of VerDos team success on the overall Austin FC project. After establishing that the MLS Next Pro championship predated his roster-building, he said, adopting a professorial tone, "They won. You remember? How many players are playing in MLS from that team?" And then, after a pointed pause, "So what's the point?" "As I mentioned in one of my first press conferences, the competitive distance between MLS and MLS Next Pro is massive, and it's a clear example of that. So it's not underestimating or undervaluing, it's not about that. It's good, but it's too far from the reality of the MLS competitive environment, and that is one of the examples. A winning team has nobody playing them \[in MLS\], not in Austin FC, as you know. Nowhere. Nowhere." He also established, once again, that he is not a fan of penalty kick shootouts at the end of MLS games. ## 'Soccer means nothing' Thanks to Moisés Chiullán's final question, we got some surprising information about Borrell's origin story. "In my family, soccer means nothing," he revealed. "I mean nothing, to the point that I was the black sheep of the family, until I was appointed by Football Club Barcelona back in 1995." They would have preferred he become a doctor or architect, observing, "As my mom said, 'I don't understand what you see in these guys chasing a ball all around.'" His family moved from the city center of Barcelona to a building about 300 yards from Camp Nou, Barcelona's home stadium, when he was still a young child, and from their 12th-floor balcony, he could see the field. "So my mom says that I was all the time, asking for her to be on the balcony, and that I would spend hours, like looking down on that thing." He also revealed how far back he goes with new captain Ilie Sánchez, recruiting him to play for Barcelona when Sánchez was 17\. "I know the person very much, and I know of his leadership on and off the pitch, because he's not only about it during the game, he's in the locker room, he's on a daily basis in the training ground with the younger players, with the older players, with everything, everybody. He's a guy that is extremely professional. He's here first thing in the morning, and sometimes leaving here at six in the evening, looks very much after himself. He's always been this way. And to me was this intention to bring experience alongside leadership. That is one thing that I believe we were missing a little bit since I arrived here." [Subscribe (or upgrade)](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 2025 MLS Western Conference previews, Part 1: Will both L.A. teams be a disappointment? URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-western-conference-previews-part-1o/ Last updated: 2025-02-22T04:28:24.000Z So, was it a smart choice by Ilie to leave LAFC for Austin? Ilie Sánchez, LAFC's captain and one of the heroes of the 2022 MLS Cup, is now in Verde following a busy offseason in which a number of Black & Gold players ceased to be Black & Gold. But for all the transition LAFC experienced, their rivals (the reigning MLS Cup champs, with arguably the best new kit of the 2025 releases) is experiencing a whole lot of loss, including a player they brought in just two months before and [somehow had to jettison](https://www.thesportingtribune.com/2025/02/19/la-galaxy-waive-midfielder-sean-davis?ref=verdeallday.com) before the season even started. Here's Part 1 of the West (and yes, we gave Austin the same treatment as the other teams, but expect something else to hit tomorrow). ## Austin FC ### How did their 2024 go? Well, you all know, blow by painful blow ... but, to sum up, they got off to a rocky start with a thin roster, got into playoff position midseason, oscillated along the playoff line after getting in summer reinforcements, and the moment they were officially eliminated from the playoffs, parted ways with head coach Josh Wolff. ### **Players In** - Ilie Sánchez (M), Dec. 31, free agent - Brandon Vazquez (F), Jan. 6, transfer from CF Monterrey - Nicolás Dubersarsky (M), Jan. 16, transfer from Instituto ACC - Besard Sabovic (M), Jan. 21, free - Myrto Uzuni (F), Jan. 24, transfer from Granada CF ### **Players Out** - Matt Bersano (GK), Nov. 5, option declined - Ethan Finlay (F), Nov. 5, option declined - Matt Hedges (D), Nov. 5, option declined - Hector Jimenez (D), Nov. 5, out of contract - Alex Ring (M), Nov. 5, option declined - Jhojan Valencia (M), Nov. 5, option declined - Gyasi Zardes (F), Dec. 9, contract buyout - Sebastián Driussi (M), Jan. 17, transfer to River Plate - Damian Las (GK), Jan. 31, loan to Louisville City FC ### Key players New signings Brandon Vázquez and Myrto Uzuni follow a common formula for MLS teams looking to make a quick turnaround: Load up on offensive talent to change dynamics. How they mesh with 2024’s DP signing, Osman Bukari, will do a lot to define new head coach Nico Estévez’s debut season leading Verde. ### Fashion report The Heartbeat Kit goes two-tone green as a departure from the green and black stripes that defined their two previous home kit — replacing the one derisively nicknamed the Barcode Kit for having perhaps too many stripes. This is not quite as bold as Miami’s new two-tone pink kit, but it’s in that neighborhood, and one of the better offerings from Adidas this year. ![2025 Austin FC kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-austin-fc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 46.5\. Two of the three panelists picked the over; I think they’ll blow past this modest mark on the way to the playoffs. ## Colorado Rapids ### How did their 2024 go? They did better in Chris Armas’ first full season than a lot of people expected. They finished 7th in the league before losing a two-leg series to the Galaxy by a 9-0 aggregate — indicated that, well, they were good enough to make the playoffs but have a next step to take. They also started Leagues Cup by losing 4-0 to the Timbers, but then beat Léon in PKs to eliminate them, going on a run that ended with them losing 4-0 to LAFC – they experienced some blowouts, did they not? – and winning the third-place game (yes, Leagues Cup staged a third-place game) over the Union. ### Players In - Chidozie Awaziem (D), Dec. 9, trade from FC Cincinnati - Ian Murphy (D), Dec 9, trade from FC Cincinnati - Alex Harris (F), Dec. 20, SuperDraft - Sam Bassett (M), Jan. 7, homegrown - Michael Edwards (D), Jan. 13, re-signed - Ali Fadal (M), Feb. 8, transfer from Valencia B - Ted Ku-DiPietro (M), Feb. 10, trade from D.C. United ### Players Out - Lalas Abubakar (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Sebastian Anderson (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Ethan Bandré (GK), Nov. 27, option declined - Rémi Cabral (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Jonathan Lewis (F), Nov. 27, out of contract - Jasper Löffelsend (M), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Miguel Navarro (D), Dec. 18, transfer to Talleres - Nate Jones (D), Jan. 21, loan to Las Vegas Lights FC - Daniel Chacón (D), Feb. 3, mutual contract termination ### Key player Đorđe Mihailović had 21 goal contributions (11 goals, 10 assists), and scored a brace on Tuesday in the Rapids’ 2-1 win over LAFC (in extreme cold) to start off their Concacaf Champions Cup campaign. Also, I'm not sure where Ted Ku-DiPietro fits into this midfield, but he's fun. ### Fashion report Here’s the marketingese on the Headwaters Kit: “The kit's inspiration comes from the rivers originating high in the Rocky Mountains, providing water to millions across the American West. The flowing waterways that shape Colorado's topography are represented in the design – a symbol of the deep connection between the state's natural resources and its people.” ![2025 Colorado Rapids kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-colorado-rapids-kit.png) The 2021 [Class 5 jersey](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/class-5-colorado-rapids-launch-mountain-inspired-2021-jersey?ref=verdeallday.com) drew from topographical maps and though it was maybe too subtle a design, the concept was inspired. This is less so. It’s unique, but it doesn’t quite communicate flowing waterways – unless you think of it as an Impressonist painting of flowing waterways. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 47.5, with two of three picking over. That’s reasonable; they should manage at least 48 points. ## FC Dallas ### How did their 2024 go? Well, they parted ways with their head coach in June after a less-than-ideal start (which ended up working out for Austin), got an appreciable new coach bounce from Peter Luccin (which coincided with Petar Musa better adjusting to MLS/U.S. life later in the season), but they still missed the playoffs, lost to SKC in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, and crashed out of Leagues Cup in the group stages. I am suddenly failing to remember anything about Copa Tejas and who won it last season. Apologies. ### Players In - Pedro Martins (M), Dec. 16, MLS Next Pro - Ramiro Benetti (M), Dec. 18, free - Lalas Abubakar (D), Dec. 19, free agent - Anderson Julio (F), Dec. 23, trade from Real Salt Lake - Shaq Moore (D), Dec. 27, trade from Nashville SC - Léo Chú (M), Jan. 8, trade from Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Collodi (GK), Jan. 9, homegrown - Malachi Molina (D), Jan. 9, homegrown - Diego García (M), Jan. 9, homegrown - Anthony Ramírez (M), Jan. 9, homegrown - Daniel Baran (F), Jan. 9, homegrown - Diego Pepi (F), Jan. 9, homegrown - Patrickson Delgado (M), Jan. 10, purchase option from Independiente del Valle - Enzo Newman (D), Jan. 24, SuperDraft - Osaze Urhoghide (D), Feb. 11, transfer from Amiens SC - Luciano Acosta (M), Feb. 12, trade from FC Cincinnati - Álvaro Augusto (D), Feb. 13, transfer from Portimonense SC ### Players Out - Eugene Ansah (F), Nov. 12, option declined - Liam Fraser (M), Nov. 12, option declined - Omar Gonzalez (D), Nov. 12, option declined - Asier Illarramendi (M), Nov. 12, out of contract - Amet Korça (D), Nov. 12, option declined - Jimmy Maurer (GK), Nov. 12, out of contract - Isaiah Parker (F), Nov. 12, option declined - Ruan (D), Nov. 12, out of contract - Malik Henry-Scott (F), Nov. 12, option declined - Dante Sealy (F), Nov. 12, option declined - Ema Twumasi (D), Nov. 12, option declined - Sam Junqua (D), Dec. 23, trade to Real Salt Lake - Jesús Ferreira (M), Jan. 8, trade to Seattle Sounders FC - Paul Arriola (M), Jan. 13, trade to Seattle Sounders FC - Tomas Pondeca (M), Jan. 13, loan to New Mexico United - Nkosi Tafari (D), Jan. 23, trade to LAFC - Alan Velasco (M), Jan. 23, transfer to Boca Juniors - Enes Sali (M), Jan. 31, loan to Al-Riyadh SC ### Key player It was a bleak prognosis for the team from Frisco after they dealt Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola to Seattle, but then they landed Luciano Acosta and now have a more traditional 10 to support acclimating striker Petar Musa. As Acosta goes, so goes Frisco in '25 ### Fashion report The Inferno Kit owes to the Burn (the original Dallas MLS iteration) and the Tornado (which predated MLS), and history’s nice, but this is essentially a white kit with red accents that I can’t imagine being pumped to buy if I were a Dallas fan (except that a white kit is nice for summer games in a stadium that was once nicknamed “The Oven”). ![2025 FC Dallas kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-fc-dallas-kit.png) Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 44.5\. All three picked the over. With Lucho, they’re definitely at least a 45-point team. ## Houston Dynamo ### How did their 2024 go? It went great until it didn’t. In cup competitions, they didn’t fare as well as they did in 2023 — not only did they fail to defend their U.S. Open Cup title, but they managed to lose to USL side Detroit City (disclaimer: I’m one of many Wefunder-enabled minority owners), and then only got to the Round of 32 in Leagues Cup. They did get a team-record 54 points, though, and they made the playoffs, though that ended as soon as it started, with two PK losses to the Sounders. Oh, and Hector Herrera got tossed for spitting toward a referee in his last-ever on-field MLS action. ### Players In - Jimmy Maurer (GK), Dec. 17, free agent - Daniel Steres (D), Jan. 9, re-signed - Erik Dueñas (M), Jan. 14, waivers - Obafemi Awodesu (D), Jan. 17, MLS NEXT Pro - Jack McGlynn (M), Feb. 3, trade from Philadelphia Union - Júnior Urso (M), Feb. 11, free agent - Blake Gillingham (GK), Feb. 14, free ### Players Out - McKinze Gaines (F), Nov. 6, out of contract - Ján Greguš (M), Nov. 6, option declined - Héctor Herrera (M), Nov. 6, option declined - Júnior Moreno (M), Nov. 6, option declined - Brad Smith (D), Nov. 6, option declined - Ousmane Sylla (F), Nov. 6, option declined - Xavier Valdez (GK), Nov. 6, option declined - Latif Blessing (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Steve Clark (GK), Nov. 27, option declined - Tate Schmitt (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Coco Carrasquilla (M), Jan. 16, transfer to Pumas UNAM - Sebastián Ferreira (F), Jan. 18, mutual contract termination - Kieran Sargeant (D), Jan. 23, loan to Lexington SC - Jefferson Valverde (M), Jan. 24, loan to Orense SC ### Key player Replacing Coco Carrasquilla with Jack McGlynn is not exactly like-for-like, but the former Union midfielder now gets the chance to make his breakout year leap in orange. Perhaps new assistant head coach Josh Wolff will give him the insights he needs to make said leap. ### Fashion report It’s likely, as a reader of a publication called Verde All Day, that you have a visceral negative reaction to any orange jersey you say. That said, it’s a nice effort, with “space blue” accents that pop well against the orange, even though it’s unimaginatively named. (The Season 20 Kit, because this is their 20th season as the Dynamo.) (They were the Earthquakes before that.) ![2025 Houston Dynamo kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-houston-dynamo-kit.png) Also: It’s an orange kit. My eyes, they burn. Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 46.5, with two picking the under. I think they’ll be a shade over. ## Los Angeles FC ### How did their 2024 go? If you’re not winning a trophy and at least making the finals of multiple competitions, is it even a good LAFC season? In 2024, they did win a trophy, but it was for U.S. Open Cup, beating SKC in the final. They lost the Leagues Cup final to the Crew (in a repeat of 2023 MLS Cup) and made an early-for-them exit in the conference semis to the Sounders, depriving us all of the El Tráfico West final many of us wanted. Somehow, this all got SKC into Concacaf Champions Cup playing Inter Miami. ### Players In - Jude Terry (M), Dec. 10, homegrown - Aaron Long (D), Dec. 12, re-signed - Jeremy Ebobisse (F), Dec. 23, free agent - Marlon (D), Dec. 24, re-signed - Odin Thiago Holm (M), Jan. 13, loan from Celtic FC - Igor Jesus (M), Jan. 21, transfer from Estrela da Amadora - Mark Delgado (M), Jan. 22, trade from LA Galaxy - Nkosi Tafari (D), Jan. 23, trade from FC Dallas - Yaw Yeboah (D/M), Jan. 24, free agent - Artem Smolyakov (D), Feb. 14, transfer from Polissya Zhytomyr ### Players Out - Eduard Atuesta (M), Nov. 27, loan expired - Bajung Darboe (F), Nov. 27, transfer to Bayern Munich - Erik Dueñas (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Kei Kamara (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Luis Müller (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Jesús Murillo (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Tommy Musto (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Lewis O’Brien (M), Nov. 27, loan expired - Diego Rosales (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Ilie Sánchez (M), Nov. 27, out of contract - Carlos Vela (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Tomás Ángel (F), Dec. 9, trade to San Diego FC - Omar Campos (D), Jan. 5, transfer to Cruz Azul - Mateusz Bogusz (M), Jan. 25, transfer to Cruz Azul - Cristian Olivera (M), Feb. 14, transfer to Grêmio ### Key player Though a lot of players moved in and out of the lineup, including Carlos Vela getting an end-of-season “no, thank you” for the second season in a row, and more vitally, Mateusz Bogusz moving to Cruz Azul after a 15-goal, seven-assist season. But one constant remains: Denis Bouanga. Until Antoine Griezmann gets signed this summer — no, seriously, that’s a totally-annoying-to-29-other-MLS-teams likely to happen — the high-powered offense will run through him. ### Fashion report It’s actually called the Secondary Kit, and boy, is it secondary! ![2025 LAFC Kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-lafc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 56.5\. Two picked the under. It’s hard to bet against LAFC given what they’re able to do in the summer window, and they have made some good moves in the offseason (Jeremy Ebobisse, Igor Jesus), but they’ve also lost a lot of good players. I'm going just under, which is still likely good for 2nd in the West. ## LA Galaxy ### How did their 2024 go? They remade their offense in the offseason, getting $20 million of designated player winger in Gabriel Pec and Joseph Painstil, which kicked Riqui Puig into a higher gear, which led to them winning MLS Cup. It came at a terrible cost, though — Riqui Puig tore his ACL in the West final but played on it and even notched the game-winning assist on it, and he’ll miss a significant chunk of the ‘25 season. They also lost to the Sounders in the Leagues Cup Round of 32\. Still: MLS Cup winners. Sixth star. ### Players In - Sean Davis (M), Dec. 19, trade from Nashville SC - Mathias Jørgensen (D), Jan. 15, transfer from RSC Anderlecht - JT Marcinkowski (GK), Jan. 16, free agent - Maya Yoshida (D), Jan. 18, re-signed - Brady Scott (GK), Jan. 19, re-signed - Eriq Zavaleta (D), Jan. 23, re-signed - Ascel Essengue (D), Jan. 23, MLS Next Pro - Elijah Wynder (M), Jan. 26, transfer from Louisville City FC - Lucas Sanabria (M), Feb. 8, transfer from Club Nacional - Christian Ramírez (F), Feb. 12, trade from Columbus Crew ### Players Out - Martín Cáceres (D), Dec. 10, option declined - Gastón Brugman (M), Dec. 19, trade to Nashville SC - Jalen Neal (D), Jan. 6, trade to CF Montréal - Mark Delgado (M), Jan. 22, trade to LAFC - Dejan Joveljić (F), Feb. 1, trade to Sporting Kansas City - Sean Davis (M), Feb. 19, buyout ### Key player With Riqui Puig, Gastón Brugman, and Mark Delgado all out — and with some cruel MLS math also forcing them to jettison Sean Davis after getting him in a trade just two months prior — Marco Reus is by far their most capable midfielder. ### Fashion report While the RIZON Kit is a terrible name (a mashup of horizon and rise, even though “rise” is already inside of horizon), this is a gorgeous kit. ![2025 LA Galaxy Kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-la-galaxy-kit.png) I would wear this (even though, in the Year of Our Lord 2025, Herbalife is still their kit sponsor; please someone step up, imagine a Disney logo on this). ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 54.5, with two panelists picking the under. I think they’re missing too much to get to 55 points. The Riqui Puig absence alone, despite all the other talent on this team, knocks them into the 52-point zone at best. ## Minnesota United FC ### How did their 2024 go? They made the playoffs as the 6 seed, upset RSL in the first round, and then played a “stop, they’re already dead” 6-2 match against the Galaxy in the conference semis to bow out. They also exited in the group stage at Leagues Cup. They did have a new coach (Eric Ramsay, who turned out to be good) and did have another saga with their mercurial heliocentric No. 10, Bebolo Reynosa, who ended up moving to Tijuana in May. ### Players In - Kipp Keller (D), Dec. 13, Re-Entry Draft - Wil Trapp (M), Jan. 9, re-signed - Nicolás Romero (D), Jan. 30, transfer from Atlético Tucumán - Hoyeon Jung (M), Feb. 1, transfer from Gwangju FC - Owen Gene (M), Feb. 11, transfer from Amiens SC ### Players Out - Mikael Marques (D), Nov. 5, transfer to Västerås SK - Hugo Bacharach (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Derek Dodson (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Franco Fragapane (M), Nov. 27, out of contract - Clint Irwin (GK), Nov. 27, option declined - Moses Nyeman (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Zarek Valentine (D), Nov. 27, out of contract - Patrick Weah (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Miguel Tapias (D), Dec. 17, transfer to Chivas - Alejandro Bran (M), Jan. 5, loan to Alajuelense - Teemu Pukki (F), Jan. 24, transfer to HJK Helsinki - Ethan Bristow (D), Feb. 4, mutual contract termination - Matúš Kmeť (D), Feb. 6, loan to Górnik Zabrze (also, cut and pasted this and don't know what exactly is going on with those diacritics, but *swear word* that is impressive) ### Key players Robin Lod was immense for the Loons last year. He’s going to need to be immense against this year, and he’s 31\. Also, a fun thing to know for MLS fantasy players: Bongokuhle Hlongwane, with 11 goals and four assists last year, is listed in the official game as a defender, which is (along with fellow “defender” Luca Orellano of FC Cincinnati) a cheat code. ### Fashion report The Convergence Kit is “inspired by the meeting of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers” and “reflects the movement and colors of the two rivers as they meet, uniting in the center.” It ended up looking like not outstanding tie-dye. ![2025 Minnesota United Kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-minnesota-united-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 53.5, and everyone on the panel picked the over. Sure, sure, they seem good for that, though I can also see them being an injury away from a 43-point, 10th-place season. *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'Con buen pie': Impressions on the last two days with Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/con-buen-pie-impressions-austin-fc-pre-match-atxvskc-022225/ Last updated: 2025-02-21T04:42:14.000Z Newly named Austin FC captain Ilie Sánchez — an appointment we learned about during Thursday's online press conference (reminding us of the pandemic Zoom affairs of the club's first season) — had a lovely turn of phrase in Spanish that poetically described the team's mindset heading into the 2025 season. Con buen pie, meaning "on the right footing" — as in, needing to start the season on the right footing in order to court success. "To me, that means doing everything you can for things to come your way, and not just looking for the result, but to do every single step that comes with what you've been trained for and what you want to see in terms of performance, mentality and obviously, effort and attitude. "So luck would be part of this equation, but we need to look for that luck," he added. "We need to fight and do the things right for us to earn that lack on the field. So other than that, I just think that we need to focus, prepare and be very motivated for what's coming, especially this Saturday." Of course, Sánchez knows what lies ahead for Verde to a degree, having played for Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes between 2017 and 2021\. While some of the mainstays he played with during that time moved on just this offseason, he takes his former team seriously despite its relatively poor form in recent years. "I, and we, expect the best Sporting Kansas City possible for this game," he equivocated. "It will be their second game of the season, but their MLS opener," as they lost 1-0 in single-digit temperatures on Wednesday night in Concacaf Champions Cup action against Miami. "I think, and based also on the analysis that the coaching staff put together, that they went back to their basics, that are very clear, they are a team that wants the ball, that's good when they have it, and that will struggle if they don't have it. "So with kind of that simple summary that I'm doing here, we expect them to come at us from the very first minute, and we have to be ready for that," he added. "We need to show that we are the home team, that we are as excited, if not more, as they are, for this game, and that it is vital for us to start with the right performance." We also asked Sánchez about one of his new duties as captain: When he's on the field, he'll be the only one who can address referees on controversial decisions, per guidance issued by the league on Thursday shortly before he was announced as captain. "They all know me. And when I say all, I mean the referees, they all know me from this \[being the\] eighth season that I've been in the league, and to me, I would not say that it's a pleasure to have that responsibility to talk to them, but I take it as an opportunity to try and help them, but also for our team to to have a fair game, game after game ... So other than that, as I said, I've been in this position before." He then took the occasion to compliment his new teammates. "In my career, I have not been on a team that has so many strong characters within the group. This will make not just my job, but everyone else's job, easier. And I think that if we can get all those characters and personalities out there and fight, align the goals to fight for them all together as a team, we can only expect good things coming our way." ## Will the UVB rays shine? Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez dispelled concerns about Osman Bukari's exit following his second goal against Nashville in last Saturday's final preseason warmup. Though it looked to some watching the pirate stream that Bukari was dealing with a hamstring issue, Estévez indicated he's training as if he's preparing to start in the opener. "Buka has trained well the whole week. He's ready to go. We have one more training tomorrow. But so far, he's doing very well." As for seeing Bukari, Brandon Vázquez, and Myrto Uzuni playing together? "With Myrto, I mean, for his mentality, he will play. Last Saturday, when he landed right away, he's very excited, very committed, and has a great mentality, but we have to be responsible," Estévez said. "He hasn't played a game since December, mid December or late December, and also he hasn't trained with a team since I think late December. "We have to be responsible about the decision. He's training well. He's sleeping well, that is very important. And he's training well, but we will make a decision tomorrow, after with the medical side and the high performance side, to see what his status is going to be." Like his predecessor, he did talk some about the math needed to make the playoffs, but came from a more optimistic (and optimism-generating place) than his predecessor's mindset of squeezing out a point per road match and a style of play to get that from a 0-0 draw. ## He's here to score goals On Wednesday, Uzuni got his introduction to both Austin media and fans, and established that he likes winning and scoring goals, and delivered that message with Lynchian determination. (That's [Marshawn Lynch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmABbHSOTqQ&themeRefresh=1&ref=verdeallday.com), not [David Lynch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YCseaZK0Q&ab%5Fchannel=Movieclips&ref=verdeallday.com), probably to everyone's relief.) Sporting director Rodolfo Borrell accompanied Uzuni at the press conference, and gave media a preview of how he'll deal with questions he'll face on Friday when he goes it alone in front of the media. In response to a question about getting Uzuni in addition to Vázquez, and how they might work together, he deadpanned, "Good players can always play together." In response to a question in Spanish about Uzuni's alleged fear of flying, Borrell quipped, "La verdad que nadando no ha venido," which translates to "the truth is he did not come here swimming" – but rather, on a lengthy plane ride from Frankfurt to Austin. And now that he's here, he's focused: "My job is to make \[fans\] happy, win games and scoring goals, of course." ![Myrto Uzuni with fans](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/myrto-uzuni-with-albanians.png) **A man of the (Albanian) people (Moisés Chiullán)* He got the chance to meet some of those fans on Wednesday evening at a Captain Morgan Club event that involved about 150 fans looking to get selfies — including a trio of very eager Albanian fans who probably didn't ever think they'd have an Albanian player in Austin. (As the *Austin Chronicle*'s Eric Goodman observed in the press conference, "You might be the first Albanian I've ever spoken to.") Uzuni might not just be about goals, though. Estévez did point out in Thursday's press conference that he created two assists in the most recent intersquad match, which bodes well for anyone predicting numerous goal contributions for him for [whatever reason](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8s3I0mjimnxCsvWj3oRUEnZd4Brvnq4vBadWdak9aXO7axA/viewform?usp=header&ref=verdeallday.com). *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 2025 MLS Eastern Conference previews, Part 2: A Red Bulls redux? URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-eastern-conference-previews-part-2/ Last updated: 2025-02-20T14:38:13.000Z For 15 straight years now, the New York Red Bulls have reached the postseason, which is an unparalleled current streak in American pro sports. Last year, they got to the No. 7 seed, and from that not-so-lofty perch, made it all the way to MLS Cup before losing to the Galaxy. And yet, they did some roster retooling heading into 2025, including rolling the dice on a 35-year-old striker who has never played in MLS. It really is a league in which every year is different and predictions are challenging. Let's look at the rest of the East today. ([Part 1](https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-eastern-conference-previews-part-1/) went up on Wednesday.) ## Nashville SC ### How did their 2024 go? 13th in the East, bounced from the group stage in Leagues Cup, beaten by Miami in the Round of 16 in Concacaf Champions Cup. More concerningly, Hany Mukhtar got “only” eight goals and 10 assists just two years removed from his MVP-winning 2022 season, a dropoff from a talismanic player that you might find familiar. ### Players In - Edvard Tagseth (M), Nov. 19, transfer from Rosenborg BK - Josh Bauer (D), Dec. 10, re-signed - Gastón Brugman (M), Dec. 19, trade from LA Galaxy - Bryan Acosta (M), Jan. 8, transfer from Real CD España - Xavier Valdez (GK), Jan. 10, waivers - Jeisson Palacios (D), Jan. 13, transfer from CD América - Chris Applewhite (D), Jan. 15, homegrown - Andy Najar (D), Jan. 16, transfer from CD Olimpia - Brian Schwake (GK), Jan. 23, transfer from CD Castellón - Maximus Ekk (F), Jan. 30, MLS NEXT Pro - Matthew Corcoran (M), Feb. 11, transfer from Birmingham Legion FC ### Players Out - Forster Ajago (F), Oct. 28, option declined - Tah Brian Anunga (M), Oct. 28, option declined - Aníbal Godoy (M), Oct. 28, option declined - Brent Kallman (D), Oct. 28, out of contract - Ben Martino (GK), Oct. 28, option declined - Amar Sejdić (M), Oct. 28, option declined - Joey Skinner (D), Oct. 28, option declined - Dru Yearwood (M), Oct. 28, out of contract - Lukas MacNaughton (D), Dec. 18, trade to D.C. United - Sean Davis (M), Dec. 19, trade to LA Galaxy - Shaq Moore (D), Dec. 27, trade to FC Dallas - Randall Leal (M), Jan. 8, waived - Elliot Panicco (GK), Jan. 8, waived - Woobens Pacius (F), Jan. 27, loan to Tampa Bay Rowdies ### Key player While Mukhtar and Surridge are the most crucial to what Nashville does (with a combined 20 goals and 12 assists between them in 2024), new-to-Nashville midfielder Gastón Brugman, who was vital in the Galaxy’s MLS Cup win before becoming part of its roster compliance fire sale, could be the player to help reset the Yotes. ### Fashion report It’s Nashville’s colorway in the Adidas template. That’s really all it is. ![2025 Nashville SC Kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-nashville-sc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 41.5, with two picking the under. They might not still have what it takes to make the playoffs, but they’re going to be better than *that*. ## New England Revolution ### How did their 2024 go? It was dismal! In fact, it’s a wonder that Caleb Porter kept his job. In Chase Hoffman’s hilarious [Star Trek-adjacent ASA preview](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2025/2/10/2025-mls-season-previews?ref=verdeallday.com) (it’s the one just past my SKC preview), he points out that the Revs have the lowest returning player minute percentage of any MLS team since 2019, with just 37.2% of player minutes in 2024 belonging to players returning to the Boston ‘burbs for 2025\. ### Players In - Andrew Farrell (D), Nov. 25, re-signed - Will Sands (D), Nov. 25, re-signed - Mamadou Fofana (D), Dec. 3, transfer from Amiens SC - Brayan Ceballos (D), Dec. 13, transfer from Fortaleza - Jackson Yueill (M), Dec. 18, free agent - Leonardo Campana (F), Dec. 19, trade from Inter Miami CF - Alex Bono (GK), Dec. 20, free agent - Tanner Beason (D), Dec. 20, free agent - Luis Díaz (F), Jan. 2, free - Donovan Parisian (GK), Jan. 3, SuperDraft - Noel Buck (M), Jan. 6, loan recall from Southampton FC - Allan Oyirwoth (M), Jan. 8, free - Ignatius Ganago (F), Jan. 10, loan from FC Nantes - Wyatt Omsberg (D), Jan. 14, free agent - Maximiliano Urruti (F), Jan. 16, free - Damario McIntosh (D), Jan. 22, homegrown - Ilay Feingold (D), Jan. 28, transfer from Maccabi Haifa ### Players Out - Xavier Arreaga (D), Nov. 25, option declined - Joshua Bolma (F), Nov. 25, option declined - Dylan Borrero (F), Nov. 25, option declined - Nacho Gil (M), Nov. 25, option declined - Nick Lima (D), Nov. 25, out of contract - Tommy McNamara (M), Nov. 25, option declined - Jonathan Mensah (D), Nov. 25, option declined - Tim Parker (D), Nov. 25, out of contract - Damian Rivera (F), Nov. 25, out of contract - Ryan Spaulding (D), Nov. 25, out of contract - Bobby Wood (F), Nov. 25, out of contract - Ian Harkes (M), Dec. 9, trade to San Jose Earthquakes - Mark-Anthony Kaye (M), Dec. 9, trade to San Jose Earthquakes - Dave Romney (D), Dec. 9, trade to San Jose Earthquakes - Earl Edwards Jr. (GK), Dec. 30, trade to San Jose Earthquakes - Esmir Bajraktarević (F), Jan. 2, transfer to PSV Eindhoven - Emmanuel Boateng (F), Jan. 6, trade to San Diego FC - Giacomo Vrioni (F), Jan. 7, trade to CF Montréal - Santiago Suarez (D), Jan. 16, loan to Birmingham Legion FC ### Key players Obviously, if you’re dropping the amount of GAM that the Revs did on Leo Campana, you believe. (And given the track record of No. 9s the Revs have had in the last few years, they need a 9 to believe in.) Also, Noel Buck is back from a loan to Southampton; he probably should have never left. He’ll help a team that is in desperate need of a reset. ### Fashion report The Eastern White Pine Kit pays homage to a tree common to New England that’s been a longstanding symbol of the region, including on the Flag of New England dating back 250 years to the Revolutionary War. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-new-england-kit.png) It does not pay homage to the Portland Timbers, though it really does look that way. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 41.5, with two panelists picking the over. They’ve done enough of an overhaul to at least get to 42 points. ## New York City FC ### How did their 2024 go? Head coach Nick Cushing started the year on the hot seat, especially when the Pigeons stumbled out of the gate 1-4-2\. But then they started winning, finished the regular season 6th in the East, upset FC Cincinnati in the first round, and then lost in the conference semis to eventual East winners and bitter rivals the Red Bulls. They also got the quarterfinals of Leagues Cup before being knocked out by the Crew in PKs. In short, a better season than they might have expected. They fired Nick Cushing after all that anyway. ### Players In - Jacob Arroyave (M), Jan. 10, homegrown - Prince Amponsah (D), Jan. 10, homegrown - Maxi Moralez (M), Jan. 13, re-signed - Greg Ranjitsingh (GK), Jan. 14, free agent ### Players Out - Rio Hope-Gund (D), Dec. 5, option declined - Luis Barraza (GK), Dec. 9, trade to D.C. United - Thiago Andrade (F), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Nicolás Acevedo (M), Dec. 16, transfer to Bahia - James Sands (M), Jan. 1, loan to FC St. Pauli - Christian McFarlane (D), Jan. 27, transfer to Manchester City - Jovan Mijatović (F), Jan. 31, loan to Oud-Heverlee Leuven ### Key player This is about to be a key player out, with Santi Rodriguez set to move to Botafogo. Alonso Martínez was one of 2024’s best breakout players, and it’s possible he’ll repeat his eye-popping goal totals in 2025, though it’s now less clear who will be the prime catalyst. Also, they have a new head coach: Pascal Jansen, who has been at a few European destinations, most recently Ferencvárosi TC, where Myrto Uzuni once played (though they did not cross paths). ### Fashion report The Excelsior Kit is billed as “drawing inspiration from the city's iconic skyscrapers.” It’s the Manchester City blue you’ve come to expect, through a prism. It’s not quite in the upper tier of league offerings this year, but it works. ![2025 NYCFC kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-nycfc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 49.5\. Two picked the under, and I’m inclined to do the same, assuming that Santi’s out and it takes until summer to find a suitable replacement. ## New York Red Bulls ### How did their 2024 go? Better than expected! They got into the playoffs for the 15th straight year – they’ve only missed four of their 29 years in MLS, which is remarkable – and got all the way to MLS Cup, only to have key defender Andrés Reyes come up with an injury in warmups. They did well to get it to 2-1 after going down 2-0 in the first 13 minutes. ### Players In - Omar Valencia (D), Dec. 9, MLS Next Pro - Adri Mehmeti (M), Dec. 10, homegrown - Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (F), Dec. 18, free - Alexander Hack (D), Dec. 20, free - Wiktor Bogacz (F), Jan. 7, transfer from Miedz Legnica - Raheem Edwards (D), Jan. 30, free agent - Tim Parker (D), Feb. 6, free agent - Marcelo Morales (D), Feb. 6, transfer from Universidad de Chile ### Players Out - Cory Burke (F), Dec. 9, option declined - Aidan O’Connor (D), Dec. 9, option declined - Andrés Reyes (D), Dec. 12, trade to San Diego FC - Elias Manoel (F), Dec. 20, trade to Real Salt Lake - John Tolkin (D), Jan. 16, transfer to Holstein Kiel - Ryan Meara (GK), Jan. 22, retired - Dante Vanzeir (F), Jan. 24, transfer to KAA Gent ### Key player Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting might not be “durable” or “young,” but the 35-year-old striker is just two years removed from a 10-goal season (in just 19 matches) with Bayern Freakin’ Munich. He’s being added to a team that got to MLS Cup and maybe appears to be in win-now mode. ### Fashion report It’s called the Stone Kit. ![2025 New York Red Bulls kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-new-york-red-bulls-kit.png) Ehhhh … no. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 52.5\. All three picked the over … I think they’ll just be over, and without committing to ranking them, I’d say fourth or fifth in the East. ## Orlando City SC ### How did their 2024 go? It was averagely good. They got to the conference final, where they lost to the Red Bulls 1-0\. They lost in PKs to Cruz Azul in the Round of 32\. They got to the Round of 16 in CCC, getting a 0-0 draw at home and then losing 4-2 to Tigres in Monterrey. ### Players In - Kyle Smith (D), Dec. 13, re-signed - Colin Guske (M), Dec. 16, MLS Next Pro - Nicolás Rodríguez (M), Jan. 17, transfer from Fortaleza CEIF - Carlos Mercado (GK), Jan. 30, re-signed - Marco Pašalić (F), Feb. 5, transfer from HNK Rijeka - Eduard Atuesta (M), Feb. 10, transfer from Palmeiras - Joran Gerbet (M), Feb. 17, SuperDraft ### Players Out - Felipe (M), Dec. 5, out of contract - Gastón González (F), Dec. 5, option declined - Jeorgio Kocevski (M), Dec. 5, option declined - Luca Petrasso (D), Dec. 5, option declined - Abdi Salim (D), Dec. 5, option declined - Heine Gikling Bruseth (M), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Facundo Torres (F), Dec. 20, transfer to Palmeiras - Mason Stajduhar (GK), Jan. 15, trade to Real Salt Lake - Jack Lynn (F), Jan. 18, retired - Michael Halliday (D), Feb. 18, trade to Houston Dynamo FC - Nicolás Lodeiro (M), Feb. 18, mutual contract termination (then to Houston on a free) ### Key player Orlando sent Facundo Torres to Palmeiras and picked up Marco Pašalić to take on goal scoring responsibilities, which is a risk. Eduard Atuesta should strengthen the midfield overall, coming over from Palmeiras. ### Fashion report The Perfect Storm is very purple, and very psychedelic, and maybe is what Seattle’s Jimi Hendrix-inspired Purple Reign kit really should have been. It’s a solid, outside-the-box design, though will fans really want to wear this for two years? ![2025 Orlando City kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-orlando-city-kit-1.png) Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 51.5, with all three panelists taking the under. I’ll be contrarian here and say just over. ## Philadelphia Union ### How did their 2024 go? It wasn’t great! They missed the playoffs for the first season since 2017, though they did make it to the semifinal of the Leagues Cup before bowing out to the Crew, and significantly parted ways with longtime head coach Jim Curtin. They have opted to hire Bradley Carnell, which was a choice. ### Players In - Alejandro Bedoya (M), Dec. 16, re-signed - Ian Glavinovich (D), Dec. 20, loan from Newell’s Old Boys - Neil Pierre (D), Feb. 4, homegrown - Jovan Lukic (M), Feb. 5, transfer from FK Spartak Subotica - Frankie Westfield (D), Feb. 6, homegrown - Eddy Davis III (F), Feb. 11, homegrown - Bruno Damiani (F), Feb. 18, transfer from Nacional ### Players Out - Sam Adeniran (F), Nov. 26, out of contract - Jamir Berdecio (D), Nov. 26, option declined - Brandan Craig (D), Nov. 26, option declined - Jack Elliott (D), Nov. 26, option declined - Leon Flach (M), Nov. 26, out of contract - Matthew Real (D), Nov. 26, option declined - Joaquín Torres (M), Nov. 26, option declined - Jack McGlynn (M), Feb. 3, trade to Houston Dynamo FC ### Key player Jack McGlynn was traded to Houston in the league’s second-ever cash deal — a huge loss for them, though it brought a lot of cash for them — and Jack Elliott moved to Chicago. They have kept a good deal of their (aging) core, and added new striker Bruno Damiani to the mix, but McGlynn had an outsized role in the team’s creation and is poised for a breakout season. I broke it down at [American Soccer Analysis](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2025/2/10/2025-mls-season-previews-st-louis-city-philadelphia-union-chicago-fire?ref=verdeallday.com). (It’s Hamlet-themed.) ### Fashion report The Voltage Kit once again takes light blue and yellow to contrast with its dark primary kits. I loved last year’s design, and liked the Simpsons clouds whimsy of the ‘23 kit, but this just doesn’t hit for me (though I get why they’re going with the lightning theme, Ben Franklin and all). ![2025 Philadelphia Union kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-philadelphia-union-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 41.5\. Two picked the over; I’m feeling the under here. ## Toronto FC ### How did their 2024 go? The regular season was a disaster. They did make it to the Canadian Championship final, losing to Vancouver, and then was bounced in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 by Miami. Not a banner year for John Herdman on the whole. ### Players In - Thiago Andrade (F), Dec. 11, trade from San Diego FC - Theo Corbeanu (F), Jan. 14, loan from Granada CF - Adisa De Rosario (GK), Feb. 7, homegrown - Ola Brynhildsen (F), Feb 15, loan from FC Midtjylland ### Players Out - Aimé Mabika (D), Oct. 28, option declined - Shane O'Neill (D), Oct. 28, option declined - Greg Ranjitsingh (GK), Oct. 28, option declined - Brandon Servania (M), Oct. 28, option declined - Prince Owusu (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Luke Singh (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Thiago Andrade (F), Jan. 13, transfer to Cerezo Osaka ### Key player Federico Bernardeschi remains the team’s best player, but he’s also arguably the most mercurial player in the league, and even if it’s not in the works, there’s an air of Moving to Saudi Pro League in the Summer about him. He’s just got that vibe. ### Fashion report The Club Kit is nice. Toronto is decidedly a red team. This uses good gradients of red. This could be the high point of their season. ![2025 Toronto FC kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-toronto-fc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 33.5, with all panelists saying they’re going to be even worse than this. I completely agree. This might be the Wooden Spoon destination given the Quakes’ upgrades. *Coming soon: The West!* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 2025 MLS Eastern Conference previews, Part 1: It's not just about Messi and Friends URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-mls-eastern-conference-previews-part-1/ Last updated: 2025-02-19T12:54:48.000Z Inter Miami CF has taken a sort of flagship role internationally for MLS, thanks t0 Lionel Messi making the Herons into Barcelona West — further solidified by the team bringing in once-Messi-teammate Javier Mascherano in November to coach the squad in 2025\. But as last year's playoffs proved, having a talent-laden roster is no guarantee that you'll *get* to the final, let alone win it. A mediocre Atlanta team (that would have failed to make the playoffs were it in the West rather than the East) dispatched Messi and Friends in a three-game first-round series, in what was very nearly a trophy-less year — though they did win the Supporters' Shield on a record number of regular season points, good enough to (in-no-way-were-they-shoehorned-in) qualify for the upcoming Club World Cup. With that framework, let's delve into a massive preview of all 15 East teams. ## Atlanta United ### How did their 2024 go? After dismissing head coach Gonzalo Pineda mid-season and getting some sustained new coach bounce from interim head coach Rob Valentino, they squeaked into the East playoffs – Austin would have beaten them for 9th were Austin in the East – beat CF Montréal in the play-in match, outmuscled and outGuzaned Miami in a highly-entertaining three-game series, and then the magic ran out in the conference semifinals. ### **Players In** - Jamal Thiaré (F), Dec. 12, re-signed - Ronald Hernández (D), Dec. 13, re-signed - Will Reilly (M), Dec. 20, homegrown - Mateusz Klich (M), Dec. 20, trade from D.C. United - Cayman Togashi (F), Jan. 8, free - Miguel Almirón (M), Jan. 30, transfer from Newcastle United - Emmanuel Latte Lath (F), Feb. 4, transfer from Middlesbrough FC ### **Players Out** - Erik Centeno (D), Nov. 26, option declined - Nick Firmino (M), Nov. 26, option declined - Franco Ibarra (M), Nov. 26, option declined - Dax McCarty (M), Nov. 26, retired - Daniel Ríos (F), Nov. 26, loan expired - Quentin Westberg (GK), Nov. 26, retired - Santiago Sosa (M), Dec. 6, transfer to Racing Club - Tyler Wolff (F), Dec. 9, trade to Real Salt Lake ### Key player Given that he came over on a record $22 million transfer fee, it’s got to be Emmanuel Latte Lath, though his effectiveness will depend some on the feel-good return of Miguel Almiron, but even more so on Aleksei Miranchuk, last year’s designated player acquisition who was supposed to make this team better but didn’t quite hit in the heliocentric No. 10 role. (I've now drafted both Latte Lath and Miranchuk on my Verde Best Ball team, so I'm rooting for them out of the purest brand of motivation there is.) ### Fashion report The new Connector Kit is essentially the original Five Stripes home kit. It’s a classic throwback to their apogee – winning MLS Cup thanks to Almiron and (new Quakes backup striker) Josef Martínez. ![Atlanta United 2025 kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/atlanta-kit-2025.jpg) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 54.5: Two of their three panelists picked the under; I think they’ll finish slightly over. ## Charlotte FC ### How did their 2024 go? They cllimbed to 5th in the East after finishing in 9th the two previous seasons (missing the playoffs in 2022, but squeaking into the play-in match in 2023 with the new expanded format). They lost to Orlando in a fairly lackluster three-match first-round series and got bounced in the Leagues Cup group stages. ### Players In - Pep Biel (M), Jan. 13, loan from Olympiacos - Eryk Williamson (M), Jan. 15, trade from Portland Timbers - Wilfried Zaha (F), Jan. 22, loan from Galatasaray ### Players Out - Pep Biel (M), Nov. 21, loan expired - Jaylin Lindsay (D), Nov. 21, option declined - Jamie Paterson (F), Nov. 21, option declined - Júnior Urso (M), Nov. 21, option declined - Hamady Diop (D), Dec. 11, Expansion Draft - Jere Uronen (D), Jan. 8, transfer to AIK Fotboll - Karol Swiderski (F), Jan. 23, transfer to Panathinaikos - João Pedro (D), Feb. 1, loan to Rio Ave FC ### Key player Wilfried Zaha is the Name You Wouldn’t Believe here, though he’s now 32 and his trajectory has taken him from Manchester United to Crystal Palace to Galatasaray to Lyon and now Charlotte. ### Fashion report The Fortress Kit at first looks like a basic black kit with Carolina blue accents, but it’s also got a passably interesting design. If you need a laugh, they went [total Game of Thrones](https://www.charlottefootballclub.com/video/the-fortress-kit-new-secondary-kit-2025-26?ref=verdeallday.com) on their intro video. ![2025 Charlotte FC kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-charlotte-fc-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 52.5; all three panelists picked the over, but I think they’ll be about the same as they were last year (51 points, with enough East teams above them getting better). ## Chicago Fire ### How did their 2024 go? Welllllll … they finished last in the East and only San Jose’s desultory season spared them the Wooden Spoon. In August, they came to a mutual termination agreement with very expensive yet ineffective midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri (though the video of him winking as he walked onto the Q2 Stadium field accompanied by my daughter for the infamous 2023 Open Cup match remains awesome.) In October, the front office attempted repairs by hiring Gregg Berhalter to a dual head coach/GM role. ### Players In - David Poreba (M), Dec. 11, MLS NEXT Pro - Jack Elliott (D), Dec. 16, free agent - Omari Glasgow (M), Dec. 17, MLS NEXT Pro - Dylan Borso (M), Dec. 20, homegrown - Dean Boltz (F), Dec. 20, SuperDraft - Philip Zinckernagel (M), Jan. 6, transfer from Club Brugge - Sam Rogers (D), Jan. 13, transfer from Lillestrøm SK - Leonardo Barroso (D), Jan. 14, transfer from Sporting CP - Jonathan Bamba (M), Jan. 21, transfer from Celta de Vigo - Robert Turdean (M), Jan. 22, homegrown - Rominigue Kouamé (M), Jan. 24, loan from Cádiz CF - Omar Gonzalez (D), Feb. 7, free agent ### Players Out - Allan Arigoni (D), Oct. 22, loan expired - Javier Casas (M), Oct. 22, option declined - Rafael Czichos (D), Oct. 22, out of contract - Fabian Herbers (M), Oct. 22, out of contract - Ariel Lassiter (M), Oct. 22, out of contract - Spencer Richey (GK), Oct. 22, out of contract - Wyatt Omsberg (D), Oct. 22, out of contract - Victor Bezerra (F), Nov. 27, option declined - Missael Rodríguez (F), Nov. 27, waived - Laurence Wootton (M), Nov. 27, option declined - Georgios Koutsias (F), Dec. 13, loan to FC Lugano - Gastón Giménez (M), Dec. 24, mutual contract termination - Tobias Salquist (D), Jan. 2, transfer to FC Nordsjaelland - Federico Navarro (M), Jan. 26, transfer to Rosario Central - Arnaud Souquet (D), Feb. 13, contract buyout ### Key players Jack Elliott now anchors what seems an improved back line, which should raise the floor on a team that gave up 62 goals in 2024\. However, they only managed 40 goals scored, and the hope is that new DP winger Jonathan Bamba will help there. Nowhere to go but up! ### Fashion report The new Municipal Kit uses the city’s Municipal Device (symbolizing the city’s Chicago River-defined geography) as a very subtle pattern on what otherwise is a white jersey with blue accents. It’s clean, it’s perfectly fine, and works as an away kit, though I can only see Fire jersey compelists clamoring for it. ![2025 Chicago Fire kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-chicago-fire-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 43.5; all three panelists picked the over; I will do the same. ## FC Cincinnati ### How did their 2024 go? They finished third in the East, got bounced by NYCFC in PKs in the rubber match of their three-game series, made it to the Round of 16 in Leagues Cup, and got bounced by CF Monterrey in the Brandon Vázquez Bowl (but really, the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16). In other words, decently good by a number of MLS teams’ standards, but a little disappointing for FCC. ### Players In - Kévin Denkey (F), Nov. 21, transfer from Cercle Brugge - Luca Orellano (M), Dec. 2, purchase option from Vasco da Gama - Tah Brian Anunga (M), Jan. 13, free agent - Nick Hagglund (D), Jan. 15, re-signed - Gilberto Flores (D), Jan. 31, transfer from Club Libertad - Lukas Engel (M), Feb. 14, loan from Middlesbrough FC - Evander (M), Feb. 17, trade from Portland Timbers ### Players Out - London Aghedo (D), Dec. 2, option declined - Joey Akpunonu (D), Dec. 2, option declined - Yamil Asad (M), Dec. 2, option declined - Isaiah Foster (D), Dec. 2, option declined - Niko Gioacchini (F), Dec. 2, loan expired - Kipp Keller (D), Dec. 2, option declined - Kevin Kelsy (F), Dec. 2, loan expired - Arquimides Ordoñez (F), Dec. 2, option declined - Malik Pinto (M), Dec. 2, option declined - Chidozie Awaziem (D), Dec. 9, trade to Colorado - Ian Murphy (D), Dec. 9, trade to Colorado - Álvaro Barreal (D), Feb. 6, loan to Santos FC - Luciano Acosta (M), Feb. 12, trade to FC Dallas ### Key players I definitely can't limit this to one. In the offseason, FCC's front office — one of the better ones in MLS — locked up Luca Orellano after the loan from Vasco de Gama worked out, signed Kévin Denkey to a club-record deal to be their new can’t-miss No. 9 (they hope, following some recent bad luck in that department), and replaced Luciano Acosta with Evander to be their primary chance creator. ### Fashion report The Orange and Blue Legacy Kit takes chances in the right way. It’s bold and distinctive and one the league’s better swings from this crop of kits, though I can also see its potential to turn some fans off. ![2025 FC Cincinnati kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-fc-cincinnati-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 59.5; all three panelists went over. I will go significantly over; they’re a Shield contender and my early pick to win the East. ## Columbus Crew ### How did their 2024 go? It was a trophy and a whole lot of almost for the Crew. While they did win Leagues Cup, they also lost the CCC final at Pachuca 3-0 (battling both altitude and food poisoning), lost the Campeones Cup to América in PKs, and perhaps most shockingly, got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Red Bulls, who did end up winning the East playoffs. ### Players In - Evan Bush (GK), Dec. 17, re-signed - Lassi Lappalainen (M), Jan. 8, free agent - Stanislav Lapkes (GK), Jan. 22, homegrown ### Players Out - Keegan Hughes (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Alexandru Matan (M), Nov. 27, out of contract - Yaw Yeboah (D), Nov. 27, option declined - Marino Hinestroza (M), Jan. 27, transfer to Atlético Nacional - Cucho Hernández (F), Feb. 3, transfer to Real Betis - Christian Ramírez (F), Feb. 12, trade to LA Galaxy - Álvaro Augusto (D), Feb. 13, transfer from Portimonense SC ### Key player This is really key player *out* — barring any late acquisitions, this team will head into the season with a Cucho-sized hole in it. He’s averaged 30 goal contributions each of the last two seasons, and though this is still a good roster, it’s no longer a great one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their excellent head coach, Wilfried Nancy, found a new club in Europe to coach this summer. ### Fashion report Here’s what the club says about its Goosebumps Kit: “The Goosebumps Kit’s design celebrates Columbus’ own R.L. Stine, the writer responsible for the globally recognized Goosebumps series. The kit also pays homage to the club’s supporters, who have celebrated the author with several spooky tifo designs. On the front of the kit, the Goosebumps logo is featured in signature semi-solar yellow. A first-of-its-kind technology implemented in the global soccer retail world, the yellow slime pattern is activated under ultraviolet (UV) light.” You really need to [watch the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiwgpbf544E&ref=verdeallday.com) to see how this looks (and to laugh). Between this and the Charlie Brown Kit they’re still using, this might be the worst light/dark combo currently going in MLS. ![2025 Columbus Crew kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-columbus-crew-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 53.5; the panelists all picked the under, as will I. ## D.C. United ### How did their 2024 go? It might have been one of the most hilarious moments of 2024 (unless you are a D.C. fan) — D.C. United was above the playoff line prior to Decision Day, playing their final match of the season the week before Decision Day, but was guaranteed to finish below it and therefore was in 9th with an e next to its name. MLS! As a consolation prize, Christian Benteke won the Golden Boot. ### Players In - GK - Jordan Farr (11/20/24 - signing) - GK - Luis Barraza (12/9/24 - trade from New York City FC) - M - Hosei Kijima (12/11/24 - trade from San Diego FC) - F - João Peglow (12/16/24 - transfer from Radomiak Radom) - D - Lukas MacNaughton (12/18/24 - trade from Nashville SC) - D - Derek Dodson (12/31/24 - Re-Entry Draft) - F - Hakim Karamoko (1/8/25 - SuperDraft) - GK - Kim Joon Hong (1/9/25 - transfer from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC) - M - Randall Leal (1/14/25 - waivers) - D - Kye Rowles (1/15/25 - transfer from Heart of Midlothian) - M - Brandon Servania (2/11/25 - free agent) ### Players Out - GK - Alex Bono (10/25/24 - option declined) - M - Russell Canouse (10/25/24 - out of contract) - GK - Nathan Crockford (10/25/24 - option declined) - F - Cristian Dájome (10/25/24 - option declined) - D - Jeremy Garay (10/25/24 - option declined) - GK - Tyler Miller (10/25/24 - option declined) - M - Martín Rodríguez (10/25/24 - option declined) - D - Pedro Santos (10/25/24 - out of contract) - D - Hayden Sargis (10/25/24 - option declined) - GK - Luis Zamudio (10/25/24 - option declined) - D - Christopher McVey (12/11/24 - trade to San Diego FC) - M - Mateusz Klich (12/20/24 - trade to Atlanta United) - D - Matai Akinmboni (1/3/25 - transfer to AFC Bournemouth) - M - Ted Ku-DiPietro (2/10/25 - trade to Colorado Rapids) ### Key player Clearly, it’s Benteke, but as with Columbus, there’s also a key player out situation: Mateusz Klich inexplicably (though I’m sure there’s some sort of MLS explanation) got sent to Atlanta in a trade yet is saddled with his designated player spot for the year, leaving them one less tool to get better this season. They also sent promising midfielder Ted Ku-DiPietro to Colorado. ### Fashion report The Soul Kit “is designed to pay homage to Washington, D.C.’s rich funk, soul and go-go heritage, showcasing the vibrant influence of art and music that unite the district's diverse communities.” The concept and the colors used to augment the plain white kit are fantastic. Alas, it ultimately registers as a plain white kit. ![2025 DC United kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-dc-united-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 36.5; two panelists took the over, I will take the under. Benteke will still score but it won’t be enough to overcome the offloading of some vital contributors. ## Inter Miami CF ### How did their 2024 go? They qualified for Club World Cup! They did so, as I mentioned in the lead, by winning Supporters’ Shield with an MLS points record; in the clinching match, Lionel Messi came on in the 58th minute, got a hockey assist within seconds of getting on the field, then scored a hat trick in an 11-minute span to help turn an 0-2 deficit into a 6-2 rout. Absurd. As for trophies, Supporters’ Shield was it. They went to CCC and were bounced by Monterrey in the quarterfinals, lost to Leagues Cup in the Round of 16, and were shocked in the MLS playoffs’ first round by the Five Stripes. Considering their 2023 U.S. Open Cup final loss to Houston, it’s been something of a drought since winning the Leagues Cup that season. ### Players In - Fafà Picault (F), Dec. 31, free agent - Tadeo Allende (F), Jan. 14, loan from Celta de Vigo - Óscar Ustari (GK), Jan. 15, re-signed - Gonzalo Luján (D), Jan. 16, transfer from San Lorenzo - Rocco Ríos Novo (GK), Jan. 16, loan from Lanús - Telasco Segovia (M), Jan. 17, transfer from Casa Pia AC - Maxi Falcón (D), Feb. 1, transfer from Colo-Colo ### Players Out - Nicolás Freire (D), Dec. 9, loan expired - Cole Jensen (GK), Dec. 9, option declined - Sergii Kryvtsov (D), Dec. 9, option declined - Franco Negri (D), Dec. 9, option declined - Matias Rojas (M), Dec. 9, option declined - Lawson Sunderland (M), Dec. 9, option declined - Felipe Valencia (M), Dec. 9, option declined - Diego Gómez (M), Dec. 10, transfer to Brighton & Hove Albion - CJ dos Santos (GK), Dec. 11, trade to San Diego FC - Leonardo Campana (F), Dec. 19, trade to New England Revolution - Emerson Rodríguez (F), Jan. 25, transfer to Ludogorets Razgrad - Facundo Farías (M), Jan. 31, transfer to Estudiantes ### Key player It’s going to be Messi until it’s not, but they’re bolstering their wing play with two new additions, Fafà Picault (of long-ago Austin FC transfer rumors) and Tadeo Allende, a loanee from Celta de Vigo. ### Fashion report Wait, they have *two* new jerseys for 2025? The Euforia Kit (terrible name) is part of the official wave of releases, and it’s similar to Austin’s in concept, but goes pink-on-pink vertical stripes. It’s real nice. ![2025 Inter Miami home kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-inter-miami-pink-kit.png) Also, back in December, they released the Fortitude kit, which does a simple two-tone black design. It’s also real nice. I even like the bold simplicity of the Royal Caribbean logo and how it works on the jersey, even though I know some people don’t. ![Lionel Messi wearing 2025 Inter Miami away kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-inter-miami-black-kit.png) Prediction: Even more than they otherwise would have, Inter Miami’s selling a nearly incalcuble number of kits this year. ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 65.5, with two of the three picking the over. Miami’s not going to be able to go 22-4-8 again. I think they’ll be under (and third in the East). ## CF Montréal ### How did their 2024 go? They did enough to get into the playoffs, winning 16 of their final possible 21 points, and actually hosted the play-in match, but then lost to Atlanta in that match, and that gave us what turned out to be a pretty epic series, so thank you, Montréal. They also lost to Philly in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 and got upset by Forge FC in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Championship. (Really, the three MLS teams should get to the semis every year just based on talent gap alone.) ### Players In - Fabian Herbers (M), Jan. 3, free agent - Michael Adedokun (M), Jan. 4, SuperDraft - Jalen Neal (D), Jan. 6, trade from LA Galaxy - Giacomo Vrioni (F), Jan. 7, trade from New England Revolution - Prince Owusu (F), Jan. 13, free - Victor Loturi (M), Jan. 28, transfer from Ross County FC - Hennadii Synchuk (M), Jan. 28, transfer from Metalist Kharkiv - Owen Graham-Roache (F), Feb. 5, homegrown - Dante Sealy (D), Feb. 6, free - Luca Petrasso (D), Feb. 7, free - Brandan Craig (D), Feb. 7, free ### Players Out - Gabriele Corbo (D), Nov. 21, option declined - Grayson Doody (D), Nov. 21, option declined - Raheem Edwards (D), Nov. 21, option declined - Ilias Iliadis (M), Nov. 21, option declined - Logan Ketterer (GK), Nov. 21, out of contract - Lassi Lappalainen (M), Nov. 21, option declined - Josef Martínez (F), Nov. 21, option declined - Matteo Schiavoni (M), Nov. 21, option declined - Joaquín Sosa (D), Nov. 21, loan expired - Róbert Thorkelsson (D), Nov. 21, option declined - Victor Wanyama (M), Nov. 21, out of contract - Rida Zouhir (M), Nov. 21, option declined - Matías Cóccaro (F), Jan. 4, loan to Atlas FC ### Key players Giacomo Vrioni and Prince Owusu are the latest attempts to try something up top after moving on from Josef Martínez, and they have a pair of good if not stats-laden attacking mids in Caden Clark and Bryce Duke. (They’re not a playoff-level team this year.) ### Fashion report The Montréal Original kind of did what Atlanta did, but in blue instead of red. The vertical stripes (five of them) have been constant for this team since they were the Impact. ![2025 CF Montréal kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/2025-cf-montreal-kit.png) ### Over/Under on points total for 2025 regular season (courtesy of Soccerwise) 42.5, with two panelists saying under. I think they’ll be slightly under. *Coming soon: Part 2 of the East, and all of the West!* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### An Austin FC pronunciation supercut, Uzuni's arrival, and musings on the first match week of 2025: Emergency Podcast, Episode 34 URL: https://verdeallday.com/emergency-podcast-episode-34-pronunciation-guide-myrto-uzuni-arrival-atxvskc-02-22-2025-preview/ Last updated: 2025-02-17T13:39:26.000Z Episode 34 of Emergency Podcast is now up! Here's our official description: This week, Moy-SESS Chiullán and fill-EEP West share their new Austin FC pronunciation guide supercut, discuss the Thursday night kit release party, look back on Saturday's preseason match, look ahead to the opener against Sporting Kansas City this coming Saturday, ponder Myrto Uzuni's fitness, and even drop some hints about the tifo you'll soon see unfurled in Q2 Stadium. Listen on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-34-pronunciation-guide-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000692837563&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NS2lKMbKAmqSXR1Vt6XXB?si=GoMX6CPJSyWA1ql1-pIBQg&ref=verdeallday.com), or [YouTube,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FyfPOADJ5Bc&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com) or in the player below. ### One week to go: Looking at the state of Austin FC following the last preseason warmup match URL: https://verdeallday.com/one-week-to-go-looking-at-the-state-of-austin-fc-following-the-last-preseason-warmup-match/ Last updated: 2025-02-16T02:39:05.000Z Austin FC beat Nashville SC 2-1 at Q2 Stadium on Saturday in its final preseason match of 2025 at Q2 Despite the stadium keeping its doors closed to fans as well as media, I got a brief glimpse at Austin FC through Verde Store windows in the five-minute window I had while near the stadium. Two impressions from those few moments: - The new Heartbeat Kit looks really good on players in motion in the stadium; and - They've clearly been working on quick crisp passing and getting the ball expediently upfield (though it looks like the team still does tend to cycle the ball through the back, but this is more a horseshoe of friskiness than a horseshoe of sadness). In the Friday press conference heading into Saturday's match, Austin FC head coach fielded questions about some of the new players who haven't yet seen time on the field. Asked about Besard Šabović and Nicolás Dubersarsky, Estévez hinted that they'd get time on Saturday, and sure enough, each of them got a 45-minute runout, with Dubersarsky starting and Šabović subbing on for him at halftime. "We've mixed a lot of the team," Estévez said of preseason. "I think every player has played with every player. We've mixed partnerships in center back positions, in midfield positions, in forward positions, on the wings, \[with\] fullbacks ... and I think everyone has \[gotten\] good game time, even the young players, in case we need them during the season. "I think everyone has fit really well, and now it's about thinking more what the team is going to look like for the first games in the season," he added, "I'm finishing preparation of the preseason and putting the team what it's going to look for for the season, even though you know that players have arrived late, some of the players are still arriving, and will arrive in the next couple days. But I think everyone had the opportunity to get experience and as we learn a lot about the players, now it's about how we can improve them." ## Will Uzuni play soon? Myrto Uzuni is one of those late-arriving players, and as I learned at Thursday night's kit release party — it's fun to break news! – he was en route from Europe to Austin (sending an Insta pic from a plane) on Saturday as sporting director Rodolfo Borrell promised. Obviously, with just a week to become immersed into the Verde ways, it's unlikely Uzuni will see any match action in the opener, but Estévez left the door open a crack to limited minutes. "First he has to go through the physicals and medicals," he said. "This will give us a lot of information. We'll do specific physicals here and see how he does, and then, through the week, we'll see if he is responding well to the load, if he's feeling good, if he doesn't have soreness, and it is not a risk of injury ... everything can be open, but we have to be cautious. "We don't want him coming and then missing four or five weeks because we didn't take care of him," he added. "Until we see him on the field, it's difficult to predict. I'm pretty sure his mentality, his energy is that he wants to play right away, but we have to evaluate the right things in order to put him in a safe spot, to help the team, and also to not hurt him." ## Seeing double Estévez also gave a Spanish-language answer regarding how Osman Bukari — who scored both Verde goals on Saturday — will be utilized; here's how the machines translated what he said (with human backup): "When facing a double team, what solutions are we considering for those situations in the actual season, helping us look for ways to break the double coverage?" he began. "We need to create movements that allow us to put players in one-on-one situations. If they are marking two players, it means one of our guys is free, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It gives the marked player the opportunity to pass to the open teammate, potentially leading to goals, as it’s happened before. "Teams will always try to defend against Bukari with two players, and knowing this, we can exploit this situation," he added, "We need to do two key things: take advantage of the extra man left free and group players together, like he has done many times, not just two but three opponents, which could help us create a goal-scoring chance that another teammate can capitalize on. "Then we need to create situations where we move the ball to one side to shift the opposing team, prompting them to make an aggressive shift. From there, we can quickly circulate the ball, leaving Bukari in a one-on-one situation, just as we did in [the St. Louis game](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-1-st-louis-city-sc-1-first-impressions-from-the-last-preseason-match-well-get-to-see/) where we executed a great steal, setting up a one-on-one opportunity where he was able to make an impact." Bukari did come off almost immediately after scoring the second goal in the 69th minute – he also scored in minute 12, assisted by Brandon Vázquez — with what might have been hamstring tightness. (Or, at least, that's what a contingent of fans who got to see most of the second half on a pirate stream reported.) ## So, we don't need a 10, right? Estévez also gave some insights, in both Spanish and English, about how multiple players will step in to do the distribution work that a heliocentric No. 10 shoulders — like Luciano Acosta, who just arrived at FC Dallas to make Copa Tejas more interesting — or a pure pass-first No. 8, like new Dynamo catalyst Jack McGlynn. "The idea is that this is a league with a lot of transitions," Estévez said. "We prefer our fullbacks to be offensive and have that attacking mindset. However, in quick situations, if they're positioned closer to where the ball is lost, they can react faster, right? So, we need to find the right balance between being aggressive and ensuring that the defense is solid." As for midfielders? While it's still early to gauge the newer players, Estévez did get to see a lot of Dani Pereira and Owen Wolff over the preseason. Though they both best might be best as central midfielders, Estévez lauded their versatility. "They're very dynamic," he observed. "They also can play the 6, can play at the 10\. This is what we're looking for, a very dynamic type of midfield that is difficult to defend. Also, they are hard workers in defense and help us to win the ball. And you will see we have a lot of options there, and it could be with some of the profile that we have with Pereira, he could defend wide but then attack in central positions. "The important thing is that we have multiple options," he added, "And then we hope us as a staff can make the right decisions every game and can help the team to win the games." By the fifth match, the matinee at Q2 against San Diego FC on March 23, I'd expect the full complement of players, including Uzuni, to be able to go a full 90 and for the coaching staff to play chess accordingly. For now, it's a work in progress ... but fortunately for Austin, every MLS team will be a work in progress. (We'll do season previews over the next few days where you can marvel at each team's roster turnover.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Vibes are back: A festive kit release celebration, and a bit of good news to go with it URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-kit-release-party-2025-plus-good-news/ Last updated: 2025-11-05T01:26:40.000Z Austin FC president Andy Loughnane was in a jovial mood on Thursday night, and for good reason. The franchise he's tasked with making a financial success just received an $865 million valuation [according to Sportico](https://www.sportico.com/feature/mls-soccer-team-value-ranking-1234689586/?ref=verdeallday.com), good for sixth in MLS, besting big-market teams like Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC (not to mention a smaller-market team of import to him, his former Columbus Crew). The club's third home jersey, dubbed the Heartbeat Kit, comes out of the 2025 pack as one of the better-looking kits in the league (though Seattle, Portland, and Real Salt Lake are also getting rave reviews). And the Thursday night party to celebrate it, though not last year's massive collaboration with Yeti that brought the spirit (and some of the musicians) from Armadillo World Headquarters to ACL Live, was a study in low-key good vibes with many of the supporters who love the club most insistently. Six players came out to model the new kits, including new arrivals Nicolás Dubersarsky and Besard Šabović, and (probable captain) Ilie Sánchez performed the heartbeat ritual on the stage. Head coach Nico Estévez (who attended with his wife, and shook hands with the Verde Van workers outside the venue before making his way into the club) also came to the stage to give a short but solid pep rally speech. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/nico-estevez-verde-van.jpg) **Nico Estévez, man of the people (Moisés Chiullán)* Loughnane said that staging the event at the exact same club (though made somewhat different over time) where the fledgling Austin FC announced its official name and unveiled its logo in 2018 – to a town ready to embrace it and a league with lots of fans still giving it serious side-eye – wasn't an intentional selection to invoke the club's origins. But he did grant, "For a few of us, this is a very special place. There are a lot of memories inside of this building." ## Highlights from the press event About a dozen of us went outside where we could hear, if not stay warm, to ask Loughnane about the kit and where it fits in the overall woven tapestry of Austin FC kits. ### On the new green-on-green approach, which I characterized as a 'departure' from past home kits: *"We wanted to do something that was a little bit different, as you said, a little bit of a departure, but also remain true to the core brand principles. So we've talked about this; we've signaled that we want to reinforce our brand through Verde and through vertical stripes. And I'd like to think that we've done that with this kit. But yeah, being vibrant, being verde is something that's very important to us. And again, vertical stripes is something that's important.* ### On holding a kit release party: *This has been something that we want to — a tradition that we want to embrace. I think for us again, this is our way of waking everybody up from the offseason and having a party that feels very Austin. This is part of what should be an annual tradition.* ![Besard Šabović at Austin FC kit release party](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/besard-sabovic-says-hi.jpg) **Besard Šabović says hi to Austin FC fans (Phil West)* ### On it being called the Heartbeat Kit: *It's a tribute to our supporters who are the heartbeat of our club. It's an homage to a ritual, the heartbeat ritual, which is the catalyst for the game, the starting drum beats ... the signal to the crowd that we're going to begin our match. It's kind of a call to arms when the "Listos! Verde!" chant begins. It's an obvious reference to our commitment to verde as a very important element of our club, with clear references to green inside of this jersey.* *It also has to be the first time that there's ever been an anatomically correct heart on any jersey of any sport of any kind in the world. There is an anatomically correct heart that is on our jock tag, which is kind of the lower left side on the jersey.* (It's, of course, the same heart that's on the drum that gets utilized at the center capo stand just before the start of each home match.) ### On the new and absurd kit leaks and how to make those work to your marketing advantage, and yes, this was also my question: Phil, that is quite an inside baseball question. The short answer is that we do not want there to be leaks, and they do come to life in ways that I would never imagine. There's probably something funny and fun and interesting about that. Jersey culture in our sport is such an important part of everything that comes to life, and so to me, it's become part of soccer culture to have the jersey inadvertently linked leak through ways that I never thought possible before, but it is not by design, to be very clear. ### On plans for the next two years' worth of kits: *We want to establish verde; we want to establish vertical stripes. I think you'll see those elements continue throughout our jersey exploration. Every other year we have something that's usually dark, something that's been light every other year, and that sort of influences the design. I think we will explore new shades of green consistently. I think that's something that people can expect, and I think I'll leave it there.* *Right now we're designing the 2027 jersey, and I'm really excited about the '26 kit. I'm really excited about the '27 kit. And I love this process. It does take two years; it's a wild cycle. So you would consider this one dark. This is absolutely a dark-colored jersey. So you're looking to cycle the other direction for the next one. We will have to next year, we'll replace the Dillo kit, right? So you replace it with a light color kit.* *That doesn't mean \[stripes have\] to be on every single jersey. But if we have a jersey set where there are two jerseys in any given set, I wouldn't be surprised if there are going to be stripes in some way shape or form, and I definitely will not be surprised if there's green in at least one of those jerseys*. (My early predictions, based on those context clues: White with green pinstripes for '26, and something predominantly black with green accents for '27\. Bookmark this to see if I'm Kitstrodamus later.) ### On the possibility of a third kit: *There's always hope.* "But is there anything beyond hope at this point?" I asked. *There's hope!* ## The bit of good news I saw sporting director Rodolfo Borrell, we shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, I congratulated him on his offseason work (as it's been impressive, as you've been reading here), and asked him, "When's Uzuni coming?" referring to designated player Myrto Uzuni, who has been in Spain and what appears to be (if the We Are Austin TV guys are reading social media right) Albania, awaiting a visa. I expected careful equivocation, but instead, I got: "He's coming Saturday." What I have to keep reminding myself about Borrell: He'll be evasive while a deal is being worked, but if paperwork is done, and he's in the right mood (especially if his answer begs the question, "How *did* you do this great thing?"), he'll just *say it*. It's hard to say what Uzuni's arrival a week before the opener means in the Estévez Era. We know, in the Josh Wolff Era, there would likely be several weeks of integration and learning the system for a new player, no matter how talented, and in a few unfortunate cases (remember the woeful tale of Aleksandar Radovanović on a bench when he should have been playing?), with that player sitting out a little longer than he should have. Could we see a 15-minute cameo from Austin's newest designated player at the home opener a week from Saturday? Depending on what fitness regimen he's been keeping up between clubs, that's conceivable, and based on the [season preview](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2025/2/10/2025-mls-season-previews?ref=verdeallday.com) I did on SKC for American Soccer Analysis, I feel like that could be with the scoreline 3-1 or 4-1 for the home team. (We'll get into this more next week, but read the preview now and marvel at the goalkeeping numbers. They're as ugly as the current home/away kit pairing is beautiful.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### A new jersey unveiled and a preseason match only gauzily unveiled URL: https://verdeallday.com/a-new-jersey-unveiled-and-a-preseason-match-only-gauzily-unveiled/ Last updated: 2025-02-13T02:49:42.000Z On Wednesday, Austin FC officially debuted its new Heartbeat Kit, the third home uniform in the club's five-year history, via a short film narrated by Matthew McConaughey (a minority owner in the club), and cameos by Gary Clark, Jr. (who the club previously shared modeling the kit in its social media accounts to provide the first proper look at it), Jimmie Vaughn, and Ray Benson — keeping some Austin music elder hall of famer throughlines with the narrative around last year's Armadillo Kit — and featuring some of the fans you might have seen bringing energy on game day (and subscribing to Verde All Day; thank you!). **Energy once brought for schedule releases now go to kit releases* My assessment of the jersey has experienced several stages. First, there was the Footy Headlines rendering, which did not inspire, and then the photo of what might have been a crude replica jersey on a hanger, which also didn't inspire. Then, there was the unofficial reveal from Jane Ko's inadvertent (probably) Instagram post, which was better in that it was shown in its real colors on a real human being, but still brought some questions to the table (namely, the collar, which I believe she tucked in, weirdly), and then the official club unveiling, which happily revealed that the collar was a lot better than we'd been led to believe. The kit *is* saddled with the weird swooping stripes on the sides that are *de rigueur* for this year's Adidas kits, but they're less intrusive here compared to some of the other jerseys released around the league. ![Austin FC fan Kurt Lammers with drum wearing new kit](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/kurt-in-new-kit.jpg) **Hey, we know that guy (Austin FC Communications)* On the whole, it's a bold departure from the green and black vertical stripe look that the club established in its first two home kits — the original with a normal number of stripes, and the Las Voces kit, nicknamed the "barcode kit" for its abnormal number of stripes. I'm predicting that when we get another home kit in 2027, the club will revert back to some variation of green and black striping (or maybe a predominantly black kit with thin green stripes just to mix it up even more), but going green-on-green means that fans will be able to rep Verde in the stands in some fairly sun-friendly colors this year, whether wearing the Heartbeat Kit or last year's Armadillo Kit. ## Oh, also, Austin FC played soccer today The team finished out its Coachella Valley Invitational sojourn on Wednesday afternoon\[\[1\]\] with a match against Charlotte FC that did not stream and was only delivered to Austin FC fans in short communication bursts via WhatsApp and just WhatsApp. By the way, did you know that Austin FC maintains a WhatsApp account? Charlotte won 1-0, but highlights of the match for Austin, per WhatsApp\[\[2\]\], were: - Stefan Cleveland saving a 85th-minute penalty kick (yes, Cleveland played keeper for the whole 90), and - Osman Bukari, part of a contingent of six second-half subs, hit a shot from distance (from a left wing position; *curious*) in the 81st minute that Charlotte's keeper had to tip over the bar. Austin rolled out a starting lineup that mix starters and subs/second-teamers: - GK: Stefan Cleveland - Defenders: Mikkel Desler, Oleksandr Svatok, Leo Väisänen, Žan Kolmanič - Midfielders: Ervin Torres, Micah Burton, Diego Rubio, Diego Abarco - Forwards: CJ Fodrey, Jimmybryant Farkarlun This is a best guess, but based on where these players typically play and the order in which the club listed them, they maybe started in a 4-4-2? With players you wouldn't normally feature in a starting 4-4-2 attack? The line change in the second half (exact minute not provided), included the aforementioned Bukari, along with Owen Wolff, Jon Gallagher, Julio Cascante, Guilherme Biro, and Brendan Hines-Ike. In the Preseason Is a Liar 2025 Tour, it's clear that head coach Nico Estévez is, as Bruce Arena once famously said about Clint Dempsey, in "he tries shit" mode. I'm sure it's more calculated than that, and there's some greater purpose here in seeing which players combine and play off each other best, but let's such say it's unlikely that Brandon Vázquez, Dani Pereira, and Brad Stuver would sit in any regular season match of import were they available \[\[3\]\]. ## What's next? Kit-wise, Austin FC's hosting a Heartbeat Kit event at the Parish (501 Brushy, just east of downtown, it's functionally East Downtown) on Thursday night. I have no idea how non-media people get in; sorry. Incidentally, this is the venue where Austin FC premiered its logo, so there's a cool fifth-year full-circle narrative here. (Here's an [archived article](https://web.archive.org/web/20190617135242/https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/austin-fc-new-name-logo/) from 2018 when I covered the event for Pro Soccer USA; excited that I found this, because I did a lot of amazing work for this site around the Columbus-to-Austin move and the media company in charge of the site just decided to POOF the site at the onset of COVID-19.\[\[4\]\] As for the squad, they're playing a Saturday match against Nashville SC that is also closed-door. That includes for media. (I asked. It doesn't hurt to ask.) I assume we'll get social media updates on myriad platforms and not just WhatsApp. But there's no substitute for being there, which we'll get to do again in 10 days. \[\[1\]\]: 1 pm CT; 11 am PT \[\[2\]\]: Yes, I'm belaboring the WhatsApp thing a bit, but also, if you're reading this online, you need to go to the site to check out the code injection I just imported into the website that allows for incredible dynamic mouse-over footnotes. \[\[3\]\]: Indeed, I think we're headed for another every regular-season minute season for Stuver barring injury. I feel better about Cleveland as a sub than I did Andrew Tarbell after Stuver won the starting job (and now, in retrospect, Wolff naming Stuver the opening day starter in 2021 and sticking with him might be the singular best coaching decision Josh Wolff ever made, and that includes plugging Moussa Djitté into the lineup for the playoff-clinching hat trick) (also, if you're not reading this on the site, you need to, because the mouse-over footnotes are magical) \[\[4\]\]: I also worked for a site managed by a different but similar major media company that did layoffs (layoffs that included me, a week after my first home purchase), right after 9/11 thanks to 9/11 uncertainty. A reminder that your subscription to this site helps people like me circumvent those forces. ### Now available: Episode 33 of Emergency Podcast URL: https://verdeallday.com/now-available-episode-33-of-emergency-podcast/ Last updated: 2025-02-09T21:24:21.000Z On this episode, Moisés Chiullán and Phil West discuss Oleksandr Svatok's scuffle with Diego Fagundez, the two viewable Coachella Valley Invitational matches, Besard Sabovic's arrival, Myrto Uzuni's delay, Mikkel Desler's absence, and the approaching official kit launch. Listen on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-33-oleksandr-svatoks-anger-is-already-in-mid/id1742052077?i=1000690664295&ref=verdeallday.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0flNCyVOAUClB73olhkykR?ref=verdeallday.com), or [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1UtxAJbKw&ab%5Fchannel=PhilWest&ref=verdeallday.com), or in the embedded player below. ### Austin FC 1, St. Louis City SC 1: First impressions from the last preseason match we'll get to see URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-1-st-louis-city-sc-1-first-impressions-from-the-last-preseason-match-well-get-to-see/ Last updated: 2025-02-08T23:38:02.000Z So, my first late-game rewrite of the 2025 season just happened in the preseason. I was two minutes away from officially being about to gush about a complete Austin FC performance against St. Louis City SC in their second Coachella Valley Invitational match of the preseason, and Tomas Totland had to go ruin the narrative with an equalizer. Even though Jáder Obrian's goal just 45 seconds into the second half didn't hold, Verde still looked generally good in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., in a repeat scoreline of Wednesday's match against the Galaxy. As Austin FC's going to go back behind the curtain for its remaining two preseason matches, this is the last glimpse we'll have before the season opener two weeks from today. I've got a few thoughts. ## Who is 2025's breakout player? This past Tuesday, MLS's Matt Doyle called it "borderline irresponsible" to call Dani Pereira his [Austin FC breakout player](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/western-conference-breakout-players-who-s-primed-for-2025-leap?ref=verdeallday.com) of 2025, given that Pereira is a No. 1 SuperDraft pick with 113 appearances, 20 goal contributions in his first four MLS seasons, and regular call-ups to the Venezuelan national team. You could argue that Pereira's already broken out, or that the freedom that he'll get as a more free-ranging No. 8 in Nico Estévez's system is going to unlock an additional level for him. But I'm going to call out a similarly-tenured player, with 86 appearances and 11 goal contributions in his first four season, as my early pick to make the leap in 2025 based on what we've seen at Coachella: Owen Wolff. On his assist for Austin's lone goal on Saturday, he dribbled in toward goal from the end line, made a Purina Gang player miss, and chipped in a perfect pass to Obrian before being toppled over. > 46’ | Goal Austin! Owen Wolff makes a man miss down the sideline and Jáder Obrian is there to tap it in! #AustinFC 1-0 @stlcitysc.com > > — [Austin FC (@austinfootballclub.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-02-08T20:05:47.497Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3qsxaqhdfmtlemd5pz2dig2/post/3lhow26bolc2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) On the pass into the goalmouth that led to Bukari's goal on Wednesday, the Galaxy got to set its defense on the short corner and Wolff was still able to create discombobulation with his ability to cut inside toward goal. Opposing coaches are likely already instructing defenders to not let Wolff have time and space from that spot on the field, seeing what he can do there. (Speaking of Bukari, I'm hard pressed to call a designated player a breakout player candidate, because by definition they're already supposed to be broken out, but Bukari's already showing signs that a much better season is in store for him compared to what limited flashes he showed in '24\. Once the rest of the European arrivals settle in with the squad, Wolff and Pereira may find it challenging to find the minutes they're accustomed to playing. (They were, on Saturday, part of a full squad of starting-caliber players that played 60 minutes.) But if they're pushing for minutes and earning time on the field once the season really kicks into gear, that's going to bode well for Verde's 2025 prospects. ## It's apparently all about grit You might recall when Will Bruin took to Twitter watching an early 2024 match after a few Coronas at a wedding and talking about the team's "soft mentality." It appears that's going to be something Estévez will address this season. Estévez was fairly sanguine about preseason preparations in post-match comments on Saturday, saying, "I think we can see a lot of progress in preseason ... the seasons are long. It's a lot of work, a lot of thinking, a lot of ideas, discussions with the players, trainings, games, revealing and getting into an idea that shapes well for the team. "And I think we're in the right way," he added. "I think we can see a lot of progress every game, and it is just understanding when the competition comes, the line \[between\] winning or not winning is very thin, and we just have to capitalize on all the things that we create in order to to win games." Goalkeeper Brad Stuver addressed the mentality issue more directly. "It's going to be about heart, it's going to be about energy, it's going to be about passion," he said. "One of the things that we've really harped on this preseason is just the grit, the mentality that it takes playing in this league. Skill and nice soccer can only take you so far, but you have to have that mentality, that grit, the ability to duel against these teams. So that's something that we talk about ... and that's something that is going to carry over throughout the year." ## Sometimes, goals just happen I guess we've got to talk about the goal that St. Louis scored. On Wednesday, it was from a Galaxy overload to Austin's right flank followed by Gabriel Pec making a deft near-post run that the team collectively failed to pick up. On Saturday, it was a simple cross-field switch, coupled with a near-post run, that caught out two defenders. (And, sadly, it happened about a minute after Diego Rubio skied an open shot that would have put the match away.) Here's the goal from one angle. > INDY ➡️ TOTS for the late leveler! 🙌 > > — [St Louis CITY SC (@stlcitysc.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ky5mkemkqgbsr6aev5zmbgxs?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-02-08T21:01:54.807Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ky5mkemkqgbsr6aev5zmbgxs/post/3lhoz6jlx5s2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) I went ahead and froze the stream at the moment that Totland receives the cross-field pass from Indiana Vassilev. ![video still from Austin FC vs. St. Louis City SC](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/uh-oh.png) **Not good* A tip of the cap to the Purina Gang for making this goal happen. It would have been nice to preserve the clean sheet and get the win, but save for this moment, it was an encouraging outing. A single moment like this can ruin a whole match's worth of effort, of course. But better to see this and get it sorted in preseason than suffer it in the regular season. (There's no guarantee it won't happen there too, of course, but on the bright side, they've now got something to work on.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* *Also, if you're reading this in your inbox, please do us a favor. Where it says "read in browser" at the top of the article ... please go ahead and click on that, so you can admire how good it looks on the site, and help let Google know that we're here and not still on Substack.* ## Sign up for Verde All Day Your home for Austin FC coverage and analysis Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ### The Backpass: Reviewing Austin FC's January 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/january-2025-review-verde-all-day-emergency-podcast/ Last updated: 2025-02-07T02:42:19.000Z Remember when Fafà Picault not signing with Austin FC dominated our thoughts? That's how we closed out 2024\. What a difference a month makes. (For one thing, Austin's got four new players signed! For another, Verde All Day has an entirely new URL and is on an entirely new platform!) Welcome to this new regular feature, The Backpass, which we project will exist in two forms each month: One for all subscribers (free included) showing all the stories and podcasts we did during the month (in case you missed any), and a special version for Premium subscribers showing all of those with various footnotes and annotations to add an extra layer and to put everything into a better narrative. This month, everyone gets the Premium treatment! ## Stories Jan. 1: [Time to get Ilie: What to expect from Austin FC's newest addition](https://verdeallday.com/ilie-sanchez-new-austin-fc-signing-analysis/) *This one's full of charts, and it emphasized what a good signing he was. He's shown himself to be even better than we thought, and judging from how preseason's progressing, I'll be shocked if he's not captain when that gets decided in mid-February.* Jan. 2: [We might regret this later: A deep dive on anticipated (but not yet official) Austin FC signing Brandon Vázquez](https://verdeallday.com/brandon-vazquez-austin-fc-reports-signing-imminent-analysis/) *Having been wary of signing reports in the wake of the Fafà Saga, we looked at charts for who was then Verde's potential new starting No. 9\. As you can see from the next two posts, this was not a deep dive we regretted.* Jan. 6: ['Let's make some history together': Why I'm glad I joined a bunch of Austin FC fans to freeze with Brandon Vázquez on Monday evening](https://verdeallday.com/brandon-vazquez-fan-welcome-party/) *I've only been cold covering Austin FC a handful of times: The 2022 opener against FC Cincinnati (which was Vázquez's first visit to Q2 Stadium), the open practice (which we'll get to), and then this excursion into an extreme-for-Austin evening (with real temps in the low 40s but feeling like the mid-to-high 30s). Come to think of it, all three of these cold-weather events involved Vázquez.)* Jan. 7: [Crying in the club: Three takeaways from the Brandon Vázquez introductory press conference](https://verdeallday.com/three-takeaways-brandon-vazquez-rodolfo-borrell-press-conference/) *Long after people forget what Vázquez said – though we've kept it here for posterity – they'll remember sporting director Rodolfo Borrell tearing up at the end of this press conference and being supported by Vázquez in a genuinely touching moment. The rest of the month revealed just how much work Borrell was doing to make all the incoming and outgoing roster moves fit together.* Jan. 11: [Yeah, it's time: A glimpse at new Austin FC transfer rumor subject Myrto Uzuni](https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-transfer-rumor-analysis-sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-update/) *Austin FC was involved in two transfer sagas in January; the first of those involved Granada and Albanian international striker/winger Myrto Uzuni, who at this point was enough of a rumored-to-be-coming player that we did a deep dive. (Again, most of our deep dives have been rewarded this season with subsequent signings.)* Jan. 13: ['Falta de respeto': Rodolfo Borrell and Nico Estevez talk about all the Austin FC players who made it to training and the one who didn't](https://verdeallday.com/falta-de-respeto-rodolfo-borrell/) *While Austin was trying to bring Uzuni in, it was also trying to usher star midfielder Sebastián Driussi out. This media availability started with Borrell expressing his displeasure with Driussi skipping the first few days of training, and made clear that he didn't have permission to do so, and then head coach Nico Estévez added observations about disrespect that were maybe a little spicier than we'd expected from him. Not that Austin media was complaining!* Jan. 15: [The limbo we're in: Waiting for the official end of the Reyna-Wolff-Driussi era](https://verdeallday.com/sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-limbo-river-plate-austin-fc/) We had some feelings about Driussi leaving. Complicated feelings. It also felt that, even though his departure wasn't official, it was imminent enough to merit this level of eulogy for his Austin tenure. Jan. 16: [One for (far into) the future: Austin FC signs Nicolas Dubersarsky to contract touching the next decade](https://verdeallday.com/nicolas-dubersarsky-austin-fc-signing-projection/) *The big thing that jumped out to me when I got this news was the contract length: Through 2029 with an option for 2030\. Something about a contract that went into the next decade sent me. I think he'll be a good project, and it's good to have a U22 player back on the roster now that Kolmanič aged out.* ![Brandon Vazquez comforts Rodolfo Borrell](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/rodolfo-borrell-brandon-vazquez.png) **A touching moment to remember (Austin FC Communications)* Jan. 19: [Are we now two-forward? Learning about Austin FC's possible 4-4-2 future from a refreshingly open Nico Estévez](https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-open-practice-new-formation/) *The outside press conference before the open practice in 34-degree weather was a thing to endure (should have brought gloves), but this is where we learned about different formation configurations from Estévez and were charmed by Sánchez.* Jan. 21: [Making sense of the Besard Šabović signing: Who is he and what does he bring to Austin FC?](https://verdeallday.com/besard-sabovic-signs-austin-fc-2027-2028-option/) *This signing indicated that Verde might not be after a true string-pulling No. 10\. Šabović, as a No. 8 who seems to do a lot of varied things well, could end up being one of the main chance creators for the team this year. He's less known and so far less knowable than some of the other players, so he'll be one to watch as the season starts to determine what he'll bring. But he could be more key to a successful 2025 than you maybe initially expected.* Jan. 25: [Myrto Uzuni is Verde, and a heliocentric No. 10 is probably not](https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-is-verde-and-a-heliocentric-no-10-is-probably-not/) *We got the official word about Uzuni, and given that he's the third and final designated player, and those three players are all along the front line, it's clear where Borrell is stacking talent. It's a reasonable thing to do in MLS.* Jan. 26: [We ponder an intriguing question: Would Eduard Atuesta in Verde make sense?](https://verdeallday.com/is-one-more-move-coming-and-is-it-indeed-eduard-atuesta-2/) *This was a roster move cooked up by famed MLS writer Matt Doyle, and it's probably not something that will actually ever materialize ... but he could also be a missing link in the roster that Borrell is trying to build. It's certainly tempting.* Jan. 28: [Breakfast with Nico: An early morning interview with Austin FC's new head coach](https://verdeallday.com/breakfast-with-nico-an-early-morning-interview-with-austin-fcs-new-head-coach/) *We did it, friends. We secured an early morning appointment with Austin FC's new head coach, set up a makeshift recording station, got off about half a dozen questions in a little more than the 20 minutes allotted, and walked away knowing more about the club and how Estévez will approach it.* *With each passing week, I'm more optimistic. (I'm loath to do predictions, but should Uzuni get to the U.S. relatively soon, I don't think third in the West is out of the question.)* *Oh, also, he could have been insulting about the way he started talking about people that discuss formations and how there's an extra layer of complexity beyond that short hand for how teams set up their players, but he was very charming in his answer.* Jan. 30: ['Preseason is a liar': Highlights from the latest Austin FC preseason media availability](https://verdeallday.com/preseason-is-a-liar-highlights-from-the-latest-austin-fc-preseason-media-availability/) *In which we learned (or reified) that preseason results have little bearing on how the season will go.* **Podcasts** Episode 29 (Jan. 4): [We Have 2024 Green Smoke but No 2025 Green Smoke As of Yet Emergency](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-29-we-have-2024-green-smoke-but-no-2025-green/id1742052077?i=1000682681887&ref=verdeallday.com) *First podcast of 2025, in which we were not-so-patiently looking for new signings.* Episode 30 (Jan. 18): [Driussi, Dubersarsky, Uzuni with Tiger, and a Mowed Lawn Electric Watermelon Emergency](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-30-driussi-dubersarsky-uzuni-with-tiger-and/id1742052077?i=1000684505605&ref=verdeallday.com) *This is the episode with the "interview with Rodolfo Borrell" that some of our listeners really enjoyed ...* Episode 31 (Jan. 25): [Annual Ridiculous Kit Leak Emergency (The Emergency Tradition We Love)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-31-annual-ridiculous-kit-leak-emergency-the/id1742052077?i=1000685423670&ref=verdeallday.com) *At Emergency Podcast, we love a cold open, and this was one of the better ones we've ever done. Musty cultural reference to start things off? Check. Declaring a kit leak emergency with palpable delight? Check. Extensive expounding on Blue's Clues? Check.* Episode 32 (Jan. 29): [They Let Us Talk to Nico Estevez Emergency](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-32-they-let-us-talk-to-nico-estevez-emergency/id1742052077?i=1000686670229&ref=verdeallday.com) *We were incredibly grateful to be granted this interview, and the podcast includes one bonus question and answer that wasn't part of the* [*written version*](https://verdeallday.com/breakfast-with-nico-an-early-morning-interview-with-austin-fcs-new-head-coach/)*.* [Subscribe (or upgrade)](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### LA Galaxy 1, Austin FC 1: First impressions from the first Coachella match of 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/la-galaxy-1-austin-fc-1-first-impressions-from-the-first-coachella-match-of-2025/ Last updated: 2025-02-06T02:48:03.000Z In a Wednesday match that looked quite preseasony, with a notable flare-up between a Verde player and a former Verde player adding some fire, Austin FC drew LA Galaxy 1-1 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., as part of the 2025 Coachella Valley Invitational. While preseason matches have their own laconic quality to them (though you can really pep up a match watching it at 1.75 speed on YouTube, just sayin'), the match did have two notable goal sequences that do reveal some things about how the 2025 Austin FC season might go. Here are a few of my initial impressions about the match. ## The defense got caught out The Galaxy's opening goal in the 8th minute started with fullback Miki Yamane getting past Dani Pereira and into space. From there, Yamane found Diego Fagundez to start an overload on MLS SuperDraft pick Riley Thomas' side of the field. Fagundez played Ruben Ramos Jr. in wide, and then Gabriel Pec made a near-post run to score. Ilie Sánchez was there for some too little/too late defense, but it showed a vulnerability that I'm sure Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez will want to work on. (Here's the goal on [The Bad Site](https://x.com/LAGalaxy/status/1887217556437803357?ref=verdeallday.com), because the Galaxy hasn't landed on Bluesky yet.) For much of the first half, Austin operated out of a back three, with Thomas cheating up the field. A stream on YouTube doesn't give us all the context we might want, and goals happen, and Pec is really good ... but still a concern to take into the opener. ## A skirmish to spice up the rivalry In the 18th minute, Oleksandr Svatok and Diego Fagundez battled at the edge of the final third. From one vantage point, namely mine, Svatok got to a 50/50 ball first and Fagundez fouled him. Fagundez, breaking the cardinal rule of interacting with fans on The Bad Site when you're mad ("Don't"), claims it was a "dirty kick out." The [thread that follows](https://x.com/WeAreAustinTV/status/1887265400791908618?ref=verdeallday.com) is a bit reminiscent of Sebastián Driussi's worst fan-facing moment of 2024, and the Bluesky post that we can show you (a series of stills) makes clear that this center back has some fight in him. > Svatok > > — [Jacob S (@atxsoccer.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hw7xjeqpb3ncfmhug7mi6azv?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) [2025-02-05T22:16:53.040Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hw7xjeqpb3ncfmhug7mi6azv/post/3lhhlxt2xqs2d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=verdeallday.com) For narrative, and for base reasons, I wholeheartedly approve. ## A goal worth waiting for The goal, coming fairly late in the match, started with Austin committing to a high press, leading to a ball turned over to Žan Kolmanič, who fed Owen Wolff, who fed CJ Fodrey far upfield to force a corner. Then, on a delightful short corner (reminder: I am Team Short Corner), Wolff found Kolmanič, who passed back to Wolff, who created productive chaos with a ball into the box. Antonio Gomez had the foresight (we'll assume this was intentional) to backheel a pass to a waiting Osman Bukari, who fired in a relatively easy but impressive-all-the-same goal. (Also, we're all going to get the pronunciation right this year: It's BOO-ka-ree, not boo-KAR-ee.) After the match, Bukari complimented Wolff for the one-v-one play that set up the goal. ## Preseason continues to be a lie Estévez's post-match comments indicated that this match and the three to follow are all about getting players minutes and not at all about results. "I think it's good for every player to get the load in those games," he said, noting that Saturday's match against St. Louis City SC will change the rotations somewhat from Wednesday's approach, which gave two or three projected VerDos players each half the chance to run with the first team. "We're getting some ideas ... it's still a long way to go. But I like the mentality of the team, and I like the effort that they're \[giving\], and I'm really, really happy with their attitude and the intentions." [Subscribe (or upgrade)](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Josh Wolff joins Houston Dynamo as assistant coach URL: https://verdeallday.com/josh-wolff-joins-houston-dynamo-as-assistant-coach-2/ Last updated: 2025-02-02T23:31:23.000Z We wish we had more for you than that, but that's the extent of the official announcement from the Dynamo. Actually, we do have one more thing as a followup to [16-year-old Gavin Wolff's farewell to Austin FC on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DFZTziMOkCa/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==). Separately and near-simultaneously, [a post from Tom Bogert](https://bsky.app/profile/tombogert.bsky.social/post/3lha23te6ec2y?ref=verdeallday.com) detailed the transfer of Gavin Wolff from Austin to Houston's Academy. According to Bogert, Austin "will retain 20% sell-on clause for any move abroad. Austin can get $100k GAM add-ons as well." That looks like good business on paper. The kickoff to Copa Tejas just got a bit more interesting. Have you made plans to be at the 4/26 Austin away game in Houston yet? ### The future of soccer is data-driven: American Soccer Insights Summit shows what numbers can do URL: https://verdeallday.com/american-soccer-insights-summit-report-rice-university/ Last updated: 2025-09-21T19:25:05.000Z Sitting in an auditorium at Rice University on Saturday afternoon, watching a presenter show off the statistics equations underpinning her analysis of Chinese Super League players, I was transported back to the University of Washington classroom where I realized, in the Waterloo of my undergraduate career, "I'm a journalism major; it was a mistake to sign up for this genetics course and I should really probably just stick to words." But I was in the Houston auditorium, for the inaugural [American Soccer Insights Summit](https://americansoccerinsights.com/schedule/?ref=verdeallday.com), on a mission to become more immersed in this data-rich world. Austin resident and *Athletic* writer John Muller, who spoke at the conference, titled his presentation, "Numbers Talk — Now Make Them Tell a Story," and that's a good encapsulation of why I've integrated more data into my Austin FC coverage. Numbers help us understand the game better. You don't need to know how to code in R or Python to appreciate soccer, but because people are doing that work, soccer clubs can be better informed in signing players, assessing upcoming opponents, and improving their own squads' performances, media can paint a more thorough picture in their coverage, and fans can more completely understand soccer with that information. Conference attendee Matt Barger, part of the team at American Soccer Analysis, created a series of charts I seized on several months ago that illustrated that Austin FC's 2024 designated players were what I termed "[expensively average](https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-austin-fc-la-galaxy-new-york-red-bulls-2024/)" based on what his analysis unveiled. You might be familiar with another conference attendee, Catalina Bush, who runs the indispensable [MLS Analytics account](https://bsky.app/profile/mlsstat.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) on Bluesky, and created [a dashboard](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sebastian.bush/viz/MLSDashboard%5F17301376023670/Team?ref=verdeallday.com) allowing for multiple variations of x-y axis plotting to make sense of the 2024 season, including helping to visualize whether goals do indeed change games. ![Chart showing goals vs. points per game in the 2024 MLS Season](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-02-at-7.57.13-AM.png) **Just one of many visualizations possible with this dashboard* The conference also featured two presenters with Austin FC ties: Hayden Van Brewer, who worked as the club's manager of data and analytics from March 2022 to October 2024 (now with [SkillCorner](https://skillcorner.com/about?ref=verdeallday.com), which provided the datasets driving many of the weekend's presentations), and Zayne M. Thomajan, among the first Austin FC employees, who rose to the role of senior manager of business and sporting operations during all three sporting director eras (and in the process helping current sporting director Rodolfo Borrell learn the ways of MLS roster rules) before moving on to Gotham FC and her current post at Chicago Fire FC. ## How Verde's rivals use data But it also featured some rivals who are getting an edge as a result of how they're using data. One of the first presenters, Mazatlán FC director of analysis Alejandro Dávila, largely focused on data analysis to improve the coaches' training programs for a squad that beat Verde in the 2023 Leagues Cup and made a run to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Leagues Cup. His club invests in data and in his work to gain a competitive advantage in a league where the biggest clubs can address their issues by acquiring more expensive players – or, as he put it, "Monterrey can just [buy Sergio Ramos](https://www.marca.com/en/football/liga-mx/2025/01/31/679ced1646163f3c848b45d0.html?ref=verdeallday.com)." Indeed, when we got together Friday night at Pitch 25, we watched a León team that had recently acquired James beat a valiant Mazatlán team 2-1 (with Verde alumnus Emiliano Rigoni scoring the opening goal for León). One of the keynote presentations, from Houston Dynamo FC president Pat Onstad and data scientist Ethan Creager, walked the audience through their data-driven process for assessing potential new Dynamo players. It also started with Onstad dropping news of a trade with the Philadelphia Union (which turned out to be one of the league's first cash-for-player deals, sending midfielder Jack McGlynn Houston's way), and included an interesting nugget in which, if not for his salary, Onstad might have made an offer to turn Sebastián Driussi from Verde to Forever Orange. (More precisely, despite the team's relaunched motto, Orange for a Time.) ## A whole new stat As much as I appreciated the news, I was there to better understand how numbers could help augment words in soccer coverage, and in the process, saw the collaborative spirit of those doing this work. For example, Temple University Ph.D. candidate Rob Oakley created a whole new category of measurement to help assess defensive work beyond tackles and interceptions. He dubs it expected possession value prevention, or EPVp, which gauges when a defender stands up an attacker, forcing that attacker to abandon a move that would advance an attack (via a backpass or some other retreating action). In part because of their roles in engaging with wide attacks, fullbacks and central midfielders in the NWSL dataset registered higher EPVp totals on average than other positions. (If you're familiar with the successful take-on stat, measuring how many times an attacker stands up and then gets past a defender, the EPVp stat aims to calculate the work resulting in an unsuccessful take-on separate from an interception. Players can also register negative EPVp for an action, as when an attacker facing that defender does make a successful take-on or registers a shot-creating action.) Audience members, mostly data researchers, forwarded suggestions to expand the work. I offered an additional dimension to further explore this: Seeing if there's a corollary between a team's collective EPVp and expected goals against. ## 'Secrecy is the enemy of progress' Stefan Szymanski, the University of Michigan professor best known for his pioneering *Soccernomics* book, summed up the collaborative spirit driving this work in his keynote address by noting, "Secrecy is the enemy of progress," encouraging the community of researchers to be more open about sharing models. As more and more data becomes available – and technology is greatly enabling this growth – we can become more observant of the game and more conversant about why the teams and players we love are excelling or struggling. But it takes work to do that. It takes the work of people fascinated enough by data to gather it, create a research question around it, assemble a model that helps answer it, and then translate it into texts and visuals to communicate it. And the people doing this work are driven by a love of soccer. Conference organizers encouraged attendees to wear a favorite jersey on Friday, resulting in nearly 100 percent participation and an incredible range of team affiliations on display, including a [remarkable Ballard FC kit](https://goballardfc.shop/products/stevie-shao-kit?ref=verdeallday.com) and the debut [Portland Hearts of Pine kit](https://shop.heartsofpine.com/collections/merchandise/products/woods-and-water-kit-unisex-adult?variant=49360006185246&ref=verdeallday.com) I'm currently coveting. In a recent [American Soccer Analysis podcast](https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/podcasts/2025/1/30/asa-show-arman-kafai-and-how-to-get-into-soccer-analytics?ref=verdeallday.com), Arman Kafai (who did data analysis for FC Dallas and has helped us explore why "[xG means nothing anymore](https://verdeallday.com/xg-means-nothing-anymore-austin-fc-analysis-porvatx-100224/)" after Verde's season-extending win against Portland in October), emphasized the importance of effectively communicating data to those who can use it – in his case, then-FC Dallas head coach Nico Estévez, who was receptive to data's role in informing his decisions. I came away from the conference more determined than ever to consume data, to think about research that might be done, and to help share the work that this community is doing. I may never progress to scraping data and learning R, but I'm committed to further incorporating numbers into the quest for narrative that drives my coverage. [Subscribe (or upgrade)](https://verdeallday.com/preseason-is-a-liar-highlights-from-the-latest-austin-fc-preseason-media-availability/#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### 'Preseason is a liar': Highlights from the latest Austin FC preseason media availability URL: https://verdeallday.com/preseason-is-a-liar-highlights-from-the-latest-austin-fc-preseason-media-availability/ Last updated: 2025-01-31T20:25:12.000Z Don't expect much in the way of wins from Austin FC's upcoming preseason. Of course, they might rack up some wins, as they did against Charleston Battery in Clearwater, Fla., last Friday. But to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, that's immaterial for what he wants his team to do prior to Feb. 22's opener against Sporting Kansas City. "In my experience, preseason is a liar," he assessed. "I think everyone wants to see a great product there and wins and everything. But is is a moment to try new things ... to learn about the players ... to give opportunities to young players. "If you bring all those factors there, sometimes it's going to be difficult to win every preseason game, because it's a moment that you make mistakes, that you learn, that you train and try to make it better. I've been with teams where we had a really good preseason and then we didn't have a good season, and then we had a bad preseason and we had an amazing season, or we had an okay preseason, and then after we competed really well in the season. For me, it doesn't matter." Let's quickly touch on some other key items from Thursday's media session. ## Uzuni is versatile Though new signing Myrto Uzuni profiles as a goal-minded forward with experience on the wing, Estévez regards him as more versatile than that and able to play different positions. "He became a forward three years ago, he was a winger, and I know the coach that he had in Granada, Paco \[López\], they moved to a forward position and then is when he started scoring more goals, you know. And I think it was a great change for him. He also gives you an idea where he can be dangerous. It doesn't mean that he cannot play in other positions \[other\] that position, but he's is a typical forward. He can come and low and receive the ball, he can turn, he can pass the ball. "Also, he's not only like a player that is a finisher," he added. "He's also a player that can make the team play in playing different positions, that will help us in different situations, that we'll have in games and contexts, that we can modify and we can adapt and adjust things and have other options, having him, a player like him, that can play in different positions." ## 'He has potential' Estévez went on to say, "In modern soccer, it is more about also the collective and how other players from different positions can make an impact and be the playmakers from those positions. And this is what we are working on now, how we make our fullbacks and our central midfielders by players that can provide service to the forwards, also the wingers. I think we have quality in the team to do that." And despite the praise Estévez has for Uzuni, he also looks for him to be even better than he's been. "He has potential," Estévez remarked. "I think we can help him also to keep growing. He has a great mentality about keeping himself working hard and trying to get better every year. This is one thing that everyone is going to see is, this type of player that we bring as a \[designated player\], but he's the one that probably most is going to work off the ball and going to defend and press the opponent and fight. I think bringing a DP with these qualities also will help everyone to see that if our DPs are working hard, also without the ball, everyone has to do it. That also is the culture that we want to build here." ## A captain's coming Estévez indicated that a decision on the team's captain should come the week before the season starts — so, perhaps in two weeks' time. "I always like to involve the players in that decision," he said. "I think it's important that they feel like the person who represents them is someone that they feel the good one ... You can have, like, six captains, and then there is only one that is gonna wear the armband. But for me, it's more like we can create a stronger group of leadership than we already have. "What I like also is every part of the locker room feels represented in that leadership, the young players, the players that speak Spanish, players that just arrived to the club, the veterans, players that are coming from the academy. I like that the group is diverse ... that everyone feels represented and then also voted and everyone feels comfortable about it. We also, as a staff, like to have a say on that, like maybe bring in a name that we feel strongly about it, and if the players also are comfortable with that, it could be, but we like to make it a vote and that everyone has a say in this important decision." [Subscribe (or upgrade)](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Breakfast with Nico: An early morning interview with Austin FC's new head coach URL: https://verdeallday.com/breakfast-with-nico-an-early-morning-interview-with-austin-fcs-new-head-coach/ Last updated: 2025-01-31T02:18:43.000Z So, technically, it wasn't a breakfast, unless you count coffee as breakfast (which I sometimes do). But as many of you were making your morning commute to work on Tuesday (assuming it was in the 8 am hour), I was at St. David's Performance Center, checking in with new Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez over our respective cups of java as he prepares for his first season in charge of the team. The club's comms team gave us enough of a window to ask some questions that Estévez hasn't yet answered, and Estévez was nice enough to delay his coaches' meeting until we asked everything we wanted to ask. Here's a transcript of the conversation (lightly edited for length and grammar, though you'll be able to hear an audio edition soon on Emergency Podcast if you prefer your interviews that way). [Subscribe (or upgrade)](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signup) ### First of all, last time we got to talk to you, you were talking about some possible formation changes ... just curious about how you think about formations generally, and with the offseason player moves that have happened, what that's doing to influence your thinking? ### I know that in the past, you've gravitated toward the 4-3-3, \[being from the\] Berhalter school and all that. I know \[previous Austin FC head coach Josh\] Wolff has done that too during his time, but you talked about some other flexibilities. The first thing is, a formation is used by the people that don't have a big understanding and knowledge about soccer, so they can understand better the team's shapes on the field. That's why usually, as coaches, we talk about different formations, because the numbers are easier to identify players, for fans, for everyone around that, how the team can shape. My understanding is it goes more to having clear principles, clear concepts, where the formation, it's not the main thing. You can change formation, but the principles of the game, the idea, the philosophy and the concepts, are going to stay there. The formations is coming also for the profile of players that you have, and depending on the players that we decide to put into the field, some formations shape better for some players or others. The idea about formations is we use different formations when we have the ball, shapes between 4-3-3, the 4-4-2, the 4-2-3-1, also the 3-4-3, then it could shape differently depending also on the opponent. I always said that the opponent, the context that the opponent is showing you, and is bringing to you, is the way that you have to adapt to break them. Then, for example, if the team is more like in a 4-4-2, they have two forwards pressing. Do we need a plus one in the build-up, instead of building with two center backs, but do we need a plus one? And then three, do our players more comfortable building with two, building with three ... And then this will make us decide what type of shape we're going to do on the attacking side. And the defensive side is very similar, because you could start in, as you mentioned before, Austin was attacking in a 4-3-3, but it was defending in a 4-4-2, and we could use that 4-4-2, we could go to a 4-3-3 we could also sag some of the wingers back and go more like a 5-2-3, that most of the teams in the world are using when they play against a team that plays a 3-4-3 ... depending on the profile of players. It's something that when I have the opportunity to travel around the world and meet some coaches that are in top teams, they always say that we adapt depending also on the players that we have. I think what we are doing now is we are trying different things to see how we feel more comfortable depending what the opponent is doing to us in the games. The league has grown so much that coaches and teams change shapes during the game, and we have to be able to adapt very quickly and make tweaks during the game too. ### So it sounds like it's kind of a piece in teaching in terms of players understanding where they should be, what parts of the field they should occupy ... Yes, because the concepts are going to be the same. We're going to need players that run in behind. We're going to need players that gravitate in pockets. We're going to need to draw the opponent towards us, towards one side, to switch the field. Then at the end of the day, the principles are going to be the same, but yes, the positioning of the players is what is going to change depending on how the opponent is shaping themselves, in order to break them. ### I want to talk a little bit about fullbacks, just because Austin's used them in some innovative ways, fulcrums behind the final third to initiate attacks, but then also, kind of more conventionally, bombing down the wings, putting in crosses, things like that. So I'm curious about your philosophy around fullbacks and how you want to use them, and just given the group that you have, what kind of things do you think are possible with that particular position? Fullback has become a really important position in every team around the world, because when you're looking at their profile ... they can be versatile, they can adjust and adapt to different positions \[on\] the field. They can play inside. They can play wide, they can arrive to put crosses, and I think we have a really good set of fullbacks that can adapt to those positions. Mikkel \[Desler\] is a player that arrives very well, underlapping, overlapping. \[Guilherme\] Biro is a player that also can overlap, but he feels comfortable at the top of the box, arriving to the box for crosses — then we have to utilize their characteristics. Žan \[Kolmanič\] is a fullback that is really good in early crosses, overlapping, he has a special quality on that, be also feels comfortable, in trainings, we've seen playing a little bit more inside. He has a good range of passes, like a diagonal pass to the the other side, connecting passes. And we've been using John Gallagher as a fullback, but also as a winger. He's a type of fullback that adapt also to different kinds of positions, I think, depending on the game and the other players that we play on the wings. We'll have a really good variation of of how the fullbacks are going to play the games. ### Just wanted to have you think back a little bit to last year. You had this project of acclimating Petar Musa to MLS. He had five goals by the time that you had departed. He had 11 goals afterward. So it seems like he did eventually make that transition to the league, so just kind of curious about what you did, coaching-wise, to prepare him, and what you saw in terms of his evolution, again, thinking you'll have a similar project with \[Myrto\] Uzuni, who's new to MLS. \[Brandon\] Vázquez is going to reacclimate to MLS after some time at Liga MX. So just curious about that in particular. I think every player is a different case, and they have different circumstances. Like, I think Petar should have scored more goals while I was there, because he told me. We had a lunch after my departure ... and he was telling me he had good chances, but I think he acclimated very well. You don't know the personal situations of the players who come to America. It's a big step, a huge difference between Europe and coming here. And for Petar, his wife was pregnant, she had a baby in May, and then he was worried about her being alone with the baby and everything. And I think it took a little bit more to acclimate, but I think he did a fantastic job dealing with all these situations. I think the club has helped him a lot to get settled. And you could see after the result, once you are free in your mind that you're focused on the task, I think you can get yourself going, and I think we'll have a similar situation here. I think Brandon is different. He has played in the league already. He's American. His wife is American. They are already settled. It has been very quick for them to settle down. And I think, as always, we need to connect the dots here with the team and put everyone on the same page. But as soon everyone is on the same page, I think he will have an easier adaptation to what is the league. With Uzuni, we'll see. You never know. I think, because of the mentality that he has, it could be something that he can adapt soon. But, you know, it always takes a little bit of time. And I always put examples on players that came to the league. And then at the beginning, it took a little bit, and then after, as they got into the riding of games and getting settled in the culture, they were able to perform really, really high. But we'll help everyone here to adapt quickly to the culture and to the club — hopefully, the sooner the better. ### You had mentioned Musa's wife being pregnant. I mean, the sleep deprivation, I've been a dad; it's no joke. Is Uzuni in the same situation? Is his wife pregnant right now? Yes, but she's going to stay in Barcelona with her family. Because they don't want, like, it's going to be very close to come here and they probably will stay there. They have already everything settled in Spain with her family and everything. And I think they've made a good decision with that. And when he comes, he can be focused on performing. ### What's the time frame on that? We don't know. The visa is one of the things that you never know. They could speed it up real quick and then have him in the next week, but so far, we don't know. ### The club recently announced it was retaining Davy Arnaud, so you've been working with him a little bit. Obviously, he brings some institutional knowledge, but you also brought a number of other coaches to Austin FC. So I'm just curious about the mix and how the assistant coaches are working, and what they all bring individually to the table. Davy has an amazing CV that speaks for itself, as a player in the league, and then as an assistant coach in different teams in MLS, and now here he has been four years. almost five ... He brings a lot of knowledge about the players, the club, the culture here. He's a great, great person. I knew him before, had a great relationship with Josh \[Wolff\], and he spoke always very highly about him. And when \[sporting director\] Rodo\[lfo Borrell\] mentioned to me that Davy would like to stay at the club, and he also values him a lot, he has a lot of things to bring to the table. I didn't hesitate to say, "Yeah, of course." And I think he will be great and then I think he fits very well with the other stuff that we're bringing, because his knowledge of the league. The other coaches have less knowledge of the league, but have other qualities that \[by\] mixing everyone, it will make us work really efficiently and \[in a\] really detail\[ed way\] to improve the players and the team. ### So, just looking back on the interview process, and given this relatively quick turnaround from leaving FC Dallas to coming to Austin, just wondering what most appealed to you about this position, and then in particular your conversations with Rodo, and just thinking about that relationship as that is continuing to be forged? First of all, I accepted position in the US Men's National Team. I was assistant coach there. I signed a contract in July and started working in August, and it was previous to Gregg's departure *(Note: Berhalter, who left his U.S. Men's National Team post on July 10)*, and I helped the federation in the upcoming camps that they had in this transition, with Mauricio Pochettino coming. And it was after our camp here in Austin, and we played a game against Mexico in Guadalajara \[on Oct. 15\], and I received a call from Rodo showing interest to talk with me, to know me better. He mentioned in that call that he had three candidates that he felt very, very good about it, and then that I was one of them, even though I didn't interview yet. But I think that's how he operates, when he has a very clear – knowing him more now and working with him closely, he has a very clear idea of what he wants. And the reason ... he gave me is he, I know the league, training in the heat, he likes the way that my teams play. He also ... he knew, he saw every press conference that I had, my relationships with everyone, details that maybe people don't look at. But he had a lot of details about me that I didn't know. The only time that I met him, it was when we played against Austin and saod hello to him. But in the soccer world, we have a lot of people that they know him, and I know them. And probably he also asked people about me, and then after we had the interview, and I felt the interview went very well, and that we connected a lot of things — also, my knowledge about the salary cap and knowledge about players in the league, and all these things, the traveling, helped. And I think I felt that after that interview that we had, the next day of the call, it went very well. And then three days later, Monday, he called me, and he mentioned to me that he wanted to to offer me the job. He had to present it to the ownership and the president and everything right then after that, but he felt very, very strong about bringing me. ### Then, just thinking about your settling into life in Austin with Austin FC, just curious about how the transition has been for you, what you're enjoying most, about the club, about the city, what challenges you're seeing as most pressing, and what opportunities you're seeing as present for you here? It's a fun question because usually coaches, we don't have much life outside of being here \[at the office\] a lot of the time, but we were lucky, my family and me, to explore different places, the South Congress area. We walked around, went to some restaurants, went to The Domain. Also, we live in a place where we had a lot of places \[nearby\] for hiking, and then we explored those things also. But as the good weather comes, I think we will have more time to explore more things. And the typical things as any other people, or any other coaches that we have now, players that are coming, a lot of things to do ... the house, all the electric, arrange all these things. Make sure the the wife is happy, you know, "Happy wife, happy life, right?" ### Is she? And she's getting settled; my daughter's still in Dallas until the end of the the school year, and it's the first time, mom and daughter always have a very close relationship and sometimes they miss each other, but I think overall, it's really, really good. It takes time to feel like that your new home is your home ... but I think with the things that we're doing, and now we're putting all the pictures in the walls and all these things, it will feel better. But so far, the city has welcomed us really good. The people around, the fans have had an amazing welcoming to us, and the club also. Anything that we need, they are always ready to help us, and I think so far, we are really, really happy about it, and we want to keep growing these relationships between everyone here, and as soon the wives of the staff members come and we can gather together, I think we'll feel like a family here. But so far, it's really, really good. My son has adapted very well to the school here. He's playing soccer. He has adapted really well and and I think that's the most important thing, seeing them smiling. You know, my daughter is doing a lot of home task that she didn't do before, and my wife is so happy about it, and when she comes, she will be ready to do it at home. And it's part of the growth. And I think these projects and what we have is not only professional, it's about life and and we welcome always to have these opportunities. ### You talked about the fans and all that ... so were you surprised with the open practice and the turnout, given the weather? In Europe, we're used to doing open trainings ... and other opportunities that the team have, and usually the response of the fans are really, really good. And it was here in Austin, it was the first time, and you never know how they're going to respond, but I think they're responding really, really well, you know. And I think if it's something that we continue doing, I think that it is going to be growing, and if the weather is a little bit warmer, it will be. But I was very surprised in a good way, because the response was amazing. We felt them in the training, and I think the players saw that they are behind us. That's very important. *To hear the whole interview (including the bonus question that Moisés Chiullan asked), subscribe to Emergency Podcast on* [*Apple*](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergency-podcast-an-austin-fc-podcast/id1742052077?ref=verdeallday.com) *or* [*Spotify*](https://open.spotify.com/show/04gqpbtL1e4O8qNLAl27aF?ref=verdeallday.com)*, or experience it on* [*YouTube*](https://www.youtube.com/@philippewest/videos?ref=verdeallday.com) *(but, really, better to subscribe so you can get notified whenever a new one goes up).* *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### We ponder an intriguing question: Would Eduard Atuesta in Verde make sense? URL: https://verdeallday.com/is-one-more-move-coming-and-is-it-indeed-eduard-atuesta-2/ Last updated: 2025-01-27T16:51:13.000Z Matt Doyle, who covers all 30 MLS teams for MLSSoccer.com, has a difficult task in trying to provide insights on all of those teams. He watches a lot of soccer for his job, so he sees quite a bit from teams, and he does have some good insights across the board, but he's never going to have the kind of exclusive eye on Austin FC than any of us covering the team here will have. His article on what some jokingly call "the realtor site" (go to MLS.com rather than MLSSoccer.com and you'll see why) or "Major League Soccer soccer dot com" from Friday ruffled a few Verde feathers. It had some complimentary things to say about Austin's offseason moves, to be clear, but also had an incomplete picture of what Austin might be, and at least some of it had to do with what I sent him two days before an audience with Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez on Sunday made 2025 a little clearer. In his article assessing the Myrto Uzuni signing, he wrote: *The issue is there’s no longer really a natural home for that type of player at the very top of the game, as the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-3-3 have basically killed the second forward. The meta has changed, shifting in the direction of pure pitch control, which has led most teams to drop that second forward in favor of a third central midfielder (The other position greatly affected: the No. 10\. There are almost no classic 10s at the very highest level anymore since “individual genius” roster builds have been replaced by the press, positional play, playmaking wingers or some combination of all three).* *Anyway, Uzuni is showing, this year in LaLiga 2, that second forward remains his best spot. He showed, last year in LaLiga, that he could still be a threat on the counter from the left in a 4-3-3 – though also that he’s not going to be able to add much in the way of possession, playmaking or 1v1 ability when he’s out there.* *I don’t think Austin want to be a counterattacking team; I think they want to be a possession team that generates chances with the ball. But they now have three front-line DPs who aren’t really going to help a ton with the first part of that equation.* *So now there’s a ton of pressure on this midfield to control the game. That control then sets up the pre-conditions for Osman Bukari (on the right side) or Guilherme Biro (overlapping on the left) to find space wide and deliver final balls across the six. Those balls across the six are how Uzuni and fellow DP Brandon Vázquez score their goals. They won’t be able to add much without that kind of service.* Here's what I wrote him in response to [a Substack article he posted](https://tacticsfreezone.substack.com/p/transfer-needs-for-all-30-mls-teams) on Friday, Jan. 17, speculating that Verde might play a 3-5-2 this year: *On Austin's formation, I'd expect a base 4-3-3 (it's Estevez, after all), but I'd imagine the formation to be somewhat fluid, with Biro cheating up the left flank from his LB position (as he is wont to do) and Uzuni cheating inside. From highlights I saw, Uzuni really likes to bang in shots from the 18, so I can see him doing a lot of that and either scoring or Vazquez/Bukari cleaning up rebounds for tap-in goals.* *The biggest thing facing Verde now is getting a playmaker. Right now, I see a platoon of Owen Wolff, Dani Pereira, and Diego Rubio in that role, and not super confident about any of those. Stuver and the back line are solid, getting Dubersarsky as an understudy to Ilie puts the 6 in better shape than it was last year, and Driussi leaving actually gives Austin latitude to go after a 10, though it's now going to be at best a U22 or TAM-level playmaker. Evander or Acosta on this team instead of Uzuni would have been fun, but this has the potential to be fun as well.* Of course, two days later, we learned that Uzuni would likely see second-forward minutes in a 4-4-2\. But Doyle might have missed [my article about that](https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-open-practice-new-formation/), because in the MLS article from this past Friday, he went on to say: *Where’s that leave Austin? Well, I like Owen Wolff and Dani Pereira a lot, and Ilie Sánchez has always been a delight. Besard Šabović is more of an unknown, with scouting reports and advanced data suggesting he’ll probably be more of a worker than an orchestrator. Same for Nicolás Dubersarsky, the young Argentine d-mid they spent a U22 Initiative slot on.* *Which is to say they have some options, and those options could coalesce into a more functional midfield than what we’ve seen from their first few years of existence.* *But the bet, between hiring head coach Nico Estévez and making a big splash on Uzuni and Vazquez, is the midfield will be more than functional: the bet is the midfield will control the game. So there’s got to be another big signing coming here. The moves they made this winter don’t make sense without it.* I get it; he's busy. But he did offer one last suggestion worth exploring. *By the way, know who’s almost certainly available on a non-DP number and would make a ton of sense? Eduard Atuesta. We’ve seen him make this game model work in MLS both as a No. 6 and as a No. 8\. He’d look good this year pulling the strings in Verde & Black.* Let's ponder this. ## Who is Eduard Atuesta? Atuesta began his pro soccer career with Independiente Medellín in his native Colombia, and then came to LAFC in 2018, where he remained until 2021, winning Best XI honors in 2019\. He was then moved to Palmeiras, returned to LAFC on loan in 2024 — where he played with Ilie Sánchez (including 35 minutes together in their team's 1-1 draw with Austin on June 19 and about 20 minutes together in their Sept. 18 rematch, also a 1-1 draw) – and is currently back with Palmeiras. According to Transfermarkt, he's on contract through the end of 2026\. Here's what his FBref chart for the last 365 days looks like: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/-FBCharts--Eduard-Atuesta.png) As you can see, he does a lot of things quite well. But do you know who else does a lot of midfield things quite well per FBref? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/-FBCharts--Eduard-Atuesta-vs.-Daniel-Pereira.png) While Pereira offers a little more in blocks and pass completion, Atuesta's even better as a ball progressor (which is one of Pereira's perceived strengths), and brings plenty of goals and shot-creating actions to the offensive mix, and interceptions on the defensive end. Here's another interesting comparison – with Hassani Dotson, currently a Minnesota United midfielder reportedly unhappy with his current situation. Dotson, like Atuesta, is a player likely to be similarly just under the $743,750 max salary budget charge, even if he gets a bit of a salary bump from where he currently (unhappily?) is. (Players above this salary level either need to be bought down with targeted allocation money, like Julio Cascante, or are designated players and can earn whatever the club is willing to pay but only count $743,750 against a team's salary cap.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/-FBCharts--Eduard-Atuesta-vs.-Hassani-Dotson.png) And, even though we've established this is far from a perfect chart for him, here's how Atuesta compares to the central midfielder that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell just picked up. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/-FBCharts--Eduard-Atuesta-vs.-Besard-Sabovic.png) Atuesta appears, at first glance, to be an upgrade over all existing central midfielders, and while he's not a pure No. 10, he's a better overall creator than any of the existing midfielders. While his presence is speculative at best, here's what the starting lineup could look like with Atuesta as one of the dual 8s. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/4-4-2Atuesta.png) Theoretically, if you wanted to activate Šabović or Pereira (or Wolff), you could deploy Uzuni as a left wing in a 4-3-3 and have one of them partner with Atuesta in a dual 8 set up behind Ilie. Here's a reminder of how Austin lined up for the 2024 opener – one of the worst first halves in Verde history. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-26-at-6.39.13-PM.png) Behold the level of upgrade ... and 2024 starters like Pereira and Jon Gallagher could create appreciable depth. ## One more thing Atuesta, currently playing soccer in Brazil, hails from Colombia. He did get a green card in 2019, which theoretically makes it easy to bring him back to the U.S. to play soccer. But with [a deportation-related conflict brewing](https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd?ref=verdeallday.com) between the U.S. and Colombia less than a week into President Trump's second term, Atuesta could be an early case study in how geopolitics make an already unpredictable global soccer market even more unpredictable. Even if this is a transfer wholly hatched in Matt Doyle's brain, it involves a player from a country that our new president has begun sparring with, and that's another facet of MLS transfer sagas that now needs to factor into the sometimes complex equation. (Update: As of Monday morning, the conflict appears to be resolved without application of the steep tariffs that the Trump administration was threatening, but the point about unpredictability still stands.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Myrto Uzuni is Verde, and a heliocentric No. 10 is probably not URL: https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-is-verde-and-a-heliocentric-no-10-is-probably-not/ Last updated: 2025-01-25T14:48:02.000Z One of the worst-kept secrets of this MLS offseason has finally become official. Myrto Uzuni, the Albanian goal-scoring striker/winger from Granada, is now officially Austin FC's latest designated player signing, the club announced Friday. Uzuni, who will take the No. 10 jersey surprisingly abandoned by Sebastián Driussi in [an epic transfer saga](https://verdeallday.com/sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-limbo-river-plate-austin-fc/), had one notable boast in his club-issued press release: "I’m coming here to break records." Whether he really said "One of the main reasons I want to join Austin FC is the ambition that Anthony Precourt and Rodolfo Borrell have for this team, which matches my own ambition always to succeed with a winning mentality" is up for you to decide. (He did also allegedly say, "I can tell Austin fans that I will do everything in my power to score goals and help the team push toward achieving our objectives," which appears conveniently said to continue the fan-forward charm offensive that the club has been on this season, not that y'all mind, I'm sure.) ![Myrto Uzuni, playing for Ferencvaros in 2020](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/myrto-uzuni-verde-1.png) **Myrto Uzuni is (finally) Verde (in his Ferencvaros Budapest days; this isn't the actual new Austin FC home kit (as you all know by now) (sbonsi/Shutterstock.com)* What it means (aside from the aforementioned Precourt and Borrell deciding to spend a reported $12 million of Precourt's money) is that Verde's offseason heading into 2025 looks a lot like the LA Galaxy's 2024 offseason. Spending a lot on offensive talent worked for the Galaxy: They got two outstanding front-line players, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, that allowed them to fashion a [Killa Ps](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/killa-p-s-how-puig-pec-painstil-drive-la-galaxy?ref=verdeallday.com) nickname for the duo and Riqui Puig, who joined Dejan Joveljić to each notch at least 10 goals and 10 assists en route to winning an MLS Cup. ## We see your Killa Ps and raise you a UVB We should probably slow our roll a bit on Austin FC MLS Cup talk, but with a new all-designated player front line of Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez, and Osman Bukari, which I'm christening UVB (as in the sunburn-inducing ultraviolet rays, which admittedly is not quite as cool as Killa Ps), Verde fans should expect to make the playoffs on talent aggregation alone. What the Uzuni move does also do, coming shortly after the move to bring in [Besard Šabović](https://verdeallday.com/besard-sabovic-signs-austin-fc-2027-2028-option/), is leave Borrell with just one senior roster spot to fill. While that's good looking through the lens of 2024's thin-rostered stumble out of the starting gate, it also means that Austin probably won't be able to move a true heliocentric attacking central midfielder (a No. 10, using soccer terminology) this season. Borrell's still capable of surprise, but looking at the signings and head coach Nico Estévez's [early flirtations with a 4-4-2 formation](https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-open-practice-new-formation/), look for Verde to rely on Šabović, Owen Wolff, and Dani Pereira to connect Ilie Sánchez and the back four with the front three. Will that work? That's the looming question over the offseason heading to the Feb. 22 opener, but that's a much better looming question than "Who's going to play striker?" or "Does Driussi have a comeback year in him?" We discussed this in the latest Emergency Podcast, which went live this morning, and it will shape our next few weeks of coverage. --- ## A programming note! If you're reading this from your inbox, it came from our new home at verdeallday.com. We're still working out some back-end weirdness, but know that if you want to read articles on the site, you should [sign in](https://verdeallday.com/#/portal/signin) and then enter your email address. If you're in our system as a member, you'll get a login button through your email account. If you're a paid member, that gets you access to all the paywalled content just like it did on Substack. And if something doesn't work, please [email us](mailto:bureauofverdeallday@gmail.com) so we can troubleshoot. There's one weird thing we're aware of ... when you review your account, all paid members are listed in a tier that shouldn't actually exist called Just the First Team. If you're on the standard paid membership, you can set it to Standard from Just the First Team and it will behave like normal. If you are a Founding member, we'll move you to that tier accordingly. If you want a little more to your account, including a monthly roundup that will have some fun excerpts (which we'll preview for all paid members next week), there's a new Premium tier you can join for a bit more this month. But whatever level of support you offer, we're deeply appreciative! *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* *(By the way, that link goes to the new Verde All Day account on Bluesky; you can still reach* [*Phil West*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com) *there as well.)* ### Making sense of the Besard Sabovic signing: Who is he and what does he bring to Austin FC? URL: https://verdeallday.com/besard-sabovic-signs-austin-fc-2027-2028-option/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:20:08.000Z Another player previously rumored to be arriving at Austin FC was finally announced on Tuesday morning. Besard Šabović, a North Macedonian-born Swedish midfielder, most recently with Djurgårdens IF of Sweden’s top-flight Allsvenskan, has signed a three-year deal through 2027 with an option year in 2028\. As soon as his immigration paperwork is processed, he’ll join Verde as the 18th player on the senior roster. Assuming that Myrto Uzuni will be announced soon as the team’s 19th player and third designated player, as also rumored, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell will have one more senior roster spot to fill to hit the maximum of 20 (though, per MLS roster rules, Šabović as the 18th player is the last one needed for Austin FC to hit roster compliance for 2025.) We don’t have much ocular knowledge of Šabović as a result of him playing in a league that doesn’t make it to American TVs, though he has played in UEFA’s Conference League this season — that’s a competition that’s a rung below Europa League, which is a rung below Champions League. This season, it’s most notable for having Chelsea in it, currently the No. 1 seed following six group play games, with Vitória de Guimarães, Fiorentina, and Rapid Wien, but then Djurgårdens is right there in fifth. In fact, we have numbers from his Conference League appearances that got into FBref charts, but we don’t have much else. We learned from the press release that “in two separate stints with Djurgårdens (2015-2019 and 2022-2024), Sabovic totaled 10 goals in 107 appearances,” 21 of those in Conference League matches over the years. There’s also a scout on The Social Media Site I Will Not Name who shared a heat map showing him to be a true box-to-box midfielder, as well as data from the Swedish league showing him strongest in a goals-to-shots on target category and in progressive passes, which is reassuring. What I’m gathering from all the evidence is Šabović is an 8, able to do a little bit of everything in midfield. He’s not quite the 10 that Austin FC theoretically still needs in order to best activate its front line players, but it’s looking more and more like Austin could operate with two wingers, a lone 6 and a lone 8 in a 4-4-2 formation, or could break out a 4-3-3 with dual number 8s and a 6 behind a front three. Let’s say it with pictures. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5987cdb7-597c-4eca-893c-ad9c55dcab0d_1200x675-png-1.jpg) **Besard Sabovic appears to be an 8 (Michael Campanella via Besard Sabovic’s Instagram account)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Are we now two-forward? Learning about Austin FC's possible 4-4-2 future from a refreshingly open Nico Estevez URL: https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-ilie-sanchez-open-practice-new-formation/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T22:05:10.000Z In the Josh Wolff era, it’s not like we didn’t learn things at press conferences — it was just sporadic, selective, and entirely whim-dependent. That was not at all the case on Sunday with Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, who spoke to media before a practice session at Q2 Stadium for season ticket holders — which was in itself an unusual move that would be unheard of in the prior era. (It was made more unusual by a cold front plunging temperatures into the 30s.) We also got our first official Austin FC audience with Ilie Sánchez, who projects as the starting No. 6 and seems on track to become the club’s new captain, though he was very mindful of his answers about the type of leadership he’ll look to bring to Verde — with an answer that was very diplomatic and … captain-like. Let’s get to some of what we learned. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff11f94b0-5dd9-4210-8241-3ff93c6dbae5_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) **Ilie Sánchez spoke to media on Sunday (and was, speaking as an objective journalist, dreamy) (Phil West)* ## A two-forward formation? As we’ve discussed recently, including in the most recent Emergency Podcast, new Austin FC designated player Brandon Vázquez can certainly play as a sole target center forward, but had his best days in MLS with another forward to key off. Estévez, who largely gravitated toward a 4-3-3 formation during his time coaching FC Dallas, said some variations from that base formations could be in the works — including a two-forward system. “I'm always thinking on what profile of players we have,” he noted. “I’ve played in different formations my entire career. Last year, I had to adapt based on the availability of the players that we had in the roster. And this year, I think we are going towards different formations, and not only attacking, if not defending, is going to be different when we build up than when we're finishing attacks. “We will have different other plans based on the opponents, if the opponents change things. And I think we have very, very adaptable players that can fit in different positions. And this will help us to be more unpredictable to the opponent. And we're still working on different ways also defending. We could gravitate between the 4-4-2, 4-3-3, and 4-2-3-1.” Indeed, when the teams scrimmaged Sunday in the open practice, both 11s set up in 4-4-2s. ## And who could those forwards be? While rumored new signing [Myrto Uzuni](https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-transfer-rumor-analysis-sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-update/) wasn’t mentioned, Estévez did mention a left winger with center forward proclivities who is currently on the roster as a distinct possibility to spell Vázquez — or pair with him. “When I was analyzing his profile, that’s something that I brought to the staff,” he said. “He has a really good profile to be more central, to be more like a target type of player, but also because he has played as a winger, he has a really good understanding on runs in behind. His strength is arriving to the box, because he's a really good finisher.” In addition to Fodrey seeing more time at that spot, expect Diego Rubio to shuttle between No. 9 and No. 10 roles when he gets time on the field. He mentioned that in the build-up phase, the two-forward approach looks more like two 10s — not quite saying that wingers will get higher up the field, but that’s certainly possible given the two 10s clue — and then shifting to become two forwards in finishing attacks. “Rubio fits really well in those pockets, because he's a really smart player, and he has shown in the preseason, he understands really well he is on this kind of 9/10 role, and has provided really good actions during the trainings.” ## Other clues on who plays where As we’ve surmised based on offseason acquisitions and who’s on the roster, it’s likely that Owen Wolff and Dani Pereira will occupy central midfield, possibly together as dual 8s at times, and that Pereira in particular will seek to be deployed more forward than he was in previous seasons. (Pereira was at practice on Sunday, but sitting out actual on-field action as he started for Venezuela in yesterday’s match at Inter Miami’s stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — a 3-1 win for the USMNT.) Estévez mentioned new acquisition Nicolás Dubersarsky in passing, saying, “He's gonna learn a lot from Ilie in those aspects, but he has the energy, he has the physicality to help us in different kind of situations,” which sounds like he’s the backup No. 6 and potential heir apparent to Sánchez when he leaves. (Sánchez did say he expects Austin to be his last stop in MLS, leaving the door open to one more move overseas, but said his stay in Austin could be as short as one year or as long as five.) ## ‘I’m fine with any number’ Sánchez was utterly charming in his 10 minutes with media; I described it to colleagues after as “basking in his handsomeness.” He started with a sober acknowledgment of the fires still ravishing Los Angeles, where some of his family and friends are still “struggling with the situation,” before answering the first question out of the gate — the number swap that has Pereira moving to the perhaps-more-position-appropriate No. 8 and Sánchez to retain the No. 6 he’s worn at his previous MLS stops at SKC and LAFC. Noting that Pereira initiated the number switch with the club, Sánchez said, “I'm fine with any number. I don't mind that, obviously, six, it's the number I wore since I joined MLS, and it's good that he was nice to also think about that kind of change for him, stepping with the number eight and leaving that six for me.” Answering my question about what level of leadership he might offer, he said, “There are many players that have that role in here, that are leaders within the team. Believe me, I get every day from Brad Stuver that I'm the oldest player on this team, so I'm very aware of what my role can be within the group. “But I don't feel any pressure, because I can already tell how much they can also fill in those kind of roles,” he added. “I'm just going to be focusing on what I can do on the field and off the field, first to be able to do my job to the best of my abilities, but also if I can help any of them in any other areas of their roles, that's my mentality going into this season.” He’s impressed with how his new teammates are responding to the (mostly) new coaching staff, noting, “What I could feel in this week so far is that we are already more advanced \[compared\] to where I expected us to be for just one week of preseason. So that tells you, and that links with how intelligent and focused these players are, with what the coaching staff wants from us.” [Subscribe now](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### One for (far into) the future: Austin FC signs Nicolas Dubersarsky to contract touching the next decade URL: https://verdeallday.com/nicolas-dubersarsky-austin-fc-signing-projection/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T22:10:32.000Z On Thursday, Austin FC announced a player who could be under contract with the club, should they activate his option year, until 2030. And, since he’s a U22 Initiative player — the designation occupied by past Verde players like Moussa Djitté, Rodney Redes, and Žan Kolmanič — he’s on a salary cap-friendly roster number regardless of what Austin FC is paying him. Nicolás Dubersarsky, whose name has bubbled up in this week’s wave of rumors, is relatively unknown compared to the seemingly outgoing Sebastián Driussi and the seemingly incoming [Myrto Uzuni](https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-transfer-rumor-analysis-sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-update/). But the 20-year-old defensive midfielder — just nine days older than former teen Owen Wolff — projects as the heir apparent to the position Verde upgraded with the Ilie Sánchez signing just 17 days ago. Dubersarsky is just a year into his pro career, playing with Instituto ACC in Argentina’s first division in 2024\. According to [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.us/nicolas-dubersarsky/profil/spieler/1207586?ref=verdeallday.com), he has no goals and a single assist in 27 total appearances. But not to fret: He’s a pure, destroyer-type 6 (using soccer terminology that assigns numbers to positions on the field, which is actually really well explained on this save-your-Claudio-Reyna-jokes-but-on-second-thought-don’t [SoccerParenting.com](https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/what-in-the-world-is-a-6-u-s-soccers-player-numbering-system-explained/?ref=verdeallday.com)). He’s the kind of player that Jhojan Valencia was supposed to be for Austin when he arrived in 2022 on a three-year contract, even more defensively minded than Alex Ring, who became an effective 6 for NYCFC in MLS even though he was an 8 for most of his career and played with 10 aspirations at times. This offseason, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has switched out the Ring/Valencia rotation for a Sánchez/Dubersarsky one, which initially will work out to be (as I’m predicting it now) an 85/15 minutes ratio between the two, but will see the younger player step up in 2026 and 2027 as he gains confidence and MLS experience and as retirement increasingly becomes *a smart choice by Ilie*. The thing that jumped out at me about the press release that dropped at 5:30 pm (and greatly appreciated the heads-up from the club that it was imminent, although what that allowed me to do was compose [a Bluesky skeet](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social/post/3lfvgsntxos2w?ref=verdeallday.com) — *yes, that’s what they’re called, and yes, I’m okay with that* — in my head as I was driving to pick up my daughter from school) are the terms of the deal. Through 2029\. With a 2030 option. The age I will be in 2030 alarms me a little bit. There’s a non-zero chance, given the number I’m on now, that I won’t make it to Dubersarsky’s option year. Really, though, there’s a non-zero chance that any one of us will make it to Dubersarsky’s option year. But let’s not contemplate our collective fragile mortality! And let’s especially not contemplate each of our unique paths to the great unknown! Let’s look at some charts! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd3b566ee-8cb4-491c-b910-8cf802fbd227_1200x676.png) **Nicolás Dubersarsky: Totally not a living, breathing cruel example of vibrant youth and a harrowing reminder that death comes for us all (Nicolás Dubersarsky/Instagram)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The limbo we're in: Waiting for the official end of the Reyna-Wolff-Driussi era URL: https://verdeallday.com/sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-limbo-river-plate-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T22:13:28.000Z Sebastián Driussi is a luxury player on a team that still, even today, needs necessity players. When Driussi came over to Austin FC from Zenit in the summer of 2021, he was an unknown quantity to Austin fans, but it was evident even in his limited time on the field that season he was the team’s best player. And in 2022, he had an MVP-quality campaign with 22 goals and seven assists — a goal contribution every 99 minutes — to lead Verde to a second-place finish in the West and a Western Conference Final. Everything seemed to work for the first 27 matches of the season, culminating with a 4-1 home win over LAFC that remains, two and a half years later, the club’s apogee. But even then, with Diego Fagundez having a career year as a wide playmaker, and Maxi Urruti having his best statistical year since his 2017-2018 peak, cracks were beginning to show. Austin lurched to a 1-4-2 run to close the season, which included a playoff-clinching win against Real Salt Lake thanks to Moussa Djitté’s best game ever, and a MVP-clinching 3-0 Nashville loss which saw eventual winner Hany Mukhtar score two exclamation point goals late to turn a 1-0 match into a rout. During that time — in which it seemed opponents were catching on to how to thwart Driussi and slow the rest of Austin’s offense down — Felipe Martins was chirping at media in a move that I think was meant to be motivational, but led me to write [an open letter to him](https://www.thestriker.com/2022/09/11/open-letter-to-felipe-martins-play-like-you-want-praise?ref=verdeallday.com) (and, by extension, to the rest of the team) that encapsulated the collective late-season frustration fans felt with how far off their play was falling, exemplified by a 3-0 loss to the Sounders immediately following the Nashville loss. *You had a chance to clinch a playoff spot, to vanquish an MLS giant that’s been on the ropes for weeks now, get three points closer to your season-long goals, and awaken from a slump that has all your fans concerned.* *Instead, we got a lackluster performance that your own coach called “disappointing.” He said, at the risk of sounding negative, that the team has lost some of its “luster and bite” over this recent stretch. You’ve now lost your last three matches to potential playoff teams by an 8-1 margin. In losing last night to the reigning CCL champs, who no one wants to see in the playoffs, you opened the door to them getting right back into the playoff race.* And this was Austin’s *good* season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f53436a45-7e34-4d18-805a-def3f9cfae37_1600x900-jpeg-1.jpg) **Is this the last we’ll see of Driussi in Verde? (OtraXFavor)* ## When it went south 2023 started with original sporting director Claudio Reyna quiet-fired from the club under [a cloud of scandal](https://www.thestriker.com/2023/01/04/austin-fc-sporting-director-claudio-reyna-danielle-reyna-gregg-berhalter-controversy-what-we-know?ref=verdeallday.com) involving then-USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, and with head coach Josh Wolff attempting to remake the offense to allow Driussi to be heliocentric once again. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'Falta de respeto': Rodolfo Borrell and Nico Estevez talk about all the Austin FC players who made it to training and the one who didn't URL: https://verdeallday.com/falta-de-respeto-rodolfo-borrell/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T02:23:58.000Z It was an unusual cameo for an unusual time. Sebastián Driussi failed to report to St. David’s Performance Center for the team’s first practice of 2025 on Monday, after not showing up to the medical check-in on Saturday. That somehow necessitated Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell step up to the mike at the press conference even before head coach Nico Estévez did. While there were no official news about Driussi’s reported transfer to River Plate, Borrell did make clear that Driussi is in the process of going rogue. “There was not any agreement between us and him for him to remain in Argentina,” he said. “I want to make this very clear. The player was reported to the league, to MLS, on Saturday, he was reported yesterday, and will be reported today again after the finish of the \[training\[ session, if he doesn't appear. And MLS is taking all the all the measures, the legal measures that they have to take in this particular case.” Estévez, for his part, dubbed Driussi’s staying away as “falta de respeto” — a lack of respect for the players who did show up and work — and pointedly observed, “I make plans with the players that we have here.” Maybe the dealmaking between River and Austin won’t work out and Driussi will patch things up and be part of the team in 2025 … but it’s increasingly looking like that won’t happen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f6efac75b-ffb5-4bd5-9f9d-6f262b81b7bc_1600x900.png) **Rodolfo Borrell was a guest speaker at today’s Nico Estévez press conference. There was a good reason for that. (Austin FC Communications/video still)* ## A quick rundown Here are some highlights featuring players who showed up (in collaboration with Moisés Chiullán, who repped Verde All Day at today’s press conference). - Everyone’s healthy so far following the first-day check-in and Sunday’s beep test, won by Mikkel Desler, who’s [captured on video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTQ4zp0J6%5F0&ab%5Fchannel=AustinFC&ref=verdeallday.com) saying, “I turn off my brain and just run.” - Though Coachella Valley Invitational planning was underway before Estévez got here, he thinks that will be a good experience — though under Estévez’s tenure with Dallas, that team got to go to Spain. (Given all the Spain in the front office now, perhaps that’s in the works. Gonna ask about that at some point.) - As was the case last year, a number of VerDos players trained with the first team. On Monday, it was midfielders Ervin Torres and Diego Abarca, plus defenders Rubén Bonachera, Antonio Gomez, and Nicolás Van Rijn. - From a Spanish-language answer that gives a sense of what it’ll be like this year: “There has to be some patience as we create a new identity, an identity about which they feel proud. Our work and our energy is important during this preseason and the season to follow, because a team is not how it starts, it’s how it finishes. I feel like the entire season is going to be a learning process in training.” He did follow that, however, with acknowledgement of wanting to build a team that makes fans proud. - Estévez is familiar with new forward Brandon Vázquez from their involvement in the U.S. Men’s National Team, and he’s bullish on the striker’s potential in Verde. - The captaincy is open, with one of last year’s captains no longer with the team and the other appearing to be moving that direction. “Everyone has the chance” to be captain, Estévez said. “What we have to create as a team that is mature, and then they all have leadership skills that can help the team.” He said they’ll use the preseason to decide on who the smart choice would be. (He didn’t phrase it quite like that, but to indicate [who I believe will get it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WVgDgWYYrQ&ab%5Fchannel=ContinentalTire&ref=verdeallday.com), I phrased it that way.) ## Numbers update We’re now getting more confirmation of what number switcheroos have happened in the offseason, though nothing is official until numbers are registered with the league. Dani Pereira does indeed have No. 8 after gifting (or possibly selling) No. 6 to longtime No. 6 wearer Ilie Sanchez, Osman Bukari and Jáder Obrian have indeed switched, with Bukari taking over No. 11 and Obrian sliding into the possibly cursed No. 7 jersey. (We already knew Diego Rubio switched from No. 14 to No. 21, and we’re not quite sure why. No. 21 was made available when Oleksandr Svatok took the No. 5 jersey that Jhojan Valencia left behind.) So far, all other players we’ve seen are keeping their same numbers from last year. No. 14 appears unclaimed at the moment. No. 10 could also be up for grabs. [Subscribe now](#/portal/signup) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. You can comment here if you’re a subscriber, or reach out via* [*Bluesky*](https://bsky.app/profile/philwest.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)*.* ### Yeah, it's time: A glimpse at new Austin FC transfer rumor subject Myrto Uzuni URL: https://verdeallday.com/myrto-uzuni-transfer-rumor-analysis-sebastian-driussi-transfer-rumor-update/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T02:34:41.000Z I don’t know if this is a responsible thing to be doing. As the Sebastián Driussi saga continues on — *Will the designated player stay at Austin FC or move to River Plate? Will he report to training Monday like his teammates will be?* — Albanian winger/striker Myrto Uzuni, a 29-year-old currently playing for Granada in Spain’s second division, is [rumored](https://www.ideal.es/granadacf/uzuni-maneja-oferta-importante-austin-mls-20250108143351-nt.html?ref=verdeallday.com) to be coming to Verde. (*By the way, Driussi is* [*conspicuously absent*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DEsgo%5FgpOmu/?ref=verdeallday.com) *from the team’s Instagram video documenting players reporting back to St. David’s Performance Center this morning. Just sayin’.*) There are caveats built into this rumor, of course. There’s a reported $10 million transfer fee that Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell would have to meet, even though his estimated Transfermarkt value is around $5 million. Either would certainly put him in the designated player stratosphere, only gettable if Driussi (or, much more unlikely, Osman Bukari) was headed out the door. He’s also reportedly holding out from training — perhaps to engineer a new deal with Granada, who is trying to make a run to get back into La Liga. (As of Saturday afternoon, they were in eighth place but only five points off the league leader.) Also, though he’s capable of playing left wing, which is likely where he’d slot in at Austin, he’s more of a second striker or even first striker, and judging from his numbers and his video highlights — we’ll get to those momentarily — he appears to be a scorer first and a facilitator second. Here’s my theory on how this rumor has come to be: Uzuni was not meant as a Driussi replacement, but rather, a Plan B that Borrell was sniffing out if the Brandon Vázquez signing didn’t work out. Now that Vázquez is Verde, Uzuni isn’t a target for Borrell anymore, but his agent registered all that prior interest in his client and is now levying it against Granada to force a better deal. Letting the Spanish press know that Austin is interested (or *was* interested, as the case may be) would be part of that overall plan. But let’s do the exercise all the same. ![Myrto Uzuni](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ffd21e8d1-c351-4788-bf40-6836157a529f_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) **If this rumor heats up appreciably, we’ve got a file photo of him wearing verde and black (Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Crying in the club: Three takeaways from the Brandon Vazquez introductory press conference URL: https://verdeallday.com/three-takeaways-brandon-vazquez-rodolfo-borrell-press-conference/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T02:36:50.000Z Austin FC's newest striker met the media today, and sporting director Rodolfo Borrell also weighed in about the difficulty of making the deal to bring him in. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'Let's make some history together': Why I'm glad I joined a bunch of Austin FC fans to freeze with Brandon Vazquez on Monday evening URL: https://verdeallday.com/brandon-vazquez-fan-welcome-party/ Last updated: 2025-01-24T02:38:58.000Z It's the first major cold front this winter, so of course fans hung outside the Fairmont Hotel to say hello to Austin FC's newest designated player. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### We might regret this later: A deep dive on anticipated (but not yet official) Austin FC signing Brandon Vazquez URL: https://verdeallday.com/brandon-vazquez-austin-fc-reports-signing-imminent-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-02-06T13:00:28.000Z In 2022, with the chance to finally prove himself at FC Cincinnati’s starting striker, Brandon Vázquez had himself a season. 18 goals. Eight assists. An MLS All-Star selection. Three MLS Team of the Week nods. And, perhaps most importantly from a team standpoint, dramatically moving the team from three straight Wooden Spoons[1](#footnote-1) in its first three MLS seasons to its first-ever playoff appearance. FCC, under Philadelphia Union-developed head coach Pat Noonan and general manager Chris Albright, dramatically changed the team’s fortunes by getting the right mix of players in and coaching them well. They eventually lost to the Union in the conference semifinals that year. But after three years of abject misery, getting that far was a godsend for Knifey Lion[2](#footnote-2) and its spirted fans. In 2023, Vázquez had a comparative downturn from 2022, but still managed eight goals and four assists in a wildly successful campaign. FCC won the Supporters’ Shield and got to the conference finals, losing a heartbreaker to their rivals from Columbus. But it was still a remarkable two-year arc for Vázquez, starting his pro career with Tijuana in 2016 as a 17-year-old, making his MLS debut with Atlanta United in its first season at age 18\. He’s played 144 MLS games and scored 35 MLS goals — getting nearly 75% of his total MLS goals in that pair of seasons. Then, nearly a year ago (on Jan. 10, 2024, to be exact), Vázquez moved to CF Monterrey in an unusual (but not entirely unheard of) MLS-to-Liga-MX transfer. At the time, Albright said [via press release](https://www.fccincinnati.com/news/fc-cincinnati-transfer-forward-brandon-vazquez-to-cf-monterrey?ref=verdeallday.com), “He was a centerpiece of the team that brought FC Cincinnati its first trophy, and he’ll forever be part of the fabric of this club. He’s an incredibly talented player and an even better person, and we look forward to his future success.” What a difference a year makes. As you’re likely aware by now, Vázquez appears poised to part ways with his Liga MX club, initially rumored to be going to Bruce Arena’s San Jose Earthquakes. If he lands at Austin FC, he’d likely be the first-ever Austin FC striker to score double-digit goals in a 34-game season.[3](#footnote-3) We’ve already been burned by one presumably “sure to happen” rumor this offseason — Fafà Picault looked as if he’d be joining Austin FC before Inter Miami swooped in late with an enticing offer (Messi + Miami) — so this could all be for naught even though it became closer to reality during the evening I’ve split between playing [Farting Frenchies](https://www.bossdoggames.com/fartingfrenchies?srsltid=AfmBOoo18q%5FhIMhjSWiUs8%5FQtg9737WgeeCpQ9DA1zzOxrD%5FgFxT3Xzq&ref=verdeallday.com) with family[4](#footnote-4) and writing this tome. With the team’s latest signing, [Ilie S](https://verdeallday.com/ilie-sanchez-new-austin-fc-signing-analysis/)á[nchez](https://verdeallday.com/ilie-sanchez-new-austin-fc-signing-analysis/), already decently discussed, it’s time to learn more about Vázquez. To the charts! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fcb4f6412-87dc-4f6e-a53b-16e3fb83d9e0_1200x674-jpeg.jpg) **What might Brandon V*á**zquez bring to Austin FC? (We’re being positive-assumptive here) (Brandon V*á**zquez/Instagram)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Time to get Ilie: What to expect from Austin FC's newest addition URL: https://verdeallday.com/ilie-sanchez-new-austin-fc-signing-analysis/ Last updated: 2025-02-06T13:01:32.000Z A mere six hours after I mentioned the [Ilie Sánchez-to-Austin-FC rumor](https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-transfer-rumors-brandon-vazquez-ilie-sanchez-fafa-picault/) and cautioned against premature excitement, the club announced his signing on Tuesday afternoon: a one-year deal with an option year that could keep him under contract until his 36th birthday on Nov. 21, 2026. With the confirmation that Sánchez won’t be on a TAM-level salary — therefore making far less than the nearly $1.3 million he was pulling in last season — Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has managed to tick three key boxes with this signing: - Fills a position of need, - without using an international spot, - economically. That position of need, defensive midfield, was filled imperfectly last year by Alex Ring, who prefered more of a hybrid role and had offensive inclinations even though he also filled in at center back during the Great Center Back Crisis of 2023, and Jhojan Valencia, a pure defensive midfielder who didn’t quite catch on in Josh Wolff’s system, logging 1434 minutes in 16 starts and 27 total MLS games in 2024 and a weirdly, nearly identical 1432 minutes in 2023 with the exact same number of starts and total games the season prior. With both of those players offloaded in the offseason, there’s opportunity for Sánchez to come in and be an everyday starter. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ffbe2c0f7-fbe4-425a-b8f1-db0d8e6b3fc7_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) **What kind of player will Ilie Sánchez be for Austin? And what kind of team will Austin be for Ilie Sánchez? (Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The post-Picault offseason: What it means for Austin FC that it couldn't land Fafa URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-transfer-rumors-brandon-vazquez-ilie-sanchez-fafa-picault/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:22.000Z So, it turns out that former Vancouver Whitecaps winger Fafà Picault did have reason to [say goodbye](https://verdeallday.com/hector-jimenez-matt-bersano-fafa-picault-farewell-instagram-posts/) to Canadian fans on Friday. It just wasn’t for the reason that vigilant Austin FC fans thought. With Sunday’s news from MLS transfer authority Tom Bogert that Picault is headed to Inter Miami CF, Verde’s still left waiting for its first significant incoming move of the offseason, and is still parked on 15 senior roster players heading into the New Year. Monday evening brought a report that former FC Cincinnati striker Brandon Vazquez is mutually parting ways with CF Monterrey, which would make him much more attractive to MLS teams looking to bring him back to a league where he had significant success. Should Austin somehow be able to outbid and/or out-entice other teams for Vazquez’s services, it would be able to solve two of its core roster-building issues heading into the 2025 season. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### It's so hard to say goodbye: Clues to the Austin FC roster shakeout via a Friday Instagram drop URL: https://verdeallday.com/hector-jimenez-matt-bersano-fafa-picault-farewell-instagram-posts/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:22.000Z It's been a quiet week on the Verde front, but three different Instagram posts on Friday provided a little more clarity as to what's happening with the 2025 roster. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Which '80s song best fits Austin FC not signing Jeremy Ebobisse or Leo Campana? URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-striker-search-jeremy-ebobisse-leo-campana-bruno-damiani/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:24.000Z Because I’m me, and because I spent my high school years in the ‘80s — which was simultaneously an amazing time and a catastrophic time for music — the Christmas Eve news that Jeremy Ebobisse signed with LAFC[1](#footnote-1) and the Dec. 19 news that the New England Revolution sent a (metaphorical) truck full of GAM to Inter Miami for Leo Campana got me thinking about John Waite. John Waite, English solo artist, ginger, and eventual member of supergroup Bad English (although supergroup is doing a bit of work there) had a 1984 No. 1 hit — the most notable thing he’s ever done — with an earworm called “Missing You.”[2](#footnote-2) The whole premise of the song is that the protagonist has broken up with someone, and asserts “I ain’t missing you at all” throughout the song (in the gruff and insistent vocal style that places him in company with other similar ‘80s male singers like Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, and John Cougar Mellencamp). It ends with the reflection, “No matter what my heart might say/I ain't missing you at all,” which clearly signals that he’s trying to be bravely stoic through the heartbreak, but he does indeed miss his former lover. I mean, “Missing You” is the title after all! (Trust me, I’m working toward a thesis here.) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Will they see the field? Determining where Riley Thomas and Patrick Gryczewski reside in the Austin FC SuperDraft pantheon URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2025-mls-super-draft-riley-thomas-patrick-gryczewski/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:25.000Z Austin FC moved its top pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft for a much-needed (we are pretty sure) international spot on Friday, but did actually secure two players who certainly have the opportunity to contribute to Austin FC’s second team if not the first. Riley Thomas and Patrick Gryczewski may or may not make a difference for Austin FC, and you could argue that only one player in Verde’s SuperDraft history has made an appreciable different (positively, that is). But the annual tradition in futility and scrambling to get up-to-date on college soccer got me thinking: Is it time to look at five years of SuperDrafts as well as these new players to deliver you a little more than 3,000 words to keep you content with Verde content this pending slow holiday week? [We'd love for you to take a survey!](https://forms.gle/j3ZkpgXj7MneaWoJ6?ref=verdeallday.com) In other words: Did you say you wanted a deep dive into Austin FC’s entire SuperDraft history? Let’s do it! I’m on the front end of 11 days off from my day job! ![Riley Thomas, new Austin FC draft pick](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f761c4544-c017-4ded-be1f-e9eb71a6c8f8_1200x675-png.jpg) *Riley Thomas was Austin FC’s first and best pick in this latest SuperDraft (Riley Thomas/Instagram)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### It's a date (34 of them, in fact): Initial thoughts on the 2025 Austin FC schedule URL: https://verdeallday.com/2025-austin-fc-schedule-release-initial-observations-copa-tejas-season-opener-away-trips/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:26.000Z Verde dropped its regular-season schedule on Thursday, and we have some observations about what to expect in the new year, plus lots of links to click. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Make it a Verde Vacation, Part 1: Austin FC returns to Coachella Valley Invitational in 2025 URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-coachella-valley-invitational-2025-schedule/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:26.000Z Verde will play three matches in the annual preseason tournament. Learn why it's one of the best ways to experience your team up close. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Coming soon URL: https://verdeallday.com/coming-soon/ Last updated: 2024-12-17T21:39:32.000Z This is Verde All Day, a brand new site by Phil West that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can [subscribe](#/portal/) in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published! ### Austin FC announces new additions — but they're not players URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-announces-three-new-coaches-january-2025/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:27.000Z On Monday, Austin FC announced three new coaches are joining the club, bringing the sort of transition you expect a new head coach to bring. But among the news of the three new coaches who will start their work in January — all in their 30s (if my internet research is correct), all hailing from Spain — came the announcement that Verde’s recent interim head coach, Davy Arnaud, will remain with the club. Arnaud will provide some institutional knowledge, and was an able steward of the team in the one-match window he got to coach them — a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Colorado in which some unlikely heroes emerged with stoppage-time goals to turn potential suffering into joy. Terry Boss recently moved from Austin’s assistant ranks to coach USL League 1 side Lexington SC, so we knew there would be at least one vacancy, but this announcement does mean that Preston Burpo, who has been Verde’s goalkeeper coach since the inaugural season, will move on (and would certainly be a good pickup for a team looking to improve its goalkeeping). (Has Bruce Arena brought a new goalkeeping coach to San Jose yet?) They all have LinkedIn accounts, which I’m linking to below, and I might have shared those with a Los Verdes Slack channel called “Handsome Boys Modeling Football Club,” where various attractive Austin FC-affiliated people are admired. (I did not say ogled. I considered saying ogled.) ![Davy Arnaud at press conference](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f4d8fd5be-0c80-4bdf-9d61-f448e247bb94_1200x675.png) *Davy Arnaud remains part of the Austin FC organization (Austin FC Communications/video still)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### One in, one out? Making sense of the Fafà Picault and Owen Wolff rumors URL: https://verdeallday.com/one-in-one-out-making-sense-of-the/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:29.000Z While it's been a slow week for Austin FC news, there's a possible that a talented player's coming in and a talented player's on his way out. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Goodbye, Gyasi Zardes; hello, significant roster cap flexibility URL: https://verdeallday.com/gyasi-zardes-austin-fc-buyout-roster-cap-flexibility/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:29.000Z Even before the calendar has flipped to 2025, the striker currently 10th on MLS' all-time goal scoring list was released via Austin FC's 2025 buyout. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Expensively average: What goals added and standard deviation tells us about Austin FC's designated players and a unicorn named Riqui Puig URL: https://verdeallday.com/goals-added-austin-fc-la-galaxy-new-york-red-bulls-2024/ Last updated: 2025-02-02T13:50:45.000Z We’ll start this by saying Riqui Puig is really good. Or at least, he *was* before tearing his ACL in the Western Conference Final last Saturday, getting his LA Galaxy into MLS Cup despite playing on one good knee for the last half hour of the match and getting the match’s only assist in that time. My hope, of course, is that we get some kind of rehab worthy of Steve Austin, hero of my favorite ‘70s childhood show, and he comes back rebuilt and stronger than before. (Somewhere, deep within the recesses of my childhood home where my mom still lives, the [action figure](https://www.ebay.com/itm/405185435859?gQT=2&ref=verdeallday.com) and [form-fitting rocket transporter](https://www.greatspecials.shop/?path=page/ggitem&ggpid=2984368&ref=verdeallday.com) live on. Probably. I should try to find that next time I’m in Seattle.) To give you a dynamic visualization of what Riqui Puig meant to his team, friend of the site Chase Hoffman pointed us to this wonder that his colleague in the American Soccer Analysis group of soccer super-nerds ([Matt Barger](https://bsky.app/profile/mattbarger.bsky.social?ref=verdeallday.com)) put together: _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### A familar Austin FC name manifests in an unexpected way — possibly on MLS' largest stage on Saturday URL: https://verdeallday.com/diego-fagundez-mls-cup-possible-start-saturday-dec-7-2024/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:35.000Z It was pretty obvious, even before the LA Galaxy solidified its 2024 lineup with $20 million worth of designated player winger, that Riqui Puig would be key to its season. Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil did make the Galaxy more offensively potent, and their presence allowed Dejan Joveljic to truly flourish as a more unfettered and less occupied-by-defenders center forward. But it was clear that everything the Galaxy wanted to be in 2024 — which, given the disaster 2023 had been, started and sort of ended with improving into a playoff team — would run through Puig. He ended up with 37 goal contributions and spearheading a remarkable turnaround of going from even-worse-than-2023-Austin to a Supporters’ Shield contender and MLS Cup finalist in a single season. And then, he had to go and get hurt. He did it in the most dramatic way possible: clearly affected by what turned out to be a torn ACL an hour into the Western Conference Final, and still remaining on the field until the final whistle, getting the match’s only assist with five minutes left in regulation to get his team to its first MLS Cup final in a decade. (Be sure to read Alex Ruiz’s excellent [Monday morning assessment](https://www.galactictribune.org/p/riqui-puig-the-man-who-revived-the?ref=verdeallday.com) if you want to know how rightfully distressed Galaxy fans are at the moment.) In 2014, when the Galaxy last appeared in an MLS Cup final, it was at the tail end of an amazing run of three championships in four years led by Peak Bruce Arena. Riqui Puig did what some names you couldn’t believe – Steven Gerrard, Giovani dos Santos, Chicharito, and Douglas Costa – couldn’t do in the decade since Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, and Omar Gonzalez (and Gyasi Zardes, who scored the Galaxy’s first goal in that final) got one for the thumb. With Puig out for MLS Cup and likely much of 2025, No. 10 duties on Saturday will most likely fall to Marco Reus, the German legend who has only figured into 359 minutes of regular-season action since becoming a surprise midseason pickup. But as Ruiz told me via text, Reus has picked up a knock that may limit his action in Sunday’s final — or prevent it all together. Which means, as you may have already surmised, that ex-Austin FC player Diego Fagundez could start the league’s championship match 16 months after leaving Austin, after being 90 minutes away from getting to an MLS Cup the season prior. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fda74df4f-9eb7-4be1-b998-976d41256fb2_1200x676-png.jpg) *Diego Fagundez appears to be loving life in L.A. (Diego Fagundez/Instagram)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Mailbag stuffed like a turkey: Answering your questions in time for Thanksgiving URL: https://verdeallday.com/mailbag-stuffed-like-a-turkey-thanksgiving-2024-plus-emergency-podcast-mailbag/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:35.000Z You want answers? We’ve got answers. To celebrate Thanksgiving (and a welcome half-day of doing what we wanted yesterday afternoon), Moisés and I have prepared all kinds of answers to some outstanding questions you offered up. First, if you want something to listen to while basting a turkey or debating the merits of stuffing or whatever else you might be doing to pre-game America’s favorite eatin’ holiday, we’ve got our [longest podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2e1KB9ktbBHde83LdrtNYR?si=eafedd61471745f9&ref=verdeallday.com) yet, which features a special treat in the last 12 minutes that might stand as one of the finest Emergency Podcast segments ever. (I am staunchly pro-stuffing, by the way.) We also have a great deal of written answers we labored over earlier this week … thanks to all of you who submitted questions. We’ll do another mailbag at some point in the near future. To the (written) questions! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fed9f06a5-6ff6-43f1-9596-f3a842f6c97e_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *Requisite mailbox image for mailbag column (New Africa/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### And then there were four: Assessing the remaining teams in the MLS Playoff field URL: https://verdeallday.com/2024-mls-playoffs-conference-finals-preview/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:35.000Z If you missed the playoff matches this week — and you very well might have — they were a lot of fun. Here's what remains in the 2024 Playoffs. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Sure, why not: We explore the Hercules rumor just for fun URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-hercules-fortaleza-transfer-rumor/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:40.000Z This seemed like a blast from the past (as in, several months ago), but a publication revived it, so we'll do the same. (It's the offseason!) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Is Austin FC really in for Paulo Diaz? Does Austin FC even need Paulo Diaz? URL: https://verdeallday.com/paulo-diaz-austin-fc-transfer-rumor/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:42.000Z A full 50 international caps with Chile, including going the distance in a 0-0 draw with Peru on Friday. A regular starter for River Plate, featuring in Copa Libertadores matches as well as league play and cup play. A Transfermarkt valuation of €5.5 million. Run through those basic factoids about Paulo Diaz, and he sounds pretty good. Also, 30 years old as of August, and a center back — a position where Austin FC doesn’t exactly lack for options, but … could possibly use an upgrade? We’re going to take this rumor from something called [Pasión Futbol](https://www.pasionfutbol.us/transfers/gallardo-may-lose-a-key-river-figure-who-may-go-to-the-mls-20241115-0044.html?ref=verdeallday.com), saying that both Atlanta United and Austin FC are interested in his services, and that he’s available for a $4 million transfer fee, and run with that. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f63102259-be34-4c5f-ba74-b34e18067f81_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) Could Diego Rubio’s countryman be coming to Austin? (Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock) _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Would Marvin Ducksch be a good designated player pickup for Austin FC? URL: https://verdeallday.com/marvin-ducksch-transfer-rumor-austin-fc-werder-bremen/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:46.000Z Let’s start this by saying there’s a rumor that Austin FC is in for a 30-year-old striker. You might be concerned by that, knowing that the club’s gone down this path before, as recently as last year, and it hasn’t ever worked out in the way that you’d want for a starting striker signing. That would be an understandable and totally justifiable reaction. But let’s say he’s 30 and playing in the Bundesliga, got two caps last year with the German national team, scored double-digit goals the prior three seasons for Werder Bremen, and is a bit off his normal pace this season but still getting a goal contribution every 115 minutes. Suddenly it looks a lot better, right? The transfer rumor was shared a few weeks ago by [Sky Germany](https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artikel/marvin-ducksch-weckt-interesse-in-den-usa/13238406/34828?ref=verdeallday.com), which is certainly more reputable that Random Online Guy. He’s previously been linked to possible moves to teams in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which means a possibly hefty payday that might not be matched by Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. Then again, testing himself in MLS could be appealing at this stage. ![Werder Bremen stadium](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd1dab02f-f7cf-462e-bf18-8ea7e3607340_1600x900.png) *What, and leave all this behind? (uslatar/Shutterstock)* I did a little digging into his numbers, which include some pretty eye-popping percentile ratings for the Big Five European leagues, which could turn into even better percentile ratings if he’s not playing Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, or RB Leipzig. Maybe this is a bit hyperbolic to say, but … he’s potentially German Chicho Arango. (At least in some categories.) It’s chart time. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Austin FC's current roster is a mullet: Assessing who Rodolfo Borrell might need to sign URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-current-roster-mullet-2025-season/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:46.000Z Consider the mullet. Short and even corporate-friendly in the front, but lush and untamed in the back, flowing rebelliously down the neck to the collar. You could also look at it as full and substantive in the back, with no need to grow it further, whereas in the front, it lacks the same level of hirsute glory that some believe hair should be. Ask any hair metal band from the ‘80s, and they’ll likely tell you a mullet is only halfway to glory. Thus, how it is with today’s version of the Austin FC roster. After a round of roster cuts and the re-signing of Dani Pereira, 16 of Austin FC’s 20 senior roster spots are occupied. Assuming that Owen Wolff maintains his supplemental roster status, as the official [club-maintained roster](https://www.austinfc.com/club/roster-profile?ref=verdeallday.com) indicates, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell needs four new-to-Verde players to fill out the heart of the squad plus whatever supplemental players can slot in. Here’s where the roster stands, position by position. ![Gyasi Zardes chasing ball](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f99890664-d4c2-4dbf-aa08-46003cdbbf8b_1600x900.png) *Will Gyasi Zardes be part of 2025’s plans? He is right now (OtraXFavor)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### November Madness: Inter Miami knocked out and more delights from the first round URL: https://verdeallday.com/november-madness-inter-miami-knocked/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:47.000Z The first round of the MLS playoffs ended on Saturday night with perhaps the most stunning upset in the league's history. Here's where things stand. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Dani Pereira is now in the Sliding Doors phase of his Austin FC career URL: https://verdeallday.com/dani-pereira-contract-extension-sliding-doors/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:47.000Z The announcement that many Austin FC fans anticipated finally came Friday: Dani Pereira was signed to an extension superseding his existing contract. However, it’s not the length of contract that says he’ll definitively stay in MLS for his career. It’s not a contract, conversely, that indicates that he’s following his earlier-voiced aspirations of playing in Europe. Let’s call it a Sliding Doors contract. Like the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle of that name, Pereira’s now in the “will he catch the subway to Europe?” or “will he miss it and stand on the MLS Lifer platform?” stage of his career, agreeing to a one-year contract for 2025 with an option year in 2026 (which, in MLS, is always a club option unless there’s some sort of autotrigger in it, which we should dub a Rigoni). That essentially kicks the Commit to Dani can a year down the road. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If Pereira and the club decide next offseason to do a long-term deal, that can still be done. If there is indeed a European suitor for Pereira, either this winter or next summer, that can be negotiated without the urgency of a contract expiring at the end of the 2025 season. And though we won’t officially know until the first MLSPA Christmas in the spring, he’s likely now on a salary that’s more reflective of his value, after being on a SuperDraft contract (albeit for a Generation Adidas, No. 1 SuperDraft pick). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f3bc24429-39e6-4bd5-ab32-86b8a5ec49d3_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *Dani Pereira remains in Verde for at least another season (unless …) (OtraXFavor)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Catching you up on the MLS Playoff first round that started Oct. 25 URL: https://verdeallday.com/mls-2024-playoffs-first-round-update/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:48.000Z There have been some surprises in MLS this week. The two biggest ones have nothing to do with play on the field — Jim Curtin was dismissed as the Philadelphia Union’s coach after 10 seasons, amassing a 1.52 PPG average over 420 matches, and the Houston Dynamo declined to pick up Hector Herrera’s 2025 option, meaning that his final action with the club was getting a red card in a playoff-eliminating loss for spitting in the direction of a referee. But starting on Friday night, and continuing with three back-to-back-to-back matches on Saturday afternoon and evening, MLS playoff soccer is back to help balm whatever else might be ailing us this week. Here’s what you’re in for. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc376a2ac-2ca3-4f4a-954a-f206d5e53935_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *Can Brad Guzan come up big against Miami? (ACHPF/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Initial thoughts on Austin FC dropping big roster news on a ... very slow news day URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-roster-moves-ring-hedges-valencia-finlay-bersano-pereira-farkarlun/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:48.000Z Nothing going on today, right? Austin FC figured it was a good day to announce it's parting ways with five players. Could any of them be back? _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### What's the plan for Dani Pereira? URL: https://verdeallday.com/dani-pereira-2025-option-year-austin-fc/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:58.000Z Did Austin FC midfielder Dani Pereira really reveal his contract situation on a Twitch stream? That’s the story that circulated among fans on Monday, claiming that Pereira said his option year was activated but he didn’t yet have a new contract offer as some of his teammates received recently. That would explain why there’s not yet a contract extension announcement by the club for Pereira — one of the first ones I expected to be made, believing sporting director Rodolfo Borrell’s assertion that Pereira would be back next year and that he’s an important part of the team. Pereira’s 24 now, a four-year contributor for Austin FC after being selected first in the club’s first-ever SuperDraft. Pereira’s emerged as the best player in that draft (unless you count second-rounder Jackson Ragen, picked by Chicago, and now a stalwart center back for the Sounders), and he’s still on a contract that paid him $138,414 in guaranteed compensation. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### State of the Austin FC roster after a busy week followed by a quiet week URL: https://verdeallday.com/state-of-austin-fc-roster-nov-1-contract-options/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:58.000Z Austin FC brought some clarity to its 2025 roster with last week’s contract extensions for Jáder Obrian, Owen Wolff, Brendan Hines-Ike, and Diego Rubio. No players have been added since then, but we’re a bit closer to knowing who’s committed to play for newly-feted coach Nico Estévez in 2025 … and perhaps more importantly, keeping improvement in mind, how many open senior roster spots remain. Currently, according to the Austin FC roster page that comms director Cam Koubek lovingly maintains, 15 players hold senior roster spots and contracts keeping them here next season. Those are (with contract details): 1. Guilherme Biro (through 2026, option for 2027) 2. Osman Bukari (through 2027, option for 2028) 3. Julio Cascante (through 2025, option for 2026) 4. Stefan Cleveland (through 2025, option for 2026) 5. Mikkel Desler (through 2027, option for 2028) 6. Sebastián Driussi (through 2025, option for 2026) 7. Jon Gallagher (through 2026, option for 2027) 8. Brendan Hines-Ike (through 2025, option for 2026) 9. Žan Kolmanič (through 2025, option for 2026; please note he’s no longer a U22 Initiative player) 10. Jáder Obrian (through 2026, option for 2027) 11. Diego Rubio (through 2025, option for 2026) 12. Brad Stuver (through 2025, option for 2026; who would like to see this extended?) 13. Oleksandr Svatok (through 2027, option for 2028) 14. Leo Väisänen (through 2026, option for 2027) 15. Gyasi Zardes (through 2025, option for 2026) What we don’t know yet is whether Wolff will still be on the supplemental roster or on the senior roster. If Wolff does have to occupy a senior spot, that leaves four open spots. Why do we wonder? From the MLS Compendium of Labrynthine Rules: “Homegrown Player(s) in Supplemental Roster slots 21-30 may earn in aggregate each year up to $125,000 above the Reserve Minimum Salary (if occupying slots 25-30) or Senior Minimum Salary (if occupying slots 21-24).” The Reserve Minimum Salary in 2024 is $71,401\. Assuming it stays the same, Wolff could still be a supplemental player if he’s making $196,401 or less. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f9b13e7b9-d774-4092-bd6a-7078c7cc6be5_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *The roster status of Owen Wolff (here eyeing Lalas Abubukar warily, which is understandable) will be key to 2025’s rebuilding* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'I would encourage everybody to look forward': Impressions of an introductory press conference and a welcome party URL: https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-austin-fc-introduction/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:13:59.000Z It was two sides of a Nico Estévez Comes to Austin coin on Tuesday, as the new Austin FC coach spoke to the press and then met fans at the stadium. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'It'll work': More thoughts about Nico Estevez from those who know him URL: https://verdeallday.com/more-thoughts-about-nico-estevez-austin-fc-jon-arnold-arman-kafai/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:00.000Z You might be wondering how the Nico Estévez hire is going to work out for Austin FC. It was announced on Friday, and since then, fan reactions have ranged from guarded optimism to a Change.org petition calling to “[prevent Austin FC from hiring Nico Estévez](https://www.change.org/p/prevent-austin-fc-from-hiring-nico-estevez?ref=verdeallday.com),” even though he’s already been hired. In our initial reflection about the hire, we consulted two writers who follow FC Dallas about as thoroughly as anyone in the business for [their takes](https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-austin-fc-head-coach-hire/) on the hire. They had ultimately equivocal things to say, pointing out gains he made in his transformative debut season and then problems that arose along the way that eventually led to his mid-2024 dismissal. Yet, as local statsmaster Chase Hoffman calculated, “FC Dallas had the highest PPG bump this season after firing their coach: A .625 PPG / 71% increase. Had they kept Estevez, on .875 PPG, they'd have finished in 13th place, and would have been second worst in MLS, topping only legendarily bad San Jose. If they'd had the 1.5 PPG they've gotten from Luccin-as-interim, they'd have finished 7th.” Assuming you want to feel better about this hire, Striker alumnus Jon Arnold — who has been covering FC Dallas for years and has also moved into its broadcast booth for some matches — has you covered. In assessing it, he thinks about not just the coach’s body of work, but how he might get along with his new boss, sporting director Rodolfo Borrell. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f3ca5214f-74f7-4fea-a15a-aa256b83d367_1200x675.png) *Nico Estévez, judging from Austin FC’s welcome video, is building up a nice collection of Verde gear (Austin FC/YouTube video still)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### The battle of Los Angeles (probably): 2024 MLS Playoffs preview, Western Conference edition URL: https://verdeallday.com/2024-mls-western-conference-playoff-preview/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:00.000Z *The Battle of Los Angeles*, released in 1999, was Rage Against the Machine’s best and most complete album. They’ve had some stellar songs on other albums — *Evil Empire*’s got “Bulls on Parade” and “Down Rodeo,” for instance, and the debut album gave us [my favorite TikTok video](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP88g1RbR/?ref=verdeallday.com) of all time — but if you want an album in which every track’s integrated and purposefully ordered, *The Battle of Los Angeles* is the one. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### We're surprised, too: Austin FC names Nico Estevez its new head coach URL: https://verdeallday.com/nico-estevez-austin-fc-head-coach-hire/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:01.000Z The Friday announcement came amid rumors that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell was talking to a finalist, but did anyone expect him to be just four hours up I-35? _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### It's gonna get Messi: 2024 MLS Playoffs preview, Eastern Conference edition URL: https://verdeallday.com/2024-mls-playoffs-eastern-conference-previews/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:01.000Z In the final match of the 2024 regular season, with Inter Miami CF vying for the all-time MLS points record in a 34-game season, Lionel Messi got on the field at about the hour mark. Within his first minute on the field, he was instrumental in the play engineer Benjamin Cremaschi’s go-ahead goal. Then, in an 11 minute span between minutes 78 and 89, Messi scored a hat trick. A tense 2-2 match against the New England Revolution — ostensibly defending the points record it won just three years ago — turned into a 6-2 blowout, followed by a celebration on a stage wheeled onto the field for winning the Supporters’ Shield. That’s what the rest of the East has to contend with starting on Friday night. Miami is more than just Messi, of course — the legend only played 1485 regular-season minutes in 2024, with other stars like Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets helping the Herons to a 22-4-8 record. But Messi scored 20 goals and added 16 assists in his abbreviated time on the field, which works out to a goal contribution every 41.25 minutes. By virtue of winning a play-in game it very nearly lost on Tuesday night, Atlanta United gets to be the first team to try to stop what appears to be a pink and black bullet train to MLS Cup. Other teams will have something to say, of course, but certainly a certain someone in New York would love to see Messi and Co. go as far as they can. Here’s a preview of what the East’s first round — a best-of-three series guaranteeing each team gets a home playoff match, maybe not the best idea — holds. ![Lionel Messi with Inter Miami](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb7bcc0b9-83f5-4aa2-ae53-09c9cfd69d77_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *This guy’s pretty good (Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Yep, another signing: Diego Rubio becomes the fourth Austin FC contract extension recipient in as many days URL: https://verdeallday.com/diego-rubio-contract-extension-2025-2026-option-year/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:01.000Z Diego Rubio has been extended another full season with an option year in 2026. This might be the first puzzling extension of the four revealed so far. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### We're going to have to do one of these a day, aren't we: Brendan Hines-Ike signs Austin FC contract extension URL: https://verdeallday.com/brendan-hines-ike-austin-fc-contract-extension/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:02.000Z Austin FC's Defender of the Year candidate was a pleasant surprise in his debut season with the team, and he'll get at least one more season in Verde. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### This Wolff is staying: What the Owen Wolff contract extension means for Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/owen-wolff-contract-extension-2027-option-year-2028/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:02.000Z Several weeks after his father was dismissed as head coach, the 19-year-old midfielder signed on for three more years with Verde plus an option year. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### First piece of the puzzle: What the Jader Obrian contract extension means URL: https://verdeallday.com/jader-obrian-austin-fc-contract-2026-option-year-2027/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:02.000Z Austin FC announced Monday that the Colombian winger will be in Verde at least another two years. But will he be a regular starter? _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'They showed real character and heart': Austin FC rises to the occasion in a memorable finale (in a forgettable season) URL: https://verdeallday.com/day-after-recap-atxvcol-101924-arnaud-stuver/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:03.000Z It was an unusual match on Saturday night to be sure, as Austin FC said goodbye and good riddance to 2024\. For starters, two probable starters — Dani Pereira and Guilherme Biro — were unavailable for selection due to disciplinary issues. A third, Osman Bukari was a surprising scratch — as he was a continent away in Ghana with his newborn son. And then again, it was a usual match per the 2024 narrative, in that some goal chances Verde created were left wanting, and in the later stages of the match — as we’d seen in some 2024 performances — the Verde defense made a critical error that changed the scoreline for the worse. But as those of you at Q2 Stadium can attest, the two stoppage-time goals from Ethan Finlay and Brendan Hines-Ike, and Austin FC’s subsequent 3-2 win on Saturday night over the Colorado Rapids, was an electrifying comeback rivaling Verde’s best Magical Season comeback moments: The Pollo-fueled miracle in D.C., the Moussa Djitte hat trick to seal the team’s only playoff berth to date, and the playoff win over Real Salt Lake that ended with a skied penalty dropping gloriously into the supporters’ section to advance the hosts into the next round of the playoffs. For interim head coach Davy Arnaud, the performance exhibited the same sort of grit and grind from players that Josh Wolff had touted in his final months at the helm of Austin FC. “Super proud of the performance and the response of our guys,” he said. “They showed real character and heart, as they have shown all year. I challenged the group before the game started, said, ‘Look, even though there's nothing really on the line for this game, whether you have something on the line or not, the effort and the commitment and the drive to compete and win and battle for your teammates, all that stuff is not conditional on you getting an outcome that you want.’ “Because the outcome that we wanted was obviously to be playing again and playing another game in the playoffs,” he added. “We can't be conditional. That has to be there regardless. And those guys showed that in a big way tonight, and especially in the second half.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f04847b0b-7a9b-4d95-80f2-5e1ca3162758_1600x900-jpeg.jpg) *Indeed, an academy player got his first-team debut in the last match of 2024 — but in a bit of a surprise, it was 16-year-old Ervin Torres (OtraXFavor)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### At the Whistle: Austin FC 3, Colorado Rapids 2 URL: https://verdeallday.com/post-match-recap-atxvcol-101924/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:03.000Z On a Decision Day that didn't mean all that much for Austin FC, it took an early lead against Colorado, ceded that lead, and then got two goals from veterans late to win. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Decision Day storylines that don't involve Austin FC URL: https://verdeallday.com/decision-day-storylines-mls-east-playoffs-west-top-seed-inter-miami-points-record/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:03.000Z Okay, so Decision Day isn't quite what we thought it might be even a few months ago. Here are a few reasons to pay attention. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### 'The guys are in a good place': Highlights from the last pre-match press conference of 2024 URL: https://verdeallday.com/the-guys-are-in-a-good-place-highlights/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:04.000Z Perhaps it's not a meaningful match on Saturday, but interim head coach Davy Arnaud says his team is ready for the finale against Colorado. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Class of 2024: A quick reminder on all the option years Rodolfo Borrell must decide on URL: https://verdeallday.com/austin-fc-2024-contract-expiring-option-year/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:05.000Z We don’t like to say goodbye. However, that’s going to happen with as many as 11 Austin FC players sometime after Saturday’s anticlimactic Decision Day match between Verde and the Colorado Rapids. While the Rapids are playing for the chance to get a more favorable first-round matchup at a No. 5 through No. 7 seed, Austin’s playing to finish ahead of FC Dallas below the playoff line. (They can lock up 10th with a win; *huzzah*.) As you probably know (but just in case you don’t), all contract option years in MLS are club options. The club can occasionally cede that undisputed advantage by writing autorenew option years into contracts (cough, Claudio Reyna, cough), but typically, it’s up to the sporting director and other front office decision-makers to determine if a player’s option year gets activated. With that in mind, here’s a list of players whose contracts are up in 2024 (all but one with option years in 2025), and some initial thoughts on what Verde sporting director Rodolfo Borrell might do. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc550b4c5-c769-4733-b7bd-054727760d40_1600x900.png) *Will Alex Ring return for 2025? (Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### To PK shootout or not to PK shootout, that is the question (we're contemplating now that the Austin FC II season is over) URL: https://verdeallday.com/to-pk-shootout-or-not-to-pk-shootout/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:07.000Z Last week's press conference with Rodolfo Borrell reveals he hates MLS Next Pro's PK shootouts after draws. Is he right or a killjoy (or maybe both)? _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### Three takeaways from Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT debut at Q2 Stadium URL: https://verdeallday.com/three-takeaways-from-mauricio-pochettinos/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:07.000Z The new era, ushered in thanks in part to the last time the U.S. faced Panama, began in earnest Saturday when the teams met once again in Austin. _This post is for paying subscribers only._ ### He's done this before: Revisiting Davy Arnaud's nine games as an interim coach URL: https://verdeallday.com/davy-arnaud-interim-coach-houston-dynamo-austin-fc-decision-day/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T21:14:08.000Z 2019 was a weird year for the Houston Dynamo. It was coming off a season in which it’d won the U.S. Open Cup, its first major trophy since winning back-to-back MLS Cups in 2006 and 2007, then still fresh from its move to San Jose. It started the 2019 season 7-2-2, the best start to date in its history. Then came an epic collapse. The Dynamo went 2-11-1 in its next 14 matches, falling six points behind the playoff line in the West, and the front office decided that Wilmer Cabrera was no longer the right manager to helm Houston. Enter native Texan Davy Arnaud (who grew up in Nederland and played college soccer in Canyon at West Texas A&M), who was elevated from his assistant coaching position to lead the Dynamo for its remaining nine matches. Arnaud was not able to steer the Dynamo back to the playoffs, going 3-5-1 in his stint to bring the team to a 10th-place finish in the conference. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1e/d1/1ed16f3e-4f96-4b65-9a04-4b0634738b99/content/images/2025/01/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f1fd82042-36d0-457d-8ec5-fa10f18e60cb_1600x900.png) *Davy Arnaud will coach Austin FC for the third time on Oct. 19, but the first time in his new role. (Austin FC)* _This post is for paying subscribers only._ _Includes the latest 500 public posts. Use `/sitemap.xml` for the complete archive of public content._