The Tuesday Three: Press conference highlights from an unusual Monday availability
Brendan Hines-Ike feels that some lessons from the most recent match against Dallas will serve Verde well in their match against the Loons. The winner, as you likely know by know, gets to host the U.S. Open Cup final.
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 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 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 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."
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.
For one night, the newly instituted inverted wingback system appeared to work well for Austin FC. In winning, the team improved its chances for making a Leagues Cup run.
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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 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 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 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."
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.
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