Austin FC had a lockdown defense in the first half, was a sieve in the 28 minutes following, and somehow mounted a three-goal comeback to stretch its now-club-record unbeaten streak.
Austin FC, in one of the wildest matches of its existence, gave up three goals in 15 minutes and scored three in 14 — all in the second half — to skid to a messy-but-memorable 3-3 draw against San Diego FC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night, and extend its now-club-record unbeaten streak to eight matches.
The most notable sub for Austin FC from last match, hinted at per Friday's injury report, was goalkeeper Damian Las making just his second career MLS start, replacing the reportedly ill Brad Stuver. Otherwise, injuries, a suspension, and several international callups made first-team lineup selections confined to a very finite pool of candidates.
Second-teamers Erik Lauta, Patrick Cayelli, and Stefan Dobrijevic made the bench, all on their first short-term call-ups of the season.
Brandon Vázquez, getting the captain's armband as well as the start, nearly got a goal just more than two minutes into the match, with a short-range shot forcing San Diego goalkeeper Duran Ferree into action.
A moment of excitement came in the 22nd, when Besard Šabović and Anibal Godoy collided in the box; as the players met the initial aftermath of the coming together, the ball somehow sprung free for Ervin Torres, whose shot was blocked by Ian Pilcher but very close to going in.
Though it was a dominant first half for Verde (witness the first-half momentum chart below), they didn't get out of the half with a goal or even unscathed, as Žan Kolmanič went down just after the half-hour mark with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, leading Oleksandr Svatok to sub in and for Mikkel Desler to move from outside center back to right wingback, with Jon Gallagher switching sides.
In the second half, San Diego instantly looked more attacking minded, with Andres Dreyer getting a shot within its first two minutes, albeit one that didn't particularly trouble Las.
Then, in the 50th, Marcus Ingvartsen headed a ball toward goal, caroming off Brendan Hines-Ike's back, but it fell to Anibal Godoy, who fired it far post as Las was trying to guard the near-post position. The headed ball was so awkward that it appeared to possibly go off his arm after making contact with his head, prompting VAR to step in, but it was ruled as a good goal.
Seven minutes later, disaster struck, as Las got caught out in front of his goal trying to deal with Ingvartsen, and Hines-Ike tried to head the ball out of danger, but popped it into the goalmouth, where Desler and Jon Bell appeared to be in each other's way. Desler mysteriously headed the ball directly into net, resulting in angry reactions from Bell, Desler, Las, and on the sidelines, Arnaud.
That prompted a quick double sub from Arnaud, getting Ilie Sánchez and Jorge Alastuey to add some La Masia-trained calm, subbing off Šabović and Svatok.
It got worse. In the 64th, Dreyer made a nifty move on the left flank, getting past Šabović with ease, and then found Ingvartsen with a pass in front of goal that he was able to pop in to take the three-goal lead.
In the 73rd, Vázquez finally got his first goal of the season, heading in Ervin Torres' inch-perfect pass from the right flank, and diving to evade Pilcher in the process.
That initially seemed too little, too late, but then Christian Ramírez's 82nd minute shot — coming from a right-to-left Desler cross to Bell, and then a left-to-center Bell cross to Desler.
Then, remarkably, four minutes later, Ramírez struck again, with Gallagher finding space in the final third and playing a well-weighted ball to the striker, who placed his shot smartly.
Stoppage time consisted on relying on the force field that magically popped up in front of Verde's goal, and SDFC threatened Las and his teammates with multiple attempts, including one final point-blank shot that popped over the bar and on to the roof of the net.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Aside from the overall defensive pressure bottling San Diego up in the first half, Vázquez came close to grabbing the early lead by getting in the right place at the right time. It perhaps foretold that it was going to finally come tonight.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
Though Las coming out to challenge Ingvartsen didn't directly lead to the own-goal — as three defenders either made contact with the ball or were in close vicinity to it in the seconds that followed, it triggered one of the worst (or most comical, if you're a San Diego fan or a neutral) defensive capitulations of Verde's season.
One thing you might have missed
If going down 3-0 was enough to make you head for the exits, you missed quite a comeback.
One nerdy tidbit
San Diego FC failed to get a shot or a corner kick in the first half despite having the overall edge in possession. Dreyer and Ingvartsen came into the match with 11 goals each — Dreyer's on 80 shots and Ingvartsen on 54. (That would change.)
Where this fits into the season's narrative
It contained multitudes, and Verde will finish the night below the playoff line still ... but eight unbeaten!
A question we have heading into the press conference
I have so many questions right now ... why did Verde cede three goals as badly as they did and then how did they mount the comeback?
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.
Also, we're fully in the 21st century now; join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
In this new feature celebrating the ways in which soccer entertains us, we look at a generational American talent, laud a creative endorsement deal, and talk about the number 114 and make a prediction about that.
Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud admitted some players will be unavailable for Saturday's match against San Diego. That now includes one player we didn't know about when we talked Thursday.
In the real world, Austin FC is tantalizingly close to entering the West's playoff places. But on Earth 2, if five matches against contenders didn't include late goals against, the team would be in much better shape.
Austin FC got closer to the top of the hill (to 9th place) with Saturday's draw against FC Dallas. The result extends the unbeaten streak to seven matches ... but will that recent good form result in playoffs?
Austin FC, in one of the wildest matches of its existence, gave up three goals in 15 minutes and scored three in 14 — all in the second half — to skid to a messy-but-memorable 3-3 draw against San Diego FC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night, and extend its now-club-record unbeaten streak to eight matches.
The most notable sub for Austin FC from last match, hinted at per Friday's injury report, was goalkeeper Damian Las making just his second career MLS start, replacing the reportedly ill Brad Stuver. Otherwise, injuries, a suspension, and several international callups made first-team lineup selections confined to a very finite pool of candidates.
Second-teamers Erik Lauta, Patrick Cayelli, and Stefan Dobrijevic made the bench, all on their first short-term call-ups of the season.
Brandon Vázquez, getting the captain's armband as well as the start, nearly got a goal just more than two minutes into the match, with a short-range shot forcing San Diego goalkeeper Duran Ferree into action.
A moment of excitement came in the 22nd, when Besard Šabović and Anibal Godoy collided in the box; as the players met the initial aftermath of the coming together, the ball somehow sprung free for Ervin Torres, whose shot was blocked by Ian Pilcher but very close to going in.
Though it was a dominant first half for Verde (witness the first-half momentum chart below), they didn't get out of the half with a goal or even unscathed, as Žan Kolmanič went down just after the half-hour mark with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, leading Oleksandr Svatok to sub in and for Mikkel Desler to move from outside center back to right wingback, with Jon Gallagher switching sides.
In the second half, San Diego instantly looked more attacking minded, with Andres Dreyer getting a shot within its first two minutes, albeit one that didn't particularly trouble Las.
Then, in the 50th, Marcus Ingvartsen headed a ball toward goal, caroming off Brendan Hines-Ike's back, but it fell to Anibal Godoy, who fired it far post as Las was trying to guard the near-post position. The headed ball was so awkward that it appeared to possibly go off his arm after making contact with his head, prompting VAR to step in, but it was ruled as a good goal.
Seven minutes later, disaster struck, as Las got caught out in front of his goal trying to deal with Ingvartsen, and Hines-Ike tried to head the ball out of danger, but popped it into the goalmouth, where Desler and Jon Bell appeared to be in each other's way. Desler mysteriously headed the ball directly into net, resulting in angry reactions from Bell, Desler, Las, and on the sidelines, Arnaud.
That prompted a quick double sub from Arnaud, getting Ilie Sánchez and Jorge Alastuey to add some La Masia-trained calm, subbing off Šabović and Svatok.
It got worse. In the 64th, Dreyer made a nifty move on the left flank, getting past Šabović with ease, and then found Ingvartsen with a pass in front of goal that he was able to pop in to take the three-goal lead.
In the 73rd, Vázquez finally got his first goal of the season, heading in Ervin Torres' inch-perfect pass from the right flank, and diving to evade Pilcher in the process.
That initially seemed too little, too late, but then Christian Ramírez's 82nd minute shot — coming from a right-to-left Desler cross to Bell, and then a left-to-center Bell cross to Desler.
Then, remarkably, four minutes later, Ramírez struck again, with Gallagher finding space in the final third and playing a well-weighted ball to the striker, who placed his shot smartly.
Stoppage time consisted on relying on the force field that magically popped up in front of Verde's goal, and SDFC threatened Las and his teammates with multiple attempts, including one final point-blank shot that popped over the bar and on to the roof of the net.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Aside from the overall defensive pressure bottling San Diego up in the first half, Vázquez came close to grabbing the early lead by getting in the right place at the right time. It perhaps foretold that it was going to finally come tonight.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
Though Las coming out to challenge Ingvartsen didn't directly lead to the own-goal — as three defenders either made contact with the ball or were in close vicinity to it in the seconds that followed, it triggered one of the worst (or most comical, if you're a San Diego fan or a neutral) defensive capitulations of Verde's season.
One thing you might have missed
If going down 3-0 was enough to make you head for the exits, you missed quite a comeback.
One nerdy tidbit
San Diego FC failed to get a shot or a corner kick in the first half despite having the overall edge in possession. Dreyer and Ingvartsen came into the match with 11 goals each — Dreyer's on 80 shots and Ingvartsen on 54. (That would change.)
Where this fits into the season's narrative
It contained multitudes, and Verde will finish the night below the playoff line still ... but eight unbeaten!
A question we have heading into the press conference
I have so many questions right now ... why did Verde cede three goals as badly as they did and then how did they mount the comeback?
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.
Also, we're fully in the 21st century now; join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
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