Austin FC emerged from Leagues Cup play facing its FC Dallas rivals, and got a magical moment from Ervin Torres. But it wasn't enough to stave off another loss, adding to an onoging bad stretch of league play.
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.
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.
Austin FC is now 1-6-1 in its last eight matches, despite encouraging performances in Leagues Cup matches. Is Davy Arnaud relying too much on certain players ... and not enough on Jayden Nelson?
With Austin FC's Leagues Cup journey on pause, we look at the next four regular-season matches, starting tonight with a Copa Tejas match Verde hosts against FC Dallas.
Austin FC gets back into league play on Sunday night hosting FC Dallas at home. That gives us an excuse to check in with one of our favorites, Big D Soccer's Drew Epperley.
Austin FC will travel to Harrison, N.J., for its Wednesday, Aug. 26 match against Toluca in Leagues Cup. It's not 8,700 feet up in a stadium nicknamed "Hell," but it's also far from home.
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.
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.
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