At the Whistle: Austin FC 2, Houston Dynamo FC 2

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.

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