After neutralizing Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga in the first 2025 playoff matchup between the teams, Verde couldn't do the same in this one.
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.)
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 head coach Nico Estévez says his team is ready to play aggressively as they aim to extend their season at least one more match. But he also makes a case they were aggressive in a loss in which they only had two shots on target.
Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez indicated this is a team that can learn from losing. They'll have a few days to do that prior to what could be their final match of the season.
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.)
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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