At the Whistle: San Jose Earthquakes 2(2), Austin FC 2(4)
It took 120 minutes plus penalty kicks to determine a winner in one of the most topsy-turvy matches in Verde history.
In one its most epic victories in its five-year history, Austin FC gave up an early goal to Cristian "Chicho" Arango, equalized on a second-half penalty thanks to Brandon Vázquez, weathered a storm of shots to get to extra time, gave up a goal to a sub for a sub, Benji Kikanović, and then evened it up once more on a Myrto Uzuni penalty kick, leading to a kicks from the spot finale after 120-plus minutes weren't enought to settle it.
That all added up to Verde winning 4-2 in PKs, now headed to St. Paul to face Minnesota United in the tournament semifinals — with the chance to host their first final should they win that match.
But Vázquez went down with a knee injury shortly after scoring his goal — and while it's too early to know for sure, it had the look of something serious and even season-ending, dulling the glow of the victory quite a bit.
Verde gave up the opening goal in the 12th minute, thanks to Ousseni Bouda peeling away from Guilherme Biro, and once defender free, whipped in a pass to Arango directly in front of goal. Having slipped past Brendan Hines-Ike and with Mikkel Desler forced into covering, and unable to get into an ideal defensive posture, Arango froze Stuver with a shot into the upper right corner of goal to take the lead.
A minute later, Preston Judd won a free kick at the edge of the box — with a yellow-carded Hines-Ike lucky to not give up a penalty kick. (The foul looked very close to being inside the box but was not, per the refs.)
Close to 20 minutes in, Jon Gallagher had a wonderful pass into Vázquez that looked almost but not quite perfectly timed as an equalizer. Quakes defender Reid Roberts slowed up Vázquez just long enough to trip the timing; Vázquez came up from his slide complaining to the ref (if my lip reading's on point) that Roberts tugged his jersey. (Calling what happened a tug would be, forgive the pun here, a stretch.)
In the 33rd minute, Osman Bukari found space down the right side, had his pass blocked back to him, and carved out space from the defense to get off a shot that hit the near post. That was easily the best chance of the half for Verde.
The second half brought more of the same, with Verde still mounting no shots on target past the hour mark. But then, in the 63rd minute, Vázquez earned a penalty kick, getting clipped by Max Floriani and then converting the PK he earned to make it 1-1. (It took 65 minutes, and the referee setting the ball in front of goal while everyone had to stand around, but Verde finally got its first shot on target.)
That led Quakes coach Bruce Arena to make the two subs Austin was counting on yet dreading when the starting lineups were announced — Cristian Espinoza and Josef Martínez.
Just minutes after his equalizer, Vázquez went down awkwardly with no one around him, covering his face with his hands once down for a prolonged period, looking like a player who knew he would be out for a while and consumed with rehab to get back on the field.
The Verde defense weathered a scary moment just past the 80th, with Stuver caught out in front of goal with Arango taking a shot on a rebounded ball from a DeJuan Jones charge forward, but the visitors were able to hold fast, then got their own chance on a breakaway leading with Robert Taylor shooting just wide.
Uzuni, put in as a sub in the 65th minute for Bukari, had a chance in the first minute of stoppage time, but sent his close-range shot straight to Quakes keeper Daniel.
Tensions flared toward what was supposed to be the end of stoppage time when Mikkel Desler caught Espinoza on the knee with an errant stud, drawing blood and the winger's ire as it also ended his sub stint for the night.
With stoppage time even further extended, Verde had to withstand one more assault on goal in the 13th minute past the 90, with Stuver saving successive shots from Arango and Mark-Anthony Kaye.
In extra time, it looked like Stuver was going to come through with a valiant effort again in the 99th minute, starting with a Martínez shot from close in that Stuver palmed onto the crossbar, but thanks to placing seven attackers in the box and engineering multiple chances, Kikanović – who subbed in for Espinoza — rolled his shot under Stuver to finally retake the lead.
Uzuni then looked like he evened it up in the 105th, heading in a header off a corner kick, but was rightly ruled offside. But he'd get another chance to score following Owen Wolff drawing a penalty kick on a Mark-Anthony Kaye step-in, and confidently sent his shot under a diving Daniel to bring the teams level once more.
In the final sequence, Stuver saved Arango on the opening kick, and saved a poor Jones effort in the third round. Austin didn't even need the fifth turn in the shootout, with Wolff clinching it — the fourth straight Verde player to convert.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Bukari's movement to get his first-half shot off was beautiful, and a good reminder of why he's a designated player (though I'd still like to see him go a full 90, which he's done just twice since March 8).
But it was the chaos control in front of goal that gave Verde the extra-time lifeline, with Stuver and his defense in ultimate bend-don't-break mode.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
The only thing worse, for a fan, than to watch a star player go down is to see him stay down while you Google "torn meniscus" as a "hopeful" alternative to the "torn ACL" research you already know will be bad. I'm preliminarily gutted for Austin's DP No. 9.
One thing you might have missed
As Desler went down a second time following harsh knee-to-knee contact, several minutes before their incident, Espinoza "helpfully" extended a hand to help Desler up, and Uzuni pulled his arm away.
One nerdy tidbit
The Quakes finished with 27 shots, 11 of those on target.
Where this fits into the season's narrative
Given how this season's going, the Open Cup is a surer bet than MLS Cup for Verde winning a trophy. Verde's now one step closer following an incredibly gutsy effort.
A question we have heading into the press conference
We'll clearly ask about the Vázquez injury, but we're pretty sure we know what the answer's going to be.
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.
As far as the Open Cup goes, Austin FC waits for a semifinal match in September with a chance to host the final. But the most important wait now is for the star forward's MRI results.
We turned to an expert on the Quakes to learn more about how Bruce Arena's doing and how Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez are complementing each other.
On Sunday night, the U.S. lost because the offense couldn't get going and the defense had a couple of lapses at inopportune times. Perhaps that sounds painfully familiar.
In one its most epic victories in its five-year history, Austin FC gave up an early goal to Cristian "Chicho" Arango, equalized on a second-half penalty thanks to Brandon Vázquez, weathered a storm of shots to get to extra time, gave up a goal to a sub for a sub, Benji Kikanović, and then evened it up once more on a Myrto Uzuni penalty kick, leading to a kicks from the spot finale after 120-plus minutes weren't enought to settle it.
That all added up to Verde winning 4-2 in PKs, now headed to St. Paul to face Minnesota United in the tournament semifinals — with the chance to host their first final should they win that match.
But Vázquez went down with a knee injury shortly after scoring his goal — and while it's too early to know for sure, it had the look of something serious and even season-ending, dulling the glow of the victory quite a bit.
Verde gave up the opening goal in the 12th minute, thanks to Ousseni Bouda peeling away from Guilherme Biro, and once defender free, whipped in a pass to Arango directly in front of goal. Having slipped past Brendan Hines-Ike and with Mikkel Desler forced into covering, and unable to get into an ideal defensive posture, Arango froze Stuver with a shot into the upper right corner of goal to take the lead.
A minute later, Preston Judd won a free kick at the edge of the box — with a yellow-carded Hines-Ike lucky to not give up a penalty kick. (The foul looked very close to being inside the box but was not, per the refs.)
Close to 20 minutes in, Jon Gallagher had a wonderful pass into Vázquez that looked almost but not quite perfectly timed as an equalizer. Quakes defender Reid Roberts slowed up Vázquez just long enough to trip the timing; Vázquez came up from his slide complaining to the ref (if my lip reading's on point) that Roberts tugged his jersey. (Calling what happened a tug would be, forgive the pun here, a stretch.)
In the 33rd minute, Osman Bukari found space down the right side, had his pass blocked back to him, and carved out space from the defense to get off a shot that hit the near post. That was easily the best chance of the half for Verde.
The second half brought more of the same, with Verde still mounting no shots on target past the hour mark. But then, in the 63rd minute, Vázquez earned a penalty kick, getting clipped by Max Floriani and then converting the PK he earned to make it 1-1. (It took 65 minutes, and the referee setting the ball in front of goal while everyone had to stand around, but Verde finally got its first shot on target.)
That led Quakes coach Bruce Arena to make the two subs Austin was counting on yet dreading when the starting lineups were announced — Cristian Espinoza and Josef Martínez.
Just minutes after his equalizer, Vázquez went down awkwardly with no one around him, covering his face with his hands once down for a prolonged period, looking like a player who knew he would be out for a while and consumed with rehab to get back on the field.
The Verde defense weathered a scary moment just past the 80th, with Stuver caught out in front of goal with Arango taking a shot on a rebounded ball from a DeJuan Jones charge forward, but the visitors were able to hold fast, then got their own chance on a breakaway leading with Robert Taylor shooting just wide.
Uzuni, put in as a sub in the 65th minute for Bukari, had a chance in the first minute of stoppage time, but sent his close-range shot straight to Quakes keeper Daniel.
Tensions flared toward what was supposed to be the end of stoppage time when Mikkel Desler caught Espinoza on the knee with an errant stud, drawing blood and the winger's ire as it also ended his sub stint for the night.
With stoppage time even further extended, Verde had to withstand one more assault on goal in the 13th minute past the 90, with Stuver saving successive shots from Arango and Mark-Anthony Kaye.
In extra time, it looked like Stuver was going to come through with a valiant effort again in the 99th minute, starting with a Martínez shot from close in that Stuver palmed onto the crossbar, but thanks to placing seven attackers in the box and engineering multiple chances, Kikanović – who subbed in for Espinoza — rolled his shot under Stuver to finally retake the lead.
Uzuni then looked like he evened it up in the 105th, heading in a header off a corner kick, but was rightly ruled offside. But he'd get another chance to score following Owen Wolff drawing a penalty kick on a Mark-Anthony Kaye step-in, and confidently sent his shot under a diving Daniel to bring the teams level once more.
In the final sequence, Stuver saved Arango on the opening kick, and saved a poor Jones effort in the third round. Austin didn't even need the fifth turn in the shootout, with Wolff clinching it — the fourth straight Verde player to convert.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Bukari's movement to get his first-half shot off was beautiful, and a good reminder of why he's a designated player (though I'd still like to see him go a full 90, which he's done just twice since March 8).
But it was the chaos control in front of goal that gave Verde the extra-time lifeline, with Stuver and his defense in ultimate bend-don't-break mode.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
The only thing worse, for a fan, than to watch a star player go down is to see him stay down while you Google "torn meniscus" as a "hopeful" alternative to the "torn ACL" research you already know will be bad. I'm preliminarily gutted for Austin's DP No. 9.
One thing you might have missed
As Desler went down a second time following harsh knee-to-knee contact, several minutes before their incident, Espinoza "helpfully" extended a hand to help Desler up, and Uzuni pulled his arm away.
One nerdy tidbit
The Quakes finished with 27 shots, 11 of those on target.
Where this fits into the season's narrative
Given how this season's going, the Open Cup is a surer bet than MLS Cup for Verde winning a trophy. Verde's now one step closer following an incredibly gutsy effort.
A question we have heading into the press conference
We'll clearly ask about the Vázquez injury, but we're pretty sure we know what the answer's going to be.
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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