It only took eight minutes for Austin FC to let in its first goal against San Diego FC on Wednesday. From there, Verde allowed the hosts to break a nine-match winless streak in an ultimate Slumpbuster FC performance.
Austin FC, playing on the road with a rotated lineup, gave up early goals to David Vázquez and Andres Dreyer en route to San Diego FC winning in a 5-0 rout on Wednesday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
Head coach Nico Estévez rolled out with a different look than he has in past matches, leaving Brandon Vázquez behind in Austin and pairing San Diego's own CJ Fodrey with Myrto Uzuni up top, and pairing Nicolás Dubersarsky and Besard Šabović in the midfield, while starting a back line of Žan Kolmanič, Jon Bell, Olekasandr Svatok, and Jon Gallagher.
That back line let Verde down early, with SDFC engineering an initial chance in the 4th minute, with Alex Mighten getting in a cross to Marcus Ingvartsen, who tried a shot wrapping his leg around Bell.
Then, in the 8th minute, Ingvartsen fed Onni Valakari with a pass up the right flank; Valakari then managed to get across in for a sliding Vázquez (the Vázquez on the field), who got enough on the ball to where a trying-very-hard Jon Gallagher couldn't get to it before it crossed the line, with both Bell and Šabović in vicinity of the shot.
Fodrey almost got a goal in front of friends and family (presumably) in the 10th minute, and Facundo Torres had a good chance that was left wanting in the 14th, but the next goal was also San Diego's, with Dreyer getting on a ball on the right flank and posterizing Svatok in the 17th with a clever juke move prior to his shot to double the lead.
In the 32nd minute, Fodrey sent a cross to Uzuni that was too hot, but one of Verde's better first-half chances to get on the board.
Verde had a positive moment in the 51st minute, with Joseph Rosales initiating what initially appeared to be an Uzuni goal, though Rosales was deemed offside in the buildup.
But then, it was good feeling gone in the 54th minute, with Pedro Soma getting off a shot to make it 3-0 with only a slow-approaching Uzuni defending and other offensive options lingering inside the box.
Fodrey, clipped by San Diego goalkeeper Duran Ferree around the hour mark, gave way several minutes later to Owen Wolff for Verde's first sub — with Fodrey visibly bleeding as he came off.
Soon after, Estévez activated more subs to give younger players minutes and not necessarily to come back from three goals down, including:
U22 Initiative center back Mateja Đorđević;
Supplemental homegrown midfielder Ervin Torres; and
Supplemental homegrown attacker Micah Burton.
To be fair, Burton and the younger Torres had some initial good shots to announce their presence.
But, in the 79th minute, Ingvartsen got a goal on a play in which Bell and Đorđević both looked flat-footed.
Vázquez got his second in stoppage time, working Đorđević thoroughly.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Rosales wasn't that offside on what appeared at first to be a really well-worked goal that would have closed the margin to 2-1.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
Nico Estévez submitting the lineup to the game officials.
One thing you might have missed
Luca Bombino getting a yellow card in the 44th minute. We're not sure for what. Also, Fodrey appears to have clocked Valakari with an elbow in the head right before halftime, and that mysteriously went uncarded.
One nerdy tidbit
Shouting out Trevor Allison for pointing this one out about five minutes in; this is what possession looked like:
I checked it again around the 10-minute mark.
I've never seen this level of possession discrepancy in all my soccer-covering days. It did end around the 60/40 mark, but still.
Where this fits into the season's narrative
When the season began, seeing this as a midweek match within a seven-day stretch, away to last year's Western Conference champs, you probably would have penciled this in as a loss. San Diego's early-season form changed the equation, and three matches unbeaten plus SDFC's nine-match winless streak had us giddy. MLS gonna MLS, sometimes.
A question we have heading into the press conference
What led to this lineup?
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.
The MLS Players Association released salary numbers on Tuesday. We learned some details about the high and low ends of the salary spectrum, and what that might mean going forward.
A minutes restriction on two midfielders kept Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez from making a move earlier to match James. Still, his team grabbed a point away in a travel-heavy week.
Verde got out to a 1-0 halftime lead on a Myrto Uzuni penalty kick, James had two assists to give Verde the lead, and then a former Loons legend provided Austin FC the equalizer.
Austin FC and Minnesota United FC resume what's been a fun series to follow on Sunday night. We get some intel about the Loons, including insights on why James didn't work out.
Austin FC, playing on the road with a rotated lineup, gave up early goals to David Vázquez and Andres Dreyer en route to San Diego FC winning in a 5-0 rout on Wednesday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
Head coach Nico Estévez rolled out with a different look than he has in past matches, leaving Brandon Vázquez behind in Austin and pairing San Diego's own CJ Fodrey with Myrto Uzuni up top, and pairing Nicolás Dubersarsky and Besard Šabović in the midfield, while starting a back line of Žan Kolmanič, Jon Bell, Olekasandr Svatok, and Jon Gallagher.
That back line let Verde down early, with SDFC engineering an initial chance in the 4th minute, with Alex Mighten getting in a cross to Marcus Ingvartsen, who tried a shot wrapping his leg around Bell.
Then, in the 8th minute, Ingvartsen fed Onni Valakari with a pass up the right flank; Valakari then managed to get across in for a sliding Vázquez (the Vázquez on the field), who got enough on the ball to where a trying-very-hard Jon Gallagher couldn't get to it before it crossed the line, with both Bell and Šabović in vicinity of the shot.
Fodrey almost got a goal in front of friends and family (presumably) in the 10th minute, and Facundo Torres had a good chance that was left wanting in the 14th, but the next goal was also San Diego's, with Dreyer getting on a ball on the right flank and posterizing Svatok in the 17th with a clever juke move prior to his shot to double the lead.
In the 32nd minute, Fodrey sent a cross to Uzuni that was too hot, but one of Verde's better first-half chances to get on the board.
Verde had a positive moment in the 51st minute, with Joseph Rosales initiating what initially appeared to be an Uzuni goal, though Rosales was deemed offside in the buildup.
But then, it was good feeling gone in the 54th minute, with Pedro Soma getting off a shot to make it 3-0 with only a slow-approaching Uzuni defending and other offensive options lingering inside the box.
Fodrey, clipped by San Diego goalkeeper Duran Ferree around the hour mark, gave way several minutes later to Owen Wolff for Verde's first sub — with Fodrey visibly bleeding as he came off.
Soon after, Estévez activated more subs to give younger players minutes and not necessarily to come back from three goals down, including:
To be fair, Burton and the younger Torres had some initial good shots to announce their presence.
But, in the 79th minute, Ingvartsen got a goal on a play in which Bell and Đorđević both looked flat-footed.
Vázquez got his second in stoppage time, working Đorđević thoroughly.
Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)
Rosales wasn't that offside on what appeared at first to be a really well-worked goal that would have closed the margin to 2-1.
Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)
Nico Estévez submitting the lineup to the game officials.
One thing you might have missed
Luca Bombino getting a yellow card in the 44th minute. We're not sure for what. Also, Fodrey appears to have clocked Valakari with an elbow in the head right before halftime, and that mysteriously went uncarded.
One nerdy tidbit
Shouting out Trevor Allison for pointing this one out about five minutes in; this is what possession looked like:
I checked it again around the 10-minute mark.
I've never seen this level of possession discrepancy in all my soccer-covering days. It did end around the 60/40 mark, but still.
Where this fits into the season's narrative
When the season began, seeing this as a midweek match within a seven-day stretch, away to last year's Western Conference champs, you probably would have penciled this in as a loss. San Diego's early-season form changed the equation, and three matches unbeaten plus SDFC's nine-match winless streak had us giddy. MLS gonna MLS, sometimes.
A question we have heading into the press conference
What led to this lineup?
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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