At the Whistle: Seattle Sounders FC 2, Austin FC 0

Jesus Ferreira might be in a different jersey now — it's not the FC Dallas one he once took off and displayed to Austin FC supporters following scoring an 89th-minute match winner in a May 2023 contest you might have forgotten – but he's still a nemesis.

Ferreira broke a scoreless deadlock just before halftime, and Danny Musovski added a goal early in the second half, leading the Seattle Sounders FC to a 2-0 win on Saturday night.

The Verde loss, on the temporary grass surface at Lumen Field, keeps themfrom adding to their two straight wins in June, following a winless slog of seven league matches in May.

Verde's offense was largely punchless throughout the match. You might argue that Verde's best shot of the first half came from Guilherme Biro, who hit the post — though at the end of the field where the Sounders were shooting. (See the "worst Verde moment" entry below.)

Save for that heart-in-throat sequence — which started with Danny Musovski dueling Oleksandr Svatok and getting the better of him on his shot attempt — the match stayed relatively quiet much of the half, especially where Austin's offense was concerned, managing just 0.11 xG in the first 45.

Biro was credited with Verde's first shot, a blocked effort in the 20th minute; they got their next one via Vázquez's initial long-distance attempt in the 35th.

But then, in the second and final minute of first-half stoppage time, Ferreira got to a corssfrom Paul Rothrock, making a far-post run, unmarked because — not to put too fine a point on it — Biro was absolutely lazy on defense, jogging centrally toward goal and letting Ferreira drift into an advantageous position for a 0.93 xG shot.

Less than nine minutes following the break, Musovski got isolated one-on-one with Svatok, and though Svatok played reasonably tight defense on the forward — who is also something of an Austin FC nemesis, having scored a late game winner in 2021 at Q2 Stadiuim while with LAFC — he was able to make a turn to buy some space and get his shot off just inside the far post.

Austin had a 67th-minute chance via a Brendan Hines-Ike header which went harmlessly over the bar, and a minute later, Ferreira nearly had a second goal via a would-be assist from sub Ryan Kent, who got in toward goal via a stepover that left sub Osman Bukari flat-footed.

Verde had several chances quite late in the match, via Jon Gallagher and Diego Rubio, to get on the board, but couldn't convert on those opportunities. Reed Baker-Whiting — one of the five teenagers from the infamous "five teenagers" Sounders win over Austin in 2021 — got sent off with a second yellow in the 89th, but it didn't help Verde's cause.

Best Verde moment (that wasn’t a goal)

Brad Stuver was brought into action in the 41st minute to get a glove to a ball sent in by Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, though not technically a shot, was still a dangerous ball moving in the vicinity of goal that needed to be dealt with.

Worst Verde moment (that wasn't a goal allowed)

In the 11th minute, Musovski got off a shot that Stuver got a piece of, but the ball caromed off the post and then squirted out to Guilherme Biro. Biro then reflexively kicked the ball, presumably trying to clear it out, but hit it horrifyingly right toward goal, reminiscent of Amro Tarek's notorious close-range own goal in Verde's historic 2023 loss to Violette. (The post bailed him out.)

One thing you might have missed

The walk back to the locker room at halftime included some extracurriculars between Rothrock and Dani Pereira, following Rothrock manhandling the Austin midfielder in a late-half skirmish. Pereira was heated in that post-whistle exchange and had to be held back before suddenly and abruptly running into the tunnel heading to the locker room.

One nerdy tidbit

Austin finished the three Cascadia away matches losing by an aggregate score of 8-1.

Where this fits into the season's narrative

With a chance to get its second three-match win streak of the season, Austin instead fell flat in a test against a strong away opponent. Assuming Austin makes the playoffs, this indicates how they might fare in a best-of-three series in which they have to play two matches away.

A question we have heading into the press conference

We're curious to see what Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez will say about the defending on the goals.

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