The record will show that Austin FC's 2026 home opener was minutes from being a 2-1 victory, but instead became a 2-2 draw when Minnesota United FC's Kelvin Yeboah found himself free for a 90th-minute header to claw back the equalizer. Though it was so fresh and raw and new that Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez hadn't yet been able to see and analyze the whole play — and we'll get to that in a moment — he did reveal what led to his squad's discombobulation on that fateful play.
"Details in games are important," Estévez said. "To tell you a little bit, the whole story is we were going to make two subs go to five in the back, because Minnesota brought two forwards to bring more height for set pieces, and ... in the late minutes, because Minnesota is a very dangerous team on the set pieces. And what happened is Robert Taylor felt a twist in his knee. And as for the subs, we had to hold this up in order to change the card and bring out Taylor instead of the other player that we were planning.
"I think that confused a little bit everyone on the field, and they took advantage," he added. "I didn't see the goal yet. I saw the end part. I think we have to work on those situations and do better. Maybe, maybe, when we asked the player if he's injured because he was injured ... we just go down, tell the referee, and the referee probably will ask the the athletic trainers to come in check. And I think we have to be better in those situations ... But I think we can take a good learning from that and have strategies to do better next time."
