Anyone invested in Austin FC went through a full parabola of emotions in 22 minutes on Saturday as the team toiled against San Diego FC.
Going down 3-0 in the 64th minute to cap off a distressing 15-minute sequence, the hosts rallied to find three goals of their own in a 14-minute span between the 73rd and 86th minute — reminiscent of 2025's Open Cup comeback win over El Paso — to level the match at 3-3, where it would ultimately stand.
I opened the post-match press conference by recounting the game state briefly — the first-half lockdown defense that kept SDFC from getting a single shot, the three-goal defensive collapse, and then the unlikely comeback — then simply asked interim head coach Davy Arnaud to take us through his emotional journey.
"It was quite the emotional journey," he concurred. "The first half I thought was pretty good. Toward the end of the half wasn't fantastic, but they're a good team, and I thought we controlled much of the first half ... we arrived in some pretty good positions, had a couple of decent opportunities.
"In the second half, they got the momentum a little bit," he added. "The first goal goes in, and they capture that momentum just as we did when we scored our first goal. I think you could get that feeling in the stadium that there was a buzz, and the guys you could feel it. They were pushing, but for us to come back in the way that we did ... the character and the personality that our guys showed, I don't know if I've been more proud ever to be part of a group that showed what they showed tonight. And you know, down players, down bodies, and at the end of this long stretch that we've been on, going into the break here, other teams at 3-0 could have gone the opposite way and folded and packed it in.
