'We are getting the reward of all that hard work': Assessing a still-uncommon but welcome two-goal win
Thanks to goals from Osman Bukari and Myrto Uzuni — plus an own-goal — Verde did something they haven't done for much of this season.
Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez assessed Saturday night's 3-1 win against San Jose as "really important," given the teams were next to each other in the standings — and, with Seattle and LAFC now looming as two of the remaining three home matches, one of the best late-season opportunities to pick up a crucial three points at home.
"We understand the moments of the game," Estévez said. "We understood when to press, when to stay in a mid-block or a low block. We also understood when to play long or when to play short. It's a very uncomfortable team, because they go man-to-man, and then it opens a lot of spaces behind the back line. They force you to play in behind. But you need to be prepared for that.
"We trained [for that] during the week, and I think you could see that we had a lot of success when we had to play short ... I'm with you, that we had good moments, but I expect even more," he added. "I think we can do better. I think we had to understand, we had to understand better when they were in a low block, those overloads that we did on the sides, like when was the right moment to switch field and go to the other side, but overall, I think we understood what we needed in the second half."
Still, in assessing his team's return from halftime, Estévez criticized the free kick defense that led to the Quakes' lone goal (a chance stemming from another concerning Mikkel Desler decision) and the subsequent looming threat of a points-draining equalizer — until Osman Bukari (with a goal and an assist on the night) sent an unofficial assist to San Jose defender Bruno Wilson, who slotted an own goal allowing Verde fans to breathe easier.
(Wilson, incidentally, subbed in for Reid Roberts before halftime, yanked by Quakes head coach Bruce Arena immediately after Roberts' misplay of a ball he inadvisedly kept inbounds led to Verde's second goal.)
As a result, Austin FC won by two goals for just the third time this season in regular-season play, and the first time at home. They did win by a two-goal margin one other time this season, in the Open Cup home win against Houston, but haven't won by a larger margin than that in a season where goals were initially hard to come by.
Indulge in some recency bias
Despite the three-match winless streak prior to Saturday night's win, 18 of Austin's 38 points have come from their last 10 matches, contrasted with just 20 in their first 17, meaning they completed half the season with a 1.17 points per game average before ramping that up to 1.8 PPG starting with the 2-0 road win at Colorado on June 7.
Myrto Uzuni, in particular, has shown a favorable recency bias, getting his goal in front of the south end supporters – and blowing them a kiss while still inside the goal, propelled there by his own momentum – making it four goals in his last six league matches after managing just one in his first 17.
That's led to another important before and after — after getting just 11 goals in that first half of the season, Austin's managed to rack up 18 goals in the last 10. (That's a 0.64 goals per game pace for half a season followed by 1.8 goals per game, curiously matching the PPG average.)
Asked about the importance of the two current healthy designated players, Uzuni and Bukari, Estévez relayed one of the core theorems of MLS roster building.
"When you come to this league, and you learn about this league, if your DPs don't produce, you can have tough times," Estévez said. "We had a slow start from our DPs on contribution, not on work rate, not on willingness to do well, not on belief, not on giving everything for the team, being a good teammates, and training hard and playing hard, but now we are getting the reward of all that work."
Although Uzuni's goal celebrations are still relatively muted, he said he was purposeful with the blown kiss to express his gratitude for the fans' continued support during the recent string of home draws.
"Everyone today [made an] amazing performance, all the group, all the staff," Uzuni said. "These three points were a long time missing in Q2 Stadium. "These three points are for all the fans that believed in us from the first minutes."
Speaking on the need for a quick start, to contrast with the previous match at Montréal, Jon Gallagher reflected the team's understanding of what was needed — and what was on display from literally the first minute.
"We spoke about what previous seasons have looked like, and maybe waiting too late to get these results," he said. "The last nine games, maybe only lost one, but we had a lot of draws. We didn't want to repeat that ... we need to pick up points. We don't want to be getting to five games left, four games left, to be like, we need to win three of them. So it was like, 'Hey, guys, we need to win tonight. We need to win this weekend.' And yeah, obviously at home too, we haven't won since Red Bulls, I believe, and everyone could give the fans a little bit of hope going into the end of the season."
He noted, of that first home win since June 14, "We showed a lot of positive signs."
A fashion choice and a milestone
Saturday's post-match player interviews were punctuated by one moment of mirth — teammates reacting anew to Žan Kolmanič debuting a "man in black" cowboy outfit he purchased several weeks ago.
He cited the start of the University of Texas football season as the occasion to break that out; Austin FC Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey was on the sidelines in Columbus on Saturday, in his own cowboy-inspired garb, to watch the Longhorns lose 14-7 to Ohio State.
That sartorial choice led to some yeehaws and horse noises from his teammates.
There's a classic Modest Mouse song called "Cowboy Dan;" clearly, this is "Cowboy Žan"
Media also wanted to ask about Brad Stuver getting to 600 saves in his five seasons with Austin FC, second only to Tony Meola for most saves in a five-year span. He did it on a double save early in the match, stopping a Chicho Arango shot, and after spilling that, blocking Josef Martínez's attempted putback.
"It's a cool record," he said. "Obviously, it's a testament to the work that I've put in over the last five seasons. The work started the minute I got here in Austin and created that legacy here. And I'll trade that save record for the MLS Cup, but I'm happy to be able to do that for my team."
Asked about bringing the all-time record against the Quakes to 2W 2L 7D (including the Open Cup win that technically registers by FBref's reckoning as a draw), and the prospect of facing the Quakes on Decision Day in another high-stakes match, Stuver expressed hope that the importance of that next match will be diminished due to their own actions in the matches leading up to it.
"Hopefully we can sort out everything before that game," he said. "We know that those games can get a little bit chaotic ... six games to go before that. So hopefully we can get our minds right, get our bodies right, have everything solidified by the time we get there."
How things stand
Thanks to the win, coupled with Sporting Kansas City (Austin's next opponent) getting a decisive 4-2 win over Colorado, Verde vaulted to 7th in the table with only LAFC and San Diego playing Sunday night in league play. (There will be soccer earlier in the day; namely, the Leagues Cup double header including the third-place match — yes, there is one — between the Galaxy and Orlando, followed by the Seattle-Miami final.)
On 38 points with seven to play, Austin needs just one point per match to reach the 45-point plateau. By virtue of drawing with Portland – a result keeping the Timbers just above Austin in the table — Minnesota became the second team in the West to clinch a playoff spot. Vancouver, just two points behind, was idle thanks to their scheduled Saturday night opponent, Orlando, making the Leagues Cup consolation match — which shuttles that match to the same October international window in which Austin will host LAFC.
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.
If you think Austin FC has trouble finishing out seasons, we have math to prove you right. Perhaps this season will reverse a trend ... but it's not happening thus far.
Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez assessed Saturday night's 3-1 win against San Jose as "really important," given the teams were next to each other in the standings — and, with Seattle and LAFC now looming as two of the remaining three home matches, one of the best late-season opportunities to pick up a crucial three points at home.
"We understand the moments of the game," Estévez said. "We understood when to press, when to stay in a mid-block or a low block. We also understood when to play long or when to play short. It's a very uncomfortable team, because they go man-to-man, and then it opens a lot of spaces behind the back line. They force you to play in behind. But you need to be prepared for that.
"We trained [for that] during the week, and I think you could see that we had a lot of success when we had to play short ... I'm with you, that we had good moments, but I expect even more," he added. "I think we can do better. I think we had to understand, we had to understand better when they were in a low block, those overloads that we did on the sides, like when was the right moment to switch field and go to the other side, but overall, I think we understood what we needed in the second half."
Still, in assessing his team's return from halftime, Estévez criticized the free kick defense that led to the Quakes' lone goal (a chance stemming from another concerning Mikkel Desler decision) and the subsequent looming threat of a points-draining equalizer — until Osman Bukari (with a goal and an assist on the night) sent an unofficial assist to San Jose defender Bruno Wilson, who slotted an own goal allowing Verde fans to breathe easier.
(Wilson, incidentally, subbed in for Reid Roberts before halftime, yanked by Quakes head coach Bruce Arena immediately after Roberts' misplay of a ball he inadvisedly kept inbounds led to Verde's second goal.)
As a result, Austin FC won by two goals for just the third time this season in regular-season play, and the first time at home. They did win by a two-goal margin one other time this season, in the Open Cup home win against Houston, but haven't won by a larger margin than that in a season where goals were initially hard to come by.
Indulge in some recency bias
Despite the three-match winless streak prior to Saturday night's win, 18 of Austin's 38 points have come from their last 10 matches, contrasted with just 20 in their first 17, meaning they completed half the season with a 1.17 points per game average before ramping that up to 1.8 PPG starting with the 2-0 road win at Colorado on June 7.
Myrto Uzuni, in particular, has shown a favorable recency bias, getting his goal in front of the south end supporters – and blowing them a kiss while still inside the goal, propelled there by his own momentum – making it four goals in his last six league matches after managing just one in his first 17.
That's led to another important before and after — after getting just 11 goals in that first half of the season, Austin's managed to rack up 18 goals in the last 10. (That's a 0.64 goals per game pace for half a season followed by 1.8 goals per game, curiously matching the PPG average.)
Asked about the importance of the two current healthy designated players, Uzuni and Bukari, Estévez relayed one of the core theorems of MLS roster building.
"When you come to this league, and you learn about this league, if your DPs don't produce, you can have tough times," Estévez said. "We had a slow start from our DPs on contribution, not on work rate, not on willingness to do well, not on belief, not on giving everything for the team, being a good teammates, and training hard and playing hard, but now we are getting the reward of all that work."
Although Uzuni's goal celebrations are still relatively muted, he said he was purposeful with the blown kiss to express his gratitude for the fans' continued support during the recent string of home draws.
"Everyone today [made an] amazing performance, all the group, all the staff," Uzuni said. "These three points were a long time missing in Q2 Stadium. "These three points are for all the fans that believed in us from the first minutes."
Speaking on the need for a quick start, to contrast with the previous match at Montréal, Jon Gallagher reflected the team's understanding of what was needed — and what was on display from literally the first minute.
"We spoke about what previous seasons have looked like, and maybe waiting too late to get these results," he said. "The last nine games, maybe only lost one, but we had a lot of draws. We didn't want to repeat that ... we need to pick up points. We don't want to be getting to five games left, four games left, to be like, we need to win three of them. So it was like, 'Hey, guys, we need to win tonight. We need to win this weekend.' And yeah, obviously at home too, we haven't won since Red Bulls, I believe, and everyone could give the fans a little bit of hope going into the end of the season."
He noted, of that first home win since June 14, "We showed a lot of positive signs."
A fashion choice and a milestone
Saturday's post-match player interviews were punctuated by one moment of mirth — teammates reacting anew to Žan Kolmanič debuting a "man in black" cowboy outfit he purchased several weeks ago.
He cited the start of the University of Texas football season as the occasion to break that out; Austin FC Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey was on the sidelines in Columbus on Saturday, in his own cowboy-inspired garb, to watch the Longhorns lose 14-7 to Ohio State.
That sartorial choice led to some yeehaws and horse noises from his teammates.
There's a classic Modest Mouse song called "Cowboy Dan;" clearly, this is "Cowboy Žan"
Media also wanted to ask about Brad Stuver getting to 600 saves in his five seasons with Austin FC, second only to Tony Meola for most saves in a five-year span. He did it on a double save early in the match, stopping a Chicho Arango shot, and after spilling that, blocking Josef Martínez's attempted putback.
"It's a cool record," he said. "Obviously, it's a testament to the work that I've put in over the last five seasons. The work started the minute I got here in Austin and created that legacy here. And I'll trade that save record for the MLS Cup, but I'm happy to be able to do that for my team."
Asked about bringing the all-time record against the Quakes to 2W 2L 7D (including the Open Cup win that technically registers by FBref's reckoning as a draw), and the prospect of facing the Quakes on Decision Day in another high-stakes match, Stuver expressed hope that the importance of that next match will be diminished due to their own actions in the matches leading up to it.
"Hopefully we can sort out everything before that game," he said. "We know that those games can get a little bit chaotic ... six games to go before that. So hopefully we can get our minds right, get our bodies right, have everything solidified by the time we get there."
How things stand
Thanks to the win, coupled with Sporting Kansas City (Austin's next opponent) getting a decisive 4-2 win over Colorado, Verde vaulted to 7th in the table with only LAFC and San Diego playing Sunday night in league play. (There will be soccer earlier in the day; namely, the Leagues Cup double header including the third-place match — yes, there is one — between the Galaxy and Orlando, followed by the Seattle-Miami final.)
On 38 points with seven to play, Austin needs just one point per match to reach the 45-point plateau. By virtue of drawing with Portland – a result keeping the Timbers just above Austin in the table — Minnesota became the second team in the West to clinch a playoff spot. Vancouver, just two points behind, was idle thanks to their scheduled Saturday night opponent, Orlando, making the Leagues Cup consolation match — which shuttles that match to the same October international window in which Austin will host LAFC.
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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