'We're not happy with the draw': Reflections on a good (in a vacuum) result that still leaves Nico Estévez wanting more

If you were to tell Austin FC fans at the start of the season that they'd face the second-place team in the West (and a dark horse Supporters' Shield candidate) on the road in a congested May schedule, and battle that team to a 1-1 draw, fans would probably take that result happily and bank it — especially after the value of single road points was drilled into them by a former coach, and especially if informed that the draw would follow a 3-0 home loss to the same well-built team just weeks before.

But current Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, despite having positive reflections on his rotated midfield and unusual five-man backfield, registered disappointment with the outcome — even though Verde did grab a point and deprived Minnesota United fans the chance to sing "Wonderwall" — their tradition following home wins.

"We came here to win," he emphasized. "No, we're not happy with the draw. We came here to win, and I think we had the options to win the game, very clear options. But for me, the positive today, it's when you come to play against this team, if you feel like you're going to be a fancy team and you're going to play [your] game, you can look at the other teams, their scores that they got when they came here. We knew that it was going to be an ugly game, a very ugly game, because that's what Minnesota [does] really well. It makes every team looks really bad, you know ... and they don't care about it."

He didn't just see Austin matching Minnesota not-nice throughout the match.

"There are a lot of positives on this game as a team, as a cohesive and connected and a hard, solid professional performance, but we came here to win, and we wanted to win here, and we need to get better in order to win," then directing his attention to hosting Real Salt Lake on Wednesday and "get the good things that we got today, analyze the things that we have to be better and compete to win the game at home and give that happiness to our fans."

Part of the reasoning for the unusual-for-Verde roster, which put Besard Šabović and Nicolás Dubersarsky in front of three center backs with two wingbacks astride them to create a 3-4-3 formation, was the rotation required after several weeks of Wednesday and Saturday matches, including a successful Round of 16 Open Cup win involving many first-choice starters. Per Jon Gallagher after Wednesday night's match, beating Houston to advance to the Open Cup quarterfinals left the players happy yet not satisfied as of yet, determined to work and progress in that tournament until the trophy is theirs.

"We're a little bit short in midfield to play with three central midfielders," Estévez said on his lineup choice Saturday, acknowledging that Dani Pereira's absence due to injury (not to mention Robert Taylor's absence) has left them short. "They've been playing a lot, and then we needed to change on that side to play with two central midfielders, analyzing in detail Minnesota, their last results lately, at home and also away. They've been a very strong team here. Most of [their opponents] have played with a back line of four, and [Minnesota has] dominated the boxes in those games."

Estévez was particularly pleased that his team was able to engineer an equalizer after conceding an early set-piece goal to Michael Boxall in the 16th minute, engineering a well-executed team goal involving multiple players en route to Žan Kolmanič's first-ever MLS goal in 83 appearances.

"When we concede a goal, it was difficult for us to get back in the game and get back [to] score and and I think in the last two away games we we have been able to do it," the coach said, citing the Open Cup comeback against El Paso as a critical test of that. "We are having a better mentality to deal with those moments. And as I have always said, this league is about responding all the time, because it's very balanced. Every team is good. Every team has quality players. Every team can win the game," before remarking, "We have been responding really well lately, and then we have to keep going and keep doing it again."

'I have zero concerns'

One looming concern for the team — an overall lack of goal scoring, but particularly for record-signing striker Myrto Uzuni — continued on Saturday, with some fluffed chances accompanied by the hands-on-head marker of frustration that's distressingly and increasingly becoming his 2025 signature move.

He did have a goal contribution on Saturday, providing the assist on a smart, unselfish play, but it came after Gallagher encouragingly paired with Osman Bukari up the right flank, Bukari let the counter attack with speed to outrun a trio of Loons defenders in hot pursuit, and then fed Uzuni with a pass leaving him one-on-one with a sole defender at the top of the box.

Here's a screenshot capturing Uzuni's Choose Your Own Adventure moment.

Uzuni could have slid to his right to attempt a shot, or moved to his left to progress the goal into the box and increase both his and Bukari's chances to get a higher-percentage shot. He instead makes the unselfish and ultimately fortuitous choice, laying off a pass for Kolmanič, not even visible in the frame until a second later, allowing the fullback to shoot with the calm that comes when a hard run is rewarded with the ball being in just the right spot to smash it home.

Robin Lod is doing well to keep pace with Kolmanič, but not well enough.

That's the moment at which he makes contact, and clearly Dayne St. Clair leaves himself vulnerable to a shot to (per the attacker's perspective) the whole right half side of the goal. Here's the screenshot of the ball crossing the line — note the ball's location (the white blur on the line) and St. Clair's post-dive positioning.

And, like that, Verde equalizes.

"I have zero concerns," Estévez said of Uzuni's continued lack of scoring. "He's a top striker, and he showed today ... he had an assist for Kolmanič. All the chances that he had, they were created by himself. None of them was an assist or something from someone ... Sometimes. goals come and go, and then for him, it's about the time that he worked, he's going to score those ... the amount of chances that he created by himself today is amazing. Not too many strikers that can do that in this league."

Two graphics from the match (from MLS Analytics) show concerning snapshots of the match, illustrating that the lack of Verde's offensive generation does not just start and end with the struggling striker.

First, on the main graphic that also shows xG and momentum, look at how little Uzuni (LW in the graphic) is involved in the overall passing network (players are showing in their average field position, and the thicker the line, the more passes between the two players connected by that line.

And then, passes into the Loons' box. There are just five (including the assist).

'We talk a lot'

Kolmanič, clearly happy about the goal and tapped to handle post-match media duties to represent the players, revealed that he and Uzuni communicate on the field thanks to the Albanian player having mastered multiple languages.

"We talk a lot, obviously, me and Myrto, speaking [the] Croatian language," said Kolmanič, providing us new intel. "So we understand each other; we always try to talk, especially now when I play as a wingback. I told him that I'll be running every time that he gets the ball," complementing all the players involved in the buildup, but especially Uzuni.

"Maybe he hasn't been scoring goals, but he runs his ass off every every game," Kolmanič stated. "I told him that I'm gonna be there regardless, and I was also determined to make the run. And I was screaming, so thankfully he did hear me, and it was just a great action from beginning to end. I'm glad I was just able to capitalize and finish the action."

He was also more forgiving about the result than his coach.

"There's been a lot of games now in May, and Minnesota is a very good team on the road and at home, especially [since] they have their unique playing style, which is a lot of long balls, picking up second balls. And they're very good on set pieces. They've got big boys that are coming into the box. So we did concede one. But to come to sustain that for 90 minutes and not concede any more, we're happy with that. We're happy to get a point on the road. But we also had our own chances that we could have scored. And I'm sure that they're gonna get there in the future, so no worries about that."

With the draw — still leaving them on a six-match winless streak but also on a run of three straight tie contests — Verde does nudge up in points per game, with their updated 5-6-4 record lifting them to 1.26 PPG, as well as getting up to 0.66 goals per game and elevating their season-long goal projection from a record-tying (in the wrong way) 22 goals to 23.

Verde remains in 9th, tied on points with San Jose thanks to Griffin Dorsey's stoppage-time goal allowing Houston to salvage a point in a that's-so-Earthquakes 3-3 draw — fitting for the Quakes vs. former Quakes match, held in the Dynamo's original home city before the OG MLS franchise moved to Texas and adopted its new orange-clad identity.

Hearing Austin's coach and players say they're unbothered and that goals will come is certainly preferable to resignation and despondency. To state the obvious, a draw is better than a loss and a goal is better than no goals.

Now, can they move into a place where they're winning and scoring multiple goals a match? That's likely what they need to elevate from their current might-make-the-playoffs tier to something more positive and concrete. Perhaps that comes Wednesday, against an opponent for which Verde has been able to deliver good feelings for Q2 Stadium crowds in past seasons.

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