If you watched Sunday's Austin FC loss to FC Dallas, you likely noticed that players who'd been asked to go match after match were tired. Ahead of Verde's 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC on Wednesday, interim head coach Davy Arnaud noticed it as well.
"We've had to make a lot of changes," he said. "Guys just physically can't perform game in, game out, three games a week for multiple weeks on top of the travel. So we've known that we were going to have to make these rotations. Against Dallas, we pushed some guys playing that were getting close to that edge of maybe being too tired, but it was something we had to do.
"Coming here, man, we said it," he continued. "It doesn't matter who's playing for us. We felt like coming here that we had a group that was ready to win the game, and we were all excited about the game. Honestly, I think you saw some guys get opportunities that haven't had as much playing in slightly different roles, and, man, I'm so proud of them. They did a great job."
That included goalkeeper Damian Las, who got his first start for the first team to interrupt a Brad Stuver start streak that went back four years.
"Damian, obviously, we wanted to get Damian a game, and we talked about getting him a game in Leagues Cup. It didn't work out like that, but Damian's earned his opportunity, so it was a good chance for him to to get a chance to show what he can do. And I thought he had a very good game tonight."
It was a 90th-minute set-piece goal from a teenage center back that kept Verde from registering its first clean sheet since May 3, when they dispatched St. Louis at home ahead of this current 2W 6L 1D stretch.
For the second time this season, Verde broke a three-match losing streak by beating a depleted Sounders team — a luxury they won't have the rest of this season.
And for the first time in 2026, Austin FC traveled to a stadium and won — something it may need to do again should playoffs stay on the list of squad goals.
"There's time for us, and one thing that I do know, and I'm sure about with this group, they're gonna pour everything that they can into every single game, and our club is going to do the same, and the coaching staff is going to do the same," he said. "We're pouring everything that we can into those last 14 league games to try and get us in the playoffs ... we have a belief inside of our group that that we can achieve that. We know it's going to be difficult. We know we started in a very tough position, but we're not dead yet, and we're there and we're fighting. And I think tonight's performance, especially coming off of a result we were disappointed about against Dallas, for us to respond in that way, I think speaks for itself."
