'It wasn't our best game': Austin FC assesses staying alive and advancing in the U.S. Open Cup
As far as the Open Cup goes, Austin FC waits for a semifinal match in September with a chance to host the final. But the most important wait now is for the star forward's MRI results.
In keeping with his policy of not being too high or too low — even following one of the most dramatic wins in club history Tuesday night to advance Austin FC to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals — Brad Stuver sounded more like a critical coach than an exultant player following the shootout win.
"It wasn't our best game, that's for sure, but we talk about finding a way to win and finding a way to advance in this tournament," Stuver assessed after the match, which ended 4-2 Austin's way in penalties after the teams dueled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and 2-2 after the 30 minutes of extra time. "And I think the guys dug deep. They knew that it was going to be a difficult game, and even when we weren't at our best, we found a way to claw ourselves back twice, and then we go to the PK shootout, and obviously, we advance.
"There's a lot to unpack about this game, but for us, the momentum that we get from moving on and just the idea that we can win ugly is something that we could take away as a positive," he added. "But there are plenty of things that we need to address and make sure that we button up going into the last 14 games of the regular season."
Head coach Nico Estévez was similarly analytical.
"We didn't have a great first half," he said, responding to my question about the team's resilience in coming down from two deficits — in a game in which they were outshot 27-11 and didn't get their first shot on goal until Brandon Vázquez's penalty kick in the 65th minute. "I think we had some plays, some crosses that arrived, but we were losing the ball. We were a little bit too spread [out]."
He credited the team for executing the adjustments the coaching staff made throughout the game, including — as he explained in a lengthy Spanish answer — formation shifts necessitated by the particularly stern defense Estévez asserts the Quakes were throwing at his offense.
"We adjusted some things in the second half," he added. "We changed our buildup and it helped us to get the goal and to get chances. I know the Uzuni chance [in extra time] could be offside, but it was product of the tactical adjustments that we made ... even in the second half of the extra time, we made another adjustment and help us to be more aggressive in the score and provoke the PK and [get the score to] 2-2.
"If we go back, how difficult it was for us when we were down in the score to get back and win games — today, we were knocked [down] one time, 1-0, we tie. They scored the second, then we scored to tie, and then we were able to build that resiliency that you mentioned, that creed and that belief in PKs to win the game. It's not easy to play away in a cup. Cup games are always difficult. San Jose has a lot of quality, and we knew it was going to be difficult. But I'm really, really happy for the team, and I'm really happy for the fans."
Concerns about Vázquez
The lingering shadow over the match, of course, is the non-contact injury to Vázquez forcing him to exit on a stretch just moments after scoring his goal — which his reaction and his appearance on crutches in the obligatory road victory post-match photo.
While fans online played Hopeful Orthopedic Surgeon after the match to assess what the injury could be other than a torn ACL, both Estévez and Stuver projected concern ahead of the most important MRI of the season.
"We don't have anything that gave us 100%," Estévez assessed. "It could be 50/50 ... every player is different. I've seen different mechanisms of different players, and I think we have to wait. Obviously, it was a tough turn and mechanism that he did with the knee, but we'll see. We'll see what the scan says to us, and we hope and we pray that it is not very severe."
"I saw it happen live, and I just saw the off-the-ball, non-contact [injury], and I saw him go down," Stuver reported." And normally, anytime that happens, something's not entirely right. He was in a lot of distress, and as he was going off, we still don't really know the extent of the injury, but all of us told him right then and there that we had him, we were going to win the game like he's done a lot for us, and we wanted to make sure that he knew that we were all behind him. And I know that we'll see in the coming days, the severity of everything, but for now, we just as a team, as a collective, we're behind him and we're going to support him with anything that happens."
'You kind of get tunnel vision'
Per CBS Sports' tally, Stuver had nine saves — his best tally of the year in any competition — and provided some candidates for any kind of footage MLS would like to put together to show his acumen as a shot-stopper ahead of the All-Star Game he'll play in.
Asked about whether he was in a "flow state" in this match to make some of the saves he did, Stuver responded with humility and praise for his teammates, who all-but-completely withstood a barrage of shots following the worrying opening goal just 12 minutes in, enabled by Guilherme Biro's defensive lapse allowing Ousseni Bouda to penetrate into Verde's final third and find Cristian "Chico" Arango with an assist.
"You have these games where you kind of see things a little bit faster, you kind of get tunnel vision, and you start reacting a little bit more," Stuver said. "And I was fortunate that that type of game came tonight, and I was able to make some saves and help the guys out. But big credit to the rest of the guys. You saw them throwing their bodies on the line. Biro was clearing things off the line. Brendan [Hines-Ike] was diving headfirst in the box to try and deflect a shot. It's one of those where everybody was putting their body on the line to try and get a win. For me, I'm just happy that I was able to make the saves that I did, and obviously, going into the PK shootout, we did our research."
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.
We turned to an expert on the Quakes to learn more about how Bruce Arena's doing and how Chicho Arango and Josef Martínez are complementing each other.
On Sunday night, the U.S. lost because the offense couldn't get going and the defense had a couple of lapses at inopportune times. Perhaps that sounds painfully familiar.
In keeping with his policy of not being too high or too low — even following one of the most dramatic wins in club history Tuesday night to advance Austin FC to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals — Brad Stuver sounded more like a critical coach than an exultant player following the shootout win.
"It wasn't our best game, that's for sure, but we talk about finding a way to win and finding a way to advance in this tournament," Stuver assessed after the match, which ended 4-2 Austin's way in penalties after the teams dueled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and 2-2 after the 30 minutes of extra time. "And I think the guys dug deep. They knew that it was going to be a difficult game, and even when we weren't at our best, we found a way to claw ourselves back twice, and then we go to the PK shootout, and obviously, we advance.
"There's a lot to unpack about this game, but for us, the momentum that we get from moving on and just the idea that we can win ugly is something that we could take away as a positive," he added. "But there are plenty of things that we need to address and make sure that we button up going into the last 14 games of the regular season."
Head coach Nico Estévez was similarly analytical.
"We didn't have a great first half," he said, responding to my question about the team's resilience in coming down from two deficits — in a game in which they were outshot 27-11 and didn't get their first shot on goal until Brandon Vázquez's penalty kick in the 65th minute. "I think we had some plays, some crosses that arrived, but we were losing the ball. We were a little bit too spread [out]."
He credited the team for executing the adjustments the coaching staff made throughout the game, including — as he explained in a lengthy Spanish answer — formation shifts necessitated by the particularly stern defense Estévez asserts the Quakes were throwing at his offense.
"We adjusted some things in the second half," he added. "We changed our buildup and it helped us to get the goal and to get chances. I know the Uzuni chance [in extra time] could be offside, but it was product of the tactical adjustments that we made ... even in the second half of the extra time, we made another adjustment and help us to be more aggressive in the score and provoke the PK and [get the score to] 2-2.
"If we go back, how difficult it was for us when we were down in the score to get back and win games — today, we were knocked [down] one time, 1-0, we tie. They scored the second, then we scored to tie, and then we were able to build that resiliency that you mentioned, that creed and that belief in PKs to win the game. It's not easy to play away in a cup. Cup games are always difficult. San Jose has a lot of quality, and we knew it was going to be difficult. But I'm really, really happy for the team, and I'm really happy for the fans."
Concerns about Vázquez
The lingering shadow over the match, of course, is the non-contact injury to Vázquez forcing him to exit on a stretch just moments after scoring his goal — which his reaction and his appearance on crutches in the obligatory road victory post-match photo.
While fans online played Hopeful Orthopedic Surgeon after the match to assess what the injury could be other than a torn ACL, both Estévez and Stuver projected concern ahead of the most important MRI of the season.
"We don't have anything that gave us 100%," Estévez assessed. "It could be 50/50 ... every player is different. I've seen different mechanisms of different players, and I think we have to wait. Obviously, it was a tough turn and mechanism that he did with the knee, but we'll see. We'll see what the scan says to us, and we hope and we pray that it is not very severe."
"I saw it happen live, and I just saw the off-the-ball, non-contact [injury], and I saw him go down," Stuver reported." And normally, anytime that happens, something's not entirely right. He was in a lot of distress, and as he was going off, we still don't really know the extent of the injury, but all of us told him right then and there that we had him, we were going to win the game like he's done a lot for us, and we wanted to make sure that he knew that we were all behind him. And I know that we'll see in the coming days, the severity of everything, but for now, we just as a team, as a collective, we're behind him and we're going to support him with anything that happens."
'You kind of get tunnel vision'
Per CBS Sports' tally, Stuver had nine saves — his best tally of the year in any competition — and provided some candidates for any kind of footage MLS would like to put together to show his acumen as a shot-stopper ahead of the All-Star Game he'll play in.
Asked about whether he was in a "flow state" in this match to make some of the saves he did, Stuver responded with humility and praise for his teammates, who all-but-completely withstood a barrage of shots following the worrying opening goal just 12 minutes in, enabled by Guilherme Biro's defensive lapse allowing Ousseni Bouda to penetrate into Verde's final third and find Cristian "Chico" Arango with an assist.
"You have these games where you kind of see things a little bit faster, you kind of get tunnel vision, and you start reacting a little bit more," Stuver said. "And I was fortunate that that type of game came tonight, and I was able to make some saves and help the guys out. But big credit to the rest of the guys. You saw them throwing their bodies on the line. Biro was clearing things off the line. Brendan [Hines-Ike] was diving headfirst in the box to try and deflect a shot. It's one of those where everybody was putting their body on the line to try and get a win. For me, I'm just happy that I was able to make the saves that I did, and obviously, going into the PK shootout, we did our research."
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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