Hard times and soft penalties: Sorting storylines from an Austin FC comeback win
Nico Estévez puzzled over who to start up top in Sunday's match. Who he subbed in turned out to make all the difference.
According to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, determining who would play striker in the Sunday match against Sporting Kansas City was "the most challenging question that we had during this week."
He settled on a player he's familiar with from two stops in his coaching journey — Jáder Obrian — noting that even though he's usually a winger, he's played up top while playing for Estévez at FC Dallas as well as in his native Colombia.
But then, a little more than an hour into the match, Estévez rolled the dice on giving CJ Fodrey the longest run out of his time in Verde. Officially, it was 22 minutes not counting stoppage time, and in that, he nearly had both a goal and an assist before coming through with the game-winning goal off an Owen Wolff corner kick in a 2-1 comeback victory.
"Since I arrived to the club, I talked with him in preseason, and I wanted to him to play as a forward, because he usually plays as a winger, but I feel like he has a really good physical qualities and technical qualities to play as a forward," he shared in the post-match press conference from the City of Fountains. "This is why, during the week, we were training with both [Obrian and Fodrey], and we gave a little bit that opportunity."
Fodrey understood that the unusual circumstance of this match — played during an international break with Myrto Uzuni out with Albania, and Brandon Vázquez sidelined until next spring — gave him a spot in the lineup where he could see significant minutes.
"Didn't feel like it was coming after that first one came off the post," Fodrey said, referring to the headed high-xG attempt he made just five minutes into his shift. "I was like, 'Dang, man' ... but it's nice that Owen got that good ball in, and I'm pretty happy."
Fodrey also commented on Estévez wanting to shift him from his preferred positon as an inverted left winger.
"We had a plan at the very beginning of the season; he saw my profile as something [where] he wanted me to try a striker, and I was open to it and tried making the most of it," Fodrey reflected. "It's been difficult for me to find minutes this year given the position, and I'm just glad I was able to make the most of it today."
Fodrey added, regarding his first MLS goal, "It came a little later than I expected when I got drafted here. I thought I was just gonna have it all right away, but that's not the reality. It's been hard for me; I won't lie. But I think for me, recently, it's been just kind of coming every day and working hard, and when you finally got it, you can kind of see in the celebration, I blacked out a little bit, but then I went over to Owen."
On going behind
At the risk of sounding like a meme, you can't have a comeback victory if you don't give up a goal first, and Austin FC did that via the sixth penalty kick they've faced this season — and, to confirm it feels a little piling on of late, the fifth in the last seven matches.
"I haven't watched," Estévez said of the Nicolás Dubersarsky foul on Shapi Suleymanov that allowed Dejan Joveljić to put SKC on the board with barely 15 minutes elapsed. "It's probably soft, because this year, all our penalties are soft, and for whatever reason, we are not having luck this year, with the VAR, with the referees ... on the calls, we are not being fortunate.
"I think any soft penalty against us is going to be a penalty this year," he added.
On Robert Taylor
Even with an injury-and-international-duty-depleted roster, Robert Taylor couldn't find his way into the starting lineup on Sunday. But Estévez indicated he was pleased with the Finnish player's performance, which included several moments in front of goal to at least trouble SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp.
"When a player like him arrived late in the in the transfer window market, as happened to him ... and then we had May [with] so many games, and then he got injured, then he came back ... it's not easy. It's not easy. And then the team started to win games in June and July, we had a more consistent lineup throughout that time, and it was difficult to change players, because we were doing well.
"It's difficult, and sometimes you have confidence, sometimes your confidence is low," he added. "But we've been working this past week. We've had meetings with him. We've tried to help him to understand things. I think he had a really, really good week of training. Really, really good in in his show today. I think he had really good actions on the offensive side and showed his quality to help us to win the game."
On to Frisco
Now having crossed the 40-point threshold, Verde is in 6th place in the West with six games remaining. A draw as early as Saturday's match against FC Dallas in Frisco would get Verde to 42 points — tied for their second-best finish ever, and a win would allow them to clear that with 44 points, just one away from the threshold that locks in a playoff appearance most years. It's still mathematically possible for this team to surpass the all-time best showing of 56 points back in 2022, though that would require no worse than five wins and a draw to close out the season.
The match on Saturday will, of course, have special significance for Estévez given his history coaching in Frisco.
"I've been there two and a half years coaching that team," he observed. "There will be a lot of people that I worked with in the club, that I'm always happy to see. But ... winning there can put us in an amazing position for what is coming for the end of the season."
That includes, in what now is just nine days away, a trip to Minnesota with hosting the U.S. Open Cup final on the line.
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.
Club América has looked formidable in its first two Leagues Cup matches — if you're just looking at the scoreline. However, there are some cracks if you dig in further, and that could benefit Austin FC on Thursday night.
Confused about what needs to happen for Austin FC to get into the 2026 Leagues Cup knockout rounds? You're not alone. Let us try to break it down for you.
Winning 3-0 and setting up a marquee match to get to the final eight of a tournament are positives Austin FC can take away from Sunday's match. But Davy Arnaud thinks there's still work to be done with his new style of play.
Austin FC played a complete match against Puebla on Sunday, getting a hat trick from Myrto Uzuni and securing a shutout. While the knockout round is now a distinct possibility, Club América awaits for Thursday's huge match.
According to Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez, determining who would play striker in the Sunday match against Sporting Kansas City was "the most challenging question that we had during this week."
He settled on a player he's familiar with from two stops in his coaching journey — Jáder Obrian — noting that even though he's usually a winger, he's played up top while playing for Estévez at FC Dallas as well as in his native Colombia.
But then, a little more than an hour into the match, Estévez rolled the dice on giving CJ Fodrey the longest run out of his time in Verde. Officially, it was 22 minutes not counting stoppage time, and in that, he nearly had both a goal and an assist before coming through with the game-winning goal off an Owen Wolff corner kick in a 2-1 comeback victory.
"Since I arrived to the club, I talked with him in preseason, and I wanted to him to play as a forward, because he usually plays as a winger, but I feel like he has a really good physical qualities and technical qualities to play as a forward," he shared in the post-match press conference from the City of Fountains. "This is why, during the week, we were training with both [Obrian and Fodrey], and we gave a little bit that opportunity."
Fodrey understood that the unusual circumstance of this match — played during an international break with Myrto Uzuni out with Albania, and Brandon Vázquez sidelined until next spring — gave him a spot in the lineup where he could see significant minutes.
"Didn't feel like it was coming after that first one came off the post," Fodrey said, referring to the headed high-xG attempt he made just five minutes into his shift. "I was like, 'Dang, man' ... but it's nice that Owen got that good ball in, and I'm pretty happy."
Fodrey also commented on Estévez wanting to shift him from his preferred positon as an inverted left winger.
"We had a plan at the very beginning of the season; he saw my profile as something [where] he wanted me to try a striker, and I was open to it and tried making the most of it," Fodrey reflected. "It's been difficult for me to find minutes this year given the position, and I'm just glad I was able to make the most of it today."
Fodrey added, regarding his first MLS goal, "It came a little later than I expected when I got drafted here. I thought I was just gonna have it all right away, but that's not the reality. It's been hard for me; I won't lie. But I think for me, recently, it's been just kind of coming every day and working hard, and when you finally got it, you can kind of see in the celebration, I blacked out a little bit, but then I went over to Owen."
On going behind
At the risk of sounding like a meme, you can't have a comeback victory if you don't give up a goal first, and Austin FC did that via the sixth penalty kick they've faced this season — and, to confirm it feels a little piling on of late, the fifth in the last seven matches.
"I haven't watched," Estévez said of the Nicolás Dubersarsky foul on Shapi Suleymanov that allowed Dejan Joveljić to put SKC on the board with barely 15 minutes elapsed. "It's probably soft, because this year, all our penalties are soft, and for whatever reason, we are not having luck this year, with the VAR, with the referees ... on the calls, we are not being fortunate.
"I think any soft penalty against us is going to be a penalty this year," he added.
On Robert Taylor
Even with an injury-and-international-duty-depleted roster, Robert Taylor couldn't find his way into the starting lineup on Sunday. But Estévez indicated he was pleased with the Finnish player's performance, which included several moments in front of goal to at least trouble SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp.
"When a player like him arrived late in the in the transfer window market, as happened to him ... and then we had May [with] so many games, and then he got injured, then he came back ... it's not easy. It's not easy. And then the team started to win games in June and July, we had a more consistent lineup throughout that time, and it was difficult to change players, because we were doing well.
"It's difficult, and sometimes you have confidence, sometimes your confidence is low," he added. "But we've been working this past week. We've had meetings with him. We've tried to help him to understand things. I think he had a really, really good week of training. Really, really good in in his show today. I think he had really good actions on the offensive side and showed his quality to help us to win the game."
On to Frisco
Now having crossed the 40-point threshold, Verde is in 6th place in the West with six games remaining. A draw as early as Saturday's match against FC Dallas in Frisco would get Verde to 42 points — tied for their second-best finish ever, and a win would allow them to clear that with 44 points, just one away from the threshold that locks in a playoff appearance most years. It's still mathematically possible for this team to surpass the all-time best showing of 56 points back in 2022, though that would require no worse than five wins and a draw to close out the season.
The match on Saturday will, of course, have special significance for Estévez given his history coaching in Frisco.
"I've been there two and a half years coaching that team," he observed. "There will be a lot of people that I worked with in the club, that I'm always happy to see. But ... winning there can put us in an amazing position for what is coming for the end of the season."
That includes, in what now is just nine days away, a trip to Minnesota with hosting the U.S. Open Cup final on the line.
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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