The Thursday Three: Initial observations on (and celebrations for) Austin FC making the U.S. Open Cup finals
CJ Fodrey was the hero on Wednesday night, in part because of Nico Estévez's belief in him. Also, we saw Estévez as perhaps the happiest he's been since coming to Austin.
On Wednesday night, Austin FC added its name to U.S. Open Cup history lore, continuing its team-of-destiny run to the finals of the competition started in 1914 with a 2-1 win over Minnesota United FC.
It wasn't just any win; it culminated with a 21-year-old Generation Adidas player who has shuttled between the first team and the MLS Next Pro team throughout the season, getting his second match-winning goal as a sub in Verde's last three contests — this one coming just a minute before extra time ran out, leaving both teams' fates to penalty kicks.
You could hardly blame Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez for asking Austin American-Statesman reporter Colby Gordon if he jumped up and down when the winning goal was scored.
He even went as far as to say, "You deserve this also ... you work so hard and you make tough questions to me, and then you have tough moments when we don't win. Enjoy the moment."
Indeed, Estévez was as proud and ebullient as we've seen him in his 10 months with the club, and though Gordon is not the jumping-up-and-down type, his post-match energy was infectious and genuine. (I'll confess to pumping a fist when the goal went in before returning that hand to the keyboard to fill in the unknowns left waiting in my draft of the match recap.)
Here's the best of what Estévez and Fodrey said, ahead of the Oct. 1 match against Nashville, starting at 7 pm at Q2 Stadium, with a shiny trophy on the line.
Whereas MLS allows a game-day roster of 20 players, the Open Cup only allows 18, with a sixth substitute allowed should a match go into 30 minutes of extra time. That makes deciding who to roster even more difficult — but Estévez thought Fodrey deserving.
"When I was analyzing the roster, when I was appointed as a head coach, CJ is one of those players that I fully loved," he said. "He has a profile that can work really well for this league ... I like his physicality, I like his willingness to improve, to get better, and I think the hard work that he has done, and the staff has done with him throughout the season is working, is paying off.
"We knew we were going to have to use him more when Brandon [Vázquez] got injured. I had a talk with him, because CJ is a player that, if he doesn't have the minutes, is a player that used you have to loan to USL because he needs to play minutes. But when Brandon ... got injured, I had a conversation with him, even in this summer, about the minutes that he was playing and not, and why he should stay here. And I think every situation that we've talked throughout the season with him is paying off."
He then explained the rationale for picking Fodrey — with just 141 first-team minutes this regular season — over more seasoned attackers like Robert Taylor — who started Inter Miami's 2023 Open Cup final against Houston – and Jáder Obrian, who played every minute of Austin's loss to FC Dallas on Saturday.
"For this game, I took an account two things to be in the roster," Estévez said. "First, the momentum. He's a player that is with a high energy right now, and with that special touch that sometimes forwards need. And also he can play winger. He can play forward if we needed a target player, a player with more presence in the box or hold the ball."
Preparing for penalties
As the second half of extra time ground on, before Verde found a little bit of lift in the closing moments to ultimately engineer the winning goal, Estévez — like many others watching the match — was thinking about the penalty shootout coming if the match continued tied through the end of the 120 minutes. Until he wasn't.
"There was a moment [around] the 110th [or] 112th minute that I was going to talk with the staff," he said. "We already had everything ready, but just to review ... But then it came to my mind ... why am I thinking that? [We] still [have] minutes to play. We can win this game, because we were in that moment, and then I said, 'You know what? I'm not turning there. I'm gonna just believe that we can win the game.'"
In my question, which solicited that answer, I also asked if he might share who the first five penalty takers would be. He opted to keep that for himself. (After all, he might need that list in two weeks' time.)
On the magical moment
As he did when he scored the match-winner just 10 days prior, for his first-ever goal in an MLS match, Fodrey confessed to temporarily losing touch with the world.
"I blacked out, to be honest with you," he confessed. "I don't even remember all of it, to be honest. I mean, looking at the fans, the traveling fans, it was amazing. So I think that's when I kind of got the consciousness back ... It's amazing, man. It's awesome. I think it came back probably when I'm looking up at the screen, and it's [reading] a possible handball [for] VAR [review], and I was about to be like, 'Oh my god, please, no.' But yeah, it's great."
Fodrey also shared his version of the conversation he had with Estévez about taking on a larger role with the first team once Vázquez's season-ending injury was confirmed.
"I've had multiple conversations with all the coaching staff and others, and it's been like, 'Hey, your role is going to be pretty important to us. It may not seem like it right away, but it will be. It will be. And just keep working,'" he shared. "And obviously, when you get one of your best players injured, [playing] in the same position as I am, you've got to step up. But I was able to do it tonight."
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.
Brendan Hines-Ike feels that some lessons from the most recent match against Dallas will serve Verde well in their match against the Loons. The winner, as you likely know by know, gets to host the U.S. Open Cup final.
Why is it that Austin FC, after getting a couple of wins, exhibits what one player calls "dreadful" play in the next match? That question is at the heart of the coach's and players' reflections following a loss to FC Dallas.
On Wednesday night, Austin FC added its name to U.S. Open Cup history lore, continuing its team-of-destiny run to the finals of the competition started in 1914 with a 2-1 win over Minnesota United FC.
It wasn't just any win; it culminated with a 21-year-old Generation Adidas player who has shuttled between the first team and the MLS Next Pro team throughout the season, getting his second match-winning goal as a sub in Verde's last three contests — this one coming just a minute before extra time ran out, leaving both teams' fates to penalty kicks.
You could hardly blame Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez for asking Austin American-Statesman reporter Colby Gordon if he jumped up and down when the winning goal was scored.
He even went as far as to say, "You deserve this also ... you work so hard and you make tough questions to me, and then you have tough moments when we don't win. Enjoy the moment."
Indeed, Estévez was as proud and ebullient as we've seen him in his 10 months with the club, and though Gordon is not the jumping-up-and-down type, his post-match energy was infectious and genuine. (I'll confess to pumping a fist when the goal went in before returning that hand to the keyboard to fill in the unknowns left waiting in my draft of the match recap.)
Here's the best of what Estévez and Fodrey said, ahead of the Oct. 1 match against Nashville, starting at 7 pm at Q2 Stadium, with a shiny trophy on the line.
'The hard work he has done ... is paying off'
Whereas MLS allows a game-day roster of 20 players, the Open Cup only allows 18, with a sixth substitute allowed should a match go into 30 minutes of extra time. That makes deciding who to roster even more difficult — but Estévez thought Fodrey deserving.
"When I was analyzing the roster, when I was appointed as a head coach, CJ is one of those players that I fully loved," he said. "He has a profile that can work really well for this league ... I like his physicality, I like his willingness to improve, to get better, and I think the hard work that he has done, and the staff has done with him throughout the season is working, is paying off.
"We knew we were going to have to use him more when Brandon [Vázquez] got injured. I had a talk with him, because CJ is a player that, if he doesn't have the minutes, is a player that used you have to loan to USL because he needs to play minutes. But when Brandon ... got injured, I had a conversation with him, even in this summer, about the minutes that he was playing and not, and why he should stay here. And I think every situation that we've talked throughout the season with him is paying off."
He then explained the rationale for picking Fodrey — with just 141 first-team minutes this regular season — over more seasoned attackers like Robert Taylor — who started Inter Miami's 2023 Open Cup final against Houston – and Jáder Obrian, who played every minute of Austin's loss to FC Dallas on Saturday.
"For this game, I took an account two things to be in the roster," Estévez said. "First, the momentum. He's a player that is with a high energy right now, and with that special touch that sometimes forwards need. And also he can play winger. He can play forward if we needed a target player, a player with more presence in the box or hold the ball."
Preparing for penalties
As the second half of extra time ground on, before Verde found a little bit of lift in the closing moments to ultimately engineer the winning goal, Estévez — like many others watching the match — was thinking about the penalty shootout coming if the match continued tied through the end of the 120 minutes. Until he wasn't.
"There was a moment [around] the 110th [or] 112th minute that I was going to talk with the staff," he said. "We already had everything ready, but just to review ... But then it came to my mind ... why am I thinking that? [We] still [have] minutes to play. We can win this game, because we were in that moment, and then I said, 'You know what? I'm not turning there. I'm gonna just believe that we can win the game.'"
In my question, which solicited that answer, I also asked if he might share who the first five penalty takers would be. He opted to keep that for himself. (After all, he might need that list in two weeks' time.)
On the magical moment
As he did when he scored the match-winner just 10 days prior, for his first-ever goal in an MLS match, Fodrey confessed to temporarily losing touch with the world.
"I blacked out, to be honest with you," he confessed. "I don't even remember all of it, to be honest. I mean, looking at the fans, the traveling fans, it was amazing. So I think that's when I kind of got the consciousness back ... It's amazing, man. It's awesome. I think it came back probably when I'm looking up at the screen, and it's [reading] a possible handball [for] VAR [review], and I was about to be like, 'Oh my god, please, no.' But yeah, it's great."
Fodrey also shared his version of the conversation he had with Estévez about taking on a larger role with the first team once Vázquez's season-ending injury was confirmed.
"I've had multiple conversations with all the coaching staff and others, and it's been like, 'Hey, your role is going to be pretty important to us. It may not seem like it right away, but it will be. It will be. And just keep working,'" he shared. "And obviously, when you get one of your best players injured, [playing] in the same position as I am, you've got to step up. But I was able to do it tonight."
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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