"There are probably a lot of people on the outside that didn't think that we could come here and get a result," said Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud about Sunday's 2-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC before the match, and what was on the Apple TV broadcast prematch bore that out.
As the game was about to kick, the broadcast's win probability predictor gave Verde a 10.9% chance to win. Following Christian Ramírez's opening goal — against the run of play, sure, but counting all the same — that was beefed up to 29.8%.
"It doesn't shake our belief in who we are, and what we are, and what we're about, and the fact that we're able to go into some tough places and get results, even when things aren't going perfect for us — we find ways to dig in and grind when we have to," Arnaud said.
Contrasting it to more dominant wins at Portland and Seattle — to continue its Cascadia Cup dominance this season, he noted that "we had to win the game in a different manner" — being outshot 20 to four and out-xG'd 3.33 to 1.05 per FotMob.
"It speaks a lot to these guys," he said, reiterating that that team is shutting out the outside noise. "We keep trusting what we're doing. We keep trusting our process and what we're doing. And man, these guys ... I said in the locker room after the way that they grinded tonight and find a way down a man late in the game — a lot of teams would fold at that point, and and under the massive pressure that they put you under, with the quality of players that they have, but we stood tall, man. And the guys around the field grinded out and found a way, and it was great to see."
