'We are ashamed': Austin FC reacts to its worst loss in 10 months
Brendan Hines-Ike said this loss would test Austin FC players "as men." Nico Estévez took the loss harder than a previous head coach did when losing by the exact same scoreline.
On June 1, 2024, Austin FC traveled to Sandy, Utah, gave up a hat trick to Chicho Arango and a brace to Anderson Julio, and got a late goal from Alex Ring (on a PK) to finish out a brutal 5-1 loss coming in the middle of a five-match winless string.
On Saturday, Verde followed a similar trajectory in losing 5-1 to Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with a late Dani Pereira goal showing the barest signs of life after Brian White vaulted into a tie for the MLS Golden Boot league with four goals to bring his season total to six.
In assessing the loss, a second straight winless match following a promising three-match win streak, head coach Nico Estévez was more effusive and self-flagellating than his predecessor was after that similar RSL loss. While Josh Wolff called his team's four-goal loss to RSL "humbling" in an ultimately humbling season, Estévez went further in assessing Verde's loss to the Supporters' Shield leaders.
"I always believe that games like these help to build the mentality of the team," he said. "We are ashamed about how we represented our city today, and we'll make sure that these things don't happen. We can lose a game. It's part of the game. We lost against Colorado. We lost against Portland, but we have to lose with our values, with our identity, being ourselves, fighting, leaving everything there, and when we are not playing 120%, we we are an average team, and this is what we showed today."
Brendan Hines-Ike, who served as captain in the loss and took a shot to the face attempting (and failing) to make a goalline save on White's third goal, in arguably the match's most emblematic moment, considered the loss a personal affront to him and his teammates.
"It's a game that is brutal when it gets like that," he said. "It can absolutely crumble to your core, when you're taking a beating like that ... it's a testament and a test for us as men to see what we're about, what we're about as a team. And for me, it's a moment to unify the group."
Indeed, after the loss, Hines-Ike revealed that "togetherness" was the theme of the team's post-match assessment, noting that it "wasn't the time to start throwing fingers" or trying to analyze the match.
"I can count probably on my one hand the amount of times I've gone through something like this in my career, and I've played for 11 years now," said Hines-Ike, reminiscent of Ring's post-RSL loss comments last year. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you remember it."
'We gave them too much space'
It's one thing to lose a match to a better team — which the 6-1-1 Whitecaps very well might be, even when missing a few key players. It's quite another, though, to put in a defensive performance that moves the season stat line from a league-leading three goals allowed to eight, meaning that eight MLS teams have now allowed fewer goals than Verde (but with three of those teams set to play today).
Per FBref's numbers, Austin allowed a collective 4.8 expected goals against (xGA) over its first seven matches, averaging 0.68 per match. On Saturday, the team gave up 4.5 xGA and the Caps still overperformed that, even with Brad Stuver saving a PK that brought nearly 0.8 xG to the equation.
(By the way, we put a question to PRO via Whitecaps pool reporter Felipe Vallejo, curious about the rationale for the foul leading to Daniel Rios' attempt from the spot. PRO came back with “In the 71st minute of play, Austin #20 Dubersarsky committed an offense by holding the shirt of Vancouver #24 White," so after last week's better effort from PRO to answer questions responsively, we're back to this.)
"Vancouver right now is a team that everything goes their way, everything," Estévez assessed. "Every rebound, every play, every mistake from the opponent ... and we knew that. We knew it was going to be a game that if we concede something and we disconnect a little bit or make mistakes, they're going to take it because they're in that moment."
Allowing White to score four goals was, in Estévez's view, the result of a good player having a good game, asserting that he's "probably one of the best strikers that we have in the league, one of the best American strikers. And then I think, today, it's very useless to talk about pointing [fingers]," noting that in addition to the requisite scouting, "We had a meeting with the back line yesterday, showed clips, everything we do ... as professional as you could imagine."
Looking at the goals added rating, with 10 Whitecaps players at or above the mean vs. just five Verde players, it's clear who had the better night.
But Hines-Ike was more critical where Estévez in evaluating what happened.
"It fell apart because we gave them too much space," he said. "And it's a team that we understood would take advantage of those opportunities from the get-go. I thought we were not terribly well set up. I thought that we were somewhat in the game, but a team like that, you give them an inch, and they take it. We came in flat. We came in flat. It was just a performance tonight where we just didn't meet our standard.
"Our standard is we have to be full go every single minute of every single game to have a chance to compete with these types of teams in this league, and that's what's been our success this year," he continued. "Our willingness to duel and work hard and just battle and stick to principles and that got lost tonight."
He also complemented White, granting, "We obviously are very well aware of his his talents, and he exposed us. And, it's again a very good opportunity for us to take this one on the chin and move forward and learn from it, especially because there are a lot of good players like him in this league that will be watching this and looking to do the same thing."
A painful visual
I hate to share this, but here's the xG comparison per MLS Analytics and the ASA xG calculations.
It's not only the xG disparity that stands out – it's 27 total shots for Vancouver, 11 on target, and 10 in the great and good tiers vs. just one good chance for Verde. (According to FBref, Austin's best chance of the match was Myrto Uzuni's fourth-minute chance isolated with the keeper – at 0.22 xG, per FBref's slightly different calculations.)
(To contrast that, White's goals came on shots at 0.37, 0.55, 0.6, and 0.16 xG. Pereira's goal, as he's sometimes wont to do, was the result of a 0.02 xG shot. At 27 yards out, only a speculative Jon Gallagher shot at minute 69 was longer.)
The momentum chart in the center of this graphic is also telling.
The passing network also shows two potentially concerning things: Thick lines indicating a lot of passing among the back four (for those of you on guard for Horseshoe of Sadness sightings), and Uzuni and Vázquez being in about the same spot for their average positions.
With the Galaxy coming to Austin next week, and with center back Zanka receiving a red card early in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw against the Dynamo (with Diego Fagundez scoring to salvage the point), it appears a match in which (provided Maya Yoshida remains out with a hamstring injury) Verde could bounce back. That Houston couldn't put away a 10-man Galaxy likely speaks more to concerns about the Texas team than any surging confidence in what the defending MLS champs can do.
But certainly, for Austin FC, I'd expect next Saturday's match to be better. It certainly can't be much worse than what we all just witnessed.
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.
If a number of teams that don't win end up winning, and Austin puts a whuppin' on Vancouver, they'll lead the Shield race tonight! (Listen to the cold open to find out how.)
On June 1, 2024, Austin FC traveled to Sandy, Utah, gave up a hat trick to Chicho Arango and a brace to Anderson Julio, and got a late goal from Alex Ring (on a PK) to finish out a brutal 5-1 loss coming in the middle of a five-match winless string.
On Saturday, Verde followed a similar trajectory in losing 5-1 to Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with a late Dani Pereira goal showing the barest signs of life after Brian White vaulted into a tie for the MLS Golden Boot league with four goals to bring his season total to six.
In assessing the loss, a second straight winless match following a promising three-match win streak, head coach Nico Estévez was more effusive and self-flagellating than his predecessor was after that similar RSL loss. While Josh Wolff called his team's four-goal loss to RSL "humbling" in an ultimately humbling season, Estévez went further in assessing Verde's loss to the Supporters' Shield leaders.
"I always believe that games like these help to build the mentality of the team," he said. "We are ashamed about how we represented our city today, and we'll make sure that these things don't happen. We can lose a game. It's part of the game. We lost against Colorado. We lost against Portland, but we have to lose with our values, with our identity, being ourselves, fighting, leaving everything there, and when we are not playing 120%, we we are an average team, and this is what we showed today."
Brendan Hines-Ike, who served as captain in the loss and took a shot to the face attempting (and failing) to make a goalline save on White's third goal, in arguably the match's most emblematic moment, considered the loss a personal affront to him and his teammates.
"It's a game that is brutal when it gets like that," he said. "It can absolutely crumble to your core, when you're taking a beating like that ... it's a testament and a test for us as men to see what we're about, what we're about as a team. And for me, it's a moment to unify the group."
Indeed, after the loss, Hines-Ike revealed that "togetherness" was the theme of the team's post-match assessment, noting that it "wasn't the time to start throwing fingers" or trying to analyze the match.
"I can count probably on my one hand the amount of times I've gone through something like this in my career, and I've played for 11 years now," said Hines-Ike, reminiscent of Ring's post-RSL loss comments last year. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you remember it."
'We gave them too much space'
It's one thing to lose a match to a better team — which the 6-1-1 Whitecaps very well might be, even when missing a few key players. It's quite another, though, to put in a defensive performance that moves the season stat line from a league-leading three goals allowed to eight, meaning that eight MLS teams have now allowed fewer goals than Verde (but with three of those teams set to play today).
Per FBref's numbers, Austin allowed a collective 4.8 expected goals against (xGA) over its first seven matches, averaging 0.68 per match. On Saturday, the team gave up 4.5 xGA and the Caps still overperformed that, even with Brad Stuver saving a PK that brought nearly 0.8 xG to the equation.
(By the way, we put a question to PRO via Whitecaps pool reporter Felipe Vallejo, curious about the rationale for the foul leading to Daniel Rios' attempt from the spot. PRO came back with “In the 71st minute of play, Austin #20 Dubersarsky committed an offense by holding the shirt of Vancouver #24 White," so after last week's better effort from PRO to answer questions responsively, we're back to this.)
"Vancouver right now is a team that everything goes their way, everything," Estévez assessed. "Every rebound, every play, every mistake from the opponent ... and we knew that. We knew it was going to be a game that if we concede something and we disconnect a little bit or make mistakes, they're going to take it because they're in that moment."
Allowing White to score four goals was, in Estévez's view, the result of a good player having a good game, asserting that he's "probably one of the best strikers that we have in the league, one of the best American strikers. And then I think, today, it's very useless to talk about pointing [fingers]," noting that in addition to the requisite scouting, "We had a meeting with the back line yesterday, showed clips, everything we do ... as professional as you could imagine."
Looking at the goals added rating, with 10 Whitecaps players at or above the mean vs. just five Verde players, it's clear who had the better night.
But Hines-Ike was more critical where Estévez in evaluating what happened.
"It fell apart because we gave them too much space," he said. "And it's a team that we understood would take advantage of those opportunities from the get-go. I thought we were not terribly well set up. I thought that we were somewhat in the game, but a team like that, you give them an inch, and they take it. We came in flat. We came in flat. It was just a performance tonight where we just didn't meet our standard.
"Our standard is we have to be full go every single minute of every single game to have a chance to compete with these types of teams in this league, and that's what's been our success this year," he continued. "Our willingness to duel and work hard and just battle and stick to principles and that got lost tonight."
He also complemented White, granting, "We obviously are very well aware of his his talents, and he exposed us. And, it's again a very good opportunity for us to take this one on the chin and move forward and learn from it, especially because there are a lot of good players like him in this league that will be watching this and looking to do the same thing."
A painful visual
I hate to share this, but here's the xG comparison per MLS Analytics and the ASA xG calculations.
It's not only the xG disparity that stands out – it's 27 total shots for Vancouver, 11 on target, and 10 in the great and good tiers vs. just one good chance for Verde. (According to FBref, Austin's best chance of the match was Myrto Uzuni's fourth-minute chance isolated with the keeper – at 0.22 xG, per FBref's slightly different calculations.)
(To contrast that, White's goals came on shots at 0.37, 0.55, 0.6, and 0.16 xG. Pereira's goal, as he's sometimes wont to do, was the result of a 0.02 xG shot. At 27 yards out, only a speculative Jon Gallagher shot at minute 69 was longer.)
The momentum chart in the center of this graphic is also telling.
The passing network also shows two potentially concerning things: Thick lines indicating a lot of passing among the back four (for those of you on guard for Horseshoe of Sadness sightings), and Uzuni and Vázquez being in about the same spot for their average positions.
With the Galaxy coming to Austin next week, and with center back Zanka receiving a red card early in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw against the Dynamo (with Diego Fagundez scoring to salvage the point), it appears a match in which (provided Maya Yoshida remains out with a hamstring injury) Verde could bounce back. That Houston couldn't put away a 10-man Galaxy likely speaks more to concerns about the Texas team than any surging confidence in what the defending MLS champs can do.
But certainly, for Austin FC, I'd expect next Saturday's match to be better. It certainly can't be much worse than what we all just witnessed.
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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