'We're just missing a little bit of luck': Sizing up a win leaving Austin FC second in the West

While only three points separated second from seventh in the Western Conference standings after a wild Portland Timbers-LAFC draw closed out the matchweek's action, Austin FC is on the happier side of the ledger, with its 1-0 win over LA Galaxy pushing the team to a 5-3-1 record and 16 points, edging third-place Minnesota on the wins tiebreaker MLS users to contrast itself from other leagues.

Thanks to absorbing a 5-1 loss last week, Verde still has a goal differential of -1. At this stage of the season, that's not as unusual as you might think: If the season ended today, Austin would host LAFC, also with a -1 GD, in a best-of-three first-round series (assuming the playoff format in 2025 is the one used last year), and Dallas would travel to Seattle for the play-in game with its also-less-than-optimal -1 GD.

Still, it's Austin's fourth win of the year by a 1-0 margin — six of their nine matches so far have hinged on a single goal — and the defense reasserted itself after a troubling performance at Vancouver to register its fifth clean sheet of the year.

"Overall, to be honest, for me, it's been the most complete game that we've played so far here at home, on the offensive side and in the defensive side," Estévez said.

Final third actions and finishing still remain a concern for coach and players alike; in the post-match comments, Estévez noted, "The thing today was that we should have scored at least two or three goals," as evinced by Brandon Vázquez failing to convert a penalty kick that Osman Bukari earned in his fourth minute of substitute action, and the hosts' 3.2-0.9 xG advantage (per FBref's numbers), on 16 shots (five on target), with five of those Verde shots registering at least a 0.15 xG.

'We've still got a lot to work on'

"I still feel like I should have done more with the opportunities," Vázquez said about his afternoon, though he did say his goal left him both ecstatic and relieved – but ultimately not satisfied.

Asked what the team would bring into its next match against Houston, he said, "Hunger," adding, "We've still got a lot to work on. So we've just got to keep stepping onto the pitch every single day in training, give 100% and make sure we keep improving."

Myrto Uzuni, who also couldn't convert several prime chances, including a seventh-minute bicycle kick that skimmed over the crossbar, expressed continued frustration.

"The team is improving because we have a lot of chances," he said. "We're just missing a little bit of luck; I think you see every shot is close to the goal ... the goalkeeper can do nothing in my two shoes, on my bicycle and then also on the diagonal," referring to his 23rd-minute curling shot (only 0.03 xG per FBref, but looking more promising IRL) that Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy had to paw away. "So I think it's a bit of luck, but [what's] important is [getting] the three points."

I asked him, "Do you wish the crossbar was about six inches taller on that bicycle kick?" He just ruefully smiled and nodded. (Austin media folks: Let me know if any of you caught it on video. His expression was priceless. You'll have to trust me on this one for now.)

Is fighting for your right to party a good idea?

I've wondered for a time about the wisdom of Austin FC celebrating home wins with the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right to Party" — a definite departure from what Minister of Culture and minority owner Matthew McConaughey floated as a celebration song, Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River."

Personally, I love the Beastie Boys. However, I wouldn't want to be a parent in the stands explaining the line, "Now your mom threw away your best porno mag" (penned, admittedly, in their pre-PC days), and with plenty of Austin artists to choose from – something the club has entwined itself with from before it had players and a stadium – certainly there's a victory-appropriate song with local ties suitable for all audiences.

The ridiculousness of the song being used to celebrate wins reached a new plateau Saturday, soundtracking post-match skirmishes that erupted all over the field, capping off the tempers flaring in the match's closing minutes – flaring enough for Brendan Hines-Ike to get two yellow cards in quick succession, leading to his sendoff in the second minute of what began as eight minutes of stoppage time, but ended up a little more than nine.

That melee included Joseph Paintsil trying to throw a punch (at least, that's how it looked to me reviewing the Apple TV footage) and being held back insistently for a long time by fellow Ghanaian national teammate Bukari, and LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney lobbing a choice expletive Guilherme Biro's way, as he breathlessly expressed to Moisés Chiullán in the locker room post-match.

Estévez characterized referee Rosendo Mendoza as a "young referee" who has just started his MLS journey and a "good guy." While he said appealing Hines-Ike suspension is probably not a winning prospect given it would just put Mendoza's word against Hines-Ike, he does want to ask the league about how the stoppage time math added up to eight minutes.

Estévez was particularly aghast at Christian Ramirez getting a concussion check on the field after the fourth official had already put up the board indicating he was being subbed out for Marco Reus – a decision that didn't escape several Austin players' curiosity as well as pretty much all of us in the press box.

"I don't like to talk about refereeing," Estévez prefaced before answering my question about the refereeing and the distressing lack of discipline exhibited after the match. "What I'm seeing is ... there are teams that have more history. They became champions last year. They have a history of being a winning team. And then the tendency in every country is to go a little bit in favor of the bigger team.

"And then I told the players after we need to earn that respect," he added. "We don't have that respect because we're a young team, and we haven't done a lot of things together in order to put ourselves in that position. And we just we cannot get frustrated with that, and we have to deal with that," before admitting that he expressed frustration with the Hines-Ike sendoff himself.

"There's a little bit of history between the two teams now, over the past couple of years," Vanney said. "When he came here, Riqui [Puig] got tackled from behind, and he got hurt, and then there's a tackle on Riqui on the sideline a year ago at our place. You know, even in preseason, there are a lot of guys getting pieces of Gabe [Gabriel Pec] and others. So I think just the tensions between the group have risen over the last several meetings, and I think in the end, frustrations boil over a little bit. I don't think there was too much in it, other than just a lot of chirping back and forth."

(We'll see what the MLS Disciplinary Committee has to say about all this when they convene.)

As for PRO's explanation? I'll share the questions and answers and let you assess.

I'm going to ask about the Brendan Hines-Ike sendoff in two parts: First, what specifically did Hines-Ike do to merit the first yellow card?

Austin #4, Hines-Ike, received his first yellow card for dissent by word. 

Then, what did he specifically do to merit the second yellow card (in such quick succession to the first)?

After receiving the first yellow card, Austin #4, Hines-Ike, continued to dissent by word and action. 

Hines-Ike was not in the locker room during media availability (getting an early jump on his teammates to the showers, no doubt) to elaborate on the "words and action" from his point of view.

What's next?

Verde, back to second in the West as well as seventh in the Supporters' Shield standings, travels to Houston on Saturday in its first installment of the 2025 Copa Tejas. FC Dallas currently leads the standings by virtue of winning the Texas Derby opener to the season on Feb. 22, beating the Dynamo 2-1. On Saturday evening, it took new signing Ondřej Lingr scoring deep into stoppage time (and then stripping in celebration – just his jersey and Catapult vest) for the Dynamo to salvage a 2-2 home draw against the Rapids.

After that, May's a grind: Hosting Minnesota on May 3, hosting an Open Cup match four days later vs. El Paso, traveling to Cincinnati May 10, hosting a midweek match against Atlanta on May 14, hosting Vancouver on May 17, traveling to Minnesota on May 24, returning for yet another Wednesday match on May 28, and closing out May with a trip to San Diego (Austin fans' new favorite away destination) on May 31. That's a lot of soccer!

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