Amid the results from Wednesday night (which largely went Austin FC’s way, even though they only took partial advantage of what happened elsewhere), something unfortunate happened.
The Galaxy lost.
Specifically, the Galaxy lost to Portland, allowing the Timbers to vault into the playoff periphery of 43 points. While it’s better to get to 45 points if you’re looking to finish in the top nine, 43 points is enough to get there some years.
That 43 points also happens to be eight points better than 35, which probably renders their Oct. 2 date with Verde less of a six-pointer than we thought it could be just a few weeks ago. Austin would now have to perform nine points better than Portland to pass them in the table without any tiebreakers (which they likely would lose on, given that they’re three wins and 19 goals’ worth of goal differential behind them). To put it one way, Austin could win its last five matches, and a Timbers team going a mediocre 2-2-1 would still surpass them.
So all the rooting energy for Austin FC fans right now, other than for Verde — and again, this assumes you want Verde to get to the playoffs, and not all fans do — should be focused on whoever Minnesota’s playing.
