'I see one team': Sizing up a match with lots of good but no goals
Verde dominated what ended up being a scoreless draw, but now face four critical matches in the following two weeks.
In recent weeks, you might have been concerned that what you saw from Austin FC on the field didn't quite line up with head coach Nico Estévez's rosy assessments. Know that after Saturday night's 0-0 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC – in a match in which Verde engineered 15 or 16 shots (depending on your stats service), five of those on target, in an encouraging performance – that the manager's view of the match probably aligned better with yours.
"Today, it's what we want to become — a team that is able to perform the way that they perform against the best team ... definitely in the West, probably the league right now," Estévez said. [People are] giving a lot of praise to Vancouver about how amazing a team it is, how hard they are, how good they are, and then they come here, and we were able to ... I didn't see them today. I saw one team."
I'll let the MLS Analytics main graphic (with xG) speak for itself.
Estévez contends that the team that looked more cohesive against the Whitecaps than they did even three days earlier against Atlanta — getting to a home draw in quite a different way – is undergoing an evolutionary process that also involved that Atlanta match.
"It takes time, because there a lot of new players and it takes time, and then the players play with the pressure," he added, praising their efforts in a 2-1 road loss to Cincinnati and saying his team deserved more from the Atlanta match, despite failing to either put in an insurance goal or defend for long enough to not let in the equalizer.
Perhaps think of it this way: If you predicted May results as I did, you had the Atlanta match as a win and the Vancouver match as a loss. They've secured two points instead of three in that two-match stretch, and even though they're now 1-4-3 in their last eight matches, they've also halted a three-match winless streak with two straight results.
Challenging his players
On Saturday morning, Estévez said he reviewed April's 5-1 loss to the Whitecaps at BC Place and decided to take a different tone with his players prior to this match.
"The first thing that stood out to me is we didn't win our matchups. And I told everyone, 'You better win your matchup today.' And I think it worked very well, and our guys stood up, and then they were better in their matchups," adding that Whitecaps striker Brian White, who torched Verde for four goals in April, was neutralized – largely through center back Oleksandr Svatok limiting the Golden Boot candidate's mobility.
"It's about mental toughness," the coach continued. "It's about resiliency. It's about desire ... an opportunity to beat a really good team ... an opportunity to play with determination as a team. And as I said, I think we are playing more together."
Goalkeeper Brad Stuver commented on the Estévez challenge after the match.
"He's still building relationships with all the guys," he observed. "He's trying to find what works best to motivate us. And when we lost 5-1 in Vancouver, you know that tone kind of comes out because he's right. We didn't win our battles, we didn't win our goals, and the 50-50 matchups weren't there. So tonight, during the team talks, we talked about what it means to win your duels, what it means to win the second balls and just winning that individual battle. Because if every single one of us win the individual battle, it'll show in the team."
Bukari played like a star (a Red Star?)
Osman Bukari, activated on the right wing and playing like someone who wanted to show he belongs on this team — or that perhaps the rumor that his former club (Red Star Belgrade) wants him back this summer is true and he's auditioning accordingly — contributed to and felt the improved cohesion. He also noted that he and his teammates prepare differently for each opponent — even though, as Ilie Sánchez noted in his comments after the match, the compressed schedule didn't allow them a lot of time to game plan for the conference leaders.
"I don't want to talk about Red Star, because I'm a player of Austin FC, and I have a contract for three years," he said in response to a question about the rumor. "So right now, I just need to focus on here. I don't want to talk about Red Star, if they are interested or not. That one is between the clubs. For me, I'm here. I know I have a contract here, and I came here to play.
"So whatever will happen. I'm just focusing on Austin FC, who I know. I don't know anything. I saw it on the media too, as you are saying. So me too. I just read it, so I don't know what is going on, but I'm just here. I'm an Austin FC player, so I'm just working with Austin FC, and I have to focus on Austin FC right now."
He was responsible for some of Verde's best chances in the match, including a header forcing a save in which he got considerable (perhaps surprising) height, and triggered a green light show with a deft move toward goal, rounding 'Caps 'keeper Yohei Takaoka to get the ball in the back of the net just before halftime, though it was ruled offside and rendered premature. (Looked nice, though.)
"I'm a professional player, so I have to have the confidence and believe in myself. I know what I can do. I just need to work on it and focus every time, then just doing the best I can do [for] the team, to play as a team player, to work with my teammates. So everything is confidence. So I just need to have more confidence. And my teammates have to give me more confidence ... we help each other."
What comes next
As with the Atlanta match, Estévez kept his starters on the field for perhaps an inordinately long time, resisting a substitution until the 82nd minute, saying in part it was because those starters deserved to be out there — even though out there included kickoff conditions of 95 degrees and 51% humidity.
Verde now has a crucial Round of 16 Open Cup match on Wednesday, in which Estévez observed the calculus has to now be if players can go the possible 120 minutes that extra time would bring should the match be tied after 90 minutes. He also revealed that though Mikkel Desler and Dani Pereira are training with the full team, both remain about a week out from game activation, while Robert Taylor's hamstring issue will keep the but-wait-he-just-got-here player out another two to three weeks.
That match is, of course, an intrastate battle against a Houston team coming off a Texas Derby win against Dallas on Saturday night.
After all match results were in on Saturday night, Austin remained above the playoff places, but just barely, landing in 9th, with its goals for (nine) and goal differential (-7) still disadvantageous for any secondary tiebreaker needs come Decision Day. (The first tiebreaker in MLS is wins; they're currently tied on those with 8th-place San Jose, but goal differential's currently keeping the Chaos Kings above Verde in the standings.)
Then, with just a three-day turnaround after what could be a marathon match, Verde plays three matches in eight days to round out the month.
About last night (a housekeeping note)
One quick housekeeping note: Some of you astutely observed last night's recap included a Latin phrase in the initial version that went up and went to your inboxes. I'm going to blame residual effects of a very busy couple of weeks combined with my rapt attention and delight in how Austin was playing for my leaving in placeholder text (and also, since it was for that worst moment category, struggling to find legitimately bad Verde moments in the run of play).
Know that, should there be an error in what goes out on email, I do appreciate the heads-up, but I may have already seen that error before you – I recommend clicking the "view in browser" link that's at the top of those emails. That helps with SEO as well!
As ever, I appreciate all of you who subscribe and support this work. You're why I choose to chronicle each match as it happens and publish match recaps at the whistle.
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.
Verde got the lion's share of shots and looked the better team on the night, but could only manage a scoreless draw (which is still better than a loss).
Get ready for a hot and humid matchday with some answers about a high-flying team and a wide-ranging edition of the best Austin FC podcast with a cold open. (I believe we're the only Austin FC podcast with a cold open.)
In recent weeks, you might have been concerned that what you saw from Austin FC on the field didn't quite line up with head coach Nico Estévez's rosy assessments. Know that after Saturday night's 0-0 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC – in a match in which Verde engineered 15 or 16 shots (depending on your stats service), five of those on target, in an encouraging performance – that the manager's view of the match probably aligned better with yours.
"Today, it's what we want to become — a team that is able to perform the way that they perform against the best team ... definitely in the West, probably the league right now," Estévez said. [People are] giving a lot of praise to Vancouver about how amazing a team it is, how hard they are, how good they are, and then they come here, and we were able to ... I didn't see them today. I saw one team."
I'll let the MLS Analytics main graphic (with xG) speak for itself.
Estévez contends that the team that looked more cohesive against the Whitecaps than they did even three days earlier against Atlanta — getting to a home draw in quite a different way – is undergoing an evolutionary process that also involved that Atlanta match.
"It takes time, because there a lot of new players and it takes time, and then the players play with the pressure," he added, praising their efforts in a 2-1 road loss to Cincinnati and saying his team deserved more from the Atlanta match, despite failing to either put in an insurance goal or defend for long enough to not let in the equalizer.
Perhaps think of it this way: If you predicted May results as I did, you had the Atlanta match as a win and the Vancouver match as a loss. They've secured two points instead of three in that two-match stretch, and even though they're now 1-4-3 in their last eight matches, they've also halted a three-match winless streak with two straight results.
Challenging his players
On Saturday morning, Estévez said he reviewed April's 5-1 loss to the Whitecaps at BC Place and decided to take a different tone with his players prior to this match.
"The first thing that stood out to me is we didn't win our matchups. And I told everyone, 'You better win your matchup today.' And I think it worked very well, and our guys stood up, and then they were better in their matchups," adding that Whitecaps striker Brian White, who torched Verde for four goals in April, was neutralized – largely through center back Oleksandr Svatok limiting the Golden Boot candidate's mobility.
"It's about mental toughness," the coach continued. "It's about resiliency. It's about desire ... an opportunity to beat a really good team ... an opportunity to play with determination as a team. And as I said, I think we are playing more together."
Goalkeeper Brad Stuver commented on the Estévez challenge after the match.
"He's still building relationships with all the guys," he observed. "He's trying to find what works best to motivate us. And when we lost 5-1 in Vancouver, you know that tone kind of comes out because he's right. We didn't win our battles, we didn't win our goals, and the 50-50 matchups weren't there. So tonight, during the team talks, we talked about what it means to win your duels, what it means to win the second balls and just winning that individual battle. Because if every single one of us win the individual battle, it'll show in the team."
Bukari played like a star (a Red Star?)
Osman Bukari, activated on the right wing and playing like someone who wanted to show he belongs on this team — or that perhaps the rumor that his former club (Red Star Belgrade) wants him back this summer is true and he's auditioning accordingly — contributed to and felt the improved cohesion. He also noted that he and his teammates prepare differently for each opponent — even though, as Ilie Sánchez noted in his comments after the match, the compressed schedule didn't allow them a lot of time to game plan for the conference leaders.
"I don't want to talk about Red Star, because I'm a player of Austin FC, and I have a contract for three years," he said in response to a question about the rumor. "So right now, I just need to focus on here. I don't want to talk about Red Star, if they are interested or not. That one is between the clubs. For me, I'm here. I know I have a contract here, and I came here to play.
"So whatever will happen. I'm just focusing on Austin FC, who I know. I don't know anything. I saw it on the media too, as you are saying. So me too. I just read it, so I don't know what is going on, but I'm just here. I'm an Austin FC player, so I'm just working with Austin FC, and I have to focus on Austin FC right now."
He was responsible for some of Verde's best chances in the match, including a header forcing a save in which he got considerable (perhaps surprising) height, and triggered a green light show with a deft move toward goal, rounding 'Caps 'keeper Yohei Takaoka to get the ball in the back of the net just before halftime, though it was ruled offside and rendered premature. (Looked nice, though.)
"I'm a professional player, so I have to have the confidence and believe in myself. I know what I can do. I just need to work on it and focus every time, then just doing the best I can do [for] the team, to play as a team player, to work with my teammates. So everything is confidence. So I just need to have more confidence. And my teammates have to give me more confidence ... we help each other."
What comes next
As with the Atlanta match, Estévez kept his starters on the field for perhaps an inordinately long time, resisting a substitution until the 82nd minute, saying in part it was because those starters deserved to be out there — even though out there included kickoff conditions of 95 degrees and 51% humidity.
Verde now has a crucial Round of 16 Open Cup match on Wednesday, in which Estévez observed the calculus has to now be if players can go the possible 120 minutes that extra time would bring should the match be tied after 90 minutes. He also revealed that though Mikkel Desler and Dani Pereira are training with the full team, both remain about a week out from game activation, while Robert Taylor's hamstring issue will keep the but-wait-he-just-got-here player out another two to three weeks.
That match is, of course, an intrastate battle against a Houston team coming off a Texas Derby win against Dallas on Saturday night.
After all match results were in on Saturday night, Austin remained above the playoff places, but just barely, landing in 9th, with its goals for (nine) and goal differential (-7) still disadvantageous for any secondary tiebreaker needs come Decision Day. (The first tiebreaker in MLS is wins; they're currently tied on those with 8th-place San Jose, but goal differential's currently keeping the Chaos Kings above Verde in the standings.)
Then, with just a three-day turnaround after what could be a marathon match, Verde plays three matches in eight days to round out the month.
About last night (a housekeeping note)
One quick housekeeping note: Some of you astutely observed last night's recap included a Latin phrase in the initial version that went up and went to your inboxes. I'm going to blame residual effects of a very busy couple of weeks combined with my rapt attention and delight in how Austin was playing for my leaving in placeholder text (and also, since it was for that worst moment category, struggling to find legitimately bad Verde moments in the run of play).
Know that, should there be an error in what goes out on email, I do appreciate the heads-up, but I may have already seen that error before you – I recommend clicking the "view in browser" link that's at the top of those emails. That helps with SEO as well!
As ever, I appreciate all of you who subscribe and support this work. You're why I choose to chronicle each match as it happens and publish match recaps at the whistle.
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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