Let’s start with a question to see how much you’ve been paying attention during this Leagues Cup that Austin FC officially exited on Wednesday. Which set of match stats would you say serves Austin FC best?
- A: 36.9% possession, 6 shots (4 on goal), 28 shots allowed (10 on goal), 1.2 xG (to opponent’s 3.2)
- B: 35.5% possession, 5 shots (all 5 on goal), 20 shots allowed (6 on goal), 0.9 xG (to opponent’s 1.9)
- C: 61.1% possession, 21 shots (10 on goal), 10 shots allowed (3 on goal), 0.9 xG (to opponent’s 0.8)
Seeing these in a vacuum, knowing that Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff favors a possession-based style, and seeing the shots advantage alone, you’d probably guess C.
But if you watched the matches, you’ve surmised I’m presenting them in the order they were played. So C is the loss on the road to LAFC, and A and B are the home wins over Pumas and Monterrey, respectively.
While Wolff did say this past Tuesday that the approach he took in preparing for the two Mexican powers in group stage matches was to neutralize those teams’ ability to unsettle opponents with the ball — the very thing that Wolff’s professed to want to do in his time at Austin. He also hinted, in that press conference, that the approach against LAFC — a dangerous attacking team, but also one good at defending to wear teams down and then break on the counter — might be similar.
That turned out to be a bit of a smokescreen.
