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Austin FC lost a home game to Major League Soccer opponents in a 1-0 defeat to a wounded Seattle Sounders squad for the second time in a row on Thursday evening in front of a sold-out Q2 stadium. Austin FC dominated possession time and ended the game with a handful of more chances, but a 67th-minute goal from veteran Raúl Ruidíaz undermined El Tree’s energetic home win.
Seattle lacked 10 senior squad members to go into the game. According to the ESPN broadcast, the Sounders made the second youngest starting eleven in MLS history. Seattle went into the game as MLS leaders with just one loss in 14 previous games. The Sounders increased their score to 32 to 15 games. Austin FC remains at 13 points in 14 games.
Austin FC had not played a home game against the MLS competition since losing 2-0 to LAFC on July 7. The Verde and Schwarz played an exhibition against Liga MX team Tigres UANL, but many of tonight’s starters were excluded from healing this game after a long start into the expansion season. The rust was shown by the lack of accuracy in the offensive half of the field.
“For me the disappointment was how we started the game,” said Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff after the game. “Sometimes, when you haven’t had a real game for a while, you lack a bit of pop and sharpness. That showed in the first half.”
The Sounders let Austin FC hold the ball for most of the game, opting for defense and then counterattack after losing the ball. The goal by Ruidíaz, who came on as a substitute in the 54th minute, was the result of one of those losses.
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The first half told a one-sided story everywhere except on the scoreboard. Austin FC had 73.1 percent of possession in the first 45 minutes, but El Tree failed to score a single shot despite six attempts. Seattle managed two shots on goal out of a total of six attempts. Austin FC’s dominance was evident in 409 passes in the first half compared to 151 for Seattle.
“It will always be difficult to play Seattle no matter which players are on the field,” said Wolff. “They are organized and play nine or ten men behind the ball. What we have been working on in the last five or six days was not seen in the first half, especially.”
The second half was similar until Ruidíaz gave the Sounders the lead despite very little possession. Austin FC looked to level the game after 77 minutes when Julio Cascante headed a Cecilio Domínguez cross from a free kick, but VAR refused to score because of offside.
Austin FC finished the game with 74.7 possession and three of the 13 shots were on target. Seattle managed three shots on goal in 10 attempts. Austin FC passed the ball 736, down from just 251 passes from Seattle. The Sounders won 15 to four tackles from Austin FC. Expected total goals gave Austin FC the advantage of 1.2 versus 0.7.
“It’s hard to swallow,” said Austin FC midfielder Diego Fagundez after the game. “When we’re at home we have to win. Someone has to start playing games and we have to start scoring goals to win games.”
Austin FC remains in 10th place in the Western Conference with 13 teams. The shutout to Seattle was the fourth of five home games against the MLS competition. El Tree’s 10 goals of the season are the lowest in the Western Conference and the second lowest in the MLS behind an Inter Miami club that has played two games fewer.
Man of the Game – Alex Ring
The Austin FC captain healed his injured foot during a two-week break from MLS. The defensive midfielder again patrolled the backend for El Tree with tenacious dedication and determination. He’s the pendulum for this Austin FC who brings the team from defense to offense with creative passing and energetic defense. Ring also recorded the first shot on goal with a header in the 52nd minute.
Next
Austin FC was scheduled to travel to Salt Lake City to play the relocated Vancouver Whitecaps for a midweek game on July 28th. That game has been postponed to September 4th in the hopes of holding the game in Vancouver after the club announced they would move training across the border, given the COVID-19 protocols in North America, at least for now be relaxed. Anyone who has seen “Loki” on Disney + knows that variants can cause more problems than the original copies.
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The schedule change allows Austin FC to continue their streak of home games on July 31 against the Colorado Rapids, a side that El Tree defeated back in April to secure the club’s first win in the MLS. The rematch against the Rapids will be the fifth of the now six-game home game, ending on August 4 against the Houston Dynamo in the first interstate game between Verde and Schwarz in the 2021 regular season. The two played in the preseason.
“Ultimately, we all have to stick together, whether we win or lose,” said Fagundez. “Once the locker room is broken, it’s hard to come back. That’s one thing this team didn’t do. We stuck together and now we have to watch videos to see what we could have done.” better.”
Austin FC is back on tour on August 7th with a trip to Frisco against FC Dallas. Only eight of the remaining 20 games require a trip from Austin FC, three of them to Houston or Dallas. A welcome change for a club that has spent the nine of the first 10 weeks of the season leaving the state.
Meal of the game – Slovacek sausage
The order: A chilli cheese sausage and a green chilli gouda
The amount of food consumed with each hot dog makes the Slovacek sausage stand appear tucked away in the northwest side of the stadium right next to a clothes pop-up. The slogan is “You will love our sausage” and they didn’t lie. Best of all, the location near Section 118 is operated by a nonprofit called Start Point Coaching that is allowed to share the proceeds.
The chilli cheese was bigger and probably spicier, but the green chilli gouda made for a kick this Texan enjoys. Opened in 1957 by “Uncle” John Slovacek, there is a famous location in West, TX that also serves championship kolaches. The manufacturing facility and shop front are located in Snook, TX.
Previous meals of the game: OneTaco, Valentina’s Tex-Mex BBQ, Bao’d Up, Pluckers
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