2-1 loss<\/a> to the Los Angeles Galaxy at Q2 Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cEverything that happened today was on us,\u201d Austin FC coach Nico Est\u00e9vez said. \u201cWe were average today.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Average is probably being kind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Here are three key takeaways from the match as Austin FC (1-3-3, 6 points) begins U.S. Open Cup play Tuesday at Louisville.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Austin FC couldn\u2019t take advantage of the situation<\/p>\n
All indicators pointed to Austin FC coming away with three points from this match.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team was coming off two solid performances in draws with LAFC and Inter Miami, while the Galaxy had barely more than two days of rest after playing a CONCACAF Champions Cup game Wednesday in Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Yet between the 10th and 80th minutes, it was Austin FC who looked like the side that had a midweek game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Est\u00e9vez said he feared a letdown following all the pomp and circumstance the team dealt with its previous game when facing Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the opening of that club\u2019s new stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His worry was realized.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally, it\u2019s difficult to sustain a high level of play,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at least don\u2019t make it harder for yourself. \u2026 If we\u2019re a team that wants to be high in the table, we need to improve that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Austin FC needs its full roster<\/p>\n
In Est\u00e9vez\u2019s defense, he\u2019s working with a very average roster at the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday showed how badly the team misses midfielder Owen Wolff, the club\u2019s best player in 2025 who has yet to step on the field after having sports hernia surgery in early January. (The decision to postpone Wolff\u2019s surgery, which apparently could have been done as early as late November, seems to have been a mistake.)<\/p>\n
Dani Pereira, who played for the first time since March 7 when he entered the game in the 79th minute, has also been missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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When Wolff and Pereira are available to play 60 minutes, it will be a massive upgrade for the club over current central midfielders Ilie S\u00e1nchez and Nicol\u00e1s Dubersarsky.\u00a0<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez, who hasn\u2019t been great, suffered an injury midway through the first half, which forced Besard Sabovic, the club\u2019s worst option in the midfield, into the game. And after being mostly good the last month, Dubersarsky offered little Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Winger Jayden Nelson, one of the club\u2019s high-profile offseason acquisitions, was also only available for the game\u2019s final 30 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Austin FC has its full roster, including forward Brandon Vazquez, it should be dangerous in its attack. But that\u2019s likely a month away and may not even be until after the World Cup break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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It also doesn\u2019t excuse the lack of energy and substandard play the club exhibited Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur ball movement was too slow,\u201d Est\u00e9vez said. \u201cWe needed more fluidity. \u2026 We wanted more urgency and ruthlessness with the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home woes lead to slow start\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Est\u00e9vez said at the end of last season that the club needed to be better at home after going 7-7-3 for 28 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s not happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Austin FC is 1-1-2 for five points through four matches at Q2 Stadium. And while injuries have certainly played a part in that, dropping points at home is never ideal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall, the club will enter Saturday\u2019s match at Toronto anywhere from 12th to 15th in the Western Conference depending on other league results Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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And while it\u2019s way too early to make drastic conclusions, and the MLS is overly forgiving to teams who have long stretches of poor form in the regular season with 60% of the teams making the postseason, it\u2019s not the start to the year Austin FC wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, TEXAS – APRIL 11: Ilie Sanchez #6 of Austin FC falls over Edwin Cerrillo #6 of LA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,135,134,133,93585,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-245783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-fc","10":"tag-austin-headlines","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-los-angeles-galaxy","13":"tag-mls"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}