Austin FC vs San Diego FC: 4 takeaways from the Verde & Black's 2-1 win on MLS matchday 5
Austin FC may not have dominated possession Sunday, but it dominated when it came to coaching tactics.
Entering the match without five key players due to injury or national team duty, Austin FC coach Nico Estévez put on a clinic in terms of making adjustments.
Moving Guilherme Biro to center back, benching forward Osman Bukari in favor of a fourth midfielder and having his squad sit back defensively and let San Diego have the ball while waiting for counterattack chances all paid off for Estévez and the Verde & Black, who came away with a 2-1 win at Q2 Stadium behind goals from Brandon Vazquez and Jon Gallagher.
Here are some thoughts from the match as Austin FC (3-2-0, 9 points), which vaulted into second place in the Western Conference, will play a day game for the third straight week and on Sunday for the second match in a row when it travels to St. Louis for matchday six:
Austin FC’s offense comes alive
Though Austin FC matched its scoring total for the season in this game alone, its margin of victory should have been much larger.
Instead of sweating out the last 10 minutes of the game when San Diego hit the outside of the post and had a few chances to tie, Austin FC should have been comfortably playing out the match.
It arguably could have scored six goals with as many breakaway chances as it had off counterattacks — Vazquez alone could have had a hat trick — but it easily should have had at least four goals.
“We surprised them,” Estévez said. “We knew we could exploit the space behind their backline, … and we had the energy and willingness to run.”
Bukari, who came on as a sub in the second half, joined Vazquez in not taking advantage of some golden scoring opportunities.
But in two weeks, no one will remember the missed chances or care.
The only that matters is Austin FC got three points, and the fact it did it with a roster that had almost no depth is even more notable.
Owen Wolff and Diego Rubio shine
The passes that led to Austin FC’s two goals were brilliant.
Diego Rubio’s long pinpoint pass between two defenders that Vazquez ran onto was arguably the club’s best played ball of the season.
Then, Owen Wolff’s quick decision to play a free kick to a streaking Gallagher down the right side of the field caught the San Diego defense flat-footed.
Wolff, who turned 20 in the offseason, continues to show signs of becoming a player who may not be long for MLS, while Rubio, who is less than six weeks away from turning 32, is exhibiting that he’s still more than just someone who can come on as a second-half sub.
San Diego FC’s defense strange
San Diego’s high school-esque strategy of a high backline and refusal to change its defensive tactics or formation was baffling to say the least.
Mikey Varas has done a phenomenal job coaching the expansion club, which was undefeated entering the contest, but he was thoroughly out-maneuvered by Estévez before and during the match.
San Diego begged Austin FC the entire contest to play long through balls or passes over the top on counterattacks — which were how the Verde & Black scored their two goals — and the only thing that kept the game from being an embarrassment was Austin FC’s lack of finishing.
I had questions in this space about Estévez’s hiring when it happened after how his last year in Dallas went, but he’s done little wrong through the first five games and deserves a lot of credit for what’s happened the last two weeks.
Bottom line
With forward Myrto Uzuni and center backs Oleksandr Svatok and Leo Väisänen on national team duty, right back Mikkel Desler out with an injury and center back Julio Cascante only available for 10 minutes due to recovering from a hamstring injury, Austin FC had plenty of excuses not to have a good result.
Instead, it played its most entertaining and successful game of the season.
If Sunday is any indication, and assuming it doesn’t get hit by multiple injuries, Austin FC appears to be a club who could challenge for a top six finish in the Western Conference.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin FC vs San Diego FC: 4 takeaways from the Verde & Black's 2-1 win
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