Three takeaways from a 'Sentimiento' friendly against Atlas FC

AUSTIN — Facing a Liga MX opponent for the second time, in the first match of 2022 at Q2 Stadium, Austin FC pulled out a 1-1 draw with Atlas FC on Wednesday night.

The friendly match was also the debut of the new "Sentimiento Kit."

Here are three takeaways from a night of feels at Q2 Stadium.

Friendly lineup

I'm sure a lot of you were disappointed not to see many of the Austin FC stars in the starting lineup. I don't blame you. The XI that Josh Wolff named against Atlas was a complete turnover from the squad that ripped Houston Dynamo FC apart on Saturday.

It's fair to say that this was a B squad from Austin, on a night when I'm sure there were plenty of new fans in the stands. From a pure entertainment standpoint, that kind of sucks.

But from a competitive standpoint, I think it was the right call. This is preseason, and Wolff is still assessing what he has. Putting guys who are pushing for minutes out on a big stage, against the defending Liga MX champions, was a good test. We learned plenty about Austin FC on Wednesday.

Such as...

• We learned that Jhohan Romaña isn't quite up to speed. He had to go to the sideline twice during the first half, including after the opening Atlas FC goal, when he got beat to a long ball by forward Brayan Trejo, who then rode a challenge from Héctor Jiménez to set up a nice finish. Romaña appeared to be laboring in the 17th minute, possibly with cramps, after another long run. In a tight battle between Romaña, Julio Cascante and Kipp Keller for starting minutes, Romaña appears to be a touch behind the other two. Keller replaced him at halftime.
• One marquee player who did start was new midfield signing Jhojan Valencia. After playing 45 minutes on Saturday, he went 63 in this one. I think he'll be ready to start if Wolff chooses against FC Cincinnati in the home opener. Valencia is a pitbull, and he needed to be to protect a hobbled Romaña and sophomore center back Freddy Kleemann from the Liga MX front line. Valencia isn't flashy, but he won't need to be when Alex Ring and Sebastián Driussi are on the pitch (more on them later). 
• Moussa Djitté is still searching. He appears to be behind Maxi Urruti on the depth chart, and we saw why. The 22-year-old center forward missed on a pair of headers in the first half, and put his best chance of the night straight at the Atlas goalkeeper. Until he finds some confidence, expect Djitté to be a substitute for now.
• The Jon Gallagher right back experiment is coming along nicely. You've seen what he can provide going forward, but he's also got really good one-on-one defending instincts and the speed to recover when he does get caught too far forward. It's definitely his best shot to get on the pitch with the glut of wingers.

Midfield mashup

For the most part, that makeshift starting lineup held its own, allowing the starters to come in and equalize near the end of the match. Credit the chaotic midfield duo of Valencia and Felipe for breaking up Atlas attacks. Owen Wolff, the 17-year-old son of the head coach, also showed fans why he's on the team with some nice moves on the ball.

But the drop off from Wolff and Felipe to Driussi and Ring is drastic. It's the biggest quality gap that Austin has in a roster that is much deeper overall than a year ago.

I'm most anxious to see what it looks like when Valencia, Ring and Driussi are all on the pitch at the same time, something we still haven't seen through preseason. I would guess we'll get a glimpse Saturday when Austin has its final tuneup against the Chicago Fire.

For now, Dani Pereira is playing the Valencia role extremely well. So well that I'm still not sure Valencia will make a significant difference, which is intended more as compliment for Pereira than skepticism about Valencia's clear quality. Pereira's best moments still happen further up the pitch, which he doesn't get to do enough of while playing the holding midfield role.

The chemistry between Driussi and Ring is palpable. They've combined for some of the best attacking moves of the preseason, and Wednesday was no exception.

It's been fun to watch how Wolff is using them in similar yet different ways as the two attacking midfielders in a 4-3-3, playing to each of their strengths. Without the ball, Driussi becomes a second forward in a pressing 4-4-2, with Ring dropping level with Pereira.

Going forward, Ring and Driussi have the freedom to play off each other and the wingers, and they draw enough attention to open up wingers, particularly Cecilio Domínguez and Diego Fagúndez, for isolation plays like we saw Domínguez score on in Houston and Fagúndez come close against Atlas.

Route one

Still, it's telling that the one goal for Austin FC came off a play that was more chaos than beauty. Jared Stroud took advantage of a bouncing clearance by goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell, looping a cross into the box that led to a sloppy tackle on Domínguez in the box. Driussi converted the ensuing penalty.

It's not the way Wolff wants to play necessarily, but Austin needs to find beauty in ugly moments in 2022. Sometimes, those are the plays that win matches.   

Seconds before the goal, Stroud was deep in his own end digging out a ball that he played to the back line. By the time Kipp Keller played it to Tarbell for the long ball, Stroud was already upfield in position to dig out the long clearance. That's the value Austin sees in Stroud, who's buried on the depth chart right now.