Instant takeaways from Austin FC at FC Dallas in the Copa Tejas final

FRISCO, Texas — Texas is Verde.

Austin FC needed some late heroics to secure its first trophy in club history, the Copa Tejas, with a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas on Saturday night in front of 16,833 fans at Toyota Stadium.

It wasn't perfect, but the pictures will show supporters and players celebrating in the faces of their Texas rivals and that's all that mattered on this occasion. Nine months after watching the Toros do the same inside this same building, Verde got its revenge.

Here are a few takeaways from the match.

Strength vs. strength

Sometimes, you just get beat. On the first goal, that's exactly what happened to Austin FC center backs Ruben Gabrielsen and Julio Cascante.

Put in a bad spot defending a counterattack by themselves, Gabrielsen and Cascante did all the right things. Gabrielsen forced Jesús Ferreira to pass the ball backward, then turned and sprinted in a foot race with the U.S. men's national team forward. If he didn't win, he at least kept up.

And Cascante, the first man back, played the angle to put himself between the ball and FC Dallas winger Paul Arriola, who was making a beeline for the near post. They were there, but they didn't execute.

Gabrielsen stuck a foot out as Ferreira's cross snuck by him, then the ball rolled through Cascante's legs on its way to Arriola, who calmly finished past Brad Stuver.

It was a lethal counterattack orchestrated by one of MLS's best counter-attacking trios. There's a reason why Ferreira and Arriola are both headed to the All-Star Game next month, and likely the World Cup after that. In my view, Gabrielsen showed Saturday why he should've been considered for the summer showcase. Aside from that moment, he kept Ferreira bottled up in some really difficult scenarios.

In the 69th minute, the Verde center backs were again faced with Ferreira running at them and Velasco trailing. Gabrielsen stuck out a foot, Cascante made a last-ditch slide and Brad Stuver tipped the ball over the crossbar. 

Watching that front line against this center back duo was well worth the price of admission.

Without Wolff

Less than an hour before kickoff, we found out that Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff did not make the journey to Frisco. He was held out of this one after being placed in MLS Health and Safety protocols, the term the league uses when personnel test positive for COVID-19.

Lead assistant coach Davy Arnaud filled in for Wolff, not an unfamiliar place for the former Houston Dynamo interim head coach.

It's hard to say if Wolff would have made a difference, but the coaching certainly did. Arnaud made a triple sub just after the hour mark, and one of those subs, Felipe Martins, made the crucial pass that led to Diego Fagúndez's equalizer in the 79th minute. 

We'll find out more postgame about when the team found out Wolff was out, how involved he was watching from home and how the team responded to Arnaud and the rest of the assistant coaches. In reality, we've seen time and time again the players' ability to affect a game with their attitude more than any tactical or personnel moves.

And no matter your feelings on Wolff, it's a shame he wasn't about to participate in person for one of the biggest matches of his tenure thus far. 

Best in Texas

Why did this match matter so much? Well, there was a trophy at stake. Copa Tejas, in its second year, is the prize for the team with the best overall record in head-to-head matches between the three Texas MLS clubs.

Verde supporters questioned their coach's commitment to the competition during a difficult 2021 campaign, and rued the missed opportunity to steal it away from FCD last season. But this time around, it's only sweet victory and bragging rights for the next year.

Austin finished on top with eight points collected by beating Houston twice and drawing both times against Dallas. Despite still never beating the Toros in five tries, Verde only needed a draw on Saturday because of Houston's dramatic late equalizer last weekend in the Texas Derby match at PNC Stadium.

Here are the final standings.

1. Austin FC — 8 points, 2W-0L-2D, +2 goal differential
2. FC Dallas — 6 points, 1W-0L-3D, +1 goal differential
3. Houston Dynamo FC — 1 point, 0W-3L-1D, -4 goal differential