Planned or unplanned, Austin FC keeps turning Q2 into a glass case of emotion

AUSTIN, Texas — Emotions were high at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night. They always are, but a 4-3 comeback win, salvaging three points against a lowly opponent — that will take things up a notch. Austin FC caught a vibe in the second half, and that's how Josh Wolff came into his post-match press conference.

He was feeling himself a little bit. And he should be. His team is in second place in the Western Conference.

"I think that's the first thing, Chris, we don't throw the plan out the window," Wolff said, responding to my question about his role in Verde's ability to come from behind. "We took a shot in the face. So what? That's life, man. You gotta get up and pick yourself up and keep moving. 

"We don't throw the plan out. The plan is exactly what we go back to. And that's why this team performs. If you look at the the games that we've come back, you're gonna see a real clear blueprint each and every time. Really, really clear. It's unfortunate that you think you throw the plan out because we're very structured, very organized and we do a great job with it."

Besides the classic limitations of the press conference format, which I won't bore you with here, we learned a lot from this quote. It's one of my favorites of the season, because it made me take a step back and reframe the way I've been thinking about these comebacks. I was thinking he might take credit for adjusting tactics or formations, or simply giving his players more freedom than at the start of matches.

But no, Wolff has a ton of self-belief in his style of play, and he'll defend it until his dying day. He didn't really answer the question I was asking — because Wolff and his staff absolutely made some key personnel changes on the fly in the second half — but he's right about one thing: when Verde comes from behind, it does so playing pretty attacking soccer.

So why are Austin FC goals so hard to come by early in matches? Why are opponents scoring so often at Q2 Stadium? If it's not the plan that is the problem, what is?

"We should start from the first minute and not from the 46th minute," Austin FC captain Alex Ring said. "But it seems that when the back is against the wall, that's when we really have the courage to do the things and the discipline to do the things that we need to do."

Courage and discipline. Those are key ingredients to the Wolff way of playing soccer. Austin wants to draw its opponents out of their defensive structure, create space and exploit it. Of course, that's only half of the equation. The last three opponents to come into Q2 — New York Red Bulls, San Jose and Kansas City — have all found different ways to disrupt Wolff's formula.

The Red Bulls surprised Austin with a delayed press, caused some sloppy turnovers and benefitted from individual errors. The Earthquakes created their usual chaos with rotations that pulled Austin players out of position in some critical moments. And on Saturday, Kansas City played direct toward goal against Verde's high line.

"You still have an opponent you're playing against who's doing a good job defensively," Ring said. "Nevertheless, I think we're the better team and we just need to manage the game better offensively and defensively. That's what we did in the second half and what lacked in the first half."

You could sense the anxiety in the first half when Andreu Fontás scored the opening goal in the 12th minute, poking home a rebound after goalkeeper Brad Stuver failed to properly clear a free kick by new SKC midfielder Erik Thommy. "Here we go again" was the vibe. And those fears were confirmed in the 23rd minute, when William Agada took advantage of another mistake by Stuver. The keeper used his feet instead of his hands on a shot toward the near post, but the real issue was that Austin FC's back line got caught out of position on Graham Zusi's long ball to Roger Espinoza.

"I'll have to look at it again," Wolff said to a question about how his team could have been better in buildup and transition during the first half.

Everybody in Verde deserves credit for what happened next. Jon Gallagher's 27th-minute goal kept the game alive despite a late first-half penalty kick that made it 3-1, and there was never any panic.

"We've seen this score a lot, unfortunately," Wolff said. "So painting a picture of how we're going to get back into it is what we do."

What is becoming clear is that playing from behind suits the way that Wolff has drilled his team. After repeated failures to break down a low block in 2021, a mixture of personnel and drilling concepts into players' heads has resulted in an Austin team that is comfortable and capable working in tight spaces against teams who are sitting low. Opponents saw the FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami matches, and what a suicide mission it was to come into Q2 and play that way. 

Austin still hasn't quite adjusted to opponents trying to blitz them out of the gate at home, but it has held onto the ability — home and away — to create chances while trailing. The combination of those two factors, along with some inexplicable mistakes and wonder strikes, have created a summer showcase at Q2 unlike anything else in Major League Soccer.

"The vibe in the in the locker room at halftime was a mix of anger and a reality check that we dug ourselves the hole," right back Jon Gallagher said. "All of the goals that we gave away, we weren't getting beat. We were beating ourselves. That's all it came down to. We're playing good at times, but just silly, silly mistakes. We seem to want to make Q2 an emotional performance and spectacle."

So when Wolff says that his team is getting back to the plan, he's exactly right. After a discombobulated first half, not for the first time, Austin came back out with clearer heads and a reaffirmed belief that what they had been drilled on could still work, despite whatever doubts the scoreline might present.

"It gets emotional when you're in Q2," Gallagher said. "The place is loud and you get away from what we're actually trying to achieve. So it's just sticking to the basics and what Josh (Wolff) wants us to execute."

The entire exercise must be maddening for Wolff and his staff, who are meticulous in their game planning, as well as the tactical principles of the game model. Whether it was at D.C. United, Houston or during this recent home stretch, their patient approach of not pointing fingers and allowing the players to solve the problems has paid off time and time again.

"It's not that we're playing terrible," Wolff said of the times when his team has fallen behind. "We're giving up goals, and unfortunately that happens. We don't want to give up goals, trust me when I say that. But when it happens, it's not the end of the world. Now we've just got to throw everything we have at the game. You still want to keep some structure and find ways to get yourself back into it. We have to take some more risks when we're down."

Lesson learned? Maybe not, but Austin FC keeps finding ways to get away with it.

"We don't understand why we do this to ourselves to make this an exciting night," Stuver said. "We would love to just have a two-nothing win and call it a day, but three points is three points and we keep climbing."