Exclusive: Héctor Jiménez is back and ready for Austin FC's playoff push

It's been a little more than a month and a half since Austin FC fans have been able to see Héctor Jiménez on the field. The 33-year-old veteran, in his 12th MLS season, went down with an injury in the July 12 match against Houston at Q2 Stadium, and he finally returned to the field this past Wednesday in Austin's 2-1 loss to Portland. We got the chance to catch up with him in advance of the club's weekend road trip to Nashville.

Phil West: So, first of all, it's great to see you back. Talk a little bit about the injury in the Houston match that you had, the prognosis that you got when that happened and just how you've been able to get back to match fitness.

Héctor Jiménez: Yeah, it's unfortunate the way it happened. It just felt like a normal play. I felt my adductor groin area just pop at that time. My leg kind of shut down, and I was like, I can't get up, definitely no. We did an MRI and came to the conclusion that I was gonna be out for six to eight weeks. Obviously, we have an amazing medical staff and high performance team. And I just had to follow their schedule and hopefully try to get back as fast as I can. But there's obviously a timeline to these kinds of injuries. So I put my full trust in them, and luckily, I'm able to be back, but it was a long six, seven weeks. We didn't have many injuries on our team, so I was kind of on my own in that sense, but I got the time to rehab pretty well and, at the same time, not miss that many games.

PW: What did you have to do in terms of rehab, just out of curiosity?

HJ: A lot of hands on, a lot of just letting it rest. Strength, trying to strengthen the muscle back again. But for the majority of the time, I was trying to get my rehab done, so that I could watch the training sessions and still feel a part of the team as things were developing in our season.

PW: That kind of segues perfectly to what I wanted to ask — the team seems to have much better chemistry this year than last year. Can you talk about that and just kind of what you might attribute that to? 

HJ: Absolutely – it's like everything's new. Last year, everyone's new to the city, new to the coaches, new to each other. So it's tough sometimes to try and figure out the relationships that you can build. It was a tough year, so going into this year, that brought us closer together. We also added a lot of MLS experience, depth in our roster, people like Felipe [Martins], Ethan [Finlay], Maxi [Urruti], who have been around the league. All those guys have helped tremendously, not only on the field but in the locker room as well. Those are guys that bring the guys closer together. As you can see this season., you can see a tight-knit group. Hopefully, we can build something special this year, finish something strong that we started at the beginning of the year.

PW: I know, last year, you were kind of a bridge player to the Spanish-speaking players last year, and I imagine that's continued this year. 

HJ: Everyone's here to help, from coaches to the media department. Everyone's learning Spanish and English. Some of the guys are feeling a little bit more confident speaking English in the locker room even though you know some of the verb tenses are wrong. They're trying to learn and they're trying to adapt to English and to this country. We do a really good job of that in the locker room, and some of these guys are taking classes as well, but everyone's helping wherever they can. 

Sometimes, it makes it easier for the guys to respond in your native language, but it's definitely something that, in the facility, we try to learn, you know, both the South Americans and us as well learning; obviously, some of the other guys learning a little bit more Spanish as well. So it's good all around, and it's going to be beneficial for us long term.

PW: Last night, Josh put in the double-fullback sub, he's done that a few times this year, and we've talked about that in press conferences. I just wonder how that came to be, how that got introduced and just how the fullback corps feels about that.

HJ: It's something that he's done over the course of this year. As you know, we all bring something unique, something different, and I think that's something that [the coaches] thought they needed to do at the end of the game. As you saw Nick [Lima] and Jon [Gallagher] put in a really good shift and they've been playing a lot of minutes as of late, so they thought that might have been a good move for us there at the end. You know, we were able to get a goal back and were unlucky enough not to get a result there at the end with Felipe and his chance, but it's something that with the fullbacks, we know our responsibilities and what we need to bring when given the opportunity to step on the field.

PW: Does Gally's development have anything to do with making that possible? Because now you have four really good MLS-quality fullbacks ...

HJ: Absolutely! He's really embraced the challenge from the start of the year and he's always willing to learn. As you've seen, he's been playing tremendously for us. And yesterday's game was one of the ones where we were transitioning a little bit more than we usually do. But, over the course of the year, we've all contributed in so many ways, and it's going to be that way to the end of the year. I mean, we all bring different qualities and, every game, asking new questions. So we've all taken this challenge head on, and sometimes, obviously, some are playing more minutes than the others, but we're all there for each other at the end of the day. 

PW: And in terms of fullbacks in the system, I'm curious a little bit more about that ...

HJ: I've been around Josh for a lot of years, since when he was in Columbus. So it's definitely changed a little bit from those years. We're more the controllers and getting everyone involved in the final third, [delivering] service from what we call our "hot zones," dangerous crosses — but it's unique. It's different than any other team in the league. As you can tell, we aren't those fullbacks that are naturally just bombing down the line. We're more controllers and connecting the team, managing transitions ... qualities that we all bring to this team and something that's different, the coaching staff relies on us to do it. 

PW: Is this an outgrowth of what [former Crew coach Gregg] Berhalter instituted with the Crew that Josh picked up on as an assistant? 

HJ: A little different. I mean, I think Josh has his own ideas and his own methods. It's a little different. As you see now, we've contribute to a lot of goals this year, I think Nick's got five or six assists, Jon's got four, Z's" — refering to Žan Kolmanič — "got about three or four as well, and, and so we all contribute and at the same time, we have 60 goals this year. It's quite amazing. So we've just got to keep building and finish strong with these last six games here and make a run at it." 

(Note: The fullback quartet has combined for 14 assists: Lima has five, Gallagher has four, Jiménez has three, and Kolmanic has two.) 

PW: Especially compared to last year, because last year was kind of a goal desert compared to where things are right now. I mean, is it just the quality of players ...

HJ: Yeah, absolutely. I know the coaches did a lot of reflecting in the year ... on what to fix or how to adjust to different opponents and obviously, you can see that throughout this year, we've been having a really good season. A lot of players that have hit a lot of great individual stats and so hopefully, like I said, we've got six more games and hopefully we can contribute to that and keep pushing. 

PW: More goals to write about! Which is fun — we don't mind the extra work.

So, playoffs seem imminent for the team. Obviously, you couldn't quite get it last night. We've seen some matches with playoff intensity this year, obviously the LAFC one very much felt like it was a final of some sort. I'm just wondering about the mentality – what's different this year and how you're getting ready for this phase of the season, because even last night in the elevator, on the way down the press conference, people were talking about how this felt like a playoff game — albeit a bad one.

HJ: Some of these teams ... you know, Portland has been involved in a couple of championships the last four or five years. It's one of those things that, at the end of the year, [teams] start making a run, but the atmosphere this whole year has been amazing for us at home. But definitely, you sense that the end of the year has come in, and these games are starting to get more intense, more physical. There's a lot more to play for. 

But that's our goal. You know, we want to clinch playoffs and obviously have a home playoff game. I've been around the league for many years, and all you've got to do is put a little run together and things happen for you. So there's a lot of good energy happening in the locker room, a lot of good energy in the city, in the stadium. So hopefully we can make a run once it's the playoffs. 

PW: One more thing — last year, I kind of thought of you as a player-coach in a sense. Is that something where you're kind of taking on those sorts of roles, or are you just focused on playing? 

HJ: I mean, I took my B course a couple of years ago when I was in Columbus with with Josh and Gregg, so it's something that I have a passion for. I'd still like to play a couple more years. I think my body's still good enough to give me a few more years, but it's something I've seen in the future. Hopefully, just down the road, I can pass along everything I've learned and everything I've experienced.