Dear Nico Estevez, FC Dallas players, and everyone else in the organization involved with tonight’s playoff match:
I know that we in the media are not supposed to root for specific teams to win, but in the interest of narrative (and at the risk of disrespecting the fine folks in Minnesota), know that I’m pulling for you to get the win tonight.
Why? Because it would complete the circle of most delicious Western Conference semifinal matchups.
We already have an El Trafico on Thursday, in which the Supporters’ Shield-winning LAFC will host the Galaxy, in a match sure to build on an ever-growing rivalry. Thanks to the Galaxy’s midseason reinvention, plus just enough late-season LAFC ebbs to quell talk of their talent-rich invincibility, the outcome is legitimately in question. A whole range of outcomes is possible, and every one of them is excellent theater.
On the other side of the bracket, potential for a Copa Tejas-flavored semifinal match has been there since the playoff places were set. Austin did its part on Sunday, though they certainly made it suspenseful for all invested in their fortunes. Ultimately, Brad Stuver delivered penalty-saving heroics in the deciding sequence, and Tate Schmidt did all the Austin fans a solid by lofting his skied attempt into the Verde wall to guarantee the hosts would move on.
But oh, Lordy, what a set of stats they racked up.
38 shots, 11 of those on goal. 59 crosses. A 4.5 xG … and just one goal from open play. That cuts two ways. For Austin fans who have adopted “keep doubting us” as a mantra, this match provided more evidence of Verde’s continued “trademark” — as Josh Wolff put it — of resilience and finding ways to win even when down 2-0. For those who keep doubting Austin, there’s a lot of doubt fuel in the afternoon of futility that was only rescued at the death in stoppage time and then in penalty-kick-style sudden death.
For an FC Dallas team with its own MLS Cup aspirations, going to Q2 for a semifinal sets up perfectly. Austin, of course, has never beaten Dallas in an official MLS matchup. The Copa Tejas trophy that Austin won in Frisco — celebrated in the Toyota Stadium parking lot and not on the field, lest we forget — was the result of two draws against FCD and two wins over the Dynamo.
Austin FC might have some MVP-related motivation — and occasion to renew calls for delaying MVP voting to the post-season – as likely second-place finisher Sebastian Driussi continues showing his value in the playoffs while likely winner Hany Mukhtar is part of a one-and-done team watching from home the rest of the way. But Jesus Ferreira, with his 18-goal, six-assist campaign playing in a more advanced role from last year, didn’t even make the MVP finalist list despite a season deserving of at least that level of recognition.
As I discussed with J. Sam Jones and Landon Cotham on Friday’s episode of Westward Ho, the run to MLS Cup is one of the more chalk-resistant tournaments in American sports. Upsets abound in the MLS playoffs — just last year, No. 7 RSL got to the conference finals, and two No. 4 seeds faced off for the title after knocking off the top seeds along the way. It’s been mostly chalk so far, save for FC Cincinnati’s predictable “upset” of Red Bulls, but Minnesota’s a team certainly capable of ruining the biggest Austin vs. Dallas matchup yet.
Please, I implore you, good people of Frisco, don’t let that be the case.
There’s too much narrative and tension and, ultimately, rampant fan base insufferableness on the line. I know both fan bases are hungry for this matchup. I know neutrals would love this narrative more than an Austin-Minnesota matchup that would, on paper at least, favor the hosts. And also, no matter how it would end, we’d have a Texas team one win away from MLS Cup, just a year after all three Texas teams occupied the bottom rungs of the West. It would remind everyone of the remarkable turnaround that Wolff and Estevez have been able to engineer as well as the level of their players’ buy-in.
I know that not every Austin FC fan out there shares my sentiment. Some will root against FC Dallas regardless of opponent and circumstance, with the possible exception being that an FCD win directly and positively advances Verde’s aspirations, and even then those fans would be loath to pull for the Toros. I would argue that Monday’s match does indeed advance the Verde cause, setting up a Sunday skirmish between the two Texas sides that would be ripe for Austin’s first-ever win against this developing rival.
For the sake of the remarkable story this season has been — for both teams — Austin hosting FCD is simply the episode we all need in our lives.
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