Austin FC was riding on what was technically a two-game win streak Saturday, though that second win was Tuesday's victory over Violette AC that didn't do enough to tip the Concacaf Champions League first-round series their way.
On Saturday, Verde experienced an actual loss, its first road loss of the 2023 MLS Season, 2-0 against its Houston Dynamo FC rivals. A 71st-minute penalty kick from Amine Bassi, made possible by an inadvertent-appearing Adam Lundkvist handball, proved the difference, with Hector Herrera's 86th-minute goal on a Griffin Dorsey feed providing a punctuation mark on the proceedings.
It could have been more, but Brad Stuver defended well on a breakaway attempt from Sebastian Ferreira after a Leo Väisänen turnover on the heels of the Herrera goal.
"The first half was fairly solid, in creating some good chances," head coach Josh Wolff assessed. "We probably should have come away with something in the first half, and we're under a little bit of pressure in the second half — I wouldn't say it was a ton of pressure, but didn't find our way offensively that well in the second half, and paid the price later. It's unfortunate the penalty obviously is a big part of the game, and when you're down 1-0, obviously the game changes a little bit, you're chasing it.
"I think it's been a long week," he added. "Obviously, it was a disappointing fall out of Champions League. Tonight also adds to that, but it's early in the season, we've got two wins, two losses and we've got to freshen up."
For the 19,047 who turned out for the Dynamo home opener, it was a welcome win following a pair of losses to start the season. For Austin FC, it's bringing a few questions and concerns.
You've gotta hand it to him
Lundkvist moved over from Houston to Austin in a January trade, and he's been a rotation piece so far this season — but in Wolff's system, you might see both fullbacks switched out in the course of an Austin FC match, as they're asked to do a lot on both sides of the ball.
It didn't take long for the former Dynamo player to impact the match, though. He came in for Zan Kolmanic in the 65th minute, and two minutes later, made the inopportune connection with the ball leading to the penalty. It's been the latest in a series of errors from Verde defenders that have directly led to losses.
And, it certainly couldn't have delighted Verde fans that Bassi broke out an archer goal celebration — something former Dynamo forward Maxi Urruti has been known to go to when he scores. (Urruti, starting tonight for Verde, struck woodwork early in the first half but was quiet otherwise.)
Especially when, as goalkeeper Brad Stuver confirmed after the game, he did get a hand to the strangely-struck PK, but couldn't do enough to repel it fully.
Driussi's (relatively) quiet start
Not counting the pair of goals he netted against Violette, Austin's talisman has just a single goal and no assists through four matches — and that goal came in a burst of individual brilliance in an opening match that happened nearly a month ago. Effectively, Driussi's been without a goal contribution for 315 minutes of MLS play.
Through four matches, Austin's on pace for 42.5 goals on the season — which feels more like 2021's lackluster 35 goals than 2022's stellar 65. Take away Druissi's 22 goals in 2022, and the rest of the team has 43 together. So is the slow start offensively rooted in Driussi not creating like he did last season? Or is there something else at the core?
As Wolff sees it, many of his players are accountable.
"Sebastián is a tremendous player but we can't rely on Sebastián," Wolff noted, "Diego [Fagundez] needs to contribute. Emi [Rigoni] needs to contribute, Gyasi [Zardes], Maxi [Urruti], all of our attackers. We've got to be better on set pieces. There's a little bit in all phases, but we create chances, we certainly can gain control of the game, but we have to do a better job finishing off opportunities."
Relying on his "goals change games" maxim and then noting the team needs to be "a little bit more ruthless," and possess "a little more calm and more quality," he added, "But Sebastián Driussi can't be the only guy that scores for us. We have to have more contributions. And guys have to be honest with themselves. There are some performances that are poor. There's some efforts that are poor and when that happens, we're going to continue to make changes when that's needed."
Are these wingers headed for a heartbreak?
Emiliano Rigoni had two of the best chances of the first half for Verde – 11th and 21st-minute shots that were nearly identical to one another. He got in good position down the right flank, but wasn't as decisive as he could have been, maybe took one touch too many, and hit a soft shot that Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark handled easily.
It's becoming more and more of a concern as the season goes on — Rigoni's putting himself in spots where he can be effective. His xG and xA totals continue to mount. Still, his only goal contribution in Verde came in CCL, on the sort of Rigoni-to-Driussi connection that Wolff hoped for when the designated player arrived from Sao Paulo last summer.
"I'd say he's our most consistent guy getting in great spots," Wolff noted. "He has not broken that seal," referring to scoring his first goal, "but his performances are good, output is quite good physically. He has to find the back of the net. He's he's a good player. He needs that validation for himself right now more than anything, but I think the way he plays, he carries himself, his commitment ... the effort again was very good, very true from him each and every game and the sooner he breaks the seal, I think it'll be it'll be good for all of us. It'll help guys like Seba as well."
Me, trying to defend Rigoni every game #VERDE #HOUvATX pic.twitter.com/Xox5ekynnH
— Up the Oaks FC (@Miazgatheory) March 19, 2023
Rigoni's not the only winger who's having issues contributing, though. Ethan Finlay has no goal contributions to date after getting to double-digit goal contributions with five goals and five assists last season. Diego Fagundez played just 55 minutes before being subbed for Finlay, and in four MLS matches so far, has just a single assist to his credit, well off the pace of his 18 goal contributions (six goals, 12 assists) in 2022. After the match on Saturday, Wolff singled out Fagundez as needing to do better, even though he bridged to acknowledging other players could improve as well.
"That was a poor performance," Wolff said of Fagundez. "I think if you have a poor performance, it's fair to come out, I think for Diego, the standard that he has had here and in Austin for two years, the ability to do what he's done and he certainly got rewarded with a good contract ... There's responsibility to everything and it's not just him, it's everybody.
"But you have to perform to stay on the field and I think for him, in the first part of the season so far, he's not to his standards," Wolff added. "He's getting fit still, but you know, that goes for Emi, it goes for G, it's for all these guys. You've got to contribute, but other players are performing better. They're not getting the results, but we need Diego. We need him to be operating at a better form. He's got to play himself into that. That's just part of being a pro."
Fagundez responded to Wolff's comments by saying, "He said he thinks the performances have to be better, so they have to be better. Was I happy to come out tonight? No ... but if he's saying I have to be better, then I have to step it up."
Stuver, assessing where the team is right now, observed, "It's early in the season ... This one always stings a little bit more because it's an in-state rival. These ones always hurt ... but we're trying to keep a level headed right now. We're two and two, six points, going home next week so we have a really good chance to go back to Q2 and take three points."