For Austin FC, beating Sporting Kansas City is what it means to be human

For Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff, his team's 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City was a testament to the human spirit. 

"That's what this group is about. It's a collective and they find ways to grind and fight. and it was awesome. The human spirit was awesome to watch tonight." 

But it also inadvertently became a testament to the frailty of the human body. 

Verde, coming off an impressive 4-1-1 stretch to close out this pre-Leagues Cup sequence of matches, has question marks around four of its most important players. 

Emiliano Rigoni, put on the team's injury list with an MCL strain on Saturday morning, will be out for what Wolff's characterizing as "hopefully four weeks" — pretty much the duration of the Leagues Cup competition launching Friday and concluding with a August 19 final. Alex Ring is still rehabbing on his own with a groin issue. 

In Saturday's match, Dani Pereira suffered a yellow-card toppling in just the 7th minute, and a subsequent shoulder injury that's at least a strain, with imaging to determine if it's even worse. And finally, Sebastián Driussi, the team's talisman, was pulled precautionarily close to halftime for hamstring tightness that resurfaced in Verde's turf misadventures against Vancouver on Wednesday. 

In all, that's the team's current trio of designated players, and a likely future DP if he stays in MLS, sidelined just days before a two-league tournament that could bring Lionel Messi to Q2 Stadium in early August if results break just right. 

"That would be nice, but first things first," said Wolff of the Inter Miami hype train possibly rolling through Austin. He noted that they need to prepare for two Liga MX opponents they don't know as well as the Western Conference foes they've faced most recently. And, then, there are the injuries. 

"We've got to recover and we'll see who's available. Obviously, we got some big guys that are looking like they're going to be out and we got to find ways to push forward." 

Grinding and fighting

Wolff also acknowledged heat was a factor; even with the kickoff delayed an hour, the starting temperature was 100 degrees and it only nominally cooled during the match. Driussi's injury allowed for an extra hydration break to get the team to halftime, and it might be a factor in Leagues Cup knockout matches in which Austin's earned a relatively high seed. 

But as Wolff acknowledged, it's hard to play beautiful soccer in such conditions, especially without the team's two best ball progressors for more than half the match. 

"I think you can see the quality at times fade a little bit," Wolff noted. You can't drive the game in the way that you typically do. But our guys' ability to grind and fight when we didn't have the ball, and they showed great resilience and control compactness, really minimizing Kansas City throughout the game. I thought that was what I was most impressed about ... this was one for me that showed the character, the human spirit and the mentality of willingness to suffer to succeed." 

'It's the whole group'

Gyasi Zardes and Ethan Finlay both scored, the third straight home game they've joined together on the scoresheet, but Zardes credited the whole group for the personal successes they're enjoying. 

"It's the whole group; it's not just me and Ethan," he remarked. "Everybody in training sessions are giving it their all, which is helping us all get better. You know, the biggest thing we're trying to fight is just the health of the team, but guys are stepping up. You know, when their names are called. They're doing a phenomenal job and it feels good to get three points." 

Finlay was critical of his 45 minutes against Vancouver and was determined to make more of a difference in this one, especially given how the team wanted to approach this part of the season — a push fueled in part by losing 4-1 at Sporting Kansas City on June 10 before turning around and grabbing 13 of the next 18 points. 

"We made some poor choices late in the game that cost us and got to four ... but yeah, I mean, you never want to be embarrassed like that," Finlay said of that round against SKC. "I think, really after that game, and we did the same thing last year ... we knew how important this end of the summer stretch was going to be for us and this was a unique situation, we've got Leagues Cup. 

"And so we had this little period where we had six games here and said, 'Hey, we need to go out and get a lot of points and we have three games at home.' And we were undefeated at home. So really proud of where we were then and how this group has grown." 

Where they stand

The result kept Austin 5th in the West, heading up a tier of six teams clumped between Austin's 32 points and Minnesota's 28 points. There's a four-team tier right above them, with 4th-place Seattle on 36, and one of the big post-Leagues Cup matchups will be when Verde hosts the Sounders on Aug. 30 with a real chance to jostle into the top four and a home playoff place. 

But there's still a number of issues to attend to, including roster depth. When asked about needs for this current transfer window, Wolff gave the resolute answer he's been giving for weeks, with an additional note of caution. 

"Center back," he said simply. "And we don't have a lot of money."