Austin FC loses Leagues Cup opener to Mazatlan FC

It happened again. 

In a now-familiar trope for a team in the middle of a "when it rains, it pours” style storm, Austin FC lost a tournament-opening match. Though not on the same level as its disaster in the Dominican Republic against Violette AC to start Concacaf Champions League play, Friday night's 3-1 loss to Mazatlán FC set Verde in motion for a premature exit to its third knockout-style tournament of 2023. 

And, as has happened again and again this face, head coach Josh Wolff had a lineup puzzle piece taken away via injury and said he was frustrated by what happened on the field. 

Goals for both sides were nowhere to be found in the first 45, and while Austin managed to draw level on a Diego Fagundez penalty kick in the 65th minute after giving up an opener to former Orlando City player Josue Colman, Mazatlán's Andrés Montaño scored in the 67th to give the visitors the lead for good, and they added one for good measure in the 88th minute through Eduard Bello, who assisted on the first goal but also committed the penalty that let Austin back into the game. 

Get the medic

To add injury to insult, striker Gyasi Zardes came out just 18 minutes into the game with injury, and sub Maxi Urruti got his own sub in the 70th minute, with Will Bruin spelling him. Despite Wolff hinting Thursday that Sebastián Driussi and Dani Pereira would be available for selection, neither appeared on Friday night, and Wolff gave new information indicating concerns for next Saturday's match against FC Juarez.

“Gyasi has an adductor so the likelihood is that's gonna take some time," Wolff said. "Maxi (Urruti) is in a similar space. I think he's just wearing down. Danny Pereira, it's an AC joint shoulder so there's weaknesses. It's a sprain.” 

“Emiliano [Rigoni] is still going to be three plus weeks," he added. "Sebastian is just doing some individual work at the end of the week, and Leo Väisänen is going to be out for probably another two months," he said, giving an update on the center back who was set at an early-to-mid September timetable when Wolff last addressed that injury. 

'We didn't do enough with the opportunity'

Wolff's assessment of the match was flatly critical.  

"The people that were there have the opportunity to take the opportunity and we didn't do enough with the opportunity," Wolff remarked. "It was there to be done and we didn't score enough goals or weren't clean enough and (didn’t) show enough quality, poise and ruthlessness when given the chance."

Brad Stuver commented on going to battle the many different iterations of his defense — what the starting defensive unit was supposed to look like and what's come since in an injury-riddled 2023. 

“It's tough when we're playing with some of the new guys coming into the backline," Stuver noted. "It's been integrating the guys into the backline and just kind of getting chemistry on the fly.

“I know all the guys are doing their best, and they know what is asked of them," he added, "but we're at our best when we have chemistry and when we can get a string of games together and start learning each other's tendencies.” 

The question now is if Wolff and his staff will still aim play Leagues Cup with “every intention of winning the tournament as they have for every competition,” as he said in Thursday's media availability, or rotate even more heavily than they'll have to, see where the chips fall — and if they bow out early, to rest and recover to clinch a playoff spot and attempt an MLS Cup run. 

Saturday's lineup reveal will indicate how the players' recoveries are going and how Wolff will approach this one. 

Frustration, frustrating, frustrated

Every interview conducted Friday night by the media corps had some sort of iteration of the word frustrate. That has been a common theme during the MLS season as well as the CCL and U.S. Open Cup campaigns where they've already crashed out. It seems League Cup will be no different. 

Adam Lundqvist, traded to Austin FC this past January from a Houston team where frustration's been the norm, remarked, “I think there was a lot of frustration because we really wanted to win this game, especially when it’s at home and we felt like it was there for us to take. So I think it was just frustration and the willingness to win."

Wolff did call out the defense when using the other f-word, and it was arguably warranted, given that poor clearances from the defensive line led to the first two goals and a lone striker taking on two Austin FC defenders caused the third.

“The defending is frustrating," Wolff said. "I mean, we have six or seven guys, they have three guys on the first one, we win the first one. We dive in at the top of the box in the second one, it gets shot from 20 or 18 yards.” 

After the final whistle blew, Stuver walked towards the bench, threw off his towel and flung his water bottle in an expression of frustration. 

Stuver clarified, “I was just, one, extremely frustrated that we lost 3-1 at home and, two, that after the goal we scored, we just didn't respond well. And for me, that's just where the frustration sets in.”

Austin FC still control their fate in the tournament but it will take a much more inspired performance from the squad if they want to earn a different result. 

And though Juarez and Mazatlán play on Tuesday to make the prospects for advancement clearer, Austin's most likely path for advancement would require a win and then on the "play LAFC on the road" path vs. "getting one of Dallas, Charlotte or Necaxa and then possibly hosting Messi and Miami" path.