Soccer can sometimes feel like a TV show you’ve re-watched a hundred times. You know the struggling team that’s gone down 2-0 will lose the match because you’ve seen them do it so many times before. The missed shots, the defensive miscues, the substitutes that fail to make an impact – you have them all memorized. You can yell out what’s going to happen before it plays out on your TV. You know the punchline before the joke’s even begun.

But – breaking news – soccer isn’t scripted. Sometimes, the beleaguered team with the unpopular coach can defy expectations and win a match that everyone watching has already chalked up as a defeat. On Saturday night at Q2 Stadium, Austin FC turned a 2-0 second-half deficit to the San Jose Earthquakes into a wild 4-3 win that laughed in the face of logic.

How does one even begin to explain the clumsy 59th-minute challenge from Quakes’ midfielder Carlos Gruezo on Diego Rubio just inside the edge of the penalty area to gift Austin FC a penalty and a route back into a match they seemed destined to lose? Rubio was running away from goal when Gruezo clumsily kicked at the back of the Chilean’s legs. Captain Sebastian Driussi converted the penalty because one match can only contain so much unpredictability.

On the subject of predictability – how about a first half where Austin FC had 60% of the ball but still went into halftime trailing 1-0 thanks to a headed goal from left-back Paul Marie? Austin FC fans can recite on command innumerable occasions where their team has failed to turn ample possession into tangible end product. A Jader Obrian goal that got ruled out after a VAR review due to a Hector Jimenez foul only added to Verde and Black frustration.

When Jeremy Ebobisse finished off a San Jose counterattack with a goal in the 58th minute, any hope of an Austin FC victory seemed naive to the point of delusion. But Driussi’s penalty, followed quickly by Obrian legitimately finding the back of the net after San Jose failed to clear a long Jon Gallagher throw-in, provided a welcome plot twist.

Throw-ins and set pieces have been an emphasis for Austin FC in 2024, as they have been every season under head coach Josh Wolff. According to theanalyst.com, Austin FC entered Saturday night’s contest against San Jose having generated the 11th most expected goals (xG) from set plays in MLS with 1.83. Austin FC had only generated 2.75 xG from open play – which ranked dead last in MLS. Set plays have been a vital source of chance creation for the Verde and Black this season. “It’s been prosperous for us, the throw-ins, the corner kicks as well,” Wolff said after the match in his press conference.

Second-half substitute Guilherme Biro – nipping in front of Druissi who was shaping up to shoot – gave Austin FC a brief 3-2 lead with a blistering shot from outside the penalty area in the 67th minute. San Jose substitute Amahl Pellegrino canceled out Biro’s go-ahead goal just seven minutes later. By this point, the match had lost any semblance of structure and felt like watching two kids who had just engulfed several boxes of Peeps candy bounding up and down on a teeter-totter.

Despite the chaos that had overtaken proceedings, Wolff was pleased that his players stuck to their game plan. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. The guys are doing a good job,” Wolff said. For just the second time all season (the first being last Saturday’s 2-1 win over FC Dallas), Austin FC outshot an opponent – 15-14. Per fotmob.com, San Jose still got the better of Wolff’s team in xG, 2.91 to 2.00 (and that’s including Driussi’s penalty), but Austin FC did look a more menacing threat than they did earlier in the season.

A big part of that, of course, is that Driussi is fit and firing again. Driussi at his best is must-watch entertainment, and his glorious exclamation point of a winner in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time was the least surprising surprise ending this delirious match could have had. Gallagher’s cross, substitute Gyasi Zardes’ sumptuous layoff, Driussi’s hammer strike – there was a comforting synchronicity that emerged right as the game was at its most frenzied state.

Wins against FC Dallas and San Jose – currently the bottom two teams in the Western Conference – shouldn’t prompt anyone to get carried away, but considering how bleak Austin FC’s season looked after their tepid 2-0 defeat to Orlando City on March 23rd, it’s hard not let optimism creep in.

“Last week was another good, strong performance,” Gallagher reflected after the match. “Can we back it up with another win this week? And we did. Now put it to bed, fix what we can, and move to St. Louis next week.” For the first time in 2024, Austin FC have something resembling momentum. The horror show script that was previously playing out has now flipped. It’s time to embrace the unexpected.

Eric McCoy

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