You can do all the neat, tidy hold-up play you want.

You can drag defenders around and ping the ball to your teammates, getting them involved in the game. You can press and harass the opposition’s goalkeeper and defenders to disrupt their build-up patterns. But ultimately, if you’re a striker, you’re predominately judged on one thing: goals.

With Diego Rubio suspended for yellow card accumulation, Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes made the most of just his fifth start of the season. For 90-plus hard-working minutes on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium, Zardes did all of the industrious huffing and puffing that doesn’t appear in a conventional soccer box score.

He dropped off the forward line to present himself as a passing option, and he roughed it up with visiting New York City FC center-backs when required, but, crucially, he also scored his first two goals of the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) season to lead Austin FC to a vitally important 2-1 win.

Entering Saturday night’s contest against NYCFC, Austin FC had won just once in their previous seven matches. The slump had dropped the Verde and Black to tenth in the Western Conference, one spot below the ninth and final playoff position. Thanks to Zardes rediscovering his goalscoring form – his two goals on the night give him 105 in his MLS career, which places him tenth all-time for goals scored in the league – Austin FC are now back above the playoff line in ninth place.

“Gyasi had a very strong, well-rounded performance tonight,” Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff said of Zardes in his post-match press conference. “When we need to use our striker to bring us in…from that standpoint, I think Gyasi did a really good job tonight.”

The visitors looked brighter after a weather-delayed start. Monopolizing possession early, NYCFC midfielder Keaton Parks found right back Tayvon Gray (who would exit the match with an injury in the 12th minute) on a rampaging run deep into Austin FC’s half. After Gray exchanged passes with right winger Hannes Wolf, he curled a cross to left winger Andres Perea to head home and give NYCFC a 5th-minute lead. NYCFC provided their hosts a lesson on how quick, side-to-side movement can unsettle a defense.

Austin FC took note. In the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, an attacking sequence that began with Zardes collecting a pass inside his own half from midfielder Jhojan Valencia was finished with Zardes heading in a cross from left winger Jader Obrian. Obrian received the ball from a long, diagonal switch of play from right-back, Jon Gallagher. For large stretches of the 2024 season (and, really, for large stretches of the team’s nearly four-year history), Austin FC have looked slow and labored in possession. The Verde and Black rapidly and incisively stretching an opponent both horizontally and vertically was a welcome sight.

While a good chunk of Zardes’ touches came inside Austin FC’s half (per sofascore.com, the average position of his touches was below that of wingers Obrian and Owen Wolff), his second goal showed he can still run in behind a backline if necessary.

In the 69th minute, with NYCFC’s defenders still pushed high from a bit of pressing on an Austin FC goal kick, Wolff played a curved pass that allowed Zardes to split NYCFC’s center backs with a pacy run that more than a few in attendance may have doubted he could still make. His finish was confident and accurate: he’s done this before.

And even though Saturday night was his first time finding the back of the net in 2024, Zardes knows his all-around game offers plenty to the Austin FC cause. “It’s extremely important,” Zardes said post-match when asked about the non-goal-scoring aspects of his striker role.

“As a striker sometimes you don’t see the ball much, so it’s important that I hold the ball up and find other players when I do get it. Pressing wise, defensively, it’s important that I put pressure on the keeper…if you apply pressure, the keeper is going to kick it out of bounds or kick it up the field which we have some big guys at the back that are going to win aerial duels, and I just try and do whatever’s asked of me,” Zardes continued.

As nice as the gritty, less glamorous side of Zardes’ game is, Austin FC will hope more goals are coming. Rubio’s only scored once since April 27th, and captain Sebastian Driussi hasn’t scored since May 18th. Fortunately, there are 105 reasons for Verde and Black fans to be optimistic about Zardes.

Eric McCoy

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