Chicho Arango, Diego Luna, and second-in-the-West Real Salt Lake visited Q2 Stadium on Saturday night. Sounds like a big deal, right? A match against a top team with big-name national and international stars playing fun, front-foot soccer should be one that fans circle on their calendars and eagerly await.

But this particular Austin FC/RSL match? The main concern amongst the majority wearing Verde and Black probably wasn’t what formation the team would play or who would feature in the starting 11, but how to best express their displeasure that Josh Wolff remains the team’s head coach. Last Saturday’s defeat to the Houston Dynamo all but mathematically guaranteed that Wolff and Austin FC would miss the postseason for the third time in four years.

For most of Austin FC’s 2-2 draw with RSL, preoccupation with off-field issues was a wise decision. Aside from Julio Cascante’s stunning last-ditch challenge to deny Luna an empty net tap-in after he had swerved around an aggressive Brad Stuver, not much happened in the first half. Austin FC looked like a team resigned to its fate, and RSL looked like a team aware that it had more important matches on the horizon.

A primary cause of Austin FC’s general toothlessness this season has been striker play. Gyasi Zardes and Diego Rubio – the two traditional strikers in Austin FC’s squad – have a combined seven goals in 2024. And for the first time since August 31st’s 1-0 defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps, both started on the bench.

This meant Sebastian Driussi would take up a more central position on the team’s forward line, flanked by Jader Obrian on the left and Osman Bukari on the right. In theory, this should have allowed Driussi to drop into midfield areas to ping passes forward to Obrian and Bukari, who would look to make runs in behind RSL’s defense. That isn’t what happened.

“The setup was that Obi (Obrian) and Buka (Bukari) were the strikers, and Seba (Driussi) would be down; he just wasn’t coming down in the first half,” Wolff said in his post-match press conference. “It was to have their speed and their verticality, and the opportunities are there to play behind the line, and we miss a lot in the first half with those chances,” he added. Per Fotmob.com, Austin concluded a lackluster first half with six shots worth just .28 expected goals (xG).

RSL began the second half like a team tired of playing down to their competition. Midfielder Matt Crooks slotted home an easy goal after Stuver redirected an Arango shot directly into his feet, and substitute Diogo Goncalves converted a penalty he won by firing a cross off Owen Wolff’s arm. Twenty minutes into the second half, and RSL were 2-0 up. The match looked done and dusted. Arango and Luna had even been subbed out, their vibrancy preserved for more meaningful contests.

It all seemed appropriate. As the conversation around Wolff’s future rises to deafening levels – drowning out discussion about literally anything else pertaining to Austin FC – the Verde and Black would be officially eliminated from playoff contention with a meek performance not worth talking about. A poor RSL clearance in the 82nd minute, however, allowed Austin FC to barge back into the match.

The ball fell to a man who has played more positions this season than there were Wolff Out signs at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night: Jon Gallagher. Gallagher had been shifted to right-wingback from left-wingback after the 77th-minute introduction of Ethan Finlay, and he nudged the ball to Obrian (moved back to his preferred right wing after Bukari was subbed out in the 66th minute), who swerved a shot past RSL goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Seven minutes later, Guilherme Biro – who spent the closing stages of the match rampaging forward from his left-sided center-back position into RSL’s penalty area – drilled a Driussi cross into the back of the net to give Austin FC an unlikely equalizer. Wolff confirmed post-match that Austin FC were still technically in a back five during their comeback with Finlay and Gallagher as wingbacks, but really, conventional positions go out the window when a team is as desperate for a goal as the Verde and Black were.

“I think the grit and the competing is always what this group’s been about,” Wolff said when asked about the fight Austin FC showed in the match. “We get that question here in the last few weeks and it’s always evident. I think they’ve (the Austin FC players) had that the entire way,” he continued.

The solitary point earned for their troubles against RSL and results elsewhere in Major League Soccer (MLS) on Saturday night means Austin FC’s gritty fightback is of little meaningful consequence. With three matches to play, the ninth-place Portland Timbers (occupying the last playoff spot in the Western Conference) are nine points up on Austin FC and have a safety net in the form of a plus-20 goal differential on Wolff’s team should they lose out and the Verde and Black win out. FC Dallas also sit a point ahead of Austin FC.

So, meaningful soccer matches are all but over for Austin FC in 2024 – not that anyone has been talking much about the actual matches, anyway.

Eric McCoy

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