Frustrations Build For Austin FC in Scoreless Draw vs. Whitecaps

Austin FC entered Saturday night’s home match in desperate need of an offensive explosion, having only scored one goal in their previous three matches. Instead, the Verde and Black extended their drought to one goal in four games thanks to an unsatisfying scoreless draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

As far as scoreless draws go, this was … one of them. A largely forgettable 90 minutes of soccer featured a handful of decent chances for both clubs – and several solid saves from goalkeepers Brad Stuver and Yohei Takaoka – but also included multiple 20-odd-minute chunks of time where seemingly nothing at all happened.

By the final whistle the numbers slightly favored Austin FC, who put seven shots on target to Vancouver’s four and earned the slimmest of leads in expected goals. Emiliano Rigoni, Maxi Urruti, and Diego Fagúndez all had decent looks at goal, but without a single in-form attacking player to speak of, those chances went unconverted.

After the match, head coach Josh Wolff, speaking in second person, chalked it up to a collective dip in confidence over the past month. “If you win two or three [games] in a row, you probably take two or three of those chances and you run off with it, but when it’s elusive, it’s elusive,” Wolff said. “It can be frustrating, but this is what the game is.”

For essentially the first time in his Austin FC career, even star midfielder Sebastián Driussi is in the thralls of a prolonged slump. He failed to create much of note Saturday night and has been scoreless since the season opener in late February. “He’s human after all,” Wolff reminded.

The positives for ATXFC came on the defensive end, where the club earned its second clean sheet of the season behind four classy Stuver saves and more solid center back play from Leo Väisänen and, particularly, his countryman Alex Ring, who remains the club’s best bet in the position until Julio Cascante makes his imminent return from injury.

As well as the defenders played, Austin FC’s forwards know they’re not holding up their end of the equation. “The backline was unbelievable, Brad was unbelievable, and so it’s tough to look those guys in the face after a game like that,” substitute winger Ethan Finlay said.

El Tree will get its next chance to shake off the frustrations on the road next weekend against the LA Galaxy, another club currently on the schneid with just two goals in its last five matches (prior to taking on LAFC in El Tráfico Sunday night). However, Austin will possibly be without the services of Fagúndez, who exited the Vancouver match with a groin injury and is awaiting a further prognosis.

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For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle's Austin FC hub. Follow “The Verde Report” columnist Eric Goodman on Twitter: @goodman.