Year Two for Austin FC Will Determine the Future of Local Sports Culture

When Major League Soccer made Austin its newest destination last year, the city didn’t just get a soccer team. It got a long-overdue opportunity.

The town known nationwide for live music, college football, general weirdness, and being just a bit too close to Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio to have its own major pro sports teams finally got to decide what sports fandom in Austin could look like. That’s no small decision, and arriving at one is no small task. It takes some cities decades to find their identities as sports towns, and some, if passion and creativity are in short supply, never quite do.

Luckily, those things are generally plentiful in Austin. Clever and energized people within the club, its supporters’ groups, and beyond helped develop the laundry list of traditions, habits, and quirks that made up Austin FC’s fan culture in 2021.

Some highlights of said laundry list: pre-match tailgates at any of the eight (!!) breweries within a mile of Q2 Stadium and the subsequent marches to McKalla Place. Chants of “Verde! Listos!” before every match kickoff. Monsoons of beer whenever the Oaks found the back of the net. More “Verde!” and more “Listos!” after victories, this time featuring the “Heartbeat Drum,” battered on by whichever player the club believed was worthy of Man of the Match honors that particular evening.

All of these still young traditions seem like sure bets to continue throughout the 2022 season and beyond. With other things, the jury is still out. Will enough fans learn the words to “True Love Will Find You in the End” – and then resist the urge to dart straight for their cars at the final whistle – so that the post-match song involves more than just a fraction of the supporters’ section? Will Matthew McConaughey live up to his lofty title of “Minister of Culture” by attending more than just one match? (He’s confirmed his attendance for the February 26 season opener.)

Then there’s the biggest question of all: What happens if Austin FC struggles on the pitch for a second straight season? Nothing kills a vibe like persistent losing, and even the most passionate fan base will get desensitized after a certain point. In a city with so many better things to do on a Saturday night than watch terrible soccer, this is doubly true.

Then there’s this: If and when you lose people’s interest with a bad product, it’s very, very difficult to get it back ... which is exactly why 2022 could wind up as the most important season in Austin FC’s history. Last season – the inaugural year – was always going to be a smash hit. The soccer was secondary (fortunately, because it was mostly awful), and Austin FC enjoyed the usual endlessly long leash that expansion teams are generally entitled to.

Not so this year. It’s time to put the ball in the net and win some games. The Verde and Black enter year two with a completely retooled roster and a rookie-no-longer head coach. That has to reflect in the win-loss-draw column. Nobody is expecting Austin FC to match Atlanta United by winning the MLS Cup in its second season, but how about becoming the fifth sophomore club in the last six years to make the playoffs? At the bare minimum, ATXFC must get themselves in position to play meaningful games and hold the city’s interest throughout the fall.

The consequences of not doing so, nobody wants to find out.

Meet the New Faces of Austin FC

---

Austin FC will look quite a bit different this season than it did in 2021, and that’s even without factoring in its new “Sentimiento” jersey. And unlike the heinous mouthwash green threads, these changes appear to be an improvement.

The club wisely shed some excess weight – including former Designated Player Tomás Pochettino to a loan spell – after going 9-4-21 in its debut campaign. The follow-up was a busy winter in which the Oaks, led by sporting director Claudio Reyna and head coach Josh Wolff, made six impactful additions to the roster. Let’s meet them.

Jhojan Valencia

Midfielder | Age 25
$1.5 million transfer from Deportivo Cali (Colombia)
The Verde's biggest financial splash of the offseason has netted them a player they believe could be the key to their defensive improvement in 2022. Valencia is a disrupter in central midfield who covers acres of ground and wins tackles with staggering regularity. He is coming off a title-winning season with Deportivo Cali, which caught the attention of multiple MLS clubs, including ATXFC. Once fully up to speed, Valencia should slot in as a regular starter in defensive midfield, allowing Alex Ring to live out his dreams as a fixture in attack.

Ruben Gabrielsen

Center Back – Age 29
Free transfer from FC Toulouse (France)
As soon as inaugural team member Matt Besler announced his retirement at the conclusion of the season, it was clear Austin FC would need new muscle on the back line. In Gabrielsen, the club has certainly found muscle; the Norwegian international stands 6-foot-1-inch and weighs 190 pounds. Gabrielsen has been a club captain at various points in his 13-year career and is a gamer. He reportedly asked to play in Austin FC's February 16 friendly against Atlas FC despite only arriving from Europe less than 24 hours earlier. Gabrielsen's adjustments to the powerful nature of MLS defending will be key, as he will be taking a step-up in class from his prior post in the French second division.

Ethan Finlay

Winger – Age 31
Signed as a free agent from Minnesota United
Austin FC lacked depth and experience in 2021, but that's exactly what Finlay will provide starting this season. The 10-year MLS veteran with the Columbus Crew and Minnesota United is a disciple of Austin FC coach Josh Wolff, who as an assistant with Columbus mentored Finlay through some of the early years in Finlay's career. The Duluth, Minnesota, native has 49 goals and 42 assists across 245 regular season appearances in MLS, and is most comfortable at right wing.

Kipp Keller

Center Back – Age 21
Selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft
The former St. Louis University standout defender was hailed as one of the most pro-ready players available in January's MLS SuperDraft and a candidate for the No.1 overall pick. Instead, he fell right into the lap of center-back-starved Austin FC with the fifth pick when Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Houston went elsewhere. Keller saw a head-turning amount of action during preseason and may get his MLS debut sooner than expected, especially if Gabrielsen needs time to build up his fitness. Keller actually stands 1 inch taller than Gabrielsen and is an imposing presence in his own right.

Maxi Urruti

Striker – Age 31
Signed as a free agent from Houston Dynamo
The Verde's other notorious weak spot from 2021 was addressed by brining in Argentine goalscorer Urruti, a veteran of five MLS clubs. Along with his 60 career MLS goals, Urruti brings a winning pedigree having been a part of both an MLS Cup winner in Portland and a Supporters' Shield squad in Dallas. He most recently bagged seven goals in 30 matches for the hapless Dynamo in 2021, and found the back of the net once more at PNC Stadium in a February 12 friendly, this time as a visitor wearing the Verde and Black. Urruti embodies the "shooters shoot" mantra and can be a frustrating player at times when his aim isn't dialed in, but he appears to be earning Josh Wolff's trust with each passing day of training.

Felipe Martins

Midfielder – Age 31
Signed as a free agent from D.C. United
Though he only joined the ATX squad February 7, Brazilian veteran Felipe has already made himself stand out in two ways. First, he, like Urruti, scored for El Tree during the 4-0 friendly win in Houston. Second, he wants to win, and wants everyone to know it. "We have no excuse to not succeed and we need to give everything we have. I'm here to help us get to where we want to be," he said via his introductory press release, a sentiment he echoed more succinctly on Twitter: "I'm here to WIN! Time to get to work." Felipe's personality and locker room presence were clearly factored into his addition as much as his ability to provide solid depth in central midfield.

Talent + Confidence = One Special Moment

---

Talent and confidence are both pretty useless without one another. Talent without confidence is wasteful. Confidence without talent is delusional. When the balance is just right, though, you get moments like what happened in Q2 Stadium on October 2.

With the hosts leading by a goal to nothing in the second half, two Real Salt Lake defenders closed in on Austin FC midfielder Sebastián Driussi as a short pass arrived from striker Moussa Djitté. Absolutely nothing was open. With his heels on the sideline 45 yards from goal, Driussi refused to do what 19 of 19 other outfield players on the pitch would have done and relay the ball backward toward his open right back. Instead, he conjured up a moment of brilliance.

In a striking marriage of confidence and ability, Driussi noticed the optimistic run of Diego Fagundez through the crowd, then flicked his right boot under the ball in such a way that it sprung up and sideways, looping over himself, two RSL defenders, and landed precisely into Fagundez’s stride in front of goal. The ensuing cross from Fagundez to Cecilio Domínguez for the finish into an open net was academic at that point.

Driussi’s chipped pass was the most ostentatious indicator of what the 26-year-old Argentine is capable of with a soccer ball at his feet, but it was far from the only one from his half-season in Verde. After arriving in August from Zenit St. Petersburg – for one of the 25 most expensive transfer fees in MLS history – Driussi completely transformed the Austin FC attack.

Austin FC scored 22 goals in the 16 autumn matches in which Driussi started. Of those 22 goals, Driussi had a direct hand – either as the scorer or the assister – in 10 of them. By comparison, the club managed just 13 goals in 18 games without him in the lineup. And it wasn’t just that Driussi gave Austin FC an attacking boost that was impressive. It’s how he went about doing it.

Operating full time in the No. 10 attacking midfield role for the first time in his career, Driussi hunted the ball at seemingly every moment, keen to be the one to determine where it would go next. He was creative and unpredictable with his passing and flashed a natural instinct to dart into the box at the right moment to finish off a play himself. And he showed all of this as a midseason addition to an expansion club on a brand-new continent.

Which brings us to 2022. Driussi now has a full MLS campaign to prove exactly just how much of a difference-maker he can be in a league where such players are becoming more and more prevalent – several of whom are, like Driussi, from Argentina. He’ll have more talent surrounding him this time and a more experienced coaching staff who’ll be responsible for getting the absolute most out of their star player.

“Star” is the operative word in all of this. Austin FC lacked a true star in 2021 and still, in the eyes of the rest of the country, does now. Driussi is more than capable of becoming a household name and emerging as the face of soccer in Austin. He has the charisma, but most importantly, he has that perfect balance.

Talent and confidence, working together to mouthwatering effect.

"True Love Will Find You in the End" (excerpt)

---

Austin FC's end-of-match sing-along, "True Love Will Find You in the End," is as specific to the city as the iconic "Hi How Are You" frog mural near the UT campus, and they both come courtesy of the same man: artist and musician Daniel Johnston. The lo-fi balladeer, whose preferred mediums were cassette tapes and comic books, died in 2019.

True love will find you in the end

You'll find out just who was your friend

Don't be sad, I know you will

But don't give up until

True love will find you in the end

---

Read more Austin FC coverage – including Eric Goodman’s weekly column, “The Verde Report” – at austinchronicle.com/austin-fc. Follow him on Twitter: @goodman. To get game recaps, news, and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe at austinchronicle.com/newsletters.