The Verde Report: How Austin FC Brought the Vibes Back for Year Five

courtesy of Austin FC

When Austin FC kicks off its fifth season Saturday night against Sporting Kansas City at Q2 Stadium, there won’t just be palpable excitement in the grandstands, but genuine optimism.

Rather remarkable, when you consider that the club is coming off consecutive losing seasons in which fan interest waned, momentum stalled, and a 70+ game sellout streak survived presumably in the same manner that nobody has ever officially died at Disney World.

That’s because this was Austin FC’s winter of change. A new head coach. Over $25 million spent on transfer fees. Two designated players out and two more taking their place. Five new players in total. Not even the most delusional of Verde fans would have thought it all possible in one offseason. But thanks to sporting director Rodolfo Borrell’s ruthless dealmaking and principal owner Anthony Precourt’s aggressive spending, Austin FC has seemingly erased two years of disappointment in a matter of months.

The only remaining question: Will it all work?

That’s what makes Saturday’s season opener so intriguing. The opening whistle marks the beginning of Austin FC’s 2.0 era, with head coach Nico Estévez calling the shots and star strikers Brandon Vazquez and Myrto Uzuni taking them. In a perfect Verde world, Estévez proves himself worthy of the glowing praise and utmost confidence Borrell has bestowed upon him despite a less-than-encouraging MLS track record. In a perfect Verde world, Vazquez and Uzuni each prove themselves worthy of the eight-figure transfer fees ATXFC paid to acquire their services, scoring 30+ goals combined and anchoring one of the league’s deadliest attacks.

Unfortunately, the world we live in is neither perfect nor Verde. And while Austin FC has clearly improved on paper, so have many of its rivals. FC Dallas has added former MLS MVP Lucho Acosta. The Houston Dynamo are reportedly bringing former Seattle and Orlando star Nico Lodeiro into the fold. There’s no guarantee how much, how soon, or if at all Austin FC improves upon its record from previous seasons.

Expect some growing pains in the early weeks. Those are almost unavoidable for a team with as many new faces as Austin has. Chemistry takes time to develop. Estévez said it himself last week. “The first games in the season are almost like finishing the preparations of the preseason.”

Looking toward the longer term, though, there is every reason to expect this version of Austin FC to return to the MLS Cup Playoffs. Anything less would be a major disappointment in a league where 18 of 30 teams play postseason soccer.

Unlike in seasons past though, if things do start to spiral for whatever reason, there’s no more Josh Wolff to blame. These are Borrell’s players. Estévez is Borrell’s hand-picked coach. Precourt has given Borrell every necessary resource, and the former Manchester City man has, to his credit, worked tirelessly to craft the club in his image in a relatively short period of time.

If Borrell has built himself a winner, he’ll be entitled to an immense amount of credit, and all the chef’s-hat memes the ATXFC twitterverse can conjure up. But if he has a lemon on his hands, he’ll have to own that too.

That’s for down the road. For now, though, Borrell has brought the vibes back to Q2 Stadium. That’s an achievement in and of itself.