Despite Wins, Nico Estévez Still Lingers in Josh Wolff’s Shadow
It’s been a mixed bag for the Verde and Black so far in 2025
By Eric Goodman, Fri., May 2, 2025
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That was the fear that permeated the Austin FC fan base last October when sporting director Rodolfo Borrell tabbed Nico Estévez as the club’s second-ever head coach, replacing the generally unpopular Josh Wolff. While Estévez’s natural charm and affability drew an immediate contrast to Wolff’s stoic demeanor off the pitch, it was fair to wonder, given the largely similar coaching background and tactics shared by the two men, if things would look markedly different on it.
Ten games into Estévez’s first campaign in Austin, it somehow seems we’re no closer to answering that question.
It’s been a mixed bag for the Verde and Black so far in 2025. On the one hand, the club is off to one of its best-ever starts with 16 points through 10 games. If the club continues on that pace, it would finish with its second-largest point total in history – 12 more points than a year ago – and would comfortably make the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
On the other hand, Austin has scored just seven goals, has bagged multiple goals in a match just once, and owns a goal differential of -3, among the bottom five in the Western Conference.
Defense has carried the club thus far. Five shutouts has ATXFC tied for the most in the league. Estévez has worked hard to make his squad one of the toughest in the league to score against, and deserves due credit.
That said, the former FC Dallas coach also inherited a sneaky-strong defense from Wolff. ATX conceded the fourth-fewest goals in the West a season ago, though that was ultimately overshadowed by the fact that the club scored the fewest goals in the conference. Offensive struggles were Wolff’s undoing.
Which brings us back to Estévez, and by now you can probably see the red flags crystallizing into view. Despite the fact that Anthony Precourt and his ownership partners spent over $20 million this past offseason on a pair of star forwards – Brandon Vazquez and Myrto Uzuni – giving Estévez more talent up front than Wolff ever had at his disposal, the club is on pace to score even fewer goals than 2024, when it picked up the West’s rear.
Now, that’s certainly not all Estévez’s fault. Uzuni and Vazquez have been, frankly, awful to start their Verde careers. According to FBRef, Vazquez has been the most wasteful attacker in the league thus far, having scored nearly three fewer goals than expected relative to the scoring chances he’s had. Uzuni is fifth-worst in that category, with 2.0 fewer goals than expected. Any ninth-grade statistics class would tell you those players’ fortunes are bound to change.
“One day, we’ll score the goals. This is the only thing I can tell. I mean, I don’t have the crystal ball,” Estévez said following a disappointing 2-0 defeat to the Houston Dynamo (where Wolff now serves as an assistant) over the weekend. “I hope that this changes. Sometimes there are moments that teams have [when] they don’t score goals, but I’m very optimistic that we will score goals.”
You can sense and understand his frustration. But as they say, hope is not a strategy. Estévez will inevitably be judged by his ability – or lack thereof – to get the most out of the talent of this roster and change the club’s fortunes in front of goal. Just as it was with his predecessor, Wolff.
Borrell did provide Estévez with a lifeline late last week, trading $750,000 in general allocation money to land the exciting Finnish midfielder/winger Robert Taylor from Inter Miami. Taylor, 30, scored 15 goals and provided 13 assists in 79 matches since 2023 alongside Lionel Messi and company in South Florida. He will likely make his Austin FC debut this Saturday when ATX takes on Minnesota United at 7:30pm at Q2 Stadium.
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