The Verde Report: Austin FC Is Historically Bad at a Pretty Important Part of Soccer
Verde and Black’s lack of scoring is approaching record levels of terribleness
By Eric Goodman, Fri., May 23, 2025
Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” But what happens when you miss almost as many of the shots you do take?
That’s what Austin FC is finding out this season, to the chagrin of its ardent fans.
Goals have been agonizingly few and far between for the Verde and Black so far in 2025, so much so that the numbers are beginning to rival the worst attacking season MLS has ever seen.
That distinction goes to the 2013 installment of D.C. United, who scored just 22 goals over a full 34-match season, a rate of 0.65 goals per match. Things were so morbid that the club scored more own goals against itself (4) than its top scorer bagged in its favor (3).
If that sounds bad, well, brace yourself. The Verde and Black are currently on a pace to score as few, if not fewer(!), goals this campaign than D.C. scored in that season from Hell.
Through 14 games, ATXFC has bagged just 9 goals, for a rate of 0.64 goals per match, which would set a new all-time league low. (Granted, CF Montreal, with just eight goals, is on an even worse pace this year with 0.57 goals per match.)
So what’s been Austin’s big issue? It hasn’t been the club’s ability to generate shots, as Austin’s total of 176 ranks in the top half of the league. And it’s not as if all those shots have been from impossible angles and distances. Austin’s expected goals’ tally for the season is 18.2, below league average but still better than that of 12 clubs.
No, the Verde and Black’s attacking downfall has been painfully simple: They just absolutely suck at shooting. To an all-time degree.
For starters, only 45 of Austin’s 176 shots (25.6%) have actually been directed toward the frame of goal – a pretty essential element of scoring. Per FBref, that figure would be the lowest percentage for an MLS club over a full season since at least 2016, when records for that stat began.
Similarly, Austin FC is underperforming its expected goals at a historic level. So far this season, the club is scoring 0.66 fewer goals per game than expected based on the quality of its scoring chances. No club has even cracked 0.50 over a full season since records began in 2018, per FBref.
Some of this lack of scoring can be attributed to Austin FC facing some terrific goalkeeping. Opposing keepers have saved 83% of Austin’s shots, second only to Montreal.
“Our forwards [and] midfielders, when they arrive in those positions, they need to know that in front of them is a really good goalkeeper, and then we have to be more accurate and aggressive when we shoot,” ATX coach Nico Estévez said.
However, the majority of blame simply falls on terrible finishing by Austin’s attackers. Brandon Vazquez and Myrto Uzuni, statistically, have been two of the worst finishers in the league this season despite their reputations as clinical goal scorers (Vazquez, for his part, has begun to heat up and leads Austin with four league goals). Osman Bukari, Jáder Obrian, Owen Wolff, and Besard Sabovic have also wasted away their fair share of chances.
Estévez can only do so much to help. Coaches can influence how their teams create chances, but they can’t take the shots. He has preached patience.
“As a coach, I cannot be that stressed on the sideline because I think we create really good chances, to be honest,” Estévez said. “It’s about having belief and giving confidence to the players that this is going to come... because they work really hard, they have the quality, and sometimes there are phases where the ball doesn’t want to go into the net.”
The good news is that Austin doesn’t lack for attacking talent and there’s bound to be some positive regression in the club’s favor at some point. But when? That’s anybody’s guess.
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