If Wednesday night’s home win over Sporting Kansas City epitomized all that Austin FC fans will miss during the winter offseason, Sunday’s road loss to the Portland Timbers epitomized all they will want to forget about the club’s inaugural season.
Major League Soccer’s second-worst club away from home was a no-show once again in the 2021 season finale, falling 3-0 to the playoffs-bound Timbers at Providence Park.
From a statistical standpoint, it will go down as one of the worst – if not the worst – Austin FC performances of the season. The Timbers, a team Austin FC defeated twice in two prior meetings at Q2 Stadium, outshot the expansion club 23 to 6, including 10 to 4 in shots on goal. In expected goals, which weighs the amount of goals each club is likely to have scored based on quantity and quality of chances, the Verde trailed 0.3 to 3.4.
As they have far too often in their expansion season, the Oaks neatly dug their own grave for both first-half Portland goals thanks to careless giveaways in their own half. On the first, in the 17th minute, it was Sebastián Driussi’s lazy pass not properly dealt with by Julio Cascante that sprung Portland loose, as Cristhian Paredes finished things off for the 1-0 lead.
“It’s a poor goal to give up. It’s needless,” ATX coach Josh Wolff said. “Maybe that saps some of our confidence and certainly our energy, but it also lifts the opponent.”
Then, minutes before halftime – traditionally a danger zone time for Austin FC – Portland midfielder Yimmi Chara stripped Žan Kolmanič and shuttled a cross toward Jaroslaw Niezgoda, who guided the ball into the goal with his chest.
Austin’s woes at the back went nowhere at the halftime break. In the 53rd minute, Niezgoda found himself completely unmarked closing in on goal, then floated a delicious ball over Brad Stuver to the back post where Sebastián Blanco scored the tap-in for 3-0. The final score could have been worse save for some near misses in front of Stuver’s goal.
Offensively, Austin FC barely created a single scoring chance of note. A Diego Fagundez header comfortably saved by Steve Clark could generously be called the Oaks’ lone look on goal. Moussa Djitté, the club’s young striker billed as an answer to Verde prayers in attack when he was signed over the summer, registered no shots and hardly touched the ball before subbing off at halftime in favor of Cecilio Domínguez, who did not start for the second straight match.
And so ends the first season in Austin FC history. With a bang at home, but with a whimper on the road. The club managed just two wins and two draws in 17 matches away from Q2 in 2021.
“We’ve got to be better on the road,” Wolff said plainly, assuring the club will analyze every aspect of playing away from home in the offseason, down to the time and manner of travel.
As the MLS season transitions to the playoffs, Austin FC has 16 weeks of abbreviated offseason to reflect on all that went right and wrong in Year 1.
“This season has had a lot of growing pains,” said club captain and midfielder-turned-fill-in-center-back Alex Ring. “We worked hard, but it’s definitely not what we wanted or what we expected. I hope we learned our lessons from this year in order to do better next year. That’s what it’s all about. We need to grow.”
Read more Austin FC coverage – including Eric Goodman’s weekly column, The Verde Report – at austinchronicle.com/austin-fc. Follow him on Twitter: @goodman.
This article appears in November 5 • 2021.
