Bad Breaks Doom Austin FC in Loss to Colorado Rapids

Austin FC’s 2025 season has officially gotten off to an inauspicious start. The Verde and Black dropped its third match of the season, 1-0, to the Colorado Rapids at Q2 Stadium to fall to 1W-0D-2L on the young season, having scored just a single goal to-date.

Rafael Navarro’s 18th-minute goal, a silky chipped finish over Brad Stuver off a surgical through ball from Djordje Mihailovic, stood up as the winning goal for Colorado despite Austin holding big advantages in shots and possession for the match.

Here’s what we learned from Austin FC’s first home defeat of the MLS season.

Quality Trumps Quantity

Following Austin FC’s season opener two weeks ago, head coach Nico Estévez declared he prefers his team to create a few high-quality chances rather than a boatload of low-quality chances. But on a night where his club stuffed the stat sheet with mostly harmless shots and crosses, he was striking a different tune.

“After 21 shots, 19 crosses, it’s difficult to not score a goal, right? I mean, the numbers are there. We were there, and the opponent, with much less, they got a goal,” Estévez said.

The problem, though, is that the lone chance Colorado converted was of a much higher quality than any that Austin created. The closest that ATXFC came to scoring was a pair of first-half headers from Myrto Uzuni – making his first start for the club – that Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen parried away.

So in the end, Estévez proved himself (at least the version of himself from two weeks ago) completely correct. Quality usually trumps quantity in this sport. Austin just hasn’t had enough of it so far.

Gosh VAR-n It!

Though ATXFC never found the back of the net, they did have referee Marcos de Oliveira pointing to the penalty spot on two occasions: once in the 51st minute and again in the 92nd. Unfortunately for the Verde and Black, neither held up after inspection from VAR.

The first would-be penalty came from what appeared to be Austin’s best attacking build-up of the young season. Starting from a Stuver throw, ATX swiftly passed its way up the left side of the pitch, until Guilherme Biro played a gorgeous-looking ball through the Colorado defense to Uzuni, who was fouled by defender Chidozie Awaziem in the penalty box. Upon closer inspection, it was judged that Uzuni was offside when Biro’s pass was made. Though this appeared to be the correct call based on the camera angle examined by the referee, MLS’s lack of semi-automated offside technology leaves plenty of room for doubt.

“If I was the referee, it’s not clear and obvious to turn that call back [to offside],” Estévez said.

The second PK-that-wasn’t was more straightforward. In live time, it looked like Colorado’s Wayne Frederick took out Austin’s Diego Rubio in the box, but replay clearly showed Frederick winning the ball before any contact with Rubio.

Desler Down and Out

To add to the evening’s frustration, one week after Austin FC lost center back Julio Cascante with a hamstring injury for two to four weeks, another ATX defender seemed to suffer a similar fate. Right back Mikkel Desler had to be helped off the pitch in the 60th minute, in obvious pain, after clutching the back of his right leg following a big sprint.

After the match, Desler was able to walk around unassisted, but with a significant limp. If the Dane is forced to miss time, ATXFC day-one Jon Gallagher would return to the starting lineup in the position where he earned an all-star appearance in 2023.

Gallagher revealed that he has been training since the start of the preseason as a winger under Estévez. But versatility has always made the Irishman an indispensable part of the Verde equation.

“I’ve got to flip the switch back to a defensive role… Thankfully for me, it’s not too big of an adjustment, and I’ve done it before in my career,” Gallagher said.

For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle‘s Austin FC hub. Follow The Verde Report columnist Eric Goodman on X: @goodman.

This article appears in March 7 • 2025.