It’s been a hell of a week for soccer in Austin. The MLS All-Star Game and its side-dish festivities fit like a glove within the city’s big-event DNA. Familiar faces from across the landscape of North American soccer – ex-players, national pundits, social media stars – were everywhere. Tuesday night’s Skills Challenge entertained a mostly full Q2 Stadium, and though this issue went to press as the All-Star Game itself was getting underway, the excitement for the match was undeniable. (Check out austinchronicle.com/austin-fc for our recap of the game.)
But now that the circus has left town, our focus once again shifts to Austin FC and its hard-to-figure 2025 season.
First, let’s take stock of where things stand. The Verde and Black own a 8W-6D-8L through 22 MLS games for a total of 30 points. That has them in the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings, also known as the numerical median – seven teams above, seven teams below. In the league’s current format, that would give Austin the right to host a Wild Card play-in match for the chance to make the real playoff bracket.
Then there’s the U.S. Open Cup, where ATXFC finds itself in the final four. A Sept. 17 date against Minnesota United in St. Paul will not only decide who qualifies for the Oct. 1 final, but also whose ground will host the match. The competition organizers have already determined via a draw that the West bracket winners will host.
Austin’s fate in both competitions will rest on two major questions: First, can the club maintain the elite defensive record that has been central to just about every positive result in its season so far? Second, with top scorer Brandon Vazquez lost for the season after knee surgery, can Austin – already the league’s lowest-scoring team – cobble together enough goals to be any kind of remote offensive threat?
On the first point, there’s good news. As long as Austin retains the services of All-Star goalkeeper Brad Stuver, the club will likely continue to be a bitch to score against. Stuver is basically the sole reason ATXFC is still kicking in the Open Cup, and deservingly boosted his national profile as the de facto host of All-Star week.
Credit, too, must go to the club’s head coach, Nico Estévez, as well as its rotation of defenders. Center backs Brendan Hines-Ike and Oleksandr Svatok have been solid defensive anchors, and left back Guilherme Biro leads the team in a variety of defensive metrics despite also being a regular threat on the offensive end. The addition of defensive-minded midfielder Nicky Beloko in the summer transfer window should only help things, and the club is also rumored to be in the market for added center back depth.
However, it’s the offensive side of the ball where the club needs real help. With Vazquez out of the picture, club record signing Myrto Uzuni becomes the focal point of the attack, surrounded by some combination of Osman Bukari, Owen Wolff, Jon Gallagher, and Diego Rubio. It worked in a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy last week, but everyone’s been scoring on the Galaxy this season.
Austin is desperate for another chance-creating midfielder to tag-team with Wolff. Technically, due to Vazquez’s injury, Austin could once again break the bank on a designated player to fill that gap, though things would get messy from a roster rules standpoint once Vazquez nears his return.
Maybe the club already has the player it needs in Robert Taylor, Lionel Messi’s former running mate whom the club traded for back in April, though Taylor still hasn’t made his first start for the club.
Perhaps that first start will come Saturday night against D.C. United, as Austin FC kicks off the final third of its season, with the entire spectrum of outcomes still within reach.
This article appears in July 25 • 2025.
