It seems like in order to get a win these days, Austin FC needs to be firmly in the Goldilocks Zone. Too many games, like the nine El Tree confronted in the month of May, and the club can’t properly recover and prepare for its next opponent. Too few games apparently isn’t any better, as we found out over the weekend.
The Verde and Black lost 2-0 to a shorthanded Seattle Sounders squad despite a 14-day break from its previous match. Austin managed just one shot on target, looked completely out of rhythm with the ball, and were carved up defensively with relative ease on both of Seattle’s goals.
And just like that, any momentum the club had been carrying following back-to-back wins evaporated into the misty Washington air.
When asked if he felt Austin FC squandered a clear opportunity for three points considering the club’s rest advantage (Seattle had played three difficult games in the Club World Cup while Austin was idle), head coach Nico Estévez flipped the script.
“I think it hurt us more, the break,” Estévez said. “The first conversation that I had with [Sounders coach] Brian Schmetzer, he said, ‘Man, I’m sorry that you had that break because you were in a winning run and building momentum,’ and this usually kills teams.”
Ironically, neither of the club’s two designated players whom Estévez suggested would benefit most from the time off, Myrto Uzuni and Osman Bukari, were available to start the match. Uzuni, after traveling home to Europe, picked up a minor hamstring injury in the final training session of the week. Bukari, who also took a trip overseas to be with family, apparently wasn’t ready for a full 90-minute workload so soon after travel, or so the club determined.
Fortunately, midfielder Besard Sabovic was less inclined to make excuses for the performance.
“I don’t think that 10 days [off] should affect us that much. We’re all professional football players, so everyone should be resting and be ready for the next game,” the Swede said.
Speaking of Sabovic, we learned on Monday that he’ll soon have increased competition for minutes in the midfield, as Austin FC completed its first signing of the summer.
25-year-old Nicky Beloko, a dual-national of Switzerland and Cameroon, joined the club on a free transfer through the end of the 2028 season. Though the signing was made official this week, an agreement between Beloko and Austin had been in place since January, according to the club.
Beloko, who spent the last three years with FC Luzern in the Swiss Super League, profiles as an athletic, powerful, box-to-box midfielder. He’s unlikely to provide the attacking on-ball creativity the club has desperately missed since the departure of Sebastián Driussi in the offseason, but Beloko should bring the club a level of physicality and grit it also sorely lacks.
“Nicky is a solid and consistent player at a promising age who adds to our talented group of midfielders,” sporting director Rodolfo Borrell said in a statement.
Beloko won’t be eligible to appear in a match for Austin FC until the club’s July 26 away match against D.C. United, but is allowed to train with the club until then.
In the meantime, the club will attempt to cling to a playoff position in the Western Conference table, beginning with an important clash against LAFC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday.
This article appears in July 4 • 2025.
