What’s black and green and red (hot) all over? That would be Austin FC, all of a sudden.
The club, which hadn’t scored more than two goals in any of its first 22 MLS contests, went thermonuclear by its standards in the nation’s capital over the weekend, scoring four goals in a 4-2 win over D.C. United. And they were some damn good goals, at that.
Myrto Uzuni and Owen Wolff both scored for the second straight match, while Osman Bukari finished off arguably the club’s best team goal of the season, and Robert Taylor added the fourth with a stellar outside-the-box finish that earned Austin FC a painfully rare “Goal of the Matchday” nomination.
“We had a clear plan and idea how we could hurt, on the attacking side, D.C.,” head coach Nico Estévez said. “I think the players believed in what we told them, and they executed very well.”
The road win marked Austin FC’s fourth victory, to go along with one draw, in its last six MLS matches. The club has only lost twice in its last 13 matches across all competitions.
Despite that sneaky consistency, the knock on Estévez’s team had routinely been that it simply doesn’t score; even counting the half-dozen goals bagged by the club over the last two matches, Austin FC still ranks dead last in MLS in offensive output. And while we’re adding context, it may be relevant to report that those last two opponents, D.C. United and LA Galaxy, rank as the two worst defenses in MLS.
However, it’s still possible that Austin FC – even in the absence of All-Star striker Brandon Vazquez – is beginning to find its groove in attack.
“The more you score, the more you get the confidence. And, the more the teams win, the more you get the confidence,” Bukari said. “So I think this is the time everybody’s confidence will be high.”
And that’s good timing. With just under one-third of the regular season remaining, Austin FC sits seventh in the Western Conference with 33 points as it enters an off week. And when things get rolling again in the second week of August, the club will be in an enviable position.
Of the 11 MLS matches Austin FC has remaining on the schedule, nine come against teams with a worse record than Austin, and eight come against teams outside the playoff picture entirely. According to PlayoffStatus.com, the Verde and Black have the easiest remaining schedule of any team in the league based on opponents’ winning percentage.
It’s largely due to that fact that the same site gives Austin an 89% chance of qualifying for postseason soccer of some sort, and a 66% chance of finishing seventh or higher, thereby escaping the treacherous 8-vs-9 wildcard match.
The finishing stretch begins with a pair of back-to-back Copa Tejas clashes at Q2 Stadium on August 9 and August 16, against the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas, respectively.
“Houston and Dallas are important games for us,” Bukari said. “We have to keep on playing and believing in ourselves and just doing whatever we have to do to be in the playoff.”
This article appears in August 1 • 2025.
