It’s one of my favorite silly sports debates to wage with buddies over a beer (or, in our increasingly distant and digital world, via group text). If you had to build a team entirely composed of clones of a single player, who would you pick? For basketball, I’m still taking five 40-year-old LeBron Jameses over anyone. Baseball? Shohei Ohtani, obviously. But if we’re talking soccer, and the options are limited to only the 23 members of Austin FC’s roster, who would you tab for your clone squad?
Me? I’m snipping a sample of Jon Gallagher’s luscious Irish locks and sprinting straight to the lab.
We’ve sung Gallagher’s praises here several times over the years – he’s one of just five current ATXFC players who have been with the club from the beginning – especially during his breakout 2023 season, which culminated in an MLS All-Star Game appearance. But the 29-year-old continues to find ways to prove his immense value to the club thanks to his versatility and unrelenting motor.
Jon Gallagher continues to find ways to prove his immense value to the club thanks to his versatility and unrelenting motor.
Gallagher was superb during Austin FC’s unexpected 1-0 win at LAFC over the weekend. Serving as Austin’s right back, his assignment was a difficult one: marking L.A.’s former Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga for 90 minutes. Gallagher – with the occasional help from midfielder Owen Wolff – mostly contained and frustrated the Gabonese forward, who got off six shots but none with greater than 9% chance of resulting in a goal, per MLS. Gallagher also won 3/3 attempted tackles and 6/7 duels, and made 8 clearances in the win. He earned MLS Team of the Matchday honors for the performance.
What makes it all the more impressive is that, prior to the season, Gallagher thought his defensive days were behind him.
“All offseason I’d been told, most likely I’d [be used as] a winger,” Gallagher said. “I’d been changing the way I’ve played.”
Offense, he said, was his main focus throughout the preseason and first weeks of the regular season, hoping to become an effective attacking option off the bench for Nico Estévez.
That all changed on March 8, when Austin FC lost starting right back Mikkel Desler to a hamstring injury, which came with a 6-to-8-week timetable for return.
Enter: the ever adaptable Gallagher, who has needed exactly zero ramp-up time to return to his all-star defensive form.
“I guess I am an option in three to four different spots for the manager, so I always feel like I have a chance of coming on, or I always feel like I have a chance of starting in a certain position based on what the manager wants,” Gallagher said.
So yeah, give me 11 Jon Gallaghers and I’ll take my chances against anyone.
All-Star Format Set
Speaking of MLS All-Star Games, the league revealed on Tuesday that the 2025 edition, taking place July 23 at Austin’s Q2 Stadium, will feature the MLS All-Stars against the Liga MX All-Stars in a friendly match.
It will be the fourth time in the last five years that the neighboring leagues share the pitch. The three previous editions have resulted in an MLS win, a Liga MX win, and a draw, proving more reliably competitive than the other oft-used format, scrimmaging against a popular European club.
The 2025 All-Star Game could feature the likes of Lionel Messi, James Rodríguez, and Luis Suarez, among others.
This article appears in March 21 • 2025.
