Austin FC folk love to refer to Q2 Stadium as a fortress of Verde. But to be an effective fortress, it has to stave off the occasional invasion.
It did that Thursday night in ATXFC’s final match of Phase One of the 2026 Leagues Cup, a 1-1 draw (punctuated by a 6-5 Austin shootout victory) against Club América of Liga MX. América brought more than just a strong roster and perfect Leagues Cup record to Q2 – it brought several thousand fans decked out in yellow, easily the largest away support ever for an Austin FC home game.
While The Verde Report ultimately still gave the Verde fans – many of whom joined their players in purple shirts as the club debuted its Violet Crown kit – a 60-40 edge in the stands, some in the press box saw it as 50-50, if not a majority-América audience.
Due to a strong matchday three for Liga MX in the Leagues Cup, both squads entered the match knowing that a draw would be good enough for mutual advancement to the quarterfinals, regardless of the result of the Leagues Cup’s gimmicky penalty shootout that follows every 90 minutes that fails to produce a winner.
The first half saw América own the majority of possession but routinely fail to hit the target with its scoring chances, resulting in a 0-0 stalemate at the break. However, the visitors lucked into a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the second half. As América defender Kevin Álvarez loaded up a cross from outside the box, Austin’s Jon Gallagher closed Álvarez down and partially deflected the pass, re-routing it towards the ATX goal. Goalkeeper Brad Stuver was alarmingly slow to react as the ball bounced gently inside the far post, going down on the scoresheet as a harsh Gallagher own goal.
A Verde response came in the 67th minute, though, as a scalding-hot Myrto Uzuni recovered a deflected pass near the top-left corner of América’s penalty box, then confidently struck a gorgeous curling shot that nestled snugly into the top corner of the goal to level things at 1-1. It was Uzuni’s fourth goal in his last two matches after his hat trick against Puebla, and his fifth total goal contribution in Leagues Cup play.
“Myrto leaves everything on the field. He gives absolutely everything. He runs. He covers ground, and he’s a DP, right? He’s a goal scorer,” ATX interim coach Davy Arnaud said. “You see his quality in the box, so when he gets chances in and around the box, he can finish. And he’s finishing well right now.”
Austin FC dodged two more yellow bullets before the 90 minutes were up and both teams had clinched advancement. And with the ensuing shootout purely academic and lacking much in the way of true pressure, each of the first 11 takers converted their spot kicks with impressive quality. Ultimately, though, Stuver finally got two firm hands onto América’s sixth attempt, parrying it out to secure an extra point for the hosts.
Advancing as one of just four MLS squads to the Leagues Cup knockout round, taking out some of the most famous clubs in North America in the process, far and away stands as the club’s best achievement in an otherwise ugly 2026 season.
“These guys have belief and they see that they can win games, and that’s a powerful thing,” Arnaud said. “And when they have that belief, these guys have shown that they can go out [and play] the way that we want to play. They can beat anybody on any night. I believe that.”
By the end of the night Thursday, all that was known about Austin FC’s quarterfinal matchup was the opponent, Toluca. The date and, amazingly, the location of that match were still unclear. Austin finished Phase One with both a higher seed than Toluca (No. 2 vs. No. 3) as well as a better record (8 points vs. 6 points) which means anything other than the match being played at ATXFC’s “fortress” would be at best counterintuitive, and at worst downright unfair, to the Verde and Black.
For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle’s Austin FC hub. Sign up for The Verde Report newsletter to get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox, and follow The Verde Report columnist Eric Goodman on X: @goodman.
