Before the chants of “Listos! Verde!” there were chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” Q2 Stadium is all warmed up for Austin FC’s Saturday home opener. The world champs made sure of that.
The United States Women’s National Team defeated Nigeria 2-0 in an Olympics tune-up match, christening the 20,500-seat venue – and Austin as a bona-fide soccer city – in the process. Christen Press struck home the historic first goal into the north side goal, in front of a TacoDeli, a Verde Store, and, yes, even a Queso Fountain.
Across 120 yards of grass manicured pristinely for the moment, the supporters’ section erupted like it hopes to do countless more times for the stadium’s primary tenants. But that’s for the weekend and weekends to follow. Wednesday night was not about Verde. It was not even about Red, White, and Blue. It was about the sport itself, and a city’s readiness for it.
But the guests of honor certainly elevated the occasion. The near-sellout crowd buzzed from the moment its national team heroes took the pitch for warmups. Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, and Crystal Dunn started the match. Alex Morgan entered as a substitute. They entertained the crowd through two 45-minute periods that, for most of the time on the field, felt more like business than pleasure.
Nigeria acquitted itself well in the international friendly. They played spirited defense, only faltering in stoppage time of each half. Press’ goal put the U.S. in front before the halftime break, and substitute Lynn Williams danced around Nigerian goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi in the closing seconds to score the evening’s second goal and send the fans off with enough satisfaction to put up with the scenes that followed on MoPac and Burnet.
The energy from the Q2 stands impressed the defending World Cup champions. “It was electric,” defender Becky Sauerbrunn said post-match. “To be on the field and to not be able to talk to the person next to you, it’s been awhile since we’ve had that.”
If Sauerbrunn has things her way, the USWNT will be back in Austin sooner rather than later.
But first, Tokyo. Eighteen of the 23 players currently in the squad will travel to Japan in search of retribution after the U.S. was knocked out of the Rio 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals, its worst performance at an Olympics or World Cup ever.
This summer’s Olympics will be the USWNT’s first major tournament with head coach Vlatko Andonovski at the helm. Following Wednesday’s match, Andonovski faces his biggest decision of the summer: which 18 players will be on the Tokyo roster, and which five will watch from home.
Andonovski also expressed his appreciation to the Austin masses. “In terms of the crowd and the atmosphere, brilliant. There’s no way I can actually describe how good it was,” he said.
No doubt, many in that crowd will stay tuned into the national team’s performance at the Olympics. But the city now shifts the entirety of its soccer focus on Austin FC’s home opener Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes. Josh Wolff and his players can only hope that the USWNT did not accidentally leave their boots behind in the Q2 Stadium locker room, because they will be very difficult ones to fill.
Read more about Q2 Stadium in the Chronicle’s special Austin FC insert on stands and online June 17.
This article appears in June 11 • 2021.
