Austin FC’s 2025 season ended in miserable fashion Sunday night at Q2 Stadium as LAFC ran the Verde and Black off their home field, closing out the first round playoff series by 4 goals to 1.
A rash of individual errors, both mental and technical, doomed Austin FC in the first half and made things all too easy for Black and Gold stars Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga. To make things more frustrating, Austin was offered multiple lifelines to get back into the match, and failed to take them.
ATX actually started the better of the two sides; how things could have been different if Myrto Uzuni had found the back of the net on the breakaway in the 17th minute. Instead, the Albanian international sent the first big chance of the match sailing over the cross bar.
Minutes later, though, Mikkel Desler committed the first of Austin’s crucial mistakes when he hesitated far too long with the ball at his feet hunting a pass in the attacking third. Bouanga swiped the ball off Desler from behind, immediately found his running mate Son on the breakaway, and the South Korean icon did the rest. Son dribbled past Ilie Sánchez like the veteran wasn’t there, and hammered a surgical shot past Brad Stuver for the opening goal.
And three minutes after that, LAFC defender Sergi Palencia intercepted a dreadful Brendan Hines-Ike pass and played a well-weighted through-ball to Son into open space. Stuver foolishly came off his line for a footrace against Son that he was never going to win. With the goal unguarded, Son laid a pass off to Bouanga for the easy finish.
The first of Austin’s potential lifelines came in the 36th minute, when an Owen Wolff free kick ricocheted off Bouanga’s outstretched arm in the penalty box, resulting in a fortunate spot kick for the home team and a chance to pull within 2-1. However, Uzuni, just as he did in last month’s U.S. Open Cup Final, shot a poor, timid penalty kick which was easily saved by Hugo Lloris.
“I felt like he was more afraid to miss than [he was] thinking positive to score,” Estévez later inferred.
Austin’s nightmare first half continued in the 44th minute when Bouanga single-handedly emasculated both of Austin FC’s center backs, Hines-Ike and Oleksandr Svatok, sending both flailing and scoring past Stuver to make it 3-0 Los Angeles.
Right before the stroke of halftime, Austin was given another cheap penalty kick opportunity when Guilherme Biro took a stray elbow to the face from LA’s Ryan Porteous. This time, Dani Pereira stepped up and took the spot kick with pace, firing it home despite a touch from Lloris to make it a 3-1 deficit.
It could have possibly meant something if, in the 72nd minute, substitute Jáder Obrian could have finished off a tap-in opportunity following Austin’s best attacking move of the match. But the out-of-form Colombian shot straight at Lloris, ending his 2025 season with zero goals.
One more Austin giveaway and LAFC counter-attack in stoppage time served as the final nail in the Verde coffin.
The 4-1 scoreline will likely be used as evidence to prove just how far away Austin FC is from competing at the level of a true MLS contender. There would be more truth to that if the club gave a fair account of itself Sunday night. Instead Nico Estévez’s side saved one of its worst performances of the season for last … though that in itself is a problem of a different sort.
“We showed today that we are not ready,” Estévez said. “It’s my responsibility that everyone performs at the best level, and we couldn’t get that today. And that is something that we have to learn.”
For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle’s Austin FC hub. Follow The Verde Report columnist Eric Goodman on X: @goodman.