VIEW FROM THE PRESS BOX: AUSTIN FC DEFEATS SAN JOSE
To start off, please read my What You Need To Know for this match because it’s going to cover a lot of what happened.
The Line ups:
Austin FC opted to run it back from their win last week against FC Dallas with two changes: Coach Wolff opted to swap his winger/fullback pairings and put Jadier Obrian/Hector Jimenez on the right with Owen Wolff and John Gallagher on the left.
San Jose, missing usual starters Daniel, Jackson Yuiell, and Preston Judd lined up in their usual 4-3-3.
The First Half:
Sticking to San Jose’s trend of scoring first (5th time in 7 matches), they were the first to put a goal on the board in the 20th minute thanks to a bad giveaway by Austin in their own end. It led to Christian Espinoza getting the ball in a dangerous position and crossing to Paul Marie, unmarked on the back post as Jimenez and Julio Cascante were both caught ball-watching.
After the San Jose goal, Austin looked shocked and lost track of the game, giving up another clear chance, and then a mere six minutes later Paul Marie thought he had a second goal, but it was overturned after a VAR check for offside.
In the 36th minute, Obrien thought he’d scored his first goal in an Austin FC shirt, grabbing one of his children from the crowd to celebrate what should have been a beautiful moment, only for it to cruelly be overturned by VAR due to a foul in the build-up.
The only other quality opportunity in the first half happened when Christian Espinosa had a breakaway but Gallagher was able to chase him down and prevent any attempt on goal.
The first half did feature six! Yellow cards including the San Jose bench getting a yellow card 11’ into the match, which is more or less normal for Lukasz Szpala, the referee from the night.
Second Half:
Neither team made any subs to start the half so it started with much of the same besides an Austin side that was better able to take advantage of their opportunities (Eventually).
San Jose added to their lead when Jeremy Ebobisse scored in the 57’ but this goal was created by two moments in midfield: Hector Jimenez pinched up at the top of their box to try and retain possession and missed the opportunity, forcing Julio Cascante to move up and then try to rotate over when San Jose got the ball to their left on the attack. The pass goes up to Niko Tsakaris who puts in a great first-time ball that Ebobisse gets on net, Stuver saves, and as is a theme for the season, Austin is second to the rebound and it’s put away.
Austin got a lifeline when Diego Rubio earned a penalty in the 59’ when he was clearly fouled from behind while receiving a pass in the box. Sebastian Driussi converts after sending William Yarbrough the wrong way. Game on.
Obrian did get his first goal in the 62 minute, being on the end of a poor clearance from a long throw by San Jose and found himself unmarked to slot it in past the keeper. This time he opted for a dance celebration with Johan Valencia and the other subs in lieu of running across the field.
Austin’s next goal came after a cross from Alex Ring was poorly cleared to the top of the box and Guilherme Biro struck it into the bottom left corner with his favored left foot, his second goal of the season. There followed another good chance with San Jose pushing forward to try and get back into the match we saw Brad Stuver make a long throw to Dani Perreira for a quick counterattack, he deftly maneuvered past a defender but Yarbrough was able to stop Obrian’s shot (he was offside per the broadcast).
Unfortunately for Austin, they again weren’t able to hang onto a lead at home. Christian Espinosa was the catalyst for the goal, finding Amahl Pellegrino open on the left side unmarked, he dribbled left, shot with his right, and put it into the bottom right corner past a diving Cascante and Stuver. San Jose had two more chances to put themselves into the lead but Stuver made two saves that were nearly identical (but flipped) to keep the match level.
The rest of the match was mainly spent in the Austin FC attacking end, the kind of passing and possession we’ve grown accustomed to as San Jose seemed more and more content with a point as the minutes wore on.
11 minutes into stoppage time Sebastian Driussi put in the winner off a great knockdown by Gyasi Zardes to set him up perfectly at the top of the box. The Verde lights flashed, and after a cursory few seconds, Austin FC had their second victory of the season.
The Morning After:
This win put Austin FC into a playoff spot (8th) and highlights how painful the draws against St Louis City and Philadelphia Union are. Had Austin held onto those two matches and won, they’d be sitting at 13 points, tied for the lead in the Western Conference.
These are the first back-to-back wins for Austin since June of 2023. While the losses for Austin were bad, it’s important to point out they’ve gotten points from 5 of their 7 matches thus far this season, so there is some reason for optimism. It was a return of Sebastian Driussi who was a strong MVP candidate in 2022, controlling the game, easily converting a penalty, and hitting the winner.
This was one of the best nights Q2 has experienced for a long while and I look forward to being back at the end of April against LA Galaxy and hope that Austin can get their first win against St Louis CITY next weekend.
WRITTEN BY SCOTT SPECHT
