A New Low-Comotive Avoided: Austin FC Fights Back to Beat El Paso 3-2
Goals from two of Verde’s struggling DPs powered the comeback.
On paper, the visit of El Paso Locomotive from the second-tier USL Championship to Q2 Stadium for a US Open Cup match on Wednesday night seemed like the perfect, straightforward tonic for what was ailing Austin FC.
Are you finding that MLS defenses are too vexing to break down? Are your expensive Designated Players (DPs) shooting blanks in front of goal? Then why not knock four or five past some dudes from a division below you? That will rewrite a negative narrative or two.
The remit should have been simple. Blow away El Paso in the Round of 32 and hope confidence builds and momentum ignites for the more significant matches ahead. If you missed the game (and judging from the number of empty seats, quite a few did), but happened to be within earshot of Q2 Stadium at halftime, the boos that cascaded down from the stands would have let you know that 'straightforward' and 'simple' are not apt descriptions of Austin FC’s eventual 3-2 win.
Two first-half goals from ex-Austin Bold and current El Paso striker Roberto Avila likely prompted some unpleasant internal deliberation throughout the Austin FC fanbase: where would a loss to the Locomotive rank on a list of most embarrassing Verde defeats? You know a situation is dire when the mind wanders to Violette. Fortunately for Austin FC, three second-half goals in seven minutes - two Brandon Vazquez goals sandwiching one from Myrto Uzuni - meant the Haitian club’s spot atop the Verde Misery Index went unchallenged on Wednesday.
Vazquez and Uzuni entered the match with far fewer goals than expected this campaign. They’re underperforming both preseason expectations and their expected goals (xG) numbers. Before Wednesday, Vazquez had two goals on five xG, and Uzuni had one on 3.3 xG (all stats per FBRef.com or FotMob.com unless otherwise noted). Missed chances are making Austin FC’s glitchy attack look even worse, and no one is misfiring more than Vazquez and Uzuni.
Sort a table of all 30 MLS clubs by goals scored in league play, and you’ll see Austin FC and its seven goals ranked second-last, ahead of only winless CF Montreal, who have scored just five times in 2025. However, the grass is somewhat greener on the xG side. Austin FC is 22nd in MLS in xG this season, and would have been expected to score nearly 14 goals (Verde is on 13.9 xG) based on the quality of its chances. Austin FC is underperforming its xG by seven goals, and the DP duo of Vazquez and Uzuni have missed roughly five goals' worth of chances.
To an extent, the key to bettering the Verde attack is uncomplicated. If the players we expect to finish their chances start finishing their chances, the team’s goalscoring fortunes will improve. And if Uzuni’s post-match comments are any indication, we shouldn’t be concerned about the team lacking the requisite mindset. “It’s only the hunger, the mentality, the character…we want to win,” Uzuni said when asked what the key was to Austin FC’s second-half comeback.
But even if Austin FC starts scoring goals at the rate its chances suggest it should, it would still have an attack that ranks in the bottom half of MLS. The three goals Verde scored in seven minutes against El Paso were more than the team had managed in any entire match in 2025. What, if anything, can Austin FC take from its second-half power surge that might be useful in future matches against more stout opposition?
One interesting tactical tidbit from Wednesday’s match was Austin FC’s formation. Instead of the 4-3-3 we’ve seen recently, Estevez lined his team up in a 4-2-3-1 shape. In the first half Diego Rubio played in a number 10 role below Vazquez while in the second, after the halftime introductions of Osman Bukari and Robert Taylor (who may have picked up a hamstring injury according to Estevez post-match), it was Uzuni - shifting inside from left wing - who played underneath the American international.
With this tweak, Vazquez tended to stay higher and spent less time dropping into midfield - though he did drop deep occasionally. Last Saturday against Minnesota United, Vazquez had seven touches in the opposition's penalty area. Against El Paso, he had 18, despite Verde having less of the ball on Wednesday (Austin FC had 67% possession versus Minnesota to 46% versus the Locomotive).
The deeper Vazquez drops when he’s holding up play, the more likely he his to lay the ball off to one of Austin FC’s midfielders - who, outside of Dani Pereira (the only Austin FC midfielder currently averaging over five progressive passes per 90) haven’t been successful moving play forward - and not one of the team’s other forwards. Here is his touch map against Minnesota.
And here is his touch map against El Paso.
Uzuni’s goal came via Vazquez staying high to chest down a long ball forward from Guilherme Biro. Vazquez is a tall, physical striker capable of mixing it up with center-backs and offering Austin FC first-rate hold-up play. Austin FC going direct to Vazquez while Uzuni lurks underneath to feast off knockdowns could be a way for Estevez to increase the chemistry between the pair. And anything that gets Uzuni in central areas where he’s most comfortable will probably get the best out of him.
“For sure,” Estevez said when asked in his post-match press conference if he’d like to see more of Vazquez holding up play and laying the ball off for Uzuni. “It takes time…when you have new players, they’re coming from different paths, different leagues, different types of game models. Sometimes it’s difficult,” Estevez added, speaking about the challenges facing new teammates trying to develop an on-field connection.
Another catalyst for Austin FC’s comeback was the 60th-minute introduction of Owen Wolff, who replaced the clunky-in-possession Besard Sabovic. Wolff provided the assists for both of Vazquez’s goals, and giving the talented 20-year-old a platform to express his creativity on the ball could prove integral to Austin FC reaching its full potential in 2025.
“I think in the last games, he (Wolff) lost a little bit of poise and a little bit of that desire,” Estevez said post-match regarding Wolff. “I think today, because these games (referring to the US Open Cup’s knockout format) bring you that you go or you’re out. (That) put him in a really good spot, and he made the difference.”
Whether it's bottling up the mentality or the tactics - or, most likely, a combination of both - from the second half against El Paso, Austin FC at least has some sort of blueprint for scoring a flurry of goals in a short period. Verde avoided hitting rock bottom on Wednesday. Now it's time to see what heights the team can achieve.
Great article to go along with a great comeback!!! The touch differential that Vazquez enjoyed between the Minnesota match and El Paso match was surely associated with the formation change. Let's hope that Estevez uses some of the writer's stats as he formulates a strategy for the next match!!