The Slide Continues: Austin FC Winless in Eight MLS Matches After 2-0 Defeat to San Diego FC
Verde’s attack struggled again in southern California on Saturday night.
You could forgive Austin FC fans for looking at their team’s Saturday night opponent, San Diego FC, with envy. The meeting between the two sides marked the halfway point in each team’s 2025 MLS campaign, making for a good occasion to take stock of where they each stand.
One team has a clear identity - a swaggering, fun, confident style of play it imposes on whatever opposition it steps onto the field to face. One team is sitting near the top of the Western Conference standings, playing this eye-catching brand of soccer that’s been as successful as it's been enjoyable to watch. The other team is Austin FC.
That San Diego has achieved results while delivering scintillating soccer in its expansion season has to be extra galling to Verde supporters. Midway through its fifth MLS season and now on its second head coach and second sporting director, Austin FC looks as far away as ever from attaining anything resembling a discernible playing style. And as Verde’s 2-0 defeat to San Diego would suggest, consistent, positive results are also elusive. The defeat leaves Austin winless in eight consecutive league matches.
As further evidence that Nico Estevez is still unsure of how he wants his Austin FC to play, Saturday night saw a shift away from the 4-3-3 formation he has mostly preferred of late (at least when not facing an opponent lined up with a back five). Tweaks and adjustments based on the opposition are fine, but the 2025 season is half over, and Austin FC's 'best' formation remains unclear. That's a cause for concern. Even more worrying is that a 'best' formation with this group of players (particularly this group of forwards) may not exist.
On Saturday, the 4-4-2 Verde deployed made sense - it’s nearly the same formation Austin FC played in when defeating San Diego 2-1 at Q2 Stadium in March. Technically, it was a 4-4-2 diamond from Verde in the first Austin/San Diego matchup, with Owen Wolff playing centrally underneath a front two of Brandon Vazquez and Diego Rubio. Besard Sabovic played on the right of midfield below Wolff, with Dani Pereira to Wolff’s left. Ilie Sanchez was the deepest Austin FC midfielder in the number 6 role. Sabovic and Sanchez missed Saturday night’s match via suspension for yellow card accumulation.
The formation approaches in both matches were similar: two forwards up top with four midfielders below them and a line of four defenders underneath the midfielders. And the overall strategy was the same. Cede possession of the ball, keep compact and organized while defending, and then hit San Diego quickly and directly when launching an attack.
As I’m sure you’re aware, the first match between the two teams is still the only league match where Austin FC netted more than a solitary goal. In Austin’s second match with San Diego, Verde’s sucker punch never landed. Austin FC was shellacked by San Diego on expected goals (xG), 1.76 to .25 (all stats per FotMob.com or FBRef.com unless otherwise noted).
March’s encounter with San Diego saw Brandon Vazquez bag his first Austin FC goal while terrorizing Mikey Varas’ side’s high defensive line throughout the match. In March, Vazquez’s strike partner, Diego Rubio, dropped into midfield to help facilitate the rapid movements forward when Austin FC gained possession. Austin FC’s team touch map from that match shows Rubio (21) with an average position on the ball below Wolff and even below left-back Zan Kolmanic. By some margin, Vazquez was the Austin FC player getting on the ball in the highest positions.
On Saturday, Vazquez’s role flipped. He was the center forward tasked with dropping off the forward line, with Myrto Uzuni looking to break in behind San Diego’s defense.
Vazquez struggled to hold up play, winning just two of his nine duels, and as a result, Austin FC’s attack failed to come to life. Uzuni was anonymous, registering only 19 touches and one shot (a blocked effort in the 73rd minute). From the above touch map, also note the blackhole on the left side of Austin FC’s attack. Wolff, Verde’s left-sided midfielder, didn’t generate any width down that flank, and left-back Guilherme Biro didn’t push forward either. You don’t have to be a tactics junkie to know it’s suboptimal to ignore an entire half of the field in attack.
Playing on the right of Austin FC’s midfield band of four, Osman Bukari was the liveliest of Austin FC’s three Designated Players (DPs), accruing 29 touches (Vazquez had 20). But his impact was ultimately minimal. Bukari didn’t fire off a shot and created only one chance.
Tellingly, down a goal after Luca de la Torre’s breakthrough in the 60th minute, Austin FC elected to finish the match with none of its three DPs on the field. Vazquez was substituted in the 72nd minute, and Bukari and Uzuni departed in the 80th. The introductions of Rubio, CJ Fodrey, and Robert Taylor lacked impact. San Diego substitute Milan Iloski’s stoppage-time goal to make it 2-0 for the hosts was merely an insult on top of the debilitating injury inflicted by de al Torre. Austin FC wasn’t coming back.
On de la Torre’s goal, Austin FC committed the cardinal sin of raising its backline without putting pressure on the ball. In Saturday’s meeting with San Diego, Verde looked to engage Varas’ team higher up the field than in March. Per MLS Analytics on Bluesky, the average height of Austin FC’s defensive actions in the March match against San Diego was 26.7 meters. On Saturday, it was 34.4. But on San Diego’s first goal, Austin FC’s forwards didn’t apply any press to center-back Paddy McNair, and he casually picked out Chucky Lozano with a long ball over the top of Verde’s defense. The Mexican international set up the onrushing de la Torre for the goal.
San Diego has sought and successfully delivered a death-by-a-thousand passes approach in 2025, but it took only one to bypass Austin FC’s defense on Saturday. Great teams generally have a consistent game model that allows for variations depending on the opposition and the run of play. Austin FC is still searching for Plan A and dropping valuable points in the process.
Though I'm sure there are likeable players on this team, the team itself is unlikeable. They don't seem to respect each other, there's no urgency, every other pass is back to Stu (who was hung out to dry on the first goal), and honestly, who on the team is playing with heart and enjoying themselves? Maybe Gallagher and Stuver, maybe Desler and Hines-Ike. But the issue is squarely on the shoulders of Nico and Rodo. "Names you wouldn't believe" is an insult to us fans. Maybe these players can get a coach who can turn it around, but this is a disaster. And the worst part that should worry Precourt... very few people in Austin care. Attendance is down substantially (in spite of the cynical 20,738 announced each game) and the number of people commenting on social media is way down. Actually, Precourt doesn't care, he's probably already been talking to Las Vegas people about moving there. My guess is there's a 50% chance Austin FC is here in 5 years.
It sure seems to me that it is growing coaching problem. The shift in how Vazquez was used from one San Diego match to the next really accents that belief!! It really would be of great help to the team if Nico would actually read the great points that the writer is bringing up after each match!!