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It’s an interesting first-to-worst scenario for Austin FC.
When the Verde & Black host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, they’ll go from playing the top team in the Western Conference a week ago — the Vancouver Whitecaps — to the club at the bottom of the standings.
Following a brutal display in Vancouver where Austin FC was played off the pitch for the match’s final 50 minutes in a 5-1 loss, the Verde & Black will try to respond against the Galaxy, the defending MLS Cup champions who have had a surprisingly slow start to the season.
More: Austin FC vs San Diego FC: Man of the match and player grades for MLS matchday 5
Here’s what you need to know as Austin FC (4-3-1, 13 points) hopes to reach the quarter point of the season with a noteworthy 16 points:
The MLS season is too long to place any emphasis on one game — especially in April — but a response by Austin FC here would make last week’s poor showing a footnote.
After being the best team in the MLS on defense through seven games, the Verde & Black were shredded by the Whitecaps. Something that Austin FC coach Nico Estévez attributed to players not being on the same page as to what the strategy was defensively.
More: Austin FC goalie Brad Stuver is the club's constant entering the 2025 MLS season
“Talking with them earlier in the week, there were different thoughts from different players,” Estévez said Thursday. “We were disconnected as a team, and that opened up the field for Vancouver. … And that led to us getting frustrated.”
With the Austin FC attack struggling to score goals, Estévez noted the club may have lost its focus on defense and that it needs to always have a good starting position and shape. It offered an opportunity for what he called a “reset.”
“We went back to what we did in the preseason and we talked about who we are, what our strengths are and what we’ve built until now,” he said. “We started like a new preseason and when everyone had this mindset, you could see the energy was different.”
Though the Galaxy are off to a poor start and have yet to win a league game, they still have two of the most dangerous attacking wingers in MLS in Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, who were crucial to the club’s championship run last year.
More: Seven questions Austin FC must answer in the 2025 MLS season
Los Angeles traded dangerous forward Dejan Joveljić in the offseason — mostly for salary cap reasons — and is learning to play without dynamic midfielder Riqui Puig, who tore his ACL in the Western Conference final and will miss most of this season, and has only had Paintsil for two games due to injury.
With all that, Estévez doesn’t read anything into Los Angeles’ rough first two months, noting that besides Miami and Vancouver, every team that participated in CONCACAF Champions Cup has started slowly.
“I see the MLS 2024 champion, that’s what I see,” he said. “It’s going to take a collective effort on defense against them. … Pec and Paintsil are really good in one-on-ones, and we need to avoid those.”
With last week’s drubbing, Austin FC is now minus-2 in goal differential. That’s mostly due to an offense that has produced six goals in eight games. Estévez has preached patience with an attack and noted that the chemistry of forwards Brandon Vazquez, Myrto Uzuni and Osman Bukari is slowly progressing.
“The things we’ve done this week, you can see that there’s a difference,” he said. “They’re looking at each other more, and you can see their movements are different. They’re allowing their teammate space and their attitude from the minute after the Vancouver game ended has been impressive.”
Austin FC will host USL side El Paso Locomotive FC in the U.S. Open Cup round of 32 on May 7, U.S. Soccer announced Thursday. With a win, the Verde & Black would either host Houston or travel to USL side Phoenix, depending on the outcome of their round of 32 match, in the round of 16 on May 20.
Forward: Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vazquez, Osman Bukari
Midfield: Owen Wolff, Dani Pereira, Besard Sabovic
Defense: Guilherme Biro, Brendan Hines-Ike, Oleksandr Svatok, Jon Gallagher
Goalie:Brad Stuver
Austin FC 2, Los Angeles Galaxy 1: If Austin FC isn't motivated following last week's disaster, there's an issue. However, don't expect that to be the case. The Galaxy aren't as bad as its record, but I expect the Verde & Black to want to make a statement that the poor display against the Whitecaps was a blip on the radar. Look for Austin FC to earn three points.
Austin FC (4-3-1, 13 points) vs. Los Angeles Galaxy (0-5-3, 3 points), 12:45 p.m., Q2 Stadium, Fox, Fox Sports, Apple TV, 97.5, 104.3 (Spanish)
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: MLS match prediction between Austin FC, LA Galaxy on Saturday
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When the Verde & Black host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, they’ll go from playing the top team in the Western Conference a week ago — the Vancouver Whitecaps — to the club at the bottom of the standings.
Following a brutal display in Vancouver where Austin FC was played off the pitch for the match’s final 50 minutes in a 5-1 loss, the Verde & Black will try to respond against the Galaxy, the defending MLS Cup champions who have had a surprisingly slow start to the season.
More: Austin FC vs San Diego FC: Man of the match and player grades for MLS matchday 5
Here’s what you need to know as Austin FC (4-3-1, 13 points) hopes to reach the quarter point of the season with a noteworthy 16 points:
A strong showing is important for Austin FC
The MLS season is too long to place any emphasis on one game — especially in April — but a response by Austin FC here would make last week’s poor showing a footnote.
After being the best team in the MLS on defense through seven games, the Verde & Black were shredded by the Whitecaps. Something that Austin FC coach Nico Estévez attributed to players not being on the same page as to what the strategy was defensively.
More: Austin FC goalie Brad Stuver is the club's constant entering the 2025 MLS season
“Talking with them earlier in the week, there were different thoughts from different players,” Estévez said Thursday. “We were disconnected as a team, and that opened up the field for Vancouver. … And that led to us getting frustrated.”
With the Austin FC attack struggling to score goals, Estévez noted the club may have lost its focus on defense and that it needs to always have a good starting position and shape. It offered an opportunity for what he called a “reset.”
“We went back to what we did in the preseason and we talked about who we are, what our strengths are and what we’ve built until now,” he said. “We started like a new preseason and when everyone had this mindset, you could see the energy was different.”
Nico Estévez doesn’t care about LA Galaxy’s record
Though the Galaxy are off to a poor start and have yet to win a league game, they still have two of the most dangerous attacking wingers in MLS in Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, who were crucial to the club’s championship run last year.
More: Seven questions Austin FC must answer in the 2025 MLS season
Los Angeles traded dangerous forward Dejan Joveljić in the offseason — mostly for salary cap reasons — and is learning to play without dynamic midfielder Riqui Puig, who tore his ACL in the Western Conference final and will miss most of this season, and has only had Paintsil for two games due to injury.
With all that, Estévez doesn’t read anything into Los Angeles’ rough first two months, noting that besides Miami and Vancouver, every team that participated in CONCACAF Champions Cup has started slowly.
“I see the MLS 2024 champion, that’s what I see,” he said. “It’s going to take a collective effort on defense against them. … Pec and Paintsil are really good in one-on-ones, and we need to avoid those.”
When will the Austin FC attack come together?
With last week’s drubbing, Austin FC is now minus-2 in goal differential. That’s mostly due to an offense that has produced six goals in eight games. Estévez has preached patience with an attack and noted that the chemistry of forwards Brandon Vazquez, Myrto Uzuni and Osman Bukari is slowly progressing.
“The things we’ve done this week, you can see that there’s a difference,” he said. “They’re looking at each other more, and you can see their movements are different. They’re allowing their teammate space and their attitude from the minute after the Vancouver game ended has been impressive.”
Austin FC to face El Paso in U.S. Open Cup
Austin FC will host USL side El Paso Locomotive FC in the U.S. Open Cup round of 32 on May 7, U.S. Soccer announced Thursday. With a win, the Verde & Black would either host Houston or travel to USL side Phoenix, depending on the outcome of their round of 32 match, in the round of 16 on May 20.
Austin FC predicted starting lineup
Forward: Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vazquez, Osman Bukari
Midfield: Owen Wolff, Dani Pereira, Besard Sabovic
Defense: Guilherme Biro, Brendan Hines-Ike, Oleksandr Svatok, Jon Gallagher
Goalie:Brad Stuver
Austin FC vs. LA Galaxy prediction
Austin FC 2, Los Angeles Galaxy 1: If Austin FC isn't motivated following last week's disaster, there's an issue. However, don't expect that to be the case. The Galaxy aren't as bad as its record, but I expect the Verde & Black to want to make a statement that the poor display against the Whitecaps was a blip on the radar. Look for Austin FC to earn three points.
Saturday's match
Austin FC (4-3-1, 13 points) vs. Los Angeles Galaxy (0-5-3, 3 points), 12:45 p.m., Q2 Stadium, Fox, Fox Sports, Apple TV, 97.5, 104.3 (Spanish)
Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: MLS match prediction between Austin FC, LA Galaxy on Saturday
Continue reading...
