Capped at Q2
Fan Thoughts on Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Austin FC match - August 31, 2024
Pre-match impressions:
Austin FC comes in with momentum from winning on the road (at Nashville) including Osman Bukari’s first goal for the club. Vancouver did play earlier in the week in a Canadian Championship match and will be without striker Brian White due to a concussion. With only 8 remaining MLS regular season games left for Austin, this feels like a home match that they need to get a result (ideally 3 points obviously but even a draw is probably necessary for playoff purposes) even though Vancouver has played well away from home this season.
Let’s look at the lineup:
I guess in the mind of Josh Wolff, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The exact same starting lineup is announced for the third match in a row. Again, no true striker which seems odd considering Vancouver likes to play with a back 3. Jon Gallagher starts again at winger so the soon-to-be newborn Gally must still be in the oven. Julio Cascante is back on the bench, but Zan Kolmanic and Leo Vaisanen are left off the roster. Also why keep Hector Jimenez on the bench but leave your only U22-Initiative player (Kolmanic) off of it. Hey, but what do I know? I’m just a measly season ticket holder-turned-Substack-hack.
Stream of consciousness match thoughts:
Stream of consciousness or internal monologue… not sure what the proper literary term is but essentially this will be my own gut reaction thoughts as the match progresses. Let’s go…
Minister of Culture Matthew McConnaughey has made his way over to Q2 Stadium from DKR Texas Memorial Stadium (seeing UT defeat Colorado State 52-0) and has switched to wearing Verde gear. Alright, alright, alright about time he showed up to a match.
Pass from captain Ryan Gauld to Fafa Picault who gets behind Matt Hedges and Picault has a pretty solid chance to score but the ball gets deflected past the net in the 3rd minute.
Off a corner kick, Vancouver almost scores on a header. Another slow start for Austin just like last week.
Hedges burned again by Gauld’s speed and earns an early yellow card. Pedro Vite hits it wide after a free kick is deflected.
Mikkel Desler has a chance from far out but skies it into way the north end stands. Would’ve been cool to see Desler and Bukari score in back-to-back matches.
Brad Stuver makes a diving save on a long shot from Vancouver’s Cubas. Vancouver dominating possession. Hmm is that a good omen for Austin ? Could be.
Finally, a transition moment for Austin. Gallagher has Bukari and Owen Wolff making runs but makes a pass behind that gets broken up.
Another good save by Stuuuu on a Picault shot at 35th minute.
Gallagher and Bukari switch sides on wings. Ball falls right to Gallagher but he doesn’t get a good touch in the box and the ball is cleared. Gally has to do better there!
Owen walking with hands on his side and it’s only 40 minutes in.
Gauld scores in the 44th minute. Way too much space and whips into the left side past Stuver. But wait, the referee is now going to VAR. Goal gets taken away due to Vancouver’s #4 barely being offside. Whew… Austin gets very lucky there. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Guillermo Biro whiffs on a header and Picault misses another close chance. It’s 0-0 at halftime.
Gallagher doesn’t look right tonight for whatever reason. I would bring Obrian on as a sub on the wing to attack VWFC’s back 3 with speed.
But looks like no subs made at halftime. Josh Wolff must be happy with Vanni Sartini pressing with 7 guys and barely allowing his team to create scoring chances (sarcasm)
Gallagher crosses a ball in that looks like Vite turns and sticks his arm out. No penalty. Looked awfully close to a penalty.
Alex Ring has been taking all the corners and here he tries to score with an Olympico ?? Punched out by Vancouver goalkeeper Takaoka. Why not try that I guess
Bukari gets one on one in space and hits into the side netting instead of trying a cross. Maybe he was trying to “create some magic” as he likes to say or maybe he has no striker in the box who can head a potential cross.
Yikes! Brendan Hines-Ike on the ground with blood gushing out above his eye. Looks like he collided heads with Picault.
First subs of the match come at the 67th minute: Cascante coming in for the injured Hines-Ike and Gyasi Zardes for the somehow exhausted teenager Owen Wolff.
Bukari gets the ball past the fullback and tries to chip into the box; looks like Sebastian Driussi was possibly arriving late but Takaoka gets his hands on the ball.
Vite for Vancouver scores in the 70th minute on a broken play with a good pass from Gauld. 1-0 Vancouver
You could feel that was coming. Vancouver has had many more shots on goal tonight.
Driussi has barely been involved all night. Need to get him some touches.
More subs at minute 79: Obrian and Diego Rubio come in for Desler and Hedges. Gallagher moves to right back.
Good back heel by Rubio. Zardes passes to Obrian in space, but he loses the ball and again no shot on target for Austin.
9 minutes of stoppage time… still some time left to squeeze out a draw.
Ethan Finlay subs in for Bukari ?? Explain that move other than Bukari is out of gas.
Gallager with a cross into the box… Cascante has no one around him but heads it wide. Best chance of the night but gets squandered!
Somehow the ball falls to Finlay in space in the 99th minute and he shanks it well wide. Ugh.
And that’s it, folks. Final 1-0. Vancouver wins another road game.
Numbers don’t lie:
Let’s look at FotMob this time around…
Possession: Austin 48% and Vancouver 52%
Total shots: Austin 6 and Vancouver 18
Shots on target: Austin 0 (yup a big fat zero shot on target at home) and Vancouver 4
xG: Austin 0.59 and Vancouver 1.02 (that actually seems low)
Man of the Match:
It’s gotta be Ryan Gauld for Vancouver. Had a goal taken away by VAR, had the assist to Vite for the game-winner, and many effective moments dribbling past Austin defenders. A DP doing what a DP should do. Or maybe we should give it to Vanni Sartini for outcoaching Wolff from start to finish - pressing 7 players higher up the pitch and disrupting Austin’s attack all night with very little adjustments made.
No player for Austin FC even comes to mind as a bright spot tonight. I suppose you could argue Bukari had some flashes with the ball in space. But if you end up with zero shots on target at home, there’s not much positive to take away for Austin from this one.
The bigger picture:
Austin drops from 9th to 10th place and out of the final playoff spot in the Western conference with this loss (and Minnesota winning). They’re now 6 points behind teams currently in the 6th-8th places in the conference. Yes, it’s possible that they could still make up that gap, but maybe 9th place is the more realistic goal. Next up for Austin is a week off (due to the FIFA international break) and then a long trip to Canada to take on Toronto FC. We love playing Eastern Conference teams! And this will be Austin’s last chance to do so this season. It’ll be a must-win match in The 6ix.