Austin FC in search of good vibes north of the border with Vancouver match

Three weeks is a long time in Major League Soccer. The Vancouver Whitecaps, the opponents for Austin FC on Saturday night, prove that adage. Vancouver arrived in Austin on Aug. 18 in the cellar of the 13-team Western Conference alongside the Verde and Black. Both teams needed a win to jump-start a playoff push. Austin FC scored first. Vancouver scored more.

The three points earned by the Whitecaps in the 2-1 victory at Q2 Stadium pushed them up the standings. They have capitalized on that momentum and now sit one point out of a playoff position in eighth place with 26 points through 21 matches.  

Vancouver, now back training in its home city after spending the first half of the season in Salt Lake City because of international COVID-19 protocols, enters the match Saturday on a three-game winning streak and without a loss in nine consecutive matches.

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Austin FC is heading in the other direction. The expansion franchise can’t sustain momentum. It hasn’t won consecutive matches since the second and third matches in franchise history five months ago. Austin FC beat the Portland Timbers at home two weekends ago and followed that up with a 5-3 loss at home to FC Dallas. It was the second time in a month that Austin FC fell to its intrastate rival after a win.  

“We haven’t capitalized and captured any consistency after a good performance, and for me, it is a a reminder to maintain a level of tension with the players in training despite the good performance,” Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff said this week. “We need to maintain an edge and intention around training and the same thing around the training center before games.”  

Austin FC is running out of time to achieve its goal of making the playoffs as an expansion franchise. That goal was stated over and over again by Wolff, majority owner Anthony Precourt and players such as captain Alex Ring. Austin FC never ran from the pressure of those expectations, even if injuries and a lack of goal scoring kept the Verde and Black from regular contention with the rest of the league.  

Austin FC enters the match with Vancouver, its first outside of the United States, in 12th place with 19 points after 21 matches. That is eight points out of seventh place with 13 matches remaining. Vancouver shows that a good run of form for a month can shoot a squad up the standings. Austin FC hopes to use a road match against the Whitecaps as a catapult in the same way Vancouver used its win at Q2 Stadium.   

“The mood around camp is good. We took an honest look at (the FC Dallas loss). We had some good moments, but there was a 10-minute window where it went awry there,” Wolff said. “We talked about the responsibility on the field and how to react when there is adversity.”  

The struggle for Austin FC through the first half of the 2021 regular season was scoring goals. The addition of designated player Sebastián Driussi has helped the Verde and Black find more teeth on offense. Austin FC has scored five goals in his four starts. It was shut out in four of the five games before his arrival in the starting XI.  

As the goals began to come, the defense struggled. Finding a balance between scoring and defending is the next task for Wolff’s pack. Austin FC allowed a season-high five goals in the loss to FC Dallas. The team hasn’t posted a clean sheet since a scoreless draw against Columbus on June 27. That is a stretch of 10 games without a shutout for goalkeeper Brad Stuver and his defensive partners.  

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“It is a balancing act, and it is on-field game management. This league can turn into a transition game, and we need to do better in those situations,” Wolff said. “It is OK to get compact and not feel the need to put pressure on their back line. It was unfair for our back line, and there were moments that we put ourselves in bad situations.”  

Saturday's game

Austin FC at Vancouver Whitecaps, 6 p.m., BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

TV/radio: The CW Austin/ALT 97.5 FM (English) or 104.3-HD2 (Spanish) 

About the series: This is the second and last match between Austin FC and Vancouver in the 2021 regular season. Vancouver beat Austin FC at Q2 Stadium 2-1 on Aug. 18. Austin FC built a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a 37th-minute goal by Alex Ring before Vancouver rallied with two scores in the second half to take three points. This match is the first time Austin FC has traveled outside of the United States and the first time it will face a team from Canada.  

About Austin FC: Austin FC can’t seem to keep momentum. The Verde and Black won two of the first three matches, including two in a row after the 2-0 loss to Los Angeles FC in the club’s Major League Soccer debut. Since May 1, Austin FC has failed to win consecutive matches. El Tree had momentum after a 3-1 win over Portland but failed to capitalize during the 5-3 loss against FC Dallas last Sunday. The time to make a playoff push is quickly passing. Austin FC sits in 12th place of the 13-team Western Conference with 19 points through 21 matches. Only 13 games remain. 

About Vancouver: The Whitecaps entered the first match against Austin FC in last place of the Western Conference. Vancouver moved out of the basement with those three points in Austin, and that’s sparked a run of unbeaten play that correlated with the club moving its training back to Canada after relocation to Salt Lake City to avoid COVID-19 travel issues. Vancouver has won three straight while remaining unbeaten in its last nine. That’s moved the Whitecaps into eighth place and only one point away from a playoff spot.