Austin FC dominates possession, scoring chances but fails to score in 1-0 loss to Minnesota
Austin FC did everything well Saturday.
Well, almost everything.
From dominating possession — a mind-blowing 66 percent — to creating nearly 20 scoring chances to playing solid defense, El Tree played an entirely better game than Minnesota United at Q2 Stadium.
But in soccer, no matter how dominant you are, if you don’t score, it doesn’t matter.
One defensive breakdown in the first half cost Austin FC during a 1-0 loss, as the Loons took advantage in the 16th minute when Franco Fragapane found himself wide open on the back post to easily finish Hassani Dotson’s cross through the box.
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“Statistically speaking, we hammered them in every category, the only thing lacking was the goal,” Austin FC coach Josh Wolff said. “Our guys performed extremely well but we were unlucky to not score. (Loons goalkeeper Tyler Miller) made some good saves and they had some last-minute defending that stopped us. For whatever reason it wasn’t meant to be. That’s the cruel world of this game and we were on the wrong end of it.”
The entire match was one of missed opportunities for Austin FC.
Whether it was Sebastián Driussi’s wide-open header from near-point-blank range in stoppage time going over the crossbar, Cecilio Domínguez’s shot going just wide of the post in the 78th minute or Zan Kolmanic running onto a ball at the top of the box that he sent into the stands just after halftime, El Tree simply couldn’t find the goal.
And those were just a few of several shots that either barely missed the post or crossbar.
“If you watched, you know we deserved more out of that game,” Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver said. “The only chances they had were off mistakes we made. It’s kind of how things have gone this season — just not our way.”
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Credit has to be given to Austin FC for how it strong it was in the field of play. Sure, the result wasn’t there, but El Tree continued a string of form from before the recent two-week international break that should have fans optimistic 2022 will be a season the club competes for the postseason.
The combination of play from forward Moussa Djitté and midfielders Diego Fagundez, Domínguez, Driussi and Alexander Ring as an attacking unit can matchup with most MLS teams, while Stuver has emerged as a surprise strength and the defense is beginning to show depth.
“I thought we looked fresh and hungry and we competed our ass off tonight,” Stuver said. “We put ourselves in position to win. For me the performance we put in was fantastic and that’s what a playoff team looks like. If we were able to look like that all year, I think it’d be a very different discussion.”
Still, the frustrating moments were plenty — and nearly started from kickoff as the first half had a number of wasted opportunities.
Miller made back-to-back impressive saves on shots in the box from Domínguez and Djitté in the first 10 minutes, with Driussi’s attempt a short time later going just wide of the goal.
Tomás Pochettino had two shots go barely miss the post in the 33rd and 35th minutes, then had Austin FC’s best chance of the half when his attempt from almost point-blank range went over the crossbar.
El Tree had nearly 59 percent of possession in the first half and — incredibly — that increased substantially in the second half with a solid attack down the right side.
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Along with wins from Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy Saturday, the loss officially eliminated Austin FC from the playoff chase — though realistically that had been a longshot for roughly the last month being last place in the Western Conference.
El Tree has five matches left, starting with Wednesday at San Jose, and Wolff noted there are plenty of things the coaching staff will be looking at with the team’s plan is to enter the offseason on a run of positive results.
“We’ll take the amount of good chances we created and the attacking style of play we wanted from tonight into Wednesday,” he said. “The lack of execution cost us. That’s something we’ll have to get better at. But there’s a lot of positives from today. I told our guys to be pissed off and not be disappointed.”