Austin FC start second MLS season in style, host Sounders Sunday
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Editor's note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.
A quick glance at the home and away standings in MLS might make you do a double take. At the top of the table, with a perfect 2-0 home record and a plus-nine goal difference, sits second-year club Austin FC.
Like most expansion franchises, Austin struggled mightily during their maiden season. Only three MLS clubs finished 2021 with fewer points. And despite the raucous atmosphere fans created at Q2 Stadium for Austin’s inaugural match, their record in Texas’ capital wasn’t much better: 22nd in the then-27-team league.
Three games into the new campaign, Austin looks far different. They scored five goals in each of their first two contests — routs of Cincinnati and Miami — before narrowly losing last weekend in Portland, perhaps the most intimidating road trip in MLS.
Up next is their toughest test, with the perennial MLS Cup contender Seattle Sounders visiting Austin on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports app).
"We’re playing the two best teams in the Western Conference back to back," Austin coach Josh Wolff told FOX Sports. "But playing at home in front of our fans on national TV — our guys have gotten accustomed to performing well in these situations."
Austin’s quick rise in their second season is surprising, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Wolff and sporting director Claudio Reyna — former teammates on two U.S. World Cup teams — rebuilt the roster over the winter. In came Colombian playmaker Jhojan Valencia and Norwegian center back Ruben Gabrielsen, who both previously won titles in their home countries. The club also acquired proven MLS vets Felipe Martins from D.C. United, Ethan Finlay from Minnesota and Maxi Urruti from Houston.
"It has given us the experience we lacked at times last year, having such a young team," captain Alex Ring said of the new recruits.
MLS FOOTNOTES
1. Seattle’s grueling schedule
Austin will welcome a weary Sounders side Sunday. After coming back to beat the LA Galaxy last weekend, Seattle headed to Mexico for the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Leon. The two clubs played to a 1-1 tie Thursday night, with the Sounders advancing 4-1 on aggregate following last week’s 3-0 triumph at Lumen Field. Brian Schmetzer’s team will face MLS Cup champs New York City FC in the semifinals.
Given the quick turnaround between games, look for Schmetzer to rest several regulars on Sunday. Still, Wolff isn’t taking anything for granted.
"If there’s any fatigue on Seattle, we’ll try to step on the gas," he said. "But we don’t expect them to come in here and lie down. They have too much quality, whether they’re rotating guys or not."
2. Revs implode in Mexico
Early in the week, there were whispers of a possible all-MLS Champions League final four. That would’ve ensured the first American or Canadian winner in the competition’s history — a Mexican team has won the regional championship for 16 years running.
But Cruz Azul eliminated CF Montreal on Wednesday, and then the New England Revolution squandered a 3-0 lead and lost in a shootout to UNAM Pumas in Mexico City.
Hey, at least MLS is guaranteed a rep in the final. That’s happened only four times the past two decades.
3. A coach on the hot seat already?
Six MLS managers were fired during the 2021 season. (Another, Real Salt Lake’s Freddy Juarez, resigned.) Who will be the first to go this year? Even before Montreal’s 2-1 aggregate loss, coach Wilfried Nancy’s future with the club was being questioned by local media in Canada’s second-largest city.
Montreal missed the playoffs in Nancy’s first season last year, and they sit dead last in the overall MLS standings heading into Week 4. This is a club that doesn’t historically have a lot of patience with coaches; Nancy is its eighth since Montreal debuted in MLS in 2012.
4. Columbus back on top
It has been a strange couple of years for the Crew. Columbus won MLS Cup during the pandemic-ravaged 2020 campaign, then missed the postseason altogether in 2021. Coming into 2022, it was difficult to know what to expect.
Yet there the Crew are atop the East, tied with Philadelphia on points but ahead on goal difference after three games.
After this weekend, don’t be surprised if Caleb Porter’s team is all alone in first place: Philly faces a tough trip to NYCFC, while the Crew travel to a New York Red Bulls team coming off a shutout home loss to Minnesota.
5. Championship hangover?
Other than last week’s 4-1 thumping of Montreal at Yankee Stadium, New York City has been thoroughly unconvincing so far. The champs didn’t even score in their first two games, a loss at the LA Galaxy and a scoreless draw in Vancouver against the dreadful Whitecaps.
NYCFC did thump Guatemala's Comunicaciones 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal before nearly throwing that advantage away Tuesday in Central America, where they lost 4-2 and needed away goals to advance.
NYCFC are still the overwhelming favorites to beat Philly at home Saturday, according to FOX Bet. But based on current form, picking the visitors might not be the worst idea.
6. Velasco thrills in Dallas
The early front-runner for Newcomer of the Year has to be FC Dallas youngster Alan Velasco. The 19-year-old Argentine didn’t play in FCD’s opener shortly after arriving on a $7 million transfer that was funded, in part, by Ricardo Pepi’s $20 million sale to German club Augsburg in January.
But Velasco scored on an incredible solo effort in his debut a week later, a strike so good it was named MLS Goal of the Week:
7. FCD, Sounders lead USMNT callups
Dallas and Seattle were the only two teams — in MLS or otherwise — to place two players on the U.S. roster coach Gregg Berhalter announced Thursday ahead of the Americans’ final three World Cup qualifiers later this month.
FCD sent forwards Paul Arriola and Jesús Ferreira to the national team, with Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan summoned from the Sounders. Dallas alums Pepi, Kellyn Acosta and Reggie Cannon were also named to the squad.
On Friday, George Bello was named as a replacement for starting right back Sergiño Dest, who limped out of Barcelona’s Europa League win over Turkey’s Galatasaray on Thursday due to a hamstring injury.
8. George Bello talks differences between MLS and Germany
Former Atlanta United left back Bello has been keeping close tabs on his former team since moving to Arminia Bielefeld of the Bundesliga this winter.
"I’ve actually watched every single game so far," the 20-year-old told reporters Thursday.
Bello has settled in quickly off the field in his new home, he said. It has helped that fellow MLS academy grads Pepi, Giovanni Reyna and Joe Scally — three of his former U.S. teammates from the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup — are also now in Germany.
"Me, Gio, Joe, we basically grew up together," Bello said. "Just keeping in contact with them is really important."
Asked about the biggest on-field adjustment he has had to make since joining one of the world’s top leagues, Bello, like most recent MLS exports, cited the breakneck pace.
"It’s really quick, so you have to think faster, play faster," he said. "You don’t have the same time on the ball."
9. Surprise strugglers
Some of the teams that have stumbled out of the MLS gate in 2022 are no shock, as little was expected from Cincy, Charlotte, Miami and Vancouver early on. Other strugglers are more of a surprise. But while Seattle and Montreal have had to juggle CONCACAF and league games, there’s less of an excuse for Nashville, Sporting Kansas City and Toronto.
Nashville were always going to need time to adjust to the Western Conference after spending their first two years in the East. But few would’ve predicted they’d be winless through three games with just one goal scored. Up next for Nashville is a tricky trip to unbeaten RSL.
SKC sit 12th in the 14-team West, with both of their losses coming on the road. They’ll look to get back on track in Chicago on Saturday.
In the meantime, TFC are still looking for their first victory under new boss Bob Bradley. The Reds host a beatable D.C. United this weekend.
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
