Three Questions on Austin FC with Verde All Day

Both clubs are struggling in 2024. So this will be fun, right?

Photo via Mike Brooks

FC Dallas is getting set to take on rivals Austin FC this weekend at Q2 Stadium for the club’s second road game of 2024.

Both clubs come into Saturday’s match in search of a positive result after struggling through the first month or so of the new season.

To help us preview the first Copa Tejas match of 2024, we welcome Phil West from Verde All Day to discuss what the Verde has done this season, a quick catch-up on a couple of old FCD players and where the club might go this season should things continue to go the way they are.

1. As you've pointed out on your site, Austin's attack has been pretty anemic this season regarding getting good chances on goal. How much of that has been down to Sebastian Driussi being sometimes unavailable? And what needs to change for Austin to get more chances on goal?

Driussi started his first match of the season just last week — he had a hamstring issue to the start of the season after looking good (though not entirely goal-dangerous) in the one of seven preseason games we were allowed to watch. I just did an article on some of the scary offensive numbers Verde's amassed so far this year, and basically, with the ball not moving effectively into and through the midfield, there's a dearth of final third passes and key passes, leading to just 28 shots in five games — just eight of those shots on goal.

Part of it is Driussi needing to get more active, but he's also more a second striker than the 10 he sometimes gets billed as, so it'll be up to players like Diego Rubio and (when he plays) Dani Pereira to find him. Ideally, you have a playmaking winger give him service like Diego Fagundez did, partnering with him so successfully in 2022, but if we thought Emi Rigoni might be that when he signed in the middle of '22 as a designated player, he has turned out to decidedly be Not That, and fans fully expect Rigoni's contract option won't be picked up at the end of this season and are most decidedly okay with that.

2. For FC Dallas fans, we'll be pretty interested to hear how both Matt Hedges and Jader Obrian are doing so far this season with Austin. What have you seen out of both players so far this season?

Hedges came over from Toronto during last year's summer window when Austin was in the midst of a center back crisis for a lot of GAM, and then Sean Rubio, Austin's acting sporting director, took a job with Toronto at the end of last season. Despite that curious alignment of events, Hedges has been solid so far this season, which is good, because center back Leo Vaisanen, who would normally start, is dealing with a plantar fascia issue (we've heard plantar fasciitis and then we've heard it's a tear).

Obrian's impressed with his speed—one of Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff's buzzwords is "verticality—but there's a growing concern from what we've seen so far about his ability on the ball and his decision-making in the final third. Drew, please let me know if any of this sounds familiar to you.

Note: Yes….we’ve heard that many times about Obrian 😂

3. You also noted recently Austin has had one win since last July. Should FC Dallas get a victory on Saturday, at what point do you think the top brass in Austin will make a change away from Josh Wolff as the manager of the team?

That's the question that's tearing Austin fans apart! There's a growing Wolff Out movement that's being fueled by the team starting the season with five straight winless matches, and they're an arresting 1W 10L 7D in their last 18 matches (counting the pair of Leagues Cup losses, and including the Aug. 26 1-0 last-gasp loss in Frisco that many Verde fans will be acutely aware of when the teams meet Saturday for the first time since all that went down.

On the one hand, we know from the end-of-season announcement last October that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell is committed to Wolff (or at least, his beefy extended contract), and we were expecting Borrell to be more of a Sith lord to an apprentice Wolff. We think some of that's happening based on what they said. But you also have to wonder, given the results so far in 2024 and some of what we're seeing on the field, if players are checking out. It could also be that Borrell's lining up a summer replacement behind the scenes and could even go full Popovich and install himself as head coach after firing Wolff. But I'm guessing the club will try to ride it out with Wolff until the losing and the fan resentment gets unbearable. (The latter seems to be ratcheting up in volume if not in impact or in Klein Out-styled boycotts. I don't know if the broadcasters will comment on any fan discontent they see or hear on Saturday, but I feel like they'll be aware of some and will have to make that call.)