San Diego FC will look to shake off what they see as an unfortunate midweek result when they play Saturday against a visiting Austin FC team that is still trying to solve its attacking inconsistencies.
San Diego (8-5-3, 27 points) absorbed a 1-0 road defeat at Seattle on Wednesday in a match decided by Jesus Ferreira’s first goal for the Sounders.
Despite falling to a first loss in six matches (4-1-1), the visitors outshot Seattle 16-6, with their best chances coming through a first-half volley from defender Paddy McNair and a second-half rebound attempt from defender Christopher McVey.
“At the end of the day, we just put together a road performance against a very, very good team and a historically winning club that you would say, you play that game 10 times, you’re going to win it more often than not,” San Diego FC manager Mikey Varas said afterward.
However, it was noteworthy that San Diego’s leading scorers Anders Dreyer and Hirving Lozano — who have combined for 11 MLS goals — mostly were blunted.
Meanwhile, Austin (5-6-5, 20 points) nearly endured a similar fate at home on Wednesday night, requiring Diego Rubio’s stoppage-time headed equalizer to salvage a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake.
That late drama wasn’t enough to prevent a seventh consecutive league match without a victory (0-3-4). Rubio’s goal was only Austin’s 11th goal of the league campaign, tied for last in MLS and a total far less than the quality of the chances.
A lot of the blame falls to the wayward finishing of Brandon Vazquez (four goals) and Myrto Uzuni (one goal), whom analytic numbers suggest should have combined to score a lot more.
Still, Austin FC coach Nico Estevez noted how the dynamic of his attack changed Wednesday after the insertion of Daniel Pereira in the 68th minute.
“I think for me, the first half, one of the issues that we had is we didn’t play forward. It was very difficult for us,” Estevez said. “When Dani came in, it changed, you know? It became more vertical.”
–Field Level Media
