Austin FC: Midfielders good, better forwards, defenders needed

Lightning recently struck not just twice but thrice during this magical, maiden season for MLS expansion side Austin FC. That comes with a shock.

Austin FC has done everything right – and some things even better than right – in bringing their expansion team to MLS play this season.

They even opened in a brand-new soccer-specific stadium.

So it’s stunning that some supporters and media are starting to scratch their heads following their latest third-straight loss – this one to Vancouver Whitecaps FC by 2-1 at home. Expansion teams are supposed to struggle in their first MLS season.

The shock is the team shouldn’t struggle quite this much, or this often.

Austin FC opened the season with a 3-1 victory over Colorado.

Since then they started looking like a real expansion club. They’ve struggled their way to the last place in the Western Conference, just a couple of points underneath Houston Dynamo FC.

But when supporters and scouts sit and study the performance numbers, they get confused. Austin FC just doesn’t look like a last-place team.

The Whitecaps’ loss on their home pitch was their third-straight defeat. What’s more – Austin has won only twice in eight matches on their home pitch.

By scouting reports, the last loss was every bit as close as the score.

For scouts using a point system, all Austin starters and substitutes collectively measure out to mere decimal points below Vancouver. By this decimal rating system, if all Austin players were midfielders, and only Vancouver midfielders had played – it would have been a draw at worst.

Now add that Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver dramatically outperformed his Vancouver counterpart, Maxime Crepeau. So it might have been a home win! For evidence, look no further than Stuver’s six saves against one for Crepeau.

Returning to reality for a few moments, no one plays only midfielders. When Whitecaps defenders and forwards get on the pitch, home team Austin has no chance of victory.

In that specific defeat, Whitecaps defender Jake Nerwinski had a career game. He won three aerial duels, had a tackle and a dribble. He scored a goal. Plus, he earned a near-perfect rating in passing success.

Yet even in a loss against strong competition, Austin FC kept it close. Understandably, leaving the pitch with no points burns like acid in the team’s collective memory.

But they demonstrated the fortitude to keep fighting. That fact supports what head coach Josh Wolff said after the game. He emphasized that while disappointed, the staff and team pour their heart and soul into every one of the games.

That’s obvious. And so is the fact that their defenders and forwards have to perform as well as the Austin midfielders. Or else, the front office will have to start getting new ones for those positions.