Austin FC's downer of a season
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Austin FC coach Josh Wolff gestures to his players at a match in March. Photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images
Austin FC's season ends Saturday — and the final game can't come fast enough for a team limping into the offseason.
The big picture: The 2023 campaign has been a huge disappointment.
Catch up quick: After a hugely successful 2022 that saw the squad reach the MLS Western Conference finals, this year's edition, with 10 wins to 15 losses and 8 draws, isn't even making the playoffs.
- The Verde and Black has won just one game since July 15.
- Austin FC's last game will be at the San Jose Quakes at 8pm Saturday.
What they're saying: "If disaster is too strong a word, it's only slightly too strong," Landon Cotham, co-host of the Moontower Soccer podcast, tells Axios.
- The season "felt like a gentle letdown," he says. "We always thought we could come back, and we never did."
What went wrong: Key departures, injuries to leading players, uninspired play.
- A critical defender returned to Norway just before the season began for family reasons
- Another defender, Julio Cascante, suffered an injury
- Midfielder Alex Ring was forced to play out of position, on the back line
- Sebastián Driussi, a goal-scoring phenom last year, was hit-and-miss this campaign.
By the numbers: Driussi scored 22 goals in 34 games last season.
- This year he has 11 goals in 27 games.
Between the lines: Controversy in the team's front office back in January had led to a stagnant offseason, with little activity in the way of refreshing the team.
- Austin FC sporting director Claudio Reyna resigned after he was embroiled in a controversy involving his son Gio Reyna and U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter.
The intrigue: Despite the poor results, Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff got an end-of-season endorsement by the current sporting director, Rodolfo Borrell.
- One of the squad's most promising players is 18-year-old midfielder Owen Wolff, the coach's son.
- "Most coaches would not and have not survived seasons this bad," says Cotham. "He's trying to play a very ambitious style of soccer" — possession-based, field-stretching and opportunistic — "with a team that's not good enough to play it."
What's next: Austin FC announced this month the hiring of five new full-time scouts stationed in Europe and South America.
- "Identifying global and national talent is an essential ingredient to achieving long-term success," Borrell said in a statement.
What we're watching: If Borrell can reach into his Rolodex — he has trained players at Manchester City, Liverpool and Barcelona — to bring undervalued talent to Austin.