[FM23] Born to Run - A Journeyman’s Escape from America - AC Milan

[SixPointer]

Flying out of the traps this season! I feel this is the year for Austin. 

[13th Man]

Proud Mary Keep on Burnin’

🎵Big wheel keep on turning

Proud Mary keep on burnin’,

Rollin’

Rollin’

Rollin’ on the river🎵

[Musical aside- My 7yo daughter is on a Creedence Clearwater Revial kick, so I have this song stuck in my head. If you don’t think you know CCR, you probably do. They maybe have less name recognition than some bands of their era, but if you’ve seen a movie about Vietnam or pretty much any movie with classic rock, you’ve heard Fortunate Son or another one of their songs. Never brilliant maybe, but that band simply put out banger after banger.]

Austin came rolling into the season as if the last had never stopped.  Five league games, five wins, and a NACL thriller against top end Mexican opposition.  With a very busy April, though, Austin would have to keep on rolling, as they would certainly get no rest.

The MLS was a league that averaged two matches a week, and with Austin also playing in the NACL, April would be a very busy month.  The season was still young, so it was hard to tell how difficult the month would be in the league.  With the salary cap and draft, a club could go from horrible to good or even great in a season, so past form wasn’t a great indication here.  

To Lindsay, though, it didn't matter.  His focus was entirely on the NACL.  He wanted to beat a very good Mexican side in Tigres, and he was willing to sacrifice league points to do so.

Win or lose in the NACL semi finals, the MLS would begin to take shape and Lindsay could then shift his focus to how to repeat Austin’s trip to the MLS Cup final.

MLS - LAFC (A)

With a tiring squad and the Tigres match only three days later, Lindsay put out a very under strength side, making seven changes.  LAFC were in poor form but were a talented side - including an aging but still quality Gareth Bale - and Lindsay fully expected the season’s first league loss.

The previous LAFC boss was let go at the end of the season and they brought in David Wagner, who is one of the more successful American coaches. He is one of only three to manage in the Premier League during his time with Huddersfield Town, and has also managed Schakle 04 and Young Boys [and now Norwich City in real life]. Lindsay would look to pick the older coach’s mind after the match as he hoped to soon follow in Wagner’s footsteps and manage in Europe.

More immediately, Lindsay had to match Wagners’ 4-4-2, gegenpress system that was dangerous even if the results hadn’t quite been good so far.

[🎵You don’t have to worry, if you got no money,

People on the river are happy to give!🎵]

LAFC forward Cristian Arango outdid himself. Following his 11th minute red card in this fixture the season before, this time he was sent off after only four minutes.

Unsurprisingly, even a diminished Austin dominated against 10 men. Lindsay narrowed his formation to outnumber LAFC in midfield and Austin began to pepper LAFC’s goal. Again, however, the breakthrough took longer than it should have. Austin shook the woodwork twice for the third game running but found the net with a nice interchange along the byline.

Having left his side unchanged following the red card (4-4-1), LAFC boss Wagner switched to a 4-3-2 after the goal. They surprised Austin with few good chances early in the second half as former enemies in Bale (Tottenham) and Carlos Vela (Arsenal) linked well up front.

Lindsay widened the shape again, and told the players to play over the press [shorter to standard passing and removing play out of defense] and Austin reclaimed control. Many more chances were created but not converted, but then an attack down the right pulled LAFC out of shape and allowed RW and goal scorer Duka to play in CM(a) Pochettino for a tap in.

NACL - Tigres (A)

Another trip to Mexico, another 1-0 loss, and Lindsay had less hope for a rebound in Austin than he had in the last round.  Tigres’ 4-4-2 nullified Austin’s wingers to a worrying extent and while Austin got some shots off, they were all of low quality.  Tigres, it should be said, could have been up by more than one with better finishing.  

The difference came from a free kick goal by former Marseille and Newcastle winger Florian Thauvin - who’d looked dangerous the whole match, making veteran LB Criscito look silly on several occasions. The younger, quicker, and former Tigers LB Venegas looked better after coming on so Lindsay planned to start him for the return leg.

Lindsay had tinkered throughout the match, trying to push the lines forward when it looked like Tigres were dominating the match, but then Austin’s backline were vulnerable in behind.  Lindsay was worried he wouldn’t have the answers to overcome the deficit. He just had to hope that, at home, Austin would turn the tide like they did against Atlas. 

MLS - Vancouver (A)

Facing fellow NACL semi-finalists Vancouver, Lindsay picked a side with an eye on the Tigres return leg the following Tuesday.  The side featured seven changes from the Tigres match.

Once again, Lindsay was thrilled with the way his side were able to continue to play their best despite heavy rotation. Despite their exploits in the NACL, Vancouver were in terrible form and their only wins of the season had come in the NACL. They remained winless in 6 games with only two points to show for them. Still, a perfect warm up to the NACL semi-final, second leg.

NACL - Tigres (H)

Austin 0 - 1 Tigres

Lindsay’s study of the first leg showed that Austin were simply second best. While Austin had been bested by Atlas, Tigres had seemed a step above in terms of quality. With that in mind, he decided not to do anything fancy, and just play his usual side - but with LB Venegas bringing pace to the left to counter Thauvin’s threat. He hoped his front three would show their quality - otherwise Austin were doomed.

Spoiler

There would be no penalty drama this time.  Austin cooly took care of Tigres in regular time with a dominating performance.  67% possession, 18 shots to 9.  An early chance for Tigres had Lindsay worried, but by the end of the first half, Austin were in control.

CM(a) Fegundez continued to defy the critics who said he couldn’t play midfield as he his brilliant run into the box and selfless assist helped LW Druissi open the scoring in the 25th minute.  RB Lima, who’d released Fegundez for the opening goal, got an assist later as he and RW Rigoni exchanged passes before rightback played in the winger - who’s shot placement was perfect to double the lead.

About ten minutes after the restart, Tigres were unable to fully clear their lines after a corner, and Rigoni was able to find BBM Ring on the edge of the box. The Austin captain smashed the ball in from 20 yards.

It was a good thing too, as a late Tigres push resulted in a 90th minute goal that could have turned the tide, sending Tigres through on away goals if not for the Ring screamer.   In the end, Austin held on to advance to the NACL final with a richly deserved victory.

You couldn’t script it better than this.  Austin would face Columbus Crew in a second cup final in less than six months, this time for the NACL.  Lindsay relished the opportunity to avenge the loss in the MLS Cup.  It did add another fixture to an already packed month (coming on April 25th) but that was a small price to pay!

MLS - DC United (H)

Austin were unable to make their home advantage count in a classic example of a let-down game.  Austin looked mentally and physically tired and Wayne Rooney’s DC United were good for a point.  Austin had more chances, but D.C. United were able to keep them at arm’s length as well as keep the ball well - if in a very defensive fashion. Lindsay had been forced into some rotation, but it was still a disappointing performance.

MLS - Houston (H)

With the NACL Final exactly a week away, Lindsay decided to play his strongest team for this match, then rest players at the weekend.  The first 11 then showed just how dominant they were, though Houston were a team in poor form. The breakthrough took a bit to come - and only came through a corner goal after several good chances were spruned - but RW Rigoni dominated the match with three wonderful assists.

Ironically, the first goal - scored by LB turned CB Criscito - came after Lindsay switched the Italian from the far post to the near post in an attempt to get his CB partner better chances from corners.  CB gabrielsen had been good for a handful of goals from corners the season before, but hadn’t been as successful in 2023. Lindsay hoped that swapping the two would lead to more chances for gabrielsen, but then it was a near post header for Criscito to open the scoring in the match and the Italian’s account for Austin.

MLS - New York Red Bulls (H)

After their stretch of away matches, Austin FC’s fans were enjoying their home stint.  Still, with the NACL final and potential revenge just days away, Lindsay picked an almost entirely rotated side.  New York were a decent side in good form and Lindsay, once again, fully expected Austin’s first league loss of the season. 

[🎵You don’t have to worry, if you got no money,

People on the river are happy to give!🎵]

The luck just kept coming for Austin.  New York’s centerback was sent off for a reckless challenge after barely more than a minute, and Fegundez (here at LW) scored from the resulting free kick.   New York, despite being down to ten men, played well for large chunks of the match, and created several good chances.  Eventually, Lindsay was able to tame the 4-4-1 diamond that they’d shifted into by forcing them wide and inviting crosses.  Still, it was a lucky win in many ways - even with a man advantage - and Lindsay was sure the result would have been different had New York not been playing with 10.

As it was, it was the perfect game to allow Lindsay to pull all his few starters that played in the game before the hour mark and keep them fresh for the NACL final the following Tuesday…

Overview

[There was still a league game left in nemesis Portland, but with the NACL final coming, this felt like a better place to finish this update.]

A near perfect month (so far) in the league, with Austin only dropping points against D.C. United.  With the NACL Lindsay’s focus, he’d fully expected a drop off in league form.  Instead, the squad had all done their jobs, and the goals were flowing whether or not Austin’s first 11 were on the pitch. 

Austin FC had continued right where they’d left of the season before, jumping out to an early lead in both the Western Conference and the MLS overall standings.  Not only were they beating almost all comers, but they were scoring for fun, with a goal difference more than double their most of their closest competitors - at least in the West.

In the Western Conference (left), Austin were joined at the top by newly created expansion team Nashville who were nearly matching Austin stride for stride.  Though having played a game more, the newcomers were giving Austin a run for their money. The rest of the conference, however, was falling quickly behind.

In the Supporter’s Shield (the all MLS standings) Atlanta also looked excellent, and were the other side in the competition still trying for an invincibles season.  An away game in Atlanta in May was shaping up to be a key game in the Supporters Shield race.

It hadn’t been a long road, but it hadn’t been an easy one either.  Twice Austin were forced to overcome 1-0 deficits from trips to Mexico against top Liga MX sides, but both times they held their nerve and won at home.  Columbus, on the other hand, appeared to have smooth sailing, with their only quality opponent (Seattle) strangely rolling over for them.

The final was only a few days away and, as it turned out, was to be held in Austin…

🎵Big wheel keep on turning

Proud Mary keep on burnin’,

Rollin’…

[Fade out with the last syllable echoing for several seconds…]

 

UP NEXT - The Champions League Final!!! (Okay so it’s just North America)

[GIMN]

Looks like Dilly (Duka)and the Poor Boys are playing, bring a nickel, tap your feet.  A tough set of away fixtures and some great results, looks like you're flyin' 'cross the land tryin' to get a hand, playin' in a travelin' band.

How do you feel about the final?  Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm...I know, it's been coming for some time, but do you think you can go one step further and avenge last season?  Do the players have it in them? When you ask 'em, "How much should we give?", do they only answer, "More, more, more, more"?

[13th Man]

10 hours ago, GIMN said:

Looks like Dilly (Duka)and the Poor Boys are playing, bring a nickel, tap your feet.  A tough set of away fixtures and some great results, looks like you're flyin' 'cross the land tryin' to get a hand, playin' in a travelin' band.

How do you feel about the final?  Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm...I know, it's been coming for some time, but do you think you can go one step further and avenge last season?  Do the players have it in them? When you ask 'em, "How much should we give?", do they only answer, "More, more, more, more"?

Not normally one for emojis but there is what else can I say to this post but

If there was an award for "Reply in someone else's thread" you'd win it.  Congratulations!🏆

I'll get into the Final in a bit but for now...

A little Tactical Post

Before we get to the NACL, I wanted to drop a little gem of a goal in here.  It was the first in the return leg against Tigres, and was a great example of Austin’s quick, possession based game and how the roles and instructions work together to make an effective tactic.

The Coiled-Spring (for reference)

Lindsay sometimes upped the defensive lines, or removed the shorter passing/play out of defense instructions, but overall - this was the tactic.

Here we see LW Driussi on the ball.  The team is in transition, and looking to counter quickly - a key element of the Coiled Spring.  The CBs are back, but the rest of the side is looking to break forward.

Notice CM(a) Fagundez (center circle) is already breaking forward so that he is in line with the forwards Garcia (lower) and RW Rigoni (higher).  In fact, he effectively becomes a low lying forward when in possession, as is shown by his distance away from the other two midfielders.

That said, you can see LB Venegas (bottom) has tucked in as an Inverted Wingback, and creates a triangle with BBM Ring and DWM Valencia.

At this moment, Druissi has five clear and options - Garcia, Fagundez, Ring, and even Venegas if he reverses the ball.  He ends up dribbling a bit towards the center circle.  RB Lima on the far side surges into the space on the right (arrow).

 

The side has now effectively shifted into its attacking formation as Druissi enters the center circle.  CM(a) Fagundez has joined the forward line while BBM Ring, LB Venegas, and BWM Valencia create a deep, supporting triangle on the left side.  RB Lima continues his run and Druissi sees the space, sending the ball down the right flank. 

Even with the ball and surging down the right, Lima has options.  PF Garcia has space in front of him, Fagundez checks his run to sit in the space as Tigres retreats, and Rigoni pulls back in support of Lima.

The left sided midfield triangle surges forward, with Valencia being a bit cautious.

Lima cuts the ball back to Rigoni, and Fagundez starts sprinting towards the box again as the space is closed down. On the left, the rest of the side is taking up places in dangerous areas.

Once again - the choices!  Rigoni can give it back to Lima, can drop it to Valencia, who’s charged forward in support, give it to Ring, who’s dropping into space outside the box, or - as he does - see Fagundez’s run into the box and play him through.

Notice again the ‘midfield’ triangle of BBM Ring, LB Venegas, and DM/DWM Valencia.

Fagundez is through and attracts the keeper before fizzing it across to Druissi for a far post finish as the LW ghosts a bit behind his man.

It was a great goal in that it leveled the tie, but also in how it showed the way Austin surge forward - but in an organized fashion.  The CM(a) position becomes a fourth forward, giving advanced options, while the left IWB keeps a solid support triangle in the center of the pitch - that also gives the star Druissi space to be isolated on the opposition RB.

Edited March 7, 2023 by 13th Man

[DavidBeckham]

Enjoyed reading that quality tactical post of yours! Personally, I feel a solid tactic is always about creating triangles in areas of the field and you have done that so well. KUTGW mate!

[13th Man]

The Champions League Final (North America)

Pre-Match

No American team has won the North American Champions League in its 13 year history and only four MLS teams (two American, two Canadian) have even made the final.  Instead, the competition has been dominated by Mexico.

Tonight, one thing is for sure, an American team will win the NACL.  Will it be Austin FC, a side that has gone through two of Mexico’s top teams?  Or will it be the Columbus Crew, who defeated Austin FC in last season’s MLS Cup Final?

[Side note, the Seattle Sounders won the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League final in real life for America’s first title, but in this save it was Mexican side Santos Laguna]

With the MLS Cup Final hosted by Columbus, here the shoe is on the other foot, as Austin’s Q2 stadium will host this match.

There is another contrast between last season’s MLS Cup as well. While Austin FC have been invincible in the first ten league games of the season - dropping points on only two occasions - Columbus have been struggling.  They find themselves in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, and 21st (out of 29) in the MLS standings overall, with 3 wins, 3 draws, and 4 losses.  They have done well in their NACL campaign however, though it must be said that Seattle and Vancouver were rather average opposition.

“We can only beat who’s put in front of us” Columbus head coach Jaap Stam said, “and I think that, on the whole, we deserve to be in this final.  Our league form hasn’t been great, but we’ve done what we need to do in this competition.  We know we can beat Austin, we did so back in November.  I see us doing it again.  I’m not sure this Austin side has truly been tested yet this season.”

Austin, on the other hand, have continued where they left off in the 2022 season, scoring 20 goals in 10 games and only drawing twice, all while defeating two of Mexico’s best sides in Tigres and Atlas.

“Yes we’re confident,” said Brian Lindsay. “Columbus haven’t been the same side this season, while we’ve continued on with our good form.  We’ve had to beat tough, tough opposition in Tigres and Atlas.  Of course, what better time for Columbus to find their rhythm again than in a cup final against us?  We’re not taking anything for granted that's for sure.  We’ll look to play our usual game and hope that we keep up our good form.”

Lineups

There are three changes, all new signgins to the side that lost on penalties in the MLS Cup, but no real surprises. CB Miller was the replacement for two departed centerbacks, and summer signing Garcia is picked ahead of Urutti up front. The young and pacy Venegas also gets the nod at left back over veteran Criscito.

The forward line of Druissi, Garcia, and Rigoni has been devastating this season. Forward Urruti has been in good form and may have been in contention to start here, but a minor injury has kept him out of training for some of the week. It’s also just starting to appear like Lindsay prefers the quicker, more physical presence of Garcia - even though the striker is also carrying a minor injury himself.

The midfield trio of destroyer Valencia, all action captain Ring and winger-turned-attacking midfielder Fagundez has been the engine of this side since Lindsay’s arrival. Some thought the return of Pochettino from his loan would threaten Fagundez’s place, but his form has kept Pochettino out of the starting lineup. Lindsay again shows faith in Fagundez who gets the nod in the biggest game so far this season.

Lindsay looks to have chosen pace and attacking ability, preferring Venegas over Criscito on the left of defense, and Miller on the left of the centraback pairing. Gabrielsen and Lima are obvious choices on the right side of the defense.

Gabriel Chapeco in goal has been rock solid for Austin since his arrival and has only allowed 7 goals in 17 appearances this season.

This Columbus side features four changes from the last time these two clubs met.  The front three remain the same, all of which can cause problems for any defense.  In midfield, star man Ngabe and Artur are joined by Morris, on the bench for the MLS Final.

It is in the backline, however, that Columbus are much changed.  Gutman at leftback and Mensah at right sided centerback are joined by Tolo, Polster, and Bono.  It’s a backline that have looked shaky this season after being the league’s best last campaign.

...

23rd Minute

PF Garcia spreads the ball wide to RW Driussi.  The Argentine heads to the byline before cutting it back onto his right foot and putting in a delightful cross.  Garcia charges into the box to meet it, but the shot is blocked.  Garcia charges down the rebound but has the ball nicked off his foot - Corner!

RW Rigoni puts the ball in - CB gabrielsen with the header…!! Just over the bar!

34th Minute 

Austin 0 - 0 Columbus

Austin in control and they earn another corner.

Rigoni to take.

Gabrielson is beaten to the header but Garcia is there to pick up the pieces.  He passes to Rigoni.  Rigoni charges into the box, he’s too wide to shoot but he lays it back to Druissi who’s found a yard of space in the box.

GOAL!!! 

Driussi hits it with a powerful sidefooted effort and Austin FC take the lead!

37th minute

Austin 1 - 0 Columbus

Columbus with a throw in just inside Austin’s half.  Ngabe to Yeboah…Yeboah drives forward.  But he’s crowded out by Druissi and BBM Ring!  Ring takes the ball of him and lays it back to LB Venegas.  Venegas with a beauty of a crossfield ball to Rigoni.

Austin are on the break here!  Rigoni drives into the box…PF Garcia bursts ahead of his marker and Rigoni sees him.

GOAL!!!!!

Garcia makes it 2-0 with a cool finish past Bono!  In a three minute spell Austin have completely taken control of this match!

42nd minute

Austin 2 - 0 Columbus

[Columbus GK] Bono taking a breath here before taking the goal kick.  Columbus are just hoping to get to half time to try and sort things out.  This has looked nothing like the chess match that was the MLS Final only a few months ago.

Bono with the kick, but it’s RB Lima first to it and he nods it down to CM(a) Fagundez.  Oh, but it’s a sloppy ball and Columbus recover it.

[CM] Ngabe to [DM] Arthur and out to [RW] Yeboah.  Yeboah cuts inside Venegas and tries to find his opposite on the far side…but his pass is far too heavy and [GK] Chapeco is able to pick up the pieces.  Chapeco to Lima, and it comes across the Austin backline back to Venegas.  Venegas takes his space…and sends the ball deep into the Columbus half for Druissi to attack. Another fantastic ball from the left back.

Druissi beats his man!  Driving into the box…he puts up a ball to the far post for…

GOAL!!!!!

It’s 3-0 here before halftime as Rigoni drives home Druissi’s cross!  The Q2 stadium is rocking now!

Halftime

Austin 3 - 0 Columbus

Those neutrals hoping for a repeat of the fantastic match for the MLS Cup Final will be disappointed.  Austin have come looking for revenge while Columbus have been flat footed, unable to even muster a shot, much less a shot on target.  Austin, meanwhile, are 3-0 up and looking ready to be crowned the first American NACL champions.

47th minute

Austin 3 - 0 Columbus

A decent spell of possession here for Columbus.  Ngabe sends it wide for Cucho on the left, he drives to the byline…he cuts it back for Zelarayan…who’s pulled wide…another cutback.

Yeboah’s onto it…!

JUST WIDE!

Columbus finally get a shot off and it’s a decent one, whizzing just past the post! It was LB Venegas with the crucial block there! The Mexican left back was crucial to the build up to two of the goals, but here he just might have saved one at the other end.

It would still be a long way back for Columbus, but that was close!

50th minute

Austin 3 - 0 Columbus

Corner to Austin, Rigoni to take.

The ball comes in…Bono punches it clear.

But only as far as Fagundez on the edge of the box.  Fagundez takes a touch…

GOAL!!! 

What a finish from the winger turned central midfielder!!!  With his left foot on the half volley he smashes it home into the far side of the net from 20 yards!!!

[This was a carbon copy of the Nelsson goal for Arsenal at the death against Bournemoth for those who watched it, though much less important!]

Oh my!  It’s 4-0 to Austin!

66th minute

Austin 4 - 0 Columbus

Fagundez with a free kick in Columbus’ half.  Austin may have all but literally have their hands on the NACL cup, but they are looking for more goals here.

Fagundez takes, a curling ball in…CB Miller is there to meet it.  Bono get’s a hand to it…

GOAL!!!!

The Columbus keeper can only get his fingertips to the powerful header and is powerless to stop it from rolling painfully into his net!

89th minute

Austin 5 - 0 Columbus

Columbus push out from their defense. Surely they can only be playing for pride here.

The ball is played up to Cucho on the left, he drives at Lima but can’t find his way past.  He pulls the ball back and lays it Nouhou in support.  Fagundez is quickly out to pressure, and the leftback plays it to Jungwirth.

The midfieder is in some space here…Austin are slow to get out…

SAVE!!!

Chapeco makes his first save of the game as Jungwirth hits and good hard shot, but it’s right at the Brazilian keeper.  And that’s right folks, it has taken Columbus nearly 90 full minutes to register a single shot on target, and that after Austin has already begun its celebrations.

Full Time: Austin 5 - 0 Columbus

Austin 5 - 0 Columbus

That’s the whistle!! Austin FC have won the NACL, absolutely crushing Columbus 5-0 in a comprehensive win.  All three forwards scored in the closing stages of the first half before Fagundez and Miller added two more in the second.

While registering 21 shots, 8 on target and five goals, Austin allowed Columbus only three shots, 2 on target - both of which came after the 89 minute mark.  It was as comprehensive as it got, and with that win, Lindsay and Austin have not only gotten revenge for their penalty defeat the November before, but brought home the new club’s first piece of silverware.

UP NEXT - They just keep coming!!!

[GIMN]

What a result!  Absolute annihilation.  With one "Champions League" under your belt, and consideration for turning this into one of those careers where you try and conquer each continent's main club competition?

[13th Man]

On 10/03/2023 at 08:15, GIMN said:

What a result!  Absolute annihilation.  With one "Champions League" under your belt, and consideration for turning this into one of those careers where you try and conquer each continent's main club competition?

Was so much fun. As bad as Columbus’ form was I was confident, but not 5-0 confident.

In terms of continent hopping, that’d be a fun one, and I’ve considered heading down to South America, but I think most Americans (like myself) have their eyes only on Europe.  Winning the NACL means that Lindsay won’t feel too bad leaving after the season even if they fall short in the MLS. Which is the plan - unless something great comes along.

After the MLS Cup final I unlocked a lot of the lesser European leagues to playable. No one has come calling but Lindsay will almost certainly be applying come November when the season ends…which is actually a great time to try and get a job as the first rounds of managers get fired.

Edited March 11, 2023 by 13th Man

[13th Man]

They Just Keep Coming!!! [Part 1]

Upon writing up this monthly update it occurred to me that this one, single update would encompass ten league matches, doubling the season so far, so I’ll split it up instead. Also, many thanks to @GIMNfor the skin update! The post match screens are excellent and I don't have to worry about remembering to screen shot before the emails disapear.

The MLS is really quite crazy here. One month, nine matches.  No real reason. That’s just the MLS. There’s even a Wednesday - Saturday -Tuesday to make sure Austin is truly gassed to finish off the month.

Austin had already been playing two games a week for over a month, and had only had one occasion with a week between matches all season. Of course, that’s part of the deal when you’re in continental competitions, but the squad was already showing signs of exhaustion.

Of those nine upcoming matches, six are in the top ten (of 29) of the MLS going into May. On top of that, the month will feature big matches against the challengers for both the Western Conference (Nashville, 3 points back) and the MLS Supporters Shield (Atlanta, 2 points back). It will be a tough month.

Spoiler

Austin make waves as an attacking side, but the quality of Brazilian Chapeco has crucial to their success. With a 85% save rate, and conceding only allowing 56% of expected goals, he’s been a rock in goal. His ability to go up and claim crosses and corners and command his box have also been huge.

Spoiler

Left winger Druissi is the star, but on the right, Rigoni has proven just as critical. While he isn’t as capable of those moments of sheer magic, he’s arguably been more consistent in both scoring and assists, and the quality of his passing, dribbling, and even scoring are on display above.

Austin’s 2022 boogie team was comfortably dispatched. As in the playoffs, Lindsay used a narrower width and a more direct passing style to overload the center of Portland’s 4-4-2 and again it worked perfectly. In fact, the scoreline should have looked even better for Austin as they, unusually, underperformed their xG. Portland didn’t score until very late, though, so it wasn’t too nervy.

The game was significant for another reason - Austin broke the MLS record for most regular season games unbeaten. Their 20 games without a loss - since their last regular season meeting with Portland - beat out the Columbus Crew team between the 2003 and 2004 season.

 

Anyone want to take a guess what happened next?

A dip in form

After a good win finished off April, Austin suffered their first real dip in form under Lindsay.  It wasn’t terrible on the face of it, but after dropping only four points in eleven games, here they dropped five points in four matches.

The reason? It came down largely to the punishing schedule. Lindsay had a tired squad and while earlier in the season the rotation options had performed very well, that pattern ended after the successful NACL run.

The loss to Seattle was just one of those matches. Lindsay knew it was coming too - all the talk in the media about their unbeaten streak. On the surface, Austin dominated the match, but they looked tired and unfocused. Their final ball was lacking and their shooting was poor. It felt like every shot was blazed over the bar. 2-0 was harsh on Austin, but Seattle were a team in very good form and good for a win.

A comfortable 4-1 demolition over a suddenly struggling Nashville made it feel as if it was just a blip. Thing was, Nashville had already been fading and were suddenly in poor form.  That good showing was followed by two disappointing draws. 

Another tepid day in front of goal away against a decent Toronto team wasn’t so bad (left), but the defensive display against foot of the MLS Houston (right) was worrying, especially when Houston were the better side for the majority of the match and probably deserved to win.

Worse yet, star LW Druissi fell awkwardly in training and fractured his wrist. It wouldn’t keep him out of games entirely, but it would hamper his ability to train and play full matches (which is kind of unrealistic but fine, FM)

It wasn’t terrible form, two wins, a loss and two draws, and Austin remained on top of both the Western Conference and the overall MLS standings, but to a perfectionist like Lindsay it was frustrating. He was used to winning in the MLS - and maybe he and his squad had gotten a bit too lax. Maybe their hunger had left them a bit after their NACL win. Lindsay wasn’t satisfied though.

Part of the Houston match had been the use of a lot of squad players, so the first 11 were not as exhausted as they’d been. Still, Lindsay decided that the heavy rotation wasn’t working anymore and that he’d go back to pulling players early rather than rotating starters unless he had to.

[SixPointer]

Loving those post match screens. I’m also working with the expert GIMN to get something sorted!

Does feel like Lindsay is growing closer to a move to pastures new.

[Hootieleece]

4 hours ago, 13th Man said:

The MLS is really quite crazy here. One month, nine matches.  No real reason. That’s just the MLS. There’s even a Wednesday - Saturday -Tuesday to make sure Austin is truly gassed to finish off the month.

That is why I said I thought MLS was a Squad depth league, because of crazy fixture scheduling and possible injuries.

[13th Man]

9 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

That is why I said I thought MLS was a Squad depth league, because of crazy fixture scheduling and possible injuries.

Was planning on mentioning your wisdom in an upcoming post, as I’ve definitely been struggling with the smaller but higher quality squad. It’s been worth the gamble so far though, with a generally dominant side but it’s a constant headache.

[13th Man]

They Just Keep Coming!!! [Part 2]

Overview

Up next?  The form team in the MLS - Real Salt Lake.  They had climbed up to 2nd place in the Western Conference (and 3rd overall) playing a counter-attacking 4-4-2 that would be dangerous against Lindsay’s possession based, and tired side. 

A match against a fairly good New England side was balanced by a trip to struggling Minnesota before Austin traveled to Atlanta for a top of the table showdown.

The Matches 

Having had success punching through the middle of 4-4-2s with a narrower width (slightly narrow), Lindsay used it again to great effect here. His instruction to stop crosses was also effective in cutting off service to Salt Lakes big strikers. In the end, a perfect 3-0 scoreline was only sullied by a soft, 76th minute penalty.

Austin were cruising against a pretty good side in New England, winning 2-0 at half time. Then RB Lima managed to get two yellow cards in as many minutes and suddenly the match was in the balance.

Lindsay pulled into a narrow 4-2-2-1 set on stopping any progression through the middle. In possession, PF García would certainly be isolated, but having Fagundez and Pochettino as mezzalas gave them some attacking impetus, and having both DMs on support duty would also mean they would have license to get forward in possession. Before long both natural DMs were also exhausted (usual fixture pileup) and LB Venegas was called into duty there and did a decent job. [I mention this as it was a fun little, low stakes exercise in how to set up a defensive tactic with ten men that could still get out of its shell and play a bit].

Better yet, in the 68th minute García latched onto the ball and pulled both CBs with him wide. He drove down the channel and centered the ball to MEZ Fagundez, who beat his man, rounded the keeper, and rolled the ball into the net.

Even with the red card, Austin still dominated - even keeping 79% of possession!

Against a Minnesota side near the foot of the Western and MLS standings, Lindsay rested injured Druissi. Fagundez moved out to the wing to cover and bossed the game with two goals. Minnesota managed to pull one back, but it was a bit of a freak goal and Austin were always in control.

Atlanta United (A)

This would be a huge match for the Supporter’s Shield (aka regular season) title.

Even with the earlier dip in form Austin were still top, and would be by a lot if not for Atlanta. Though six points back, Atlanta had two games in hand so could easily be even again. They’d been excellent all season, matching Austin almost stride for stride.  In fact, they’d only just lost their first match of the season at the weekend. Behind them, the rest of the MLS pack was falling well behind.

Win and Austin would give themselves some breathing room at the top. Lose and Atlanta would have a good chance to overtake Austin. A draw was advantage Austin simply due to goal difference and the game being in Atlanta.

Atlanta ran a 5-2-3 DM wide formation and so Lindsay instructed his side to force them inside rather than allowing them the flanks. He considered playing more narrowly himself, but decided to wait to see how the match panned out.

What a match.  

At 66 minutes Austin were dead and buried, 2-0 down despite being the better side.  The first Atlanta goal was a brutal kick in the teeth as CB Miller suddenly pulled up clutching his hamstring after picking a routine ball.  Atlanta’s Araujo pounced and, with Austin in transition, was able to drive at Chapeco one on one. 

Lindsay pushed up the defensive lines at the half and focused play more narrowly.  Atlanta had been doing well at disrupting Austin’s build up, especially at intercepting longer range passes.  Austin came out in the second half and created three chances in quick succession, only for a rare lapse in concentration by the other CB Gabrielson let forward Martinez in following a throw in. A fantastic finish and suddenly it was 2-0.

Lindsay was about ready to accept defeat, preparing subs to rest his starters when a corner came in and Criscito was shoved in the box - PENALTY!  The fouled player tucked away the penalty and suddenly it was game on.

Then, in the 85th minute, another Austin corner.  The ball is cleared but only out to the flank where it was picked up again by sub Dilly Duka.  He dropped it to the top of the box where DM Valencia was waiting to drive it home from 20 yards!!

B sex Austin deserved to win. However, to be 2-0 down and fight back to secure a point was massive - and kept Atlanta at bay in the race for the Supporter’s Shield.

Summary 

After managing to put away a poor Vancouver side in the following match, Austin ended the month strong, with five wins in six. While there was a little wobble to start May, in the end it turned out pretty well.

Western Conference 

The Western Conference was, barring a massive dip in form, Austin’s.  Though with two games in hand, Colorado were 16 points back - 10 even if they won both matches.

Supporters Shield

Atlanta were still very much in the hunt for the Supporter’s Shield, though allowing Austin back in to draw the match in Atlanta meant they could still only match Austin if they won all three of their games in hand.  With a goal difference of 25 against Atlanta’s 15, it was also looking like Atlanta would have to overtake Austin and not just match them.

Otherwise, the closest of the chasing pack were behind by double digits even with games in hand.

Planning for the future

Lindsay had told Austin that he wanted to get more coaching qualifications in order to help Austin FC.  That had only been partially true as he hoped to build his resume for a move.  Though he hadn’t seen the job through, the MLS was looking too small a pond for Lindsay.  He planned to see out the season before looking for a job in Europe - hopefully with more silverware won.

UP NEXT - Attrition

[SixPointer]

Sublime form! I like that 4222 shape as well I’ve been toying with the idea of needing a back 4 system this could give some inspiration to it

[13th Man]

18 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Sublime form! I like that 4222 shape as well I’ve been toying with the idea of needing a back 4 system this could give some inspiration to it

I liked the look of the 4-2-2-2. The strength of Austin is the wingers so it’d be a bad fit, but Lindsay might return to it in the future. The match wasn’t a good test really but the movement was actually pretty good and the midfield did well supporting even the lone striker despite being down to 10 men.

[DavidBeckham]

Absolutely smashing it mate! Love the look of the boxed midfield tactic! Mezzalas providing the width while the wing-backs stay defensively responsible. KUTGW mate!

[dtown1414]

Like the story! Although I live in the states, I don't follow the Mickey Mouse League(MLS) at all. Playing on turf at most venues in the dead of summer is nasty. The old farts from Europe come over to cash in, or like Rooney, to get away from the family. And one year during the playoffs, one of the higher seeded teams, sat for two weeks before their next game. Never been to Austin, but they have an awesome music fest every year, in October. Good luck on your managing venture. 

[13th Man]

12 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Absolutely smashing it mate! Love the look of the boxed midfield tactic! Mezzalas providing the width while the wing-backs stay defensively responsible. KUTGW mate!

It's going quite well.  I definitely will have to revisit the 4-2-2-2 in the future, maybe when Lindsay's at a club that doesn't have top wingers.

 

10 hours ago, dtown1414 said:

Like the story! Although I live in the states, I don't follow the Mickey Mouse League(MLS) at all. Playing on turf at most venues in the dead of summer is nasty. The old farts from Europe come over to cash in, or like Rooney, to get away from the family. And one year during the playoffs, one of the higher seeded teams, sat for two weeks before their next game. Never been to Austin, but they have an awesome music fest every year, in October. Good luck on your managing venture. 

Thanks!  Despite growing up in the States, I also don't follow the Mickey Mouse League.  I've tried a few times, but...can't.  I've been to more matches in England (2) than I have in America (1), and that was half to see Henry when he was with the NY Red Bulls.  Good atmosphere honestly, but the football on the pitch...leaves a lot to be desired.  Even late career Henry just looked like an adult playing with children - especially mentally.  While everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, he was so calm and collected and saw the game better than anyone else on the pitch.  He didn't even seem to be trying.  I know that was kind of his thing, but he really was just hanging out and playing while everyone else tried so hard.

I have a post semi-finished about why I think American's are so terrible at "soccer", and I'll drop it sometime.  Maybe when Lindsay gets a gig in Europe.

Edited March 17, 2023 by 13th Man

[13th Man]

Attrition

Overview

Will you look at that! A whole, blissful week between matches! At least one anyway, maybe two if Austin could manage to lose in the US Open Cup - a competition which Lindsay was not at all concerned with (but one which I actually participated in back in my proper playing days). Overall, it wouldn’t be a tough month, but Chicago and Philadelphia were both decent sides. Columbus still had quality players but had continued to struggle.

Matches 

Austin faced newly appointed Head Coach Landon Donovan. The former US National and LA Galaxy “star” [and unfortunate owner of one of the most annoying voices in sport] ran a progressive 5-2-1-2 that was dangerous at times. With Lindsay forcing them outside and stopping crosses, Austin were rarely truly threatened. Also, with three Galaxy players acting as forwards, including a SS attacking midfielder, their other seven outfield players were carved apart by Austin’s potent attack. 

This was a more cagey match, but Austin were simply a class above. Chicago tried to play at times, but Austin’s coiled spring possession kept the ball well and then hit Chicago with several sudden, direct attacks. It could have been worse for the “Windy City” with Austin hitting the post twice.

US Cup

The last thing Lindsay wanted was more matches, and he certainly didn’t want extra time. Lindsay sent out a heavily rotated side and took lots of risks tactically in an attempt to either win it outright or lose.

What did Lindsay get? More matches and extra time.

After going behind early, Austin got a goal back…then decided to wait until extra time to bury Houston. This made sure that not only too many players were now extra exhausted, but that Austin got another match in a competition that Lindsay saw as a distraction.

It meant another Cup game the following midweek…

MLS

Another excellent win against a mid table side. Philadelphia ran a 4-4-2 narrow diamond that did little put pressure on Austin’s backline. Defending narrow and with DM Valencia switched to defend instead of support duty, Austin handled them fairly easily. Spreading the ball wide to overload the flanks (and giving the LB wingback duties instead of IWB) Austin terrorized Philly’s defense at the other end.

Here’s the Attrition

Though managing a win, Austin lost key player RW Rigoni to a month long injury just as LW Druissi was returning to full fitness. Fagundez was a very capable winger (he was natural there) and actually scored Austin’s first two goals after switching out to the flank, but that further weakened an already thin midfield.

Then, CB Kamal Miller was called up for North America’s Gold Cup - which the MLS does not stop for - so Austin lost a key piece of their defense for weeks or more.

US Cup

This US Cup match was notable for a lot of things, as it turns out.  First was Lindsay using a 4-4-2 because he cared so little about the competition that he wanted to use no starters but he didn't have 3 backup midfielders - especially with his squad stretched so thin by injuries and fixture pileup.  He honestly wanted to lose the match, so much so that when backup CM Periera went down with a training injury, he used a reserve leftback as a BBM instead of any of his first team CMs.

But then striker Urruti decided he would win the match single handedly, scoring a first half hattrick - all incredible goals - that was just about enough to win the game, even after a strong Cincinnati push in the second half. Based on the stats, Austin has no business winning this match.

The formation did not look good, but it’s hard to tell how much of it was the quality of players.

MLS

This one was a frustrating one, and Lindsay had to take some of the blame.  After a wonderful move got Druissi in on goal early, and then Austin caught Columbus trying to play out from the back and nicked a goal - Columbus came back in the second half with two goals.  The first was from a set-piece that bounced the right way, but the second was a glaring mistake by sub CB Keller and Lindsay realized he may have started to pull starters too early and look past the match - while also being without CB Miller to rotate out.  Still, Austin really should have won it, spurning several chances including hitting the post twice.

It would have felt nice to leave Columbus with three points and with the MLS Cup loss fully revenged, but it was not to be.

After every match, Lindsay was greeted with a suggestion to rest half his side, but he was literally running out of bodies.

It took longer than it should have with but Austin FC’s dominance told early in the second half. The 2-0 scoreline was about fair in the end.

Summary

Though stressful in the moment as Lindsay juggled player fitness, Austin blew through June with two US Cup wins and a nearly perfect 16 out of 18 available points in the MLS.

Western Conference 

There really would be no catching Austin in the West.  With nine matches remaining in their MLS season, Austin were 18 points ahead (somehow still with two games in hand).  It wasn’t even a contest at this point. The gap between them and Colorado in 2nd was only two points less than between 2nd and Houston in 14th.

Supporters Shield

In the race for the Supporter’s Shield, Atlanta too was falling away, having lost two more matches in June.  They were still in with a chance, but even if they won both games in hand they’d still be six points back entering the closing stages of the season.

Games in hand???

Lindsay was actually quite curious how it was that his side, despite playing in the NACL and making a bit of an unintentional cup run, still managed to have played more games than all their competitors.  Lindsay would have loved to have any of those midweek matches played later, just to give his squad a tiny bit of rest.  But no.

Speaking of no rest…

2023 NACL and Leagues Cup

There was a strange empty space in the MLS fixture list during late July and early August. Instead of rest, however, Austin would be taxed further with two new completions. First was an inaugural, new look NACL that was expanded to include more teams and a group stage in late summer and early autumn followed by the knockout stages in spring. Second was the League’s Cup, an international knockout competition between Mexico’s Liga MX and the MLS. Though seeded based on league standings, it featured all of the teams in both leagues in a large-scale tournament.

Though both would mean less rest for his players, and came at an awkward time - the closing stages of the league season - these two would certainly add some intrigue to what was starting to look like a cakewalk in the MLS.

UP NEXT - Four days between matches? Wow!

[SixPointer]

Superb stuff! What am immense run! 

[GIMN]

Absolutely smashing it out of the park.  Surely it won't be long now before "bigger" clubs come calling.

With such a commanding lead is there any consideration for taking some NBA inspiration and essentially throwing an upcoming match to allow your players some rest?

[13th Man]

7 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Superb stuff! What am immense run! 

 

3 hours ago, GIMN said:

Absolutely smashing it out of the park.  Surely it won't be long now before "bigger" clubs come calling.

Been a crazy good run, approaching the MLS points record (73).

In terms of moving on, several  European league are coming online - Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland and the Netherlands will come online in July. I’d kept off everything but North America the first season so that Lindsay didn’t get any unrealistic offers. I do think that with a NACL win, a (very likely) Supporters Shield and possible MLS points record, Lindsay has earned his move.

3 hours ago, GIMN said:

With such a commanding lead is there any consideration for taking some NBA inspiration and essentially throwing an upcoming match to allow your players some rest?

That’s probably a good idea. There’s been more rotation and more subs thrown on earlier (see Columbus) but never a full throwing of a match. Might be a wise choice though.

[DavidBeckham]

Absolutely smashing it as usual! KUTGW mate! 

[13th Man]

Four days between matches?  Wow!

Finally, mercifully, the matches started to slow down a bit.  There would be four to five days between most of the matches, nearly a week in one case! Joking aside, it would be massive to get that extra day or two of rest between matches, allowing Lindsay to make tactical subs or rest specific players rather than play triage.

It would be an interesting mix of a month, with fourth best in the MLS Orlando City coming to Austin, but at this point Lindsay feared no team in the MLS. Of course, any team, Austin included, would have off days, but Lindsay knew his side could beat anyone easily when they were on their game.

Future Departure 

One important player during Lindsay’s time in Austin would be leaving following the season. Forward Urutti had fallen behind Garcia in the pecking order, but still was a big contributor. Lindsay would be a hypocrite to blame him though, considering his plans to find a new job after the season.

Little did Lindsay knew that this would just be the beginning of the madness that would take up so much of his time and energy during July…

The Matches

Second in the East and forth in the MLS, even Orlando could barely trouble the juggernaut which was Austin FC. An early penalty sent Austin on their way, and while Orlando notched a late goal, the result was never in doubt.

Nashville had fallen off after an excellent start to the season, and Austin piled more misery upon them, starting with another early penalty.

Transfer Alert!

Sporting Director brought in a good depth option in Uruguayan Matías De Los Santos. Aggressive, brave, and hardworking, he’d be a good rotation option for DM Valencia and at CB if necessary.

It took a bit of buying down the salary cap to get him registered, but it ended up being quite simple.

US Cup

With Austin in the quarterfinals, he decided to put on a decent if still rotated side, including giving De Los Santos his first start. The result was another brutal match for the opposition. The match started with yet another (relatively) early penalty, only this time it was saved. Didn’t matter though, like the Champions in waiting that they were, Austin still ran out 3-0 winners.

Transfer Alert!

Just as it seemed as if Austin would coast through the rest of the season, Sporting Director Renya accepted a bid for their excellent GK Gabriel Chapeco. Lindsay was stunned. Not only did it leave Austin without one of the team's best players, it also left them scrambling mid season. The offer wasn’t even that good - $4.3m when Lindsay would have never wanted to let him leave for less than $5-6m, especially mid-season.

Chapeco agreed to terms and headed back to Brazil. There was no time to get a keeper in ahead of the next league match which left Lindsay concerned. The backup was a massive drop off. Lindsay was just glad they were so far ahead of the competition.

MLS

Austin didn’t deserve any more than a draw here, but Lindsay still felt as if Chapeco would have stopped at least one of the two goals. The backup was much less adept at commanding his box and seemed lacking in confidence. It should be said, though, that Montreal’s striker simply bossed the game and once again, Austin hit the woodwork twice so it wasn’t all of the keeper/

Even worse Austin lost RB Lima for 4-5 weeks, just before the Leagues Cup, a competition Lindsay had honestly been looking forward to. Fagundez went down too in the match, though he’d only be out for a week or so.

Transfer Alerts!

German veteran Luthe arrived quickly on a free (Lindsay had to do a bit of cleaning up after the mess Renya made, though the negotiations were left to the Sporting Director). A solid all around keeper, Lindsay especially appreciated that he had Chapeco’s aerial ability while boasting good communication skills and a good command of the area. With Austin being a top side that tended to dominate, these qualities were more important than just shot stopping. Instead, Lindsay needed Luthe to command the area and the defense to avoid having to stop shots in the first place.

As Lindsay helped put out one fire, Renya allowed another to start. Zwolle from the Netherlands wanted to loan backup CM Pereira. After swatting away another offer from Sparta Rotterdam earlier, Lindsay was surprised when Renya accepted this offer for a key rotation option that Lindsay needed to keep already jaded players rested.

MLS

Austin were in the midst of an injury crisis that left Lindsay with serious selection headaches just in terms of fielding a team. RB Lima, CM/W Fagundez were joined in the treatment room by CM Pochettino who went down in training.  RW Rigoni was still returning to fitness.  It was an especially challenging injury pileup because it was concentrated in two positions both filled by utility man Dilly Duka, but he couldn’t fill both at once. Pereira’s departure also meant that he was not available to fill one of the roles.

Lindsay decided it might be a good chance to try out a formation that he’d liked the look of after being reduced to ten men a few months before - especially with LW Druissi comfortable playing as a forward.

NYCFC ran a 5-2-1-2 (DM) so wouldn’t be able to overload the flanks and Lindsay hoped the two forwards could help punch through the middle.

It…did not work. NYCFC dominated possession and looked by far the better team. Austin had a few chances, but they looked disjointed, unsure and nothing like the juggernaut that had dominated the MLS. Lindsay admitted defeat - up to that point NYCFC had 70% of possession - and was about to switch back to the 4-3-3 when backup CB Kip Keller got distracted remembering a funny meme and lost track of his marker and it was 1-0.

After the switch back to the 4-3-3, Austin looked much better, but they couldn’t manage to get back into the match. Lindsay also decided not to chase the game too much as the Leagues Cup started only two days later…

Lesson learned - it was not a good tactic for a team looking to play on the front foot, and maybe was more suited to playing on the counter. Of course, not having trained the tactic much played a role, but the signs for using it with this club were not promising.

Transfer Alert!

With a major need of depth in the midfield, Renya was little help. He suggested 37 year old free agent James Millner, but the former Liverpool and England player was going to ask far too much for a contract and Austin had very little salary cap space.

Lindsay took matters into his own hands and scoured the scout reports. There were plenty of quality players suggested, but none at a price that Austin could pay - at least in terms of wages.

Parting with $400k and Atlanta’s 1st round pick (traded as part of a previous trade) Lindsay personally brought in 22 year old Ben Bender, making the first transfer of his career.

There was a lot to be desired in a lot of areas (mental toughness and physicality especially), but he was a good technical player who could pass. 

The media seemed to think Lindsay had been fleeced, but Austin had money - especially after bringing 75% of the Chapeco $4.3m and the young man took up $0 in cap space due to being a developmental player (or something). Time would tell if Lindsay had made a rash decision. Atlanta’s first round draft pick would also be very low, considering Atlanta’s high league position.

Summary

Things had been looking too easy. Running away with the West, enjoying a comfortable lead in the Supporters Shield, and the games finally spacing out a bit, Lindsay had hoped to just make it to the Leagues Cup unscathed. Even better, Atlanta had a miserable June/July that saw them lose even more ground in the title race - suffering three losses and three draws.

Then, out of nowhere injuries and ridiculous decisions by Sporting Director Renya created a series of personnel crises, this led almost directly, Lindsay felt, to four dropped points.

Tables

Happily, stumbling Atlanta were still 15 points back, or 9 if they won both games in hand. In fact, Colorado were only three points behind them.

Though suffering a little wobble, Lindsay felt confident that Austin would steady the ship.  With the departures replaced, Lindsay expected to see out the MLS season fairly comfortably.

Now the focus shifted to the Leagues Cup, a competition which Lindsay was looking forward to. Had the title race been any closer, Lindsay may have been frustrated with the distraction. As it was, Lindsay saw it as a welcome way to add novelty to a season that kept finding ways to turn into a slog.

Right away, Austin would find some variety as they faced Mexican side San Luis, followed by a more familiar foe in CD Atlas, who they’d defeated on penalties in the NACL Quarter finals.

UP NEXT - Leagues Cup Group Stage

[13th Man]

[My kids have been home sick all week so far.  Sad for my sick days at work, but with them flopping around I’ve actually had a lot more time to play FM!  I’ve made it through this season and preseason of the next so lots more updates to come.]

Leagues Cup Group Stage

A strange competition, the Leagues cup was a cup tournament between the American/Canadian MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. It started out with a three team group stage followed by seemingly endless knockout rounds - regional quarters, semis, finals…regional finals which are really just the quarter finals of the actual Leagues Cup. So five knockout rounds and two group stage matches.

Austin, fresh off their injury crisis and relentless schedule were, of course, going to be forced to play two games in a row after the NYCFC match at the weekend while both their opponents would get a week's rest before and in the case of one, between the two games as well.

At. San Luis (H)

With their first opponents in the bottom half of the Liga MX, Lindsay left a few normal starters on the bench to keep them fresh for the tough match away to more familiar foes Atlas. This included a debut for new signing Bender as a BBM.

Though featuring some tired legs, Austin jumped ahead in front of their home fans. Druissi got in behind and scored in just the third minute.  It would be the theme of the match as can be seen from the passing diagram - Durissi got in behind again and again down the left.  It led to another goal in the 33rd minute when new signing Ben Bender scored on his debut [good robot] after a wonderful pass from Druissi put him through on goal. Druissi himself completed the scoring from the spot. A consolation goal for the visitors did little to take the sheen off the win…but then backup RB Ataide went down with a hamstring injury moments before Lindsay was going to sub him off. This left Austin with no right backs for the next three weeks.

AD Atlas (A)

With both RBs out injured Lindsay had to find someone to fill the hole in the team sheet. The unlucky player would be BBM Ring. With the workrate, endurance and combination of offensive and defensive skills, he had the ability to do a job there, even if the position would be unfamiliar.

Once again Austin raced ahead. Unlike their previous meeting, this was not a cagey affair. Austin showed no fear, despite being in front of a hostile crowd, and outplayed Atlas for most of the match. Up 2-0 at half time and only allowing Atlas one shot in the first half, Austin looked to be cruising.  Then Atlas created two excellent chances in the second half and finished both to earn a draw.

Austin were through to the knockout rounds but Atlas had a chance to top the group if they beat San Luis by 2.

Instead, Atlas turned around and lost, so Austin topped the group and would face MLS side Sporting KC in the next round.

UP NEXT - The Most Friendliest of Friendlies: the MLS All-Star Game

[13th Man]

MLS All-Star Game

Another thing about American sport is that we have a strange tradition of All-Star games where we pick the best players in each position and have them play a game against each other. It’s unclear why this is done, because no one really cares about these games. They could just as easily pick a “best 11” like any other league, but no, all American team sports insist on having an All-Star game.

They’re sometimes kind of fun with skill challenges and such, but the actual games are basically friendlies that are even less interesting than regular friendlies because none of the players play in the same systems or styles - which is true in American football and basketball, though matters less in baseball. Usually, it’s the two national conferences that face off.

The current MLS version is to pit the MLS All-Stars against either a foreign team in the States for friendlies, or, in this case against the Liga MX All Stars.

Why even bring this up? Because Lindsay was picked to manage the side and it was littered with 5 Austin players out of 18 picked.

It was no surprise that Austin’s deadly front 3 were all picked, and they were joined by CM/W Fagundez and CB Gabrielsen. Lindsay guessed that Chapeco would have been picked too, had he not left for Brazil.

Wanting to protect his tired players - as well as be fair to the other sides in the league - Lindsay didn’t start all 5 Austin players and did a straight swap of his two wingers at halftime.

It was a tale of two halves, with an MLS All Stars side filled with Austin players already used to playing in Lindsay’s style, they blitzed Mexico’s All-Stars with four first half goals as they dominated possession. The Liga MX squad came back in the second half, with former France international winger Thauvin scoring twice, but then a penalty was missed that would have made the scoreline a bit less lopsided.

It was a fun, if very silly diversion for Lindsay and another trophy to add to his cabinet, however minor.

[13th Man]

Leagues Cup  With a Bit of NACL Mixed In

Leagues Cup Regional Quarter-Final (Round of 32)

Sporting KC actually looked the better side in the first half and had the better chances. Lindsay noticed that the danger was coming from crosses and direct balls from deep. At halftime he switched to a high press and instructed his players to stop crosses.

After half it was all Austin, with Garcia opening the scoring and utility man and second half substitute Duka finishing off Sporting KC.  It was their only two shots on target, but they all but silenced KC in the second half.

Austin would face Columbus again in a cup competition.

NACL 

Interrupting the Leagues Cup was the first match of the revamped North American Champions League - now with a group stage! As luck would have it, the draw pitted the most recent winner, Austin, against the five time [most] winners Liga MX side Monterrey.  Austin were drawn as the hosts, so the decorated Mexican side traveled over the border into Texas.  

[To put the size of North America into perspective for any Europeans out there, the 375 miles (602 km) between Monterrey, Mexico and Austin, USA (a 6 and a half hour drive) is short travel compared to a lot of the away games. Traveling to Seattle, in the American northwest, is 2,116 miles and a 33 hour drive from Austin.  That’s not even the furthest they have to travel in the league but it’s further than the distance between Madrid and Warsaw.]

What a match. Austin dominated possession as usual, but Monterrey was consistently dangerous too. The first half saw them trade blows, with Monterrey having a fantastic early chance while Austin had more half chances. Two thirds of the game gone, new signing De los Santos, playing here as a CB, scored off a well worked set piece.  

Austin looked on top, and scuffed two excellent chances before Monterrey came back in the 79th minute with a goal when CB Miller failed to see the danger from a ball from deep and lost his mark.

Parity lasted only a minute, however, as Austin attacked down the right straight from kickoff.  RW Rigoni and Venegas - filling in at RB instead of his usual LB - combined before the latter found DM Valencia on the edge of the box.  The BWM loves this spot, and once again scored with an unstoppable howitzer to open Austin FC’s 2023-2024 NACL campaign with a win.

Leagues Cup Regional Semi-Final (Round of 16)

After the Monterrey match Austin enjoyed a rare luxury - almost a full week’s rest between games.  Austin came into the match fairly fresh and able to field a full strength side.

Another demolition of a Columbus side that must be getting quite tired of Austin. Lindsay, on the other hand, was getting quite tired of injuries to key players. After scoring the opening goal, Druissi went down with an injury after only 20 minutes. As so often seemed to be the case, he’d be out for a month.

PF Garcia punished Columbus with a hat trick while Austin held them to only one shot on target.

Austin would face a surging MLS side Colorado in the Regional Final (quarterfinals), the same club they would face in the US Open Cup semi-finals a week later.  Lindsay was a bit disappointed, having hoped to meet more Liga MX sides in this competition for some variety.  Instead, after the group stage, it seemed to be all MLS.  Maybe it was because the MLS was paused for the month while the Liga MX was starting their new season?

Edited March 23, 2023 by 13th Man

[13th Man]

Two Colorados and a Tigres

Leagues Cup Regional Finals (Quaterfinals)

While Austin got six days off between the Monterrey NACL match and the Columbus Leagues Cup tie, they had only two days of here and many of the players had not fully recovered.  Captain Ring found himself on the bench as Lindsay wasn’t sure he’d last the 90 with the shape he was in.  New signing, and promising young midfielder Ben Bender started in his place.

Bender repays Lindsay’s faith as he sets up a Garcia goal with a perfectly weighted pass into the path of the striker to put him through on goal.  More and more, it looks like Lindsay was onto something when he traded for the 23 year old midfielder.  HIs ability to pick a pass is as good as anyone at the club.

But then it all went downhill from there.  Colorado was clearly the better side.  Austin looked tired and second best to the 50/50s, and Colorado was full of energy.  Lindsay tried to push the lines up, to stop crosses, to push Colorado inside as they were dominating the flanks, but it did nothing to solidify Austin.  In fact, they looked quite like Austin did against many other sides.

Still, when Colorado scored a powerful effort from distance following a corner, Austin were still totally capable of winning the game.  Colorado were clearly better, but rarely managed any decent chances.  Austin let two golden chances get away from them either side of half time before Colorado scored on their one truly good chance of the match.  Again, CB Miller made the wrong choice and didn’t track the more dangerous player who was allowed clear on goal.

Lindsay was disappointed, he felt like the Leagues Cup was there for Austin to win.  But with the sheer number of matches his side was forced to play, and without their best player in Druissi, this was a hurdle they couldn’t jump.

Lindsay main regret was not starting his captain Ring.  It may not have made a difference, and Ring was clearly not fit enough to last the 90, but he would have helped bring the intensity and drive needed to win this match. A lesson learned for Lindsay.

NACL - Tigres (A)

After hosting one side from Monterrey, Austin traveled to the Mexican city for this fixture. Fresh from the Leagues Cup disappointment, Lindsay hoped his side could bounce back.  It would be a tough match, Austin had met Tigres in the NACL semi-finals the previous spring and had struggled in away before diminishing them in Austin. 

  

Twice Austin went ahead, and twice they were pinned back.  Garcia’s two goals were well taken, one with a powerful header from a cross and the other following a glorious through ball from former Tigres player, IWB Venegas.  Both Tigres goals, however, could be blamed on CB Miller, again.  

The first saw Venegas lose out in the air, but Miller should have been there to cover.  Instead he checked his backing run and Tigres forward Soteldo was able to score one on one with Luthe in Austin’s goal.  The second was far more inexcusable, with Miller taking a terrible line as he halfheartedly challenged sub forward Quinones, and was then left for dead.  Venegas, despite being much further behind the play, was closer to the Tigres forward when he crossed the ball to a wide open Andre-Pierre Gignac to sidefoot it home.

Lindsay had lost patience with CB Miller, and the Canadian international was pulled form the game.

Only three minutes later, RW Rigoni stormed through from the right and scored a beautiful goal for the winner - but injured himself in the process.

It was clearly no less than what Austin deserved, but at what cost?

Now Austin would be forced to play without either of their first choice wingers - both of which were clearly Austin’s best players.

US Open Cup Semi-Final - Colorado (A)

With injuries piling up, and general fatigue severely affecting the players, Lindsay decided he didn’t care enough about the US Open Cup to field a full strength side.  Though they’d have  week’s rest after the match, Lindsay simply couldn’t risk any more injuries, especially with half the squad not fully recovered from the Tigres match.  He decided instead to keep his starters more fresh for the last section of the season. 

 Unsurprisingly, the backups lost 2-0 to a very good Colorado side who were taking the competition much more seriously.

UP NEXT - Title race heads to the wire!

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by 13th Man

[SixPointer]

It’s getting tenseeeeeee

[13th Man]

Title Race Heads to the Wire!!!

With the Leagues Cup finished, the MLS season entered its final act, the race was heating up…for 2nd place in the MLS Supporters Shield standings.  As much as the media tried to hype up Atlanta’s chances to win the title, those chances were almost purely mathematical.  They would need to win nearly all their remaining matches while Austin would need to lose most of theirs.  Even with injuries and fatigue still plaguing Austin, it was hard to see Austin collapsing to that extent.

Austin would not play at home for the month of September as they traveled the USA from its southeastern most corner in Miami to its northwestern most corner in Seattle (3,300 miles/5,310 km), with a stopover in St Louis.  At least, mercifully, Austin’s schedule would feature only one game per week, marking the first time all season that Austin would have more than one week without two games.

Inter Miami (A)

Druissi was back from injury but lacking in match fitness, but his return to the bench was a welcome sight.

This was absolutely dire finishing from Austin. Normally a side that outscored its xG, on this occasion they massively underperformed.  xG = 2.58, goals = 0.   This wasn’t one of those games where the xG doesn’t tell the story either, they had four clear cut chances, hit the woodwork once, but somehow failed to score.  At least they didn’t allow bottom feeding Inter Miami to score at the other end.

For once, an injury scare turned out to be not too serious.  DM Valencia, injured during the match, would only be out for a few days with a muscle cramp.

St. Louis (A)

St. Louis City weren’t a great team, but their 4-4-2 featured two huge strikers that could cause all kinds of trouble.  CB Miller was on duty with Canada Gabrielsen was one game away from suspension, and Lindsay wanted him to play against Seattle the following week.   He considered playing a pairing of De los Santos and Criscito, but both weren’t especially good in the air, so he went with his two backup CBs who were both strong and good in the air.

Lindsay had mixed feelings about this one.  It was a fightback, with St Louis scoring first, and looking the better side for decent portions of the match.  The game looked over when, in the 54th minute, Austin gave up a penalty. At 2-0 the game would likely be over. Austin GK Luthe picked the right way and saved it, and while St Louis were able to pounce on the rebound, the ball was cleared off the line.

Ten minutes later, CB Kip Keller rose up to head home a free kick, and then, in the second minute of stoppage time, PF Garcia raced through to score the winner.

It was a fantastic feeling to win in stoppage time, but there were worrying signs.

Seattle (A)

Austin were unable to get revenge for the loss in the reverse fixture, but managed to rescue a late draw. They looked better than they had against St Louis, but Austin were still lacking something.

Around the MLS

A midweek match between Montreal and Atlanta saw 2nd place Atlanta fall. There would be no late race for the league title.

The result confirmed the title for Austin! Their form was nothing like the early season, but Austin had done well enough to finish up the title race with two games to spare.

Cincinnati (A)

Garcia ended the match with a hat-trick, but he honestly should have had four or five goals.  The seventh minute might sound like an early goal, but Garcia had three clear cut chances, through on goal in the first five minutes alone.  He missed badly twice, hit the woodwork once, and finally slotted home.  He then went on to score two more and complete his hat trick.

Finally, Austin were back to their best.  Happily for the moment, Austin would not play again for 11 days, so Lindsay sent a lot of the squad on vacation for a week.  He hoped they would return refreshed and ready to finish the season strong.  Other than the Cincinnati game, Austin had labored through most of September.

NACL - Cavalry (A)

Again Austin win fairly comfortably, but are very wasteful in their shooting.  Three clear cut chances and only one taken against a Cavalry FC side lucky to be on the same pitch as Austin.

Other than the scoreline, the match was notable for the interesting formation the Canadian Premier League side used.  4-1-2-2-1.  Fair to say it didn’t work especially well - their goal came off a set-piece - but it was interesting nonetheless.

MLS - LAFC (H)

Austin finished the regular season at home against a struggling LAFC side.  Lindsay considered resting his starters, but wanted to keep up fitness before a long wait for the next NACL match and the Western Conference semi-finals.

Summary

Overall it was a successful two months for Austin after a somewhat disappointing exit to the Leagues Cup.  There was a stinker against Inter Miami, but otherwise it was a good run as Austin went into the playoffs.

Yet Lindsay didn’t feel confident.  His side were winning, but they weren’t playing with any sort of fluidity or purpose.  Despite the fixture list loosening up, they still looked leggy.  At both ends of the pitch they were far worse than they’d been earlier in the season.  Up front they went from outperforming xG to underperforming and they weren’t keeping clean sheets anymore.  

There’s a lot of talk in American sports about “peaking at the right time”, which is heading into the playoffs. Austin certainly were not doing that, even if they were still in good form.

Lindsay often thought of the loss of GK Chapeco and wondered what would have been if they’d been able to keep the Brazilian.  It was impossible to know if Chapeco would have made a large difference, but he had been one of the top keepers in the MLS before returning to Brazil.

MLS Standings

Austin FC finish out the season with a nine point cushion over chasers Atlanta United.  They fall short of the MLS points record set by Columbus the year before (79) by a solitary point but lose only twice all season.  With 68 goals scored, they were the best in the MLS by 13 goals, and they also boasted the joint best defense in the league with only 27 conceded.

NACL - Group Stage

Austin finished the NACL with a win over FC Dallas and topped the group with a 100% record.  Hopefully, this would mean an easy draw in the first round…

Notable Player

A shout out to Austin’s excellent IWB on the left Francisco Venegas.  He’d arrived after his contract expired with Tigres in Liga MX, and slotted in perfectly into the IWB role in Austin’s 4-3-3.  He was solid enough defensively, worked hard for the team, and popped up regularly with excellent passes from the left flank.  His triad with BBM Ring and DM Valencia also was foundational to the way Austin were able to build from the back.

Spoiler

 

Up next Austin would look to translate their regular season  success into an S Cup.  [Remember, Americans value the playoffs over all else] They would start with Sporting Kansas City, who beat a Seattle team that Austin had struggled against.  A good start?

Edited March 25, 2023 by 13th Man

[SixPointer]

Congratulations on the title!! Crazy how results go so well after the pressure is off when the title is in the bag!

[13th Man]

4 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Congratulations on the title!! Crazy how results go so well after the pressure is off when the title is in the bag!

A lot of was rest too. Squad was a bit too small for fighting on all fronts plus the truncated MLS season - 6/7months instead of 9. Once the exhaustion dissipated, results and performances improved.

[13th Man]

Western Conference Semi-Final

The regular season was done, with Austin the runaway title winners. This is America, though, so all that matters is the playoffs.  The regular season title was the lesser trophy than the MLS Cup. Austin were so close to winning it the season before, losing only on penalties.

Austin’s first place finish in the Western Conference gave them a ‘bye’ in the first round of the playoffs, and put them directly into the Western Conference semifinals.  Really, this meant that they would only need to win three games to lift the MLS Cup, rather than four.

It was as simple a playoff match as Lindsay could hope. Remembering how effective the high press was in their previous meeting, Lindsay used the same tactic here to good effect. Sporting KC were pinned back. 3-0 was maybe a bit generous for Austin, with their third in stoppage time, but they were rock solid at the back and clinical up front against a good team.  It gave Lindsay hope that his side was rounding into form just as it mattered most.

Just two more wins and Lindsay could get the trophy that had alluded him the season before.

Austin would host a Colorado team in the Western Conference Final (MLS semifinal) who had beat them in both their previous meetings - both in cups - though only one was anything close to a full strength side. Lindsay knew he’d have a tough matchup, though having his full squad fit and available made him feel much more confident.

[13th Man]

Western Conference Final

Kick off

And we’re off in Austin. A place in the MLS Cup final on the line! 

8th minute

Austin on the counter here.

Rigoni picks up the ball on the right flank.  He sees Fagundez’s run through the middle.  It’s a great ball.  Fagundez chests it down.  He’s a bit wide but get’s the shot off…

BLOCKED!

Fagundez can’t quite get the ball out from under his feet quick enough and allows Colorado to get the block in.

12th minute

[Colorado’s] Priso intercepts.  RB Lima is caught too far upfield.  Priso sends the ball wide as Ausitn struggle to recover.  Lewis shoots…

SAVED!

The shot is rather tame in the end and Luthe is down calmly to collect.

18th minute

DM Valencia wins the ball in the center circle and nods it out to Druissi on the left flank.  Druissi pauses…and sends the ball deep into Colorado’s half.  Garcia is free!  Only the keeper to beat!

HE HITS THE POST!!!

Garcia, under some pressure, doesn’t quite connect with the ball the way he wants but still very nearly opens the scoring here in Austin!

27th minute

Rigoni with the ball down the right flank.  He sends a lofted cross to the far post…

OFF TARGET!

Druissi meets the ball on the volley but skies it.  It was not and easy chance, but you’d expect someone of Druissi’s quality to at least hit the target.

Half time

Austin have been the clearly better side, but have not been able to finish any of their chances.  It has not been comfortable for Colorado, but they are defending stoutly.

70th minute

Colorado will try to get out of their third…but Fagundez sticks a toe in there and it falls to Garcia.  Just outside the box…

SAVED!!!

Garcia’s sidefooted shot is tame and right at Bond.  With either power or placement Garcia could have scored, but he had neither and it’s a rather easy save.

71st minute

Ring with the ball at midfield.   He sends it wide to Druissi who is attacking the space between Colorado’s fullback and center half.  He’s in space…but he one times it into the path of Garcia who is through on goal!

BLOCKED!

Garcia waits too long to get the shot off and the covering leftback is able to get the block in. Another chance goes begging!

79th minute

[Colorado’s] Alves tries to being the ball to midfield but Ring dives into the tackle and wins the challenge. It falls to Garcia, who lays it off to CM(a) Pochettino.  It’s right to Rigoni.  Garcia’s made a run and Rigoni sends him through on goal…

SAVED!!!

It’s better from Garcia but the shot lacks conviction.  The pace on it allows [GK] Bond to stick out a leg and put it out for a corner.

84th minute

[GK] Luthe collects the ball…and sends it up high towards Garcia…who nicks it off [Colorado’s] Estrada!  He drives at the keeper…

MISSED!

Garcia sends the ball high into the stands.

86th minute

[BBM] Bender loses out with a wayward pass…but he and [LB] Criscito get the ball back.  He turns and sends a glorious ball deep into Colorado’s half.  Garcia is onto it.  He’s through on goal again!

WIDE!!!!

With only the keeper to beat, Garcia somehow sends the shot just wide of the post.  Austin’s normally reliable forward has had a torrid time in front of goal tonight, but you feel like one of these has to find its way into the net.

88th minute

Austin on the break here!  Pochettino spreads it wide to Rigoni.  Rigoni charges down the flank.  Centers it for Garcia in the box again…

WIDE!!!

Garcia misses again.  This time he was under some pressure, but he should be hitting the target from this range!

End of Regulation

Austin’s Gracia had three fantastic opportunities to win this game for Austin in the last ten minutes alone but couldn’t find the net.  At this point Lindsay must be wishing he’d put on forward Urutti, but with how dangerous Garcia looked, you can’t fault him for keeping the faith in the club’s leading scorer.

95th minute

[RB] Lima loses out in the challenge with [Colorado’s] Elis.  He’s been caught far too narrow.  Where is [CB] Gabrielsen and why was Lima tucked in challenging for a header?

It’s out wide for [Colorado’s] Zardes, free with the right flank at his mercy.  Lima sprints back to cover but overruns the ball as Zardes stops.  Zardes with the cross into the middle…

GOAL!!!!!

COLORADO TAKE THE LEAD!!!!

Elis rises over [CB] Miller and finishes with a powerful header.  Luthe gets a hand to it but can’t keep it out!  Can you believe this!  Colorado have found a goal!

96th minute

Austin charge forward straight from the kickoff.  Bender plays it forward to Garcia, who beats his man on the dribble.  Garcia is forced wide but…a great move beats his man again and he’s into the six yard box….

CLEARED OFF THE LINE!!!

Garcia does everything right here!  His shot finally beats Bond in goal only for Markanich to save Colorado’s lead with a goalline clearance.  Rigoni was right there as well, and had he gotten any piece of his body to it the ball would have been in the net.

104th minute

Druissi down the left flank towards the byline.  He send the ball in.  Garcia is there to meet it…

HITS THE POST!!

The ball hits the post, then [GK] Bond, but the keeper is able to dive on top of the ball before it rolls into the net.  This is getting ridiculous.  On another day Garcia would have three goals or more!

End of Extra Time

Colorado have done it! They’re Western Conference Champions and on to the MLS Cup final to face Atlanta! 

Absolute heartbreak here for Austin and especially Garcia.  After scoring 31 in 41 appearances, he simply couldn’t find the net in this crucial match.  Garcia’s xG - 2.49, goals - 0.

It must be said, however, there has to be some controversy about the way that Colorado were able to foul Austin constantly without being truly penalized.  They had six yellow cards, and 28 total fouls, but were able to keep all 11 players on the pitch despite consistent and persistent fouling throughout the match.

[It has been a long time since I’ve had to resist such a strong temptation to savescum. This was positively brutal.]

There can be no doubting that Colorado deserved nothing from the match.  Though they were able to harras Austin and keep them from getting comfortable, they created almost nothing until extra-time, and then only really after Austin were forced to chase the game a bit more.

So the season ended in heartbreak for Austin. With an MLS first NACL trophy as well as the Supporters Shield, they’ve put two major trophies in the cabinet, but they seemed destined to win the MLS Cup as well only to fall cruelly short.

Edited March 29, 2023 by 13th Man
Sorry for the angry, enourmous images. The normal copy and paste job has turned into a image upload

[SixPointer]

16 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Western Conference Final

Kick off

And we’re off in Austin. A place in the MLS Cup final on the line! 

8th minute

Austin on the counter here.

Rigoni picks up the ball on the right flank.  He sees Fagundez’s run through the middle.  It’s a great ball.  Fagundez chests it down.  He’s a bit wide but get’s the shot off…

BLOCKED!

Fagundez can’t quite get the ball out from under his feet quick enough and allows Colorado to get the block in.

12th minute

[Colorado’s] Priso intercepts.  RB Lima is caught too far upfield.  Priso sends the ball wide as Ausitn struggle to recover.  Lewis shoots…

SAVED!

The shot is rather tame in the end and Luthe is down calmly to collect.

18th minute

DM Valencia wins the ball in the center circle and nods it out to Druissi on the left flank.  Druissi pauses…and sends the ball deep into Colorado’s half.  Garcia is free!  Only the keeper to beat!

HE HITS THE POST!!!

Garcia, under some pressure, doesn’t quite connect with the ball the way he wants but still very nearly opens the scoring here in Austin!

27th minute

Rigoni with the ball down the right flank.  He sends a lofted cross to the far post…

OFF TARGET!

Druissi meets the ball on the volley but skies it.  It was not and easy chance, but you’d expect someone of Druissi’s quality to at least hit the target.

Half time

Austin have been the clearly better side, but have not been able to finish any of their chances.  It has not been comfortable for Colorado, but they are defending stoutly.

70th minute

Colorado will try to get out of their third…but Fagundez sticks a toe in there and it falls to Garcia.  Just outside the box…

SAVED!!!

Garcia’s sidefooted shot is tame and right at Bond.  With either power or placement Garcia could have scored, but he had neither and it’s a rather easy save.

71st minute

Ring with the ball at midfield.   He sends it wide to Druissi who is attacking the space between Colorado’s fullback and center half.  He’s in space…but he one times it into the path of Garcia who is through on goal!

BLOCKED!

Garcia waits too long to get the shot off and the covering leftback is able to get the block in. Another chance goes begging!

79th minute

[Colorado’s] Alves tries to being the ball to midfield but Ring dives into the tackle and wins the challenge. It falls to Garcia, who lays it off to CM(a) Pochettino.  It’s right to Rigoni.  Garcia’s made a run and Rigoni sends him through on goal…

SAVED!!!

It’s better from Garcia but the shot lacks conviction.  The pace on it allows [GK] Bond to stick out a leg and put it out for a corner.

84th minute

[GK] Luthe collects the ball…and sends it up high towards Garcia…who nicks it off [Colorado’s] Estrada!  He drives at the keeper…

MISSED!

Garcia sends the ball high into the stands.

86th minute

[BBM] Bender loses out with a wayward pass…but he and [LB] Criscito get the ball back.  He turns and sends a glorious ball deep into Colorado’s half.  Garcia is onto it.  He’s through on goal again!

WIDE!!!!

With only the keeper to beat, Garcia somehow sends the shot just wide of the post.  Austin’s normally reliable forward has had a torrid time in front of goal tonight, but you feel like one of these has to find its way into the net.

88th minute

Austin on the break here!  Pochettino spreads it wide to Rigoni.  Rigoni charges down the flank.  Centers it for Garcia in the box again…

WIDE!!!

Garcia misses again.  This time he was under some pressure, but he should be hitting the target from this range!

End of Regulation

Austin’s Gracia had three fantastic opportunities to win this game for Austin in the last ten minutes alone but couldn’t find the net.  At this point Lindsay must be wishing he’d put on forward Urutti, but with how dangerous Garcia looked, you can’t fault him for keeping the faith in the club’s leading scorer.

95th minute

[RB] Lima loses out in the challenge with [Colorado’s] Elis.  He’s been caught far too narrow.  Where is [CB] Gabrielsen and why was Lima tucked in challenging for a header?

It’s out wide for [Colorado’s] Zardes, free with the right flank at his mercy.  Lima sprints back to cover but overruns the ball as Zardes stops.  Zardes with the cross into the middle…

GOAL!!!!!

COLORADO TAKE THE LEAD!!!!

Elis rises over [CB] Miller and finishes with a powerful header.  Luthe gets a hand to it but can’t keep it out!  Can you believe this!  Colorado have found a goal!

96th minute

Austin charge forward straight from the kickoff.  Bender plays it forward to Garcia, who beats his man on the dribble.  Garcia is forced wide but…a great move beats his man again and he’s into the six yard box….

CLEARED OFF THE LINE!!!

Garcia does everything right here!  His shot finally beats Bond in goal only for Markanich to save Colorado’s lead with a goalline clearance.  Rigoni was right there as well, and had he gotten any piece of his body to it the ball would have been in the net.

104th minute

Druissi down the left flank towards the byline.  He send the ball in.  Garcia is there to meet it…

HITS THE POST!!

The ball hits the post, then [GK] Bond, but the keeper is able to dive on top of the ball before it rolls into the net.  This is getting ridiculous.  On another day Garcia would have three goals or more!

End of Extra Time

Colorado have done it! They’re Western Conference Champions and on to the MLS Cup final to face Atlanta! 

Absolute heartbreak here for Austin and especially Garcia.  After scoring 31 in 41 appearances, he simply couldn’t find the net in this crucial match.  Garcia’s xG - 2.49, goals - 0.

It must be said, however, there has to be some controversy about the way that Colorado were able to foul Austin constantly without being truly penalized.  They had six yellow cards, and 28 total fouls, but were able to keep all 11 players on the pitch despite consistent and persistent fouling throughout the match.

[It has been a long time since I’ve had to resist such a strong temptation to savescum. This was positively brutal.]

There can be no doubting that Colorado deserved nothing from the match.  Though they were able to harras Austin and keep them from getting comfortable, they created almost nothing until extra-time, and then only really after Austin were forced to chase the game a bit more.

So the season ended in heartbreak for Austin. With an MLS first NACL trophy as well as the Supporters Shield, they’ve put two major trophies in the cabinet, but they seemed destined to win the MLS Cup as well only to fall cruelly short.

Daylight robbery my friend! Tough pill to swallow for Lindsay. Garcia has been in sensational goal scoring form as well 😔

[dtown1414]

28 fouls are a lot. Tough loss for sure. But that's the shoddy refereeing you get in the MLS. As a past referee, albeit at the HS level, I cringe when I see calls that are made or should be made in this league. Not that I watch it, but when channel surfing and board, I may watch 5 or 10 minutes, and then have to change the channel. 

Curious, where are you going from here? Try to win the Cup, or move abroad? 

[13th Man]

On 27/03/2023 at 00:13, SixPointer said:

Daylight robbery my friend! Tough pill to swallow for Lindsay. Garcia has been in sensational goal scoring form as well 😔

He should be scoring even more.  It's crazy how many one-on-ones he misses.  It's not normally so bad.  Again, it was so, so, so very hard not to savescum this one.  That old temptation was strong, but I resisted.

 

On 27/03/2023 at 08:44, dtown1414 said:

28 fouls are a lot. Tough loss for sure. But that's the shoddy refereeing you get in the MLS. As a past referee, albeit at the HS level, I cringe when I see calls that are made or should be made in this league. Not that I watch it, but when channel surfing and board, I may watch 5 or 10 minutes, and then have to change the channel. 

Curious, where are you going from here? Try to win the Cup, or move abroad? 

That's what I hear.  I have tried several times to get into the MLS.  It's on at reasonable times.  It's local...but I just can't.  There are many reasons, but that's one of them.  Also, now that I'm getting my kids into football, we watch the in the morning together and let my wife sleep in and everyone's happy. 

As for where I'm going next...

Edited March 29, 2023 by 13th Man

[13th Man]

The door slammed in his face

Having won the NACL and the Supporters Shield while falling one point short of the MLS points record, Lindsay felt ready to move on to his next managerial challenge.

The world, however, disagreed. 

Lindsay applied to three clubs in Europe that had all recently sacked their managers, LASK in Austria, Aberdeen in Scotland, and Willem II in the Netherlands. None were top clubs or in top leagues, and all three clubs were struggling.  LASK and Aberdeen were low in their respective leagues, and Willem II was in the second division and struggling even there. The idea was that Lindsay would try and do what he’d done to Austin - take a team that was underperforming and get them on track.

Lindsay’s applications were not just rebuffed, but laughed at.  

Lindsay took the hint. He may have taken the MLS by storm, but that apparently didn’t mean much in Europe. Americans don’t have a great reputation as footballers, but it's even worse for managers. It would take more from Lindsay for European clubs to overcome their distrust.

So, instead of starting anew in Europe, Lindsay found himself stuck in Austin.  Of course, continuing to lead a club that would likely continue to challenge for silverware wasn’t exactly a horrible place to be.

He briefly considered resigning and waiting out a job, but how long would he have to wait? And what club would take him? Would taking over at some struggling second division club in a lesser European nation even help him get a good job later? Would he be better served by padding his resume with another season in the MLS? 

Lindsay decided to stay in Austin - and get his Continental A license while he was at it.

He did have one other ask of the board however…

[13th Man]

Backroom Shakeup in Austin

Back in mid July, it had been a normal day of practice for Austin. At least at first glance. Many players noticed that head coach Brian Lindsay was much more reserved than usual. The players knew the look. It was the look he has when they concede too easily, when they lose a ball carelessly in midfield, or after an especially bad game. 

Lindsay isn’t a coach who explodes at you. He is loud when he is happy, jumping with joy and pumping his fists at a beautiful goal or a wonderful performance. When he is mad, though, he gets a quiet, focused intensity that does not allow you to avoid admitting your mistakes.

The players wondered what was going on. Who was in the doghouse? Why was Lindsay so quiet? They were on a great run and had just thrashed LA Galaxy in the US Open Cup the previous weekend.

Then after practice Lindsay told the team that Gabriel Chapeco - arguably the best keeper in the MLS - had been sold and was on a plane headed back to Brazil.

Everyone understood; Lindsay’s quiet fury wasn’t directed at them, but, most likely at Sporting Director Claudio Renya.

A shifting of power

Sources in the club say that Lindsay was furious with Reyna’s timing, especially considering how little he brought in for Chapeco, and with the later decision to loan out midfielder Pereira.  It was also Lindsay who found replacements in free agent keeper Luthe and promising young midfielder Ben Bender. The latter deal especially had Lindsay’s fingerprints all over it as he engineered and negotiated the trade, apparently despite Renya’s objections. Like many in the media, Renya thought that Lindsay overpaid for the former 1st overall draft pick, but based on Bender’s performances, especially in the Leagues Cup, it is starting to look like Lindsay was correct. 

More importantly, the fact that the board let Lindsay take the lead on that deal showed a power shift within the organization.

It now appears that Brian Lindsay is leading transfers, trades and contracts, with Renya reduced to an advisory role.  Renya has had his moments.  Olmes Garcia was the MLS signing of the season even if he fluffed his lines in the Western Conference final.  Kamal Miller has been quite good in the center of defense even if he has gone missing on occasion. 

On the whole, though, it seems that Lindsay has been the driving force behind Austin’s most successful trades and transfers.  It has since come to light that while Renya negotiated the deals, Lindsay was the one who recommended [LB/CB] Criscito, Chapeco, [LB] Venegas, along with bringing in [GK] Luthe and [CM] Bender.

Having led Austin from the dregs of the MLS into a force in the postseason, it makes sense that Austin would give the lead to a head coach who has led this incredible run.  This offseason will be a good test of Lindsay’s managerial chops.  On tactics he is clearly doing well, but will he be able to juggle salary caps, trades, and the draft?

Austin FC’s boardroom seems to think so. A year and a half ago they took a chance on Brian Lindsay, and now they are taking another leap of faith. Time will tell if it works out as well as the first.

[To be clear, there’s no mechanic in the game that changed.  Part of this save is that if there’s a DoF, I can’t interfere until I’ve ‘earned’ the trust of the board.  Between selling GK Chapeco and Lindsay’s success, I felt it was realistic that the board would give him more responsibilities.  Honestly, it would be an interesting mechanic in the game where the club decides how much say in transfers etc you get.]

[Hootieleece]

If you have a Continental Pro License moving to a struggling European team would be easier. Especially with some more Silverware in the pocket.  Especially the NACL Title.

MLS is thought to be the Vanarama National League to European Clubs.

 

If you had started in Europe and even had modest success (not be sacked) and went to MLS and had this success it would have been no problem.

My Journeyman saves usually start in England and Ireland (no badges, as an American) and 4-6 seasons in I often have had enough success and badges to get an MLS Job. After having great success in MLS (at least 2-3 seasons) I often get a chance at a good European Club if I apply. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Hootieleece

[dtown1414]

5 hours ago, 13th Man said:

The door slammed in his face

Having won the NACL and the Supporters Shield while falling one point short of the MLS points record, Lindsay felt ready to move on to his next managerial challenge.

The world, however, disagreed. 

Lindsay applied to three clubs in Europe that had all recently sacked their managers, LASK in Austria, Aberdeen in Scotland, and Willem II in the Netherlands. None were top clubs or in top leagues, and all three clubs were struggling.  LASK and Aberdeen were low in their respective leagues, and Willem II was in the second division and struggling even there. The idea was that Lindsay would try and do what he’d done to Austin - take a team that was underperforming and get them on track.

Lindsay’s applications were not just rebuffed, but laughed at.  

Lindsay took the hint. He may have taken the MLS by storm, but that apparently didn’t mean much in Europe. Americans don’t have a great reputation as footballers, but it's even worse for managers. It would take more from Lindsay for European clubs to overcome their distrust.

So, instead of starting anew in Europe, Lindsay found himself stuck in Austin.  Of course, continuing to lead a club that would likely continue to challenge for silverware wasn’t exactly a horrible place to be.

He briefly considered resigning and waiting out a job, but how long would he have to wait? And what club would take him? Would taking over at some struggling second division club in a lesser European nation even help him get a good job later? Would he be better served by padding his resume with another season in the MLS? 

Lindsay decided to stay in Austin - and get his Continental A license while he was at it.

He did have one other ask of the board however…

This is good to know. I've always started my career in England at the lower levels, but living here in the states, decided to try and start at a lower league in the US. I loaded up the USA 7 Tier Promotion Relegation mod, and the England Pyramid Down to Level 11, and started in the 5th tier in the US. I too started a story on it and will be interesting to see where my career goes. This is a good read but disappointed you couldn't get out of Austin. 

 

 

 

 

[DavidBeckham]

Claudio Reyna has been really controversial in real life too. What a character 

[13th Man]

9 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

MLS is thought to be the Vanarama National League to European Clubs.

This is kind of the point of the save start - overcoming the American stigma, and having to prove it here the hard way.  My first test save saw lots of League 2 English sides reach out, but I felt like that wasn’t realistic for an American without connections in England. For that reason, I’ve only just turned on the European leagues as playable.
I expected 3-4 seasons but figured that an NACL and a (regular season) title win might shorten the timeline. Apparently not! VNL wins wouldn’t get a Scottish side interested so I think you’re about right in terms of how the game views the MLS.

8 hours ago, dtown1414 said:

This is good to know. I've always started my career in England at the lower levels, but living here in the states, decided to try and start at a lower league in the US. I loaded up the USA 7 Tier Promotion Relegation mod, and the England Pyramid Down to Level 11, and started in the 5th tier in the US. I too started a story on it and will be interesting to see where my career goes. This is a good read but disappointed you couldn't get out of Austin. 

 

 

 

 

I’m a bit disappointed, but have found ways of getting interested in this season - especially by taking over transfers and the salary cap. I started reading your thread last night and it seems you and I shared a similar trajectory, though you went a step further and went semi-pro where I peaked at playing on sides that had players recruited to semi-pro and/or were made up of former lower league professionals and top college players in my New York days. Will be following your adventures as well.

2 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Claudio Reyna has been really controversial in real life too. What a character 

So I hear. I really don’t keep tabs on the drama in the USMNT, but even I heard a bit about all that. I really think the in game issues are just an FM AI thing, but I like the idea that it happened for external reasons as well.

[13th Man]

Off-season Part 1 - Lessons learned

The MLS is a physically grueling league. Though there are less games (34) in the league season than in many places (38-46) they were condensed into a much shorter season.  Instead of mid-August to early May (about 9 months), the MLS season runs from March to early October (about 7 months) due to the very cold weather across much of the US from November through February.

Click the spoiler box for fun weather facts.

Spoiler

In Kansas City - which is not by actually in Kansas but is just south east of the geographical center of the US - the average high January temperature is 36 degrees fahrenheit  (2 C), as compared to Glasgow’s 44 degrees fahrenheit (6 C) average high. So Kansas City is actually closer to Oslo’s temperature than even Scotland. Go further north and it gets a bit colder too.

This seven month season is actually even more like 6 months when the most of August is devoted to the Leagues Cup tournament. The truncated season meant that a club fighting on multiple fronts would be playing two meaningful matches every week - and the MLS doesn’t take international breaks either. Rather than a breather for the other players, international “breaks” served only to stretch the squad further if there were internationals in the squad.

With limited salary cap space, there had to be a balance between having a deep squad and a quality one. Austin had erred more on the side of quality.  The gamble had paid off in many ways.  They won the NACL and the Supporters Shield, and made deep runs in the Leagues Cup, US Open Cup, MLS Cup and had set themselves up for the 2024 knockout rounds of the NACL.

The side fell off significantly towards the end of the season, however, with injuries and fatigue piling up and leading to a lot of subpar showings.  This culminated in the disappointing Western Conference Final, when they weren’t sharp enough to beat Colorado. Early season Austin would have likely put two or three in the back of the net.

Lindsay’s challenge would be to add more quality depth throughout the squad to allow players more rest. Austin had used the least players in the MLS, and it showed by the end of the season.

Salary Cap

The salary cap was, by far, the biggest consideration for MLS squad building. In Austin’s case, their wage budget was so far above the salary cap that it wasn’t a factor. Even more challenging, however, was that transfer fees were also counted against the salary cap across the length of the contract. Though I don’t think it’s 1 to 1 in terms of money spent, it’s a major factor in choosing to bring in a player. As with the wage budget, Austin’s transfer budget was something like $16m, but spending even a decent amount of that would lead to severe salary cap hits.

The other consideration is that losing a player on a free was not only common but not especially troubling. The MLS gets 25% of transfer fees, with TV revenue shared, and with the salary cap being key, transfer revenue was of much lesser importance.

This number rises each year and for the 2024 season’s cap is set for $5.47m/a - (which comes out to $105/w, €97k/w, £85k/w to put it into terms that are likely more familiar.). That’s about 1.75 Danny Ings’s or 0.3 David de Gea’s or 0.1 Mbappe’s…for the whole team.

It’s about on par with mid Eredivisie clubs though. I just so happened to see Rotterdam’s current wage budget is almost exactly the same as the MLS cap. Except that’s only half the story, literally in some ways. Due to all the various rules, workarounds, and specific player types, any given MLS club may be paying twice the salary cap. On the other hand, there are no appearance/clean sheet/goal bonuses for anyone other than Designated Players, so the wage is generally the true, full cost of that player.

As mentioned before, there are several ways around this cap. The first is Designated Player salaries. These are for exceptional talents and can be paid anything. Their “cap impact”, however, is capped at under $1m each. Lindsay can’t deal in these as Austin already had three key players in star wingers Druissi and Rigoni and captain Ring as on Designated Player contracts. Ring was maybe the one player who didn’t deserve his big contract, but Lindsay didn’t want to mess with his team leader.

The other element was “buying down” cap impact with “General Allocation Funds” which were provided by the league and spread equally across teams. So the impact of most player’s wages could be halved with these funds until those funds ran out. A player on a $400k/a salary could be dropped to $200k/a against the cap using $200k from the General Allocation Fund. This Fund, however, is also one of the ways you “trade” (buy) players from other MLS teams, because transfer dealings within the MLS are all considered trades. That means you probably can’t just buy down the cap impacts of every player if you want to improve the team.

As Lindsay took over squad building and transfer duties, he had every intention of holding onto the core that had accomplished so much. It was quality depth that had been the issue, and while it had been improved over the previous year, there weren’t enough players Lindsay could trust, and certainly not enough for the added competitions Austin had entered.

It made the job easier when it became clear that two players on big wages would not be at the club for the 2024 season…

 

[13th Man]

Off-season Part II - The Business

Outs

Forward Max Urutti made his own way out of the squad, agreeing to a free transfer as his contract ran out.  The move made sense for both player and club. His salary of $661k/a was massive for a player who had lost his place in the starting lineup to Garcia - and was 31 so would soon be going into physical decline.  It would mean Lindsay needed to sign a forward, but without Urutti’s wages, he’d likely be able to sign two rotation players for the same cost, allowing him to spread the depth out.

Urutti scored a lot of goals and had been a critical piece of Lindsay’s first run at the MLS Cup, but it made sense to part ways.

Center midfielder Tomas Pochettino never seemed to quite click with this Austin side.  He was a talented player, and had some moments of brilliance.  But it was only moments, and too far between those moments.  Fagundez, a natural winger, performed better than him in the attacking center midfield role.  

For a little breakdown on the way the two players fared - all stats per 90 minutes.  Pochettino left, Fagundez right.

Fagundez scored much more often (0.33 to 0.12, matching his xG while Pochettino underperformed xG=0.24), assisted at a greater rate (0.33 to 0.23).  With the CM(a) role being essentially a 4th forward in possession, goal scoring and assists were crucial. Fagundez, however, was better defensively as well, with more pressures attempted (14.04 to 11.46) and completed (4.33 to 3.72) and he won slightly more tackles (2.04 to 1.76).

Despite being 2nd choice, the Argentine had a very high esteem for himself, and started grumbling about “moving to a better league.” 

Lindsay was happy to oblige and Pochettino was on his way for a solid $3m. Maybe not quite what he was worth, but he was on a very high salary for a rotation player and having his $642k/a off the books was worth more than the $1m more that Austin might have gotten for him. Plus, his departure opened up an international slot in the roster.

Due to having the two contracts bought down the previous year, the departure of these two two opened $920k in salary cap space. This with everyone else returning the next season, which seemed unlikely.

Two players Lindsay considered moving past were LB/CB Criscito and team captain BBM Ring. Criscito was 36 and his pace was leaving him. Ring was 32 and took up one of Austin’s three Designated Player (salary cap exempt) slots despite only being a good player, not exceptional. 

Both, however, were team leaders. Criscito was still reliable, had agreed to a reduced contract and could cover at both left back and center half. He was intelligent enough to cover his lack of pace as well, and his versatility was vital. Ring also embodied exactly what you want in a BBM - workrate, stamina, solid going forward and defensively, and had an excellent shot from distance. Again, he might not deserve the contract he was on from a pure value/moneyball standpoint, but he was key to the way Austin played. His hardworking, hard nosed but skillful game was a massive part of the engine room that allowed the stars in the front three to shine.

For the time being, Lindsay decided to try and keep both.

Ins

Lindsay was tired of playing defenders he couldn’t trust.  Maher wasn’t anything special, but he was good on the ball, intelligent enough, and solid all around. He cost the 4th pick in the upcoming MLS draft (Columbus’, which Austin received as part of a previous trade) + $100k in General Allocation Funds. The 4th pick might get Austin a decent rotation option, but Maher was a sure thing in a position of need.  At 24, he had a bit of room to grow as well.  Lindsay expected him to battle with CB Miller for one of the two starting roles.

Jay-Roy Grot was a player that would likely feast in the MLS. His determination was suspect, but he was strong, fast, great in the air, and a good finisher. Best of all, he was incredibly fit. Austin already had a great striker in García (putting aside the Western Conference Final), but Grot was just too good of an opportunity - especially when he could play on both wings as well.

A $2.2m transfer fee was agreed to, and a senior max contract was negotiated. After some deliberation, however, Grot turned Austin down. Disappointing, but it did mean Austin could likely sign 2-3 depth players for the same total cost.

Lindsay went for a player who he could get on a free.

His intelligence wasn’t great, but Plaza could score and he was good physically.  He would be a capable backup for Garcia. His wages were higher than Lindsay would like for a rotation option ($229k/a), but not unbearable and Austin would need a reliable second center forward. 

Renya was good for something after all, starting a deal for center back Antonio Carlos from Orlando City.  The tall Brazilian would help an Austin defense that was too often beat with crosses.  He was intelligent and rounded as well.  Though Austin weren’t in desperate need of defenders, Lindsay had been disappointed in his backline towards the end of the season.  Antonio Carlos arrives for $1.7m and a 1st and 3rd round draft pick in the 2025 draft.  Considering Lindsay fully expected both those draft picks to be late (the better the team’s record, the later the draft picks) he thought it was good business for an excellent and experienced defender that would instantly upgrade the backline.  At 30 years old, he still had several years left in his prime, and his only real weakness compared to what Austin had was his passing.

Best of all, despite making $925k/a, his salary cap impact had been brought down to only $173k/a, making him very affordable on the salary side [Confession - I have no idea what kind of salary cap magic was done by Orlando City prior to the trade to make that happen.]

An out for an in

Allowing CB Kamal Miller to go to LAFC for just $1.2 in General Allocation money and a few low value future draft picks was a salary cap trade through and through. It wasn’t anything close to Miller’s value but after bringing in CB Carlos, Austin had too many centerbacks.  Lindsay had also lost trust in Miller after a series of costly mistakes late in the season, and while his salary wasn’t massive at $389k/a, it was starter’s wages and he would likely be starting a lot less games than the year before.  

Wingers Druissi and Rigoni were both run into the ground, and that likely contributed to how often they were injured, so Lindsay knew he needed better depth on the wings.  With Pochettino leaving, Fagundez would be required to be a center mid more often as well.  Austin had bodies, including a promising youngster from the academy, but not quality in their depth.  This was a problem when Austin’s system was built around excellent play from the wings.

The day after Miller departed, Lindsay brought in the versatile Cristian Roldan who was transfer listed in Seattle. 

He was exactly what Austin needed and more.  Equally capable in the CM(a) role and on the wing, he could even fill in at RB - though he wasn’t especially good defensively.  A well rounded, composed and hardworking player, Lindsay expected him to play and start a lot of games even if he wouldn’t start the season in Lindsay’s first choice 11. His wages were high - probably why Seattle were willing to part with him - but he felt worth it for his versatility and quality at $985k/a and Austin actually had the cap space.

Overall, an active and productive summer. Maher, Plaza, and Roldan would all provide crucial rotation options at CB, CF, and CM/RW respectively. Roldan especially could very well turn out to be an important player. Then there was CB Antonio Carlos who was an excellent addition that would improve the backline.

The Draft

Spoiler

For anyone interested, Austin FC had traded away their high first round pick, so there were no players available that would make an instant impact.  Instead, Lindsay looked for players who were at least great at something in the hopes that they might turn into reasonable rotation options if they developed well over time.  Federico Roldan was a late first round pick who had excellent technique and good flair, and decent passing and fitness.

 

A Proper Transfer

Austin were deep into preseason when Lindsay made another major move. GK Luthe, brought in suddenly after Chapeco’s departure, had been a step down, but a good acquisition considering how quickly Austin had needed a keeper. Still, he seemed solid overall and Lindsay wasn’t sure he would find an upgrade that was worth it. 

During preseason, though, Lindsay was massively unimpressed with Luthe. He kept letting in goals that he really should have saved. He honestly felt the same the previous season when he considered everything. At 36, he was also starting to decline from a physical standpoint.

Antonio Sivera joined from Alaves in the Spanish second division for $1.2m.  Solid across the board, what Lindsay appreciated the most was his intelligence. A consistent performer, at 24, he was also on the younger side for a keeper and could grow into a top MLS talent. [He also liked the number 13 which is a plus.]

He would be thrown into action right away as well, with the second round of the NACL knockout rounds coming only days away…

[WhiteCat33]

7 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Best of all, despite making $925k/a, his salary cap impact had been brought down to only $173k/a, making him very affordable on the salary side [Confession - I have no idea what kind of salary cap magic was done by Orlando City prior to the trade to make that happen.]

I've found in my save when I've utilized Targeted Allocation Money to bring players into the league from Europe it has let me get over the 50% theoretical max write-down when commiting to the payments in the contract negotiation. With your player that is some next level accounting Magic. Expect a large chunk of your next year gifted TAM to go to his buyout. 

For me the cap butout system is also glitchy as some players it won't let me buy down even though we have the money in the budget still.

[SixPointer]

MLS transfers is an absolute minefield! So many variables so much to consider!!

Nice work in what looks to be a very very frustrating process 

[13th Man]

On 02/04/2023 at 14:21, WhiteCat33 said:

I've found in my save when I've utilized Targeted Allocation Money to bring players into the league from Europe it has let me get over the 50% theoretical max write-down when commiting to the payments in the contract negotiation. With your player that is some next level accounting Magic. Expect a large chunk of your next year gifted TAM to go to his buyout. 

For me the cap butout system is also glitchy as some players it won't let me buy down even though we have the money in the budget still.

That makes a lot of sense!  The TAM was something I hadn't quite gotten into and was confused what it was vs the General Allocation, but your reply helps me get it...and why the player is on such a low cap hit.  Worth it though!

On 02/04/2023 at 22:21, SixPointer said:

MLS transfers is an absolute minefield! So many variables so much to consider!!

Nice work in what looks to be a very very frustrating process 

It really is.  Kind of interesting and new, but also frustrating, confusing, and often counterintuitive.

[13th Man]

Hello NACL my old friend

Austin started their NACL campaign with a tough opponent - Monterrey. The five time NACL winners were a familiar foe, with Austin having faced them in the group stage. [You'd think that the competition wouldn’t allow that to happen but oh well].

In another frustrating turn of events, two of Austin’s big summer signings were not eligible to register for the NACL. Both CB Carlos and CM/RW Roldan had already played for Orlando and Seattle in the fall…which was the previous season for the MLS but considered the same in the NACL. More than a little frustrating when it was an entirely different season, and the new format punished MLS clubs in ways that it wouldn’t for Liga MX sides whose season follows the autumn to spring format [poor Americans being treated unfairly]. The bright side, though, was that Lindsay would be guaranteed to be able to have at least two quality players rested for MLS matches.

So, unlike the previous season, Austin would be challenged right away, and without two important players. Monterrey weren't quite the force that they’d been a few years before, but they were still a quality side.

As always seemed to be the case, the first leg would be an away game.

Goalkeeper Antonio Sivera had an inauspicious start to his Austin career after he ended up with an own goal after only three minutes. It was unlucky - a scuffle in the box that happened to cannon off him and into the goal. Otherwise it was a fairly even first half, with Austin having a bit more possession but without actually doing anything more with the ball. 

A great run and low cross by RB Lima saw PF García score a poacher’s goal in first half stoppage time.

It looked like Austin would be good for a draw - plus an away goal to give them the advantage. However, Austin were found guilty of losing focus and punished late on. First, LB Venegas did not come to the ball and lost out.  The lofted ball that followed should have been picked up by CB De los Santos, but he didn’t get close enough to Monterrey’s Neris, who scored a fantastic goal from 20 yards.

Austin would have to, once again, come from behind after a loss in Mexico if they wanted to reach the next round.

Austin had seen this movie before, and they played like it. CM(a) Fagundez scored with a lovely scissor kick off a LW Druissi cross after only two minutes, putting Austin ahead on the away goals rule. This allowed Austin to settle into their brutal coiled spring possession game, forcing Monterrey to press and try to take the game to them while Austin held onto the ball for large spells.  After 27 minutes, BBM Ring then sprung the trap, sending a ball deep into Moterrey’s half after a spell of playing out of the back.  Garcia sprinted free and lobbed the onrushing keeper from the edge of the area. Monterrey were sunk. They were unable to engineer much as Austin kept 60% of possession and never let Monterrey play.

It was an excellent win in the end that put Austin through to the Quarterfinals.

It had to be said that Austin were again on the tough side of the bracket.  Though Necaxa were not doing especially well in the Liga MX, their likely opponents in the semi finals were a Toluca team atop the Liga MX.  On the other side, none of the MLS teams were in the top 10 of the MLS, and Liga MX side America. Despite being a regular powerhouse, America were having a down year and in the bottom half of the Liga MX.  Still, Lindsay liked the variety from playing Mexican sides so he couldn’t complain too much.

[WhiteCat33]

1 hour ago, 13th Man said:

That makes a lot of sense!  The TAM was something I hadn't quite gotten into and was confused what it was vs the General Allocation, but your reply helps me get it...and why the player is on such a low cap hit.  Worth it though!

I'm still trying to figure it out completely. One word of warning is be careful when using TAM for winter signings. It seems negotiations are locked to the TAM of the current year not your outatanding balance. This means the money pot linked to the transfer will get deleted before the transfer finalizes in January resulting in it auto canceling. This blew up my key CB signing  which I talk about in the start of this post.

Once you get players on TAM buys its smooth sailing as they auto-renew every year and you don't have to mess with it. Combine that with some player sales and GAM crunches become a distant memory!