Austin FC’s first Major League football match ended in defeat when Los Angeles FC ruined the party with a 2-0 victory on Saturday.
Austin was founded in 2018 and spent the last three years preparing for inclusion during the 2020/21 season, and they started the campaign with a game against the side with the most wins, points and goals in the last three seasons, LAFC. Nice and simple.
Frame worthy. First XI for Austin FC. pic.twitter.com/UVqzVBiOJ3
– Austin FC (@AustinFC) April 17, 2021
Austin entered the game as a massive underdogs and the game played out exactly as you would expect. The newcomers stayed during the first half of the year, where LAFC star Carlos Vela was pulled off with a knee injury, but the quality gap became clear after the break.
Eddie Segura struck a 30 meter free kick home 61 minutes into the match. 4 – 0 for the home team.
LAFC, who were also without top scorer Diego Rossi due to a hamstring injury, continued to pepper Austin’s goal, but stopper Brad Stuver did well to meet the challenge and the visitors were close to taking a late equalizer late by substitute Jon Gallagher, whose stoppage time was well strained by Pablo Sisniega.
When the clock went down, LAFC made it 2-0 when Jose Cifuentes capitalized on a foul on the back to tear home and seal a well-deserved victory for Bob Bradley’s side.
Mahala. Cifu. Games over.
Replay presented by @Heineken_US. #LAFC pic.twitter.com/92pF2gETCL
– LAFC (@LAFC) April 18, 2021
Not surprisingly, Austin was outplayed all the time and lacked the quality needed to truly test LAFC, but few actually expected them to come out on top here, in perhaps the toughest possible start to life in MLS.
“We are disappointed. We are not approaching this as a first-year team that is happy to be here, says Stuver (via Austin American-Statesman). “We feel we went toe to toe with LA and were lucky to lose 2-0. Both goals were a bit lucky and we had a few shots just outside or saved. ”
Head coach Josh Wolff added: “We fell extremely flat during the second half. We need to do a better job to be mentally ready when we come out of halftime. We get better and learn from it.
Health support. ?
That’s just the beginning for @AustinFC. pic.twitter.com/TduorqYr2y
– Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 18, 2021
“We had some chances, but we lacked a little creativity and execution in the last part of the play. We injected some offensive players later in the second half and it took up our energy and helped create more chances. ”
“We have to be realistic. We should be proud. It was our first game and it was positive. ”
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