Austin FC fell to a 4-1 defeat in an international friendly match against Mexico’s C.F. Pachuca on Saturday night at Q2 Stadium.
The visitors took an early lead through Roberto de la Rosa, who scored with a well-placed shot from outside the box in the third minute. Diego Fagundez nearly found the equalizer moments later, flashing a free kick wide of the post.
Pachuca doubled its lead in the 22nd minute. Nicolás Ibáñez, who led the team in scoring in Liga MX play last season, rolled the ball in after a teammate squared the ball to him. Gustavo Cabral added another goal for the Mexican side in the 28th minute with a header that curled into the corner.
Austin FC came close again when Moussa Djitté smartly beat his defender but saw his shot saved. Pachuca’s Jesús Hernández then netted his team’s fourth goal three minutes before halftime.
The Verde & Black started strong in the second half. Diego Fagundez earned a penalty kick which Sebastián Driussi converted in the 47th minute, his second goal this season against Mexican opposition and 10th across all competitions.
ATXFC was doubly unlucky not to score again on two occasions in the second half, as Driussi’s second spot kick attempt of the match was saved and Danny Hoesen struck the woodwork with a powerful effort.
In the closing stages, Austin fans got a chance to see both Charlie Asensio (who made his debut for the Club) and Jhohan Romaña for the first time in 2022.
UP NEXT
Austin FC will play its eighth away match and fifteenth match overall of the 2022 Major League Soccer regular season against CF Montréal on Saturday, June 18 at 6:30 p.m. CT/7:30 p.m. ET. The match will feature a regional TV broadcast in English language on KNVA (The CW Austin), as well as a livestream on AustinFC.com and the Austin FC app.
In Spanish language, the match will feature a livestream on UnivisionAustin.com and the Univision Austin app.
On radio, the match will be broadcast on KASE-FM (ALT 97.5) in English, as well as on TUDN Radio Austin (104.3-HD2, KLQB) in Spanish.
