A pair of goals from Cecilio Domínguez saw Austin FC earn a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon at Q2 Stadium.
ATXFC opened the scoring through Domínguez in the 17th minute. A loose ball fell into the path of Sebastián Driussi, whose powerful strike forced a save from RSL goalkeeper David Ochoa. Domínguez was on hand to tuck away the rebound though, giving the Verde & Black an early edge.
Moussa Djitté almost extended the hosts’ lead after the half-hour mark, but flashed his header inches wide of the post. The Senegalese striker again made himself dangerous moments before halftime, nearly forcing RSL defender Justen Glad to deflect the ball into his own net.
Austin eventually found the second goal it was looking for when Domínguez doubled his tally in the 55th minute. Diego Fagundez provided the assist, squaring the ball for the unmarked Paraguayan to finish from close range.
RSL pulled itself back into the game through Damir Kreilach in the 64th minute, who polished off a line-splitting through ball from Rubio Rubín for his 13th goal of the season. It looked as though ATXFC had a chance to quickly restore its two-goal cushion when Djitté won his side a penalty kick with 15 minutes remaining, but the referee reversed his decision after consulting VAR.
Austin did not look to sit deep and defend its advantage in the match’s closing stages, as Alex Ring, Driussi and McKinze Gaines each came close to scoring the side’s third goal. In the end though, ATXFC would not need the insurance, and safely saw out the result to collect three points.
THREE THINGS
- LEADING THE LINE: Domínguez’s brace took his goal-scoring total for the season to seven, the most of any Austin FC player.
- COMING TO CLOSE TO 50-50: Fagundez’s assist on the team’s second goal was the 48th of his MLS career. With two more, he would become the 23rd (and potentially second-fastest) player in the league’s history to record 50 goals and 50 assists. Austin FC Head Coach Josh Wolff and Assistant Coach Davy Arnaud were respectively one and four assists short of joining that exclusive club during their playing careers.
- BACK-TO-BACK: After defeating the LA Galaxy at Q2 Stadium last Sunday, the Verde & Black have now won back-to-back home games for the first time in Club history.
QUOTABLES
- Wolff on the confidence built by back-to-back home wins: “We have a very competitive group. There aren’t many games that we haven’t shown up and competed and had our moments where we could dominate or take the game to the opponent, whether it’s home or away.
- Domínguez on scoring a pair of goals in the win: “Honestly, it’s great to finally produce a game at home. This is our second win in a row at home. We’re obviously still behind in the table, but we’re just going to keep going and keep trying our best that we can and playing the best we can.”
- Defender Žan Kolmanič on receiving his first call-up to the Slovenian national team: “The goal is to play two good games with the Slovenian national team and represent my country and also Austin overseas.”
