Austin FC made its way north to face Texas rivals FC Dallas on Saturday night with one of the largest contingents of traveling supporters in recent MLS history behind them. Unlike Wednesday night though, ATXFC were unable to come up with a win, losing 2-0 against Dallas at Toyota Stadium.
Austin had the two best chances of the first half with the first one coming in the seventh minute. Daniel Pereira fed a beautiful ball across the box that found the foot of Manny Perez. The forward’s shot was saved by FCD ‘keeper Jimmy Maurer.
Diego Fagundez had the next best chance for ATXFC, hitting the crossbar off of a direct free kick in the 44th minute.
Dallas scored the first goal of the match off a recycled set piece in the 50th minute. Hungary international Szabolcs Schon eventually held the ball along the endline and laid it back to Ryan Hollingshead. The fullback placed a shot into the bottom of the far corner to give his side the lead.
13 minutes later Dallas increased its lead. Nkosi Tafari picked off a pass in the midfield and found Schon on the wing. The winger’s square ball landed right at the foot of Jesus Ferreira and the attacker calmly fired his shot into the back of the net.
Austin pushed to get back into the match, but could not find a goal to cut Dallas’ lead in half.
THREE THINGS
- AWAY DAYS: For the first time Austin FC traveled to face an MLS opponent in Texas. 700 ATXFC supporters followed them. The Verde & Black had a presence at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night and the supporters were clearly the loudest group inside the building.
- ROTATED SQUAD: With Austin playing its third match in a week, head coach Josh Wolff had little choice but to rotate some of his squad after Wednesday’s 3-2 win against Houston Dynamo FC. Jhohan Romaña, Aedan Stanley, Manny Perez and Daniel Pereira were all put in the starting XI against Dallas as Wolff turned to a 5-3-2 formation -- one that he has sparingly used this season.
- DRIUSSI DEBUT: Sebastian Driussi was one of four substitutes who made his way onto the field in the 61st minute as Austin pushed for an equalizer. The Argentine midfielder showed flashes of his elite skills and will look to build on the performance in the coming weeks.
QUOTABLES
- Wolff on fan support in Frisco: "It's incredible. We talked about it coming out of the locker room in the beginning of the game. We saw on Twitter, we read about, we saw the videos and we knew they were coming strong. It's an incredible fan base. I told these guys, we play in the best stadium in front of the best fans and that's everything."
- Fagundez on wanting to win for the fans: "It's frustrating because you see all these fans come out here, three-and-a-half hours, they show their support and you can hear them in the stadium. To leave without a result, it hurts us, and I hope they know that."
- Wolff on Driussi's debut: "I think he's a good player. He obviously has the ability to move around the field, he's got very soft feet. He's looking for passes that can be impactful and put those in front of goal. He connects really nicely with players."
