Verde All Day

Are bonus games still a thing? Looking at Austin FC's history against Eastern Conference teams After Austin FC won three early-season matches against Eastern Conference teams in 2022, an MLS media personality coined the "bonus games" term. Does it still apply?

I wrote about bonus games and I tracked down Andrew Wiebe for a quote about bonus games. (Also, per the definition, I don't know that we can claim Saturday's Austin FC match against the Red Bulls as a bonus game)

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Should you, indeed, vote for everyone from Austin FC? A primer for All-Star Game voting Saturday night's opponents, San Diego FC, have three potential All-Stars. For Austin FC, the story might be a little different.

On the cusp of the halfway point of the MLS season, it's time to start thinking about the Austin-hosted All-Star match

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The Thursday Three: Turning to Ted Lasso in these trying times Maybe, just maybe, if enough players bring objects that means something to them and set those on fire, Verde will score more goals.

Could the answer to the @austinfootballclub.bsky.social scoring woes lie with Ted Lasso?

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'We're not happy with the draw': Reflections on a good (in a vacuum) result that still leaves Nico Estévez wanting more One goal is better than no goals, and a draw against a top West opponent is better than a loss. But did Verde do enough to convince fans they're on a path to make the playoffs?

Žan Kolmanič is happier than Nico Estévez about the respectable road draw against @mnufc.com, but @austinfootballclub.bsky.social still needs to score goals ... here's what they're saying about that.

'It's a team with a big winning mentality': Robert Taylor meets Austin media, praises new team Robert Taylor appears ready to play for Austin FC. It's a team, in turn, appearing ready for what he might bring.

We heard from Robert Taylor, who had nice things to say about his new team (and relayed some nice things said from a former player)

Also, updates on Dani Pereira and Mikkel Desler's injuries:

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The curious case of Myrto Uzuni Austin FC's record signing should have more than one goal at this stage of the season. We look at how he compares to other record signings other clubs made, and fret a bit.

Myrto Uzuni only has one goal so far this season for #AustinFC; we dig into that a little more here:

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Foreign Exchange: Three Dynamo questions with Bayou City Soccer's Dustyn Richardson You might be wondering about the Dynamo and what they're all about this season. Let's remedy that with a friend from H-Town.

We love talking to fellow soccer writers ahead of #AustinFC matches, and exchanged ?s with our @bayoucitysoccer.net friends ahead of tonight's Copa Tejas match in Houston.

(Also, we captioned this photo "do you have a, do you have a, do you have an Ondrej Lingr")

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Is field tilt really a sign of dominace? Exploring an emerging Austin FC paradox Field tilt is a measure that can tell you something about which team is dominating a soccer match. In Austin's case, like so many offensive metrics in 2025, it's potentially misleading.

Field tilt's a metric that can help you gauge dominance in a soccer match ... but this is 2025 @austinfootballclub.bsky.social we're talking about

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'We're just missing a little bit of luck': Sizing up a win leaving Austin FC second in the West Five clean sheets. Five wins, four by a 1-0 margin. That's good for second in the West ... but what does it mean for a Verde squad still thinking it can do better?

Brandon Vázquez and Myrto Uzuni still want to score more goals (but the one was enough yesterday):

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'We cannot change everything for a game': Austin FC prepares for several layers of different Surprisingly, the Whitecaps are the best team in the West. But Austin FC's been a bit of a surprise as well.

Mere hours after we published this speculating Riley Thomas might be signed to a first-team contract, lo and behold:

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Have Verde done enough to make the playoffs? What performance after seven MLS matches tells us about the whole season (and post-season) Austin FC has done what seven of nine playoff teams have done the last two seasons ... but they've also done this very thing while missing the playoffs.

Good news: Seven of the nine West teams who were in the playoff places after seven matches the last two seasons made the playoffs

Bad news: The team in that spot the prior two years who eventually fell out of a playoff spot was guess who

Why 2025 could change that

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'It looked like a playoff game today': Assessing Austin FC's first draw of 2025 Nico Estévez told the media, "Humans desire always what they don't have," in case you needed perspective on a frustrating draw that still progresses Verde toward a playoff place.

Nico Estevez gets philosophical, Jon Gallagher uses an analogy, and Myrto Uzuni uses the word "painful"

A look at the first #AustinFC draw of 2025:

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Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Stumptown Footy's Sam Svilar Ahead of tonight's match with Portland, we check in with a Timbers expert about a missing forward, a replacement star, and a manager we're sort of obsessed with.

Thanks to @stumptownfooty.bsky.social for answering our questions about the Timbers ahead of tonight's #AustinFC match:

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'It gives you so much energy': How defending as a team has bolstered Austin FC Everyone's defending well for Austin FC, according to one of its best defenders, and that's making him happy.

Happy Match Day!

Ahead of the 6:45 pm (?!) kickoff for #AustinFC, here's some inside info as to how Verde's defending (and what one of their best defenders feel they still need to work on):

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A successful 'business trip': Reflections following Austin FC's third win in a row Austin FC got their third straight win on Sunday, and added to its impressive tally of minutes defending a one-goal lead.

So, #AustinFC has spent an ABSURD amount of minutes defending a one-goal lead this season.

But they've been able to do it in four different matches so far.

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A born identity: Austin FC, beginning to define themselves five matches in Playing in St. Louis on Sunday, Verde have a chance to build on a burgeoning identity and get to double-digit points on the young season.

It's not just a team making good progress through the early part of the season ... #AustinFC (starting up in just a little over an hour) is developing an identity:

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Foreign Exchange: Justin Horneker helps us make sense of St. Louis City SC Learn more about Austin FC's opponent on Sunday, who you might remember from some pretty awful losses.

We got some intel on the next #AustinFC opponent, #StLouisCitySC, thanks to @hornekerjustin.bsky.social

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It's probably fine: A less-than-full Austin FC squad faces surprising San Diego FC Verde is very possibly down to one healthy center back headed into Sunday's match. playing a team that has yet to lose this season.

It's probably fine:

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'We are not there yet': An imperfect Austin FC team gets an early-season (dare we say it) signature win No goals from open play in four matches? Key players without goal contributions? At least Owen Wolff's making a difference ...

Nico Estévez says that #AustinFC isn't quite where #LAFC is yet ... but it's a road win in the teams' only regular-season LA meeting this season. If you haven't noticed, Owen Wolff's got a lot to do with Verde's early-season success:

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At the Whistle: LAFC 0, Austin FC 1 Pretty? Not especially. Beating LAFC at the Banque? That's plenty pretty.

Winning ugly is still winning:

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See you in May: Austin FC's back line officially gets thinner with injury update Mikkel Desler joins Julio Cascante at Club Injury, though Cascante could be making his way back to the squad soon.

We've got some news on injuries and on the * secret weapon * for @austinfootballclub.bsky.social heading into Saturday's match with #LAFC

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Week 3 Verde Best Ball League update

@verdeallday.bsky.social wins week as @waatvofficial.bsky.social takes 1st 🏆

@moontowersoccer.bsky.social slides to 3rd w/@thenorthendpodcast.bsky.social in pursuit 👀

@soccerwisehq.bsky.social & @theverdependent.bsky.social begin the spoon race 🥄

Long season!

'We have to feel this pain of losing': Is Austin FC destined for a repeat of last season? There's a thin line between winning and losing, according to Nico Estévez — so why is Verde on the wrong side of that line?

Assessing another Austin FC loss and what lies ahead (and maybe some reasons for hope):

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What's the current state of the Austin FC roster? And could it use a couple more U22s? While Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell has made significant offseason moves, there may still be more to make.

Should we expect Austin FC to do more in the (still underway) transfer window?

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The Morning After: Should you worry that Austin FC is on pace for a 17-goal season? Nico Estévez is taking ownership for the loss, and seems to know what needs to happen next. But will it actually happen?

The good news: Austin FC's on pace to only score 17 goals this season!

The bad news: Austin FC's on pace to only score 17 goals this season.

Here's a look at a too-small sample size and why you might be concerned:

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After the Whistle: Portland Timbers FC 1, Austin FC 0 Verde were minutes from a scoreless draw, but then David Da Costa decided to have a special moment at their expense.

Austin FC suffered its first loss of the 2025 season, in pretty much the cruelest way possible. Our post-match recap includes some quotes fresh out of the press conference:

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It's just one match ... but here's one worrying metric from the 2024 Austin FC season to revisit Verde had an anemic offense in 2024. Could they be headed for a similar fate in 2025?

2️⃣ shots on target by #AustinFC against SKC on Saturday

Not worrying about that yet, right? Right?

We dig into some numbers:

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The Morning After: Estevez assesses a clean sheet, dominating in midfield, and needing to finish better in an opening win Austin FC got a clean sheet in its first match of 2025, and midfield play is good ... but what about the final product in front of goal?

Report card for #AustinFC last night

✅ Clean sheet
✅ Bossing the midfield
🤔 Finishing in the final third

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At the Whistle: Austin FC 1, Sporting Kansas City 0 Osman Bukari got the match's lone goal to get the 2025 Verde season off to a solid start.

IT'S A DUB

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Does hot chocolate sound good? Let us reveal new Q2 Stadium secrets as you're filing in for the home opener Looking for hot chocolate this Saturday at Q2 to stave off the cold? Want to know where what new eats and drinks can be found? At this year’s Media Day, we sampled new food and beverage partners (La ...

Are you in Q2 Stadium right now and wondering what to eat? Where the hot chocolate is? We gotchu:

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