Austin FC blown out at Nashville, tightening up race for second place
Austin FC’s hold on second place in the Western Conference is getting more precarious.
After a somewhat poor second half, the team lost to Nashville SC 3-0 Saturday on the road, and three teams are now within seven points of Austin going into the final five games of the year.
Walker Zimmerman scored right after halftime, and Hany Mukhtar put in two goals in the game’s final 10 minutes for Nashville, which climbed to fourth place in the West.
Here are some observations from the second loss of the week for Austin:
Two games in the week, dead legs
With only two days off after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Portland, Austin FC seemed to wear down in the second half.
There was little creativity and few scoring chances, and it marked the first time since May 8 that the team was shut out. It also broke Sebastián Driussi’s 11-match streak of having a goal or assist.
Austin FC has been one of the best offensive teams in the league this season, but it just didn’t have it in this game.
Defending set pieces now an issue
Nashville’s goals came off a set piece, a defensive mistake and a counter.
Zimmerman headed in a corner kick, and Mukhtar’s first goal came moments after a failed clearance by Ruben Gabrielsen.
It was a poor play by Gabrielsen — and a good play by Muktahr, who put a brilliant angled shot on the ground past Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver — but there also is a bit of concern mounting that Austin FC seems to be vulnerable on set pieces. Portland also scored on a set piece, and defending them was a small issue for El Tree earlier in the season.
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Short turnaround meant squad rotation
Not surprisingly with such a short turnaround, Austin FC coach Josh Wolff made a few changes in the starting lineup.
El Tree was without starting forward Maxi Urruti, who didn’t even make the trip after suffering a hamstring injury late in the first half of Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Portland.
Danny Hoesen started in his place and put in a decent shift until he was subbed off in the second half for Moussa Djitte.
The team also started the game with captain and midfielder Alex Ring on the bench, as Owen Wolff took his place in the starting lineup and arguably had the best performance of any Austin FC player despite playing only 54 minutes before Ring replaced him.
Jan Kolmanic started at right back in place of Nick Lima, with the latter coming on early in the second half and both players having acceptable shifts.
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Djitte's red card could test depth
Djitte has to be better to keep his cool at the end of the game and not get sent off with a red card, not only because the outcome of the game was long decided, but with Urruti’s hamstring issue, Austin FC is now possibly down to two forwards for next Saturday’s game at Seattle.
It was the punctuation to a frustrating second half for Austin FC.
Mukhtar pulls into lead for MVP
With his two goals, Mukhtar overtook Driussi for the league lead with 21 — and probably took the lead in the MVP race.
He has eight goals in his last four games and also has seven assists.
The competition is likely to go down to the season’s last game, and you can bet that we haven't heard the last from Driussi.
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No time to panic for Austin FC
As usual, there has to be a big-picture view to things.
El Tree is still in second place in the West with 51 points, has a five-point lead over third-place Dallas and has a game in hand against both Dallas and Nashville.
It lost on the road to a top-five team in the West less than 72 hours after its previous game without one of its five best players, Urruti.
While it wasn’t a good night, there’s no need to panic heading into Seattle.