The Verde Report: As Wins Rack Up, Emiliano Rigoni Is Becoming Austin FC’s Forgotten Man
The club’s second-highest-paid player has struggled to contribute
By Eric Goodman, Fri., April 12, 2024
With back-to-back comeback victories in its last two matches – first a 2-1 triumph over FC Dallas on March 30, followed by a 4-3 thrill ride win against the San Jose Earthquakes over the weekend – Austin FC seems to have finally sprouted its 2024 season sea legs. All of the sudden, the Verde and Black sit snugly in the middle of the pack in the Western Conference standings with one-fifth of the season in the books.
That hushing sound you hear is the #WolffOut choir switching to their inside voices for the first time in months.
While it would be irresponsible not to at least acknowledge that the two foes Austin dispatched over the last two weekends currently own the two worst records in the West, Wolff is still deserving of credit for how his team has executed, particularly on the attacking end, across the last 180 minutes of play.
El Tree combined for 31 shots, 11 shots on target, 4.3 expected goals, and six actual goals in the two home victories against Dallas and San Jose. All of those figures trump what the club amassed over the previous five matches to begin the season, combined.
The return of Sebastián Driussi to full health has certainly helped inflate those numbers, but there’s more to it than that. Over the last two weeks, Wolff has identified an attacking blueprint that’s produced scoring chances with consistency, with danger coming from all over the pitch.
It includes the front-footed midfield duo of Alex Ring and Dani Pereira operating side-by-side in a double pivot behind Driussi, who’s at the center of everything. On either side of the captain are dynamic wingers Jáder Obrian and Owen Wolff, with tenacious striker Diego Rubio causing havoc in the penalty box until Gyasi Zardes subs in for a few minutes of relief.
It’s been an effective formula, and it features one glaring omission: Austin’s two wins have included a grand total of zero minutes on the pitch for designated player Emiliano Rigoni. And Wolff confirmed the absence has nothing to do with any injury or other outlying factor.
“There’s nothing [wrong with Rigoni],” Wolff said after the San Jose win. “The team is performing quite well. We’ve won two games and the guys on the field are executing .... So it’s challenging to get in the group.”
Since joining Austin FC in the summer of 2022 on a contract of roughly $2 million per year (second on the team only to Driussi), Rigoni has tested the club’s patience from a productivity standpoint. He started 25 matches and logged the fifth-most minutes of any ATX outfield player in an up-and-down 2023 campaign. His five goals and six assists were good enough for third-most goal contributions on the team, but he failed to consistently impact games in the way DP forwards are expected to.
Rather than take a step forward in his second full MLS season, Rigoni has struggled mightily in 2024, with zero goals, zero assists, and just a single shot on target in five games.
Of course, Rigoni’s removal from the ATX lineup isn’t the reason why El Tree has finally found its attacking stride, but it’s also clear that Wolff’s choice to forgo the services of his Argentine winger certainly hasn’t hurt.
Austin FC could be in the process of preparing for life without Rigoni, whose contract includes a team option for 2025. At this point, it seems obvious that sporting director Rodolfo Borrell would decline said option, let Rigoni walk and open up one of the club’s three DP slots to potentially fill with “the kind of name you wouldn’t believe,” as he likes to say.
On the other hand, if Austin FC is going to accomplish anything of substance in 2024, it will almost certainly need some form of contribution from its second-highest-paid player.
Austin FC next faces St. Louis City SC away Sunday, April 14, 3:45pm.
