The Verde Report: Austin FC Gave the City a Season To Be Proud of in 2022
The club managed to exceed every reasonable expectation for how its sophomore season would go
By Eric Goodman, Fri., Nov. 4, 2022
Austin FC's season came to a sudden and sobering end Sunday with a 3-0 loss to LAFC in the Western Conference Final, but not before the club managed to exceed every reasonable expectation for how its second year in MLS would go. After finishing the 2021 regular season second from the bottom in the West, El Tree flipped the table upside down to finish second from the top in 2022. The club then delivered a pair of emotional playoff victories at Q2 Stadium to become just the third MLS side in the past 15 years to make the league's final four within two years of expansion.
The Verde and Black also picked up a couple of bona fide accolades on their campaign trail. They lifted the Copa Tejas rivalry trophy as the top team in the Lone Star State, then backed it up with a 2-1 win over FC Dallas in the second round of the playoffs. They qualified as one of four U.S.-based clubs for the 2023 Concacaf Champions League, which will see the Oaks tested against the best clubs from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean come March. Above all, Austin FC earned the respect its players and coaches so desperately craved. Nobody's preseason predictions will have ATX finishing 12th in the West this time around.
In terms of question marks coming into the season, just about everything came up Verde when the ball got rolling. Sebastián Driussi not only continued his head-turning play from his half-season with the club in 2021, he took it up another notch, finishing with a team-high 25 goals including playoffs, and an MVP résumé. He also played in every single one of the club's matches, underscoring the fact that no team was healthier than Austin over the course of the season. All 11 of the club's regular starters appeared in at least 30 matches.
Ruben Gabrielsen, brought in during the offseason to fill Austin's desperate need at center back, emerged as a stalwart defender in front of Brad Stuver's goal and a powerful voice inside the tight-knit Verde locker room. On a team that boasted Driussi and MLS assist co-leader Diego Fagúndez, Gabrielsen might be the unsung hero of the season. Or that title could go to Josh Wolff, who, after a difficult debut season as a head coach, settled into the job beautifully in 2022 and shepherded Austin FC to a 25-point improvement year to year despite overseeing one of the league's dozen least expensive rosters.
Wolff also had to navigate the club's first true PR crisis when then-Designated Player Cecilio Domínguez came under league investigation for an incident regarding potential domestic violence. Despite the league reinstating Domínguez shortly after, Austin FC decided not to return him to action and eventually mutually agreed to terminate his contract. That opened the door for Austin to sign Emiliano Rigoni in Domínguez's place, but the Argentine largely disappointed in his 10 appearances with ATX with zero goal contributions to show.
Getting Rigoni into form might be the most critical agenda item for Austin FC looking ahead to 2023. Of the clubs' four international DP signings to date, only Driussi has hit thus far. That math doesn't add up in comparison to the league's other MLS Cup contenders. Sunday's decisive defeat in Los Angeles revealed the size of the gap that Austin still must find a way to bridge if it hopes to build on such a transformational season.
Still, it's an enviable position for any club to be in. 2022 was a special year for a club in a league where special years don't come around often. It may not have yielded an MLS Cup, but it was the year in which Austin loudly and clearly announced itself as a force to be reckoned with in Major League Soccer. There's no trophy cabinet big enough to hold that achievement.
“The Verde Report” is taking a breather. Check back here soon for World Cup coverage.
