Know Thy Enemy: Revolution at Austin FC Strikers Down Edition
New England heads out west with a struggling and injured striker corps while Austin sees it's star go down with major injury.
The New England Revolution travel out to Texas for a match against Western Conference foe Austin FC (8:30 PM EDT - MLS Season Pass).
The 11th place Revs are in the bottom third in the East scoring goals with 26 tallies on the year while Austin is not just dead last in the West, but in all of MLS with just 15 goals scored this year.
While the Revs have had a rotating list of injuries up top, Austin will now be without their leading scorer Brandon Vazquez who suffered an ACL tear midweek in U.S. Open Cup play. Vazquez had five goals on the year for Los Verde who right around the same time the Revs were on their long unbeaten streak, Austin was on a eight-game unbeaten streak but have won two of their last three in MLS action.
New England meanwhile has just one point in their last five games, a stretch where their once vaunted defense of the early season has given up 11 goals in that stretch.
New England’s problems up front can likely be solved with health and consistency in partnerships. Leo Campana missing time for two different injury spells hasn’t helped his form while perhaps the Revs best target man Ignatius Ganago hasn’t played since the end of May.
Now, asking wingers Luca Langoni and Tomas Chancalay to pivot to supporting/second strikers on the fly has had mixed results. But Langoni’s speed and Chanca’s overall craftiness have helped the Revs generate chances. The issue has been finishing them, with Campana having not scored since early May and everyone seemingly missing sitters.
After going down two goals against Inter Miami with Tanner Beason arguably responsible for both, it still took Caleb Porter until the hour mark to insert Chancalay for the third centerback and pivot into the more standard 4-2-3-1. Had the extra attacker been on the field at halftime like I had asked, maybe Carles Gil’s 79th minute goal would’ve come earlier and the Revs could have pulled out a draw. There are changes I would make coach, your substitutions need to happen earlier.
Because Caleb Porter is not wrong when he says the Revs weren’t outplayed by Miami, but I don’t think he’s taking into account the game state of a Herons side that didn’t need to to much to secure their win and is trying to conserve energy. That’s how Messi killed you on the second goal, lulled you into a false sense of old man security and unleashed his wily sprint speed. They were able to sit back up two goals and gave you the entire second half to get back into the game and the Revs simply ran out of time.
But moral victories are becoming harder to justify for the Revs while they’re below the playoff line. The Revs are not playing badly, but they need to start finishing chances, especially Campana. If the backline is going to leak goals then opting to start in the more attacking formation is something that needs to be seriously considered.
As always, we chat with good friend of TBM, Phil West of Verde All Day about who steps in for Vazquez up front (and a much deeper dive on that from him here) and what this means for Austin’s Open Cup and playoff chances without their talismanic attacker. Be sure to check out his site for answers to my questions and follow him on Bluesky.
TBM: We're all pretty bummed about the Brandon Vazquez injury, have to assume it takes him out of World Cup consideration next year but we'll wait and see. In the short term, who is the best in-house option for Austin FC up front and could there be a trade or international signing in the summer window to fill the attacking void?
PW: First off, yes, we're all unhappy about the Vázquez injury — first and foremost because he's a genuinely good guy who's fit in well with the team since his arrival, and also because he has scored a third of Austin's 15 league goals so far, and without him, a team that's been goal-challenged for a lot of the season will be even more challenged. You saw this team advance in a tournament Tuesday after going 120 minutes-plus without scoring from open play. That's on the extreme end of how offensively bereft they've been, but it's not really an anomaly — they've scored just one goal or none in most of their league matches this season.
Of course, attention now turns to Myrto Uzuni, who has shown he's been a capable attacker in other settings, but only has one goal and one assists in 1228 league minutes so far. He's certainly had his chances, and we've seen him really want to score (and react accordingly when he doesn't), but now it's crucial he fix whatever's been ailing him.
TBM: Despite the Vazquez injury, Austin advanced to the USOC semifinals against Minnesota United. I know it's two months away and the RBNY-Philly game is also yet to be played, but give us your best odds on Los Verde winning the whole thing.
PW: Asking about "odds" just begs for a Han Solo-style "never tell me the odds" — thought they just beat Red Bulls at home a few weeks ago and drew Minnesota on the road during a difficult May in which they couldn't get a result in seven league matches but also got two Open Cup wins to progress. One of those came against El Paso — they were down 2-0 in the 70th minute, they played so badly in the first half that they got booed off the field, and surged back with three goals to win in regulation. It might be a lot to call Verde a team of destiny, but given that they've advanced in the way they did, I could see them put it together for two more matches. (If they win at Minnesota, they'll host the final, and that's the kind of event I think fans would show out for. So far, attendance hasn't been quite what it's been for home matches, but it's been a lot better than I'm seeing around the league, being reminded of the seat color schemes in various MLS stadiums.)
TBM: Austin is currently just above the play-in line in the West, and after the Revs travel to the Galaxy and DC United. How important is this stretch to get Austin higher up the table and how many points do you see them getting over the next week or so?
PW: Funny you should mention that! They've actually had a front-loaded schedule, strength-of-schedule wise, and in this last block of matches through the end of the season, that strength of schedule gets much easier to manage. (There's quite a bit of math involved, but let's just say it's historically easy.) That said, in the wake of this key injury, everything's a bit upside down and this could be one of those weird off games for Verde coming off all the emotional tumult of Tuesday. But given where the Revs currently are, where the Galaxy have been all season, and D.C. just firing their coach after giving up four second-half goals in an Open Cup loss, banking nine points shouldn't be too tall a task. (But this is MLS, after all, so I'm expecting something surprising.)