Austin FC’s seventh consecutive road match to start their inaugural season might be the expansion club’s most satisfying result to date.
Austin played the Seattle Sounders to a 0-0 draw Sunday night, becoming just the second team this season to take a point back from a visit to Lumen Field and the first to keep Seattle off the scoresheet at home.
“This should give the guys confidence,” Austin coach Josh Wolff said after the match. “That’s a good team and we deserved a point. I think the guys will be pretty proud after this game.”
Despite being hampered by injuries, the Sounders are atop the Supporters’ Shield standings and are off to a club record start to the 2021 season. They are one of two undefeated teams left in MLS — along with Nashville SC — and secured 10 out of a possible 12 points from their first four home games.
“This is our seventh game on the road. You know it’s going to be difficult,” Wolff said. “The desire is always to come in and compete and give yourself a chance to win points. Seattle’s been the best team in the league, there’s no doubt about it. They don’t give up many goals and they score a good amount of goals and they have high quality at both ends of the field an all throughout.”
Austin came into Week 7’s finale, and their last match before the international break, off three consecutive defeats.
“You’re always going to suffer a little bit, especially away, especially against a good team like Seattle,” Austin FC midfielder Alex Ring said. “You just have to trust the process, trust your teammates, trust the game plan. That was something we lacked a little bit the last two games where we started to go off script. I’ve always said this team has been assembled to play as a team. We don’t have individuals who can dribble through seven guys and score a top corner goal — not yet.”
Austin dd their share of suffering in the first half, trying to figure out how to work their way through the Sounders’ high press. They worked their way into the game and, at times, played on the front foot in an improved second half.
“I think it gives our guys a bit of satisfaction that we can come here, obviously roll up our sleeves a bit, compete, get into the game the way we needed to and knew we would need to and we played our way in,” Wolff said. “We had some chances, without a doubt we should have come away with a couple of goals. Sure, they had a few chances as well, but this is what it’s like every week on the road for us.”
Austin return from the international break with one more road game — at Sporting Kansas City on June 12 (3 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+) — before their anticipated home opener against the San Jose Earthquakes a week later.
“Eight games on the road, we know how that is in MLS,” Ring said. “We can’t wait to play in front of our fans because that will give us energy. I enjoy playing away in front of fans, but I can’t wait to get back home.”
