Austin FC finds itself in an early hole with first loss, key injury, defense to solve
One good aspect of Austin FC’s busy schedule this season is that when bad results happen — like its 3-2 loss to expansion club St. Louis City SC in the season opener — the next game comes quickly.
El Tree will return to the field Saturday night at Q2 Stadium against CF Montreal to begin a stretch in which it will play five times in 14 days, and understandably, the focus during head coach Josh Wolff’s weekly meeting with the media was on plans for his defense.
Starting center back Julio Cascante will miss at least two months with a groin injury he suffered in the opener, and after Kipp Keller’s subpar performance in the loss, Wolff noted that the team basically lost two center backs in one game as he’ll rest Keller to allow him to recover mentally.
The situation leaves El Tree desperately thin at the position with only one true MLS-ready center back, Leo Väisänen, and Wolff said the club is looking at all options, including using midfielder Alex Ring at the spot or moving right back Nick Lima to the middle.
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“Those are two guys we’re considering, but we’re also looking internationally and looking inside the league” to sign another player, Wolff said. “Kipp has been so reliable and so consistent for us since coming here, so we’ll see how he is and maybe that recovery is quicker than expected.”
Possibly moving Lima to the middle of the defense presents an interesting dynamic for El Tree.
Jon Gallagher, who scored Austin FC’s second goal against St. Louis, would start at right back and allow El Tree to still field a very respectable back four, but it would leave few options off the bench for any defensive position, especially with recently signed Amro Tarek and Adam Lundkvist still not up to speed.
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Ring played some center back in his time with New York City FC, but moving him there takes away the possibility of him starting in the midfield or being the top option off the bench.
Both Lima and Ring are shorter than the 6 feet most teams prefer for center backs, but the situation Austin FC finds itself in doesn’t allow for worry about that dynamic. The club will just have to deal with being vulnerable to crosses in the air.
Montreal lost 2-0 to Inter Miami in its first game and, similar to El Tree, is extremely thin on defense due to numerous injuries.
But as usual, Wolff said that the focus for Austin FC is more on itself and that there’s certainly no panic after one game.
“We want to keep building,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of progress in the preseason … and we looked at the St. Louis game, reflected and now keep moving forward.”
Wolff: Jhohan Romaña isn't an option to help with defense
Romaña isn't an option: Wolff clarified that calling back defender Jhohan Romaña, whom the team loaned out to Paraguayan side Club Olimpia two weeks ago, is not an option to help the defensive depth.
Romaña wanted more playing time, and Wolff didn’t hide the fact that the club wasn’t happy with his fitness.
“I think it was always going to be a struggle getting playing time, and we saw what he was last year,” Wolff said. “He came into training camp overweight and then had an injury that was not related to anything other than normal workloads. … It’s a reliability thing.”
About that Kipp Keller pass in the opener ...
Stroud called for the ball: On Keller’s ill-advised pass back to St. Louis forward Jared Stroud last week that led to his easy goal, Wolff noted that other Austin FC players said Stroud called for the ball.
It makes the play by Keller more understandable as Stroud played for Austin FC the past two years and his voice was familiar. And while it isn’t against the rules, it’s pretty bad form from Stroud to do so.
After Montreal, it's off to the Dominican Republic
No rest for El Tree: It’ll be a quick turnaround for Austin FC after Saturday night.
El Tree will head to the Dominican Republic to play Haitian side Violette FC on Tuesday in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League. It’s a two-legged draw, meaning Austin FC will host the second contest March 14.
“It’ll be a different experience playing a team not in their own country on turf, then going from there to (play Real Salt Lake) at altitude,” Wolff said. “We’ll see what comes out of (Saturday’s) game and where we are physically and start to create our plan from there … but it’s great to be a part of the competition.”
The next two weeks will test Austin FC both physically and from a roster standpoint, but Wolff noted it’s nothing he and the club haven’t been through before.
“It is challenging, but during COVID we had an extremely congested schedule,” Wolff said. “I think we learned a lot from that and banked a lot of data. … We’re going to have to utilize 19 or 20 guys. We’re not at a place physically where we can run the same 11 out there” all the time.
Saturday's match
CF Montreal (0-1) at Austin FC (0-1), 7:30 p.m., Q2 Stadium, Apple TV / 97.5
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Julio Cascante's injury leaves Austin FC in a defensive pickle
