Austin FC scores three goals to rally past Houston Dynamo to claim best record in MLS

Austin FC dominated the second half Tuesday as it completed a season sweep of rival Houston Dynamo with a 3-1 win at Q2 Stadium.

Diego Fagúndez, Maxi Urruti and Alex Ring all scored for El Tree, which fell behind early before reeling off three unanswered goals and now has the best record in the MLS.

Here are some observations from the game as Austin FC has arguably its biggest game in club history on deck Saturday when it travels north to play FC Dallas for the Copa Tejas title. Thanks to Tuesday’s victory, the team only needs a tie to claim the trophy while Dallas has to win.

More:Missing key players, Austin FC flashes the depth that will be key for upcoming stretch

Diego Fagúndez's dead ball goal pitch perfect

Fagúndez’s goal off a free kick was about as perfect a shot as a player can take.

Worthy of comparison to some shots David Beckham made a decade or so ago, Fagúndez cleared the wall with ease and put the ball in the goal’s upper right-corner, leaving Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark just to watch.

Austin FC isn’t missing much as a team this season, and if Fagúndez can be consistently effective with free kicks, it just adds to El Tree’s well-roundedness.

Goals (and almost goals) galore for Austin FC

Austin FC’s second and third goals were due to quality soccer.

Sebastián Driussi assisted on Urruti’s score by winning a 50-50 ball outside the box, then smartly gave the wide-open Urruti a well-placed pass, which he deftly curved into the lower corner of the goal.

Ring’s goal came from a header off a perfect cross to the far post from Ethan Finlay which followed a brilliant build-up by several players.

Austin was unlucky to not score more, as in the final 15 minutes — when at points it looked like Austin FC was just toying with Houston — it had several chances, including Urruti missing a near-point-blank shot following an impressive run of play that included a back-heel pass by Fagundez.

Substitute Rodney Redes also had two close shots in the box stopped by Clark, so this game easily could have been 6-1.

More:Austin FC in pole position for first trophy with Dallas, Houston rivalry matches this week

Depth continues to shine for team

As noted before, the roster Austin FC has put together this year continues to impress with its significant depth.

Starting left back Jon Gallagher missed the game due to illness, and Zan Kolmanic — making his first appearance since late May — played the entire 90 minutes in a quality performance.

Right back Hector Jiménez left the game with an injury in the 20th minute, which brought on Nick Lima, who continued his solid season of play.

Kolmanic and Lima both have tons of starting experience and are good players, but it’s notable when two of your players at one position — in this case outside back — are unavailable for most of the game and it doesn’t affect the team at all.

More:A positional change of scenery is paying off for Austin FC defender Jon Gallagher

Alex Ring shows why he's the captain

Since the nearly three-week break in the schedule from late May through mid-June, midfielder and captain Alex Ring has been terrific.

Ring was questioned in this space after a somewhat average show in form during May, but he’s returned to the quality play he showed at the beginning of the season, and playing in his more defensive midfielder position may have something to do with that.

Sebastián Driussi tabbed as all-star

Austin FC has its first Major League Soccer all-star in club history, and to no one’s surprise it’s Driussi.

With 11 goals and five assists so far this season, Driussi, an MVP candidate, will be part of an MLS all-star team that faces a team of players from Liga MX on Aug. 11 in Minneapolis.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin FC vs Houston Dynamo: Scores, highlights, recap