Bohls: New Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes is more blond than bland addition
Gyasi Zardes is already fitting in with his new home.
And why wouldn’t he?
He’s already rocking the platinum blond hairstyle that makes him fit in completely. Of course, he’s had that hair statement going since 2008.
So in actuality, the new Austin FC forward who was the club’s biggest marquee acquisition in the offseason actually was the trailblazer before new teammate Diego Fagúndez went all-blond with the Verde and Black.
So you’ve got the blond thing going, Gyasi (pronounced Jah-see).
“Yeah, but so has somebody else,” Zardes said Monday as the Major League Soccer club prepared for its season opener against St. Louis next Saturday. “A couple do.”
It’s true. At least two others, star forward Sebastián Driussi and second-year midfielder Danny Pereira, have channeled the blond look this winter. Defender Zan Kolmanic was a blond last year. More blond than bland on this team.
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All eyes on Zardes, but not because of the hair
Still, for other reasons, Zardes stands out on an MLS team that, well, stands out.
For one, the 31-year-old is a very talented, proven striker with rich pedigree because he helped bring MLS Cup championships to both the LA Galaxy and the Columbus Crew. He’s an experienced international player who debuted for the U.S. men’s national team in 2015 and has 14 goals on that stage. He’s been in the MLS 11 years with four different teams, including Colorado, where he played last year, and ranks 13th among active MLS players with 97 career goals.
He’s so idolized in his hometown of Hawthorne, Calif. — which also spawned a decent garage band you might have heard of, the Beach Boys — that the city erected a mural celebrating Zardes’ exploits. He’s such an athlete that he played football, basketball and baseball before migrating to soccer despite that city’s curious ban on the sport at local parks.
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He left his mark there as well as at Cal State Bakersfield, where he scored 33 times in 37 matches and met his future wife, Maddie. He played for the LA Galaxy Academy, moved up the ladder to the big club and ultimately became the highest-scoring homegrown product in the league, surpassing the output of Fagúndez, of all players.
Yeah, pretty decent résumé, even if his breakout year with 19 goals came back in 2018.
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'It's a great culture here'
Now he joins a franchise in just its third year of existence and eagerly looks forward to playing in front of frenzied crowds at Q2 Stadium and delighting a fan base that had a 97% season ticket renewal rate for the second consecutive year.
“Everybody’s been so welcoming and inviting,” Zardes said. “It’s a great culture here. Everybody prepares to help make everyone else better. There’s no egos here.”
That said, an ego or two would be understandable since last year Driussi flirted with the league's MVP award won by Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar. And Austin FC was picked to finish near the bottom of its conference but stunned the MLS world by reaching the Western Conference finals, where it fell to eventual Cup champion LAFC. It’s got more than its share of stars with Driussi, Fagúndez, Max Urruti, defender Alex Ring and goalkeeper Brad Stuver.
Zardes and fellow newcomer Will Bruin will bring much-needed depth and additional offensive firepower to El Tree and should relieve Driussi of some of the burden on the back of the team’s lone All-Star.
“That’s part of the hope,” third-year head coach Josh Wolff said of the new arrivals.
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Wolff should know what Zardes and Bruin are capable of. He’s more familiar with Zardes since he coached the talented striker as an assistant coach for Columbus. But both players had big contributions for MLS Cup champions, with Bruin taking the Cup in Seattle.
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“We’ve got to continue to build out our depth, so we’ve added some players I think that will help in certain areas,” Wolff said. “I think there are some new faces that can have a more prominent role.”
Besides Zardes and Bruin, Austin FC added Finnish center back Leo Väisänen, midfielder Sofiane Djeffal, left back Adam Lundqvist, center back Amro Tarek, forwards CJ Fodrey and Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez and goalie Matt Bersano.
“We’ve added a lot of new faces,” Wolff said of the nine additions to the roster. "There are two guys that have really come in and made an impact immediately. I think Leo and Gyasi have come in and done an extremely good job. I think they're calm. Leo has a good, clear picture as to how we can play, and Gyasi is quite familiar with both our offensive and defensive structure. So he's come in pretty quickly and seamlessly been able to to execute a good fit. But those two guys certainly stand out.”
As a former striker, Wolff understands the mentality of the position and should be able to use Zardes not only to score goals but to take some of the heat off Driussi, the MVP runner-up who put 22 balls in the net during the regular season and three in Austin’s three-game playoff string before a 3-0 loss to LAFC.
Of course, this is a progressive-looking club that wasn’t interested in resting on its considerable laurels.
“We obviously have three strikers with a lot of experience, a lot of years playing in this league,” said Driussi, who signed a new three-year deal with Austin FC last week. “That’s very good for the team.”
Zardes, Wolff have a history
Zardes was immediately attracted to Austin FC because of its aggressive style of play.
“They led the league with the most crosses they were able to produce,” he said. “The style of play gives players numerous opportunities to score. It’s definitely a team that dictates a lot of the game. Your eyes are open wide when you hear about Austin.”
When he and Wolff crossed paths in Columbus in the 2018 season, the 6-foot-2 forward earned the league’s comeback player of the year award with an impressive 19 goals. The two were paired up again the next year when both had roles on the U.S. men’s national team in 2019. Gyasi had six goals in 14 appearances that season and has put 14 balls in the net in 67 matches with the USMNT.
“I’ve worked well with Wolffy in the past,” Zardes said. “And I had one of my best years of my career with him.”
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Gyasi is 31 now but took slight offense when asked how much he’s still got in the tank. This will be his 13th season in the MLS.
“We’re still getting there, but we’re hitting the right markers,” Zardes said. “My body feels good. I’m trying to play till I’m 40.”
Will a new season bring the same success?
The kind of energy and depth he brings will help Austin FC in a big way, especially at the start of the season since the Verde will have seven matches in the first month. In addition, it will slug through four different competitions. Besides the 34-game MLS schedule, Austin will have to make it through the CONCACAF, the U.S. Open Cup and the League Cup, meaning Verde could sweat out 50 matches or more, counting the postseason.
But Austin is gearing up for the long haul, knowing many eyes will be on it after last year’s deep run.
“What we did last year was good,” Stuver said, “but we’ve switched the narrative from the underdog to people seeing us as a threat with a target on our backs. It’s definitely a good problem to have.”
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Zardes and the others welcome the attention, even if they will have to get acclimated to a new style.
“The structure of the team is much different than it was in Columbus,” Zardes said. “He’s added a few wrinkles to the formations. But he’s always been hungry to score. He wants us to score four, five, six goals a game. He wants us to produce more and more and more.”
That would be in keeping with last year, when Austin put up five goals in each of its first two matches to set the tone for the entire season.
Of course, Zardes won’t have to wait until Saturday or later to score his first goal at Q2 Stadium.
He checked that off the list when he put the winner in the net off a cross in the 86th minute against Qatar in a Gold Cup semifinal for a 1-0 victory. So he’s already got that out of the way.
“I remember the atmosphere here was incredible,” Zardes said. “And in one of our preseason matches, they were playing music for all 120 minutes. I can only imagine what the games will be like once the season starts. But I can’t wait to open the season, and it’s coming fast.”
Saturday's opener
St. Louis City SC at Austin FC, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes is ready to make his El Tree debut
