A sputtering start: Austin FC drops its season opener to expansion club St. Louis City SC

This wasn’t the way Austin FC wanted to start the year.

El Tree fell 3-2 to expansion club St. Louis City SC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night, on opening day of the 2023 MLS season.

João Klauss’ goal in the 86th minute marked the game-winner for the visitors, who also received goals from Tim Parker and former Austin FC player Jared Stroud.

Sebastián Driussi and Jon Gallagher found the net for El Tree.

Here are some thoughts from a bad result for Austin FC, which will have a week to stew over this loss before hosting CF Montreal:

Kipp Keller had a rough game

Center back is officially a concern for Austin FC — and a big one at that.

Julio Cascante going down with an injury in the 10th minute was likely the worst thing that could have happened for Austin FC at the only position on the roster that was already thin.

Kipp Keller is a second-year player who's fine to have on the field for stretches of 10-20 minutes, but he’s not ready to be starting and playing full games.

And to put it bluntly, he had a very poor game after coming on for Cascante, getting beat or making a mistake on all three of St. Louis’ goals.

The most egregious play he made was his lack of awareness of Stroud being behind him on St. Louis’ second goal, where he passed the ball straight to Stroud attempting to get the ball to Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver, essentially gifting St. Louis a goal to tie the game 2-2.

Keller also was beaten badly in a one-on-one situation by Klauss on St. Louis’ winning goal, though credit has to be given to Klauss, who made a good move and had a great finish. It should also be noted that Klauss played for three very good European teams before coming to the MLS.

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Keller was also marking Parker on his goal, and while it’s debatable whether he should have gotten the ball or if Stuver should have made a better play on the corner kick, it was obvious Keller was a player St. Louis targeted in its play after he came on.

It’s not an insult to Keller to say he’s not ready to be a full-time starter or really shouldn’t be on the field for long stretches. The jump from college soccer to the MLS is one that takes most players a few years to make. Keller, 22, didn’t win a starting job in training camp and he’s making close to the league minimum salary-wise, so it’s not as if Austin FC has a large monetary stake in him being a key player.

But if Cascante is out for a long stretch, don’t be surprised if El Tree makes a move for another center back, or moves Alex Ring to the position. Ring played center back for long stretches during his time at New York City FC.

Driussi alone can make up for long stretches of subpar play

After the injury to Cascante, Austin FC looked very average for the rest of the half and a bit lost for stretches on how to attack, especially after falling behind 1-0 on Parker’s goal.

But settling a great long pass from Leo Väisänen and then making a phenomenal chip over St. Louis City FC goalie Roman Bürki after getting behind the defense, Driussi tied the game in first-half stoppage time.

However, it’s obvious Driussi was the focus of St. Louis defensively and the number of his touches on the ball was drastically reduced compared to last year.

Finding him more possession and touches will be key going forward, but it will be difficult as he will be the top focus of every opponent.

As expected, Owen Wolff gets the nod over Alex Ring

As noted to expect in our season preview article, Owen Wolff started over Ring at holding midfielder, Zan Kolmanic won the outside left back job over Gallagher and Emiliano Rigoni earned the starting nod at right-side winger.

Kolmanic had the best performance of the three, though he was also the first subbed off as Gallagher came on for him in the 67th minute.

Gallagher’s clinical strike off a give-and-go with Diego Fagúndez in the 72nd minute gave Austin FC a 2-1 lead and seemingly all the momentum before Keller’s ill-advised pass.

It’s noteworthy that Gallagher seemed to not be affected by losing his starting job as besides the goal, he was generally excellent.

Rigoni and Wolff were OK but will need to be better going forward.

What this loss means for El Tree

St. Louis City SC played well for an expansion club with a roster that, outside of a few players, isn’t all that impressive.

If this loss had happened for El Tree in mid-June, it wouldn’t be as big a deal, but a defeat in the first game of the season will be magnified.

There are 33 more games in the regular season, and one can’t overreact to a result one way or the other — especially with Cascante’s injury. The Montreal game isn’t a must-win, but Austin FC will want to avoid an 0-2 start at home.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin FC soccer team falls to St. Louis City SC in season opener