Austin FC entered the week with 23 points from 18 games in 2024, an average of 1.28 points per game. (Courtesy of Austin FC)
It’s been an up-and-down season for Austin FC so far.
The club is Western Conference It rose to third place, but this week it has fallen to mid-ranked eighth place. Real Salt Lake And that Colorado Rapids.
With the new MLS playoff format implemented last season, 18 of the league’s 29 teams (62% for those keeping track) will play some form of postseason soccer, but Austin FC can still claim to be safely in the playoff zone as the second half of the season begins.
From day one, the feelings of those involved in the club, whether it was the manager or Josh WolfSports Director Rodolfo Borrellor however many players there are, has consistently reflected that their only goal going into the ’24 season is to make the playoffs, whatever that may be.
“We want to get over the top line,” Wolf reiterated Tuesday, “so this season starts with knowing what happened preseason, what happened offseason, what our roster was like and what we decided to do this year from a roster standpoint.”
“I’m very happy with where we are at the halfway point.”
Wolf’s pragmatic tendencies aren’t for everyone and can come across as self-congratulatory at times, and while Austin FC have never really been a standout in the league this season, the club have also managed to perform well with more regularity than most people expected going into the season.
ATXFC has earned 23 points in their first 18 games for an average of 1.28 points per game. If we extrapolate that pace over the full 34-game season, the Verde and Black would score between 43-44 points.
That’s a pretty fortuitous number: Since Austin FC joined MLS in 2021, the average number of points needed to finish in the top nine in the West is exactly 44. Austin has straddled that line with Wallenda-like accuracy.
In all likelihood, clubs will fall below that line for a month before MLS goes on its second season break. League Cup tournament. (They may already be doing that, depending on the outcome of Wednesday night’s matchup.) Los Angeles FC The match took place at Q2 Stadium before this column was printed.
Not only will ATXFC face stiff competition between now and then, but both clubs are also struggling with personnel shortages. Dani Pereira and Julio Cascante Away Copa America Obligation.
Austin are not the only club to be without key players for international matches but El Tree cannot afford any absences given Wolff’s reserve depth is already thinner than other clubs.
The hope is that at the end of August, when the league resumes for the final nine games of the season, Austin FC will not only be fully recovered again, but reinforcements will have arrived. Osman Bukhari Experienced right-back Mikkel Dessler Both will be eligible to join the ATX squad towards the end of the season, with Borel apparently also working on other reinforcements.
A playoff berth for Austin FC means more to Wolf than he does to himself, and the best way to solidify his status as ATX head coach in 2025 for a fifth year would be to achieve the only goal the club has in sight this year.
