Football Season Guide

After miserable first campaign since the team’s creation Austin did much better in only their second MLS season in 2022. The Texans finished second in the Western Conference after solid regular season. Then, they won their first play-off series only to lose to the future champions Los Angeles FC in the Western Conference final. The main reason for the much better season were the hugely improved forward actions. In 2021 scored just 35 goals, in 2022 scored 65. During the off-season coach Wolff, in charge since the club was created back in 2020, was busy with plenty of goings and incomings. The main areas that were strengthened were the defence and the attack. Gabrielsen and Djitte were the 2 most important departures. They were replaced with quality signings. All of the new boys Väisänen, Tarek, Lundqvist and Zardes are potential regular starters for Austin this season. The one area where Austin lack depth is midfield. That said, they used 2 of their 3 draft picks to add French midfielders (Noël and Djeffal) and they should provide some cover for the main 3 in that zone Valencia-Pereira-Ring. In his first season at the club Driussi scored 22 goals and together with his countrymen Rigoni and Urruit he remains the main hope up front. Austin certainly have some quality players and decent depth to be challenging for top places again. The big question is can they improve defensively with this serious weakness of theirs in both 2021 and 2022.