While not much went the Verdes way against Vancouver, fans did get a glimpse of Austin FC’s future in the form of rookie defensive anchor Freddy Kleemann.
At the 71′ mark on Saturday night, Kleeman subbed for injured center back Matt Besler to register his first-ever MLS minutes.
If his name sounds unfamiliar, it’s because Kleemann’s mostly spent his new pro career on loan to USL side Birmingham Legion FC. The University of Washington product was the second pick for El Tree and No. 11 overall pick in the SuperDraft.
Not his only substitution of the night, Freddy also replaced Seba Driussi as the player representative in the post-match press conference where he got to talk about his major league debut.
“It’s awesome to to make my debut but honestly the one thing going through my head is that the guys worked really hard for me and put everything out there on the field so my goal was to do the same thing.”
Freddy Kleeman on his MLS debut
What’s next for Kleemann?
With Austin FC’s playoff chances looking bleak, and aging MLS vet Matt Besler getting little relief during a grueling stretch of games, we expect to see Freddy Kleemann’s minutes increase in the next several regular season matches. Likely not an out-and-out starter, it makes sense to get him into the defensive rotation just as Wolff has done with Romana in recent weeks.