Austin FC rallied after a slow start to win comfortably, 4-1. They went on the road, and after 30 minutes of watching a ton of Minnesota opportunities miss, Austin got the scoring party going as they scored two before the half and added two more in the second half.

It was a tale of two teams. One team that was able to finish its chances and one team that couldn’t. The Verde and Black were the team able to capitalize and take home three points.

After a lineup change before the match, the only change from last week was Kipp Keller getting the start for Alex Ring, who was marked out due to a groin injury.

Who Is Stepping Up?

Sebastian Driussi delivered an MVP performance that reminded us of 2022. Driussi had two goals on the night and delivered a beautiful assist to Emiliano Rigoni for the fourth goal. Give some credit to Rigoni who has seemed to be regressing throughout the season but delivered a goal off the bench in the late moments.

Brad Stuver had another great night in the box, as he had six saves and 12 recoveries. He kept it at bay early, which gave this team a fighting chance. He continues to deliver great performances, which shows that he was an MLS all-star snub.

Dani Pereira and Ethan Finlay both delivered good performances in the attack as they both ended the night with an earned assist. Dani will miss against Vancouver on suspension of yellow card accumulation.

It was Dani’s assist to Diego Fagundez for the first goal on the night that seemed to turn the switch in this game. His presence and consistency will be dearly missed on the road.

Nick Lima had a good night and showed why he is a key starter as he had some huge clearances that saved at least one goal.

Overall, a good performance from the squad after a less than ideal start to the match.

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Who Is Dropping Off?

Kipp Keller got the start in place for Ring and had some shaky moments. He looks to be improving some, but is still not fully ready to be a weekly starting CB in this league. I am glad he is getting minutes, but with depth issues in the back, I am curious to see when and if the front office brings in anyone to elevate that back line.

Julio Cascante looked sluggish out of the gate and a step behind. But he did look better as the match progressed. Both Keller and Cascante are lucky Minnesota didn’t take advantage of their early opportunities; that would have had the Verde chasing the game.

This is a match I thought would have had a longer drop-off list, but the guys turned it around and really delivered some nice performances. I don’t have a lot of negative takeaways.

Owen Wolff still seems kind of invisible to me. Not necessarily poor performances, but you can tell he is still young and progressing into the player we know he will be.

The team continues the road trip with a match in Vancouver on Wednesday at 9:30 pm. Can the guys continue their winning ways, but this time without Dani Pereira?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Cover image courtesy Apple TV