Mikkel Desler is one of three new Austin FC signings who have helped transform the club (Courtesy of Austin FC)
Sometimes things just aren’t quite finished when we’d like them to be.
Sometimes the dishes are still in the dishwasher when it’s time to serve dinner. Sometimes makeup is still in progress when you have to go to work. Sometimes the laundry has to be stuffed straight from the dryer into the suitcase without folding it nice and neatly for travel.
And if you happen to be the sporting director of a professional football team, sometimes the roster isn’t quite ready for the first 75% of the season.
Luckily for Austin FC, it doesn’t matter how you start. Major League Soccerit depends very much on how you finish.
The Verde and Black threaten to finish the 2024 season strong after an encouraging 2-0 away win against Nashville, TN to start the push towards a possible play-off place at the end of the season.
En route to victory at Geodis Park, Austin FC looked like a very different team than the one that won just two of its first 12 away games of the season. And that’s because it’s a very different team.
Functionally, at least. The sports director’s mid-season reinforcements Rodolfo Borrell – a dynamic DP winger in Osman Bukaria clever right-back in Mikkel Deslerand an experienced international central defender in Oleksandr Swatok – have reshaped the entire Verde squad in ways that go beyond simply adding talent.
Bukari was already a godsend for Josh Wolff‘s attacking system. Not only does the Ghanaian pose a goal threat from the flank, his unpredictability and dribbling ability in one-on-one situations also terrorize opposition defenses, drawing attention away from Austin’s other playmakers, most notably Sebastián Driussi.
Bukari’s inclusion in the starting eleven has also thrown the club’s top scorer out of the squad, Jader Obrianto the bench, giving Wolff a much-needed backup option towards the end of games.
The signing of Desler had a similar domino effect. Some ATX fans feared that the Dane’s arrival would come at the expense of the popular retrained full-back. Jon Gallagher‘s playing time. Instead, Wolff was able to move Gallagher back to his more natural position as a winger, unleashing the Irishman’s attacking instincts. The effect was immediate, as Gallagher scored Nashville’s first goal.
“Johnny can always step in as a full-back, left or right. That’s another reason why he’s so valuable to us,” said Wolff. “But as a winger he’s fast, he’s vertical, he wants to score goals. That’s how he is. That’s how he is.”
And although Svatok has yet to make his first appearance with ATXFC, his mere presence has already made an impact in the locker room and on the training ground. The game in Nashville marked the first time in 2024 that a healthy rotation player from ATXFC (in this case Julio Cascante) did not fit into the 20-man matchday squad.
“We have competition for the first time in a long time,” said Wolff. “We can maneuver the way we think gives the team the best chance of winning.”
Some would say this is a pretty important skill for a coach.
At the end of August of a season that began in February, Austin FC finally sounds like a club ready for the 2024 season.
That’s certainly good news, but with so little margin for error between Austin FC and a playoff spot, it could prove to be too little, too late.