Austin FC supporters have been riding a rollercoaster over the past few seasons, yo-yo-ing from the bottom of the table to the top and right back down again. Aiming to return to a competitive level in 2024, this season hasn’t followed the early bounceback blueprint.
Verde remains winless through five matches as the managerial seat for head coach Josh Wolff continues growing warmer with each passing day despite backing from new sporting director Rodolfo Borrell who, in his first full season with the club, blames the failed roster build for any failures more than the manager.
In an effort to gain an inside perspective on the current situation in Austin, SBI caught up with Austin FC original Julio Cascante on international duty with his country, Costa Rica, before he returned home to Austin.
“It’s been tough,” he admitted of Austin’s poor start to the season. “Now that I’m heading home, the only thing that I can do is just go and help my teammates, help everyone to try to turn this all around and be a better team because that’s the only way that we can go.”
In 2022, Austin FC produced their breakout season with a second-place finish in the Western Conference. Led by now-captain Sebastian Driussi, who scored 25 goals that season in a Best XI campaign, Verde showed potential to be the latest expansion side success story under Wolff.
When regression to the mean hit in 2023, however, Austin returned to a near-bottom finish in the West. Driussi only managed 11 league goals last year but the team’s problems extended beyond just their star.
“[We] missed some players,” Cascante highlighted. “Having Ruben [Gabrielsen] back in 2022 was a big addition because he was an experienced guy in the defense.”
Along with transfers out such as Gabrielsen, the Texas team faced injury hurdles in the back line with medium-term injuries to Cascante himself, Alex Ring, Kipp Keller, and Adam Lundqvist, as well as suffering long-term…
Source link : https://sbisoccer.com/2024/03/julio-cascante-is-ready-to-work-work-work-to-get-austin-fc-back-on-track
Author : Justin Ruderman
Publish date : 2024-03-29 13:28:07
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