Wasatch Soccer Sentinel
Phil West of Austin FC publication Verde All Day took some time to answer our questions about Saturday's Real Salt Lake home match. We talk Christian Ramirez, Facundo Torres, and why he's not exactly feeling optimistic ahead of the meeting.
How has Austin FC changed from 2025? Any new acquisitions that RSL fans should be worried about?
Head coach Nico Estévez has pledged more attacking and exciting soccer, while keeping the defensive principles that allowed Verde to return to the playoffs after two seasons away. The highest-profile player in is Facundo Torres, who has been deployed an an ACM rather than at his customary winger position so far this season. You can see the talent that allowed him to get 72 goal contributions between 2022 and 2024 in Orlando — before he took a year to develop at Palmeiras — but injuries have kept out key players like Owen Wolff and Mikkel Desler who could fully unlock him. Austin also went the cash-for-trade route to get Jayden Nelson from Vancouver and Joseph Rosales from Minnesota to raise the talent floor. But Wolff's slow recovery from sports hernia surgery at the start of preseason has kept the team incomplete, so it'll still be a few more weeks before we fully see the vision. (Unless the vision really does include Rosales playing right wing, which is a thing Estévez has been doing.)
Landing Christian Ramírez on a free seems like a bit of a coup from the outside looking in. Is it? Or is he just an aging depth piece?
Sporting director Rodolfo Borrell put his bid in for Ramírez at the final hour in the waivers process, essentially gaming it like a last-minute eBay bid. Yes, he's 34, but his game-winning goal against D.C. — being thrown on just two days after arriving in Austin, getting just one practice in — shows his instincts for scoring. With Brandon Vázquez at least a few more weeks away recovering from last summer's ACL injury, and Myrto Uzuni continuing to be an enigmatic DP striker — perhaps you're familiar with that — it's certainly better to have Ramírez than to not have him. And he's already saying things endearing him to fans, including hinting he'll get a tattoo of whatever trophy Austin may be able to win this year. (Remember, this team did get to the U.S. Open Cup final last year, and it looks like a less intimidating group of teams this year. If Verde's in line for a trophy this year, it's that.)
What's giving you optimism ahead of Saturday? Do Austin FC seem like a side that could win on the road against RSL?
I think a fully fit side could win on the road against RSL, but that's not what we have right now. The Dani Pereira hamstring injury (out for at least a month, we learned Thursday) is especially bad, as with Wolff already out, Austin's lacking a solid ball progresser. I do think that both Torres and Uzuni are due for matches where they can show their ability to score, and they're both players who can theoretically create for themselves. I also think, with Guilherme Biro out on a red card suspension, we might see Rosales as a left wingback in a five-back system, and I could see him and Nelson doing some things to create. Yet I'm, at present, concerned with how RSL's been outpacing their xPoints and goals added differential and that Austin's been playing exactly to theirs ... but given how the league likes to return teams to the Murky Middle, this seems prime for at least an Austin draw if not a return-RSL-to-Earth-a-bit win.
