Derby disappointment: Austin FC loses to FC Dallas 1-0
Saturday night's derby ended up being a disappointment for Austin FC.
El Tree fell to rival FC Dallas 1-0 at Q2 Stadium as Dallas' Jesús Ferreira scored on a breakaway off a brilliant through ball from Tsiki Ntsabeleng in the 89th minute to mark the difference in the contest.
Here are some thoughts from the match as Austin FC heads to Seattle on Wednesday not having won in eight straight MLS matches:
A red card changed the whole match
The game turned in the 54th minute when Rodney Redes received his second yellow card to be sent off, forcing El Tree to play with 10 men the remainder of the match.
It wasn’t a brutal foul, but it was a deserved card, and Redes has to show more awareness of being in a situation of playing with a yellow. His challenge was ill-advised under those circumstances, and it was a decision that drastically changed the match.
Austin FC generally played well with a man disadvantage, and FC Dallas’ goal came on a bit of bad luck.
A challenge by Ethan Finlay, who entered the game less than a few minutes earlier, led to a touch on the ball that unintentionally went straight to Dallas and started the passes that led to Ferreira’s goal.
Penalty deserved?
It’s arguable that contact from behind on Dani Pereira in the Dallas box in the second half should have yielded a penalty for El Tree.
Reaction from the media in the press box was mixed, but Pereira clearly received contact from behind from a Dallas player who failed to touch the ball. The replays didn’t show a great angle, but it was a call that didn’t go Austin FC’s way and was another decision from referee Ismail Elfath that changed the course of the game.
More: Austin FC opens U.S. Open Cup play with win over New Mexico United
The explanation after the game from the pool reporter request by the officials of, “The contact between the two players was judged by the referee not to be a foul,” borders on laughable.
Defense continues to be stout
For the first 88 minutes, the defense was again solid for Austin FC.
Center backs Alex Ring, Julio Cascante and Leo Väisänen all started and played the entire match, while Adam Lundqvist had a very good game for the second straight week and Jon Gallagher was solid. Defense hasn’t been the problem for El Tree this year, which with its injury issues, is a credit to the depth of the defensive roster.
More: What went wrong in Austin FC's first 10 matches of the season? Let us count the ways.
Man of the match: Alex Ring
Ring continued his trend of high-quality play on the backline and even had a shot in the first half that just missed being a goal. The club would be in bad shape if he wasn’t as flexible to play as many positions on the field as he is.
A tale of two halves
The first half was highly entertaining soccer. Both teams were getting up and down the field and creating scoring chances, with neither finding the net.
If there were any fans new to the sport, it was a fantastic advertisement.
However, the second half was bogged down for the most part and not overly entertaining. It’s not unusual for the flow of play to change drastically in soccer, but it was interesting to observe the dynamic Saturday.
Points are needed
It’s hard to be too critical of El Tree as the team played well in the first half, where it generally had the better run of play, and seemed headed toward a tie late in the second half.
But at some point, you are what your record says you are, and 11 games into the season Austin FC is 2-5-4 with 10 points and sits in 12th place in the Western Conference. El Tree needs to start accumulating points, and that needs to be sooner than later.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 10-man Austin FC lose derby match to FC Dallas
