Zardes, Finlay score in third straight home game as Austin FC tops Kansas City

In arguably its best win of the season considering two of its three designated players didn’t touch the field and Sebastián Driussi left with an injury in the first half, Austin FC defeated Sporting Kansas City 2-1 Saturday night at Q2 Stadium.

Gyasi Zardes and Ethan Finlay scored for the third straight home game, and El Tree (9-9-5, 32 points) has won three in a row at home for the first time in club history.

Here are some thoughts from the match as Austin FC moves up to fifth place in the Western Conference and prepares to begin the inaugural Leagues Cup on Friday when it hosts Mazatlán FC:

Noteworthy win considering team's injuries

Emiliano Rigoni, Alex Ring, Leo Väisänen and Zan Kolmanic didn’t play, defensive midfielder Dani Pereira left with a shoulder injury in the 11th minute, and Driussi exited just before halftime with an injury, yet El Tree came away with the win and is in a good position in the standings with 11 games to go.

Sure, Kolmanic and Väisänen haven’t been available for a while, but it goes to show how Austin FC has weathered a barrage of injuries that never seem to stop.

And that’s something for which El Tree coach Josh Wolff deserves credit.

Jhojan Valencia and Rodney Redes both played well after coming on for Pereira and Driussi, something that was crucial for Austin FC to pull out the win. And while Kansas City isn’t a great team, it has a good enough roster to be in the playoffs and do some damage when healthy.

If Austin FC ever gets completely healthy, it’s going to be a tough matchup for anyone in the playoffs — assuming El Tree makes it.

Impressive back-to-back goals

Austin FC’s goals, both of which came in the first half, were quality.

Jon Gallagher’s assist to Zardes was a brilliant cross, with the latter staying after the ball and hitting it into the back of the net after Kansas City goalie Kendall McIntosh made a save on his initial header.

Less than two minutes later, Finlay had a nice one-touch shot on an impressive cross by Diego Fagundez that he hit from the outside of his right foot.

Zardes is expected to score and Fagundez is expected to provide assists, but it’s production from players like Gallagher and Finlay that have Austin FC in the position it’s in.

Injuries continue

In a season in which it has been decimated by injuries, things continue to get worse for Austin FC.

Rigoni is now out for a month with an MCL sprain he suffered vs. Vancouver, Pereira visibly had shoulder pain, and Driussi seemed to aggravate his leg muscle injury from Wednesday and was promptly subbed out.

Pereira and Driussi are the club’s two best field players, and Rigoni is a designated player, so in some ways this is a worst-case scenario.

However, the good news in this situation is Austin FC won’t play a league game until Aug. 20 with the Leagues Cup coming up, and if Wolff wants to play it safe over the next few weeks with his top players, one can’t blame him.

Making the best out of a tough roster situation

With all the injuries mentioned above, El Tree could easily be sitting near the bottom of the West.

The team could have stopped caring, Wolff could have blamed not having a complete roster available and the turmoil from the offseason, and the club could have started to look ahead to next year.

Instead, it’s four points away from being in a position to have home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Austin FC is by no means in the clear — it’s also only four points from being out of a playoff spot — but considering everything that’s happened the past eight months, being where it is is notable.

What was Peter Vermes doing?

Kansas City fans have to be wondering what exactly coach Peter Vermes’ strategy was to start the game.

Seventy-two hours after Vancouver pounded Austin FC with over-the-top balls and went at reserve center back Kipp Keller constantly during a 2-1 win, Kansas City came out and sat back defensively and played about as passively with the ball as you’ll see.

It wasn’t until they trailed 2-0 — at which point Austin FC had 80% possession — that the visitors showed any interest in attacking, which they were forced to do if they wanted any chance at points.

Vermes has led the club since 2009, he won the MLS Cup once and the U.S. Open Cup three times, and he actually coached Josh Wolff in his second stint in Kansas City, but this was about as baffling a coaching strategy as you’ll ever see.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: El Tree has first 3-game home winning streak after topping Kansas City