Austin FC Skid Continues With Loss to FC Cincinnati

Austin FC striker Brandon Vázquez scored the club's only goal at TQL Stadium, which Vázquez once called home as a member of FC Cincinnati. (credit: Austin FC)

Austin’s Major League Soccer club is deep in a “wandering aimlessly through the forest” phase, showing little signs of finding its way back to the main trail.

On Saturday, the club fell by a score of 2-1 to Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium, as the host club’s big offseason DP acquisition single-handedly outperformed both of Austin’s.

The Verde and Black lost for the third consecutive time in MLS play, having won just one of its last six matches.

Here are our takeaways from the match.

Electric Evander

Evander showed exactly why Cincy shelled out $12+ million to the Portland Timbers in an offseason cash trade to purchase the talents of the Brazilian No. 10.

The 26-year-old terrorized Austin’s defense throughout the match, scoring a beauty of an opening goal and assisting on Gerardo Valenzuela’s winning goal. He led all players in the match with five key passes and continued what may materialize into an MVP-caliber season.

Evander banger to open the scoring in Cincinnati! 😤

📺 #MLSSeasonPass or Apple TV+: https://t.co/YkzehqTJX7 pic.twitter.com/XQpxEbp10E

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 11, 2025

Evander was aided in his escapades by Austin’s inability to keep a body on him defensively. In addressing that deficiency, ATX coach Nico Estévez gave Evander a very flattering – and absurdly overboard – comp.

“I think when you have to defend players like Evander, Messi, that caliber of players, you know, they still [make] plays against any team,” Estévez said.

Invisible Uzuni

Meanwhile, Austin had its own $12 million man on the pitch, though you’d be forgiven for not noticing.

Myrto Uzuni, scorer of just one goal in 10 MLS matches this season, was a total zero in 80 minutes of play in Cincinnati. Zero shots, 0.0 expected goals, and only 23 total touches, fewest of any Austin starter.

Uzuni’s strike partner, Brandon Vázquez, had a better day back at his old Cincy stomping grounds, and converted a 48th-minute penalty kick – gifted to ATXFC by way of an inexplicable Cincinnati handball on the edge of the box – for his third goal of the season and Austin’s first MLS goal in nearly 240 minutes of game action.

Fruitless Formation

Give credit to Estévez for experimenting with some new tactical concepts in hopes of shaking his club loose from its slump, though to no avail in this case.

The ATX coach played five defenders across the back line, including two nominal left backs, Žan Kolmanič and Guilherme Biro. The idea, as Estévez told it, was to give both Kolmanič and Biro the freedom to get forward into the attack when possible, and still have numbers back defensively to quell whatever opposing counter-attack might follow.

Estévez said he liked what he saw from the formation (perhaps a bit too much, in keeping with his theme of over-accentuating the positive). We’ll see if he rolls it out again when the club plays at home on short rest, Wednesday night against a struggling Atlanta United.

For more Austin FC news and analysis, visit The Austin Chronicle's Austin FC hub. Follow The Verde Report columnist Eric Goodman on X: @goodman.