The Verde Report: Austin FC Makes SXSW Rounds Ahead of Marquee Match Against Seattle Sounders
On The Call Up podcast, Claudio Reyna cheers ATXFC fanbase
By Eric Goodman, Fri., March 18, 2022
The first in-person South by Southwest conference since the birth of Austin FC was awash with Verde as the city's first major pro sports team rolled up its sleeves and got busy. Austin FC players Brad Stuver, Jared Stroud, Damian Las, and Charlie Asensio, along with sporting director Claudio Reyna, color commentator Michael Lahoud, and eMLS player John "xVERDE" Garcia, were all included among the festival's official speakers and participants as the club took full advantage of the unique opportunity that is synonymous with March in Austin.
Lahoud and Stuver – the latter well-known around town for his work with the Laundry Project, providing free laundry days to members of the community who are in need – espoused the need for, and benefits of, athletes investing time into their communities. Stroud, Las, and Asensio posed for photos with fans of soccer both real-life and digital at the eMLS Cup final, which drew a Moody Theater crowd so large that the admission line snaked all the way down Willie Nelson Boulevard. Inside, xVERDE suffered a hard-luck loss in extra time of his first-round match, but that only temporarily silenced the boisterous crowd, which stuck around to the bitter end.
As far as Austin FC itself was concerned, however, it was Reyna's appearance on Major League Soccer's The Call Up podcast that was of greatest interest. For anyone still wondering what the club's own expectations for itself are in 2022, Reyna spelled it out plain and simple.
"The easy [answer] in terms of something to achieve is making the playoffs," Reyna told hosts Jillian Sakovits and Susannah Collins. Reyna also shed light on the club's approach to camaraderie and team chemistry, something that the former Team USA captain and English Premier League player asserted is "always talked about, but often underrated."
"We're not a club that has a bunch of rules," Reyna said, alluding to the freedom that the club prefers to grant players to be themselves. "We talk about norms, which are behavioral. And so, you have to respect each other, you have to let people speak."
By now, Verde fans have heard enough times how well the atmosphere at Q2 Stadium stacks up to the rest of MLS. But Reyna capped off the interview with a comparison that would flatter even the most bullish member of Los Verdes. "The best stadium I ever played in is Anfield in Liverpool because you literally feel that the fans are watching every second and every detail," Reyna said. "That's something that I feel, from my experiences being at a lot of stadiums, that we have here [in Austin]. We have a fan base that's watching, that's making a lot of noise, and it's special."
That fan base will be at full throat at 4:55pm on Sunday (March 20) when El Tree kicks off against the Seattle Sounders at Q2 Stadium (nationally televised on FS1) in what is, by far, the club's most important appearance during SXSW week. After a pair of dominant victories against Eastern Conference minnows FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami CF, Austin FC hit the road for the first time last weekend and got stuck with a harsh 1-0 loss to the defending Western Conference champions, Portland Timbers.
The jury is very much still out on exactly how much improved the club is from its 9-21-4 record in its inaugural season. The Sounders, who have never missed the MLS Cup Playoffs since joining the league in 2009, are the best possible benchmark to learn what this version of Austin FC is really made of.
