Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Austin FC

Orlando City has endured a difficult start to league play in 2024, but every match presents a springboard from which to turn the season around, and the only way out is through. This week, the Lions return to the comforting confines of The City Beautiful, and welcome Austin FC to town.

In order to familiarize ourselves with an Austin team that OCSC doesn’t see a lot of, I turned to Phil West, who runs Verde All Day, an independent publication that covers all things Austin FC. I also took the time to answer some of his questions about Orlando City, so make sure you head on over and check that out, along with the rest of the good work that he’s doing.

Walk me through Austin’s off-season transfer business. Who were some big names that arrived and some big names that left?

Phil West: So, Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell made clear it’s a rebuild by jettisoning a lot of meh-or-worse players at the end of the 2023 season, most notably Maxi Urruti (who went from nine goals in 2022 to just one in 2023, albeit a game-winner in Week 2; also, he peaked in Week 2), and Memo Rodriguez, a fine utility player who came to Austin in the trade that dumped Diego Fagundez’s million-dollar salary onto the Galaxy. The biggest names Austin managed were Diego Rubio (who had a 16-goal/seven-assist season for the Rapids in 2022 but a harder-luck ’23) and Jader Obrian (who Austin grabbed in the Re-Entry Draft after Dallas let him loose). Austin also got back line depth pieces in Brandon Hines-Ike (part of a D.C. United house clearing) and Brazilian fullback Guilherme Biro (older and less splashy than the Guilherme Biro with Corinthians; there’s some confusion, including for those who manage the league’s player data).

How have the new arrivals looked to start the season? Has anyone in particular caught your eye?

PW: I love Rubio. If you consider Driussi a second striker who crashes the box to do his best work, Rubio is at once now the best 9 and best 10 on this team, plus he’s got close to Felipe-level ‘housery in his toolbox, but he likes media members far more. He scored his first goal last weekend while still working up to full fitness, and I expect him to be in the 15-20 goal contribution range by season’s end.

We’ve gotten wildly different versions of Austin during each of its three seasons in MLS, with a second-place finish in the Western Conference sandwiched between a pair of 12th-place finishes. It’s early, but what sort of season do you expect the team to have in 2024?

PW: I don’t think they’re as bad as 12th, but I’m also not sure they’ve quite got the talent at present to make the playoffs. The consensus around Austin is that Claudio Reyna, the team’s first sporting director, made some really bad signings, and Head Coach Josh Wolff basically told media that Reyna was checked out in his final transfer window with the club because his son wasn’t getting enough minutes from Gregg Berhalter, who also happens to be really tight with the one person Reyna was reporting to. This team’s still a few good signings away from truly competing in the West, but when you have a top-five ‘keeper in Brad Stuver, it’s not entirely hopeless

Are there any players who will be unavailable due to injury, suspension, call-ups, etc.? What is your projected starting XI and score prediction?

PW: Both Julio Cascante and Dani Pereira were called up for international duty, which makes the back line a little thinner than we feared they might be with injuries to both Leo Vaisanen (plantar fasciitis) and Zan Kolmanic (hamstring).

I think we’ll see something like: Brad Stuver; Jon Gallagher, Julio Cascante, Brendan Hines-Ike, Hector Jimenez; Jhojan Valencia, Alex Ring, Sebastian Driussi; Ethan Finlay, Diego Rubio, Jader Obrian. I see this being a 1-1 that leaves everyone unhappy. Soccer!

Thank you to Phil for helping bring us up to speed on Austin FC. Vamos Orlando!