Three goals down, and somehow it still felt familiar
Austin FC were 3–0 down at home to San Diego FC on Saturday and drew 3–3 (1) (3). Christian Ramírez scored twice late to rescue a point (3). That is eight league games unbeaten, a new club record, past the seven set in 2022 (Reddit, 3). Read the scoreline again, because it tells you everything about this team. The rally was brilliant. Needing a rally from three down at home was not.
The unbeaten run is real, and it is the wrong kind
Austin have drawn four of their last five: 1–1 with San Jose Earthquakes on September 6, 1–1 with Colorado Rapids on September 10, 0–0 at FC Dallas on September 20, and now 3–3 with San Diego. They beat Vancouver Whitecaps 2–1 away on September 14. One win in five. Besard Sabovic said it plainly: "we need to start winning if we're going to make it to the playoffs, which is everyone's goal" (4). Eight games unbeaten is not a platform, it is a floor. Austin sit 13th in the Western Conference on 31 points from 27 games, with a goal difference of -12. They are not losing much. They are not winning enough either, and in a 15-team conference that is the difference between a playoff place and a long winter.
Ramírez is carrying this attack
He scored twice on Saturday (3), and the numbers behind him are absurd. Ramírez ranks 7th in MLS for goals per minute among players with at least five goals, and 11th overall (Reddit). Nobody else on this roster is close. When your season hinges on a 33-year-old substitute striker producing late heroics, your build-up play is the problem, not your finishing. Sabovic gets it. The squad gets it.
What to watch
Nashville SC visit on Sunday, October 11, and that is the fixture that decides whether this record unbeaten run means anything. Nashville are the sort of mid-table side Austin have been drawing with all year. Win it, and the run has teeth. Draw it, and the club sets a record nobody wants, the one where "unbeaten" quietly becomes "not good enough".
