The final kick, literally
Referee’s whistle in his mouth. Guilherme Biro swung his left foot. Austin FC 1, San Jose Earthquakes 1.
Seven minutes into second-half stoppage time on Saturday, with nothing left after it, Biro collected a pass from Christian Ramirez and drove the ball past Angus Gunn at the goalkeeper’s left post. Brandon Vazquez had started the move. Austin had waited 97 minutes for a moment like it.
The draw leaves the Verde on 25 points from 23 matches, 6-10-7 on the season, and unbeaten in their last four MLS outings. It is not a promotion-worthy run in a league without promotion, but it is something to hold on to.
Try it for $0.99.
San Jose’s slide reaches eight
For the visitors the arithmetic reads worse. San Jose are 10-8-5 on 35 points, and they have not won a match since July 22. Eight games, 0-5-3, and no victory since before the World Cup break. Gunn had gone two matches without conceding, a change of fortune for a goalkeeper who shipped 18 goals across the six before that.
Beau Leroux had given them the lead with the first shot on target of the night, in the eighth minute. Niko Tsakiris laid the ball off, the Austin defence stood still, and Leroux slid a low left-footed finish inside Brad Stuver’s bottom right corner from just outside the box.
Austin kept missing, then stopped
Stuver held the deficit at one. He denied Daniel Munie in the 29th minute and Ousseni Bouda in the 40th, then Bouda again in the 59th, finishing with three saves.
At the other end Austin kept finding the wrong part of the goal. Vazquez headed against the outside of the right post in the 43rd minute. He put a shot from the right side of the box over the bar in the 69th. Facundo Torres tested Gunn with a fierce effort in the 77th minute and again three minutes later, and the San Jose keeper handled both.
Nineteen minutes later the ball dropped to Biro with the match already over on the clock. San Jose could not clear it. They have not been able to clear much since July.
Discover the rest of our football news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply