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Austin FC's Ethan Finlay celebrated after scoring in the club's 5-1 win over Inter Miami CF. (Austin FC/Twitter)
Austin FC broke MLS records and scored five goals for the second week in a row as the undefeated club beat Inter Miami 5-1 at Q2 Stadium to take the top of the MLS Western Conference on Sunday.
The Verde and Black (and sometimes mint green) became the first team to score ten goals to start a season in MLS history after beating FC Cincinnati 5-0 a week prior. With the mirror image win, the club has now scored more goals than any other team so far this season and continues to have the longest streak of sell-out matches in the league.
The club's flying start has launched the once-underdog club to the top of the MLS Western Conference as the team continues to inject new confidence into its second season.
Austin's Sebastian Driussi wasn't the only Argentinian star to start in the match, but he was the only one to score: formidable Inter Miami striker Gonzalo Higuain left the match scoreless as the team scored just once to close the match.
It was Driussi who got the ball rolling with a stylish goal off of Diego Fagundez's cross to score first in the 22nd minute of play.
Just minutes later, Austin center back Julio Cascante leapt up to head in a goal before jumping into the stands to celebrate.
Austin forced Miami to take a defensive stance for much of the match, driving relentless crosses into the box with an eagerness that mirrored last week's high-scoring game. Driussi scored once more at the start of the half to land a brace before winger Ethan Finlay sealed the deal with two more goals to close the match 5-1.
Here are three takeaways from Austin's second-straight historic match:
Driussi bests Higuain
GOAL‼️🔥
— てony 🇲🇽 (@tfophotos) March 6, 2022
1-0 #AustinFCpic.twitter.com/p7CxWaDJFL
Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain seemed to be the man to beat in the Inter Miami match—the former European soccer star has netted hundreds of goals alongside teammates like Cristiano Ronaldo in the best leagues on the planet.
But Higuain didn't prove to be the most goal-hungry Argentine of the match: instead, the man of the match lie in Driussi, his home-country foe who scored his first brace with Austin to propel the team to a victory.
Driussi's two goals could have easily been for Inter Miami: the forward was given an offer by the club back in 2020 but opted to stay with former club FC Zenit in Russia.
Instead, Driussi has become a legend in Verde. In just seven months, the 26-year-old has transformed a lacking Austin offense into a machine, bagging eight goals and seven assists in 20 games. His silky-smooth effect on the team was immediate: before the Miami match, Austin FC averaged 1.37 goals per match, up from just 0.81 goals per match before he joined the club.
While he lacks the star power of Higuain, Driussi has earned the top salary in Austin and is quickly rising from an under-the-radar pick to a powerful cog in the Austin FC machine. He's been one of the greatest signing picks of the club so far and adds a polish and shine to Austin that will hopefully carry into the rest of the season.
Goals, goals, and more goals
Goals on goals on goals on goals here in Austin. 👏 pic.twitter.com/zbzUqtfnBJ
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) March 6, 2022
Austin is scared to score no more.
Gone are the days when Austin would go weeks without netting in a goal—with ten goals in two games, the club has scored more than any other team in the league so far.
The Verde and Black (and sometimes mint green) has already racked up more points than it did in its first 12 games last season and sits on the lofty throne at the top of the Western Conference for the first time in its existence.
How did Austin flip the switch from a hesitant build-from-the-back club to an attack-heavy threat on the pitch?
The answer may lie in head coach Josh Wolff's strategy. While his possession-heavy mindset wasn't as popular last season, it's proven pretty powerful so far for a cohesive team that has now played together for over a year.
Now that the team plays as a unit, the Wolff playing style has shone through every stat on the board—from seamless passing to relentless goal set-ups (the club made 17 crosses against Miami) and 60% possession on the pitch.
The team's eager confidence and drive to score come as a welcome sight for fans who have patiently waited for Wolff's method to pay off.
The true test will come in matchups against the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders, two better foes who could crack Austin's new code in the team's next two matches. But if the team keeps pulling off five goals in each match, Austin FC will have no problem keeping the Q2 Stadium stands packed for seasons to come.
Best of the MLS babies?
2 games.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 6, 2022
2 wins.
6 points.
10 goals.
Oh my, @AustinFC. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/D8fSRm2BpP
Austin FC has no interest in the "terrible twos."
In the first two weeks of the season, the MLS has pitted some of the league's youngest clubs against each other—and Austin FC keeps ending up on top.
Like Austin, both Inter Miami CF and Cincinnati FC are just a few years old and struggled with results in their first season. But like many expansion teams, both clubs have struggled to rip off the training wheels and claw their way up in the standings in the years since. Inter Miami, owned by English soccer star David Beckham, came out limping in its first season at the onset of the pandemic, while Cincinnati FC has sat at the bottom of its conference since its start in 2019.
With two goal-heavy smackdowns against two teams not much older than themselves, Austin seems to be shaking off that expansion team reputation.
It's still early in the season, but Austin has already started with a better record than any second-year expansion team since LAFC in 2019. Still, the club will need to beat a much formidable foe in Nashville SC, which rose to third in the East in its second season last year, and brand-new club Charlotte FC before it can stake the claim as the best of the MLS babies.
Fans of the match
Austin FC fans displayed a giant tifo, postcard-style, before the match. (Aries Silva)
Just before the whistle, Austin FC's supporters' section unveiled its biggest banner, or tifo, to date.
The massive postcard-style display was a play on the "Greetings from Austin mural" downtown and included pictures of Austin's biggest moments, Q2 Stadium and a bold message: Austin is the "futbol capital of Texas."
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Popular
The Montopolis Dollar tree, run by one employee, closed earlier this month only after an AC specialist said it was unsafe. (Claire Partain)
Lopez was filmed working alone at the location May 1 in a since-deleted video that saw 2.9 million views and over 450,000 likes.
In the video, stacked boxes littered the floor, shelves were left unstocked and a leaky, broken air conditioning unit welcomed customers into the understaffed storefront.
@trishmartinez32#x_bazan06#fyp#fypシ#tiktok#friends#like#comment#4upage#4u#share#viralvideo#trending#wow#4upageシ♬ original sound - Patricia Martinez
Lopez, who now works at the dollar store's Springdale location, says she was left with the aftermath of a 90-hour workweek, lost wages and a mystery illness after the store closed a few days later.
"Nobody ever told me... that there was no air conditioning. They didn't tell me there was danger of getting robbed," Lopez told Austonia. "Nobody said anything... they didn't care."
The location didn't shut its doors because of the TikTok exposure: instead, an AC unit specialist doing routine maintenance found employees working in extreme heat and said it was too hot for employees to continue working.
"To operate a business, you have to have your temperature within a certain parameter," Ikaika, the specialist who didn't disclose his full name to protect his job, told Austonia. "As soon as you walk in, you start sweating... it's not good at all."
Lopez said working in 90+ degree heat became the norm in her two months at the location as air conditioning units remained broken for months before the closure. She added some employees, including her former manager and several customers, passed out in the store due to the heat. But she said company leadership remained unresponsive.
Lopez said she sent her district manager, Veronica Oyervides, screenshots of 90+ degree temperatures inside the store. (Maggie Lopez)
Four days after the air conditioning repairman told employees they should no longer keep working at the store, Lopez said her district manager, Veronica Oyervides, was asking her to come back in to prep the location for reopening. Lopez worked May 8 in the shuttered store prepping it for a reopening, which has yet to happen. Oyervides has declined to comment.
Ever since she started working in the deteriorating Dollar Tree, Lopez said she often wakes up with nosebleeds. She said she's constantly thirsty, her hands shake, and she's experiencing headaches and mood swings—symptoms she believes are due to long-term exposure to mold.
Former assistant manager Linnea Bradley told Austonia she has been hospitalized with symptoms linked to heat and stress after working at the store.
"We are sick and corporate does not give a shit," Lopez said. "What kind of damage did these stupid units do to our bodies?"
Lopez hasn't sought care for her symptoms. She says she makes $13.50 an hour and doesn't have health insurance.
Former employees have more complaints than just the heat: Lopez said that personal safety became a concern in the understaffed store. Catherine, a former employee who wished to only reveal her first name, said she's witnessed large-scale theft and instances of mismanagement in her months as a stocker at the location.
"They have no security, no cameras... they don't want you to have anything in writing," Catherine told Austonia. "It's just complete chaos."
Catherine said that she and other hourly employees were given zero hours for weeks on end as managers, who work on salary, were left to run the store alone from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. She said some managers became so desperate they were hiring homeless people to help stock shelves in exchange for a drink and a bite to eat.
While Catherine (top, middle) often had zero-hour weekly schedules, Martinez, who was paid on salary, worked back-to-back 90-hour workweeks. (Catherine) (Claire Partain)
"They actually did have people willing to work, they just refused to give them hours," Catherine said. "I'm not understanding whether Dollar Tree wants to go under... are they doing this as a tax break?"
Other Austin Dollar Tree locations have reported similar issues. Former manager Jonathan Martinez, who says he was supposed to work 45 hours a week, says he was racking up 90+ hour workweeks and sleeping in the store as he shouldered both the Montopolis and William Cannon locations while his newborn baby was in the ICU in March.
Martinez kept extra clothes in this office after working seven-day weeks at two Dollar Tree locations. (Claire Partain)
Martinez said he slept on boxes as he juggled the job and visiting his newborn in the ICU. (Claire Partain)
Martinez said he slept on boxes as he juggled the job and visiting his newborn in the ICU. (Claire Partain)
"As long as the store stays open, there are corporate people getting bonuses," Martinez, who quit last week after receiving a $100 annual bonus, told Austonia. "Six months ago, when corporate people had a shitload of bonuses, that's when they upped the price (of everything in the store from $1 to $1.25)."
In the six months since Dollar Tree hiked its prices to $1.25, it's gained plenty of mostly negative national attention. In February, the Food and Drug Administration shut down an Arkansas distribution plant due to a massive rodent infestation, and several lawsuits have ensued. The company has also come under fire for selling allegedly expired over-the-counter medicine and its worker shortage at locations across the country.
One employee, who still works for Dollar Tree and wished to remain anonymous, said that they've seen or heard that many area locations are near their breaking point.
"I've seen the good, the bad, the bad to worse," they said. "And it's always a rinse repeat kind of thing... How many more (stores) will go? And what about the employees?"
"Every time I would tell (Oyervides) 'I'm just going to close, I can't stand it anymore,' she would say, 'No, no, no,'" Lopez said. "And I'd be so upset because why? They have my paycheck. It's just been mortifying... the most horrible year of my life."
Dollar Tree's regional director did not respond to requests for comment from Austonia.
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