Austin FC's Q2 Stadium is among the league's most challenging venues for visiting teams, a trend head coach Josh Wolff's side hopes to continue Sunday vs. Minnesota United FC (7:30 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes).
Austin have gone unbeaten in three home matches to start 2022, taking two wins and a draw as the Texan club has racked up 13 goals, which is tied for the MLS lead with Western Conference counterpart LAFC entering Week 6.
"I think we've been extremely strong at home," said Wolff, who will be without DP winger Cecilio Dominguez following an investigation into possible off-field misconduct. "We have to understand what the game is going to look like and us playing with our organization, our structure and some of the movements that we want to have, but pushing the tempo. Obviously taking the game to Minnesota, we want to make this a very difficult place to play, as it has been the last 7-8 times.
"The last time we played Minnesota here was one of our best games out of our last eight games and what we lacked was the goal. I think if we present ourselves in a good way at home as we have the last 7-8 games, push the tempo, have the energy, put the team under pressure, [we'll] get the goals and kill of the game."
The Loons, one of the West's most talented teams on paper, won't make that easy. Head coach Adrian Heath's side boasts multiple dynamic attacking threats in Emanuel Reynoso, Robin Lod and Luis Amarilla, while Canadian international goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair has been rock-solid amid shifting defensive pieces.
"Minnesota's a very good team, the last couple years they've shown their quality," Wolff said. "That's what time with an organization, time with players can do, it establishes their identity. I think Adrian's a fantastic coach. He has a good command, good control of his group. I think players like Reynoso, players like Lod, obviously Amarilla's back up top for them. These are good players, they can score goals.
"They've added some quality, but they've been very stable at the backline. They've been moving and changing guys based on health but they're typically a very stable group."
The match offers a reunion for Austin FC winger Ethan Finlay, who signed this offseason after spending the last four-plus years with Minnesota. He's made an instant impact, scoring twice in a 5-1 rout of Inter Miami CF.
"Obviously when the schedule came out, I knew coming to Austin [that] we were going to get them twice," Finlay said. "This date, and obviously we’ll go back to Minnesota in the fall, are two that I penciled in and said I want to get wins there. It’s a little bit, I wouldn’t say personal for me, but you always feel when you leave somewhere that whether you have a good time or a bad time there, you want to get the better of them down the road.
"But that being said, it is another game. I don’t want to let the passion personally get in the way of having a good performance for the group and for the team."
While Austin have looked electrifying at times, they haven't quite maintained their early-season heights over the past three weeks, taking back-to-back draws against Seattle Sounders FC and the San Jose Earthquakes that followed a 1-0 road defeat to the Portland Timbers.
That might be fortuitous timing from the Loons' perspective, but Heath stressed nothing will be handed to them either.
"They’ve had a good start," Heath said. "It’s a difficult place to play, great atmosphere within the stadium. They push men forward, we know the way they’re going to play. But stopping them is not as easy as it looks. They haven’t won in three, so maybe we’re catching them in a good time. I don’t know. But we know it’s going to be difficult and we’ll be ready for it."
