Austin FC can hand San Diego their first-ever defeat in the MLS regular season when the two sides square off at Q2 Stadium in the Texas capital on Sunday.
An early goal last weekend enabled the Verde and Black to win 1-0 over Los Angeles FC, while San Diego came back to draw 1-1 with the Columbus Crew.
Match preview
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Early into his tenure as Austin manager, Nico Estevez has focused much more on defence than his predecessor Josh Wolff did during his four seasons on the sidelines.
That has had both a positive and negative effect on this group, as they have won two matches by a 1-0 score and also lost two games by that same score.
On Saturday, the Verde and Black have a chance to win consecutive home fixtures in this competition for the first time since May 2024 (two).
Their two goals scored after four MLS fixtures are the joint-fewest in the Western Conference so far, alongside the Los Angeles Galaxy.
While they seem committed to playing a tight defensive game, it should be noted that this team have not lost a match in this competition when netting multiple times since October 2023 (4-2 loss versus LAFC).
Since suffering a 1-0 home defeat versus the Los Angeles Galaxy in May 2022, Austin are unbeaten in their last seven regular-season fixtures against California clubs at Q2 Stadium.
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Two years after St Louis City stunned everybody by winning the first five regular season fixtures of their inaugural campaign, some of that pixie dust seems to have been sprinkled onto San Diego.
Four matches into their first domestic campaign, and they have yet to lose, claiming four points from a losing position in their last two games.
At the same time, they have never lost a match when drawing first blood or conceded a goal when doing so, winning their opener against the LA Galaxy 2-0.
Mikey Varas's side are second in the league when it comes to expected goal differential, currently sitting at +4 after four matchdays.
San Diego have conceded just two goals in their first four matches of the regular season, the joint-fewest in the league alongside the Vancouver Whitecaps, who are the only team ahead of them in the Western Conference.
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Team News
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In their victory over the Black and Gold, Austin did not have Mikkel Desler or Julio Cascante available as both players were dealing with hamstring strains.
Four players are currently on international duty for them, Leo Vaisanen (Finland), Myrto Uzuni (Albania), Oleksandr Svatok (Ukraine), and Jimmy Farkarlun (Liberia).
Guilherme Biro scored his first goal of the 2025 campaign last week, which held up as the winner, while Brad Stuver stopped three LAFC efforts for the clean sheet.
Lower body injuries kept Hirving Lozano and Andres Reyes on the San Diego sidelines for their match against the Crew last weekend.
Two of their players were called up for international duty, with Paddy McNair named to the Northern Ireland team and Anibal Godoy joining the Panamanian squad.
Onni Valakari levelled their match in Columbus at one with his first career MLS goal 21 minutes from the end to earn them a single point.
Austin FC possible starting lineup:
Stuver; Gallagher, Svatok, Hines-Ike, Biro; Wolff, Pereira, Sanchez, Bukari; Obrian, Vazquez
San Diego possible starting lineup:
Dos Santos; Kumado, McVey, Diop, Bombino; Valakari, Tverskov, De la Torre; Dreyer, Ingvartsen, Angel
We say: Austin FC 0-1 San Diego
Even without Lozano, San Diego have shown plenty of quality in the attacking third, and have fared well against some strong attacking units, which is why we predict they will keep their unbeaten run intact.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
