Leagues Cup<\/a> quarterfinal Wednesday against Liga MX side Toluca FC at Sports Illustrated Stadium, home to the New York Red Bulls, in Hoboken, New Jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\nAustin FC man of the match: Brendan Hines-Ike<\/p>\n
After playing 90 minutes Wednesday at Seattle, Hines-Ike turned in another quality performance in his 72-minute shift on the backline. And not only did he score, but he found his way to the ball on a corner kick to a crowded back post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
What Austin FC did well\u2026<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by the scoreline. This was a well-played, entertaining match from both teams. And while at some point Austin FC will need to reel off\u00a0 three wins in four matches if it\u2019s serious about making the playoffs, the Verde and Black are producing good soccer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They outshot Philadelphia 12-9, had 55% of the possession and tallied a higher expected goals stat, 1.27-0.99, according to the Apple TV broadcast. Every single player was solid, and outside of a ridiculous attempt by Przemyslaw Placheta to try and switch the field with a long pass deep inside Austin FC\u2019s territory that almost ended in disaster after being intercepted by Philadelphia, there were no boneheaded plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is frustrating because I thought we did enough to win the game,\u201d Arnaud said. \u201cAll the stuff we do, we have to do things at a high level. \u2026 The feeling overall is that we can be happy with some good moments, but we\u2019re not happy with the result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
What Austin FC didn\u2019t do well\u2026<\/p>\n
Besides not finishing chances, the Verde and Black gave up a goal on a set piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Credit has to be given to Philadelphia forward Milan Iloski, though, who sent in a perfect cross to the back post that Nathan Harriel put across the goal to Sullivan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo concede on a set piece is disappointing,\u201d Arnaud said. \u201cAnd in the second half, it was a little too transitional tonight. And that\u2019s something that favored them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Bottom line<\/p>\n
With 13 games left and still seven points out of the ninth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, Austin FC needs to start winning MLS games consistently. But it will worry about that Saturday at Portland.<\/p>\n
Wednesday’s match is the biggest of the year. Win, and the Verde and Black give themselves a shot at not only being one spot closer to a trophy, but one win away from qualifying for CONCACAF Champions Cup. (There is a third-place game in Leagues Cup, and the winner of that qualifies for the competition along with the champion and runner-up.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The contest is being held at a neutral location because Toluca FC entered Leagues Cup as the highest-ranked Liga MX team, which allows it to avoid playing a road game in the quarterfinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"AUSTIN,]()
<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 22: Frankie Westfield #39 of Philadelphia Union heads the ball over Zan Kolmanic #23 of Austin FC during the second half of the MLS match at Q2 Stadium on August 22, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Scott Wachter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Scott Wachter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 22: Ervin Torres #38 of Austin FC reaches to defend against Quinn Sullivan #33…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1018625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,44466,6656,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1018624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-austin-fc","tag-mls","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117143519315200824","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1018625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}