SAFC are back home to kick off the Holiday Weekend with a big rivalry match against Austin Bold FC. It will be the first of four meetings between the teams in 2021. Two of those meetings will occur this month as the teams will meet again in 4 short weeks back in Austin.
The match will double as a Copa Tejas clash where both teams are off to a slow start, as they represent the bottom two teams on the Copa table. Although, SAFC are in slightly worse shape as they are the only team without a win in the competition. They trail Austin by one point, while Austin holds a game in hand on San Antonio.
In league play it hasn’t been going much better for SAFC. They did not win a game in June and they tumbled in the Mountain Division standings from 2nd to 6th. SAFC’s last win was on May 22nd. On the positive side, they’ll take a very impressive 18-match regular season unbeaten streak at Toyota Field into the match on Saturday night.
Still, SAFC knows they need wins after playing to their fifth 1-1 draw in their last 6 games, most recently at Real Monarchs last weekend. Said Defender Liam Doyle, "Overall it's not good enough. We've had too many draws and we've been letting the odd goal in here and there, and we're not capitalizing on chances, and until we do, we won't win games. We need clean sheets as defenders, and we're creating enough chances to put three or four in the back of the net. It's everyone as a collective. We need to start winning and find a way."
SAFC Forward Justin Dhillon and Midfielder Ollie Wright have been bright spots as of late. Dhillon scored three goals in the month of June, including in back to back games while Wright came off the bench to Assist two of those goals.
As a team SAFC continue to be among the shot leaders in all of USL Championship. Their 141 shots are fourth highest among all teams. However, their conversion rate is only 12% which is fourth worst in the League. For SAFC it needs to be about higher quality shots versus taking a lot of shots that are low percentage.
For Austin Bold FC they enter the match in 5th place in the Mountain Division. They are level on points with SAFC but they have one game in hand on the black and silver. Austin have won two of their last five games but enter this match following a 0-0 draw with USL newcomers Oakland Roots SC.
Austin also recently played in a wild match in Birmingham that had to be abandoned due to heavy rains. The match was rescheduled for October.
Sean Okoli is Austin’s leading scorer with three goals while four players, including Okoli, have tallied one Assist for the Bold. Elliott Panicco leads the team in Goal-Keeper appearances with 7 and Saves with 9. He has four clean sheets while only conceding three goals. His four clean sheets are tied for best in all of USL Championship.
Gustavo Rissi and Fabien Garcia lead the Defense with 40 and 31 clearances respectively. Rissi is top-6 in the League in that category. Former SAFC Forward Omar Gordon now plays with Austin Bold after spending two seasons with OKC Energy.
SAFC Manager Alen Marcina knows what is at stake this weekend. “We want to keep our unbeaten streak at home going. Austin is a very tough opponent and a veteran team, but what we need to work on is execution of that pass, final shot on target, final defensive action. When we begin to execute consistently we'll turn ties into wins."
This is the last league game for San Antonio until July 17th. No better time than Saturday night, which will be a full-capacity game at Toyota Field for the first time since March 2020, to earn that next win.
The Matchup (W-D-L)
Austin Bold FC (3-3-3, 12 points) at San Antonio FC (2-6-2, 12 points)
Toyota Field, Saturday July 3rd, 2021
Kickoff 7:30pm Central Time
Current Form (W-D-L)
San Antonio FC - 2021 Home Record (2-3-0)
D-D-L-D-D
Austin Bold FC – 2021 Road Record (2-3-1)
W-D-W-L-D
All Time History (W-D-L)
Saturday will mark the 7th league meeting between these two teams with San Antonio winning three of the first six games (3-1-2). SAFC had the upper hand last season as they only lost once in 4 meetings with Austin in 2020. The two teams have also met once in Open Cup play with Austin earning a 4-2 victory in May 2019. SAFC hasn’t played an Open Cup game since. All time the series is even (3-1-3).
Season Series
7/3/21 @ SA
7/31/21 @ ATX
9/7/21 @ ATX
10/23/21 @ SA
Last Time
SAFC dropped a 2-1 decision to Austin at Bold Stadium last October, the only loss for SAFC against Austin in four games last year. Perruzza scored for SAFC in the loss and former SAFC player Billy Forbes scored one of Austin’s two goals.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
IMAGES – SAN ANTONIO FC TWITTER, AUSTIN BOLD FC TWITTER