Austin FC and Real Salt Lake, two teams aiming to end miserable winless streaks, will clash at the Q2 Stadium on Thursday in MLS.
The hosts are without a victory in their last six league outings, while the visitors are winless in their last five MLS fixtures.
Match preview
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Since their MLS debut in 2021, Austin have faced significant challenges, finishing 24th in their first season, achieving an anomalous but exceptional fourth place in 2022, then dropping to 25th in 2023 and improving slightly to 18th in 2024.
Josh Wolff, in charge since January 2020, was sacked toward the end of last season with Austin guaranteed to miss out on a playoff spot for the second consecutive year, making room for Nico Estevez to take over ahead of this campaign with sights set on a top-nine finish in the Western Conference.
Estevez's team enjoyed an impressive start to the 2025 MLS campaign, building on a strong preseason with five wins, one draw and just three losses in their first nine matches, but they have since struggled, going winless in their last six league games with three defeats and three draws.
However, the Verde and Black have been triumphant in each of their US Open Cup fixtures during that run, defeating El Paso Locomotive 3-2 in the round of 32 and rivals Houston Dynamo 3-1 in the round of 16.
The latter of those victories, combined with three consecutive draws in the league, mean Austin are undefeated in their past four outings, and they will be hoping to continue that run while snapping their winless MLS streak in the process.
Real Salt Lake are similarly enduring a difficult period heading into this clash, as Claret and Cobalt are without a victory in any of their last five outings, recording two draws and three losses.
Those results coincide with a lacklustre start to the MLS campaign from Pablo Mastroeni's men, with Salt Lake managing only four wins, two draws and nine defeats from their initial 15 league fixtures.
That leaves Salt Lake placed 23rd in the overall table and 12th in the Western Conference, already five points behind ninth-placed Austin in the MLS Cup qualification playoff places.
In comparison to their exceptional third-placed Western Conference finish last term, Mastroeni will certainly be underwhelmed with their form, though the manager will undoubtedly be hoping a victory on Thursday could be the start of a much-needed resurgence.
Of the nine meetings between these two since Austin's introduction to the MLS in 2021, the spoils have been shared, with the Verde and Black and Claret and Cobalt claiming four wins each, alongside a 2-2 draw in their latest meeting in September 2024.
Team News
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Austin FC are anticipated to be without the services of Daniel Pereira (hip) and Robert Taylor (hamstring) due to injury issues, while the remainder of the squad should be available for selection.
Brandon Vazquez has impressed since joining from Monterrey in January, scoring seven in 16 matches, including five in his last six, and the striker will aim to continue that goalscoring run with a likely start in this one.
Elsewhere, the rest of the side that started in their recent 1-1 draw with Western Conference high-fliers Minnesota United is likely to start, including a defensive line of Oleksandr Svatok, Brendan Hines-Ike and Guilherme Biro.
As for Real Salt Lake, Diogo Goncalves (heel), Javain Brown (knee), Kobi Henry (hamstring) and Zac MacMath (shoulder) are all unable to feature due to injury problems.
Despite a challenging start to the season, Diego Luna has starred with eight goals in 14 appearances, and he is expected to start alongside Zavier Gozo, Dominik Marczuk and William Agada in attack.
Austin FC possible starting lineup:
Stuver; Svatok, Hines-Ike, Biro; Gallagher, Dubersarsky, Sabovic, Kolmanic; Bukari, Vazquez, Uzuni
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Cabral; Caliskan, Glad, Vera, Katranis; Eneli, Ruiz; Marczuk, Gozo, Luna; Agada
We say: Austin FC 2-1 Real Salt Lake
While both are without a league win in recent outings, the hosts are undefeated in their last four games and will be boosted by US Open Cup victories, and alongside boasting the home advantage, we expect Austin to win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
