Interesting, we passed on Mayaka and instead went for a more attacking midfielder in Pereira (which does make sense given that we've already got a starting holding midfielder in Ring).

I know nothing about MLS so I'm just blindly supporting this decision.

Looks like we got 5 new players today including 3 in the first round. Are we done? Is the roster full? Now when do we start? I think Covid might delay the season or they are playing in empty or near empty stadiums. I don't have tickets but would be so disappointed to have them and not be able to attend every game.

An active season roster is up to 30 players (2 of those spots are for homegrown players which we won't have yet) so we've still got a little ways to go.

Looks like we were at 17 players coming into today and added 5, and it's probably safe to say that not all of the guys selected today will make the full roster (might be loaned out to lower division teams). In particular we're carrying 4 goalkeepers at the moment where you'll typically have 2 and at most 3 on the active roster.

Josh Wolff said earlier today that we've got another signing from somewhere in the league coming in the next few days and that the team is in talks with a few international players. We also probably won't fill out the entire roster before the season starts, MLS is weird in that the season doesn't line up with most international leagues (MLS usually starts early March with the final in early November), so MLS teams will sometimes make bigger international signings in the summer after the European leagues finish their seasons.

As far as stadium, the main Austin FC reporter had a few tweets earlier this week that he had talked to the team president about stadium opening. Season start is still up in the air due to COVID and the fact that they're working on a new CBA, but he said the stadium will be finished on time in March or April and he expects to be targeting early June to host the first event there. Also said stadium naming rights will be announced in the next ten days.

For team coverage Chris Bils is the best source I've found, he's really active on Twitter and looks like he'll be writing for a new Texas-based soccer site in the near future.

Thanks fig, I'll give Chris a follow.

One more signing late last week, solid addition who actually started his career with the second division team here in Austin. Another good signing with lots of MLS experience.

The second jersey is also being revealed later today.

Stadium is now officially Q2 Stadium. Just announced.

Better than Dell, I'll take it

Catching up from the last week or so.....

Honestly, I kinda liked McKenna Place

I believe the second kit is revealed on Wed (1/27)

I imagine they'll have a similar capacity % to what texas had for football - but I am very curious how they're going to handle tickets - especially in the supporters section. That's going to be your most loyal group out of the gate, but also probably the most difficult to "social distance" since there are no seats.

I haven't heard a peep from the club about any of that - or even a potential start time for the season.....we're just over a month away from normal start time.

Now fingers crossed the league and players association can iron out any issues with the CBA before then.

Won't have a home game until June

Stadium is ready, but "the details around the stadium, like traffic signals, stadium signage and staff training, will require extra time before the new stadium fully turns its lights on."

That is friggin' asinine. They built an entire stadium faster than the city can get the traffic signals and signs?

https://www.kxan.com/sports/austin-fcs-debut-season-to-start-in-april-club-wont-host-mls-game-until-june/

Dropped the new "Legends" jersey. Spoiler alert, it's a white kit that uses the standard adidas MLS template. I get why adidas wants the league to utilize their bland template, but man, it makes for some underwhelming uniforms.

https://www.mlsstore.com/austin-fc/jerseys/t-10929919+d-36883137+z-921-1143783354?pageSize=72&sortOption=NewestArrivals

Yep, I like it but very generic. I'm holding off for now.

TV announcement this morning, CW Austin, KXAN, and KBVO (?).

All 3 broadcast over the air in 1080.

On the news tonight they said most of the games will be on the CW station.

New site for Texas Soccer fans. I'm looking through it right now.

https://thestrikertexas.com/

Edit: It appears to be a pay site. Bummer

The big(ish) signing we've been waiting on, here's our creative attacker:

There were rumors about him going to Europe or other bigger clubs and per some he was one of the best players in Argentina last year. He's only 25 and looks like this could be a great signing, there's already a lot of chatter about how good he and Alex Ring can be together in the midfield.

Good read on Pochettino:

https://thestrikertexas.com/2021/02/15/tomas-pochettino

Opening Day 4/17 at LAFC, home opener at Q2 Stadium 6/19 vs San Jose.

We've got a game this weekend y'all!

There's been a few closed door scrimmages but tomorrow is the first broadcast match, our first match in the La Copita tournament vs Dynamo FC and FC Dallas with San Antonio FC (USL team) also playing some matches. Dallas won the first game vs San Antonio 5-0 earlier today.

Looks our first game is only viewable via the Austin FC app, tomorrow at 3pm vs Houston.

They'll be playing at our newly opened training facility at the St David's Performance Center and it looks pretty freakin' amazing.

Full schedule has also been released, the video is fun:

I believe these preseason matches can be streamed on the new Austin FC app and on their website

I love that new white jersey, I'll be buying one this weekend.

Just in time for summer too

[This post derailed this thread. -Staff]

We need to clean up those lazy passes on the back end. Otherwise enjoyable. Pochettino's free kick was a thing of beauty.

Lots of opportunities. Couldn't ask for much more in a first look at an expansion team.

ATXAg75 said:

---

We need to clean up those lazy passes on the back end. Otherwise enjoyable. Pochettino's free kick was a thing of beauty.

---

That was absolutely gorgeous.

Back line was definitely the weak link today. Super early though. Liked what I saw when we were attacking.

Are y'all using AFC as the acronym or ATXFC?

JCRiley09 said:

---

Are y'all using AFC as the acronym or ATXFC?

---

ATXFC seems like what's being adopted, and I dig it.

Agreed on the backline, but that's really to be expected at this point with a brand new club in our first match against another MLS side so I'm not super concerned (yet). I like that we've got Besler as a veteran presence back there, he's probably a step slow at this point in his career but he knows the game inside out and should help get the defense organized.

Going to be interesting to see how we look next game after Wolff has a chance to address some of the issues we saw today.