Austin FC hopes to continue stellar home start vs. Portland Timbers

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin FC is in the middle of another stretch of three games in eight days and the only home game is Wednesday against Portland, so head coach Josh Wolff wants to make sure Q2 Stadium remains a “fortress.”

Verde and Black have charged up the standings to fifth in the Western Conference with 23 points, having lost only once in the past seven matches. A win over the Timbers would push them to as far as second place, and with a trip to league-leading Salt Lake on the horizon, Wolff wants to make sure his club gets points at home. A big part of that is recovering from Saturday’s 1-1 draw on the road against San Jose.

“We need the right level of freshness, intensity and mentality and using the spirit and support of our fans, which has been incredible,” Wolff said. “It was a good result against San Jose, regardless of maybe how it looked at times.”

Wolff said despite the Timbers’ spot in the standings, just outside the playoff line with 16 points so far, they present challenges on the attacking end with an array of goal scorers plus a physical style of defending under first-year manager Phil Neville. Portland is tied for third in all of Major League Soccer with 27 goals, but they’ve been prone to defensive lapses with 30 goals allowed. The Timbers picked up a 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City at home Saturday with goals from Felipe Mora and Evander.

“They have speed and power and they’re extremely good in transition and set pieces,” Wolff said of the Timbers. “They have some really high-level players in their attack and defensively they’re physical and combative. I think there’s some vulnerabilities there that we have to try to explore and exploit.”

Wolff said he’s “hopeful” everyone on the roster will be available for the match Wednesday. He said Sebastian Driussi was in training Tuesday and John Gallagher has been since Monday. With the thin roster, especially during the crowded weeks with midweek matches, recovery becomes paramount to the team’s success.

“It’s something we have to be mindful of,” he said. “But right now we have some guys that are in a pretty good space mentally and physically. Most of them have recovered well, and we just can’t have regressions.”

During his playing career from 1998-2012, Wolff said the recovery aspect was, “probably talked about more back then than it was actually executed.” He said teams have to invest more in their players when it comes to recovery and Austin is at the forefront of doing that.

“You have to take care of your assets, and that means a player-first environment and culture,” he said. “That’s what we preach and we treat them extremely well. We’re responsible with them when we have training and recovery is a big part of that.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from Q2 Stadium. Austin is one of the league’s best home teams with five wins in eight tries while Portland is one of the worst road teams with just one win in eight away matches.