Austin FC prepares for potential rough-and-tumble match with St. Louis City FC

The squad welcomes St. Louis City FC to town for Matchday No. 3, and head coach Josh Wolff said St. Louis' hardnosed style "makes the game challenging."

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin FC might be in for a fight Saturday night at Q2 Stadium.

The squad welcomes St. Louis City FC to town for Matchday No. 3, and head coach Josh Wolff said St. Louis' hardnosed style "makes the game challenging."

"They're a very combative team with high speed and high volume of running, and they like to put a lot of pressure on you," Wolff said. "There's a constant buzz and press in the middle part of the field. You need people that are men and can deal with the combativeness, and they're quite chippy. They'll leave a foot in and foul quite often after they lose a ball and can't recapture it."

St. Louis has committed a league-leading 18 fouls per match this season, racking up 36 whistles over their first two matches. Inter Miami has 49 total fouls and Real Salt Lake has 37, but both have played three matches. St. Louis also has six yellow cards this season, but Austin FC also does its fair share of physical play. They've notched eight cautions along with Toronto to lead Major League Soccer.

Wolff mentioned that St. Louis comes off its midfield press as the match goes on, but at least for the first half and 15 minutes into the second half, he expects the 2023 expansion side who made the postseason in its first year to pester them up and down the pitch.

"Space can become a little more clear, but for the first 45-60 minutes, it's going to be battle," he said. "It always is."

Although Verde and Black didn't beat Seattle on the road last week, they did the next best thing and played to a scoreless draw. The Sounders fired off 23 shots, but only four were on target and they were all stopped by goalkeeper Brad Stuver. Seattle's expected goals were 1.4, and with 23 shots, that's remarkably low. That suggests there was some improvement on the defensive end over the season-opening match against Minnesota United. The Loons ended the match with 2.9 expected goals on 19 shots, 10 of which were on goal, in a 2-1 victory over Austin.

Matt Hedges and Julio Cascante anchored the center of Austin's defense against the Sounders, and Wolff will have to rely on the two veterans with Leo Väisänen out with an injury.

As the evolution of Austin's defense continues, attacking needs to get better. They had just one shot on target against Seattle and two against Minnesota with defender Guilherme Biro scoring the only goal of the season thus far. They've used three forwards in both matches to open the season, and while newcomers Jader Obrian and Diego Rubio get into shape, Wolff said he'll have plenty of options later in the season with Gyasi Zardes and others.

"Gyasi has over 100 goals and Rubio has a lot of goals in this league, they're both international strikers," Wolff said. "We've got to do a better job providing service to them, and that's certainly a collective effort."

A bright spot early in the season for Austin is midfielder Jhojan Valencia, a Colombian national who was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday following his performance against Seattle. Valencia had a 90% pass completion rating and won five duels while intercepting three passes, and Wolff said Valencia is building on the success of last year.

"It takes players time to settle in, and in the end, he's our only true No. 6," Wolff said. "He's a guy that protects the back line and has a real commitment to defending. We've had to encourage him with the ball, but his ability to recognize stress and danger and put it out is really important."

St. Louis is one of five teams in the Western Conference with four points, a win and a draw, to start the season. They tied Real Salt Lake 1-1 to open the season and beat NYCFC 2-0 last week.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m.