MLS Western Conference: Austin FC’s big problem, records start to fall & more on each team

Welcome back our two-part weekly MLS column here at Backheeled, where we break down all 29 teams in the league. 

I’ve got the West. Ben Wright’s got the East. Sebastian Driussi’s got problems. Let’s chat about the latest for each Western Conference squad, shall we?

To read up on the East, check out Ben’s rundown.

MLS Eastern Conference: New England Revolution’s meltdown, Philadelphia Union roar & more on each team

We’re dissecting every MLS team in the Eastern Conference.

BackheeledBen Wright

Austin FC

Result: 1-0 loss vs. Houston Dynamo

So, uh, yeah…

If it wasn’t blindingly obvious by the fact that they're buried in 11th in the Western Conference, things are bleak for Austin FC right now. If being bad at soccer wasn’t bad enough, Sebastian Driussi has taken to social media to voice his displeasure. Driussi is an excellent microcosm of Austin’s struggles: he scored a bunch of goals in 2022, he scored some goals in 2023, and he’s scored very few goals in 2024 and is now in burn-it-all-down mode.

Austin had the better looks against Houston on Saturday, but the whole match felt like just the latest in, oh, I don’t know, four season’s worth of data, that this team needs a legitimate chance creator. Driussi’s chance creation has always been a mirage. The roster isn’t strong enough — and never has been since the club joined MLS — to reliably create chances in the aggregate. And Josh Wolff’s possession principles aren’t transformative.

Add all that stuff together and you get a team that’s in the middle-of-the-back in raw possession, but 26th in both touches in the final third and touches in the box.

Back to the drawing board. 

Colorado Rapids

Result: 2-0 win vs. Toronto FC

Adding Reggie Cannon as a free agent just before the roster freeze isn’t the kind of move that radically raises your team’s ceiling, but it sure does raise your floor.

Once in the U.S. men’s national team picture, the 26-year-old is a solid one-v-one defender and a useful player in possession. Notably, he can also play a handful of positions across the backline. He played as a right back with FC Dallas before heading over to Portugal, where he played plenty of games as a right-sided center back in a back three. In Cannon’s first start for the Rapids, Chris Armas used him as a left back with Sam Vines still out nursing his hamstring.

Without any of Toronto FC’s usual firepower in the lineup, Cannon didn’t have any especially difficult defensive duties. Still, he showed up at the right place at the right time in the attack to score the go-ahead goal for his new team:

Zooming out, the Rapids have done well to pick up nine of a possible 12 points after Moise Bombito’s departure. They haven’t played any great teams in that stretch, but with a playoff spot officially booked you can bet those games are coming.

FC Dallas

Result: 3-1 win vs. LAFC

Sure, your season is effectively over. And sure, it was a failure. But there are actually a handful of things to be excited about right now if you’re an FC Dallas fan. You just got a set of pretty stadium renderings, you earned a 3-1 win over (a rotated version of) LAFC, and your big-money DP striker continues to prove that his distribution is an asset right along with his ability to find space in the box.

If you sensed a giant “but” coming, congratulations, you were right.

Just as Dallas’ three Designated Players returned to health, the team is back to struggling with injuries. Show suffered a leg injury on Wednesday against Real Salt Lake. Musa left the field after less than 40 minutes against LAFC after banging his knee. Sure, it doesn’t sound like either player will miss all that much time. But we can chuck these injuries on top of the massive pile of fitness and availability issues that have plagued an already shallow squad in 2024.