Osman Bukari, Brad Stuver lead Austin to 1-0 victory over Sporting KC in season opener
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Osman Bukari scored late in the second half and Brad Stuver made it stand up in his 81st consecutive start in goal to lead Austin FC to a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City in a season opener on Saturday night.
Austin earns a victory in its first match under Nico Estévez, who was head coach for FC Dallas the past three seasons.
Bukari, who had one goal and two assists in eight starts and nine appearances as a rookie last season, used an assist from 20-year-old midfielder Owen Wolff to find the net in the 76th minute. Wolff has nine career assists in 87 appearances over five seasons with the club — notching a career-high four last season.
Stuver finished with two saves. He has the most saves of any goalkeeper in each of the past two seasons and began his string of consecutive starts against Sporting KC in July of 2022.
John Pulskamp turned away one shot for Sporting KC.
Austin, which scored the fewest goals in the Western Conference last season, added designated players Brandon Vazquez and Myrto Uzuni in the offseason as well as midfielders Ilie Sánchez, Besard Sabovic, and Nico Dubersarsky.
Sporting KC missed the playoffs last season under Peter Vermes, the longest tenured head coach (2009). The club added Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia as designated players. The club acquired Joveljic for $4 million from the Los Angeles Galaxy in the first cash-for-player trade in league history. Joveljic scored 21 goals and had a league-best six netters in the playoffs for the MLS Cup champions last season.
Austin travels to play the Portland Timbers on Saturday. Sporting KC will host the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.
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