Austin brings the party for MLS All-Star Game: "This is a soccer city" | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

AUSTIN, Texas – The band cranked up early and rarely let the tempo dip, even on a typically toasty Texas summer night adorned with explosions of bright green pyro smoke.

The home side wore the cream kits of the MLS All-Star team, rather than Austin FC’s Verde and Black. You’d hardly know it, though, by the energy of the ATX supporters groups in Q2 Stadium’s south end, where a sea of humanity jumped, swayed and pounded out rhythms on brass and percussion.

“I love the Austin vibe,” said Alex Freeman, Orlando City’s 20-year-old phenom defender.

“Stadium is amazing, fans are amazing, atmosphere is amazing. It was hot, but I’m used to it. I’m an Orlando boy … Yeah, I had fun.”

Atmosphere delivers

The 2025 MLS All-Star Game centered on the best talent in MLS and LIGA MX. Yet here they shared the stage with the vibrant soccer culture that’s taken root at Q2 and across the River City since ATX FC first took the field in 2021.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” said Seattle Sounders midfield prodigy Obed Vargas after facing off against several of his teammates on the Mexican national team in the MLSers’ 3-1 victory. “I think every single time I've come to Austin, they've always had an amazing atmosphere, and today was not an exception. It was very, very fun to play in that.

“I like that Austin is very rich in culture, so that kind of showed today.”

Keep Austin weird

This year’s home club could hardly have hoped for a better infomercial for what’s growing along the banks of the Colorado River, where the beautiful game has elegantly dovetailed with a longstanding civic veneration of quirkiness for its own sake.

This is a club, after all, whose mascot is not a plush-suit representation of a cuddly animal, but an energetic lucha-libre wrestler clad in black and green named Verdisimo.

“Austin kept All-Star weird. That's the goal. They did it,” said Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver, echoing the city’s cherished motto for decades. “This was a showcase of everything that we knew Austin FC and the Austin community could be, and now we got a little bit more eyes on it this week, and I'm glad.

“That's what makes Austin Austin. I mean, our supporters are going to show out no matter what the occasion is – the [All-Star] Soccer Celebration, all these different things. This is a soccer city. The fans are passionate. No matter where you go, you're going to see jerseys, you're going to see people talking about soccer, and they're going to be talking about Austin FC. So we already knew that, but I'm glad that got a spotlight on it this year.”

Fast friends

Another case in point: The burgeoning popularity of Stuver, a fan favorite whose All-Star teammates were charmed by the crowd’s loud “STUUUUUVVV” chants that accompanied his every wave and save on Wednesday night.

“I think it just showcased to the rest of the guys, just how this group accepts our players in Austin,” said the veteran shot-stopper. “I mean, the new inside joke with Brian White is, any time he sees me, he's yelling 'Stuuuuv' – he said that the next time we play him, any time a high ball goes up, he's going to yell 'Stuuuuv' at me to see if I look at him.

“It was cool to watch these guys who don't normally be a part of it, they're joking around at the hotel, just screaming at me. So it was a cool experience.”

The lively, positive atmosphere helped foster a fluid performance from the MLSers, especially considering the group’s limited time to build chemistry together.

“Here it’s the same as in Philly; we don't have egos there. And when you don't have ego, and everybody wants that everybody will succeed and put the team in the first place, the results are coming,” said Philadelphia Union striker and match MVP Tai Baribo. “And you can see it on the field, that everybody’s passing to each other, a lot of unselfish actions, and I think this is the key.”

Summer showcase

Some players cottoned to All-Star’s extra helpings of hype and spectacle more naturally than others. The NBA-style individual player introductions drew mixed reviews – Freeman was a fan, Minnesota United FC’s Michael Boxall and Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Tristan Blackmon less so – but everyone seemed to appreciate the chance to produce a spectacle in concert with the home fans.

“I didn't even know what to expect, so I was just curious and all excited,” said Chicago Fire FC’s Danish winger Philip Zinckernagel. “It’s so American, but I love it. It was fun.”

It’s safe to say Austin understood the assignment, doing its part and then some.

“The crowd was great tonight,” said Boxall. “I think Austin did a great job putting on a good show.”

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