More U.S. Open Cup matches mean Austin FC is a step closer to claiming a trophy

AUSTIN (KXAN) — There's no rest for the weary in professional soccer, and Austin FC is in the middle of experiencing the colloquial saying firsthand.

Wednesday's Round of 16 match against the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will be the sixth time Verde and Black take to the pitch this month with two more MLS matches on the way.

But that's OK with Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff. The extra games mean his team is moving closer to hoisting a trophy and taking a bath in confetti in front of screaming fans.

"We're here to win trophies, and that revolves around making the playoffs, making a run here and putting yourself in positions to win," Wolff said. "We've got some great opportunities ahead, but the most important thing is Chicago tomorrow night."

Austin's form is trending in the right direction having shrugged off an 8-game MLS winless streak when Verde took out the Seattle Sounders, leaders of the Western Conference, at Lumen Field 2-1. Austin followed it with a 1-0 win over Toronto, and now the attention goes to playing an MLS side in an elimination match that's not part of league play.

"Any elimination game in a tournament like this take on a little bit different life," Wolff said. "We know if we win this game, we're at home in the next game. Our performances have been good in the past four or five games. More goals, more consistency, tougher to score against ... there have been things we can build off of."

Chicago is coming off a wild 3-3 home draw against Atlanta United in which both teams had players sent off and the Fire benefitted from an Atlanta own goal. Chicago played down a man after Federico Navarro was issued a red card in the 26th minute, but then Atlanta's Luiz Araujo got kicked out so both teams finished with 10 men. Georgios Koutsias leveled the match in the 89th minute for Chicago to steal a point.

On paper, the Fire looks relatively harmless. They are 14th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference with 15 points with a minus-3 goal differential, but comparatively, Austin has just one more point than Chicago in the Supporters Shield standings and a worse goal differential, so Wolff knows this is far from a push-over.

"They have real character, real grit. You could see that when they were down a guy against Atlanta," Wolff said. "They're in a compact 4-4-2 that's tough to break down, but they've had a couple of injuries. They are very organized and have wingers with pace."

Kei Kamara leads the team with four goals but didn't play against Atlanta, and the Fire boast the league's highest-paid player in Xherdan Shaqiri. His contract is worth upwards of $8 million, and he's got a pair of assists to his name so far this season.

The match kicks off at 8 p.m. from Q2 Stadium on Wednesday. It will be broadcast on the Bleacher Report app and B/R Football YouTube page.