La Murga Report – 4/6/24 vs. San Jose

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Last Saturday’s match wasn’t the best game in Austin FC’s history. It wasn’t the most important, or the most intense, or the best executed. But in terms of sheer lunacy, rewatchability, and pure unbridled MLS-itude, not many nights come close. In fact, we’re pretty sure the all-time batshit-crazy-but-in-a-good-way rankings go something like this:

1. The “Pollo Libre” match against DC in 2022
2. Last Saturday vs. San Jose
3. Everything else

Feel free to sound off in the comments with your own rankings, but for now, let’s get to the numbers!

What Songs Were Played, and How Many Times?

Random observations: We keep mentioning every week that the number of songs is still trending upwards, and this match was no exception: 49 renditions in a regular season match is a new high. Will we hit 50 this year? Time will tell, but we wouldn’t bet against it.

We’re not sure what to make of “Feliz Feliz” this match. It wasn’t played at all in the first half, and was only played in the second half after Austin tied the game at 2-2. Is it a new song that will only be deployed in certain contexts? Or was this merely a coincidence? We don’t know the answer to that. But what we do know is that the spontaneous “Feliz Feliz” that was played after the final whistle was a wonderful moment of catharsis and an experience we will cherish for many days to come.

“McKalla” has been banished to the shadow realm, and we shall miss it.

What Songs Were Playing When Austin Scored

Random observations: That’s a brace for “Matador!” You absolutely love to see it. We’ve said it before, but we feel that “Matador” is in many ways the song we equate most closely with La Murga writ large. From the horn-heavy intro to the call-and-response verses to the chorus that makes us want to crush cinder blocks into powder with our bare hands, it’s everything we ever want from a stadium song. Long may it reign.

(Seriously, if “Matador” ever gets “McKalla’d,” we’re quitting the Murga Report)

That’s the second goal of the season for “Alright Alright Alright,” which means that Austin is scoring in bunches again. In fact, there was a stretch in the second half where Austin scored during three consecutive songs (“Matador” into “Alright” into “Feliz Feliz”). We don’t have any record of that ever happening before.

And speaking of “Feliz Feliz,” hoo buddy did it need a goal. The numbers for it have now gone from “abysmal” to “concerning,” but we’ll take what we can get.

Finally, two songs had a particularly frustrating night: “Reloco Remamado” had a goal overturned in the first half, and “Dale ATX” was playing when Austin was awarded a penalty (although “Matador” was playing when Driussi converted said penalty).

What Songs Were Playing When San Jose Scored

Random observations: More than two years ago, in the second ever Murga Report in March 2022, we determined that goals scored during moments of silence from La Murga would still count toward the in-game totals. It hadn’t happened in a game since, until Saturday night when San Jose went up 2-0 during a break between songs. We aren’t quite sure how to handle crediting this goal in the season totals, but we shall mull over this particular quandary in the coming days.

“Pepas” is lucky that it wasn’t saddled with two goals against it on Saturday, as it was playing when San Jose scored their goal that was later overturned by VAR.

Season Totals

Final Thoughts

Love “Feliz Feliz” or hate it, but it hasn’t been a song devoid of action: it’s been played 12 times and resulted in 4 goals (1 for, 3 against). Fully one-third of the time that it’s been played, someone has scored.

At the top of the leaderboard, “Matador” and “Alright Alright Alright” are now in a tie for first place, with the less-used “Let’s Go ATX” right behind them. In general, it’s been a good year for the songs still in the rotation from the inaugural season. To date, the only OG banger with a negative Net Success Percentage is “Dale ATX.”

Excluding the brief and interstitial “(clapclapclap) ATX” chant, the song that has now seen the most usage without a goal for or against is “Ole Ole Ola,” which has been played 12 times. It remains one of eight songs that hasn’t seen any goals this year.

21 goals (11 for, 10 against) have been scored in Austin’s first five home games of 2024, which shatters the previous high for any stretch of five home games in team history. The previous record was the first five home games of 2022, which saw 17 goals scored (15 for, 2 against). In other news, 2022 was a very fun season.