Austin FC will try to buck a trend when it kicks off its inaugural season in Major League Soccer as the 27th club in the league when it plays at the Los Angeles Foootball Club Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
MLS expansion teams have a 4-11-2 record in their first games.
Here are the four expansion teams that won their first MLS match:
* The Chicago Fire started its MLS history with a victory on March 21, 1998, defeating fellow expansion club Miami Fusion 2-0 at Lockhart Stadium (the Fusion had lost its first match the week prior to D.C. United).
* Seattle Sounders FC defeated the Red Bulls, 3-0, March 19, 2009 at Qwest (now Lumen) Field in its first league match.
* Vancouver Whitecaps FC knocked off Toronto FC to open the 2011 campaign, at Empire Field in Vancouver.
* LAFC opened its history in 2018 with a 1-0 victory over Seattle at CenturyLink Field, as head coach Bob Bradley guided an expansion team to an inaugural win for the second time. The first time was with the a forementioned Fire. He is he only coach in MLS history to lead two teams to wins in their first league matches.
INAUGURAL MATCHES – MLS EXPANSION TEAMS
DATE VISITOR HOME RESULT ATT. GOALS
3/15/1998 D.C. United Miami DC 2-0 20,450 DC: Williams (16) Sanneh (37)
3/21/1998 Chicago Miami CHI 2-0 14,653 CHI: Kosecki (76) Kotschau (87)
4/2/2005 D.C. United Chivas USA DC 2-0 18,493 DC: Gros (32) Gomez (76)
4/2/2005 Real Salt Lake MetroStars 0-0 12,657
4/7/2007 Toronto FC Chivas USA CHV 2-0 14,351 CHV: Razov (35) Kljestan (88)
4/3/2008 San Jose Los Angeles LA 2-0 27,000 LA: Beckham (9) Donovan (37)
3/19/2009 NY Red Bulls Seattle SEA 3-0 32,608 SEA: Montero (11,75) Evans (25)
3/25/2010 Philadelphia Seattle SEA 2-0 36,241 SEA: Evans (12) Montero (43)
3/19/2011 Toronto FC Vancouver VAN 4-2 22,592 VAN: Hassli (14,71) Dunfield (25) Harris (62);
TOR: De Rosario (19) dos Santos (73)
3/19/2011 Portland Colorado COL 3-1 17,139 COL: Larentowicz (7) Cummings (28)
Smith (29); POR: Cooper (79)
3/10/2012 Montreal Vancouver VAN 2-0 21,000 VAN: Le Toux (3) Sanvezzo (53)
3/8/2015 NYCFC Orlando City 1-1 62,510 ORL: Kaka (90); NYC: Diskerud (75)
3/3/2017 Minnesota Portland POR 5-1 21,144 POR: Olum (13) Valeri (46,81) Adi (90,92);
MIN: Ramirez (78)
3/5/2017 NY Red Bulls Atlanta NYR 2-1 55,297 NYR: Royer (75) own goal (81); ATL: Asad (24)
3/4/2018 Los Angeles FC Seattle LFC 1-0 40,070 LFC: Rossi (11)
3/2/2019 Cincinnati Seattle SEA 4-1 39,011 SEA: Leerdam (27) Morris (33, 43) Ruidiaz (87);
CIN: Bertone (13)
2/29/2020 Atlanta Nashville ATL 2-1 59,069 NSH: Zimmerman (28)
ATL: Barco (9) Hyndman (37)
3/1/2020 Inter Miami LAFC LFC 1-0 22,121 LFC: Vela (44)
