Bayern Munich loanee Taylor Booth scores first goal in Austrian Bundesliga

Bayern Munich loanee Taylor Booth has been impressive since going on loan to the Austrian Bundesliga side, SKN St Pölten. On Sunday, he scored his first career senior goal — a strong blast from right outside the box in the 12th minute. At the time, Booth’s goal put his side up 1-0 on Salzburg, but unfortunately Salzburg went on to win by a score of 4-1.

In four matches in the Austrian top flight, Booth now has one goal and two assists. In his first match, Booth was named the “Man of the Match” after playing the full 90 minutes and assisting a late equalizer to give St Pölten a draw. His second assist came in just his second match. This assist was “a perfect free kick” according to St Pölten’s Twitter, and was headed in by a teammate to make it 1-0 and would go on to be the game-winning goal.

Having had the opportunity to watch most of Sunday’s match, it is evident to me that much of St Pölten’s attack moves through Booth on the right side. Whenever the ball was turned over, Booth began his sprint down the field anticipating the ball to come to him. When on the field, he is also the one to take the corner and free kicks.

Today’s match was a great opportunity for Booth to showcase his talents while so many American eyes were tuned into watch Jesse Marsch and Brendon Aaronson’s Red Bull Salzburg side. The Utah native took full advantage of it, scoring the opener and showing off his speed and distribution. This performance — along with the rest of his performances in Austria — will hopefully lead to more international call-ups soon.

Unfortunately, Booth picked up an apparent leg or groin injury and had to be subbed off in the 80th minute of Sunday’s match. Hopefully it was nothing serious and he doesn’t have to miss any playing time.