With the 1-0 win over Memphis 901 in the US Open Cup Round of 32 on Tuesday, FC Dallas has advanced and travels to Tampa Bay Rowdies on May 22nd.
The Round of 16 matchup versus USL-Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies will take place in Al Lang Stadium at 6:30 pm CT.
The match will air on MLSSoccer.com, the FC Dallas app in Spanish and English, and Talk Radio 1190 AM in English. Previous matches have also been streamed on USSoccer.com and Youtube.
The FC Dallas Connection
The Rowdies advanced to this round with a 6-4 game for the ages win over Birmingham Legion. Former FCD draft pick Cal Jennings had a hat trick.
Rowdies Captain Aaron Guillen was the 14th Acadewmy Homegrown signed by FC Dallas back in 2016 and was a member of the Cup and Shield Double-Winning FC Dallas side of that season. In total, he appeared for FC Dallas 8 times.
Eddie Munjoma, the 27th FC Dallas Academy Homegrown signing and former SMU Pony, also plays for the Rowdies. He’s started in 6 of the 7 games in which he has played this season.
Listened to the podcast this week. I always listen all the way through, and the deep dives are what I want even if it is negative. Don’t be afraid you are losing us with negative talk. If I wanted promotion, then I would just listen to the FCD communications team. As a FCD fan in IL, you are my connection to real behind the scenes talk and opinions. Keep it up.
Thanks Joe.
We just don’t want to turn the pod into a never ending “this team sucks” fest.
I fell we must endeavor to find specific talking points. Looking for what can be changed and improved.
I listened to the podcast as well and found myself in sharp disagreement with where the blame lies for the roster. You can’t absolve Nico of the personnel choices over the last couple of years because it is clear (at least to me) that Zanotta has been acquiring players to accord with Nico’s wishes. So if you find the roster deficient now, Nico is in large part to blame for that as well.
Nico was hired in December 2021 and immediately announced his intention to play a 4-3-3. Within two months FCD had acquired two high level wingers (Arriola and Velasco) to play in that system and we were all stunned by the ambition showed by the club. Certainly, Nico was involved in those decisions and, more importantly, those decisions were made to give the coach the support he needed to succeed which is something that I don’t think could have been said for Luchi.
Within a week of starting training camp, FCD traded Hollingshead for Farfan, a move that caught everyone by surprise. Everyone speculated that Ryan wanted to go back to SoCal, but we found out later that wasn’t the case. It seems obvious now that that was a Nico decision because of his emphasis on defensive discipline. So Dallas traded one of the best attacking fullbacks in MLS history for a “dude”.
The acquisition of Lletget in the summer was almost certainly a move initiated by Nico, whose preference for veteran players had already become pronounced by the middle of his first year. The problem with that move was the restrictions it put on Dallas’ roster composition for 2023. Lletget’s salary severely hampered the wiggle room that Dallas had to alter the roster in 2023 and that came back to haunt them with all of the injuries and substandard performances.
The trade of Servania for Jimenez was almost certainly a Nico move as well because Dallas had no reliable 9 backup in case Ferreira got hurt or to fill in when he was on National Team duty. With Lletget, Pomykal and Quignon/Cerrillo, Nico probably felt Servania was an unnecessary depth piece, but we know how that turned out: Dallas traded away a valuable midfielder they could’ve used when everyone got hurt and got back a useless reserve forward in return. It has to be one of the worst trades in the club’s history.
I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. From Day One Nico has made it clear he really has no use for the FCD academy products or young players in general. He gravitates towards veteran players that will play the way he wants or execute his system with fewer mistakes. Zanotta has generally acquired these veteran players for him to give him what he wants. If there is any blame on Zanotta, it is that he has been too accommodating to Nico, and not insisted on him integrating the younger players into his system.
Zanotta’s entire job is player acquisition and overseeing the system.
If he weren’t ultimately responsible for getting the players, why then have a TD at all? Just let Dan Hunt as President get all the players for Nico.
It’s literally Zanotta’s gig to say yes or no to his coach. Go find the players that work and get the players so that the coach doesn’t have to.
If Zanotta is ONLY giving the coach want he wants and isn’t saying no that’s an even bigger indictment of him.
The complete mismatch between the players acquired this winter and the shift in formation is another indicator that Nico isn’t picking players.
and another indictment of both, that Zanotta didn’t get the right bodies.
Zanotta also is involved in the coach hire. So if it’s all on Nico, then its all also on Zanotta as the man atop the soccer operations food chain.