Despite a late red card to Nashville SC, FC Dallas is unable to secure the win at Toyota Stadium after drawing 0-0. Both teams left tonight, ultimately wishing they had gotten more from the game and their respective clubs.
Lineups and Tactics
For the second game of the season, FC Dallas rolled out a relatively similar lineup to last week. The only notable change was the absence of Ramiro for Patrickson Delgado, who earned his first start of the season.
From a tactical standpoint, it was once again two 8’s with a 6, Christian Cappis was the one who was given the responsibility in the defensive half of the midfield. Also noted that Shaq Moore and Sebastien Ibeagha swapped sides at CB from game one, with Moore returning to the right side this week, where he played much of spring camp.
In their signature 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2, depending on who you ask), Michael Collodi earned his second start of the season. The Pairington of Petar Musa and Logan Farrington started up top, with the team’s leading scorers acting as dual strikers.
The opposition ran with a 4-3-3 formation, with Brian Schwake getting his second start of the season in goal. The backline remained the same from last week as Daniel Lovitz, Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, and Andy Nájar were all called on to start again.
Most notably absent from tonight’s lineup was the team’s leading scorer – Sam Surridge, who came down with an illness during the week. In his place, Dallas-native and FCD Academy alum Matthew Corcoran got the start in the midfield, with Hany Mukhtar playing up top as a false 9 and Waren Madrigal sliding over to LW.
The Game
In a physically demanding first half, both teams managed to accumulate a total of 7 shots, with only 1 shot on target each. Including an incredible effort from Musa, in which he curled a shot from just outside the box. Schawke, however, was able to get his hands on it and thwarted the team’s best scoring chance from the first half.
Nashville’s gameplan early on was simple – control the majority of possession, look to make runs in the box with your midfielders, and hope that a pass gets through the backline and onto the foot of a Edvard Tagseth or Mukhtar.
Dallas however, did a great decent(?) job of tracking their man and not letting the away side get any real chances throughout the game. After a disappointing game last week, the trio of Osaze Urhoghide, Ibheaga, and Moore looked to be in better form tonight.
“We did very well in terms of sliding and making key tackles,” Urghoide said. “We’ve been working as a unit during the week, growing together and understanding our roles. It’s coming through in the game when we need it. We’re still growing, and we just want to keep improving.”
The Burn’s newest signing, Joaquín Valiente, made his Major League Soccer debut in the 61st minute as he came on for Delgado, and immediately made his impact known. He finished the game with 17 total passes, in which he completed 88% of them.
One of the game’s best chances came in the 82nd minute after Sam Sarver’s shot was deflected out of play by a diving Lovitz. After a quick review, it appeared there was an argument to be made for a handball. However, despite the pleas from the fans and Sarver, the ref signaled to play on.
In the 84th minute, Corcoran collided with Kaick on the transition for FC Dallas. It was the midfielders 2nd yellow card of the game, and he was ultimately sent off because of it. A sort of “parting gift” for his former club.
Despite the extra help, though, the Burn weren’t able to capitalize on the mistake from the away side, and the game would end in a 0-0 draw. An anti-climactic finish to a game in which FC Dallas could have easily come away with 3 points.
“I love our fighting spirit, but we weren’t at our best tonight,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “There were a bunch of half-chances, and we know we can be better. I’m proud of our group. We’re a good team, and that’s a good team we just played. We have so much potential and so much room to grow. We’re going to look at it and be better versions of ourselves next weekend.”
Although this game could have gone either way tonight, a huge reason as to why it finished the way it did was because of Osaze Urhoghide. Our Man of the Match not only anchored the backline where the team conceded no goals, but Nashville wasn’t able to get any real scoring chances either, which is a huge improvement from last week.
Having completed 89% of his passes, accumulated 3 clearances, and won 83% of his ground duels, Urhoghide was in large part the reason one of the league’s best offenses could not get it going tonight.
Up next, FC Dallas travels to BMO Stadium to take on LAFC on Saturday, March 7th at 9:30 pm CT. The Timbers are currently 2-0-0 on the season.