Although they had some great chances, FC Dallas was unable to climb back into the game and ultimately lost 1-0 on the road to LAFC at BMO Stadium. Despite the scoreline, FC Dallas was in this game, with a couple of really strong chances that just didn’t go their way.
Lineups and Tactics
With the Burn hitting the road for the first time this season, they brought with them their 3-5-2 formation (or 5-3-2 for all of my pessimists out there). The first major change made for this starting XI was swapping wingbacks Herman Johansson and Bernie Kamungo, with Herman starting on the left and Bernie on the right.
In goal, Michael Collodi earned his 3rd start of the season, with a backline in front of him that once again consisted of Sebastien Ibeagha, Osaze Urhoghide, and Shaq Moore. Up front, the Pairington of Petar Musa and Logan Farrington were the team’s dual strikers.
Another notable change for tonight’s starting lineup was the addition of Joaquín Valiente over Kaick, who had a couple of solid games to start the season. Also returning was Ramiro, who came off the bench last week as head coach Eric Quill continues to rotate players through the midfield.
For the second straight week, Dallas faced a familiar face on the opponent’s backline, with Nkosi Tafari getting the start at CB next to Ryan Porteous. In goal, to nobody’s surprise, Hugo Lloris started for his third consecutive regular-season game.
In their 4-3-3 formation, Son Heung-Min spent the night swapping places with Timothy Tillman, as the two rotated between ST and CAM, with Son acting as the team’s 9 for most of the game. Alongside them in the midfield, Stephen Eustáquio and Mark Delgado both started at CM.
The Game
Similar to last week, the first 45 minutes of action were all bark, no bite. Neither team managed to find the back of the net, with both teams accumulating a total of 5 shots on target. FC Dallas, surprisingly, registered 3 of those 5 shots.
In the second half, Dallas would pick up right where they left off. In the 47th minute, Musa and Farrington combined for a give-and-go that almost resulted in the game’s first goal. However, Lloris came up big for LAFC and made the save.
“Our guys looked like they were enjoying themselves, fighting hard, and believing in what we were doing,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “The positives are all over the place. We’re better than being held out of scoring for two games. We created chances, and I really like the team’s performance, how we’re training, and how we approach games like this. We can play with anybody in this league, and I know these guys know it too.”
Unfortunately for Dallas, despite the strong first half, LAFC would break through to take the first lead of the game. David Martinez scored one of the best goals I’ve seen in a long time. From just outside the box, the Venezuelan forward curled in a beautiful shot to give LAFC the 1-0 lead.
That goal would eventually prove to be too much as FC Dallas would fail to find an equalizer for the remainder of the game, despite a number of good chances. Including one in the 96th minute from Musa, which is still giving me fits on how Lloris managed to save it.
“LAFC is a really quality side, and they have the kind of talent this league has been watching for a few years,” coach Quill said. “I’ve seen a lot of teams come here and not do what we did tonight. We were never on our heels; the crowd was into it, and it felt like a long night, but the game flew by for me because I didn’t want it to end. I felt like we were knocking on the door.”
It would be amiss if we didn’t highlight one player tonight who kept this game as close as it was. Although a number of players could have made their argument tonight, my Man of the Match was Michael Collodi.
The 24-year-old appears to have his swagger back, as he finished the game with 5 saves. A number of which were not easy saves either, see Denis Bouanga’s shot in the 79th minute for reference.
Up next, FC Dallas returns home to Toyota Stadium to take on San Diego FC on Saturday, March 14th at 7:30 pm CT. San Diego is currently 3-0-0 on the season.
