Taking an early shot at Eric Quill’s FC Dallas 2025

The last few weeks, mostly as an exercise for myself as we wait for player moves, I’m been thinking through tactics for FC Dallas in 2025. Obviously, new coach Eric Quill will be doing the same thing for real but I wanted to go through the process of contemplating his choices.

It’s been a couple of seasons since Quill ran a team in these parts at North Texas SC, but I feel like we can make a few guesses even if we can’t draw hard conclusions.

Starting Concepts

Let’s begin with a few ideas.

1. Quill has talked about getting forward aggressively and quickly in attack. I think back to the way his North Texas SC teams played as a guide.

2. FCD lacks a 6 who can play a single pivot while they have multiple pieces – including the new guy – that can work well in a double pivot with various 6/8 combos.

3. The club has a boatload of guys who can play wing/off striker/10 and I want the tactic to work even if they lose a person or two via injury or sale.

4. The Dallas defense is much more comfortable in a back four than a back three. I mostly put that down to experience in the back four.

5. Since FCD is shopping around Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira we’ll mostly leave them out for now.

6. Dallas extended Alan Velasco, so they are all in on the Argentine. Time for him to be the string-puller?

Base Shape

So I put all that together and I think 4-2-3-1 is the most likely way Quill will go.

Comparing North Texas SC 2019-2021 to FC Dallas 2025

I’m going to run through some players Quill used successfully in those North Texas SC years and try and pick players in the current FCD setup that feel the same in style. Let’s see if this works.

Position	North Texas SC ’19-’21	FC Dallas ’25
Forward/9	Ricardo Pepi, Johan Gomez, Alex Bruce	Peter Musa, Logan Farrington
False Wings	Arturo Rodriguez, Gibran Rayo, Beni Redzic,	Alan Velasco, Enes Sali, Anthony Ramirez, Pedrinho
Verticle Wings	Ronaldo Damus, Dante Sealy, Bernie Kamungo, Hope Avayevu, Kalil ElMedkhar	Bernie Kamungo, Tarik Scott
Free 8	Tomas Roberts, David Rodriguez. Oscar Romero	Sebastian Lletget, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Tomas Pondeca
Linking 8	Jorge Alaguer, Tanner Tessmann, Jacori Hayes, Nicky Hernandez, Blaine Ferri,	Show Cafumana, Paxton Pomykal, Diego Garcia (maybe)
Holding 6	Edwin Cerrillo, Alfusainey Jatta, Alisson, Derek Waldeck	Nolan Norris
Left back	JoGo, Johnny Nelson, Kazu,	Marco Farfan, Sam Junqua
Right back	Kevin Bonilla, Bryan Reynolds, Edwin Munjoma, Justin Che, Collin Smith	Geovane, Herbert Endeley
Center Backs	Brecc Evans, Callum Montgomery, Lamar Batista, Nkosi Tafari, Caiser Gomes	Sebas Ibeagha, Nkosi Tafari, Carl Sainté

I left off keepers, cause keeper is keeper.

Comparison Takeaways?

Quill seems to favor…

• A big body 9 who can move but would use a smaller Ronaldo Damus type when he didn’t have a bigger guy.
• Often false wings on the left, vertical wings on the right. Was that just about who he had? Bernie, who Quill found, is a left side guy who broke this trend.
• Vertical outside backs with pace on the right and more crossing or combining on the left. Again, is that just personnel?
• Single pivot more often, but sometimes a double pivot with a clear 6 and a clear 8, which may be an issue in 2025. New Mexico looked more double pivot from glancing at lineups.

Let’s Try a 4-2-3-1

As I mentioned, leaving out Ferreira and Arriola.

		Musa Scott
Velasco Kamungo Sali		Lletget Ntsabeleng Pondeca		Farrington Ramirez
	Cafumana Norris		Pomykal Ramiro
Farfan Junqua	Tafari		Ibeagha Sainte	Geovane Endeley
		Paes Carrera

Feel free to tweak pieces or the depth order if you like.

What Else?

Andre Zanotta said the club is after a center back, my calculations are they need two.

The new guy Ramiro looks like a flexible roster piece, that’s cool for FC Dudes but that doesn’t feel like it’s getting them to the MLS Cup.

But will they target anything else?

If FCD drops Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola – two of their four DPs – they clear something like $4.2 mil in cap and pieces. Surely clearing the deck like that is to make some moves, right? Or are we looking at the 2 DP / 4 U22s model for FCD in 2025?

The way I think teams should be built, there’s a big massive hole at the holding mid position in FCD 2025. A hole for a Carlos Gruezo, Daniel Hernadez, Richard Mulrooney, Simo Valakari, or Leonel Alvarez type of presence. Someone who could allow for a single pivot maybe. Someone who could free up more of the quality 8s to help the attack.

I guess we wait.