And it’s over. The playoff hunt finally comes puttering to a halt, and the long dark winter of our discontent begins.
“Very disappointed, very sad, mad at the same time. With Austin beating Portland, our scenario was perfect, winning this game and going to Portland just five points away and trying to beat Portland. It’s so disappointing.”
FCD Interim Coach Peter Luccin
Let’s break it down.
Lineups and Tactics
As he has done for a while now, Interim Coach Luccin started in the 3-4-3.
Asier Illarramendi was back from suspension and partnered with Show Cafumana who was back from injury. Nkosi Tafari came back in, shifting Sebastien Ibeagha to the middle of the back line. Maarten Paes had a wrist issue so Jimmy Maurer was in net.
At halftime or a tie game and needing a win, Coach Luccin brought on Bernie Kamungo for Ruan. Bernie played left wingback and some right wingback initially.
71st minute, Logal Farrington and Tsiki Ntsabeleng replaced Petar Musa and Alan Velasco. Velasco might still be on a minute restriction.
80th minute, Ema Twumasi came on for Tafari and FCD swapped to four at the back: Arriola, Farfan, Ibeagha, and Twumasi. Kamungo moved up to wing.
84th minute, Sebastian Lletget replaced Asier Illarramendi in midfield.
San Jose ran out a 4-2-3-1 but with their cowardly social media (come on MLS, get it together) we go to the MLS website for the shape. They rotated players, apparently.
“We rotated the squad a lot — three games in a week, but we have really good quality coming in.”
San Jose Interim Coach Ian Russell
The Quakes made it to the 62dn minutes before going with a double change, Jeremy Ebobisse and Vítor Costa de Brito replacing Jack Skahan and Carlos Akapo.
75th minute brought another double sub, Niko Tsakiris and Amahl Pellegrino replaced Jackson Yueill and Paul Marie.
Finally, Alfredo Morales repalced Carlos Gruezo in the 83rd.
Goals
0-1 San Jose goal, 13th minute. FCD turns it over in midfield, and San Jose makes two passes, from Bruno Wilson to Cristian Espinoza to Hernán López. Lopez is given too much space and he scores.
1-1 FC Dallas goal, 41st minute. Paul Arriola chip-crosses to Peta Musa who knocks it down to Alan Velasco. Nice finish by Velasco for his first goal from open play in over a year (9/27/23 vs Philly). (Stat credit Garrett Melcer.)
1-2 San Jose goal, 79th minute. A San Jose goal kick eventually comes to Hernán López who passes to Amahl Pellegrino. Sebastien Ibeagha smashes into Show Cafunmana taking both out of the play. The ball is played back to the now-unmarked Lopez for the finish.
“I was happy to score tonight. Obviously the season hasn’t gone our way, but being able to finish the season strong, we’re happy to see that and I’m thrilled with the victory … Obviously, you’d like to score three goals, but I wasn’t able to do that. I’m just very happy to be able to score two goals at home. … I was able to dedicate those goals to my mother and my father and my family.”
Hernán López
1-3 San Jose goal, 83rd minute. A rare turnover by Asier Illarramendi is played through the center backs to a rushing Jeremy Ebobisse. Ebobisse works the ball with Niko Tsakiris and eventually gets it back inside the goal box for a tap-in.
2-3 FC Dallas goal, 90th minute. Sebastien Ibeagha heads in a well-taken corner by Sebastian Lletget. Nice goal, a tale of two Sebases.
Lo Bueno
My Man of the Match was Alan Velasco. He brought some fire to compete with energy and quality. My respect for his internal desire to win went up a few notches. 44 touches, 5 progressive passes, 1 progressive carry, 3 key passes, 5 shot-creating actions, 4 fouls drawn, 2 shots both on goal, and 1 goal. Terrific game.
Sebastien Ibeagha was the other player with a noticeable fire and warrior mentality. He was up for it for sure. His header goal was terrific and made up for the overreach where he wiped out Cafumana. I applaud the effort. 92% passing but not quite as simple as usual as he had 4 progressive passes and 2 into the final third. Aside from the goal, he had 2 intercepts, 5 clears, 1/1 on tackles, and 6 recoveries.
Show Cafumana had a really nice game. As I said in my three things there were multiple times he did some nice moves. He was working on progressing the ball (10 progressive passes, 3 carries) and making runs into the box. The ball went through Show (73 touches, 64 passes) more than Illarramendi (66 touches, 59 passes). His 5 shot-creating actions tied for the FCD lead. He was the only player aside from Ntsabeleng to win a take-on. I’ve moved Cafumana firmly into my keep list for next season.
Camino del Medio
Here’s a question? If Maarten Paes plays this game does FCD win? No offense to Jimmy Maurer who had a mic drop walk-off moment the last time Paes got called up, but he made 1 save in 4 on this one.
Muy Feo
The worst part of this is that San Jose stinks. They had just 3 home wins coming into this game. Being unable to win there – against a rotated squad no less – is as big a sign as any that FCD doesn’t belong in the playoffs.
“The goal that we conceded, the chances that we missed. Very, very disappointed. I haven’t had time to talk with the players, it is a night to suffer a little bit. We didn’t take care of business and it’s all on us.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
I was scratching my head when – when tied at 1 in a must-win game – Coach Luccin took off his best two players/goalscorers: Petar Musa and Alan Velasco. Musa is by far the team’s best goal scorer (15 goals, 0.6 goals/90) and Alan is hot (2 goals in his last 4, 0.67 goals/90). They are the only two players above 0.4 goals per 90 in the side. I think I saw Musa head straight to the locker room when he was subbed and this quote from Coach Luccin seems to address that.
“It’s football, it’s a state of emotion. I don’t have a problem with that. In the end, they are winners and they want to do their best, and when the group isn’t at their best, it’s normal to be mad. He’s a winner and that’s it. It won’t happen again but I can understand the emotion of everybody right now.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
In the modern game, there are plenty of stats that don’t mean all that much. Possession is one of them. FCD dominated the ball to the tune of 58%. They even generated a nice road 17 shots compared to the home team’s 10 shots. But FCD got just 5 of those shots on net, that’s a 29% ratio. SJ got 40% of their shots on goal scoring 3 of those 4. With 61% of their shots coming inside the box, Dallas was just off the mark in shooting.
“Dallas is a good team that likes to be in control of the ball. They did out-possess us; that is what it is. I’m not super concerned with that. They weren’t getting in behind us.”
San Jose Interim Coach Ian Russell
Instant Reaction – 3 Things
