When you are in a playoff hunt and need points, a point on the road can be a beautiful thing. But this was not a great performance by FC Dallas except for one man.
“Tonight was not good enough. We have a squad full of potential on the field, but we did not do enough offensively tonight.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
Let’s break it down.
Lineups and Tactics
Interim Coach Peter Luccin stuck with the 3-4-3 to start even without Ruan. As I predicted he kept Sam Junqua at left wingback and moved Paul Arriola to right wingback. Sebastian Lletget dropped into midfield for the missing Show Cafumana and Jesus Ferreira, surprising me, got the start.
The Sebas Ibeagha in the middle thing continued.
At half-time, Coach Luccin changed the shape to what seemed to me to be a 4-3-3, but I don’t think it helped much.
“The first half was bad. Our press was too passive and we lacked aggressiveness and we did not press our opponent nor did we go forward. In the second half we changed our shape and did a better job of not letting them get the ball. Tonight was not good enough.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
61st minute, Bernard Kamungo and Logan Farrington replaced Tsiki Ntsabeleng and Jesus Ferreira. This was almost certainly a 60-minute restriction for Ferreira.
80th minute, Alan Velasco came on for Petar Musa.
Vancouver in their 3-5-2.
63rd minute, the first double sub, Nicolas Chateau and Sam Adekugbe replace Ryan Raposo and Damir Kreilach.
73rd minute, Déiber Caicedo and Édier Ocampo come on for Levonte Johnson and Belal Halbouni.
Finally, 94th minute, Stuart Armstrong subs in for Ralph Priso.
Goals
None!!
Lo Bueno
Jimmy Maurer was my Man of the Match. He also made the MLS Team of the Week. It wasn’t just the 4 saves but the way he rose to the occasion after not playing for a year. He stood up when his team needed him. Fantastic job. This very well might be his last ever game. What a way to go out if it is.
“Top. We tied tonight’s match because of Jimmy (Maurer). He is a player with a lot of experience and quality. I am very happy with his performance.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
“It felt great. Credit to all my teammates and the staff. Drew (Keeshan, FC Dallas goalkeeper coach) has been keeping me sharp all year, games or not. I feel the support from everybody, from the staff to the players. I felt great and just happy to do my part for the team.”
Jimmy Maurer
Logan Farrington subbed in with this hair on fire. Just 18 touches but 3/5 in take-ons and 3 shot-creating actions to lead FCD in both.
Honestly, that’s about it. It was a fairly poor performance by Dallas. Paul Arriola was the only starter who managed to get a shot on target.
Camino del Medio
Despite the volume of FC Dallas gave up, they did a pretty good job of keeping the ‘Caps from getting them on target. Just 4 of 20 Caps shots were on target and forced a save. That’s a paltry 19% on target, which is the 5th lowest by an opponent this season. Maybe the defensive Tafari/Ibeagha swap is working?
Muy Feo
As I mentioned in my 3 Things, Dallas really misses Ruan. Yes, already. Paul Arriola’s underneath styles meant Tsiki Ntsabeleng had to get behind on the right side and that didn’t work. This was one of Ntsabeleng’s poorer games under Luccin. Since the ‘Caps left center back, Tristan Blackmon, wasn’t really challenged he had a heck of a day, making the MLS Team of the Week bench.
“What we lacked today is what was working for us previously. We scored goals and tonight we did not do that. We need to have more offensive volume, play more balls from behind. We were too passive tonight so we have to work on this and get back to scoring.”
Interim Coach Peter Luccin
Vancouver with their 5 man midfield and even two strikers helping out made it very, very difficult for FCD to get out of the back and into midfield. Combined with the lack of over-the-top play, Dallas was really stymied. Just 6 total shots is nowhere near good enough, nor is just 2 on goal. Ferreira had just 28 touches, Musa 32, and Ntsebeleng 26… showing the disconnect. 43% of shots from outside the box. Not good. The three FCD center backs had a grand total of 3 progressive passes and Nkosi Tafari had none.
“Just a lot of details, a lot of sharpness, decision making and shifting at the same time. A lot of things where we were disjointed tonight, a little half second behind and it cost us.”
Jimmy Maurer
Here’s how under siege FCD was. 46 clearances, the most this season. 15 blocks, 2nd most this season.
FC Dallas Playoff Hunt
Point Target: ~44 pts (probably)
Have: 34 pts
~Need: 10 pts
Game left: 6
~Wins Needed: 3.3 (3 wins, 1 ties)
The leaden hand of Nico Estevez still rests upon this team. For 2 1/2 years he instilled in them a defensive first, no risk taking mentality on the road which they still tend to default to. They’ve been more expansive under Luccin, but Saturday was a return to the habits they learned too well.
It looked just like a Nico road game didn’t it?