After playing their third and final game in 9 games (and 3rd in 5 games in 16 days) FC came away with another 3 points with a 2-1 scoreline against the newest expansion team and addition to MLS. Getting three win in your last 3 games with two of those games coming on the road is huge in this league where points on the road are hard to come by. Let’s dive into this game.

Tactics

It may be early to call it but it looks like the 4-3-3 might be here to stay as it has produced three straight wins for FCD. If it’s working, why change it. I like the fact that Oscar Pareja is adapting throughout this season and trying different things in comparison to last season.

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FC Dallas Lineup vs. LAFC “Photo: FC Dallas”

For me, this is arguably our best 11 players to put on the field as I saw many times Mauro Diaz move up more in the middle and pull the strings for the team.

Events

It didn’t take that long for Dallas to break the deadlock as Reto Ziegler in the 25′ opened his MLS account with a nice simple header in the box off a Diaz freekick to make it 1-0.

http://twitter.com/TotalMLS/status/1003072764448735233

Ironically, it is Walker Zimmerman (former FC Dallas player) that peels off right in front of Reto.

Not long after the half in the 51′ minute off of a counter Roland Lamah continues to prove to his critiques that he is working his salary with by scoring his 6th goal of the season making the score 2-0.


I really like this goal because this is the moment when Dallas began to take control of the game and capitalized on the fact that LAFC overcommitted when they attack allowing Dallas to really exploit the counter.

The bad guys had a consolation of their own in the 61′ making it 2-1. To me, it was a lapse in the concentration of the team that leads to poor defending. I with many FCD fans started to get a little worried about our recent struggles with closing out games.

A nice treat for the home crowd was in the 77′ minute when LAFC made a former FC Dallas player sub for former FC Dallas academy player in the Walker Zimmerman for Shaft Brewer sub.

Thoughts

In the opening minutes of the game, the game dragged on as the Huntsmen and Papi were trying to get a feel for how LAFC was going to play away and in the heat. FCD did struggle in the attacking third as passes were being shut down and the attack was taking its time. What I felt was LAFC weakness was how LAFC would put their whole team into the attack which would expose LAFC’s backline to any counter that Dallas would do. When Papi learned of this, Dallas took more control of the game and LAFC were forced to sit back allowing FCD to keep moving forward. Dallas play became quicker forcing LAFC to defend honestly. Maxi Urruti had three great looks at goal but LAFC’s keeper (Tyler Miller) was standing on his head.

Two things that the Huntsmen can improve upon are finishing and closing out games (beating dead horse topics). Dallas outshot LAFC 19-8 with 7-3 being on target. While less than half of our shots were on target, 5 of those were great and simple scoring opportunities. On some breakaways, either our attackers need to look up and play the ball to the open man or communicate with each other. In regards to closing out games, just staying calm and having the mental awareness can help. I like to think of Pep’s Barcelona when it comes to passing and closing out games. Each player had multiple options and knew who and where to pass the ball when pressured or in the attack.

FC Dallas plays its first game in the 2018 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup this Wednesday against San Antonio FC in San Antonio at 7:30 pm with broadcast details to be announced. FC Dallas will also play this Saturday, June 9th at home against the Montreal Impact at 7:00 pm and can be viewed in person at Toyota Stadium or on TV from TXA21.

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