PRESEASON: Three Takeaways From FC Dallas’ 3-2 Win Over Red Bull New York
With two weeks until the start of the season, Dallas had their fourth preseason game, and first back in Frisco for the Torneo de Tejas, and came away with a 3-2 win over three 45-minute periods.
Let’s look at a few takeaways from this tune-up against the Red Bulls.
1) Continuation of Last Year’s Play Style
Despite some offseason talk of Dallas wanting to have a bit more of the ball than they did in the second half of last year, there have been some early returns in that direction. At the same time, the team was in Portugal, things against the Red Bulls looked very much like a continuation of what the team did in the post-Lucho Acosta part of 2025.
This tracks as the personnel for the majority of the game were largely the same as last season. Michael Collodi was in goal with Shaq Moore, Osaze Urhoghide, and Sebastien Ibeagha in front of him in the back 3. Bernie Kamungo played left wing-back while Deedson lined up on the right. Ramiro anchored the midfield with Kaick and Christian Cappis in front of him as dual 8s, and Logan Farrington and Anderson Julio played up top (Petar Musa was out due to personal reasons that kept him out of training most of the week).
Much like the back half of last season, Dallas largely played against the ball and struggled when trying to build out of the back, mostly opting to go long and fight for second balls. When they had opportunities to play vertically, they did so. Interestingly, this was in stark contrast to the Red Bulls, who, in the past decade, have become known for that exact type of vertical play, but largely opted for a more possession-based game, which even further highlighted how similar Dallas’ play was to 2025.
Over the season, this may continue to evolve with different personnel potentially coming into play (rumors of a new attacking midfielder persist), and the lineup was missing two clear starters in Musa and Herman Johansson. Don’t expect any major changes in the early part of the season.
2) Interesting Play and Options at Right Wing Back
The aforementioned Johansson was also missing, along with Musa, with the Swede apparently missing most of the week while awaiting his visa. This opened the door for Deedson to start at right wing-back. One of the noteworthy things we’ve seen in preseason is the concept of inverted wingbacks. This friendly provided much less of that, but Deedson did do it for the first 64 minutes that he played. As a lefty playing on the right, Deedson consistently looked to come inside to create, chopping back on his left to deliver some dangerous crosses and drive into the box.
Having seen him in person for any extended run for the first time, he impressed me! With this clearly being a conversion for him, he looked a bit lost at times in team defensive shape, but was solid in some of his one-on-one defending, and perhaps most importantly, provided a lot of the “vertical aggression” that Quill has talked about. I don’t think, at least early in the season, he’ll see much in the way of a starting role, but he may be a very interesting option off the bench in certain situations.
Speaking of “vertical aggression”, the first substitute of the afternoon was Sam Sarver, who came on for Deedson as a straight swap at right wingback just after the hour mark. While Deedson looked to size up his man in one-on-one situations, Sarver immediately provided the relentless, aggressive play going forward that has become his signature in his relatively short time with the club. He provided a number of dangerous crosses from his direct play and won the penalty that led to Dallas’ third goal. Like Deedson, he isn’t likely to have a significant starting role, but there’s a clear pathway to minutes for him given what he can offer, especially when he provides the template Quill wants from his team.
3) Loan for Diego Garcia?
After Sarver’s sub around the hour mark, Dallas did a six-player sub around the 80th minute, replacing everyone except the backline and goalkeeper. Then those final four were replaced for the extra 45-minute period. Diego Garcia was the only outfield player not get any significant run, only playing the final 5 minutes to come on for Patrickson, who picked up a slight knock.
Garcia has had an interesting preseason. He got a surprise start against Portimonense in the first preseason game, but then was completely unused against Brondby and only played in the back half of the game against RSL. The minutes that folks would have expected him to get seem to have largely gone to another homegrown, Caleb Swann, who has been quite impressive in his minutes.
I don’t think this means that Garcia is completely out of the plans, but he seems to be in an awkward spot where he’s a part of a crowded midfield and not in a position to get any significant first team minutes while also clearly having shown he’s above the North Texas SC level after two consecutive seasons of very regular high level play in MLS Next Pro.
I think it is time to grant a loan to Garcia. The USL Championship seems the best destination, but perhaps the Mexican second division could be another pathway. Either way, he needs consistent minutes at a higher level than MLS Next Pro, and getting a young player out of their comfort zone can be crucial for development. Keep an eye on Garcia over the next few weeks.
Were you able to attend the game? What were your thoughts as the team approaches preseason?
Anything else you’d like to know if you weren’t able to watch?
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