Three Things to Watch During FC Dallas’ Three Game Home Stand
After one of the best road wins in club history, a thorough 4-0 demolition of D.C. United, FC Dallas returns to Toyota Stadium to play three straight home games against teams below them in the Western Conference standings, in a moment of the season that feels pivotal as the summer road odyssey looms
Let’s look at a few things to keep an eye on over the next three games.
1) Continued Offensive Evolution
Since the departure of Lucho Acosta last summer, Dallas has been a team that plays against the ball very consistently. With almost no exceptions, they have significantly less ball possession than their opponents; they sit back in their back 5, absorb some pressure, and go vertical almost immediately after regaining possession.
But the last couple of weeks have presented a slightly different version of FC Dallas. With the caveat that neither Houston nor DC is a high-possession team, Dallas actually had over 50% of the ball in the win over Houston (even before the second-half red card for Houston) and 49% in DC. The core gameplan has not changed, Dallas is not suddenly deciding to knock the ball around the backline for 10-15 passes prior to moving forward, they still want to move forward very quickly and exhibit the “vertical aggression” that Eric Quill wants from his team.
There’s a bit more patience there now, though. Dallas is a bit more willing to unsettle a defense by knocking it around among the midfield, defense, and wingbacks before going vertical. It feels very much like the next step of what the team can do offensively.
Dallas has also utilized a couple of different shapes lately, between the 3-5-2 with Musa and Farrington together, and the 3-4-3 with Farrington or Musa up top and two 10s underneath. How those shapes and tactics (Dallas often presses high as of late out of the 3-4-3) play out over the next few home games will be instructive for what Dallas looks like later in the season.
2) Santi Moreno
FC Dallas’ latest number 10 made his debut and played the final 5 minutes plus stoppage time. With the clear caveat that the game was done and dusted at 3-0 by that point, Moreno made quite an impression despite not getting on the scoresheet. He first picked up the ball in the final third and played a lovely slipped through ball for fellow sub Ran Binyamin overlapping into the box, and really should have had an assist, but Binyamin’s shot went just over the bar. Moments later, he found some space in the box, beat a man on the dribble, got a shot away that was blocked but landed right at Petar Musa’s feet to score the 4th FCD goal. He then forced a good save out of Sean Johnson before taking one more shot that was blocked. All of these actions happened in about a five-minute time frame. He had 0.4 xG and 0.2 xA in just 8 touches.
Obviously, none of this is sustainable, and very little of it reflects how Moreno will play in future games, but it was certainly exciting to watch, and it made clear that there’s real potential if Moreno can build chemistry with his teammates. He’ll spend some of these first few weeks building up his fitness. I doubt he will go from 5 minutes to a start against St Louis, but he’ll likely be a mid-second-half sub, between the 60th and 70th minutes, and then may be in line for a start against LA Galaxy or in the subsequent Wednesday game against Minnesota.
How Moreno will be used will be interesting. By the time he came on against DC, Dallas had shifted more toward a 3-4-3 look, with Joaquin Valiente on the field as well, so he and Moreno were playing underneath Musa. That is the most obvious look for him, but keep an eye on Moreno potentially playing with Musa and Farrington. As good as FCD has looked in their 3-4-3 at times, it is very difficult to argue against the production that Musa and Farrington have provided. No attacking duo in the league has scored as many goals as “The Perfect Pairrington” has. Moreno’s ability to play alongside that pair and complement them could make the difference between Dallas being just a good team and a potentially elite team in 2026.
3) Squad Rotation
This three-game home stand will finish with FCD’s first midweek game of the season, with Minnesota United coming to Toyota Stadium. With the home game against the Galaxy just a few days before and a trip up to Seattle just a few days after, Eric Quill will likely need to do his first significant squad rotation of the season.
Quill’s bench has been very short through the first six games of the season, with only 14 players having played over 60 minutes thus far this season. That number is likely to increase over the next couple of weeks, as Quill will need to find more playing time for the likes of Deedson, Sam Sarver, Lalas Abubakar, and Ran Binyamin if he wants to keep his squad fresh up until the World Cup break. It’ll be interesting to see just how much rotation Quill and his staff utilize in these three very winnable home games.
What are your expectations for results over the next three games for FCD?
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