FC Dallas

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(Image credit to the FC Dallas social media team.)

Last weekend, after giving up three goals late against Chicago to drop points in front of a home opener crowd, new FC Dallas head coach Eric Quill apologized to fans, saying that it wouldn’t happen again.

A week later, with a rested squad and a chance to make changes, FC Dallas struggled against a Vancouver team who may be the best in the West but were also playing their third match in 11 days. And it’s not like Vancouver gutted their way to a fortunate result. They dominated from the first minute, preventing Dallas and its bevy of attacking players from really threatening.

Whether it was an energetic effort to press and harry any FC Dallas player with the ball or a stifling defense that swarmed, the visitors were in control.

This loss for FC Dallas, the second straight at home, is a worrying sign for a roster that is a work in progress and a head coach who needs to show progress at this level.

The team did miss Anderson Julio, one of their best attackers so far this season, but Lucho Acosta looked frustrated as their chance creator. Vancouver made his life miserable. Petar Musa, preferring to drop back deeper to start attacking runs, was just as ineffective, even at the end when the team needed a goal. Musa appeared to be allergic to being in an advanced position. Logan Farrington may have been the sole bright spot, as he at least created some dangerous runs even if the final decision was not there.

Young wingers Bernard Kamungo and Pedrinho also struggled against Vancouver’s defenders.

On paper, the defense did improve after giving up 6 goals in the previous two games, but there is clearly hard work ahead.

“There’s a lot of football to be played,” Quill told media after the match. “We need to diagnose it, what went wrong tonight. Be honest with it. We need to tweak some things. Anytime you drop two, you got to look at what you are doing. We got to grow and figure ourselves out.”

The FC Dallas head coach was somber and frustrated. In particular, he acknowledged that the mentality was simply not there this evening.

“We weren’t DAWGs tonight. I think we defended pretty well. We lost duels. They won the mentality edge. That is never what I want from my teams - I don’t like to lose that edge,” he said. “We could never get into rhythm to break them in the ways we needed to.”

A few more nuggets to consider:

• FC Dallas failed to register a single shot on goal. Give serious credit to Vancouver who are in incredible form right now. But not even one shot on goal at home?

• The poor form mirrors the Dallas’ stadium which is in its own state of change.

• One key to unlocking a different approach may be the midfield. Simply put, while Ramiro and Sebastian Lletget bring some veteran savvy, they disappear for stretches and struggle to advance the ball forward.

• Anderson Julio was really missed.

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