FC Dallas Crash and Burn, 3-1 Loss at Home to Chicago Fire

On a cold and rainy night in Frisco, in front of a small-ish crowd, FC Dallas crashed back to earth after going up a goal. What does this mean for the team?

(Credit to the FC Dallas social media team for the graphics.)

Coming into their home opener with two solid results on the road, fans had every reason to feel excited about a long campaign ahead. Sure, there were lessons to be learned from both of those matches - holding on to a lead, integrating new pieces, continuing the hard work to develop a DAWG mentality under head coach Eric Quill. But that positivity, along with the unbeaten record, met a dose of reality, as the visiting Chicago Fire dispatched the home side behind three late goals.

The first half of the match was cagey and messy, neither team really managing to imprint themselves on the pitch. Petar Musa had the best of the chances, though he was clearly offside.

The second half quickly showed promise.

Anderson Julio had at least a couple of chances to put away a goal but was denied.

Logan Farrington finally gave FC Dallas a breakthrough in the 57th minute off of a beautiful long ball, beating out multiple Fire players to poke it home.

Withstanding a Fire barrage, Dallas appeared to have the game in hand, playing confidentially and pushing for an insurance tally.

But then head coach Quill brought in Patrickson Delgado for Logan Farrington, and the game plan seemed to unravel. Don’t discount former national team coach Gregg Berhalter’s savvy, making his own adjustments that gave the Fire momentum to push for not just a tying goal but two more, the last a penalty kick awarded from Sebastian Ibeagha making an ill-advised push.

While Dallas made efforts to regroup and were awarded a PK of their own, Musa’s attempt was kick-saved by young Fire keeper Chris Brady.

All in all, a wet, miserable home opener… and a wake up call for FC Dallas.

“I first like to apologize to our fanbase,” Quill told media after the game. “They didn’t deserve what happened tonight. This is my responsibility. I’ve been tasked with leading this club on a mission, and as coaches, how we can impact the game is with our decisions. And, this turn of events was on me. The game was in control, and I can be better in my decisions. And I will leave it at that. I want the fans to know how I appreciate them coming out on a night like tonight, feel their energy and passion. All I can hope they will continue to support us. This won’t happen again. It’s on me. I will learn. It’s early in the season, we have a lot of soccer left to play. This can’t happen in front of our home crowd. You won’t see this again.”

Self-castigation aside, Quill admitted that subbing out Farrington for Delgado was ill-advised for the way it changed the game. Of course, his bench had somewhat limited options without a true defensive midfielder to bring into clog up passing lanes. And he wasn’t concerned about the rest of the team tiring either, believing that his guys had enough in them to see out the match. From the TV feed, it did look like the team was losing a step, a combination of the wet conditions and fatigue.

But he and his crew would know better.

There will be lessons for this coach and this team to learn, as they experienced the other side of what they did to Houston Dynamo in the first match of the season. Giving up home points is not a pathway to the playoffs. But it’s clear this is still a work in progress.

In the end, I do think, while this squad is going to regret dropping what should have been three points at home, it’s early in the season. These kinds of results happen in Major League Soccer. It’s a league with tons of parity. And time - there is plenty of time to figure it out.

What’s your take on Quill’s message to the fans tonight? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.