FC Dallas Trounces Inter Miami in Preseason
The Cotton Bowl hosted Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Inter Miami for an interesting tuneup as FC Dallas begins the hard work of preparing for 2024.
If you were living under a rock as an FC Dallas, you probably missed the first game for the team of 2024. You didn’t miss a lot, and yet you also missed a glimmer of what to expect as a new season begins to emerge on the horizon for Major League Soccer.
Jesus Ferreira slotted home a nice goal in the first five minutes to put FC Dallas ahead, and the combination of stout defense and excellent goalkeeping carried the squad the rest of the way.
It’s a preseason game, so a lot of players got minutes.
It’s a preseason game, so don’t expect this to mean much of anything.
But are there glimmers of possibility? Of course.
Formation change: FC Dallas trotted out their new formation for the season. They went with three center-backs this time - Ibeagha, Tafari, and Junqua. The formation has some promise, but it also showed its weaknesses as there were large stretches when Dallas could not keep position and shuttle the ball forward. On the other hand, strong goalkeeping from Maarten Paes and a decent enough defensive display thwarted Messi and company’s best efforts.
Our own the ground reporter, Collin Coovert, acknowledged how the team has been working on this formation during an open practice up in Wichita Falls this past week and indicated that additional center-backs might be en route to Frisco to give the coaching staff more options on that back line.
Jesus Ferreira, Please Stay Healthy: Ferreira is going to be important to this season. He came off with a knock in the first half. It shouldn’t be anything too bad, but it’s also too early to risk him.
Illaramendi, We Trust: Illaramendi looks like he wants to have fun this season and end his career in FC Dallas with trophies. The guy pinged the ball around and was ever present for this squad. No doubt, he discovered the wonders of Braum’s and Whataburger, thereby cementing his love for this community.
Young Players Are Fun to Watch: Sure, it’s a preseason game, but you saw some young guys like Diego Garcia, Dante Sealy, and Jordan Farrington show their potential in moments. Herbert Endelay and Tomas Pondeca got minutes at right wing back, which was fascinating, but they did pretty well.
At this point in preseason, young players tend to do well with their raw fitness, but as veteran players grow into their form, we’ll begin to see some separation. Some of these youngsters will earn minutes with North Texas, no doubt, so these are valuable opportunities to make a case to stick around.
Missing in Action: It’s true that Jose Mulato and Jesus Jimenez are on their way out of this team. We hope to have more on that lately, but we keep in mind that Paxton Pomykal was still injured and Ema Twumasi did not play. Alan Velasco also continues to recover. It’s early.
There is a lot more soccer ahead.