Offseason Outlook: FC Dallas

By Jason Poon (@jasonpoonFC)

For better and for worse, FC Dallas is in the tween years with their current squad and head coach. First year head coach Luchi Gonzalez was very adamant about his team playing a certain style and cemented an identity in the team that the players embraced. It did not matter who they were playing or where the game was being held, Dallas was going to line up the same way (hybrid 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1) and were encouraged to play out of the back.

At times they were brilliant and managed sequences of 40+ passes before the opponent could even get close to the ball, but there were also moments of awkwardness when pressed out of their comfort zone and they lacked ideas of how to get the ball out or how to move forward. Just like a prepubescent kid, they occasionally appeared uncomfortable and completely unsure of themselves.

But as tweens go, underneath that level of awkwardness is boundless potential that’s just waiting to be untapped. Dallas had the youngest roster in the league for 2019, with the average age of just 24.12. Before Zdenek Ondrasek made a push for the starting lineup during the final stretch of the season, it was often just Reto Ziegler who would be the lone player on the other side of 30 years of age (Ziegler’s 34). Besides the two center back positions, every position was either held or contested by a recent Academy graduate or recent draft pick.

Dallas was young and played with both the excitement and inconsistencies of an inexperienced team.

Areas of Depth: Goalkeeper, Fullbacks, Defensive Midfield, Center Midfield and Striker.

After being challenged by Jimmy Maurer in 2018, Jesse Gonzalez was Luchi Gonzalez’s number one between the sticks. Maurer was a respectable part time starter, and a very reliable back up.

Depending on the Reggie Cannon contract situation (seems likely he’ll either pen a new deal soon or be sold by the summer) the fullback position is probably locked down. Ryan Hollingshead can play either left or right back without any trouble, and John Nelson also proved that he was ready to make the jump to MLS after a solid rookie season. Bryan Reynolds also showed flashes of promise with his electric pace down the right flank but he may be better suited as a winger in the future. Either way, the fullback position is in great shape.

Luchi prefers his Dallas team playing the triple-pivot with his three midfielders which leads to a lot of crossover and overlap between players and positions since there’s no true set #8 or #6 or #10. Everyone's a little bit of everything. Dallas did just acquire Thiago Santos from Brazil, who is a true DM which theoretically frees up Bryan Acosta to be a more box-to-box midfielder. Both of them will presumably have Edwin Cerillo and Brandon Servania as their under studies, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone of either of them became starters. Paxton Pomykal is the most undroppable player there is for this team, and even he didn’t regularly start towards the end of the season (to be fair, he was nursing a sports hernia). Jacori Hayes does seem to be the odd man out, but he does have a penchant for closing out games while the team is nursing a one goal lead.

Striker is where Dallas will see a lot of fluctuation in 2020. Ondrasek is going to start from the beginning but he’ll cool off at some point, and Jesus Ferreira will bring another dimension to the attack that’ll make things challenging for the opposition. Ricardo Pepi will turn 17 before the season starts. Pepi will get his chances to feature for the first team and I know not to get too excited about youth phenoms, but Pepi has some disgusting skills for such a young player that it’s hard not to get on the hype train.

Areas of Need: Center Back, Attacking Player

Dallas entered the off-season with pretty much a full roster of players under 23, so while there are definitely areas of need in certain spots it’s still too early to add a veteran player without hindering the progress of the young players.

That being said, Dallas’ center back options are a bit thin. Matt Hedges and Reto Ziegler are expected to start and Bressan has served well as jack of all trades defender, playing across the defensive line but outside of that, they have (currently) unproven 2019 first round draft pick Callum Montgomery who didn’t play a minute on the first team and that’s it. Though not entirely necessary, Dallas could use a fast, athletic center back for clean up duty and emergency, chaos defending when the ball’s bouncing around inside the penalty area.

Dallas did make a transfer for winger Fafa Picault to bolster their attacking needs but the offense does seem to suffer the occasional impotent moment with their inexperience. (Dallas did not score a goal in 11 of their matches in 2019.) Michael Barrios has been the team’s most consistent performer for the past half decade, and if he were to suffer an injury, there would be a serious dip in reliability in the offense as Santiago Mosquera has largely been a disappointment given his Young DP status.

The future does look strong for Dallas with Luchi Gonzalez leading the charge with his Homegrowns but as it is with tweens, you just don’t really know what to expect game in and game out. How the players mature, or not, during the off-season will really determine their 2020 outlook. That and whether Pomykal and can stay healthy or if he gets sold. Where Pomykal goes, Dallas goes too.