Our FCD radio pre-game show begins at 7 p.m. on the the FCD app and on 1190 am locally. Meanwhile, some items to peruse:
These teams play one another enough. Ben Olsen and Nico Estévez know each other well enough (and really like each other, BTW). We’ve played this record before and we know all the songs.
So here’s how this thing will look (with one big caveat, which we’ll get to next):
We know what Houston is with the ball. They’ll attack through the middle through Hector Herrera and Coco Carrasquilla with Amine Bassi taking his swings centrally, too. Artur protecting and playing in behind that terrific midfield pairing (Herrera and Coco) gives them freedom to roam and find the spaces.
Herrera knows the game and sees the game clearly; he’ll go find the spaces that work best on the night.
They’ll draw teams into the middle and get opposition defending in heavy numbers centrally – which FCD is sure to do – and then spring right back Griffin Dorsey into space along the right side.
Houston’s back line isn’t super talented, but it’s well organized. And Olsen demands a lot, so he gets a lot in terms of focus and energy and sheer will. Which is why Houston has one of the league’s top defensive records
So FC Dallas’ preferred 3-4-2-1 will almost certainly look like a 5-4-1 or a 5-3-2. FCD likes to toggle between those two looks depending on what the opposition is doing. (Specifically, it’s often attached to one particular player’s movement, or to how high the opposition outside backs go in the attack.)
I expect Jesus Ferreira to drop back into midfield more than usual. I know that can frustrate some fans, who want the FCD star homegrown to stay closer to goal, to be more of a “9” or even a hybrid “9.5” than a pure playmaking “10.” But for tonight at Shell Energy Stadium, maybe the tactical nuance is even more nuanced than usual. Which brings us to that big caveat:
Tonight’s tough FCD midfield puzzle
Let’s quickly list FC Dallas’ top overall choices for the central midfield, according to the roster. These will be roughly in order (according to me), and will include holding/ defensive midfielders as well as the box-to-box types.
Asier IllarramendiPaxton PomykalSebastian Lletget
Liam FraserPatrickson
Tsiki Ntsabeleng
Nolan Norris
Carl Sainte
Welp, here’s the deal: Illarramendi, Pomykal and Fraser are listed as “out” officially. They won’t play tonight. Lletget may or may not be available off the bench. If he is available, expect no more than 15-20 minutes as he returns to the field for the first time in almost a month. That leaves … (this is where FCD fans can swallow hard, maybe do a silent cross and hope for the best.)
Perhaps Estévez drops Ferreira into the midfield; FCD’s 50-goal-scorer has played as a box-to-box guy before under Luchi Gonzalez. Otherwise, it’s gonna be Patrickson, likely as a more defensive presence, alongside Ntsabeleng. Or perhaps the manager goes a little more defensive and pairs Patrickson with Norris or Sainte. Either way, it’s a big, big lift. Here’s why:
Houston’s midfield is a Concacaf All-Star set-up. Carrasquilla and Herrera are literally two of the top midfielders in the region, savvy and talented and frequently on the same wavelenght.
So whatever FCD comes up with, they’ll need a simple plan for some young, lesser tested players, and they’ll need a ton of help from veterans around them. Which is why I expect to see Ferreira helping often in the midfield.
In his post-game remarks Wednesday, Dynamo manager Ben Olsen expressed some unhappiness about the schedule. Here’s what he had to say following his team’s loss at Austin.
“It’ll be tough. We have a game tonight, and Dallas doesn’t. For some reason, which makes zero sense, that we have a derby game against somebody who doesn’t have a game on the same cadence. Its ridiculous, it’s silly, but it is what it is. So we’re gonna have to use some depth, and guys are gonna have to recover. And again, it’s not a time to feel sorry for ourselves. It’s a time to focus very quickly on Dallas and try to get the points there.”
He’s not wrong. Ideally, FCD and Houston would enter the match with equal rest. Then again, ideally, we’d all remember all of our passwords and never have to deal with a customer service rep – but that ain’t how the world works.
Look, teams get breaks on the schedule here and there. Everyone gets them. And teams get the short end of the straw in scheduling here and there. It happens to everyone. In the end, they pretty much balance out.
Is it a little unfortunate for Houston tonight? Sure. But his team would have had the same advantage last September, as FCD had to navigate through a midweek game in Philly before a long flight home and then a quick turn-and-burn for a Saturday date in downtown Houston.
As it turned out, Houston had a mid-week match, too — the U.S. Open Cup final. But that game wasn’t on the schedule until Houston made it that far in the tournament. So, these things do happen. And there are SO many moving parts involved in the scheduling process. (Dallas’ match at Philly was actually borne of the difficult, fluid schedule dance, too.)
That game ended in a largely uneventful 0-0 draw, by the way. Both teams looked tired. Highlights, such as they were, are here.
Little hits
FC Dallas is unbeaten in five matches against the Dynamo
A quick word on Houston ‘keeper Steve Clark, now 38 years old, is a bit hard to figure. He still has the ability to make top class saves. But he can also allow some stinkers; he was certainly out of position on Sebastien Ibeagha’s goal as the teams met last month in Frisco. And yet … Clark has one of the league’s best Goals-minus-expected goals. The numbers show him fourth best in the league.
That data point explained: It’s basically “How many goals would you reasonably expect a ‘keeper to allow, based on the shots, versus how many were actually scored?” The numbers indicate Clark has saved his team about 4.5 goals this year, another reason for Houston’s high defensive standing.
That match last month at Toyota Stadium (mentioned above) ended 2-0 for Dallas, as Houston played a man down for 85 minutes. Highlights here.
Don’t forget, FCD has a mid-week match ahead, in Tampa in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. So expect Estévez to perhaps turn to the substitutes bench sooner than he typically likes. If guys like Musa and Ferreira and maybe a couple of others expect to start again Wednesday — and then again in a week at home against a seriously good Real Salt Lake team, they’ll need some load management.
Our FCD radio pre-game show begins at 7 on the the FCD app and on 1190 am locally.
