The first edition of the Dallas-Austin series in 2025 is in the books, but we have one more deep dive into it before we move on completely. Today we're going to look at some final stats and figures from the result and then see where that goes on the season totals.

Let's get into it!

Bend but don’t break defensive approach

FC Dallas manager Eric Quill appears to be pretty set on this 3-4-3, or 5-3-2 when in a defensive mode now. Yes, for those keeping score, that is also the same formation that didn't work under former boss and now current head coach of Austin FC, Nico Estevez.

Still, the way Quill is using it is a bit different. For starters, he actually has a middle center back in Osaze Urhoghide that commands the three-man center back group perfectly. Estevez never had that with the group of center backs that were here last season.

I mentioned yesterday how big of a boss Urhoghide was against Austin. He ended the day with 40 touches, three passes into the Austin defensive third, was 23/27 on his passes for the night (yeah everyone had a bit of sloppiness in the second half), but more importantly on the defensive side, he was 1/3 in tackles won, one last man tackle won, seven clearances, five recoveries and five headed clearances. He was 5/6 on ground duels and a perfect 3/3 on aerial duels won. Because of that, he had the most duels won in the entire match.

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