Can FC Dallas respond in Game Two? Let's discuss that a bit...

In some ways, there wasn't really a lot to say about FC Dallas' performance after Game One against the Vancouver Whitecaps last week. And in another way, there was a lot to say about how poor the club played.

FC Dallas has a chances to respond to that performance as they return home this Saturday for Game Two in the Best-of-Three series with the Caps.

Earlier today, I chatted with MLS Season Pass analyst Brian Dunseth about this weekend's game. Dunny and I discussed what happened (or didn't happen) in Game One, how he thinks FC Dallas manager Eric Quill may change things for Game Two and more.

BDS: Western Conference, Best-of-Three, Game Two between Vancouver and FC Dallas. How do you see FC Dallas respond after the debacle in Game one?

Dunseth: After I watched the first 90 minutes up in Vancouver, my concern wasn’t the lack of effort. My concern was kind of the conversation about quality. Because, watching the way Vancouver just continuously put FC Dallas in really uncomfortable defensive positions, and watching as a former average defender, it didn't feel...it wasn't nonchalance, that's not the right word but almost naive. The lack of communication. The lack of passes, the watching of physicality of trying to guide people. For example, we're all talking about Thomas Muller right now, right? He'll play a pass and then he'll go there and he'll look like when he's someone will go home, not the other side.

Yeah, my concern is that I'm watching a team that almost felt, psychologically, that they weren't good enough to compete with Vancouver. I expect a much different response on Saturday night.

BDS: You talked a bit about the naivety of the group in Game One. Eric Quill has been going with guys in form and maybe going away from some veteran guys like a Maarten Paes, Sebastian Lletget or a Paxton Pomykal. Do you think in a game like this, does he need to go back to a more veteran group instead of the younger one that has gotten them this far?

Dunseth: Yeah, I saw Eric's quotes afterwards and full disclosure, Quill and I came up the ranks together so I have a very soft spot for him. He's a very intelligent coach and to playo n the road in the manner in which he did at the start of the season, I was going over it and it was like 23 new players over the course of the season. On top of that, you know, getting rid of a guy like Lucho (Acosta) and getting rid of Leo Chu. What were two very big emotional moves that were necessary.

But when I think about the season, the really hard blip that FC Dallas had in June and July, and then all of a sudden that run of games where they were manufacturing moments. You know, where losses are draws and draws are wins. I felt like August and September, there was this really good emotion that was behind the team all of a sudden. And then the LA Galaxy game where you start to see some cracks again. I always wonder because we're talking about in broad strokes, right? We're judging these guys for 90 minutes. We're talking about performance and if you play well, sometimes that can be all subjective. We also don't know from a training regimen, the standards that are expected, who's really training well and who's being a bit more casual at this stage. Who is carrying knots or fatigue.

So, I agree that immediately the first instinctual thing for all of us to go back to 'the guys', right? I just wonder if he feels like in this game, can he trust 'the guys'? I know that sounds weird because form is such an important thing. But how do you find the right balance?

Sigi Schmidt burned it into my head one day. Things like, when people talk about subs. It's the craziest thing in the world because everyone will talk about the offensive impact or the defensive aspect, which is fine, but he said tell me who to take off. If you're going to tell me who to bring on, tell me who to take off. And how does that make the team better.

So back to the original question, I wouldn't be surprised if you maybe sprinkle in one or two guys that I think are, this may sound weird to say, cozy blankets for FC Dallas fans to see. These are the guys that have done it before, or he leads into the continue and this is maybe a larger picture for some of these youngsters that are probably going to be playing bigger roles in the future for FC Dallas.

BDS: Going back to your playing days, how difficult, or even how weird, is it to play a team three weeks in a row? Or even four weeks should this get to Game Three? How do you prepare for the same team week to week like this?

Dunseth: Yeah, it is weird. I was trying to think back if I had that experience. I'm one of those guys that says, no matter what pride or ego, the approach should be the same. Whether at home or on the road and tactically be the same. I mean, there are outliers, right? I mean, if you're going to BMO Stadium to play Son and Bouanga, there's going to be weird pressure from that fan base.

This one is such an outlier. I think these margins are going to be more like build out rotations. Could we see a right wing back pinch into the midfield on the build out. Or coming out of the left side, try to give numbers up, and if turnovers happen, can you find the urgency of the press to win the ball back. Things like that.

But I think this one is going to be more about the pride of training sessions. I think whoever is going to be in the starting 11, there'll be an absolute understanding of these are the guys that are going to play no matter what.

BDS: Do you have a particular X-factor for FC Dallas in this game, maybe one guy that is outside of say Petar Musa or Osaze Urhoghide what you know will make a difference in this game?

Dunseth: I always try to think about the connectivity. I think the most important connectivity is the center backs and the midfielders, kind of the idea of just a box, like a tight box. Because I think one of the things that because there's such verticality and width in Vancouver, and there's overloads constantly once they get into the attacking phase of play.

And that final third, I'm always thinking about how communicative the center backs are, how to and what really blew me away was when I went back and I watched the highlights again this morning. There was no one like touch-tight, like that was what was most concerning. There was like a passing because there's like a constant rotation, right? It's almost always going to find the spots and rotate everywhere, and so you've always got to be communicating. But like, thinking about the center backs and thinking about, you know, just even a push, even a hit, like, we only saw it a few times off the ball. Where it's like, yeah, I'm gonna make I'm gonna make life difficult what I'd love to see.

And this always sounds malicious, but I don't mean it. I tell my kids this all the time, in the first three or four minutes, crush somebody, like, just hit somebody, but you're gonna get away with it. Like, the fact of the matter is, the referees very rarely are going to show early yellow cards. So, getting a forearm in on somebody as they're coming across, like, not crazy malicious, but like, dude, okay, he's going to be a pain in the ass all day. I would say, because I think setting the tone is going to be really, really important.

That's where, you know, ultimately, we were talking about being cerebral and matching what happens, because that that wasn't the account that I expected FC Dallas to put in in terms of performance. So I'm really hoping for a response. And you know now, it's about momentum and being you know, how do you become the outlier in the Western Conference.

BDS: With penalties being an element in these Best-of-Three series, if it gets that far, who do you see having an edge here?

Dunseth: I don't know. I mean, anyone like the predictive nature of penalties is so weird. Because I would have said the other night that I would have bet house money on the Roldan Brothers on to to hit their pens up in Minnesota, and they both missed and that I always feel like when those guys step up their money.

But depending upon, do you want experience or do you want a young, incredible potential in Dallas. Or when you look at Takaoka, are you looking at him being like, he's already such a presence and goal that he's psychologically. You feel like, dude, this guy can get to anything.

So I gotta be really, really tight with my pens. It's such a crap shoot. I think pens are more psychological than anything.