FC Dallas’s time in the 2024 Leagues Cup came to a quick end on Wednesday night, as they lost 2-0 to Liga MX side FC Juarez.

Lineups

FC Dallas: Paes; Farfan, Gonzalez (Tafari), Ibeagha; Junqua (Kamungo), Ntsabeleng (Ansah), Lletget, Sainte (Pondeca), Arriola; Musa, Farrington (Sali)

Subs not used: Carrera, Maurer, Korca, Sealy, Twumasi, Ramirez

FC Juarez: Roca, Abella (Ortega), Calvo, Mosquera, Orquin; Gonzalez, Campillo; Torres (Garcia), Villalpando (Venegas), Garcia (Lopez), Zaldivar (Hurtado)

Subs not used: Nuno, Diaz, Garcia, Lopez, Perez-Bouquet, Sosa, Camona

Scoring Summary:

FCJ: Zaldivar (Orquin) - 22’
FCJ: Hurtado (penalty kick) - 83’

Misconduct Summary:

FCD: Sainte - 2’
FCJ: Calvo - 29’
FCJ: Gonzalez - 35’
FCD: Lletget - 41’
FCJ: Ortega - 90’

Stats

FC DALLAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Interim head coach Peter Luccin

General thoughts about the game…
“We're very far from our level. There is a lack of courage, not following plans. It was clear for us that we needed to cross much more. The first cross we almost scored with Petar (Musa) and we stopped crossing. We didn't create enough. Defensively, it is not just about the backline, it is about all the players losing so many duels. That game tonight was about duels. If we are not winning duels, it is going to be very hard to win games.”

On what the team needs to do moving forward…
“For me since I've been the head coach, it was the worst game. And that's it. So it's not that we almost won. No, we were very far from winning that game. All of us - staff, players, coaches, now is the time for reflection and keep working hard. Now we have only one thing in our minds and that is to try and get to the payoff. And some of the players are going to come back and create more competition in the practice, more competition every single day. This is what we need right now. Because maybe we're too complacent and we need more fire.”

Goalkeeper Maarten Paes…
On the game tonight…
“It's tough to think about it right now. We had high hopes, we really wanted to go for this League Cup journey. Every time you can win a trophy you want to go as far as possible. But the cruel reality right now is that this was not good enough. And we have now 2-3 weeks to discuss with each other how to reach the playoffs. It's not a losing season yet, we need to improve on a lot of things if we want to make it.”

Midfielder Paul Arriola
On the team’s performance…
“They appeared to be a much more experienced team than we are. Their game management skills, the way they went down, waste time. They did everything to push our buttons and at the same time put themselves in a position to get a result. A lot of credit to them. For us, I think this is one of the most disappointing results and I felt embarrassed coming off the field from the way we performed.”

On offensive struggles tonight…
“First we have to give credit to their defense. We knew they would struggle in transition, but they didn’t give up many transition moments. They were pretty secure with the ball. When they lost the ball it was higher up. Our press wasn't good so that did not lead to those moments where we could tear them apart. Obviously when you have big guys like Logan (Farrington) and Petar (Musa) in the box we’re always going to try and give them the ball as much as we can. It just wasn’t enough from us and physically it didn’t seem like we were at our best today.”

On what could be learned in the three-week break…
“I think for one, it will be a time of reflection. It’s going to hurt us being out of the tournament and exiting out of a group we believe that we could have won. At the same time, hopefully this break gives us time to get some players back that will help us make a late push for the playoffs. The third thing is to work with Peter (Luccin) tactically and physically. I know that’s a big emphasis on where we’re at and how much further we have to go to put us in the right position. Tonight we didn’t show what we should have. We’re going to have a lot of time to reflect on and be ready to go in three and a half weeks for the rest of the season.”

Defender Omar Gonzalez
On tonight’s match…
“Obviously, we wanted more from Leagues Cup. We wanted more from these past two games, but it just wasn't there and that's what was disappointing. We had some good team meetings. Everything that was said was right. All the right words were said, but it didn't transfer to the field and losing tonight 2-0. We wanted to put everything in there to get the result. I don't think everything was given. And that's what makes it even tougher, because we talk the talk, but we didn't walk the walk. And when you do that, you get results like these. There's so much of the Leagues Cup left, and we're just going to be training. We're just gonna be training and that's, that's terrible. We want to be playing games. And so it's definitely a tough pill to swallow. It's gonna be a rough few days off, and then back to work.”

On the three week period with no games…
“Well, the silver lining I guess is it gives us the chance to get Jesús Ferreira and Alan Velasco back. The next couple of weeks for us will be about working on the small details that we haven't been able to work on since Peter got the job. If we want to flip the script and make the playoffs, we have to work on all these details that we're not doing right now. Train them and then hit the last ten games flying and hopefully we make a push for MLS Cup playoffs and then see what happens.”

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