Some matches leave you absolutely buzzing. Others leave you shrugging.
Saturday night’s scoreless draw against Nashville SC fell firmly into the second category. For both sides.
The game itself never quite found a pulse. There were moments, or mostly half chances here and there. But neither side managed to grab control of the match. Fans never got the chance to truly get out of their seats and go nuts over much. Even Nashville going down a man late after former FCD academy player Matthew Corcoran’s second yellow couldn’t crack this game open.
It wasn’t dramatic or disastrous, though. It was simply a night where Dallas had the platform and just didn’t quite have the bite.
Let’s dive into some key points we learned from this result.
Lack of connection up front
If the season opener taught us anything, it was that if this Dallas group was going to be in the lead, it was due to the combination play of Petar Musa and Logan Farrington.
But those two need the ball. They need the ball at their feet in and around the penalty area to be truly dangerous. On Saturday, there was only one decent chance between the two of them, as Musa had a crack on goal shortly before halftime that was pushed away by Nashville keeper Brian Schwake.
Musa ended the game with 33 touches, eight of which were in the penalty area. He had three shots on the night, with one coming on target. On the surface that doesn’t sound bad but when you see how far deep he was having to play at times on the night, you can tell the team was lacking that idea or movement in the midfield that could unlock Musa’s game.
“I love our fighting spirit, but we weren’t at our best tonight. The guys in the locker room know Nashville is a great side that presents a lot of problems, and we couldn’t find our way onto the scoresheet. Their keeper made a couple of big saves. I felt like we weren’t clean enough in possession. We didn’t move them around or create real quality looks. There were a bunch of half chances, and we know we can be better.“ - Manager Eric Quill on the match
Farrington for his credit didn’t fare that much better. In his 71 minutes, he only had touches of his own, with six of those coming in the penalty area.
I’ve said many times, that you have to put these two in dangerous spots to be successful. Dallas didn’t have an idea of how to do that on Saturday.