For the last week and a half, I’ve been on the road with my family. During that time, FC Dallas played in Mexico in the Leagues Cup before coming back to MLS play with three straight in Austin, Utah and Vancouver.
Normally I would have had a game breakdown after each match during that stretch, but I was trying to take as much of my vacation in as I possibly could. Now that I am back in North Texas (and already hating the 105 degree weather after spending time away in 50 degree weather), I figured it was worth briefly diving into the items I picked up from these last three MLS matches.
Let’s dive in.
Scrappy wins in Austin and Utah
On paper, getting six points from three away games in a week is a good thing. Hell, if we take this entire nine-game road trip (along with the three Leagues Cup games), it’s been a fairly solid run. Dallas will end up with a positive record when the road trip is all said and done.
The wins in Austin and Salt Lake were more evidence of the scrappy, dawg-like mentality that Eric Quill has this team playing like. Petar Musa is continuing to score goals as he currently leads the MLS Golden Boot race with 16 goals. Joaquin Valiente had himself arguably his best week in a Dallas uniform, with his one goal and two-assist effort in Utah. Santiago Moreno may actually be playing like a Designated Player. And the rotated defense did just enough to hold up things in the two wins.
Furthermore, Dallas is sitting in a decent spot in the Western Conference. Fifth place, on 33 points. If you had told me that at the start of the year, they’d get through this road trip with four wins, two draws and two losses, I would have easily taken that. Sunday’s game in St. Louis will be a good test to see how they actually finish it out.
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