What we learned in FC Dallas' 2-1 loss to Montreal

Yeah, there really wasn't a ton of good in this one.

Photo via Mike Brooks

Man, Saturday’s loss by FC Dallas to CF Montreal was bad, wasn’t it? I spent some time on Sunday evening reviewing the game and my notes from Saturday, and it didn’t come out any better than I had hoped.

Still, it is game two. Errors can be corrected. The team chemistry will improve. Here are some main takeaways I had from Saturday.

Defensive depth is going to be a massive issue

We knew going into the match that FC Dallas would be without Sebastien Ibeagha (calf), Amet Korca (groin) and Marco Farfan (back). We didn’t know until around kickoff that Asier Illarramendi was also carrying a knock that, according to the team, made him a game-time decision on Saturday. I know some online were very curious why Nico Estevez opted to sub Illarramendi at halftime as he did. Still, it was purely cautionary—no need for a key player like that to make an injury worse.

There is no way around it; the defensive group looked bad on Saturday night. Omar Gonzalez looks like he’s lost a step or three as Montreal found ways to draw him out more on counterattacks. Nkosi Tafari doesn’t look nearly as good when he’s not in the middle of a three-man group. Sam Junqua had issues along his side, mostly due to Bernard Kamungo and Dante Sealy both having massive struggles to get back on defense.

Estevez said in the post-game that it just wasn’t a good game from his club.

Montreal’s counterattack was their strong suit as they broke out into transition so well on both goals.