This weekend’s match for FC Dallas is the kind of match that will tell us if this is a team that is growing up or one that is still figuring things out.
FC Dallas entered the weekend unbeaten in their last four, with only a single loss through seven games. Saturday’s game is the middle of a crucial three-game homestand. On paper, it looks like a golden opportunity, as the LA Galaxy come to Frisco on short rest after a Concacaf Champions Cup match Wednesday night in Southern California.
But in MLS, paper advantages are just that and nothing more.
Dallas had a flat performance last week against St. Louis. If they do that again this weekend, that crucial homestand is going to start looking like a big ‘what if’ come October.
Let’s discuss the items we’ll be looking out for this weekend.
The free stuff tells you what happened. A paid subscription tells you why it happened, what it means for FC Dallas, and what’s coming next—before anyone else catches up.
Don’t let a tired team hang around
Four games in two weeks is never an easy thing in this league. But factor in that two of those games came in the Concacaf Champions Cup against the region’s top team, Toluca, and you can see quickly how tired this LA squad could actually be.
The approach this weekend for Dallas needs to be better than what we saw in the opening half against St. Louis last week.
- Push the tempo early and often (basically what we saw against Houston and DC)
- Move the ball quickly through the midfield
- Force LA to defend for longer stretches
If Dallas starts slow again this weekend, it will allow the Galaxy to settle in and then potentially rotate in key players late in the match to go for the points.
The key here is make them stay fatigued.
Avoiding another let-down performance
We discussed it a lot earlier this week, the draw against St. Louis wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t good enough. Dallas let St. Louis dictate the game tempo early on and then let them come back in the game instead of putting them away.
This week, that can’t happen again. Dallas needs to:
- Have cleaner build-up play out of the back
- Better decision-making in the final third
- More urgency when chances appear
While St. Louis hung around with players that are good, LA has a few more attacking tools that could make life very hard for Dallas if they give them too much life in this game.
Respect the Galaxy attack
While the Galaxy still are without Riqui Puig for another season, this group can still hurt you. And that includes on tired legs.
Marco Reus still sees the game a step or two ahead of most players in this league. Gabriel Pec brings a pace and directness out wide that can be very difficult to manage. And Joao Klauss gives them a physical presence up top that Dallas hasn’t seen much of this season.
Given the heavy travel as of late for the Galaxy, we’ll likely see a rotated version of their attack to start the game with one or two of these bigger names coming off the bench in the second half.
Dallas can’t relax because all of them played in the midweek against a top-tier opponent like Toluca. Dallas has to find ways to stay compact defensively, limit the space between the lines and avoid giving Reus any time to pick his passes in the attacking third.
Even on tired legs, this Galaxy group has the talent to hurt you if you give up simple mistakes.
How is the attack going to line up from the start?
The front four (Petar Musa, Logan Farrington, Joaquin Valiente and Santiago Moreno) hasn’t had a ton of time on the field together so far these last two weeks. That has to start changing this weekend out of Eric Quill.
This is a weekend where Musa needs consistent service out of the midfield. I don’t want to see him tracking deep into his own defensive third to get the ball. Farrington needs to be causing chaos by stretching a Galaxy defense that will let in chances.
Against heavy legs that the Galaxy will likely have, this is the kind of game where we really need to see what Valiente and Moreno add to the group. I don’t think both will start (Moreno isn’t 90 minutes fit in my book), but having both on the field for at least another 30-40 minutes stretch is key for that chemistry building.
The Bottom Line
This is the middle game of a key homestand. The opponent is on short rest. A four-game unbeaten run is on the line for Dallas. This is the exact type of match that can shift the narrative from “solid start” to “real momentum.”
Again, Dallas can get there with a strong start early, not giving up cheap chances in the middle of the field, avoiding another sluggish start, and being more decisive in the final third.
Check all of those boxes and that unbeaten run continues to get more people’s attention across MLS. But you can’t have a repeat of last week, there is no getting around that.
The free stuff tells you what happened. A paid subscription tells you why it happened, what it means for FC Dallas, and what’s coming next—before anyone else catches up.
