Some of you might remember participating in a recent end-of-season survey we helped circulate. I have the FC Dallas portion of the survey to discuss with you all here today. The MLS side of things will come later from our friends at SixOneFiveSoccer.
I won’t dive into all of the roster related keep and ditch items, we already touched on that here. But we will get into the bulk of the survey results.
Let’s dive into the key takeaways from the FC Dallas side of that survey.
Do you consider the season successful?
For the most part - yes.
To be fair, the question was asked while the club was still in the middle of a playoff run. But this is honestly higher than I anticipated.
What is a realistic goal for FC Dallas next year?
I’m not gonna lie, I’m glad most of you didn’t outright say MLS Cup. As much as I want to see them win a MLS Cup and even contend for one, I want to see them build off this year a bit more and get to at least a Conference Semifinal again.
Oh, how did the Hunts do?
We did ask: “Since we can't force the owners to sell the team, what must they do to get back in your good graces?” And that brought up a lot of answers. More than I want to list out here, so let’s dive into a couple highlights (and these are straight from the responses…no edit):
- A coherent strategy with the roster build. I’ve heard Dan Hunt is very involved in decisions, which is why I’m putting this here. Also, I’ve submitted feedback to the team on the Gameday team experience (traffic control post match, more media availability, specifically Zanotta). Zanotta is frustrating from my perspective, but it could be that I don’t understand his process. He should be available before or after windows to answer questions about the actions taken.
- They can’t. I follow the team because I enjoy soccer. Multiple times as a season ticket holder I was shown fans/supporters are not important to front office and ownership.
- Stop being cheap. The player spending is rough, but even the renovation is being handled cheaply. Only replacing some of the old faded busted seats is just so blatantly cheap and lazy. And the partial updates to the buildings is a big red flag too. We’re gonna go through 3 years of construction to still have the 3rd best MLS stadium in Texas
- Be smarter on player picks. Not forcing Andre to be limited. Sign and play the young'uns.
That is just a sample. A lot of the responses were similar, with a few saying to just flat out sell the club.
Which isn’t a shocker when you all rated the Hunts ability to make this club a MLS Cup winner, too.
Zanotta also had a similar star rating. I’ll just leave it at that.
What about Quill?
For the most part, you all were very in favor of the job that Eric Quill did in 2025.
Here are some comments you all had (again, unedited):
- Obviously, a good motivator and got the most out of a patched-together roster in the back half of the season. Concerns about some of his talent ID and ability to win in the playoffs when the tactical side of the game becomes more important.
- Where there is a Quill there is a way! Kudos to Eric for not giving up on the season. I think he did the best he could with this group of players. One DP, three U22 (I’m not counting Geo Jesus or Sali), one top level CB, and elevating the play of Bernie, Collodi, and Logan was a heavy lift for him.
- With Lucho it was rough. Some positives in tinkering to make things work but also looked a bit out of his depth at times. Post Lucho almost completely positive. Want to see him double down on what worked next season.
- For me - if Quill continues to develop young talent, while keeping the team mid-table; seems like wins for me. I’m not asking FCD to complete for an MLS cup year after year, but return to their talent development roots, add some DPs, and maybe you catch lightning every few seasons or so.
- His ability to keep the room together during the Lucho turmoil is huge. Finding the 5-2-3 at the end of the year to propel them forward towards the playoffs while managing the goalkeeper situation also deserves plaudits. I'd like to see him settle on a consistent style and setup in 2026, whatever that might be.
- What a turnaround after Lucho left. The fact that he got this group (full of several frankly bad players, and atrocious defense) to have a huge unbeaten run and looking competitive against good teams late in the season gives hope that maybe he can conjure something from the scraps he’s given. I’d like to see him being in more of his guys like Cappis so we can see how he actually wants to play. He made the playoffs with a bad roster, but if his roster improves I want to see Dallas not fighting for the wild card but more like 4th in the west. If the roster goes downhill or stays the same I want to still see the team play competitively.
Yeah, I think that kind of says it all, huh?
Let’s talk about Lucho Acosta, shall we?
It wouldn’t be a 2025 FC Dallas survey without discussing Lucho Acosta. We had to. We asked what your reaction was to the move and how everything went down when he was sold. You all didn’t hold back here. Time for another small sample (unedited, again):
- I love the ambition, which is not something we usually see from FCD. But I also love the fact that you could easily see and hear that it wasn't going to work and he didn't fit and made the right choice to move on and not force him into a spot. Team got way better once he left but also, not my money, but worth the risk.
- Tough situation - I would have been pissed if I found out they didn’t make the move, but give them credit for selling him as soon as they did. I think it speaks to a potential issue with the technical staff/scouts - Acosta played a style of soccer that wasn’t going to fit this team. His attitude is a different issue, but both could have been reasons to not to the deal.
- It was worth a try. Better than any other DP moves they've made recently. And I'm always pleasantly surprised they got rid of him. Good riddance to that fool.
- I was frustrated by it right when it happened. When the news first broke it sounded like they were looking into Evander and Acosta - and chose the cheaper option over the clearly superior option. That seemed to be so on-brand it's ridiculous. We still would have been a bit incomplete, but the upside of our team if we had both Evander and Musa is so high.
Ah, Evander. If only.
Where FC Dallas should focus on improving this winter
Is this 2024 all over again? Yeah, kinda.
Yeah, I want a DP-level center back too folks. I hate saying it, but it won’t happen with this club right now.
How you feel about the USOC and Leagues Cup
I want to say we asked about the Concacaf Champions Cup in last year’s survey, but let’s be honest, this club is a good bit away from getting to that competition. So, let’s discuss the ones the club can compete in.
First up, the one trophy FC Dallas has lifted twice, the USOC.
Yeah, you‘re like me. You want to be in this one and competing in it at the highest level.
And about Leagues Cup?
No shocker here to see how split you all are on this competition. I’m with the group that thought ‘if we’re in it, I want to see our HGPs get those minutes’. I know it can get your a Champions Cup spot, but you have to really put a lot of effort in for that. I don’t see FC Dallas doing that in 2026.
About FC Dallas coverage - both national and local
I’ll briefly touch on the national coverage. Most of you were like me and said “what national coverage” in your response. Yeah, that is totally fair.
As for the local coverage, I’m happy to say you all support what we do here at Big D Soccer along with our friends at Toro Talk, the club’s website, and the OGs, 3rd Degree.
There wasn’t a lot of love for the local stations or papers, though. Which isn’t a surprise, they hardly cover FC Dallas. I get that it is easy to blame the club for that, but really, the club’s media relations team does an excellent job. They help me out in ways I can’t even begin to get into here. So, cut them a bit of slack next time you want to rail on the local coverage.
