Be Optimistic: FC Dallas and North Texas SC Are Good Soccer
Despite losing in Los Angeles, FC Dallas fans have reason to be bullish about this team, and North Texas Soccer Club have themselves a new star. More on a busy weekend for our squads.
Let’s start with the late-night show.
FC Dallas arrived in Los Angeles, disappointed after last weekend’s home draw against a red hot Nashville SC side (who handily won today 3-1 over Minnesota), yet confident that they could go toe to toe against one of the league’s hottest teams. I was on edge though. We’ve seen this script before - FC Dallas build some confidence then fall apart in a tough venue.
But that script did not play out. Mostly.
Sure, Los Angeles FC found a go-ahead goal off of a sensational strike from forward David Martinez, but for the rest of the match, you could argue FC Dallas deserved to be level or even in control. Despite facing Bouanga and Son, who have tormented early opponents so far in 2026, a combination of stout defending, strong organization, and excellent shot-stopping (hey, Michael Collodi), Dallas hung in there and generated opportunities of its own.
Case in point - FC Dallas had more corner kicks and shots than Los Angeles FC. And this was a road game for the Burn. That’s… not something we’ve seen before. Or at least in a while.
Take away Martinez’s wonder goal, FC Dallas should have flown out of the west coast with a point to their name.
FC Dallas made life miserable for LAFC. And if they can keep doing that, the potential ceiling for this season improves, week by week.
Of course, if you want to look pessimistic, this match has featured one of the recurring themes we’ve seen for this club. This is a deep roster with hard-working guys who have bought into the vision. However, they lack that one final piece, that bit of quality to spring them with that special moment. Los Angeles FC found it. FC Dallas did not. Last year, the club thought they found that missing piece in Lucho Acosta, but why dwell on that disastrous deal?
Do they have that in Valiente, who made his first start and frankly put in a strong shift? Is the next step more about configuring this lineup to get the most out of everyone, whether that is figuring out where best to use Logan Farrington, whether Bernard Kamungo should stay on the right, or develop for that left-footed player who can help at wing back? Is it figuring out how to get some of the depth guys’ minutes and familiarity so they can provide a dangerous spark off the bench?
After the match, I asked head coach Eric Quill about the performance. While he was disappointed, he was proud of the team and found a ton of positives to build on.
“LAFC is a really quality side, and they have the kind of talent this league has been watching for a few years. I’ve seen a lot of teams come here and not do what we did tonight. We were never on our heels; the crowd was into it, and it felt like a long night, but the game flew by for me because I didn’t want it to end. I felt like we were knocking on the door. Our guys looked like they were enjoying themselves, fighting hard, and believing in what we were doing,” Quill said. “The positives are all over the place. We’re better than being held out of scoring for two games. We created chances, and I really like the team’s performance, how we’re training, and how we approach games like this. We can play with anybody in this league, and I know these guys know it too. I expect huge growth from this game going into next weekend.”
The bottom line is that FC Dallas is now 1-1-1, a solid start to the year against quality opponents. Our hope is that they don’t stay in a middling mode but keep putting all the pieces together. With San Diego FC traveling to Frisco this weekend, there is an opportunity to get that next win and keep building. I expect them to.
We are learning so much about this team, having faced Nashville, Los Angeles FC, and soon San Diego in short order, all really good playoff teams.
And the good news is - we have every reason to be bullish… even optimistic about what lies ahead.
As For North Texas
Say it with me - Edu Nys.
Last year, North Texas SC held court for the rise of the force that is Sam Sarver, a draft pick who went on to win MLS Next Pro Golden Boot.
And now, we are learning about Edu, an attacking midfielder who is doing what head coach John Gall and company want.
On Saturday afternoon, at home in Choctaw Stadium (a temporary home this year), North Texas SC welcomed the Colorado Rapids 2 and took care of business, improving a bit over their opening draw at Real Monarchs behind a hat trick from Nys, who looks like the player the team wanted him to be. This wasn’t yet a polished performance from the side. At times, Rapids 2 controlled the ball much more than North Texas, but when the home side got out on the break, they put the visitors the sword.
Really, this carries over the theme we saw in the opening weekend. North Texas SC looks like a different team. There is real talent here, a good mix of experience and dynamic potential. With guys like Natty James, Nicholas Simmonds, Torquato, and Contreras, the Rapids really couldn’t match the firepower. And North Texas unlucky not to have two or three more.
Gall acknowledged the hard work put in and the room to grow after the match.
“We scored three goals, and when you score three goals it’s hard to lose. In all honesty, I felt there were probably a couple more goals in us, maybe even three. I didn’t feel we had the control of the game that I would have liked. We worked a lot this week on maintaining possession in the mid-zone, and I thought we were a little rushed tonight. We have a lot of players who are excited about being here and playing at this level. A lot of times they want to go forward, and the game can become very transitional. We talked about that at halftime and about managing the game a little better,” Gall said after the match. “Even in the second half, I felt we were a little too forceful going forward. One thing I like about this group is that they’re hungry. They want to go forward and score goals. They’re exciting. I’ve said since day one that this team is going to be exciting. I told the folks down in Mansfield that we’re going to have a really exciting team when we debut in Mansfield. It was important to win here at Choctaw tonight. We were not very good here last year, so to come back and get the first win of the season in our first home game is really important.”
Indeed, this is a radical improvement over last year's squad, which couldn’t find consistency and lacked legit scoring threats beyond Sam Sarver’s heroic efforts.
Now, they have multiple guys who can do damage, as well as returning talent like Enzo Newman.
The future is really bright for this club.
Keep in mind, too, that Real Monarchs went out and crushed their opponent today by 5 goals. These are early data points to suggest that North Texas SC are going to make things really interesting in the MLS Next Pro Western Conference.
We are looking forward to breaking all of this down and more on our Afterburn Soccer Show tomorrow evening at 7 PM CST. See you then!