FC Dallas Settle for Draw Against Ten Man Nashville
"I love our fighting spirit, but we weren't at our best tonight," head coach Eric Quill told media after the defensive battle.
For 90 minutes, FC Dallas and Nashville locked horns on a cool Texas night in Frisco, settling for a feisty 0-0 draw.
The performance for the home side has its strengths. Osaze Urhoghide continues to be one of FC Dallas’ best defensive signings recently, and he earned lots of praise from the commentators and fans for battling, winning balls, and interceding to thwart Nashville attacks. Compared to last week’s match that saw the Toros give up two goals at home, you can definitely mark this as an upgraded performance.
But offensively? Even with new Uruguayan signing Valiente running around, FC Dallas struggled to link up in the final third and produce clear cut chances. There were numerous costly turnovers that sprung frightening counter-attacks. With Patrickson Delgado getting the start over Ramiro, hoping for perhaps a dash of extra attacking power, the midfield and strikers struggled to get into rhythm. Maybe some of that is due to a very stout Nashville midfield.
To make it all the more frustrating, former FC Dallas academy star and now Nashville starter Matthew Corcoran earned a second yellow card and was sent off late. Down to ten men, you could FC Dallas summon some extra confidence and urgency to create a moment of magic. Unfortunately, those moments fizzled, even with talisman Sam Sarver on at right wingback.
Let’s be clear - Nashville is a really good team. Yes, it was fortunate to face them without Sam Surridge causing havoc for the FC Dallas back line, but there is a reason why the visitors have potential to win hardware. There is good reason as an FC Dallas fan to take heart from the performance tonight too, especially as they go on the road next weekend to face Los Angeles FC and will need every bit of defensive fight to come away with points in California.
“I love our fighting spirit, but we weren’t at our best tonight,” Quill told media after the match. “The guys in the locker room know Nashville is a great side that presents a lot of problems, and we couldn’t find our way onto the scoresheet. Their keeper made a couple of big saves. I felt like we weren’t clean enough in possession. We didn’t move them around or create real quality looks. There were a bunch of half chances, and we know we can be better. I’m proud of our group. We’re a good team, and that’s a good team we just played. We have so much potential and so much room to grow. We’re going to look at it and be better versions of ourselves next weekend. Nobody can fault the mentality or the fight of this group. They battled tonight. It’s early in the season, and we have some growing to do.”
Here are a few other tidbits:
Yes, we got a quick debut of Valiente, the new attacking midfielder. He hustled out there - I like his work rate. Still, there weren’t a lot of options for him to pull any strings. He will need time to adjust to the league.
We saw some official minutes from a few others and continue to get a glimpse of what Quill is thinking about as far as trying to get the right mix of guys together. I like what I see from Deedson as a sub, and I will probably die on the hill that Sam Sarver is going to play a crucial role for this team somewhere down the line.
Herman Johannson did not go the full 90 but looked more confident on the right side in this one. Excited to see him gel more with the team.
Michael Collodi was solid in this one.
Quill seems to like the Ibeagha, Osaze, and Shaq Moore central defender pairing, and they worked really well together tonight.
For now, we bid you good night but look forward to North Texas SC opening their MLS Next Pro season on the road tomorrow afternoon.
Stay tuned for a Sunday evening Afterburn Soccer pod.