Morning After: FC Dallas Collapses at Home… Again

This has become a storyline on repeat, and it may be time for fans to get honest with ourselves about this team. FC Dallas loses to the Quakes at home, 4-2.

(Media credit to the FC Dallas social media team.)

After some nasty weather delayed the start of the match and the festivities of dollar hot dog night, FC Dallas took the field in Frisco last night only to make an argument that fans might have been better off to stay home.

A first-half goal by Petar Musa gave the home side life and a lead going into halftime, marking a first 45 performance that was decent enough. Quill noted after the match that he thought the first half performance should have led to another goal or two for the home team, but let’s not kid ourselves - the Quakes generated a lot of dangerous opportunities at will even in the first half. Things were always on shaky ground.

After coming out from the break, the Quakes wasted little time taking advantage of a poor FC Dallas defense and midfield to score 2 goals to take the lead over the hosts.

Eric Quill noted in the post-game that the first ten minutes of the second half cost the team the game as they came out flat-footed and passive.

All was not lost initially. A rebound fell to Shaq Moore who was able to grab a surprise equalizer. It’s not that Dallas had been playing particularly well, aside from a few counter-attacking opportunities.

From there, everything went from awful to worse.

Sebastian Ibeagha didn’t take charge of a ball, poorly communicating with Augusto Alvaro who got to it late and panicked, coughing it up for San Jose to score a go ahead goal. Then Kaick retaliated against a foul by Arango with a slight head bump, earning him a quick red card and an early bath. Sebastian Ibeagha got into the act by holding a defender back from a clear goal scoring opportunity, earning his early exit. And then San Jose got another late goal to add to the humiliation.

There is no escaping it now. Fans have been patient with this team, witnessing glimmers of fight on the road, but with yet another home loss, the arc of this season is on life support. Eric Quill appears to have few answers, taking the refs to task more than his own players. The team shape and formation and strategy is not affective, and the players poor form hasn’t helped.

Note: Lucho Acosta got his first assist so far this season. That is just not good enough.

With San Diego FC, one of the best teams in the league, in red hot form coming into town, things are about to get even worse for Dallas.

This team doesn’t need togetherness or to lean in - they need a wakeup call that the performances have simply not been at a Major League Soccer level.

And really, right now, there may not be a clear solution.

My limited coaching experience and years of enjoying professional football doesn’t offer me any answers, but hearing Quill week after week cajole his players into staying focused and “on” during stretches of the match is not a workable solution. These guys are professionals. They know what is expected of them. Try harder is not a strategy for success in this league.

I know it’s not fair to compare Quill with future Hall of Famer Bruce Arena, but Arena without a doubt could get more out of this group of players by putting them into a position to succeed.

Maybe the formation and this pool of players is not good enough. If so, Quill needs to make adjustments. Andre Zanotta and Dan Hunt need to facilitate some transfers and movement sooner rather than later to get more out of the team. That could mean benching a guy like Lucho Acosta if he doesn’t fit what Quill really wants to do on the field. With numerous injuries lingering on the squad, more recently Anderson Julio coming off in this one, and now two suspensions to deal with (Ibeagha and Kaick), there is no reason not to try something different.

Or maybe we all just need to be patient and recognize this is year one in a change of direction for FC Dallas.

At least we had dollar hot dog night.