FC Dallas will be on vacation for more than three weeks, which is bad news for a club that has had a turbulent season.

With Wednesday’s 2-0 loss at Toyota Stadium against FC Juárez, FCD was eliminated from the Leagues Cup, the midsummer tournament between MLS and Liga MX teams.

FC Dallas was forced to win its match against Juárez after losing its group opener 2-1 on Saturday at St. Louis.

The Leagues Cup includes 77 matches hosted at MLS stadiums throughout the U.S. and Canada.

All 29 MLS clubs and 18 Liga MX teams participate in a World Cup-style tournament. The competition has a Group Stage made up of two regions (East and West), followed by knockout rounds until one team is crowned champion.

Officially sanctioned by Concacaf, the top three teams will receive automatic bids into the Concacaf Champions Cup with a chance to represent the Confederation at the FIFA Club World Cup.

FC Dallas will not play again until August 24, when the MLS regular season resumes, on the road against D.C. United.

In the 23rd minute, Juárez scored the decisive goal with a header from the center of the box by Ángel Zaldívar, assisted by Ralph Orquin.

In front of 13,367 fans who faced a 90-degree temperature at the start of the game, FC Dallas tried to shake off the surprise of finding themselves down on the scoreboard but could not create any dangerous plays in front of the opponent’s goal.

In the 82nd minute, Juárez got a penalty kick in their favor, with Ecuadorian Avilés Hurtados giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.

The early elimination in the Leagues Cup against Juárez, one of the weakest teams in Liga MX, is a painful reminder of how things have gone for FCD this season.

Juarez’s win was only the second for a Mexican team in the Leagues Cup in 40 games.

So far in the Liga MX tournament, FC Juárez had lost three games and tied one.

FCD’s elimination from the Leagues Cup adds to the club’s nightmare of a season. With eight games left in the regular season, the Frisco squad is currently out of the MLS playoff picture.

FC Dallas interim coach Peter Luccin acknowledged that his team had a terrible game against Juárez.

“It’s been our worst game since I took over as head coach,” said Luccin, who on June 9 replaced Nico Estévez as FCD head coach.

“It’s a sad day for me. We’re very far from reaching the level we want. On offense, we didn’t create opportunities, and on defense, my players lost many personal duels. You can’t win games like that,” said Luccin.

The FCD coach said that the elimination from the League Cup hurts him a lot.

“We are squeezing a lot of players from the second team and the Academy, asking them to do too many things. Other players are too tired; they have no more juice right now. These are not excuses; we played very poorly today”, Luccin said.

“We must all reflect on what we’re not doing well; today’s defeat was like a punch in the face.”

Find more FC Dallas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

On Tuesday, Dallas Cowboys superstar defensive back Trevon Diggs was medically cleared to return from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, crossing another huge milestone in his recovery from a torn ACL.

Diggs’ injury came last season in a September practice. He made a name for himself in 2021 when he registered 11 interceptions and really took the league by storm with his incredibly aggressive playstyle.

While Diggs has been removed from the PUP list, he is not quite all the way ready to begin football activities. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy noted on Tuesday that Diggs will remain in his rehab program but that he and the Cowboys are in “return to play mode.”

Browns fans certainly know the balancing act that surrounds the return from an injury like this. This is not a situation where Diggs can just jump back onto the practice field and be good to go. It will take some time for him to get back into playing shape.

The Browns will host the Cowboys in Cleveland on Sept. 8. That is still a long way out, and there is ample time for Diggs to continue his recovery to be ready for the Browns’ passing attack. If the Browns come into that game with their receiving corps as good as advertised, the Cowboys will need a healthy Diggs to slow Cleveland down.

Without Diggs in the lineup, Dallas’ secondary features DaRon Bland and Nahshon Wright as the book ends with former Ohio State Buckeye Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson patrolling the middle of the field.

Bland’s historic 2023 will be hard to replicate, so it should be advantage Cleveland if Diggs is not back in the lineup come Week 1.