What trends will we see for FC Dallas for the rest of 2023?

Last week we opted to open our reader Q&A to everyone subscribing to our site (again, thank you all for that). While we didn’t get the turnout that we had hoped for, there was one question that came in the thread that we can dive into today.

First off, thank you for the question, Ryan. This one feels pretty broad, too, and I’ll go with one on the MLS side and one for the FC Dallas side of things.

For MLS, it will be all about how teams defend Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. Saturday’s Leagues Cup final with Miami and Nashville gave us a great glimpse of how you can properly defend Miami and not get exposed too much in the back in doing so. Nashville had a solid game plan, combining what FC Dallas and, to a lesser extent, what the Philadelphia Union did in the semifinals in how they defended Miami.

I’d say outside of maybe 45 seconds; it worked flawlessly. Those 45 seconds, though, were all Messi Magic™. The first goal of the match was all Messi. A moment in the second half that nearly gave Miami the lead again had it not been for the post was all Messi.

The rest of that match was all Nashville. Some of that was because Tata Martino has used the same group of starters for five or six straight games, and the tired legs were really starting to show against Nashville. But I would also say that the way Nashville defended in the midfield around Sergio Busquets and along the wings against Jordi Alba was what needs to be analyzed further for teams. They were locked in and didn’t allow Miami to penetrate their penalty box.

I do think that had it not been for Drake Callendar in goal for Miami; we’d be talking about how good Nashville was in their title win. Instead, Messi Magic™ plus Callendar’s excellence in goal helped produce a title for the Herons.

Now for the FC Dallas part of this question…

I’m going to stay with an Argentine theme here and say I’m going to be watching Alan Velasco much more in these last 11 games of the regular season. His play in the Leagues Cup was excellent, and he finally is looking like the player we all expected him to be in 2023.

I still think he needs to turn it up one more notch to really take things to another level. That may be from scoring more goals (he’s only got two on the season) or providing an insane level of assists for guys like Jesus Ferreira and Bernard Kamungo.

I believe that while Ferreira’s scoring will be the difference maker for FC Dallas in the playoff race, it will really come down to how well Velasco plays in the final 11 games. If he is healthy, plays like he did in the Leagues Cup and starts finding his name back on the scoresheet, FC Dallas will be in a good spot come late October.

Now if I can offer up a secondary option here, it will be how FC Dallas does in the two remaining Copa Tejas games against Austin and Houston. We’ll get the first of those two this weekend. If FC Dallas wants to regain that crown, they have to win these two games. Anything less, and we’ll be looking at a trophyless season again (yeah, I know, MLS Cup is still a possibility, but let’s be real for a second).

Sticking with Ryan’s question, what player/game/trend are you looking forward to watching in the final two and a half months of the season? Let’s discuss that below.