Nico Estevez’s FC Dallas project has turned heads and earned plaudits for some flashy displays in the season’s opening weeks.
On Saturday the revamped Texans will measure themselves via the institutional chaos of a visit to the New York Red Bulls (7 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+), a meeting of two top-10 sides that looks like one of MLS Week 7’s under-the-radar highlights.
Led by MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi co-leader Jesus Ferreira, FCD have downed Nashville, Portland and Colorado in stylish fashion on home turf but have yet to win, or even score, outside of Toyota Stadium. For years one of the league’s most difficult away days thanks to RBNY’s grinding press and consistent competitiveness, Red Bull Arena offers a useful test in that regard, although its primary tenants strangely are winless at home and perfect on the road in 2022.
Second-year boss Gerhard Struber has fashioned RBNY towards his own interpretation of the taurine game model and Estevez this week alluded to learning the importance of having a “Plan B” ready in MLS. But the expectation on both sides seems to be the usual high-tempo, heavy-metal ferocity in Harrison.
“Red Bull is a well-known team that wants to high press, wants to provoke the opponent to make mistakes and then do quick transitions. And also when they play with this new coach, they try sometimes to play a little bit more out of the back,” Estevez said on Wednesday. “But usually they look for these long balls to play second balls, or stretch behind the backline. And we'll have to be very, very aware of that situation, and very compact in order to win these second balls.”
The Spaniard’s ball-dominant, positional-play philosophy, executed in a 4-3-3 system driven by the young, homegrown central-midfield trio of Brandon Servania, Paxton Pomykal and Edwin Cerrillo, has made Dallas both easy on the eyes and statistically impressive. It’s yet to be exposed to a disruptive force on the scale of the Red Bulls, though.
“I will say very clear: We play at home. We have enough quality and enough talent and a great mentality, that we have a big focus and concentration in our style of play. And we have the confidence and the conviction on Saturday to win this game,” declared Struber on Thursday, vowing to deny the “very interesting” Ferreira time and space in the dangerous areas where he’s thriving.
“And I think the most important thing is that we have our focus in our keys, in our principles, and then I think Dallas has to look how they can handle us, and not that we lose too much energy with the principles or the style of play from Dallas.”
Meanwhile, after seven goals scored in RBNY’s first two games, goals have been at a premium in North Jersey this spring. Struber renewed his recurring call for “killers” and “hungry boys” on his roster to step forward and convert the chances that their system’s harrying, hard running and direct play create.
“We have to realize our chances and score goals,” Stuber said. "We had in every game, I think, enough chances to score and win the games. This will be the most important thing, when we have momentum that we use that with all our power and all our energy to score. When we look back in our last game, when we are in the lead with 1-0 vs. [CF Montréal], after this moment I miss hungry boys, and also the 'killer' program. I will see this on Saturday, and also our fans want to feel that, and want to see that, that we give everything in the end for three points.”
Both MLS originals who’ve elected to build around their academies in contemporary times, Dallas and New York have actually also become two of the league’s bigger spenders over the past year or so. Dropping millions on acquisitions like Alan Velasco, Luquinhas, Patryk Klimala, Paul Arriola and Lewis Morgan, while also spending to keep hold of rising regulars like Ferreira and Aaron Long, suggests a more urgent and ambitious mindset as MLS evolves around them.
Those levels of talent add that much more intrigue to Saturday night’s meeting in Harrison.
