It's day one of FC Dallas' spring camp in Tucson Arizona and your Huntsmen scheduled a doubleheader against the Seattle Sounders and Grand Canyon University.

The Sounders game, as part of the Mobile Mini Sun Cup, took place in the Kino North Stadium. The scrimmage against Grand Canyon University, coached by ex-SMU and ex-FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman, took place immediately afterward on the training field next door.

FCD came away with two wins on the day: 2-1 against Seattle and 2-0 against Grand Canyon.

Since FCD is still building toward 90-minute game fitness, the starters against Seattle played just over 75 minutes and then a second XI took over to finish the last 25. This second XI started the second game against Grand Canyon with a third set of players coming on for the final the part of the GCU game.

Let's break it down.

Game 1 vs Seattle Sounders Line up and Tactics

FC Dallas rolled out in the - by now familiar - 4-3-3 of head coach Luchi Gonzalez. Today's version included dual 8s, as is usually the norm, with Paxton Pomykal playing in a more adventurous "free 8" role (credit to Matt Doyle for this label) compared to his more "traditional 8" partner Jacori Hayes.

Coach Gonzalez subbed in his newest signing Bryan Acosta in the 67th minute to give him some time with the first unit then made mass subs in the 78th minute to roll out the new XI for the remainder of the game.

The FCD XI over the last 25 minutes of the game against Seattle Sounders. (2-16-19) (Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

Seattle also played in a 4-3-3. That seems to be a very popular formation this year after last year everyone was in a 4-2-3-1. Seattle also made mass subs in the 78th minute but had also made two changes a little earlier.

Seattle Sounders FC

-- Stefan Frei (Bryan Meredith - 78'); Kelvin Leerdam (Saad Abdul-Salaam - 64'), Chad Marshall (Jordy Delem - 78'), Kim Kee Hee (Jonathan Campbell - 78'), Brad Smith (Nouhou - 78'); Cristian Roldan (Danny Leyva - 78'), Gustav Svensson (Alex Roldan - 78'); Jordan Morris (Harry Shipp - 71'), Nico Lodeiro (Henry Wingo - 78'), Victor Rodríguez (Handwalla Bwana - 78

aul Ruidíaz (Will Bruin - 78').

Game 1 vs Seattle Sounder Goals

1-0 FC Dallas goal - 34th minute. Santiago Mosquera receives a pass atop the final third, turns and escapes across the formation. His sublime splitting pass leads Michael Barrios into the box, Barrios passes to a wide open Dom Badji for the easy finish.

34' - FCD strikes first!



Barrios sets it up perfectly for @dbadji14, who finds the back of the net. FCD up 1-0.#FCDvSEA | #FCDPreseason



Watch: https://t.co/fVjd7OShLJ pic.twitter.com/XVK6QZGzFs — FC Dallas (@FCDallas) February 16, 2019

2-0 FC Dallas Goal - 80th minute. Carlos Gruezo presses a Seattle throw in deep in their end, wins the ball, and plays it to Thomas Roberts. Roberts cuts toward the box and shoots left footed and low for the goal.

Mere seconds after coming into the match, @thomas_roberts gets one past Bryan Meredith and doubles the lead. FCD 2, SEA 0!#FCDvSEA | #FCDPreseason



Watch: https://t.co/fVjd7OShLJ pic.twitter.com/ZHYKk9zcMG — FC Dallas (@FCDallas) February 16, 2019

2-1 Seattle Sounders Goal - 90th minute. Seattle breaks down their right side, Henry Wingo gets the cross in and it's dummied before falling to Nouhou for the goal with mere seconds left in the game.

90' GOOOALLLLLL NOUHOU! 🚂🚂🚂🚂



SEA 1 | DAL 2 #SEAvDAL pic.twitter.com/Cc7PzSo0m8 — Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) February 16, 2019

Game 1 - Notes and Observations

This Seattle team is by far the best team FCD has faced this spring. The level of competition till now hasn't been great. But the results continue to be good and that probably helps out a young coach.





Coach Gonzalez is really vocal on the sideline, I could hear him at the top of the stands over the crowd noise. It's mostly all teaching, reinforcing concepts the team has been working on.





As much as Ryan Hollingshead brings you getting forward he's most definitely the weakest link in the back four defensively with Pedroso still in recovery mode. That's not too surprising, Hollingshead is just not really comfortable in the back. I'm not ripping him, but he needs to improve to keep this starting spot.





Santiago Mosquera and Michael Barrios are looking in really good form, ready for the season. Mosquera again Man of the Match for me in this one. He's making a habit of that.





Paxton Pomykal seems to have won the starting job in the middle of the park in this "free 8" role. There's going to be a lot of weight on his shoulders in the early going of the season.





Dom Badji continues to bang in goals, he's usually, but not always, good about getting to the right spot and scoring. Sometimes he hesitates just a little but has the pace to recover. With the number of balls into his feet he's getting he's still producing at a high rate. (see goal totals bottom of post.)





Lots of short corners today, which I'm not a big fan of. Dallas isn't a tall team for the most part and Seattle, especially defensively, is... so short corners are OK today. Let's keep an eye on this trend.





Jacori Hayes looks noticeably bigger to me, like he's been in the weight room working to build muscle. He confirmed that with me afterward. He's a scrappy player, so I'm good with that as long as he doesn't lose his flexibility. He looks a little less mobile than in the past, less fluid in play. I hope that's because of his role under Gonzalez and not cause he's too tight. Hayes is going to have his work cut out for him to hold off Bryan Acosta .





The Dallas defense had a bend but don't break look about them today. They did give up a few more chances than I would like (one Jordan Morris goal was called back offside) but always managed to keep the ball out of the net.

Some Great sound bites from Coach Luchi Gonzalez here...

Start of Game 2 Lineup and Tactics

Since the second XI played most of game two I'll save comments on them until after I set up game 2 down below.

FC Dallas again with the 4-3-3, Thomas Roberts playing the "free 8" although he drifts so high we might as well call him a 10 for real. 3 more players come on for game 2 John Nelson, Callum Montgomery, and Brandon Servania.

FC Dallas starting XI against Grand Canyon University. (2-16-19) (3rd Degree / Buzz Carrick)

Kyle Zobeck went into goal at halftime.

Then at about the 55 or 60-minute mark, FCD subbed in Ricardo Pepi, Moises Hernandez, Arturo Rodriguez, Ema Twumasi, Brian Reynolds, and Edwin Cerrillo. Leaving only Jesus Ferreira (as a 9), John Nelson (sift from RB to LB), Brandon Servania, and Bressan in the game from the second XI.

About 10 minutes later David Rodriguez subbed on for Servania and then later still Callum Montgomery came back on for Bressan.

Giving us this late game XI.

The final XI used by FC Dallas against Grand Canyon University. (2-16-19) ( Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

Grand Canyon played a 4-3-3 and were pretty compact and well-organized defensively as most Schellas Hyndman teams are. Both Oscar Pareja and Luchi Gonzalez were influenced by coach Hyndman and a lot of what FCD is and has been over the last decade is from him.

Goals

1-0 FC Dallas. Pablo Aranguiz scores off a free kick from the left side. Low and swerving around the wall and into the corner of the goal. Not the greatest shot but it does find the corner.

2-0 FC Dallas. Dallas high pressure results in a loose ball in the final third. Thomas Roberts picks it up and dribble toward the middle, then finds Pablo Aranguiz on a splitting run into the box for the goal. Brace for Aranguiz.

Ondrasek readies to hold off a defender as Pedroso and Aranguiz of FC Dallas look on against Grand Canyon University. (2-16-19) (Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

End of Game 1 and Game 2 News and Observations

Group 2 Man of the Match Thomas Roberts scored the second goal of game one before I could finish writing out the new lineup. His assist on the game 2 goal was really quite nice as well. As much talent and upside as he has, this is the thing he's been learning the last year or so. How to be impactful on the score sheet. Taking those chances and making assists and goals. He was on point today.





Really impressive improvement by Bryan Acosta from when I saw him just a few days ago. He's getting the shape and his role figured out quickly. He's a linking 8 and has a really impressive burst forward both in an offensive and defensive mode. He had one pinch forward today to pin Seattle in their end that was phenomenally well timed. Really good signs here.





Zdenek Ondrasek , the Cobra, looked a little brighter today. He has a short space burst, but not over the top speed. He made one nice pass that should have been a goal. It remains to be seen if he can score goals at the MLS level. But I'm optimistic now he can at least be useful.





Pablo Aranguiz played left wing in his false wing style on the left. It left lots of room for Pedroso first and Nelson second to overlap. Aranguiz did make several nicely timed runs into the box and was making some really nice passes into dangerous positions all day. At this point it seems clear he's Mosquera's back up though.

Speaking of Marcos Pedroso , he looks about 80% back to normal, great improvement from the last scrimmage I watched. Starting to look like the player from last year.





With the last group, Bryan Reynolds and John Nelson were consistently pushing high and forward from the outside back spots. Their aggressive wing play helped pin GCU back deep.





In case you don't know who the guest players FC Dallas brought along on this trip are, they are all from North Texas SC. Arturo Rodriguez is an Academy alumni. His younger brother, David Rodriguez , is 16 and plays for the U17s... or he did as it looks like he's signed with NTX. Ricardo Pepi is the U17 striker NTXSC signed when the franchise branding was announced. Really nice to see FCD incorporating these young players into this camp.





It's something else to watch Ricardo Pepi up close. His range is fantastic, just running by people. He's also really tactically smart already and was doing some wing swapping to great effect even though he's usually a 9.





Tomorrow

There's a recovery and light training session at 11 am. Follow us on twitter and I'll have a report from there.

FC Dallas Preseason 2019 Goal Tally

Badji 5

Mosquera 4

Aranguiz 3

Cobra 2

Hayes 1

Ziegler 1

Barrios 1

Montgomery 1

Hedges 1

Cerrillo 1

3rd Degree

Roberts 1