Leerdam got very high and very wide on the right, and Jones did the same on the left, but Arreaga and Kee-Hee more often looked for Delem and Svensson in the middle than Leerdam, Tolo, or Jones out wide. The game ended 0-0 with Seattle having 60% possession and only 14 shots. They’ll probably want to work the ball to those spots quicker to have a better chance in the playoffs.

Dallas actually play down the middle the 5th least of any team in the league, so this will be a game that mostly happens in the wide channels. Seattle, between Jordan Morris, Brad Smith, and Victor Rodriguez (if healthy), probably have more talent than FC Dallas. But if Seattle don’t commit to forcing one on ones in space on the flanks, that talent differential might not matter.

Why they’ll make the final

FC Dallas probably are not going to make the final. While they have fantastic, young players, they don’t have top-end talent, especially close to goal. They’re also set to play every playoff game on the road. If they do make the final, it will be because Zdenek Ondrasek continues to mine his rich vein of attacking form, and because their press hits the same stifling highs it was at in the middle of the season.

Why they won’t

Dallas are, more than most teams, fairly rigid tactically. They consistently play with possession out of the back, and they consistently press high out of the middle. Adhering to principles is not on the face of it a bad thing, but they’re only a little bit better than average playing that way. Going into games as an underdog, it probably makes more sense to try out some tweaks or some strategies that give them higher variance on their performance. Flexibility and the capacity to try something different in a tournament setting are often competitive advantages, and it feels like Dallas are leaving something on the table by not leaning into that the way most teams do in the playoffs.