After 171 minutes - nearly two full games of excellent play by FC Dallas, the title of this piece suddenly became acutely accurate as FC Dallas suffered a colossal breakdown over the final 15 minutes against Vancouver.

We have to win this game. It's unacceptable. - Coach Luchi Gonzalez

With the 2-2 tie, FC Dallas sits in 4th place in the West.

Let's break it down... again.

Lineups and Tactics

FC Dallas used the exact same formation as they did in their terrific win over Toronto, a 4-2-3-1, with no personnel changes.

FC Dallas starting XI against Vancouver Whitecaps. (6/26/19) (FCD / FC Dallas)

With a 2-0 lead Coach Luchi Gonzalez pulled his two best attackers - Michael Barrios in the 76th minute and Paxton Pomykal in the 91st minute - presumably to give them a few minutes rest and/or prevent injuries with the heavy schedule.

Vancouver Whitecaps used a 3-5-2 formation, or in reality, a 5-3-2 formation.

Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI against FC Dallas. (6-26-19) (VWFC / Vancouver Whitecaps)

Attempting to get back in the game, Marc Dos Santos made three subs. First, Lucas Venuto for Brendan McDonough in the 66th minute. Then Jakob Nerwinski for Scott Sutter and Brett Levis for Felipe both in the 75th minute.

Goals

1-0 FC Dallas goal. 55th minute. FC Dallas was finally able to draw Vancouver out and then played over the top to Michael Barrios. Brandon Servania with the initial pass. Barrios with the very generous centering assist for the Jesus Ferreira finish.

2-0 FC Dallas goal. 59th minute. A few minutes later, Ryan Hollingshead attempts a cross and the ball takes a slight deflection for the goal. Hollingshead looked as surprised as anyone the ball went in.

2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps goal. 81st minute. Yordy Reyna receives a pass from Lucas Venuto, cuts back and fires fear post. Quality finish for the goal. The play started with a poor pass and turnover giving the Caps a chance, then a "line-breaking" pass right between the holding mids.

2-2 Vancouver Whitecaps goal. 94th minute. Lucas Venuto with a real cracker of a knuckling shot that beats Jesse Gonzalez. Heck of a strike. But five FCD mistakes led to this goal. One, Dom Badji gives up on the play and flops down looking for a call instead of staying up and challenging the attacker in the defensive third. Two, Jacori Hayes doesn't close the play down either. Three, Brandon Servania has plenty of time to clear and instead of going to the wide open and easier to see Santiago Mosquera he plays long to Jesus Ferreira who, four, is lackadaisical and doesn't win the ball. And finally fifth, Edwin Cerrillo overshoots and allows Venuto to turn for the unchallenged shot.

El Bueno

For 171 minutes over two games, FC Dallas looked fantastic and played some scintillating ball primarily due to the return of Paxton Pomykal. Versus the Caps, he had 91% passing on 80 touches, 3 key passes, 2 shots, 2 dribbles, 6 crosses, 7 for 7 on long balls, and added 5 tackles. I can't recall a 10 who defends high like this. He had a couple steals in the offensive third that created real chances for Dallas. He needs some referee protection through, as he was getting beaten up in this game and only drew 1 foul call. Can Pomykal figure out how to take less of a beating? Given how he plays that may not be possible.

Good 80-minutes; very, very poor last fifteen. That's part of the game, that's why the game is 90-minutes. - Paxton Pomykal

Michael Barrios was my Man of the Match. The Caps had no answer for him. Barrios had a stunning 8 key passes and the assist on the Ferreira goal. He also had 6 crosses and 90% passing. At only 44 touches, FCD needs to get him the ball a little bit more. 44 isn't shockingly low or anything, but when a guy is playing like this you got to feed him the ball.

I've also never seen a Man of the Match so annoyed to be Man of the Match.

For 171 minutes, Brandon Servania and Edwin Cerrillo were terrific. After looking a little ragged in the Open Cup the two have come together and build a terrific looking partnership. Against the Cap, 95% and 98% passing, 3 and 1 key passes, 4 and 1 shots, 2 and 4 tackles, 2/2 and 7/6 long balls, and Cerrillo drew 4 fouls. Overall terrific play... Until the very end.

And it's probably my fault.

Not to wreck it, but Servania and Cerrillo are both playing really well. — 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) June 27, 2019

El Camino del Medio

Vancouver played a low block bunker for the entire first half as they came in concerned about the heat. It made for a boring opening segment. Second half they changed to the San Jose method, high press when Dallas tried to build but once FCD breaks the defensive third, drop into a low block. You're going to see this method a TON by the opposition at Toyota stadium till FCD figured out how to beat a lot block more consistently.

Jesus Ferreira looked much better in the 2nd half than the first. With Vancouver in a low block, he came way out of the box to try and get involved. That's not a 9s job. As a 9 you got to get in the mixer and grind. With Ferreira missing in the box there was no one for FCD to cross to. As a consequence, only 3 of the club's 16 first-half shots came from inside the box. The 2nd half, Ferreira was better in his positioning and FCD had a balanced 5 inside shots and 5 outside, with both goals coming from inside the box.

Jesus Ferreira shooting and passing chart by half versus Vancouver Whitecaps. (6/26/19) (MLS / MLS)

It was good to see Santiago Mosquera get some minutes as part of his recovery. He looked a little rough though, like a guy coming back from a knee injury. He'll need some time to regain form.

Muy Feo

This collapse is a brutal one. A young team yes, but it's got to be better. Edwin Cerrillo and Brandon Servania both made mistakes over the final stretch and that was part of it. But so did Dom Badji, Jesus Ferreira, and Santiago Mosquera. This is all part of the learning process. They have to learn how to kill a game. The fight lasts until the final whistle.

We were satisfied. We were satisfied with 15-20 minutes left. In soccer, you can't be satisfied. -Luchi Gonzalez

Coach Luchi Gonzalez is also on the hook for this one through with his subs. I'm sure the staff came in with the desire to get minutes for Mosquera. Just as I'm sure he wanted to take Barrios and Pomykal off to ease the load on his two best attackers. But the game needed Barrios' verticality, FCD needed someone to keep Vancouver on their heels, keep them sitting back with over the top attacks, and make them have to build from deep. With Badji also looking gassed, the game needed someone like Bryan Reynolds for Barrios to keep the vertical threat rather than Mosquera. Taking Pomykal off removed the club's possession component. The ability to dribble to escape, take the ball deep into the other end, and kill the game. I can see the need to bring on some fresh defensive legs in midfield with Jacori Hayes, but Hayes should have replaced one of the two kids playing deep mid, probably Servania, and not Pomykal.

I have to reflect on myself: should I have changed formation or made a tactical adjustment, subs, timing of them, etc.? So, hard lesson. Growing pains right now. That's a game that we tied but it feels like a loss. - Luchi Gonzalez

Frankly, though, FC Dallas should have killed the game long before. Caps keeper Zac MacMatch had 6 saves, some of them really class. FCD hit the crossbar, the Caps had a goal-line save, and FCD had multiple misses that were inches wide. The game should have long been over but the finishing wasn't quite good enough. 26 shots but only 9 on target. Too many shots from range meant 10 blocks by Caps defenders.

We didn't take advantage of counters. We stopped playing the way that earned us the 2-0, which meant pressure on the ball. Our midfield dropped a little lower, our backline dropped a little lower. We got comfortable. We let the game go. - Luchi Gonzalez

And Dom Badji... please don't lie on the ground in the final 10 minutes with the ball in your defensive third. Keep playing, complain later.

Next Game

FC Dallas travels to Portland to take on the Timbers, winners of 3 of their last 4 in MLS and Open Cup play. 10 pm central game time broadcast on UniMas from the renovated Providence Park.