In the midst of the chase for the final few playoff spots in the West, FC Dallas hosted the top team in the Eastern Conference on Sunday night, New York City FC. While the 1-1 tie isn't a terrible result for Los Toros, who remain unbeaten at home in the last 10 games, they will still feel some points were left behind.

It was the proverbial "game of two halves."

"I love these guys, they always respond. They're not perfect. There's going to be mistakes. We know the first play and the first 20 min are unacceptable for our standards, our potential, but the boys stuck together. They found a way to get back into the game, and then they pushed it in the second half. We lost the first half. We won the second half." - FC Dallas Coach Luchi Gonzalez

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

Head Coach Luchi Gonzalez returns FCD in their 6-8-10 version of the 4-3-3 after the using a bunker and counter version on the road at Seattle. Zdenek Ondrasek returned as the 9 with Michael Barrios back at right wing.

The FC Dallas starting XI vs New York City FC. (9-22-19) (FCD Communications / FC Dallas)

Brandon Servania was pulled in the 28th minute - due to a clash of heads with Anton Tinnerholm - for Paxton Pomykal. Pomykal finishes the game as the linking 8. In the 58th minute, Santiago Mosquera replaces Dom Badji.

NYCFC under Domènec Torrent was in a 3-4-3 according to MLS.

New York City FC's starting XI at FC Dallas. (9-22-19) (MLS / MLS)

Like Servania, Tinnerholm was pulled following the clash of heads, in his case he was replaced by Tony Rocha in the 23rd minute.

In addition, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi replaced Alexandru Mitrita at striker in the 60th minute. Then Ebenezer Ofori replaced the Frisco Kid, Keaton Parks, when the later had a hamstring problem.

Goals

0-1 NYCFC Goal. 1st minute. FC Dallas, in a complete switch off the start the game, allows NYCFC an easy goal. Dom Badji doesn't even pretend to mark Anton Tinnerholm, so when Maxi Moralez digs the ball out of the corner with only halfhearted defense from Ryan Hollingshead, Tinnerholm has tons of time to hit a perfect cross to Valentín Castellanos. Castellanos beats Matt Hedges to the ball and scores an easy one.

"First play of the game, we conceded, and we didn't do anything we talked about in the first play. Took us 25- 30 min to shake it off." - Luchi Gonzalez

1-1 FC Dallas Goal. 66th minute. Paxton Pomykal high presses and catches Alexander Ring in possession. The ball falls to Zdenek Ondrasek who makes a clean finish for the goal. Fantastic execution of the high press and a great example of why it works so well.

El Bueno

I'm sticking with my post-game call on Jesus Ferreira being Man of the Match. My instincts via the eyeball test said he was the most dangerous FCD attacker all game - the box penetrating runs were back - and he put in a yeoman's effort on defense. A fantastic two way game from him. Afterward, I looked up the stats and it confirmed my gut. 66 touches, 2nd most on the team, and 71% passing; which, while below his season average, is still fairly good for the attacking third. Offensively: 5 Shots (led FCD), 1 key pass, 1 successful dribble from 3 attempts, and drew 2 fouls. Defensively: 4 tackles (led FCD), 1 intercept, 1 foul, and 8 recoveries. Tremendous rebound performance by Zeus after two bad games at Chicago and Seattle.

Paxton Pomykal overcame a hip flexor to be named to the bench but was clearly struggling physically. I questioned how he could be healthy enough for the bench and not to start... since Coach Luchi Gonzalez went to Pomykal in the 28th minute it seems clear he could have started. It took Pomykal about 30 minutes to really get loosened up and start to impact the game. He was asked to play the linking-8 position and did quite well. He covered up for overlaps by both Ryan Hollingshead and Reggie Cannon a couple of times. Being able to play through pain and discomfort is a big part of the grind of being a pro. Credit to the young man for fighting through it.

"I'm in a position right now where this is crunch time and if I can play, regardless of if I'm 100%, I'm going to do my best to be on the field for the team. That was kind of the situation where maybe I wasn't 100% today but once adrenaline kicks in and you get going, sometimes it goes away. I'm going to do everything I can to give my best effort for the team regardless of if I'm injured or not." - Paxton Pomykal

Ryan Hollingshead and Reggie Cannon were both pretty strong getting forward in the modern outside back play of Luchi-Ball. Hollingshead in his inside out style under the strikers and Cannon in his more conventional down the line style. 83% and 85% passing, 65 and 75 touches, 3 dribbles each, 1 and 3 key passes. Cannon did commit 3 fouls tough, he was playing a little angry it seemed to me.

Santiago Mosquera looked pretty dang impactful off the bench in this one. His sub in for Badji in the 58th minute seemed to really open things up for FCD. 32 minutes, 1 shot on goal, 1 key pass, 72% passing, 1 dribble, 1 foul earned. Coach Gonzalez even remarked post-game on the energy Santi brought on the left.

"Santiago Mosquera gave us some energy there on the left. We talked about getting some earlier crosses but we couldn't score the second, but we tried. We tried." - Coach Gonzalez

El Camino del Medio

Zdenek Ondrasek pure goal poacher and little else. FCD desperately needs him right now. He's by far the best scoring option when FCD is playing Luchi-Ball possession. His scoring rate is terrific over this final stretch of the season. In his last 5 games played, 4 of which are starts, he has 5 goals. But is he the answer? Can FCD win an MLS Cup with him? I think the answer is "no." I love the goal scoring of late and the tenacity, but FCD needs more than that out of its 9 to contend. Go ahead, you call me a Zobra hater, that's ok.

FC Dallas was WAY better in the 2nd half than the first. Here are some numbers: 1st half - 37% possession, 8 shots, 2 on goal; 2nd half - 57% possession, 12 shots, 3 on target. Why the improvement? It's probably a combination of Servania's head knock, Pomykal's needing time to get going, Badji vs Mosquera, Anton Tinnerholm going off, and maybe some tactical adjustments at the half by the coach. Whatever the reasons, if FCD plays like the first half in the final two games they will lose both. Play like the 2nd half and they will win both.

"Energy. We needed more of it in the first half and everybody was together in the second half, pressing." - Paxton Pomykal

One thing that was clearly different in the 2nd half is that FC Dallas overloaded the right. Take a look at this FCD passing chart by half, they clearly saw a weakness and attacked it.

FC Dallas 1st half passing (left) and 2nd half passing (right) against NYCFC. (9-22-19) (MLS / MLS)

"We were creating 2v1s and 1v1s with Mikey and Reggie." - Coach Gonzalez on 2nd half strategy.

Muy Feo

This foul on Michael Barrios by Eric Miller should have been a PK. 1. It's a foul. 2. It's inside the box. 3. Where you at VAR? He's the MLS review show agreeing with me.

The mental let off at the start of the game may end up being the final thing to cost FCD the playoffs. This kind of switch off in the pressure of playoff race is hard to get over. It's inexcusable. FC Dallas is a young team, sure, but the switch offed players on that play weren't the young players, it was vets. If that switch off doesn't happen FCD probably wins this game. What a difference that moment makes.

"We came in a bit sluggish. We can't blame the weather because it's not the first time we've played this way. We have to improve those things, improve the mistakes we made. It's the most important thing in this sport." - Michael Barrios

FCD shooting efficiency is still poor as they managed only 5 shots on target out of 20. 50% of their shots came from inside the box, I'd like more, but that's good. Bottom line, this FCD team just isn't good enough at shooting.

55' | CHANCE



Jesus Ferreira finds Matt Hedges in the box, but Hedges pushes his shot just wide of the post!#FCDvNYC | #DTID pic.twitter.com/xHONGTGMqp — FC Dallas (@FCDallas) September 22, 2019

Given how long Brandon Servania and Anton Tinnerholm were down on the ground after their clash of heads, it's remarkable to me that both were allowed to stay in the game. I'm not a doctor or a trainer, but it's astounding that in a league that has mandatory water breaks when it's "hot," two guys who were down for 5 minutes each with blows to the head and stayed in the game. Basically, both of them were allowed to play until they fell over. It was difficult to watch Servania - as the Dallas player he's the one I was watching - stagger around the field.

FC Dallas athletic trainer appeared to tell Servania not to go back in and the team admin had the paper in his hand for what would presumably be the substitution after Luchi pulled Paxton from the warm-up. How do you save players from themselves? — Dan Crooke (@Crooke86) September 22, 2019

Next Game

FC Dallas travels to Denver for the penultimate game of the 2019 MLS Regular Season. Kickoff against the Rapids is set for 6:30 pm CT on Texas 21. Colorado has won four of their last five and are technically still alive in the playoff race with 39 points.

"I don't think 47 is enough. Fifty-one. Fifty-one is the number to us. Forty-nine? We can't depend on that, maybe in past seasons, but not this season. We have to push for 51 and that starts with a good week of recovery, look and be critical of the video, continuing to develop and grow, take the next step, be out of our comfort zone, and go to Colorado with a lot of motivation." - Coach Gonzalez