And here we go, here comes the heat. At 9:30 am when the session starts it's about 75 degrees, but by the end, it's 90.

Good thing I brought my hat.

Training this day focuses on shifting formations as the "opposite" side was playing several different shapes all day. Coach Luchi Gonzalez kept changing their shape and forcing the FCD side to adapt. That made it kind of interesting.

Overall Gonzalez is continuing to refine with this players his method of play. Particularly in the areas of spacing, overlap, build, and breaking down the opponent.

News, Notes, and Observations

Matt Hedges is on the side today jogging and working with the fitness coaches. Apparently, he's going through the procession protocol from a knock in the Philadelphia Union game. Hedges says he feels great and will be back training Thursday. He's gone through this before so I'm confident he knows his body. If Hedges says he's ready I believe him.

Ema Twumasi is in Ghana picking up his green card. That's good for both him and the club.

Today is my first Francis Atuahene sighting in a while. He's running with Hedges. The kid is so positive, so nice, and so upbeat. I can't hope but root for him. He says a couple more weeks and he can up his rehab to the next stage. After he was done training he stood and watched the rest of the season. I could tell he was really itching to jump in.

No Bryan Acosta today. Coach Gonzalez says Acosta will be out 2 more weeks. I took that to mean through the Atlanta United game.

Dom Badji is also still out but is expected back next week.

Marquinhos Pedroso is moving much better than he was a month ago. He's really working hard and is looking more like the player of last year. He played both left back and a little right back today, swapping with John Nelson. I'm now expecting that left back battle to pick up even more.

Of course, Ryan Hollingshead is also killing it. He's in tremendous form and it's carrying over in training.

Santiago Mosquera scored a goal from midfield today that was some kind of impressive. Kind of like like the one Kenny Copper scored. I have to say Mosquera looked fantastic today. He had an edge.

Watching Santiago Mosquera and Pablo Aranguiz rotate at left wing today, I'd say it's a coin flip which one will start this weekend despite how good Mosquera looked.

Pablo Aranguiz also took a few rotations as an 8 kind of player in the 4-3-3. Looks like he's back in the midfield mix of X players for 3 spots along with Paxton Pomykal (the only lock at this point), Carlos Gruezo, Edwin Cerrillo, Jacori Hayes, and (when healthy) Bryan Acosta.

For now, I would say Brandon Servania and Thomas Roberts are on the outside still in this competition to start. Servania had a really good day today though.

Bryan Reynolds is working at right wing today. He seems to relish the change of pace and he's upbeat and quite active. I think playing for North Texas SC is benefitting him already.

With Hedges on the sideline, Bressan got a lot of playing time as the Right CB with Reto Ziegler left.

Director of Soccer Operations Marco Ferruzzi (left) and Team Administrator Juan Gonzalez watch FC Dallas training. (4-10-19) (Buzz Carrick / 3rd Degree)

Cesar Murillo of North Texas SC got to train with the MLS side today, obviously with Hedges sidelined they needed a body. But Murillo has been playing well. Nice opportunity for him. He spent most of the day paired with Callum Montgomery.

During his media session, Coach Gonzalez mentioned Ricardo Pepi trains with the MLS side most Mondays and Tuesdays. Gonzalez also explained if they wanted to bring Pepi up they just need to make an interclub loan that is quite simple. The harder part would be clearing a Supplemental Roster spot which are the bottom 10 spots on the roster where the Homegrowns and Generation Adidas players reside.

Speaking of Ricardo Pepi, Coach Gonzalez says Pepi will play with North Texas SC on Saturday night then join the U17s for the rest of the GA Cup after that.

Cristian Colman is still out injured and Moises Hernandez is still on loan.

Speaking of loans, Coach Gonzalez says they are considering some USL-Championship loans like Hernandez and like Severina and Ferreira had last year. He wouldn't say for who but that obviously would be for a higher level than the USL-1 play.

Jesus Ferreira has a firm grasp on the starting spot at the 9. But Zdenek Ondrasek did take some rotations today. Coach Gonzalez complimented Cobra's work and focus in training last week after coach challenged Cobra to fight for his spot. The response from the striker earned him some PT.

Coy Craft stopped by for a visit at the end of training.

Catching up with Luchi Gonzalez

You started a lot of young kids in Philly, and went to the bench for some more, in hindsight - and we've talked about it being easy to second guess afterward - do you think you could have maybe used a little more veteran experience in there?

Yeah, it is always easy after a loss to be very critical, so there's a balance there. I mean we were already in a position where we were missing some pieces because of injury and the players that we decided not to roster, so that was a challenge.

But I believe in our young players and I actually feel we were in the game until the very, very end where we dropped the point. And is the sum of all those parts because we were too young? I don't know? Maybe? Maybe and it's an honest reflection that we'll have.

But no regrets. Because we also gain in learning. Learning about our depth and that the young guys can play. I thought Thomas [Roberts] had a very positive game and contributed. I think he's got a bright future. Just like Paxton [Pomykal] did a year, or two years, ago. He made his starting debut and the game isn't easy. There's a long term gain in it.

But I'm certainly disappointed to lose the game in the way we did. When we're in stoppage time. But we're all where we want it and be hungry for regaining those points.

How have the young guys responded to the loss? Are the upbeat and fighting to be back in it?

Yeah, absolutely. Today was a very intense day of training. Competitive. Absolutely. They're young, they respond. I think that's the beauty of the group I have the pleasure to be part of. They move on quickly. This is a long season and we don't have time to dwell on any kind of disappointment. We have to move on and be hungry for the next opportunity. I think the group has shown that already this week.

With Portland having a bad record this year, do you have to remind your guys this is a dangerous team? Or do they know Portland enough to know?

Yeah, they know Portland. That lineup is almost the exact same lineup that played in the final last year in MLS Cup. This team's had to play all away games because their stadium is being renovated. These are all facts that the boys know themselves. We're talking about it. We're well aware this is a team that is very good in quality and talent. They haven't had things go their way and they are going to be very hungry here and we look forward to that contest.

We will be no means take anyone lightly here, especially a Portland who eliminated us in the playoffs last year. So I would say that's a great motivation right there, in itself as this is the team that took us out of a playoff run last year and we're hungry to respond to that that in our home stadium this Saturday.