In this recent window of playoff chase pressure, FC Dallas has wilted. Their abysmal road form continued with the trip to Denver to face the Rapids. The 3-0 demolishing at the hands of the Rapids - admittedly one of the hottest teams in MLS - leaves FCD with only 2 points from their last 4 games.

Thankfully for Los Toros, everyone else they are fighting against for playoff spots are slumping too. Dallas remains in 7th place, the last playoff spot with plenty of scenarios to get into the dance.

"That's... we're not proud of that. I take full responsibility. I apologize to our families and our fans because that's not what we came here to do. So, I'm going to own that, and I'm going to reflect but somehow luck has bounced our way and we're in it."- FC Dallas Head Coach Luchi Gonzalez.

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

With Brandon Servania out due to concussion, Paxton Pomykal stays in the midfield as the linking 8 of the 4-3-3. I was somewhat surprised to see Dom Badji keep his place, but it should not have been in hindsight. Coach Luchi Gonzalez has made it clear his preferences and that included Badji.

FC Dallas starting XI at Colorado Rapids. (9-29-19) (FCD Communications / FC Dallas)

Down 2-0 early in the 2nd half, Coach Gonzalez brought on Jacori Hayes for Jesus Ferreira allowing Pomykal to move up to the 10. Santiago Mosquera came on for Zdenek Ondrasek at the same time, shifting Badji to the 9.

Colorado played their 4-2-3-1 under Coach Robin Fraser.

Colorado Rapids starting XI vs FC Dallas. (9-29-19) (Colorado Rapids)

Fraser brought on Nicolás Mezquida for Diego Rubio in the 70th minutes, Cole Bassett for Kellyn Acosta in the 74th minute, and Danny Wilson for Jack Price in the 81st minute all with the game well in hand.

Goals

1-0 Colorado Rapids Goal. 10th minute. Jack Price runs uncontested from near the center circle after sneaking in between the two FCD back lines. Unchallenged, he scores easily from just outside the box.

2-0 Colorado Rapids Goal. 49th minute of 1st half. Diego Rubio scores from a well-scripted free-kick through the keeper site-gap between Michael Barrios and Bryan Acosta. The fake first run-up made Jesse Gonzalez shift just enough for this kick to work.

3-0 Colorado Rapids Goal. 72nd minute. FC Dallas is caught high looking for a goal. No one hustles back leaving Bryan Acosta and Reto Ziegler all alone. Kai Kamara and Nicolás Mezquida work one of the slowest counter-attacks you will ever see but it springs Kamara who runs past Acosta with ease to score.

El Bueno

Tim Howard was my Man of the Match. The dude is a legend. Now 40, he shows why keepers can play so long, it's about positioning and game reading as much as it is pure reactions and shot-stopping. In this game, Howard makes the three big saves he needs to in order to keep a clean sheet. 38th of his MLS career.

Dear @TimHowardGK,



Thank you for letting us be a part of your journey.



Sincerely,



The Colorado Rapids and all of the soccer fans across the world that you've inspired.#Rapids96 | #ThankYouTim pic.twitter.com/SMb0mMXTh8 — Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) September 30, 2019

Jesse Gonzalez did his best to keep FC Dallas in it with 7 saves. He's had a fantastic season and was terrific in this game again, showing the value of a pure shot-stopper, reactions, and lateral quickness. Gonzalez kept up his end of Luchi-Ball too with 88% passing and 7 of 10 on long balls. He was man of the match discussion-worthy. The four save sequence by Gonzalez below is fantastic as was his PK save. This scoreline could have been so much worse.

Despite the outcome on Sunday, there's no denying Jesse Gonzalez's brilliant performance in this video, with multiple saves in a matter of seconds. #DTID pic.twitter.com/2OgkbVdraA — FC Dallas (@FCDallas) September 30, 2019

"Wow." - Marcelo Balboa

"Jesse's a special talent and he's matured a lot over the years and especially this season in developing. Maybe it doesn't reflect in the scoreline but he had some brilliant moments today to keep us competing in the game." - Coach Luchi Gonzalez

Santiago Mosquera was a positive influence off the bench again, although I do think he forced it a just a little resulting in 60% passing. He had 2 shots, 1 on goal, 4 successful dribbles (out of 6), and 3 key passes in just 30 touches. That's 1 key pass per 10 touches, that's pretty good. He was FCD's best field player on the day. A lot of his teammates were just standing and watching him late.

El Camino del Medio

FC Dallas was able to play their Luchi-Ball on the road, enjoying 55% possession and 82% passing accuracy. Only 457 passes though, which is a low and I think indicates FCD was flat and lethargic. That's something that has plagued FCD this year on the road.

"It's not good enough. We gave up some easy goals and we didn't create very many chances. If we give up goals like that and we don't create chances, we're not going to win games." - Matt Hedges, Captain Obvious

As I talked about on the podcast, there is a tradeoff of using Paxton Pomykal as the linking-8. He's fantastic as an 8, doing everything he is supposed to. But he's also the most inventive player FCD has in the final third and that is missing when he's playing deep. By the time Coach Gonzazlez swapped things up it was too late. Pomykal was strong on the day - 88% passing, 3 key passes, 4 tackles, and he even won 3 aerials - it's the positional use of him that wasn't optimal.

It took me a bit to figure out why Jesus Ferreira got lifted but I think I have it. (I'll ask Coach Gonzalez on Wednesday). I believe it wasn't the quality of his play but rather the location. 93% passing sounds great. But only 19 touches, no dribbles, and just 1 shot. Look at his passing chart below. None of it is in the final third and some of it is even in his defensive third. He just couldn't find the game going forward... or maybe Jack Price and Kellyn Acosta took it away from him.

Jesus Ferreira passing and shot chart at Colorado Rapids. (9-29-19) (MLS / MLS)

P.S. Jesus, learn to shoot left footed. It would have opened the entire goal on your one shot.

Muy Feo

Shooting. This is seriously in dead horse territory. FC Dallas had 17 shots, that's plenty on the road in MLS, but only 3 were on goal. This is a straight, obvious, bottom-line stat. If you can't get your shots on goal you can't score. Players are going to be gone next year because of this. Compare that to Colorado who had a paltry 14 shots but 10 of them were on target. 10!

"They were efficient, and they were better in those, even if their numbers were lower in those areas their quality was high, and they were efficient so... so much so that it was lopsided with 3-0." - Coach Gonzalez.

The starting front three of Dom Badji, Zdenek Ondrasek, and Michael Barrios was poor on the day. Yes, Barrios too. 6 combined shots but only 1 on goal. Barrios had 55 touches and got in 10 crosses but only 1 was "accurate." Badji was worse with just 2 crosses, neither accurate. 1 combined successful dribble - from Badji of all people - and 11 combined fumbled pass receptions.

FC Dallas finishes the 2019 season with a 3-11-3 road record. Almost everyone in MLS is bad on the road with only two teams - LAFC and NYCFC, the best in each conference - with road records over .500. But only 3 wins and 3 ties out of 17 games is brutally bad. Only Houston and Chicago have less road wins. Sure, young roster, learning how to win on the road is part of it. But this record has to get better in 2020.

Next Game

It's the regular-season finale as Sporting Kansas City comes to Frisco. A win gets Dallas into the playoffs and there are even scenarios where they can get in with a loss. Kickoff is at 3 pm CT, the same time as the Dallas Cowboys host the Green Bay Packers.

Sporting has been eliminated from the playoffs and is only playing for pride, which they have lots of as demonstrated by their 2 red cards last weekend against Portland. So in a bonus for FCD, Sporting KC will be without Dallas-killer Roger Espinoza as well as Illie Sanchez on Sunday.