FC Dallas uses speed and turnovers to spoil LA Galaxy's season opener

It took just 20 minutes for FC Dallas to turn a one-goal deficit into a 3-1 lead, getting all three points from the SoCal visitors to seal its first home win of the 2023 campaign and spoiling LA Galaxy's opening match of the season. 

The Galaxy opened the scoring at Toyota Stadium with Dejan Joveljić, getting the start as the team's lone striker, hitting the back of Maarten Paes on the way into goal. An overlapping run by right back Kelvin Leerdam set up the chance for the Serbian to strike at close range.

Dallas was able to level the score before halftime through winger Alan Velasco. Paul Arriola outmuscled Raheem Edwards to win a long ball at the edge of the box before setting up a pass for Velasco to finish.

In the second half, Jesus Ferreira scored twice to solidify the victory for the Texas side. In the 56th minute, Arriola notched his second assist by getting the better of Edwards in the air; the headed ball fell to Ferreira's feet in the six-yard box, and he finished. Eight minutes later, Dallas’s top scorer from last season ran off Galaxy defender Chris Mavinga’s back shoulder to get on the end of a through ball to score his second past Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond from close range.

“It looked like a bit of a first game for us,” assessed manager Greg Vanney after the match. “We had some good moments but too many mistakes when you’re on the road against a team like this, mistakes will kill you because of the qualities that they have.”

Here are some of the mistakes and struggles that led to Vanney’s side struggling on the night and how Dallas took advantage in the second half to undo the deficit.

Speed kills

In last week's 1-0 loss to Minnesota United at home, the trio of Ferreira, Arriola, and Velasco didn’t record a single shot on target. FCD had another chance to play in front of its home crowd, going up against a team in its first game of the season. It provided the perfect opportunity to bounce back from the mundane performance last week.

Velasco's and Arriola's speed was on display Saturday night, troubling the Galaxy backline. “We obviously want to play high to compress the game, but then, obviously, when you’re high, you can’t give the ball away," Bond assessed after the match. "Otherwise, you’re exposed. And we’re doing a lot of emergency defending.

“Whether that’s center backs trying to make plays, or people running back, or myself running out. It’s all very difficult to do, especially when they’ve got so much speed. [Paul] Arriola, [Jesús] Ferreira, [Alan] Velasco. Those guys thrive off that space, and they just had too much of it today.”

That certainly bore out with second goal of the match. Dallas recovered the ball outside its own penalty box and the Dallas trio started to make darting runs to attack the space left open by the Galaxy’s fullbacks. With the Galaxy not organized, Dallas easily found space to exploit, leading to Ferreira getting close to goal for a shot put away with ease.

Arriola assessed after the match how key the midfield play was for FCD. "I think just us being dynamic helped us out in this match," he noted. "LA Galaxy is a different rival than what Minnesota was when they came here last weekend. They sat back in a low block and medium block that sometimes we struggle and do not move the ball much.

"I give Galaxy a lot of credit because they are a great team, they have amazing players, a great system, a great coach and I know they are always trying to do things right," he added. "It just so happens that this weekend we lined up really well against LA Galaxy. Our midfield was dynamic and was able to contain their midfield. Our defense showed up today and kept them in front of them. It was one of those games where we came out knowing what we wanted to do and what result we wanted to get." 

Too many turnovers 

FCD's speed was made more lethal by how quickly they took advantage of multiple Galaxy giveaways. The Gs lost possession 33 times, compared to FC Dallas's 15 turnovers. LA was dispossessed 15 times by Dallas and turned the ball over through poor passes on 18 occasions.

“We know thats the big thing for us, especially here, or at home, is giving the ball away, and then those transitional moments. So, that’s killed us today,” said Bond. “We knew that would be their threat. But, we just gave the ball away too much. We were so exposed.”

Dallas sealed the game after a poor touch by Puig gave the home side the ball in the middle of the pitch. With LA trying to play out the back and sending numbers forward to build its possession, the turnover halted momentum going forward and put the rest of the team in a vulnerable position to get overrun by the pace of the Dallas attack. In less than eight seconds following that pivotal play, Ferreira scored his second goal of the game.

“We can't dribble into two and three guys and lose balls because the speed that they have in transition can be deadly and we needed to be more secure in some of those moments,” said Vanney. “We allowed the game to get too vertical by losing balls between their lines and on the dribble. And when it gets vertical, then again, they're able to showcase their speed up top and we also spend a lot of energy in retreat”.

It was the Galaxy’s first competitive match of the year, and this performance against Dallas shows exactly what will happen turnovers remain a problem in games.

Lack of offense

In my preview leading up to the game, I wrote about the team’s lack of success when Joveljić starts up top. After today's loss, the Blue, White and Gold are now 2-10-2 with the Serbian in the game’s initial XI. Although he did score in the game, he only registered one other touch in the penalty box.

“It was great for him to get a goal, that was nice. Given the group that we had up top at the moment we need to try be as dynamic as we can with those three,” said Vanney about Riqui Puig, Memo Rodriguez, and Efraín Álvarez who played with Joveljić. “While they are all pretty good getting the ball between their feet we need that third place in addition to those two guys, we need [Joveljić] to stretch the field, be a little dynamic and get behind that backline. In general, he played a solid match but again it’s recognizing the personalities on the field and recognizing the roles within the group.” 

The lack of offense was noticeable on the night. The Galaxy played with Rodriguez and Álvarez, who aren’t traditional pacey, touchline wingers. However, that’s not a big issue for Vanney.

“I've said to our guys, sometimes it's not always about speed, especially when you're a good attacking or good possession-oriented team but just about the commitment and intensity in which you run behind,” he explained. “Too many guys were hovering in between lines and there wasn't enough dynamic hard runs through that line to again create some space for us to be able to continue to work or getting behind them.

Vanney brought up the example of Leerdam’s overlapping run that set up Joveljić’s goal as the runs he wants to see more off to cause problems to the opposition.

“I don’t think you have to be the fastest, even Greg [Vanney] said so," Rodriguez said after the game. You don’t have to be the fastest to make your runs in behind, it’s just about timing. And if we do that right, we can get in behind and get the opportunities for the team to score goals, or get assists. And, I think it’s all about timing, for everybody/

"It’s Game 1, so it’s got to progress and get better for the next game coming up, because it’s not going to be easy.”