FRISCO - It’s been a busy summer transfer window for FC Dallas. In the last month along, three starters have left, with four new faces joining the team.
With Dallas still soaring at the top of the Western Conference and full speed ahead as July turns to August, the next task is getting the new faces up to speed with the existing group both on and off the field.
“We’re welcoming everyone into the locker room and we just let them know we are all family here,” Reggie Cannon said. “They’re doing very well in training, Marquinhos [Pedroso] is doing very well in training, he’s adapting very well to that FC Dallas style. We’re just welcoming all the new guys and getting to see new faces is nice.”
“Just kind of include them on the jokes, pick on them a little bit, hopefully they take it well. I think the camaraderie of the team is really strong right now,” midfielder Jacori Hayes said of integrating the new faces in the room. “Throwing in a new piece, maybe they have some new jokes for us or something like that, so I think it’s no problem having a new person in the locker room.”
At this exact time last season, Dallas was in a similar spot in first before what has been dubbed the largest collapse in MLS history, missing out on the postseason on 2017’s final day.
The chemistry within the group in training and in the locker room goes a long way to the performance on the weekend. With so many integral faces leaving the club in recent weeks, a large burden rests on their replacements - both internal and incoming - to carry the load as FCD rounds into the final third of the schedule.
Pedroso has been with the club for nearly two weeks now and could be in line for his debut this weekend in Kansas City. Pablo Aránguiz has been training this week and is already impressing both the coaches and his fellow players. When Dominique Badji joins the group next week, it will complete a trio of summer moves expected to bring an immediate impact on this year’s team - improving on the club with the fewest losses in MLS to date.
“You integrate them the team through training. Get them into the small-sided games and working with everybody, that’s kind of how you do it That’s the only way you can,” Matt Hedges said. “[Off the field] You just kind of talk to them and get to know them. We’re not always out on the field together, we’re in the locker room, we’re on road trips, we’re eating meals so we just try to be around and integrate them into the team.”
“The best way is to be around the same idea of winning,” head coach Oscar Pareja said. “The best chemistry you can develop in a group is that we all pursue the same goals. Just put those goals there and make it clear for them and then come do what we love the most, that is playing this game.”
