TUCSON - For Oscar Pareja, FC Dallas’ 2-2 draw against the New England Revolution on Wednesday morning was more about a last full-match test for some of the starters on his roster.
Tune-Up Test
With the team just one week away from CONCACAF Champions League play, Pareja again used his 3-5-2 look with Kris Reaves in for Matt Hedges, who missed the match with the flu, Jacori Hayes in place of Kellyn Acosta, who Pareja said is dealing with a minor groin issue, and Jimmy Maurer in the place of Jesse Gonzalez, who took a knock in training before leaving Dallas and was held out as a precaution. The Homegrown goalkeeper was available off the bench.
“The goal was to get volume with the players that are most likely to play next Wednesday and stress them throughout the 90 minutes as much as we can,” Pareja said of his team’s tune up just one week from the start of CCL play. “[We also wanted to] see a couple youngsters too because Matt was sick today with the flu. So we wanted to see Kris Reaves and how he responded and I am very content with his performance. Reggie [Cannon] is embracing his position with more constancy and Jacori [Hayes was] also.”
Mosquera’s Debut
The match also saw the FCD debut of Santiago Mosquera, who signed just two days ago and with just one training session under his belt came on to start the second half.
After a slow start to the frame, Mosquera showed exactly why FC Dallas brought him in as a Young DP in the 77th minute.
Reto Ziegler headed away a New England corner kick, which the winger brought down just outside his own box before making a near 70-yard past two defenders and then finding Maxi Urruti on the goal mouth for Dallas’ second goal of the game.
“It was amazing,” Pareja said of the play. “What surprised me the most is the capacity that he had to make the 55-yard effort going past two players, but in the last 10 yards having the capacity to think [about finding Urruti]. That’s the highlight of the game.”
What’s Next
Dallas was scheduled to play the Revs Reserves on Thursday morning, but will now face the Portland Timbers Reserves at 5PM CT in two 30-minute halves before Saturday’s final preseason test against the Timbers at 1PM CT.
Thursday’s Reserve match will not be streamed, but we’ll have full coverage from that and all the team’s sessions in Arizona right here on FCDallas.com
