FRISCO - Before we flip the script to this weekend’s matchup in Kansas City, it’s time to dive into the Mailbag and answer some questions after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Colorado.
“Why were Walker Zimmerman and Mauro Diaz not in the Starting XI?” - Blake
This has been an interesting development from Oscar Pareja for sure. We’ve seen the last two weeks that Dallas has opted for Maynor Figueroa and Atiba Harris next to Matt Hedges rather than Zimmerman. The latter is fully recovered, physically, from his knee injury two months ago, but maybe something isn’t quite back to 100 percent in terms of his comfort level on the field. Sometimes the biggest hurdle returning from injury is the mental one to block out the doubt or uncertainty going into a tackle or challenge.
Diaz, Pareja said after the game, was given a rest this week but is a huge part of what this team needs to have going forward. He had a sub-par half in Philadelphia last weekend and given Dallas’ success in a 4-4-2 look with Colman and Urruti in Montreal and late in recent matches, I think it was just something to see what it looked like over the course of 75-80 minutes. I don’t expect to see the Magician passed over on the lineup card a whole lot more though.
“It feels like we have not been as dangerous on corner kicks this year, do you agree?” - FCD Fangirl
I absolutely agree, and that’s why I think we’ve seen the adjustment from Kellyn Acosta to Michael Barrios to now Victor Ulloa taking corners and set pieces for the team - trying to find what works.
A year ago, Mauro Diaz was the go-to set piece Magician for Dallas almost no matter the distance. This year, it’s been tough for Diaz to find that rhythm coming off his Achilles’ injury. So much of set piece taking is about the perfect feel or perfect touch. Good and bad set pieces can be the difference of a millimeter when striking the ball. Kellyn Acosta filled in admirably in the early going, but after National Team and All-Star duties, maybe doesn’t have the repetition week-in and week-out with his teammates to have that perfect touch - just spitballing here.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but someone needs to find the rhythm for Dallas to be threatening on set plays once again.
“The foul was only called because we scored and activated video review. Had Colorado scored on the free kick, would our goal have been their assist?” - Matt Miller
We had lots of questions on Video Review come in, and I’m not going to dive too much into the actual overturning of the goal because it’s been touched on in the video below, as well as here and here and here.
This question, however, is a good comedic look at the other side. We give own goals for obvious defensive faults that end up in the back of the net, why not an assist via video review? As much as I’m for this, any video review foul counts just as it would a foul in the run of play (which it would be) - nothing but a hanging head if a goal is scored from it. I like where your head is at though Matt!
