FC Dallas began their 2025 preseason this week under new head coach Eric Quill. The players completed their intro physicals over the weekend and jumped straight into training on Monday. With five days of training under their belts, here’s a quick recap of all the goings on at Toyota Soccer Center.
News
Twenty-five signed players were present for Monday’s first session. Absences include Ramiro Benetti (visa/travel), Patrickson Delgado (visa/travel but arrived Friday), Geovane Jesus (injured but is rehabbing at the facility), Anderson Julio (visa/travel), Shaq Moore (international duty), Nolan Norris (international duty), Diego Pepi (excused absence), Paxton Pomykal (injured but is rehabbing at the facility), Tomas Pondeca (loaned out), Carl Sainte (loaned out) and Alan Velasco (excused absence).
There were also a handful of FCD Academy players present in training throughout the week including Sam Sedeh, Josh Torquato, Landon Hickam and Ian Charles. SuperDraft picks Enzo Newman, Sammy Sarver and Momo Cisset were also present and made great impressions.
Notes
New head coach Eric Quill has been putting his players through rigorous conditioning during the first week. The team held two-a-day sessions both Tuesday and Wednesday with nearly every session including A LOT of running. Tuesday’s morning session also featured the notorious “beep test” that asks players to run back and forth with a beeper timing their run at increasing intervels. New Homegrown signing Diego Garcia outlasted everyone with first-round SuperDraft pick Enzo Newman finishing runner-up.
Aside from conditioning, trainings have focused heavily on quick ball progression from back to front as Quill begins instilling his fast-paced style of play. Friday’s final session concluded with an 11v11 scrimmage on a shortened field with mixed teams (starters/academy/draft picks) with Anthony Ramirez and Pedrinho scoring for either side to finish 1-1.
The team is off Saturday before leaving Sunday to Algarve, Portugal where they will continue preseason training and play two friendlies. They’ll return to DFW on January 31st.
Quotes
Head Coach Eric Quill:
“It's just amazing to get back on the grass. We’re all obsessed with getting on the training field for day one. The excitement, the nerves, all the things you expect is there but the intensity, the work, everything, it was all there. It was a good day one, and I'm looking forward to growth from day one, day two, day three, and see who we can be at the end of the week and where we can go from here.”
“We've got big ambitions and we've got to keep getting better in our preparation, the intensity, the quality of how we work. We want to make every exercise, sort of a game-like exercise, and for young guys, that takes a little bit of prodding and making them understand the expectations and the levels that we expect. But that's our jobs as coaches, to build that into them and show them what that is. We’re really proud of day one, the intensity, the mentality, but we will want to grow every single day. That's the message is to have a growth mindset.”
Goalkeeper Maarten Paes:
(On the first week) “It's been really good. I think the culture is amazing. We’re really shifting into the winning mindset, which was needed from the previous year. I think the (work) load is there too. We're working hours, and it's super good, it's creating a big foundation for the rest of the year.”
(On the workload) “Well, the week's not even done and I feel my body for sure, but I think that's a good thing. It means that your body is growing again, and that you're going over certain limits and you can go out of the comfort zone. So that's great, and both physically and mentally, that's going to help us a lot throughout the year.”
(On working with Eric Quill) “I like the style that we're playing. I like the mentality that's behind it. Think consistency is key, and that's what he's bringing every day, consistency in working mentality and also in the playing style. It’s very demanding but that's what we really like, and I can't wait to perfect it a little bit more in terms of the playing style with the team, getting to know each other and grow together as a team. And I hope with that we'll be an entertaining team.”
(On the playstyle) “Being vertical is one of our key things. Get to the goal, create a lot of stress for the opponents. Also just play from the back, but also with a purpose, right? Don't just play it just to be relaxed. Play with a purpose. And in the final third, creating a lot of runs for each other, so we open up spaces for each other, so we can come to a high Expected Goals, as the coach says it. That's what we're aiming for, to be an entertaining team this year, to be very vertical and to score a lot of goals.”
Forward Logan Farrington:
(On the first week) “I'd say one of the biggest changes is the attitude. We're trying to change the culture around here. I've heard that a lot from Eric (Quill), especially. He's trying to change the attacking mentality, defending mentality, just overall mentality of what we need to be a championship winning team, which is what everybody ultimately wants. And we’ve got to start somewhere. This week has been a really good grounds for going forward, of changing the mentality we had last year, which I think was a little inconsistent, a little scared here and there. We’ve just got to go forward not be scared of making mistakes, and just kill, kill, kill, kill, and then that's how you create goals.”
(On working with Eric Quill) “I think he's been great so far. He's very disciplined, kind of a hard, hard guy, very passionate about winning, which is what you want from your coach. He’s the type of coach I like. He's very direct, very going forward. He loves to score goals. He was an attacker, so he has an attacking mindset, which, as a forward, I love to see that. But already I can see when we scrimmaged today, we're going forward a lot more. We're creating a lot more chances. We're being aggressive, and that's the that's the style I love to play, and I think that's a style that's going to make our team successful.”
(On the style of play) “The attacking concept is verticality. No messing around with the ball. When we win the ball, we’ve got to get a first pass going forward and create something right away. We're not going to create something by passing the ball 30 times around the back. Let's be direct. Let's create chances and create shooting opportunities, which is how you score goals.”
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