Building preseason knowledge: FC Dallas vs. AIK

PORTLAND, Ore. — “The competition is going to show us our strengths and weaknesses,” FC Dallas coach Shellas Hyndman said after the match. He was right. Against an AIK team that is still a month-and-a-half away from their season opener, Dallas looked like the side that needed more fine-tuning despite the fact the match ended 0-0.

It was the first of a three-match set in Portland, where Dallas is competing in the Timbers’ 2013 preseason tournament. The San Jose Earthquakes are also part in the four-team competition that will take place over the next week.

The Stockholm-based “visitors” nearly went behind early, allowing Dallas big man Blas Pérez an open chance from the middle of the penalty area in the 16th minute. Goalkeeper Ivan Turina came off his line to block what would prove Dallas’s best change of the match.

The next 74 minutes laid out what Dallas needs to solve before the team opens the season March 2 against Colorado. Despite a respectable scoreline, most of Sunday highlighted areas Hyndman has to address:

• The team is clearly struggling with a new system. Having typically being a five midfielder, one forward team in recent seasons, Dallas’s glut of No.9s is inspiring a shift to a two-striker system. It’s still a work in progress.
• Kenny Cooper and Blas Pérez got the call on Sunday. Eric Hassli didn’t dress. Cooper played a slightly more advanced role, often shading right. Perez leaned left and was more withdrawn, if only slightly. David Ferreira sat behind the duo in the middle of a 4-1-3-2 formation that at times became a diamond. For the most part, Jackson and Fabio Castillo played very wide. Trialist Michel served the first half in defensive midfield before giving way to Andrew Jacobson.
• The major problem this setup presented was in middle. The gap between Ferreira and his defensive midfielder was often too much. “I thought we gave up a little too much in the center of midfield,” Hyndman said after the match, “but I was expecting that.” It’s preseason, it’s a work in progress, and now he knows.
• We’ll double back on Dallas’s formation issues tomorrow.
• Dallas’s fullbacks also struggled, but since we’re talking about Zach Loyd and Jair Benítez, you have to think the duo will come around to their normal level of performance. Loyd looked shakey covering runs behind him from AIK left midfielder Nabil Bahoui while Benítez was forced into too many negative balls from the pressure for Daniel Gustavsson.

Positives for Dallas:

• George John and Matt Hedges were strong in defense. John showed some midseason feistiness in a first half confrontation with forward Viiktor Lundberg while Hedges’s all-around game continued to show the promise of the partnership.
• Both Chris Seitz and Peruvian international Raul Fernandez were strong in goal. Hyndman was specifically complimentary about Fernandez, one of the team’s offseason acquisitions.
• Jackson was active at right midfield, proving valuable both pushing onto left back Nils-Eric Johansson and coming in to help in the middle. His second half pass to Cooper’s feet at eight yards out should have been a goal (Cooper struggled to get it out of feet before the shot was blocked).