MLS
Watch: Behind the scenes with FC Dallas
Nico Estevez’s side begin their 2024 campaign on Saturday evening. Ahead of the new season we caught up with FC Dallas on their preseason training camp.
The MLS season got underway on Wednesday night with a win for Inter Miami over Real Salt Lake. That single midweek fixture serves as the curtain-raiser, an appetiser for the feast of soccer that is to come this weekend.
FC Dallas start their 2024 journey with a home match against San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, the first chance for fans to see this new-look team. Head coach Nico Estévez switched to a 3-4-3 formation over the off-season and the new system is getting the best out of their exciting attacking options. The club smashed its transfer record to bring in Designated Player striker Petar Musa from Benfica and snapped up three-time MLS Cup winner Omar Gonzalez on a free transfer.
The Toros were one of a number of MLS side to travel to Europe over the off-season, offering the players warmer climes and change of scenery ahead of the new season. Dallas worked on their new shape over the course of a two-week preseason training camp in Marbella, Spain and AS USA went along to see how their preseason preparations were going.
Big opportunities for FC Dallas in 2024
Last year was a decent, if a little uninspiring, season for FC Dallas. They slipped to seventh in the West, down from third the previous year, and were eliminated in Round One of the playoffs. The loss of playmaker Alan Velasco to injury and the lack of a focal-point striker proved to be team’s undoing, despite boasting a strong defensive record in MLS play. They were good, but some way short of the more experienced and more explosive teams that typically progress in the post-season.
Central defender Omar Gonzalez was crowned MLS champions three times with LA Galaxy and joined FC Dallas over the offseason. He told AS USA that he jumped at the chance to sign with his hometown club.
“I was nothing that I really had planned. I always thought that I might go back to the Galaxy, to end it there, where I started my career. But when this opportunity came up to play at Dallas it just made so much sense, it felt right,” Gonzalez said.
“To be close to family was the main driving factor, and also to play for Nico [Estévez] and to play with this team. To represent the city of Dallas.”
Gonzalez adds crucial experience to a team that is famed for its talent production. Dallas’ academy is one of the most prolific in MLS and young forward Bernard Kamungo is the latest superstar through the system.
Speaking during preseason, the 22-year-old explained that he is focused on nailing down his place in the team.
Kamungo said: “Honestly I feel like at this level every game is very important. Even the [friendly] game that we just played, some might see that as just preseason, but it could be a position-winning [game] because we have like 30 guys on the team. I want to start to season in the first XI but that’s not up to me it’s up to the coaches. For me to be there I have to make sure that I’m ready and I have to give it all for the team.”
Setting goals for the new MLS season
What should FC Dallas be aiming for in 2024? They have struggled to make an impression in the post-season since winning MLS Cup in 2016 and have a torrid recent record in the other cup competitions.
They have strengthened over the off-season, but so too have their Western Conference rivals. The likes of Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers and Colorado Rapids have all made big moves, bringing them into the conversation alongside Seattle Sounder, LAFC and St. Louis City at the top of the pile. For Gonzalez, now 35 years old, enjoying the game is top of the to-do list for 2024.
“My personal goals are, first off, to enjoy it. To enjoy the football, bringing it every single day, because I don’t know how many years I’ve got left,” Gonzalez admitted. “I want to make the people around me better, I want to be that experienced player that people can lean on and make my teammates better.”
He’s not the only one with targets. Kamungo only broke through into the FC Dallas first team last season but has already established himself as a key player and received a call-up for the senior USMNT squad earlier this year. For him, setting goals has been a key part of his meteoric rise in the past 12 months.
Kamungo said: “As a player you always set out your goals for the season. Then it’s up to you, if you want to get there or just relax on what you have already accomplished. For me I’ve got the goals that I’m trying to achieve this year and now I’m just looking forward to it.”
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