FRISCO - FC Dallas heads into their first true preseason match of the year this weekend as they head to Tennessee to face NPSL-side Chattanooga FC at 11AM CT.
With the SuperDraft picks and trialists seeing some time last weekend in a scrimmage against the University of Tulsa, Saturday figures to be the first time we see the full allotment of players on the field. Oscar Pareja and his staff have a lot to decided in the coming weeks and it all starts this weekend.
“The time goes so fast and you have the competition right on top of you,” the head coach said Wednesday. “The second phase [of preseason] is to get some competition and start getting ready, so it's important the games that are coming are going to help us for sure.”
In training this week, Dallas has largely rolled two different lineups with some crossover between the two in certain positions. I think heading into the match, we can expect to see a similar split of time between essentially two different lineups, rolling out the projected starters to see some time, while also testing out some of the depth in the second team. Whether it’s a full-bore halftime switch or a steady stream of substitutions as the match wears on is yet to be seen.
“[This weekend there are] a couple objectives. The first one is to start just competing with the team and getting some chemistry there, start doing some selection of the group that is going to compete on the 21st,” Pareja said. “The second is to try to use the game or part of the game to analyze some the guys that are new or some others that are trying out here with the team. Both things are going to suit us well this weekend.”
Those players Pareja and the staff are evaluating are making his job this preseason a little more difficult than in seasons past, with a lot of talent competing for just a few open spots.
“The thing is that in the draft, the first selection or the first round is more likely that they stay but the second round has [always] been a bigger challenge,” he said. “This year I got surprised by the guys and the quality of the players and the footballers that we selected. They are competing very well and they have shown great stuff so that just makes our job more difficult but in the end the benefit for the team is going to be there.”
As Dallas hits the game phase of preseason beginning Saturday, those final few spots are going to be decided with a lot on the line for the players in camp.