FRISCO - Before we flip the script to another Cascadia Cup showdown against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, let’s empty out the mailbag from Sunday’s 3-0 win over Seattle.
“With Lamah’s ability to create and finish like he showed yesterday. Can one believe that he has placed his name at the top of Oscar’s list for starting upcoming games?” - Shelby Walston
This is going to be an evolving storyline over the next few weeks for sure. I think Lamah has earned another start based simply on his stat line alone, but there’s also a Young DP in Santiago Mosquera that the team brought in exactly for that role. Granted, there’s an adjustment period for all international players coming into the league. It also depends on what type of player Oscar is looking for. Lamah is good at making the runs into the box and combining with Anton Nedyalkov on the overlap, but if you’re looking for penetrating runs down the left side, Mosquera possesses that ability more. The trouble without those runs on the left is teams can play a shutdown game on the right side of the Dallas attack, much like teams did last year.
“What are the chances of the new keeper keeping the starter when Jesse is healthy?” - Thaddeus Jackson
Jimmy Maurer has played great in his first two MLS starts and is second in league goals against average through Week Three (0.50). The goalkeeping competition is always one that’s wide open for FCD, much like we’ve seen with the back and forth between Jesse Gonzalez and Chris Seitz over the last few years. When Gonzalez comes back, he will have to earn his spot to supplant Maurer, who is holding down the spot at the moment - it’s not something he will just be given automatically. Regardless, it’s a big positive for Dallas to have a trustworthy keeper while Gonzalez continues to recover.
“How much playing time do you believe Pomykal get this season? Will he get more 20 minute cameos like yesterday or maybe even start some games?” - Collin
In terms of frequency, I think we’ll see more of Pomykal coming off the bench for cameos late in matches, but he will get starts in 2018. I’d venture to say in the early going he’ll get somewhere around 4-5 starts in MLS play, plus more in Open Cup. The Seattle match game him another chance to prove himself on the playing field and he took it in stride, so much so that he’s no longer off to U.S. U-20 camp this week, but sticking in Frisco to be a part of the plan heading into Saturday’s match against Portland. Without a doubt 2018 will see a lot more of Pomykal than 2017 did.
