January 17 marked the opening of training camp for FC Dallas. Three weeks later and a thousand miles away from their home base of Frisco, the team is finally united and coming together as a team.
“The main thing we've been able to do is get our full team together,” manager Schellas Hyndman said from Cancun. “With that, we've been able to play a little more aggressively in our training sessions and the players are quickly measuring one another.”
Each of the team’s off-season acquisitions is now training in full with the club.
Striker Blas Pérez was the first to join the team and has now been training with the club a full week. According to Hyndman, his increasing familiarity with team and players is accelerating his transition process.
“The more he has been around the players, he is feeling more comfortable and has been able to put a little more of his personality into the training sessions,” Hyndman said.
The other recent additions to the team are seeing their first action with the club in Mexico.
Panamanian defender Carlos Rodriguez has been on the field with many of his teammates twice before, but wearing the opposite colors as a member of Tauro FC. His performance in CONCACAF Champions League play left an imprint on the coaches, but now, he’s been given opportunity to prove himself with Dallas.
Rodriguez was impressive in playing 60 minutes in the team’s first scrimmage against Inter Playa del Carmen on Thursday.
“He is a good left-sided player,” Hyndman said. “He has good speed, a good engine. He gets up and down the field. The thing that kind of surpassed my expectations was that he was very composed on the ball.”
The last to join the team was Hernán Pertúz, a Colombian defender who is expected to compete for minutes at center back.
Pertúz traveled 21 total hours to meet the team in Mexico last week and was shelved for two days to get some rest. Still, the staff has seen enough from Pertúz in his short time with the club to expect significant contributions from the 22-year-old moving forward.
“In regards to Hernán Pertúz, he is a really good player,” Hyndman said. “The players and I are happy to have him. He's only going to get better as he becomes more and more comfortable. We've expecting very positive things from him moving forward.”
While the team continues to build chemistry through training together twice a day, the most important bonding may be occurring off the field.
Without the daily distractions and responsibilities back home, the players have resorted to competitive video games and team meals to pass the time.
“This trip has done a lot to bring the team together, not only on the field but off the field as well during our downtime,” forward Ruben Luna said. “The new guys have definitely fit in well with us. The trip has been a big reason for that. I think they've felt welcome since day one.”