An early finish by defender Steven Beitashour was canceled out by Maxi Urruti's second-half goal, and despite earning a point, LAFC have to feel they let one get away at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Here are the takeaways from the 1-1 draw with FC Dallas:
There Are Consequences To Not Finishing
If I had to distill this match down to one key point, it's this: finish your chances.
LAFC rushed ahead early thanks to a nice interchange between Carlos Vela, Diego Rossi and Steven Beitashour, but after that, the Black & Gold just weren't sharp in front of goal.
Bob Bradley's side squandered numerous chances to extend its lead. At 1-0, you had the feeling just one more goal would kill off the match in the afternoon heat. But instead, Maxi Urruti pops up at the top of the LAFC box, deposits a nice finish into the corner of the goal, and LAFC aren't able find a winner late.
And we're not talking about half chances here. Have a look at the LAFC shot map from the match. The opportunities came in prime goalscoring areas. LAFC can't waste chances like this and expect to get much out of matches.
Atuesta Has A Solid First Start
Without Marco Ureña, we knew Bradley would have to shuffle some things. He opted to start the Colombian midfielder at the base of a three-man midfield. And he had a solid outing until being subbed for Lee Nguyen in the 74th minute.
With Benny Feilhaber and Mark-Anthony Kaye ahead of him, Atuesta shielded the LAFC backline and was tidy in possession going forward. Early in the match, it was Atuesta's movement and passing across the center of the pitch that helped bypass the FC Dallas pressing of LAFC's back four.
As the match wore on, and Dallas flooded the midfield, the Colombian pushed further up the pitch, linking play between defense and the LAFC attackers.
What I really like about Atuesta is his awareness. He's always moving. He recognizes instances when he needs to step up in the play and when he needs to drop back between the center backs, and sometimes even into the hole left by an attacking fullback. He finished the match against FC Dallas with two tackles, five recoveries and a 90-percent passing rate. Not a bad first start.
Breaking The Lines
LAFC started this match on the front foot because of its ability to break the Dallas lines early in the match.
With Oscar Pareja’s wingers pushing high to form a line of four with the strikers, essentially man marking the LAFC back four, the Black & Gold made use of its extra man in midfield to outnumber FC Dallas. Finding angles to pick out the free midfielder, LAFC broke through the Dallas midfield almost at will in the first 30 minutes. So much so, that Pareja was forced to drop Urruti into midfield for stretches in the first half just to cope. And realizing he may have gotten his tactics wrong, he brought on Jacori Hayes in the 44th minute to add some hard running to the his midfield.
A second-half adjustment by Pareja to a 4-1-4-1 slowed LAFC’s free runners through midfield. While LAFC still dominated with 64 percent of the possession, there were less gaps for Vela and Feilhaber to exploit through the middle of the pitch.
Points Dropped
At the end of the day, LAFC will have to look back on this match as a case of points dropped. With the Black & Gold controlling things from the opening whistle, the missed chances hurt that much more.
Against Seattle last match, LAFC lacked sharpness in the final pass. On Saturday, LAFC found routes to the Dallas goal, but the finishing just wasn’t there.
The Club won’t have long to dwell on its misses though. LAFC welcome Minnesota United to Banc of California Stadium on Wednesday.
