What we learned from FC Dallas’ preseason win over Inter Miami

A win is a win, right?

Photo via Mike Brooks

FC Dallas defeated Inter Miami in its first preseason match of 2024 1-0 on Monday evening at the historic Cotton Bowl. Jesus Ferreira scored the game’s lone goal, while Maarten Paes and Jimmy Maurer combined to make several saves to keep Lionel Messi and Miami scoreless.

Despite rainy weather and heavy fog, the crowd ended up being pretty good at the Cotton Bowl, with over 32,000 fans showing up to see Messi and Miami take on the local side.

Here are some key takeaways we gathered from the first preseason match of the year.

New year, new look

When the lineup card was announced, we first noticed a new look. Some may call it a 3-4-3; others may say it is a 5-2-2-1. Either way, there is something new in the air this season from Nico Estevez, and it appeared to work well enough on Monday night against Miami.

The key thing was getting Jesus Ferreira into space with the ball more. That part worked well.

Defensively, things felt similar to 2023. Fresh off a national team camp, Nkosi Tafari was the key force in keeping the likes of Messi and Luis Suarez at bay. The three-center back looks with him, Sebastien Ibeagha and Sam Junqua do require a bit of change with how we’ve seen this team operate as a unit, but the three of them are easily some of the most athletic players on the roster so that it can work.

Let’s not get too worked up