Nico Estévez’s big decision for FC Dallas

The manager left top defender Nkosi Tafari on the bench – and it worked out in an important result for FCD

Shock and outrage were registered Saturday in all the places modern supporters register shock and outrage as FC Dallas’ starting lineup was revealed an hour before the team met St. Louis.

Nkosi Tafari wasn’t on the list.

Tafari is the team’s top defender, most certainly the team’s best center back. He’s also growing into a place as the team’s beating heart, an emotional leader to rally around, the Braveheart warrior who can inspire others with fight and unyielding determination. So the storm of disbelief was certainly predictable at Estévez’s choice.

It was a brave decision. In terms of single-match personnel choices, probably the boldest of the manager’s three years in charge around Toyota Stadium. 

In the end, it looks like the right one. 

No, it doesn’t mean all problems have been solved. But before the pressing issues could be properly addressed (injuries, form of key players, roster depth in certain positions) the mission priority had to be “stabilize things.” And a draw at St. Louis, a club with a great home record in 2023, is a worthy result. Especially when it comes by way of a shutout, FC Dallas’ first clean sheet of 2024.

None of which means, by the way, that Tafari will spend much time looking from the outside at the starting 11. In fact, he’ll probably be right back in the thick of things as FC Dallas meets Seattle this week in Frisco. He is still the team’s top defender.

A little background on why this was such a momentous choice – maybe even more than you think: FC Dallas skidded into St. Louis on a disconcerting four-game losing streak. In a league where about 30 percent of matches end in draws, four-game losing streaks are uncommon. Teams can be in a terrible way but still manage to scratch out draws here and there, cinching off a string of losses before it grows too long.

In fact, had FC Dallas lost on Saturday in St. Louis, it would have set a club record. There was a time when “club record” wasn’t so consequential; the bar on “club record” remained a little low in, say, Year 10 or even in Year 15. But close to Year 30 for the club? Yeah, that’s starting to get weighty in significance. 

There have been four-game FCD losing streaks, but none went further. As the team walked into teeming City Park in St. Louis, that possibility lie menacingly on the table.

The team had been frail defensively – a first in his time at FCD. We went over some of the biggest issues last week.

Estévez understood the stakes. The season threatened to spiral uncontrollably, his own reputation on the line. And yet, he played the long game. 

It would have been easy for Estévez to make the shorter-term decision. It wouldn’t have cost as much personal risk to put Tafari back out there, hoping against any real supporting evidence that his defensive leader’s performance (and the entire team’s) would improve. 

Instead, Estévez made the bold calculation that some time with Tafari out of the starting lineup would be better for the season-long pursuits, yielding greater returns over time. Not that all of FCD’s defensive frailty (two goals a game – yikes!) was Tafari’s fault. It most certainly wasn’t; there was ample blame to go around. 

But being the team’s top man on the back line comes with some responsibility. Estévez explained that Tafari simply wasn’t in his best moment. He said it in the same way he might order a sandwich – with no emotion. It was just a calculation, the same way the Spanish tactician calculates pretty much everything.

Was there daunting risk? Of course there was. If St. Louis had put four past goalkeeper Maarten Paes and had FCD looked poor defensively in the process, the manager would be in for a public roasting. He sort of said as much before the match – although he was referring specifically to tactical choices during the recent skid. 

“If we win these games, everybody will be talking, ‘This coach is a genius! He changed [some things] and everything works.’ But because things didn’t go our way, I’m a very bad coach. But that is the reality of sports,” Estévez said, smiling, in good humor. “And right now I am very bad!”

As he spoke those words, he could have just as easily been referring to his looming personnel decision along Dallas’ back line. He presumably already knew about the Tafari choice.

The team played a 5-4-1 that sometimes morphed into a 5-3-2. In a plan that tilted significantly defensive, Omar Gonzalez came in for Tafari as the center man along the back line. And while Gonzalez, 35 years old, isn’t nearly as mobile as Tafari, he was clinical all evening in the low block, particularly in clearing crosses, something that had emerged as a soft spot for FCD.

Again, Tafari will be back in the lineup soon enough. Someone on Twitter – a supporter who always seems to have well thought out opinions on the game – said he hoped Estévez and Tafari could “work it out.” 

I personally don’t think there is anything to work out. I think it was just a decision to play the long game, a calculation to sacrifice some short-term risk for higher, long-term upside. For the team and probably for Tafari himself, who may very well emerge stronger for it.