Rate the U: An unsexy start to 2020

After so much of the talk in the offseason was about the new acquisitions and the key permanent acquisition of Jamiro Monteiro, the players who were at the center of the narrative leading into the season were largely quiet or non-existent in Frisco on Saturday.

Mr. “Sexy Season” Matej Oravec didn’t make the trip, El Brujo watched the game from the bench and Jamiro Monteiro struggled to put his stamp on the match ultimately won by FC Dallas with an identical score line to the 2016 season opener at Toyota Stadium: 2-0.

Newly acquired TAM player Jakob Glesnes got the nod to start over Jack Elliott and while he could have maybe done better on the two goals he did show with his passing out of the back why head coach Jim Curtin has been high on him since his arrival in camp.

Warren Creavalle, Mark McKenzie, Ray Gaddis and Andre Blake finished with the top four overall ratings on WhoScored, an indication that perhaps at best it was a game where the Union would have been coming home with a point. Still, it was a regular season game that felt a bit like a preseason game being played in a regular season venue. Curtin even accidentally referred to the game as a preseason game in his post-game comments.

What did you think of the individual performances and Curtin’s decisions in the season opening loss? Weigh in our first community player ratings survey of the season.

Community Player Rating Survey – FC Dallas

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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