On Dennis Sanchez to New Mexico
Breaking down manager Dennis Sanchez’s shock move from the Las Vegas Lights to New Mexico United
Danny Cruz rightfully earned the USL Championship’s Coach of the Year award in 2024, but two candidates from the Western Conference - New Mexico’s Eric Quill and Las Vegas’ Dennis Sanchez - were right behind him.
Quill took United to the top of the conference and, arguably, the best season in team history. New Mexico finished seven points clear of their nearest rival and made a memorable Open Cup run to boot. Sanchez, meanwhile, rebuilt the Las Vegas Lights into a fun-to-watch juggernaut despite a short preseason, taking the club to a first-ever playoff appearance.
With Quill having left for FC Dallas in MLS, Sanchez is now set to take over his mantle in Albuquerque. It’s a shocking move, one that solidifies New Mexico as an organization with major ambition.
Owner Peter Trevisani has built a genuine sense of community around his team since their inaugural season in 2019. Even though New Mexico had never finished higher than fifth in the West, the fans have always turned out in droves; they boasted an average attendance of 9,400 in 2024. With a stadium project progressing nicely and the team having finally blossomed on the field, New Mexico is investing in their “manager of the future” to remain a contender as they enter that new era.
Sanchez brings a strong and diverse resume to the table. His bona fides as a USL manager are undeniable after just a single season in Sin City, but the full track record - academy work in Sacramento, analyst tenure with Columbus, assistant roles in Charleston and Austin - has established Sanchez as a complete package.
Yet to turn 40 years old, Sanchez understands the need for accountability and a shared team ethos. When I interviewed him for Backheeled over the summer, Sanchez spoke in detail about the need to build a “collective” in the changing room, and that character shone through whenever the Lights hit the pitch. Sanchez oozes intensity and surety such that you can’t help but buy in.
The new man in New Mexico is philosophical as a manager, but not to the point of doctrinaire obsession. Sanchez made that flexibility clear in the same Backheeled interview from last season:
The gulf between Sanchez’s style and Quill’s is smaller than you might think. There are variations between their respective formational choices, but tenets like patient possession out of the back and moderate, opportunistic pressure are shared.
Las Vegas and New Mexico represented two of the four most possessive teams in the USL last year. Both clubs went long on less than 35% of their goalkeeper’s pass attempts, symbolic of that “short passing” identity. First and foremost, both Quill and Sanchez want to control the match by keeping the ball at their team’s feet.
The difference in execution is an important one. Sanchez preferred to use a single pivot with the Lights, allowing one central midfielder in his 4-4-2 to drop level with the central defenders. That tic is seen in the top screenshot above.
Las Vegas’ 4-4-2 was unique in how the forwards were deployed. Sanchez dabbled with using two false No. 9s (i.e., strikers that would drop low while the wingers made runs in behind) but eventually settled on using one such low-swooping forward.
In practice above, that decision gives the Lights a progressive option in either half space - one is a proper center mid, and the other is that low striker. The shape is almost like a 3-4-3.
New Mexico, by contrast, ran with a more familiar sort of 4-2-3-1. You see the use of a true double pivot above; the full backs also stick a bit wider in comparison to Sanchez’s setup. In more specific terms, you’d probably call the Quill formation a 2-4-4 in build.
Could Sanchez simply copy-paste his Las Vegas system onto the New Mexico squad? Some of the pieces make sense if that’s the goal. Marco Micaletto, one of the breakout stars during the opening months of the 2024 season, would be a fascinating choice in the false No. 9 role held down by Valentin Noel for the Lights.
Micaletto (68.8 touches per game) played deeper than Noel (48.0 touches) for the most part, but he has a history of occupying more attack-first positions in prior stops with Tormenta and Columbus. The 28-year-old scored 41 goals during his time in the third tier but nabbed just one in his debut USL Championship campaign. There’s juice left to squeeze when it comes to Micaletto as a scorer.
That’s not the only choice, of course. Between Micaletto and other midfielders like Mukwelle Akale and Zico Bailey, there are plenty of talented attacking options that showed flashes of greatness in 2024. Sanchez has the developmental nous to take those players to the next level.
The attackers in Quill and Sanchez’s systems weren’t expected to be manic pressers without the ball. Again, control came mainly through possessive patience.
Statistical comparison underlines the similarity between the dual approaches. Both New Mexico and Las Vegas were mid-table in terms of final third recoveries and overall takeaways in 2024. I’d argue that, by way of the eye test, United was the more organized of the two clubs last season, a credit to Quill’s organizational structure and another interesting point of distinction heading into 2025.
Quill’s New Mexico side, which employed a 4-2-3-1 while in the press, was particularly good at bending the attacking midfield line, pistoning a holding midfielder up, and collapsing on opposing defenders in channel pockets. You see that trap in development in the lower screenshot above, with Las Vegas the team that’s caught between a rock and a hard place.
Las Vegas’ pressure, which came out of a classic 4-4-2, wasn’t quite as sexy but actually took the ball away more often than New Mexico. With less layers in the midfield than United, the Lights’ trapping relied on forward-winger interaction more than “third man” support from the pivot. Whether that changes next season is a fascinating question.
Mid-high back lines were another shared feature, and that applied across phases. That positioning supported both teams’ pressing looks, of course, but it also allowed for quick ball recycling upon regaining. Returning center backs like Talen Maples, Will Seymore, and Anthony Herbert are all natural fits for a ball-dominant style in Albuquerque.
Mapping the Lights’ loose 2024 shape onto the as-of-now New Mexico squad yields a contention-ready lineup. Depth in the central midfield is the big need, and there are more than a few starting spots that haven’t been filled, but this core finished first in the West for a reason.
Might there be regression? It’s a possibility. By American Soccer Analysis’ metrics, Quill’s side outperformed their expected points total by a slight margin. At the same time, however, they underperformed their xG margin by 4.2 goals. The signs point both ways, but you’d figure Sanchez has the tools to avoid a drop-off.
From the Las Vegas perspective, Sanchez’s exit is an undeniable blow. This felt like a shared project between Sanchez, sporting director Gianleonardo Neglia, and owner Jose Bautista in which on-field improvement accompanied infrastructural investment and a cultural overhaul. The future of that project is now in question, though the team is still in tremendous hands thanks to that ever-improving and ever-expanding front office team.
Still, it’s the news out of Albuquerque that’s the big story for now. Eric Quill got the ball moving and brought United fans a long-awaited sense of competitive catharsis. In Dennis Sanchez, New Mexico now has a manager that can take the next step and cement this club - so well-run off the field - as one of the premier teams in the USL.
Do you suppose Sanchez got either a major pay raise, or a multi-year contract? One-year contracts plague lower tier soccer and must take a big toll on the personal lives of the players and coaches. One hopes the rise of domestic soccer will ultimately lead to longer contracts such as already the normal for other pro sports in the U.S., giving the players and coaches some much needed stability....