June 10th, 2007 . 6:15 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse

Juan Toja, in his first outing at attacking midfield for Dallas, poked in the opening goal from a miniscule angle in the 24th minute to give the Hoops the lead in what had been a slow game until that point. Then Dallas took their collective foot off the gas as the first half wound down and allowed the Galaxy to produce a great series of passes that led to Robbie Findley’s equalizer. The team finally found some service to the forwards in the second half as Dominic Oduro earned the penalty kick that Abe Thompson converted for the lead. Defender Drew Moor recovered from his rough game against Houston as he put the icing on the cake by heading home the third Dallas goal off a Dax McCarty free kick in the 73rd minute. The victory was overshadowed, however, by Tyrone Marshall’s late tackle on Kenny Cooper that resulted in a broken tibia for the Hoops’ striker.

Following an anemic offensive showing over two consecutive losses, Dallas coach Steve Morrow made some drastic changes to the shape and makeup of the team for this game. He went with a more attacking 4-3-3, as he has a few times at home this season. With Carlos Ruiz at the Gold Cup, Morrow again started Abe Thompson in the central role, with Arturo Alvarez and Dominic Oduro flanking him. In the midfield, Juan Toja assumed Ramon Nunez’s attacking midfield role, with Dax McCarty on the bench as well. Marcelo Saragosa made his first start since the April 12th game in which he sprained his MCL. Clarence Goodson was on in the back despite leaving the Houston game with a hamstring injury.

Los Angeles came into the game riding a five-game winless streak. Between international call-ups and injuries, they only brought 16 players on the trip to Dallas. Focusing on the changes over the previous week, the injury to defender Ian Russell forced Nathan Sturgis into the right back position. Kyle Martino returned in the central midfield, while Robbie Findley made his third start of the season at forward.

The game began slowly. The crowd grew quiet quickly as the Hoops seemed a bit uninterested in attacking. One guy in my section was actually reading the newspaper during the first ten minutes of the game. Dallas gradually began to create a few chances by sending balls over or behind the Galaxy back line. Arturo Alvarez had the first good chance to score as Abe Thompson sent him through with a bouncing ball. The height was awkward for Alvarez, who connected well but put his shot well wide.

By the 21st minute, Dominic Oduro had discovered that Ty Harden, LA’s left back, was no match for his speed. Oduro began to attack this side of the field regularly. Initially he had difficulty keeping the ball while getting around him, but gradually he began to get crosses in. This match-up would lead to the game-winning goal in the second half.

Dallas broke through in the 24th minute. Pablo Ricchetti sent a high ball over the back line as Abe Thompson ran onto it. Thompson fought with Tyrone Marshall all the way to the end line but managed to knock the ball back to Toja. Toja got to the ball with a defender on him and got past goalkeeper Joe Cannon. It looked like he was going to lose the ball out the back, but at the last second Toja poked the ball in from the end line to give Dallas the lead. Being as objective as I can, and fully admitting that I am going from what I saw live in the stadium only, Abe Thompson looked offsides to me on Ricchetti’s initial delivery.

The game slowed again after the goal, and as halftime approached, the Hoops were looking alarmingly lackadaisical. In the 41st minute, the Galaxy managed to string together a singular moment of brilliant ball movement. Toja lost the ball near midfield to Kyle Veris, who launched a counterattack of Arsenal-style one touch passing that quickly resulted in Nate Jaqua receiving the ball on the left side of Dallas’ penalty area. Jaqua cut inside and drew four Dallas players to him. As they closed, he slotted the ball between them to Kyle Martino near the penalty spot. Martino laid it off to Cobi Jones wide open on his left. Jones ripped a shot to the far post that beat Sala, but a recovering Chris Gbandi blocked it on the line as he fell into the goal. The rebound fell right to Robbie Findley, who slotted it home from close range to level the score.

The goal seemed to re-awaken the Hoops as Gbandi got forward in the 42nd minute to force a save from Joe Cannon and the post.

I have to relate a little story from halftime too…If you have been to a game at Pizza Hut Park, you know the halftime show is generally youth teams playing on the field. There is very little space for the substitutes to warm up on the field. While the Dallas subs knocked the ball around on the south end, the LA subs came out of the locker room and out onto the north end of the field. Backup goalkeeper Steve Cronin was looking around for a ball and could not find one. At that moment, one of the sideline kids walked by carrying a game ball. Cronin asked her for the ball and she, all of probably 11 years old, just looked at him, shook her head “no,” and continued walking as Cronin’s jaw dropped. It was priceless.

LA had the first chance of the second half as Martino got a good cross in from the right. Nate Jaqua got a solid header on goal that Sala did well to push over the bar.

Dallas was doing a much better job of feeding the forwards as the second half got going. In particular, Juan Toja was all over the place, attacking, defending, holding the ball. His style is truly two-way, which has been missing from that attacking midfield position thus far this season.

In the 53rd minute Abe Thompson fed Oduro the ball on the right side. As Oduro cut through the corner of the penalty area and raced past Harden, Harden stepped into him and fouled him. Referee Jair Marrufo immediately pointed to the spot and gave Harden a yellow card. Thompson stepped up and buried the eventual game-winner in the 53rd minute.

Dallas continued to find chances as game wore on. LA’s defense looked very tired by the 60th minute or so. However, LA was having some success attacking Dallas’ outside backs during this time. They were getting crosses into the penalty area regularly, but Goodson and Yi did a great job of snuffing them out.

Just minutes after Dax McCarty replaced Alvarez, Dax and Oduro combined on a counter off an LA corner kick in the 66th minute. McCarty won the ball and fed Oduro at midfield. Oduro turned on Sturgis and raced toward the goal. He held it up near the end line and saw McCarty had made the far post run. Dom’s chipped cross was in an awkward place for McCarty, who headed it back toward the penalty spot hoping for support that had not come.

Gbandi created a good chance for Thompson with a cross as Dallas began to control the game. Kenny Cooper then came on for Abe in the 68th minute.

Just after that, in the 72nd minute, Tyrone Marshall fouled Kenny Cooper on the right side just in front of the Dallas bench. On the ensuing free kick, Dax McCarty hit a curling out-swinger that took a slight deflection off the head of a player in the wall. The ball bounced across the six-yard box and Drew Moor got his head on it as he crashed unmarked at the far post to make the score Dallas 3, LA 1.

Dallas continued to press as they had some of the prettiest up-the-middle ball movement of the game in the 82nd minute. Just good, quick combination play involving Saragosa, McCarty, and Cooper resulting in a shot from Cooper.

In the 89th minute, Drew Moor sent a long ball down the right sideline for Kenny Cooper. As Cooper ran it down, Tyrone Marshall came in hard from the side and behind him, leveling Cooper and, as we found out this morning and suspected from the location of the ice last night, broke his tibia. Marshall was given a straight red after some discussion with the assistant. Marrufo also sent off Dallas assistant Marco Ferruzzi for his reaction to the tackle. Coach Steve Morrow followed Marshall as he was escorted down the sideline and seemed to be yelling at him.

From my seat in the stadium, the actual contact was obscured by the Dallas bench. I could tell it was nasty from the speed involved, but all I have found for replays is the long shot from the press box, so I’m not going to offer any opinion on the tackle. It was hard, a bit late, slightly from behind. The score was 3-1. It was the 89th minute. It was Tyrone Marshall.

In spite of the injury, there were some great individual stories in this game for Dallas. Marcelo Saragosa quietly did his part all night and made some key interceptions in the midfield. Ricchetti had a good game as well, freeing Toja to have the great game he did. Goodson appeared to re-aggravate his hamstring injury in the first half but successfully played through it for the full 90 minutes. That and Cooper’s injury could be a problem as the team faces two games in the next week.

LA remains 5th in the Western Conference, while Dallas extends its lead to four points at the top. The Galaxy hosts Real Salt Lake next Sunday, while Dallas travels to Salt Lake for the Thursday night ESPN2 game.

Statistics:

Los Angeles Galaxy (1-4-3) vs. FC Dallas (6-5-1)
June 09, 2007 — Pizza Hut Park

Scoring Summary:
DAL — Juan Toja 3 (Abe Thompson 3, Pablo Ricchetti 2) 24
LA — Robbie Findley 2 (unassisted) 41
DAL — Abe Thompson 2 (penalty kick) 54
DAL — Drew Moor 1 (Dax McCarty 4) 73

FC Dallas Lineup:

Substitutes Not Used: Shaka Hislop, Ramon Nunez, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine

Los Angeles Galaxy Lineup:

Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Troy Roberts, Josh Tudela

Misconduct Summary:
DAL — Chris Gbandi (caution; Reckless Foul) 27
LA — Ty Harden (caution; Reckless Foul) 53
LA — Nathan Sturgis (caution; Dissent) 55
LA — Tyrone Marshall (ejection; Serious Foul Play) 89

Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: Rob Fereday; Craig Lowry
4th official: Richard Heron
Time of game: 1:51
Attendance: 14,640
Weather: Partly Cloudy -and- 87 degrees

Categories: Match Report.

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