Match Report: FC Dallas 0, Toronto FC 4
June 17th, 2007 . 9:52 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse
A road-weary FC Dallas side gave up four goals on its first trip to Toronto. Maurice Edu cleaned up a scrappy mess in front of the goal to open the floodgates in the first half, then Danny Dichio headed in a free kick three minutes later. Dallas threw all the offensive guns on the field at halftime but was unable to find the net. Carl Robinson and Jeff Cunningham took turns icing the cake with headed-in crosses in the 65th and 92nd minutes, respectively. Dallas came into the match less than three days after their win at Salt Lake Thursday night, facing their fourth Thursday-Sunday swing of the season’s first few months. While Carlos Ruiz returned from Gold Cup duty, the Hoops lost Pablo Ricchetti to yellow card accumulation. Ruiz remained on the bench at the start while Dax McCarty slid into Ricchetti’s place. Toronto, on the other hand, had ten days off before this home match. Coach Mo Johnston made one roster change from their 2-1 loss at New York; he replaced defender Chris Pozniak with Kevin Goldthwaite, who returned from suspension. The game began slowly, and I have to say that once again, in the sun, the washed-out color of the Telefutura broadcast made the picture look almost black-and-white. It was fun hearing the commentators refer to Dominic Oduro as “El Birdman” or “El Hombre Pajaro.” That was about the only fun thing about watching this game. From the beginning, as Dallas tried to work the ball forward, the passes were not connecting. Sometimes they were in the wrong place, sometimes they were too slow, and sometimes the recipient and the deliverer were just on different pages. As the giveaways mounted, Toronto began to show their wide strength on the counterattack, particularly from Andy Welsh on the left. The first four times he countered, Drew Moor did very well to contain him, take the ball off him, and try to restart the attack. The commentators were calling him “El Iron Hoop.” In the first fifteen minutes, Oduro had a few good runs behind the defense that resulted in some decent shots. The game got pretty physical quickly, as well, with Toronto trying to take over the match psychologically. In the 22nd minute, Andy Welsh finally broke through; with McCarty and Oduro on him, he sent a ball over the top off a throw-in deep in Dallas territory. Left back Kevin Goldthwaite ran onto it as Drew Moor recovered. Goldthwaite sold the cross right on the end line, and as Moor slid to block it, Goldthwaite cut it back. Moor went right by, and Goldthwaite crossed into the six-yard box. Alex Yi let Danny Dichio get inside of him, and Dichio got off a point-blank volley that Sala was able to block. From there panic ensued as the other defenders tried to cover the line. Dichio got to the rebound and fired again. Sala blocked it a second time, but Maurice Edu finished the third attempt to give Toronto the 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later, Carl Robinson swung in a free kick from about 40 yards out. Goodson was right on Dichio, but Dichio managed to get his head on it at the left side of the six-yard box’s edge. He put it back across the goal where Sala could not reach it to make the score 2-0. Toronto relentlessly attacked the goal after this, doing a good job of getting balls behind the Dallas defense for Cunningham and even Goldthwaite again. There was some old-team drama as Gbandi and Oduro took turns fouling Ronnie O’Brien, who was not taking it well. From minute 30 to the end of the first half, Dallas made some headway going forward. Alvarez had a shot blocked from inside the 18, Oduro missed a good chance to redirect a free kick from Toja into the net, and Oduro had another run into the box that was snuffed out by stand-in keeper Srdjan Djekanovic. Coach Morrow made two changes at halftime to try to get the attack going; he replaced Abe Thompson with Carlos Ruiz, and Dax McCarty with Ramon Nunez. On paper this was a pretty understandable sub, but Nunez and Toja seemed to get in each other’s way more often than not. Toja did not fall back to his old defensive role, and two central midfielders with the freedom both of them had was basically a study in “what not to do” in midfield shape. Saragosa was often left alone to support the defenders and to provide outlets for them. This may have, ironically, turned out to be the first time most fans have noticed Ricchetti this season. He is a quiet player, and the shape of the midfield defensively with him missing says much about what he brings to the team. Toronto also replaced Danny Dichio, who had injured his ankle, with Andrea Lombardo at halftime. Dallas finally had a great chance in the 55th minute as Alvarez ran onto a soft clearance of a Dallas corner. From the top left of the box, he ripped an outwardly bending ball to the far post that was barely wide on its own. Ruiz was at that post unmarked and he just missed putting it in with his head as he dove. Two minutes later, Goodson and Yi miscommunicated on a ball out of the Toronto backfield. Cunningham pounced on it and raced toward goal. Yi tracked him well and stayed in front of him, but Cunningham got a shot off that hit the crossbar. This was the first time I have seen Lombardo play, but he was a bit dirty, to say the least. He really got into the heads of the Dallas defense. His shirt pull on Gbandi caused a reaction that got Gbandi carded and got TFC a shot on goal from the ensuing free kick. He was running into Dallas defenders all through the second half, mostly shoving them from behind off the ball. In the 65th minute, after a collision at midfield, Lombardo found himself on the right side of the Dallas penalty box with soft pressure form Yi. He switched the ball to Welsh on the left side as Moor gave chase into the corner. Welsh dropped it to an oncoming, unmarked Goldthwaite, who whipped a cross back into the area. Carl Robinson met it right between Goodson and Yi and headed it over Sala to the far post to bring the score to 3-0. The rest of the match saw Dallas trying to get things forward, but to be honest they just looked tired. Bobby Rhine replaced Alex Yi in the 72nd minute. Toronto did a lot of time wasting that would rival a Dominic Kinnear team. Even the ball kids were in on it. Rhine got a good cross in from the right to Ruiz on the far post in the 78th. Ruiz was unmarked and made good contact with his head, but the effort was just wide. Nunez hit a free kick from the top of the penalty area right into the wall in the 81st minute. Rhine hit a decent shot over the goal in the 83rd. The 85th minute saw Toronto spring both Lombardo and Cunningham at midfield. On TV, which admittedly did not show the whole field, they were both about 5 yards offsides. Sala knocked Cunningham’s touch wide. Goodson recovered, won the ball, fell down near the end line, poked it to Sala, and he lost it to Cunningham. Cunningham laid it off to Lombardo on the left, and Sala made a great save on the shot. As Moor ran to the ball and gained possession on the left end line, Lombardo crashed into Moor, shoulder-to-back, and literally flipped Drew Moor out of bounds. Alvarez got behind the defense and onto a pass from Toja in the 88th minute on the left side of the penalty box. As Djekanovic closed him down, he fired with his left straight at him; Alvarez really needed to use his right foot to bend that around the keeper. After almost two and a half minutes of Djekanovic having a cramp, Toronto scored off a short corner kick play. Carl Robinson knocked it back to Ronnie O’Brien, then the two exchanged it again. O’Brien cut inside and crossed it from the left to Jeff Cunningham. Gbandi was on his back, but Cunningham made space with a quick step and headed it to the far post to make the final score 4-0. It was clear the boys need a break. They missed Ricchetti, but there was just no energy today. Their schedule, which included flying home, training twice, and then flying to Toronto between the Thursday and Sunday games, could not have helped. All credit to Toronto, however, for a quality win. Toronto moves up to 6th in the Eastern Conference with 10 points. Dallas remains on top of the Western Conference with 22 points. Toronto travels to New England Saturday, while Dallas is on the road again at Colorado.
FC Dallas (7-6-1) vs. Toronto FC (4-6-1) Scoring Summary: FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Aaron Pitchkolan, David Wagenfuhr, Anthony Wallace Toronto FC Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Miguel Canizalez, David Guzman, Greg Sutton
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Silviu Petrescu 16 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toronto fans understand that Dallas was a tired team. So it is hard to decide how much joy to take from the dominating tone to the game. It is possible that we are a good team.
The Canada-Guatemala game in the Gold Cup on Saturday might not have been shown on US tv. After watching Ruiz elbow Canadian defender Richard Hastings in the head and cut him it is hard to accept mildly the view that Lombardo is a dirty player. In comparison he seems mild and is trying to free himself from grappling defenders. I was at the game and the “flipping” of Moor seemed comic to me – contact up high in a challenge for the ball does not become a cartwheel without a lot of effort in the drama department. I understand the factors – Dallas was trying to play it out with little dignity intact and Lombardo is going to be all effort as he is 3/4 or 5 in the TFC striker depth chart. Still, almost as impressed with the quality of your report as I was with the ascendency of TFC. The next meeting with Dallas will be a tougher test.
This game was lost back in February when MLS made the schedule. Four times this season FCD has had 3 games in a week and have lost the third game 3 of 4 times. FCD went 0-4, 0-3, 0-1 & 2-1 in these third games in a week schedules. The team is missing big players and 9 of the 14 games have been on the road. 22 points is pretty incredible given the path this team has had to travel.
I love this team and the best is yet to come in Oct/Nov.
Was this just a bump in the road, or the proverbial Iceberg?
One thing is for sure, Pablo was missed. He keeps this thing together and without him out there this team seemed to fall apart positionally. Not to say that Saragosa played badly, I think he was solid. He made some good tackles and did what he could to move the ball in the middle with everyone standing around, but he does not have the leadership and tactical prowess of Pablo.
OLD FOOTBALL SAYING “A coach who tells you he has 2 Quarter-Backs is really telling you he has none”
There has been a lot of talk early this season about our depth at forward. I am starting to wonder if the reason that we had 4 or 5 forwards to interchange at the start of the season is because none of them have shown the form to stand out above the rest.
Thanks for the kind words, Still Kicking. Your comments are well-taken. The next meeting should be interesting since Dallas certainly has something to prove now!
A sad Howdy to all.
Nice game report. Unfortunately, there were really no FCD bright spots to talk about. There is no doubt that this was not the FCD team that handed a whooping to LA. I think fatigue played a part in it. It is hard for me to fathom that Richetti brought that much stability to the defense. Richetti is good and a good stabilizing factor but what I took out of the performance of the defence was just mental error after mental error. Goodson seemed to be a half step out of position most of the time which is unusual for him this season. The back line looked confused once there was penetration. No one seemed to know where to go or who to guard.
From the midfield forward, there was just no chemistry. FCD was just lost and confused on the attack. Pass after pass seemed off for one reason or another. There were a couple of instance where the FCD player held on to the ball too long where a quick shot or pass would have created a chance. Again, mental error after mental error.
All that repeated to say that I agree witht he above posters: the schedule has not favored a productive FCD (although FCD has done very well with it) and we lacked key players and it showed.
Much appreciation to the Toronto fan for his kind words. FCD is a physical team and I find that most teams respond in kind. So be it. That is the nature of the game. Lombardo did not pull a Marshall so I cannot say anything about being dirty. That said, Toronto needs to make sure that Marshall stays under control. Marshall has a history of hard tackles and frustration plays and that could cost Toronto a few points in the favorable reputation column (although they seem to have developed a huge account in the good reputation bank; I have not heard one negative about the team or the city or the fans or the field or their business development).
Anyway, I hope FCD comes home to regroup and right it’s ship. This past game is history and there is a bright future for FCD to claim.
GO HOOPS!
I’ll tell you, too, stepping out of my semi-objective role, this formation does not work against a team with quality wide play, especially if it’s on both sides. The three-man midfield has to stay compact, the wide forwards have to stay high. This means that either the outside backs are matched up 1v1 or even 2v1 all the time (See Goldthwaite & Welsh yesterday on Moor), or the compact triangle has to spread out to cover wide defense and the middle opens up.
So far, RBNY & TFC have killed FCD in 3 games, and the wide play did it. Now, giving up 4 goals was partly the result of mental and physical fatigue, but the loss was not. There’s got to be some adapting to the way other teams play.
Just my opinion.
I don’t know what game most of you were watching but I feel that if Toja or Richetti get hurt, Dallas’s season is down the tubes. There was really no positives from this game this week.
BREAKING NEWS!!! Nunez is not the answer and will always be a sub off the bench/ replacement/ dangerous option sort of player. He can not defend and he can’t seem to turn it up, so to speak, when needed as an attacking player.
Oduro should be playing every game. He at least brings so energy to every game. INCONSISTENCY IS BECOMING FC DALLAS AGAIN THIS YEAR. IS IT PARITY? PLEASE SOME ONE WEIGH IN ON THIS.
Jamie,
The three losses you refer to in your comments had less to do with formation and more to due with the fatigue of the team. This game and one of the NY losses were the third games in a week and were 0-3 & 0-4 disasters. I don’t think having a defenders score in the 85th mniute to lose 0-1 in the other Ny game says the formation was all wrong.
I thought that Dallas seemed to quit after the second goal. Our youth seemed to show (Gbandi and Saragosa were the only field players past their 3rd year pro right?). Dallas seemed frustrated and tired, and the cards and sloppy play followed. The schedule did suck for this week (again), but i don’t think that can be an excuse.
I think the inconsistency is due to the amount of young players in our starting 11 and first subs. i like watching young players and think thy bring a new energy to the field, but i think that in this case the inexperience hurt us with the two weekend road games and a thin roster. Hopefully steve can use this road trip to build on and learn from, so that the team can build confidence and composure that creates more consistent play leading to results late in the season during the 10 remaining home games and taking points on the road.
This team has taken some hits early and has done well to get through the late arrivals, suspensions, and injuries. We knew in pre-season that it would be a rough start until all the pieces fell in place. With Serioux and Cooper returning and Ricardinho coming (hopefully), FCD is in a good place for a strong finish that hopefully will run through November, that is if we don’t melt in the august heat.
Go hoops!
Oh, and i was glad to see that ruiz was willing to play after such a quick turnaround (the Guatemala game was on Saturday right?). That is what i like to see out of a captain, and i thought it showed that Ruiz is ready to make this his team.
I agree 100% with Jared. If Toja or Pablo go down for an extended amount of time, then this team is sunk.
Nunez is definitely not the answer; doesn’t matter what the question might be. Why is he still taking free kicks and corners? He must be a training field hero, because aside from the Colorado game, I have not seen anything to suggest that he is anything more the an 75th minute sub.
When is the last time we scored off a corner kick?
Is it just me or does it seem this year like the team just sucks. Even taking into account road games and their fatigue and everything, they have been doing things this year that I would only expect from a U10 rec team like pass the ball to the other team and kick it out of bounds. I think the only reasons we win at all are Ruiz cooper Sala Toja Richetti. Ive been looking the last few games as to why we do win and i think its just bc they run harder than the other teams
I agree on Nunez not being the answer.
I thought the team looked pretty reasonable up until the first goal. It appeared that we were the home team not TFC. Yes some of our passes were off but after the first goal we didn’t seem to get started. Whats with Alvarez, a couple weeks ago he cannot put a ball on frame…. now he kicks every one to the keeper. Let’s cut the doom and gloom though, yes Richetti is important and this game showed it but players can step up…. Lets keep it positive. We are in first, despite a tough schedule and many away games. Thats HUGE. The season is young and we have a good start.
Nate,
It’s just you, this is a very good team that will get better as the season goes on. Given everything (injuries, schedule, mostly road games…) to have 22 points from 14 games is GREAT! This team has overachieved if anything and I’m excited to see the rest of the season unfold.
no, i know statistically theyre great. who could argue with 1st place? in fact, i think theyll go farther than before, perhaps even win the cup, but still, they look very sloppy technically