Match Report: FC Dallas 0, Houston Dynamo 0
July 1st, 2007 . 12:56 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse
A very even, very physical match at Pizza Hut Park saw three shots on goal from each side, two yellow cards for each side, and no goals for either side. The big story coming into the game for Dallas was the back line. Starting right back Drew Moor was with the US team in Venezuela, left back Chris Gbandi was suspended, and center back Alex Yi was missing with a hamstring injury. This brought Bobby Rhine and David Wagenfuhr to the flanks, while holding midfielder and reserve center back Aaron Pitchkolan made his first start next to Clarence Goodson. The rest of the Dallas team remained unchanged. Houston welcomed back Dwayne De Rosario from Gold Cup duty in midfield, and Eddie Robinson returned to the back line after missing time with an injury. While the Dynamo was set to start goalkeeper Pat Onstad after his return from the Canadian team, he injured his back during pre-game warm-ups; Zach Wells took his place as he has several other times this season. Finally, up top, Brian Ching also returned from Gold Cup duty. A good set of storms rolled through North Texas before the game. The result was a muggy, stale atmosphere in the stadium. On top of that, there was some miscommunication to Dallas fans from the front office about the kickoff time, so the crowd was late to arrive. In spite of that, the first half was the more spirited of the two. The teams battled in midfield as they always do against each other. Each team had a few chances, but both defenses were able to keep them out successfully. In the first half, Dallas had a couple decent chances. Ruiz in particular had a header from a free kick go just wide in the 10th minute and a breakaway shot that Wells saved in the 17th. Eddie Robinson had Houston’s best chance in the 26th minute as he headed a free kick just over the bar. All four of the yellow cards came in the first half; Eddie Robinson’s will cause him to miss the next match. Just as the half closed, Dallas had a great sequence of ball movement up the left side of the field. Wagenfuhr ended up getting off a good cross from the end line to the far post, but Ruiz had made a near-post run, while Alvarez held and did not make the far post run. Early on in the second half, Brian Ching took an inadvertent boot to the face from Marcelo Saragosa that eventually saw his head wrapped up for the rest of the game. In the 59th minute, Ruiz got a ball to Alvarez at the left-hand edge of the penalty area. Alvarez knifed through several defenders and found himself with room to shoot. Wells was showing him much of the far post, but Alvarez hit it with his left and pulled it away from the goal and wide. Ruiz chipped Wells successfully in the 70th minute, but the effort went just wide. As the game began to wind down, De Rosario had two good chances. He miss-hit a ball laid off from Mullan to the top of the penalty box in the 79th minute, and Sala stoned him on a 1-v-1 effort in the 85th. Dallas did a nice job the whole night of linking the ball from the back, through the midfield, to the forwards. The finish in the final third was all that was lacking. In particular, Saragosa had an excellent, quiet game again, as did Wagenfuhr and Rhine on the flanks. The draw keeps everything the same at the top of the Western Conference; Dallas holds the lead by three points. Houston hosts the Red Bulls Thursday night, while Dallas welcomes Chivas USA on the 4th of July.
Houston Dynamo (7-5-2) vs. FC Dallas (8-6-2) Scoring Summary: Houston Dynamo Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Mike Chabala, Kelly Gray, Patrick Ianni FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Shaka Hislop, Ramon Nunez, Adrian Serioux, Blake Wagner
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Brian Hall 9 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One goal in the last three games should concern every FCD fan. On the flip side the defense is carrying us now with shut-outs in 3 of the last 4 games and ranked 5th in the league in GAA.
yeah how did this happen?
Hank, thanks for pointing out the team’s GAA. The myth that their the lowest-ranked defense in MLS is bs. It’s also important to note that the defense with Sala in the nets is 3rd in the league in GAA. Our defense is also tied for third in number of shutouts, so everyone can quit whining about our backline. And there’s not a MLS goalkeeper and cb more in tune with each other than Goodson and Sala.
One goal in the last three games and three (of six) scoreless matches. Not good at all. Everyone is so busy breathing a sigh of relief that the new-look back line held steady, we’re not paying attention to how dismal our offense is and has been for most of the season.
ps Thanks for a great game, Aaron.
2 thumbs way up for Wags and Pitch!!! Look out Gbandi and Yi!
Arturo had a good game, but he has got to start putting those chances into the back of the net.
Shutouts in three of the last four games, what has been consistent in those 3 games? The holding midfield tandem of Pablo & Saragosa and the Strong play of Goodson at CB. I think we have the best midfield in the league when it comes to defense, but if we don’t find a way to create a consistent attack, then were all going to be very disappointed when this season comes to a screetching halt in the first round of the playoffs.
… against colorado at home on the final pk down a player after leading in overtime with 10 minutes to go and a bad ref. you forgot that part skeeter
the fact the FCD has played the most games of any team in the league thus far is what makes the defense look bad. there have simply been more opportunities to get scored on than any other team in the league. its actually worse for the other teams that have allowed 21 goals so far, because they have done it in less games.
How was there confusion over the kickoff time of the game? It’s been set at 5pm all season.
Hey Warren- I knew it was at 5, but I got a written letter and an e-mail from FCD in the days before the game saying 5:30.