Match Report: FC Dallas 0, DC United 4
September 2nd, 2007 . 9:01 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse
After giving up a fairly soft goal to Ben Olsen in the opening minutes of the game, Dallas looked to be containing things and searching for a way to break down DC’s defense. Just before halftime, Olsen scored again, and a lethargic Dallas team allowed two more in the opening five minutes of the second half. From then on the only story was a bunkered DC defense and some fancy footwork by Denilson as the Hoops showed what was hopefully just the rust of two weeks off. The big story of the game was that Denilson was available to play thanks to his work visa coming through quicker than anticipated, but a more important angle was the return of several injured players to the FCD lineup after a two-week layoff. Despite solid performances from Ray Burse, Dario Sala was between the pipes after missing several games with a knee sprain. Dax McCarty dropped back next to Pablo Ricchetti at holding midfielder, putting Bobby Rhine on the bench. This made room for the long-anticipated return of Juan Toja at attacking mid. Toja looked confident on his ankle in warm-ups, in spite of having both ankles heavily taped. Denilson, by all reports not yet 90 minutes’ fit, remained on the bench. For DC United, coming off a 1-0 win against Toronto, the story was similar to Dallas’. Bobby Boswell made his return to the back line, sending Devon McTavish to the bench. Brian Carroll’s yellow-card suspension made room for Ben Olsen’s return from an ankle injury. Up front, Luciano Emilio’s hamstring was in good enough shape to bring him back into the starting lineup alongside Jaime Moreno; the return of United’s first-choice forwards sent Rod Dyanchenko and Nicholas Addlery to the bench.
A warm night saw a good size crowd ready to watch a clash between the second-place teams in each conference after weeks without a game in Frisco. The ticket booths looked busier than usual, likely due to the Denilson buzz. Yet again this season, Dallas began the game by giving up a goal. In the 4th minute, Ben Olsen received a ball just to the right side of the field about 40 yards out. Pablo Ricchetti was the closest Hoop defender to him, but by the time Ricchetti arrived Olsen had ripped the ball across Dario Sala’s goal. The long shot seemed to surprise Sala as it bounced once, skipping past his hand as he dove and rolling into the left side of the goal. DC led 1-0. The goal silenced the crowd, but the Dallas players seemed to wake up a little. The Hoops had some good combination play up both flanks, and Chris Gbandi’s work in the 15th minute resulted in a dangerous cross that Fred almost poked into the DC goal. Sala continued to look rusty as he dropped a cross in the 17th minute, but after that the game settled down into a battle in the middle third of the field. Two of the best midfields in the league fought to disrupt each other’s passing lanes, with the ball occasionally working out to create an attacking chance for either side. Toja fed Arturo Alvarez on the right side during a counterattack in the 18th minute, and his cut inside took him around Vanney for a good shot on goal at the near post that Perkins did well to save. Most of the offense on both sides took the form of these fast breaks. When DC did get forward, they caused Dallas problems by layering their attack with depth. As Dallas’ holding midfielders, Ricchetti and McCarty, collapsed into the back line to support them, DC’s midfielders held their runs up 10-12 yards behind the forwards. With Dallas so flat at the back, these midfielders, like Olsen on his first goal, had time and space to work. Dallas looked more confident as the half wore on. In the 36th minute, a good through ball to Ricardinho ended up on Ruiz’s foot on the right side of the goal. Ruiz got a great shot off that Perkins saved. Then Ruiz whipped the rebound across to Toja, whose certain goal was blocked off the goal line by Bobby Boswell. Just when it seemed as though Dallas could get back into the game, DC scored again in first-half stoppage time. Left back Marc Burch sent a cross to the Dallas far post, just over the leg of Clarence Goodson who was stretched out trying to block it. The ball fell to Luciano Emilio who ripped a point-blank shot right into Sala. The rebound fell to an unmarked Ben Olsen. With Sala still on the ground, Olsen calmly finished to take DC into halftime up 2-0. As the second half began, DC picked up right where they left off. The Dallas back line looked asleep as United added two more goals in the first five minutes. In the 47th minute, Chris Gbandi knocked a cross down right to a wide open Christian Gomez. No one pressured him, and he teed up a shot to the right side of the goal that Sala had no chance to save. Just three minutes later, Christian Gomez switched a ball to an open Fred on the left side of the Dallas penalty area. Again under no pressure, he fired to the far post to bring the score to 4-0. In the 52nd minute, DC subbed out Emilio for defender Devon McTavish, creating a five-man back line. Dallas brought on Denilson for Ricardinho on the left side to some fanfare, but Dallas had little success breaking down the bunkered United defense. Denilson had some pretty footwork, and was far more effective on the left side than when the sub of Dominic Oduro for Chris Gbandi moved him into the center of the midfield. In the 67th minute, some tricky Denilson dribbling on the left side drew defenders, and he dropped the ball to Arturo Alvarez with his heel. Alvarez got a good cross into the area, but Ruiz’s flick-on sailed just wide. After the Oduro/Gbandi sub, Dax McCarty moved to right back and everyone but the scoreboard clock knew the game was over. Gomez tried to make it 5-0 with a good open shot from about 20 yards out in the 79th minute, again after finding himself with all the space and time he could want. Sala made a nice diving save, looking a little more like his normal self. The refereeing was fairly questionable in both directions, including one episode of Brian Hall stopping the game to come to the sideline and scream at a DC assistant coach who was standing up in his technical area after a call. Both linesmen made some odd offsides calls, too. In general, it was a night Dallas fans will want to forget. The win leaves DC tied with New England at the top of the Eastern Conference, while Dallas stays tied with Chivas USA for second in the Western Conference. DC heads out to LA to face Chivas USA Thursday night on ESPN2, while Dallas travels to Seattle to face the Sounders Tuesday in the semifinals of the US Open Cup.
D.C. United (13-6-3) vs. FC Dallas (11-8-3) Scoring Summary: DC United Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Nicholas Addlery, Guy-Roland Kpene, Justin Moose, Jay Nolly FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Adrian Serioux, Abe Thompson, David Wagenfuhr
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Brian Hall 10 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
However we want to slice it Sala was the biggest problem (85%) but was not alone.
A competent & mobile GK keeps this a one goal game. Richetti and Dax did nothing to track midfielders or cover weak clearances. All the goals came from shots outside the box except for the second which Sala should have called for inside the six and easily taken.
The back four weren’t brillant but were okay, they made some plays but were always out numbered because our attacked players never tracked back.
The attack was non-existent. We have lost 8 games now and been shut-out 7 times this season, that’s more that 30% of the time we don’t score. We do love to dribble the ball though and it’s killing the attack. DC had 4-5 players around the ball all the time and we wouldn’t pass it quickly to change the point of attack and get thier defense unbalanced.
We really ned to regroup and it starts by playing Burse until Sala proves in a reserve gane that he’s up to it. That’s 10 goals in Sala’s last two starts.
These poor game day efforts well, I grow tired of the analysis…so, for what it’s worth, Denilson made me smile. I had the good fortune of sitting in section 102. Denilson signed items, shook hands, took pictures, and exchanged pleasantries with fans a good 10+ minutes after the game. Pure class from a guy who doesn’t need to prove anything.
Oh he needs to prove something or he will soon be boo’ed instead of being asked for autoographs. He was brought in as a player not a game day greeter. BTW, I read that his salary will ’skyrocket’ next year if his option is picked up so he needs to show what he’s about in this last part of the season.
We all know about the negatives from this one. On a positive note, I think Ricardinho had his best match since joining the team. He was all over the pitch and was the one attacking player who tracked back to help the defense. The few attacks that we did have were the result of his effort. I was shocked when he was taken out of the game.
Tex, you miss the point. I too want to see Denilson display the skill expected of the DP position. I don’t think you can judge “what a player is about” when his first game action is as late sub in a 4-0 loss. Which, brings me to my original point…Denilson could have shook his head, walked off the pitch and gotten a shower. Instead, he stuck around and walked from midfield down being a “game day greeter” as you put it. And from the looks on the fans faces, even a small group of DC fans, Denilson’s gesture was much appreciated. It’s not often in MLS a team signs a World Cup winner and FCD has done just that.
So, nothing to prove, everything to prove…I’ll tell you this, I left with a handshake and a smile in my heart despite the soul crushing 4-0 loss.
Denilson also signed autographs outside the locker room for 10 or 15 minutes.
I hope he is game fit to play 70+ minutes against Toronto..
Agree on Ricardinho, he played his best game yet…
Thanks for the picture ads…the first is fabulous!
What a waste of the Denilson debut, but that happens in sports. Ask Michigan football how it’s going!? In this case, we appeared to suffer the classic letdown when a superstar joins a team, and everyone else forgets to show up and play. For another example, see Beckham, David and some lousy team called the Galaxy.
Hope Sala is ok…he looked awful, frankly. They’ve got to consider going w/Burse, at least for the time being. That’s a tough game at Seattle tomorrow night.
Yes! Great photos! Love the action in the first and the sharp focus and detail in the second one . . .cool! Oh, and I agree with Cai . . . dang, Dario, I think you can be awesome, but what’s going on right now?!
The FCD FO gave tickets vouchers for everyone who bougth tickets to the Beckham game bc Beckham didn’t show up….. can i get a voucher for the money i wasted on this ticket bc FCD didn’t show up??? Maybe…