Match Report: Toronto FC 0, FC Dallas 2
September 9th, 2007 . 10:29 pm . By: Jamie Fougerousse
Looking for revenge for the 4-0 humiliation Toronto heaped on them in June, Dallas found themselves in another tough midfield battle. Near the end of the first half, Dallas earned a questionable penalty as Tyrone Marshall looked to have clipped Abe Thompson’s foot as Thompson was 1-v-1 with Toronto keeper Stamatopoulos. Denilson finished the pk for his first FCD goal. Then with just minutes left in the game, TFC substitute Joey Melo pulled down FCD sub Dominic Oduro in the box to give Dallas a second, much clearer-cut penalty. Abe Thompson converted that one and Dallas won 2-0. Toronto made two changes to their already makeshift lineup that lost 1-0 to DC two weeks ago. Midfielder Carl Robinson was with the Welsh National Team, so the solution was to move Marvel Wynne up to right midfield, bring in Andrew Boyens at center back, and push Jim Brennan out to left back. Up top, Andrea Lombardo got the start due to the ankle injury of Danny Dichio. Coming off a 2-1 win over Seattle in the US Open Cup on Tuesday, Dallas unexpectedly lost Carlos Ruiz to some knee pain. Defender Clarence Goodson was held out for his concussion symptoms, as well, marking the first MLS game Goodson has missed this season. Alex Yi’s hamstrings kept him on the bench, and this cleared the way for the center back pairing of Adrian Serioux and Aaron Pitchkolan. Ruiz’s absence moved Abe Thompson up to the top of the formation, and Ricardinho slotted in behind him. Both Dallas and Toronto were looking to break scoreless streaks; the Hoops last scored in league play on August 11th versus Columbus, while Toronto continued to stretch the MLS scoreless minutes record, having last found the net on July 7th against Chicago. Both teams came out throwing themselves forward, but the finishing was lacking on both sides of the ball. In the 11th minute, Aaron Pitchkolan saved a near-certain goal as Collin Samuel broke through and Pitchkolan wrapped his arms around Samuel’s waist to stop the attack. Only the presence of Drew Moor kept Pitchkolan’s card yellow. Just seven minutes later, Pitchkolan saved another certain goal by blocking a Toronto shot off the goal line after a bad clearance from the Dallas defense. The Hoops’ energy level was good, and they were making good runs for each other, but lots of passes in the midfield were given away in the first half. Toronto threw numbers forward on the counterattack throughout the half looking for the goal, but Dallas’ back line kept them out. While Pitchkolan was having a good performance in the center of defense, both Wagenfuhr and, to a lesser extent, Drew Moor, were having problems with the overlapping flank play of Toronto. This was where most of Dallas’ trouble came in their 4-0 defeat to the Canadians back in June, and it became clear that a weakness in Dallas’ very attack-minded 4-2-3-1 formation is that the outside backs can get isolated easily by overlapping opposing defenders. Jim Brennan whipped in a dangerous cross in the 20th minute that resulted in a free header just wide of goal. There were signs that Dario Sala might not be completely over his knee problems as he had Adrian Serioux take a goal kick for him in the first half, and later Dario played a goal kick short to Wagenfuhr in a dangerous position. Sala had no tape or brace on, so the mystery of his knee injury continues almost two months after it happened. Ed note: Serioux was asked to take the goal kick because of a minor leg cramp Dario developed in the first half. Around 30 minutes in, Denilson began to have a positive impact on the game, showing some confident dribbling to get out of trouble in the back and later setting up Arturo Alvarez well near the Toronto penalty area. Dallas finally broke through in the 33rd minute, as Arturo Alvarez sent a ball over the top with his, get this, right foot, for an onrushing Abe Thompson. As Toronto keeper Kenny Stamatopoulos came out to meet Abe inside the box, defender Tyrone Marshall arrived and stepped across Thompson behind him. Thompson went down, and referee Hilario Grajeda pointed at the spot. The Toronto players were livid; Marshall got a yellow for the contact and Andrea Lombardo got one for dissent as both rushed the assistant referee pleading their case. I was in the stadium on the other end and had no angle to see it, and from the replays online I can’t tell if there was contact or not. Either way, the call was made, and Denilson converted the PK for his first FC Dallas goal. Halftime saw FCD mascot Tex Hooper defeat several local mascots in the fan-judged dance competition. As much as mascots polarize soccer fans, I am a sucker for them and I think whoever is in the goofy bull suit does a great job each week. Dallas had some success getting forward as the second half started, but soon Toronto’s pressure settled things down. In particular, the Hoops kept getting penned in on the sidelines with the ball. Subbing out Ricardinho for Dax McCarty in the 65th minute helped that situation by giving Dallas more possession and more holding options in the midfield. After the sub, Dallas had a couple chances in front of the Toronto goal. In the 68th minute, Juan Toja just missed the goal with his right foot after a long Serioux throw-in. Three minutes later, Denilson, Thompson, and Wagenfuhr combined up the left sideline, and Wags cut the ball back to McCarty, whose shot was well-saved by Stamatopoulos. Toronto still had some dangerous chances. In the 79th minute Marvel Wynne put a great ball over the top for Lombardo, who beat Serioux and then missed his shot high and wide. Just five minutes later, Dallas could not clear a ball in front of their own goal after Sala saved a shot from Dunivant. Samuel’s follow-up was blocked off the line by fast recovering Sala who dived back across the goal mouth to make perhaps the best save of the night. Dallas finally sealed the game in the 86th minute. Sala did well to recognize the opportunity after scooping up the ball, and he rolled it out quickly to Ricchetti on the counter. Ricchetti fed it to Denilson on the right, who hit substitute Dominic Oduro running into the penalty area. Oduro did well to handle the hard pass, and as he wound up to shoot on a mostly open net, substitute defender Joey Melo pulled him down for a second penalty kick. This time Thompson stepped up and converted to give Dallas the 2-0 win. The loss leaves Toronto last in the Eastern Conference and 9 points out of the last playoff spot, while Dallas remains second in the West, 3 points behind Houston. Toronto hosts Real Salt Lake Saturday, while Dallas travels to Foxboro to face the Revolution. MLSnet highlights
Toronto FC (5-13-5) vs. FC Dallas (12-8-3) Scoring Summary: Toronto FC Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Nana Attakora-Gyan, Gabe Gala, Tyler Hemming, David Monsalve, Marco Reda FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Chris Gbandi, Bobby Rhine, Anthony Wallace
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Hilario Grajeda 13 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Very ugly game but it was a win and we will take all of those we can get. HUGE test coming this weekend in Boston.
Are you sure Sala had no tape on his leg/knee. I am quite sure he did.
Sala had Serioux take a kick for him because of a short leg cramp he picked up in the first half.
Question:
Why did they play the national anthems BEFORE the teams were even on the field? I kow this isn’t particularly important, but it’s just bugging me. They almost started to take down the tunnel, even. Was it an announcer mistake (in that he just didn’t introduce the teams) or was there another reason?
hutchtx –
Probably the early anthems were for TV. Most broadcasts try to steer clear of an anthem that their announcers have to talk over, and with TWO to squeeze in before the show went on air…
Thanks. Makes sense . . .I guess. Seems kind of disrepectful to the teams, though, imho. Or maybe it deosn’t matter . . .Or maybe TV broadcasts could show the anthems and the announcers could actually stay quiet. . . I know, minor point, but I thought it was weird on Saturday.
Ed-
I lokked for the tape specifically during warmups and did not see any. I can’t say I’m 100% certain he didn’t get it taped at halftime or even between warmups and kickoff. I’ll look through the photos.
I was behind the goal watching Sala warm-up and I’m 150% sure he had his knee taped during the warm-up. In fact, I’d bet my life on it. Think about it Jamie, if you’re Sala, why would you want to play with a brace? It would obviously limit your mobility, which is what matters when you’re in the net. I assumed he had it taped during the warm-up to ensure he wouldn’t re-aggravate it then.
Where was Ruiz???
Ruiz was being “rested” if you buy that.
Why does it matter if it was taped or not?
OK Buzz, I’ll bite. Are you saying there was another reason Fish did not play??
FCD’s story is a sore knee.
[...] flagged concerns about outside backs getting isolated on defense (it’s somewhere in there); good tactical stuff generally. Deconstruction of wimpy win over Toronto [...]