3rd Degree

September 24th, 2007 . By: Jamie Fougerousse

Dax McCarty gave the Hoops an early lead by finishing a cross from Chris Gbandi in the 11th minute. Just twelve minutes later, Chris Gbandi was heading for the showers after being sent off for a second yellow. The resulting penalty kick saw Landon Donovan tie the game, and Dallas began 65+ minutes of man-down soccer. The Hoops held off LA until the 72nd minute, when Chris Klein buried a shot to the right upper 90 from outside the penalty box to give the Galaxy their fifth win of the season.

Coming off a 2-2 tie to Salt Lake on Wednesday, LA kept their back line the same, but completely overhauled the midfield and attack. Kelly Gray and Edson Buddle both had injuries, while Kyle Martino and Carlos Pavon got a rest. Alan Gordon and Landon Donovan slotted in up top, while Kevin Harmse, Cobi Jones, and Quavas Kirk filled in the midfield around Josh Tudela. The game marked Cobi Jones’ 300th MLS appearance.

Dallas made some changes to the lineup that tied Chicago Thursday night. Clarence Goodson was suspended due to yellow card accumulation, so Alex Yi got the start in the back. Dax McCarty replaced the injured Pablo Ricchetti, while Dominic Oduro started up top for Abe Thompson. The Hoops kept the same basic shape they used against Chicago, for about 23 minutes at least.

Dallas had only won one game ever at the Home Depot Center, and that was earlier this season. During their last meeting in Frisco, the two teams produced 11 goals in a game that was not exactly a defensive clinic.

The teams traded early chances as Arturo Alvarez fired in a blocked Carlos Ruiz shot in the 7th minute. Going the other way, Donovan found himself 1-v-1 with Sala after settling a cross with his chest. His poke toward goal rolled across the mouth and just wide. Chris Klein had a good attempt go just wide in the 10th minute.

Just a minute later, Chris Gbandi sent a low cross in to the edge of the LA penalty box. The two defenders missed it and the ball hopped right through to Dax McCarty, all alone. McCarty finished the shot low and to the right to give FCD the early lead.

By the 17th minute, the game started to get chippy. Alan Gordon hacked Juan Toja down from behind at midfield. Four minutes later, Chris Gbandi was carrying the ball up the left sideline in the LA half of the field. As he went past Kevin Harmse, Harmse hip checked Gbandi and sent him tumbling hard. Referee Michael Kennedy signaled advantage since Dallas retained the ball, but as Harmse ran by Gbandi, the Dallas left back who just won back his job stuck his foot out and kicked Harmse as he ran by. Kennedy was just feet away and quickly showed Gbandi a yellow. Two minutes later, in the 23rd minute, LA sent a free kick cross to the far post of the Dallas goal. Chris Klein had gotten in between Gbandi and the goal, and as Klein attacked the ball, Gbandi held Klein’s shirt and then fell on him. The result was Gbandi getting ejected and LA getting a penalty kick.

Landon Donovan stepped up to take the kick. He hit it low and Sala made the save before Donovan put the rebound in the goal. The referees then said Sala had encroached, showed him a yellow, and made Donovan retake the kick. This time Donovan put it away to tie the game 1-1 and earned his own yellow card for kicking the ball into the net after the goal.

At that point, Dallas began playing with ten men. They pretty much kept the formation the same while using a three-man back line. It became the job of the midfielders to drop back and help defend wide while still looking for chances to attack. Much of Dallas’ success going forward to that point had been up the left side through Chris Gbandi, but the Hoops did pretty well until halftime. LA didn’t seem too interested in working to exploit their numerical advantage. Toward the end of the first half, Dallas even had a couple of chances at goal, the best being a great shot by Arturo Alvarez that Cannon saved in stoppage time.

The Galaxy came out with a plan in the second half. They began working the ball from side to side, switching quickly and going forward to try to spread out the Dallas defense and take advantage of their numbers. The Dallas defensive third was under attack quickly.

Alan Gordon caught Sala in the face with an elbow in the 49th minute, but Sala kept his wits about him enough to shield Donovan out of a 1-v-1 opportunity just a minute later. At some point during this sequence Sala appeared to have injured his hand; he could be seen holding it several times as the half went on.

Dax McCarty saved a goal by stopping a headed corner kick on the goal line, and Dallas was lucky not to have a handball called on the block.

Dallas got forward once or twice, but as the half went on more and more of the game was played with the Hoops on their heels.

Galaxy substitute Carlos Pavon missed a sitter in the 67th minute after Cobi Jones got around Yi and swung a cross to the far post. Jones got another cross in from the left in the 72nd minute. This time, Donovan dummied the ball at the top of the arc, and the quick switch meant that Chris Klein was wide open making a late run to the edge of the penalty area. The veteran winger hit the ball perfectly, sending it to the top right corner as Sala stretched for it, giving LA the 2-1 lead.

Dallas resorted to long balls for the last ten minutes to try for some luck in the Galaxy half of the field. The best two chances for the Hoops came in the 88th and 90th minutes. First, Alvarez absolutely torched Donovan and Klein going up the left sideline, but as he cut inside, his shot needed to be right-footed. He poked it with his left, but the underpowered attempt rolled right to Joe Cannon. As time wound down, Dax McCarty had a good blast from long range that sailed just left of the goal.

The win keeps LA last in the Western Conference and 11 points out of the final playoff spot. Dallas holds on to 3rd in the West, 5 points behind Houston. The Hoops host the Dynamo Sunday, while the Galaxy travel to Kansas City for the Thursday night ESPN2 game.

Statistics:

FC Dallas (12-10-4) vs. Los Angeles Galaxy (5-13-6)
September 23, 2007 — The Home Depot Center

Scoring Summary:
DAL — Dax McCarty 1 (Chris Gbandi 2) 11
LA — Landon Donovan 7 (penalty kick) 25
LA — Chris Klein 2 (Cobi Jones 4, Josh Tudela 1) 72

FC Dallas Lineup:

FC Dallas Lineup:

Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Michael Dello-Russo, Abe Thompson, David Wagenfuhr, Anthony Wallace

Los Angeles Galxy Lineup:

Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Ante Jazic, Israel Sesay, Kyle Veris

Misconduct Summary:
LA — Kevin Harmse (caution; Reckless Foul) 21
DAL — Chris Gbandi (caution; Game Disrepute) 21
DAL — Chris Gbandi (ejection; Second Caution) 23
DAL — Dario Sala (caution; Encroachment) 25
LA — Landon Donovan (caution; Game Disrepute) 26
DAL — Arturo Alvarez (caution; Reckless Foul) 51

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants: Paul Scott; Jose Corro
4th official: Baldomero Toledo
Time of game: 1:53
Attendance: 27,000
Weather: Partly Cloudy -and- 71 degrees

Categories: Match Report .

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