Burning Sensation: Please, Make It Stop!
November 3rd, 2007 . 2:50 pm . By: Peter WelptonThe proverbial FCD “foot” has to be a masterful piece of swiss cheese from the number of times the team has shot into it. There was little doubt before the FCD/Dynamo series that Houston would come out the victor. Dallas’ form had been dour for the longest of time and for a catalog of reasons. Despite all of the doubt and negativity Coach Steve Morrow screwed his team’s head on straight and FC Dallas again found itself a mere 45 minutes away from advancing to the next round of the playoffs. Then, almost as if there is a curse, it again found the most lame-brained method to hang itself. Three straight seasons of life-sucking, mind-bending, hair-pulling, beer can-throwing, dog-kicking decision making. Let’s reflect - 2005: Dallas has a lead, blows it (w/ a man advantage), then can win it only for Ruiz to miss a PK at the end of regulation – and then lose on penalties 2006: Dallas takes what appears to be a commanding aggregate lead, but because Gbandi’s dumb-ass red card in the 28th minute eventually saps the team of their energy and the Rapids score three goals to tie the game and, again, win on penalties. Present Day: Coach Steve Morrow concocts a formation and mix of players that seemingly locks Houston out of their game. Dallas actually finds itself sitting pretty with only a half a game of soccer to play and a two goal lead – then “it” happens. Arturo Alvarez gets into a everyday brush-up only to take it too far and knee Brad Davis in the sack. How hard? Did he even touch him? Davis play it up? Who knows and who cares – it was a red card offense and from that moment on all the FC Dallas nation knew what the end result would be. Soccer, like all sports, is a game an infinite number of decisions and Alvarez’s decision to go “nuts” was the topper on a night of questionable decisions. Houston is just too good to play against down a man, especially when you are already missing a starting center back, your best defensive midfielder and you’ve had to change keepers before the game was 25 minutes old. Ironically, the substitution of Sala for Burse may have kept FCD alive as Burse’s pure speed provided Dallas with a couple of saves that Sala would unlikely been able to make. There were several heroic performances on the night. Bobby Rhine was the team’s best player, Serioux continued to the be the main reason Dallas was shutting down the Houston midfield, and Alex Yi had capably subbed in. Moor continued to show why he needs to be in the middle and not out wide. Toja was pretty much a non-factor but fought hard all game long. On the other hand there was Chris Gbandi. While he got much better in the 2nd half, his first 30 minutes were so bad you had to wondered when Morrow was going tell him to “go sit on the bus and wait”. Morrow’s decision to start Denilson over McCarty is certainly something to be questioned as the Brazilian again showed up with a giant box of nothing. Then there was poor Kenny Cooper. His body is healthy, but his brain is not. The big lad pulled out of tackles and was a turnover machine. His touch was turned off, and minus the headed assist for the goal, made horrible decisions on the ball. One after the other when Dallas finally found itself in a spot to counter, KCJr would inexplicably try to beat one, two or more defenders when he had an easy and proper passing option. In fairness to Kenny he was asked to return from a horrible injury, or offered to, and it was just too soon. He chased and worked, but it wasn’t enough. Carlos Ruiz brought his game, like it or not, that made him the All-Star he once was. The goal was magic and he put out an effort that proves his detractors have a point. His overacting on tackles, flopping and rolling about like a “stop-drop and roll” fire safety demonstration are all the things that people love to hate. But there was that one moment in the game where he looked to have a chance to put the game away only to pick the option to give up his body on a tackle for the penalty. Carlos was not the reason Dallas lost. He was one of the better players on the night, but like everyone else when faced with that key moment, well, one can at least question his decision. Overall, it was a night of bad decisions for Dallas. It always seems to be. 15 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
A road goals rule would have given us a series victory. So I’m guessing we won’t see that rule change come into effect next season.
The AA red card was the biggest blow of the night, true. On the road against the MLS champs and a team that owns us – can’t go a man down and not expect to pay. And we paid dearly. Cooper played with everything he had like everyone out there, so did Sala (although I don’t agree that Burse letting in 4 goals was somehow better than Dario might have done – let that stand for the record). Ruiz played like a champion against the biggest hothead in the league – Robinson. No mention of the loss of Goodson? Come on, that didn’t help our cause either. Back to the drawing board. It sucks that our biggest local rival is the MLS champs, but not too many teams beat Houston either these days. Lots to think about this off season.
FCD should have won the game. They had the lead in the game and the series in the second half and couldnt hold it. Whatever it is, they dont have what it takes to be winners. Whether thats “nuts” (pun intended) or desire or wherewithall, FCD doesnt have it.
Morrow has some work to do this offseason getting rid of the rest of that bunch that began with ROB, Mulrooney, and Vanney. So Gbad “red card special” Gbandi
Arturo “disappearing act” Alvarez
Denilson (nothing to give for the team)
Roberto “cant stay healthy” Mina
Aaron “not good enough” Pitchkolan
Marcelo “too many SIs” Saragosa
have to go. Bring in some good young Americans and raid the South American/Mexican partner clubs for some youth internationals that can contribute like Toja.
Missing Goodson and Richetti two of our rocks this year was a big blow, and then to have to see Sala go and have Burse come off the bench into a game like that just added to it. I thought Yi stepped in and did well, serioux was strong also. I haven’t seen any replays of the goals since i got back from the arm pit of Texas, but i thought Burse wasn’t to blame.
Thought that the 3rd goal was offside, i don’t think Yi ever control the ball or played it. Had Yi not done anything i think it still would have gone through to Ngwenya (it was him right? i can’t remeber). I will be looking for that replay to.
The red card hurt, and just added on to the problems, dallas was hanging on by a thread. Eddie Robinson should have seen his second yellow late in the second for a professional foul on Dom, i thought it was a weak no card by the ref. I was amazed that Bobby and Pablo didn’t get cautioned late in the game for multiple hard/ reckless tackles (I loved the fight in them!) Also thouht Adrian could have seen red for the nice shot on (Holden i think) right before he was subbed.
Frustrating. Away goals rule would have been amazing, and a just reward Dallas after the nightmarish luck. I could go on but i’ll stop.
Also, Good job by the Dallas fans! I was glad to be there. Luckily the group from Dallas was classier than those in orange.
Good call by the Houston PD (sarcasm) to make the Dallas fans wait in the bleachers while the Houston trash walked by taunting. Then to have the dallas fans parade out through the parking lot past the Houston fans again.
Also a tip of the hat to the classy Houston fans who decided to taunt the friends and families of the FCD players who were waiting by the bus for the guys. The HPD seemed pretty unconcerned with anything going on as long as you weren’t in the way of eqt. guys. The Dynamo FO can’t control the fans, but should be embarrassed by the horrible secuirty and crowd control they provided.
Did the police escort to the bus actually happen? I wasn’t on the bus but it seemed that they left the fans at the stadium gates.
Stay classy Houston.
By the way San Jose says thanks for baby sitting their team for 2 years, they would like them back now!
i dont buy unlucky. This team has been in a downward spiral since the break. If unlucky, they have been that way a while. The team was not ready and they were lucky to win game 1. Everyone knows that for them to have a chance they needed to build a 2-3 goal headwind in game 1. they were lucky to come out with 1.
Unlucky? It got to where i could name Houston’s lineup before the game where with Dallas it is always “who does Morrow favor today”?
11 guys in a ballet requires more consistent management and game time coordination…FCD has been all over the map for months and when they lost the US Open i realized how bad they are…they have tons more raw talent than this time last year…just no leadership to pull it together…
The team is going to have a tough time selling those tickets.
we lost because of one factor and that was the red cad. Without that red card i honestly believe that the final score would have been 1-1 with us advancing on 2-1. Morrow is not at fault at all nor is anyone on the team. The fact is we had a good year we made playoffs and were up 2 goals with 45min till we knocked out the dynamo. We also made the US Open cup final. We had a good showing in suoer liga minus the LA game and even in that game we played well minus the first 15min. The team is good the way they are maybe takeout Denilson and Gbandi and i think next year if we can keep our heads an MLS Cup will be heading our way.
AA is somewhat at fault for losing his head but we are all human and we all lose our heads at times. Like Zidane in the world cup.
haha…FCD CHokers…..where is the 10 game suspension and $10k fine for arturo alvarez….i dont see why there should not be the same punishment
lets take bets on who itll be next year.
i got my money on serioux for some reason
Eddie J. You are a friggin jerk off.. To compair the two is idiotic. Go f yourself, a**wipe..
wow KD….you why are you so angry…is it because your team choked again…seems like a trend to me
No, it’s because you are a friggin jerk-off. and, it ain’t MY team, douchbag..
wow you use the term jerk-off a lot……is that something that is common in your life
Yes, tell your mom thanks..