December 1st, 2007 . 3:52 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

As you well know by now, FC Dallas took on the TT Pro League Foreign All-Stars in the first game of the Shaka Hislop Tribute Cup and took the game in PKs.  You can read the box score and game line from the official PR sources.  I’m not going to bother with a traditional who-did-what game report.  Instead I thought I would give you some of the why with some of my own independent observations of the game.

Game 1: FC Dallas vs TT Pro League Foreign Stars

First some notes on the teams.

TT Pro League Foreign Stars

The TTPLFS wore Cletic’ish uniforms, green hoops white shorts, green socks.  They play in a classic 4-3-3 with a large center channel striker and two wings, a deep anchor mid, and two linking style players.  FCD used this shape several times this last season.

All the subs were straight swaps except #15, who played right wing moving #17 to the CF and #14 to the left.

FC Dallas

FCD in their home red hoops with red shorts.  Morrow has the team lined up in a very classic 3-5-2 that long time Dallas fans will recognize as the formation Dir used with one minor difference, Dir used a sweeper and two marking backs.  Morrow has a zonal back three, Drew Moor is given some covering responsibilities, but he clearly is not a deep sweeper.  Two holding mids, one is a more anchor one a linker, behind a #10.  Two wingbacks, as well call them in the US, on the flanks and two outright strikers.

I’ll be honest up front, I am real excited to see a 3-5-2, I think it’s a great formation to play in Texas and fits the players Dallas has.  Don’t get me wrong I love a 4-4-2 but I just like the way the 3-5-2 works in the heat.

As you can see about half the team changed at halftime, most of the rest at the 60 minute mark. I would have liked to have seen Pautasso longer since he’s the big trialist.

Notes and Observations: FC Dallas vs TT Pro League Foreign Stars

- 1-0: One might think that FCD came out flat given the two goals in the first 10 minutes thing, but I don’t think I would say that’s true. In case you missed it Jonathon Frias scored in the 8th and 10th minute.  The first goal came on a corner that went over Burse’s outstretched hand and almost into the back corner for a Olympico, Frias was there to pounce on it for a garage goal.  The goal mouth is a complete sandbox and it was clear Burse pushed off to leap and didn’t get the vertical he expected.  So mental mistake by a young keeper.  These things happen with a young keeper, hopefully lesson learned.  

- 2-0: Goal two I think primarily we have to lay at the feet of Michael Dello-Russo. He really struggled with Frias’ pace.  Frias is a tiny but really fast player and he gave Dello fits most of the first half.  In the case of the goal Frias wrong footed Dello and cut across the top of the box, Moor was marking the center forward and neither of the midfielders responded to close Frias so he had an open shot from about 25 yards out.  He shot back toward the near post catching burse going the wrong way.

- 2-1: Starting from minute ten through most of the first half FCD took control of possession and had the majority of the play.  Denilson was much more effective for the last 20 minutes of the first half as he found the game, I’d call it his best stretch in a FCD uniform.  In about the 42nd minute, Denilson checks way back toward the mid line and is not pursued by the holding mid Viveros.  Denilson picks up the ball, turns and not finding any defense carries all the way to the top of the box before being challenged.  Once the central defender commits, Denilson leads Cooper who pokes the ball into the net past the charging keeper.  A very typical Cooper goal.

- 2-2: FCD takes a corner that is cleared out, Watson floats the ball back in toward the front post, Toja, back to goal, brings the ball down and flips it back across the box.  Multiple players charge the goal for both teams and Scott Jones wins the race and slams the ball in.  Lots of players in the box including Pitchkolan and several defenders.

- The shootout was just loony.  FCD finally won it on the 10th set of kickers when Yi pokes the ball dead down the middle for a goal with the keeper diving to his right.  Scott Jones had already won it for FCD once in round eight, but the referee made him retake the winner for shooting prior to the whistle.  Jones hit the shot in the exact same spot and the save was made.

- FCD almost had the winner off a rebound on a free kick in the 87th minute, but the referee called someone offside.  I couldn’t tell who it was from my seat.  I also didn’t write down who almost scored.

- Instant Scouting Report (just add water): Martin Pautasso. A nice box to box runner who looks to have good work rate.  He’s capable of beating a player on the dribble and had one nice shot from outside the box that just missed wide left.  He was consistently aggressive getting forward and might have scored if Wagner had not got in the way once.  Pautasso also made several runs in defense with the left mid and I don’t recall him getting beat one on one.  Stylistically, to compare him to someone you might know, I might say his game is similar to Steve Cherundolo although he’s a little taller than Steve.  So nice first impression, although I really would have liked to see him play the second half partially cause he would have been on my side of the field.  I need several more looks before I endorse signing him, but I feel positive about him.

- Man of the Match: Blake Wagner.  Seriously, he was fantastic.  Just absolutely shredding the right side of the TTFS defense. They just had no answer for him. The right wing had to drop way deep to try and help out the right back who was over loaded. Wagner was up and down all half, making multiple dangerous runs into the box and getting on several crosses for danger and making multiple shots.  He coulda/shoulda scoured twice if not for getting over excited.  He got back on defense too and helped out Daniels on several occasions.  All that and he still has a sports hernia.   It probably helped him that Denilson spent most of the time camped out on the left away from the holding mid rather than in the tougher to play in center channel as it gave him someone to play combinations with.

- You notice above where I said Denilson had his best 20 minutes in a Dallas uniform?  Part of the problem is that until he moved out wide left to find space, he was being outplayed by Chase Wileman. Somewhere over the last couple weeks Chase must have decided he could play at this level because he’s been sharp on two or three occasions recently.  He and Rhine both played fairly well in midfield breaking up plays, combining going forward, and taking turns crashing the box. It really goes without saying that neither is nearly the player Serioux or Ricchetti is, but tolerable day from both of then, more so from Wileman who is so green.

- Ricardinho and Cooper were both active and mobile as you would expect.  Better from Ricardinho than we have seen in a while as he took some payers on and actually got a positive result from it. Cooper was as Cooper always is, which is positive given the arguably still ongoing mental recovery.  Both Ricardinho and Cooper could have scored at least twice and were let down by the last touch in the box or a great finger tip save.  Thompson and Oduro were both less effective, Dominic particularly so given the speed of the T&T defenders.  Dom did almost scored on a half bike off a cross from Abe (combo play with Watson) that drew some gasps from the crowd, but that was his only real moment of excitement in an relatively short 30 minutes of action.

- Daniels as usual had lots of raw tools on display, but it’s clear he’s still way to green to be counted on any time soon.  He still needs lots of defensive instruction before he’s going to be ready for first team football.  Moor spent most of the day directing traffic at the back and did a nice job on the big tough center striker given how little help he was getting.

- Instant Scouting Reports (just add water): Dan Kennedy.  Dan is a big, strong, intimidating shot stopper.  He’s not afraid to crush a forward in the box and has great command of his penalty area.  Unfortunately his feet are… how should I put this… horrific.  Anything played back to his feet is a real adventure in terms of where it’s going to end up.  FCD could do worse for a third keeper I suppose as he at least has some experience in MLS, USL, and Chile.

- Jamie Watson you don’t need a scouting report on as I assume you have seen him.  Unstoppable work rate and effort and a tough as nails scrapper who backs down from no one.  He’s got lots of good tools to play wing back in the 3-5-2.  What his game lacks at this point is some subtly or refinement.  Every once in a while the touch is too heavy or the pass to strong. Still he’s young and I really like what he brings to the table in raw skills.  Great kid too.  He twisted his ankle at one point in the game, taped it up and kept playing.

- Nice command of the defense by Pitchkolan in the second half.  He’s good in the air and bottled up the center forward well.  He’s not bringing a lot once he wins the ball, but he was the second best Dallas defender after Moor.

- Marcelo Saragosa looks completely recovered.  In fact he looked more mobile than I recall and was very comfortable in the 3-5-2 as a holding mid.  He’s a great squad member and while he may not be first choice ahead of Ricchetti or Serioux, he’s going to get a lot of PT this year I think.

- I was perhaps most excited by Juan Toja as the #10 in the second half.  I had to wipe droll off my chin.  He was all over the place.  Winning balls, getting forward, creating chaos, and generally playing fantastic soccer.  He’s certainly not a classic passing #10 and I have to wonder over the course of a season how many assist he might have from that spot.  Still I love watching Toja in this advanced position.

- Interesting second half by Scott Jones, he was one of the most dangerous Dallas players in the late going.  He took on a few defenders and was able to get to the end line.  he also put in some good end to end work.  If he’s going to play out there he will need to work on his crossing which wasn’t great, but I’ve always thought he had a little spark to his game.

- As for the opposition there was only one player I liked all that much, and that was Brazilian #7 Ronaldo Viana who plays for W Connection.  Really nice composed linking style midfielder, not that FCD needs one of those.   

- #9 Jonathon Frias (Dominican Republic) while he made a great first impression with the two goals and has pace, proceeded to make a couple horrendous decisions later on.  FCD already has a Ricardinho.  #18 Randolph Jerome caught my eye a little as a center channel type, I need to se more of him.  He’s tried to catch on with some USL teams and hasn’t had much success, which isn’t a great sign.  He does score a lot of goals.  Neither is likely to be someone who can help FCD.

Quite a few of these players could play in MLS, but that’s not the same as being good enough to sign as a foreign player.  That requires something better than what a normal American can provide.  The second game was much better in terms of prospects who can help FCD. 

Game 2: CAP vs TT Pro League Local Stars

This game also went to PKs with CAP winning and advancing to play FCD on Sunday.  Coming in I didn’t know there was a Championship game on Sunday, the schedule just listed FCD playing both the TT Pro League teams.  I’m not going to go into great detail on this game other than to give you a few notes on the team and a couple players I’d consider for FCD.

Atletico Paranaense

CAP, in their ubiquitous red and black stripes,  plays a very modern 4-4-2 with fllying outside backs getting forward and three players across the middle in front of the D and a high #10 behind the strikers (no wide midfielders).  It’s not a diamond midfield you frequently see in the US. 

I’m gonna try to match the numbers with the names for this game, but don’t quote me 100% cause a few of them are best guesses.  It would have helped if I had written down the numbers on the PK takers, but I didn’t.  My mistake.  I feel fairly good about the guesses on CAP, less so about T&T.

Impressively CAP made two changes at the half, one was a left back swap, but the other was a small attacking player for the holding mid and it let them go 4-3-3 by sliding the #10 back to a linking role. 

Something like that.  Again this is a shape FCD used a bit in the last season.

TT Pro League Local Stars

TTPLLS play in a Tottenham Hotspur like white top and blue short with white socks.  They line up in a very tradition flat 4-4-2

Other than the keeper, and numbers 15, 10, and 7 (and their subs) I am not real sure about the #s and names. 
Edit: As I got more names from the second game I edited this lineup.

Notes and Observations: CAP vs TT Pro League Local Stars

Other than six players I’d like FCD to look into, I’m not gonna talk about this game all that much.

- CAP #9.  Caps high striker. He’s tall, quick, and mobile with a terrific shot that he can get off quickly.  I really liked him, reminded me of a young (and better?) Ante Razov.   He works hard and gets into dangerous spots.  Attracted loads of attention and can hold the ball really well.  I’m sure he costs a couple mil.

- CAP #2. The right back.  Prototypical Brazilian outside back.  Shorter, but runs his but off and has some serious wheels.  He gets forward all day long and is tenacious in his defensive effort.  If FCD were stays 4-4-2 he’s exactly what they need.

- CAP #7 Central mid.  A very tall and very composed central midfielder.  More of a linking type that also played some holding mid.  I don’t think FCD needs him, but man can he play. Think of a younger, bigger, stronger Ricchetti and you get the picture.

- TT #10. Real skinny but very nifty midfielder who plays both centrally or out wide.  He drifted all over in this game.  Because of his dreads down to the middle of his back I was able to figure out he’s Marvin Oliver.  I really like this player, he’s just the kind of midfielder I really enjoy watching.  He moves very well and is constantly around the ball.  Similar in style to Brad Davis perhaps, but more mobile.

- TT #17.  This is the exact kind of wide midfielder/wingback FCD would need if they are going 3-5-2.  Reminds me of Dane Richards with New York.  Small but dogged and super fast.  Got to the end many times. If it really is Conrad Smith, he had a trial with Dallas back in 2002.  Unfortunately I don’t recall him.  I will have to dig out my notes from 02. 
Edit: I have since learned #17 was Hayden Tinto.  Conrad Smith was #9.

- TT #15. Another player I was able to confirm from pics and his hair is Andre Toussaint.  He’s really fast with some nifty feet.  A dangerous slashing type striker who might look real nice playing off Cooper.  He’s dangerous, active, and energetic.  Really impressed me as the game wore on and he became more and more influential and was able to dribble a few of the Brazilians.

Ok that’s about it for the first set of games. I’ll be back tomorrow with some more travel log and then the last set of games.

Categories: 120 Fahrenheit.

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