Monday Morning Gaffer: FC Dallas vs Houston Dynamo
April 8th, 2008 . 8:39 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
I’m disappointed to say the least. Houston was poor shape with the overloaded schedule and injuries, they were ripe to be beaten. Dallas had them and once again couldn’t close the deal. I don’t know how long we can trout out the youngest team in the league excuse. Eventually Dallas has to win some games. FC Dallas 3, Houston Dynamo 3El Bueno (The Good)Terrific game by Cooper, not just the brace, but he was more central and thus more effective all day. See kid? Center channel good. Both goals came when Cooper was where he is supposed to be, battling right up the gut of the defense. Cooper wasn’t my Man of the Match though, we’ll get to why further down. Pablo Ricchetti was my Man of the Match. He neutralized De Rosario, controlled the middle of the field, assisted on the Alvarez goal. Pablo set the tone defensively, played well in possession, and dictated the FCD pace. Just a terrific game from him that I was very pleased to see, given he had been dropped for the opener. That’s a MVP level game. Really nice game by Alvarez, he was both dynamic and dangerous. I’m sure he wanted to do well after the last time he was here, I think he redeemed himself. If he continues that kind of form he will have a terrific season.
Dax McCarty was terrific both ways as he both contributed going forward and effectively shut down the speedy Ashe. The few times Dax drifted centrally I really liked what he was bringing in there. That plus his U23 form tempts me to say he should play central and perhaps put Rocha wide right for a time. It would both use Dax’s current good form and let Rocha play into the league a little bit. Although really it’s probably better to let both play into their long term season spots. The potential in the Ricchetti-Rocha-McCarty-Toja-Alvarez set up is really nice. There is some terrific ball skill there and ability to hold possession. Combine that with the still not 100% in the groove potential of Cooper and the upside is big. It also underlines the step up Wagner, or someone else, needs to make on the left.
El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)Wagner was much better and aggressive getting forward, but his defense still wasn’t good enough. I won’t go as far as to blame him for the loss, but he still has to step way up. He’s got the skills to be a really talented player, it’s all just mindset. Wagner did get foward sevearl times into the box and looked close to being as dangerous as I know he can be. One or two more game with those breakdowns and it will be Brek Shea time. I thought Wagner’s challenge on Onstad was clean and Onstad, who is a class act, agreed.
Drew Moor had an excellent game coming back. He covered up some wide threats and played strong defense in the middle. He even managed a couple forays forward. But bottom line he needed to clear that 2nd goal and not play it into the net. Sometimes one play can ruin a game for a guy and a simple clear wide there would have saved FCD. I liked the FCD subs. Two quick players to counter, one of whom can play well in possession. I’m not so sure I would have gone with Wallace late, although I get the idea of fresh legs for Cooper. But Cooper works his ass off chasing and I’m not sure the Wallace sub helped much. Based on how Rocha was playing I might have taken off Rocha and left Toja out there for possession purposes. Toja isn’t match fit yet, so I’m sure that entered into Morrow’s thinking. No Tan Bueno (It’s Not Good)Two straight blown wins. That’s not good. I know this youngest team in the league thing has been bandied about, but eventually a team has to kill of games. You gotta start winning or being young can become a hazard, not a blessing. Oduro did exactly what he was supposed to do to kill the game… and then blew the pass to do the actually killing.
I’m not usually a ref basher, but I thought the referee was particularly bad in this one. Not bad as in biased against FCD, but crap both ways. Houston got shafted by the referee just as much as Dallas did. Just ask Eddie Robinson. I can’t wait for there to not be any tiny skinny fields in MLS like Robertson Stadium. It’s just like Spartan stadium and Houston is built to play there in that small space. Houston is a great market and franchise, they deserve a real field. Coming City of Houston, step up to the plate. Here’s the reason why Cooper wasn’t up for Man of the Match for me, his possession. Cooper has got to learn how to take the contact checking back to the midfield and hold onto those ball or get a foul. Once he spots the referee isn’t calling those, it has to be all about keeping the ball. Particularly against Houston who’s game keys on preventing the transition game by physical play. Cooper has to be able to hold the ball so the midfield and defense can recover. Cooper improved this aspect late in the second half, one wonders if he was thinking more about possession and less about playing on the break at that point. if so he needs to change his mentality a bit in the early going. Houston is a very physical team, Dallas for the most part is not. Although they are willing to commit fouls, Dallas has a bunch of players who like to control the ball and make combination play rather than body up people. They shy away from contact and will move away from physicality. This is particularly true with Saragosa not in the game. It’s not a problem that Houston is physical, that’s their game and that’s perfectly acceptable. The problem is that Dallas can’t handle the rough stuff and let’s it take them out of their own mindset. Dallas’s front seven has to be mentally tougher and not get rattled by the contact. Don’t let the other team dictate what kind of game you want to play. It’s clear to me that Rocha and Davino are not up to MLS intensity yet. Both seem to still be playing on preseason speed, or perhaps south of here speed. MLS, similar to the English game, is very up and down, physical, and intense. Both players will take a little while to adapt as Ricchetti did last year. Rocha, like Ricchetti in 07, is playing to where he thinks people should be, not where they are. In effect he needs to dumb down his game to MLS and also to what Ricchetti and Toja are doing. That will come with some more time.
I thought Sala might have been fouled on Caraccio’s goal. Someone bodied him up in the box, I think it was Ching. Dario was certainly pissed about the contact preventing him from getting to the ball. I need a referee to give me a verdict on that one cause I’m not sure if it was a foul or not. For the second straight game I felt FCD wasn’t fit enough. Is it just me? I commend FCD for getting every game on English TV, but the TV production values were awful, starting with the transmission quality. Doing what I do for a living watching that kind of thing drives me nuts. I won’t go into it to much as it will bore most of you, but as an example of something that is so simple that drives me crazy, every graphic in the show had this little tag at the bottom with the team website. Unfortunately it said FCdallas.com instead of FCDallas.com. It was annoying me the entire game. 18 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
The first goal was a foul. Abbey missed a bunch b/c he isn’t fit enough to stay with the play.
Also, watching the game was like watching a highlight reel from the 1970s while the stadium lights were out. It was fugly.
Ya that first goal was interference. Chingina stopped Dario from getting to the ball which lead to the goal. The second should have been cleared of the line and I didn’t see the third. All and all final should have been 4-1 Dallas.
I have been a referee for about 10 years now, and I didn’t think Sala was fouled. i didn’t watch it too close (and it is hard to tell on the MLSnet highlight viewer), but it looked to me like it was a 50-50 ball, and Ching was attpempting to play the ball and collided with Sala who was also attempting to play the ball. Until the ball is in Sala’s hands, Ching has the same right to the ball as Sala or any other player. I thought Ching attempted to play the ball, which makes it a fair challenge even thoughit was against the goalkeeper.
I also play keeper, and from a player perspective, if Sala is going to come out he needs to come out stronger. Ching doesn’t have to hold back his attempt at a header just bc Sala came out. Anythime you fly into a group of players you make a risk of contact, and he has tom get a hand to that ball. He played the cross like there was nobody around him.
The call could have gone either way, and in some games it will be called. It is a judgement call. Just my 2 cents, well may 3. That was kind long.
Great write up Buzz! I guess I hadn’t noticed as much of Arturo as you had.. but like you said, the PQ was so bad that at times it was hard to make out who was who.
Rocha didn’t have his best game for sure. The possession was not good, but I will say that unlike the many others on the team, he is not put off by physical play.. infact he seems to thrive on it. There is no lack of aggressiveness in his play.
Personally, I was thrilled for Dax. He played great possesion, his defending was solid and he really can set up some great plays when he joins the attack. This really could be his year I think.
Totally agree on the fitness point. And…IT’S NOT EVEN TEXAS-HOT YET! A few more games like this and I fear that Mr. Johnson will start to distance himself!
And I hope Conor never refs one of my games! Obvious foul when I saw it live and verified when watched on replay. You can even see Ching’s smile/reaction afterwards as he knows he is the reason for the goal.
We normally get off to a good start but this year that’s not happening. Our first 6 games are difficult and we may not take 3 points from any of them. Defensively we are a major mess.
Ching did not make an attempt on the ball and thus it was a foul. He actually turned away from the ball and just slammed into Sala, that was a clear penalty. If he attempted to play the ball and the same thing happened, no foul, but there was no intent to play the ball.
The 3 points were lost when Oduro didn’t pass.
Overall a great effort, FCD created lots of scoring chances, Rocha was unlucky to hit the crossbar, Alvarez really ties the attack together and keeps KC in the box.
This team must improve on a weekly basis but we have just played what should be 2 of the top teams in the West and could have, maybe even should have, won both. Long season, 4 points left on the table isn’t going to kill the season.
Barring any major injury, I expect FCD to make the playoffs and to be a much better team by May 1 than they were at any time last season.
Connor, stick to your amateur goalkeeping and park district reffing. If you watch the play again, as the cross comes in Ching turns his back to the ball and just plows into Sala. No attempt to play it at all.
A better criticism would be that Ching and Carracio were standing in front of the goal completely unmarked. Where were Serioux and Davino?
So, Richetti made DeRo an American citizen? (He naturalized De Rosario)
I guess that frees up an international spot for Houston
Maybe, just maybe, Ching turned his back as to not get clobbered by Sala as the ball was past Ching.
I am a big Sala fan but that was no foul. Ching did not play Sala; Sala jumped into him to get the ball that was past Ching. Pretty simple play. sometimes that gets called and others it does not. That play did not cause us to tie this game; the lack of proper passing did that in the second half.
The Telefutura commentators (whom I was very impressed with…they know more about the game then a majority of the English-speaking announcers) insisted it was a foul against Sala. This is coming from announcers who heavily favor the Houston Dynamo and the large Latino fan base they have. End of story.
The production quality could be much better, agreed. But personally, I’m thrilled that all our games are on English TV…I think that’s huge, and a great start.
Buzz, FCDallas.com, FCdallas.com … don’t sweat the small stuff! … Yours truly, zb [j/k]
I am glad to see Buzz confirm for me the type of game that Pablo had. I thought he was fantastic, but I was not sure how much of that was true greatness and how much was my Pablo man crush.
I have now seen Rocha play 4 times and I am still wandering, what’s so great about this guy?
Don’t be so hard on Rocha. He is learning a new team and new league. If he’s good it will start showing. I have already seen glimpses as in the headr off the crossbar and freekicks.
MOst games I’d be ok after taking 2 points and 2 draws from the 2 best teams in the West last season, including the Cup Winners. But not this time. We were leading in both games and really gave away 4 points to teams that arent up to par just yet. Those points shouldnt come back to haunt us with SJ, LA, and RSL in our division, but wouldnt it be nice to be sitting top of the table on 6 (read:maximum) points?
i couldn’t tell that much from the replays i saw online. And i don’t think i know what/where the park district is