Play Freebird
May 25th, 2008 . 8:17 am . By: John Carlton
After the surprise mid-week firing of FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow, it fell to former assistant, now interim head coach Marco Ferruzzi to get his players focused on the task ahead, a home match against Western Conference foes Real Salt Lake. Winless in their last four matches, the Red Stripes were also looking to get out of the funk that led to Morrow’s firing. A shakeup in the lineup was necessitated by various issues affecting the team. Defender Adrian Serioux was serving a one-game suspension for a red card he received last week against Los Angeles. Midfielder Dax McCarty was still recovering from hernia surgery. And Juan Toja was simply benched for his lack of solid performances over the last month. Ferruzzi gave Bobby Rhine his first start since the season opener with Anthony Wallace, Aaron Pitchkolan and Marcelo Saragosa making returns to the starting eleven. Versatile Brazilian Andre Rocha was given the attacking midfield role and Abe Thompson played up top alongside Kenny Cooper. The atmosphere in front of a very sparse crowd of 8,960 souls at Pizza Hut Park was very different from the sellout of last week that saw the Hoops lose big to David Beckham’s Galaxy. From the first kick, FC Dallas appeared more relaxed. With the pressure off, they created an opportunity in the first thirty seconds, when Kenny Cooper took a shot from inside the penalty area that was saved low by Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Veteran Bobby Rhine crossed a ball from the right flank in the 11th minute that found two Dallas players running at the far post and nearly touching it into the back of the net. Kenny Cooper drew constant attention from Real Salt Lake defender Ian Joy, whose overzealous man-marking led to not one, but two yellow cards in the first half and an early shower. Now playing against ten men, there was even less pressure for the recently orphaned men in red. Much like in recent games the advantages FC Dallas had earned were not fully exploited. Bobby Rhine was sent off in first half stoppage time for losing composure and slapping -no other way to put it – Salt Lake midfielder Dema Kovalenko. It was a careless action from a team veteran who knows better. The net effect in the second half was a faster, more wide open contest. In the 69th minute, the Royals’ two best imports, playmaking midfielder Javier Morales and sleek striker Fabian Espindola, combined to open the scoring. Running in tandem down the left flank, Morales notched a beautifully weighted through ball for the hard running Espindola, who calmly struck the ball through the legs of Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala for a 1-0 lead. In response, interim coach Marco Ferruzzi would make his first big in-game decisions, substituting speedy Ghanaian forward Dominic Oduro for Abe Thompson, and Arturo Alvarez for Anthony Wallace. Oduro pestered RSL immediately, stretching their already bunkered defense out of shape. In the 82nd minute, defender Drew Moor hit a cross from the right flank towards goal with perfect pace and shape, and Oduro rose to graze it lightly with his head past a helpless Nick Rimando. Then at the very beginning of stoppage time, Andre Rocha laid an arcing forward pass into the path of Oduro, who collected the ball, swiveled to his right to beat two defenders and clinically finished his strike into the right corner of the net. Oduro, the “Birdman” who says he runs so fast because he had to run from lions as a youth in Ghana, had given Dallas just what it needed after a tumultuous week. Ferruzzi said of the performance, “It was an emotional game. A lot of heart and a lot of effort. I couldn’t ask for more.” The win was deserved, not only for the effort, but for the return of good possession and passing, focus and determination, and the “never surrender” attitude fans want from their clubs. Real Salt Lake (2-5-2) vs. FC Dallas (3-3-3)May 24, 2008 — Pizza Hut Park Scoring Summary: Real Salt Lake – Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave (Matias Mantilla 77), Ian Joy, Dema Kovalenko, Kyle Beckerman, Andy Williams, Javier Morales, Kenny Deuchar (Fabian Espindola 54), Robbie Findley (Kenny Cutler 46). Substitutes Not Used: Matias Cordoba, Dustin Kirby, Tino Nunez, Kyle Reynish FC Dallas — Dario Sala, Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine, Andre Rocha, Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa, Anthony Wallace (Arturo Alvarez 69), Abe Thompson (Dominic Oduro 65), Kenny Cooper. Substitutes Not Used: Eric Avila, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Mike Graczyk, Juan Toja
Misconduct Summary: referee: Terry Vaughn 16 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The teams attidue was great! I hope to see even more on Wednesday.
Um . . I know it was only for 10+ minutes, but Toja DID get to play (the match report on the website was incorrect).
I thought it was Morales that Rhine hit, not Legabreako?
It was Morales.
It was Morales, yep.
Did anyone else see some flashes of last years Toja in his 10 minutes?
You could tell it wasn’t Dema because nobody ran up to add some kicks and stomps after he fell to the ground.
No flashes from Toja seen from this section. Team played with more energy, although still 11 different sub-games going on with the Dallas side.
Why was attendance so pathetic?
I don’t get the context of this article’s title, but it made me
anyway.
Oduro’s nickname is “Birdman.”
Attendance will be just as bad on Wednesday, but things should get back on track for the game against the Fire.
ATTENDANCE: this weekend is a holiday weekend, lots of folks out of town, or attending high school and college graduation ceremonies.
I saw some goods things from Toja. When he came in, he was able to open up space by dribbling towards the middle of the defense. Until then, the attack was mainly from balls over the top and wing play. Still, I thought it was a good choice by Feruzzi to start him on the bench because of his form of late. Hopefully he will get the chance to start on Wednesday and do more of what he did against RSL.
I like that Dom and Arturo are rested for the next match. Speed is what you want up front against that uberslow Houston defense. And of course, big guys in the middle and back to counter their thuggishness. Personally, I think FCD matches up very well against the Dynablow. Might be time to give Davino a night off, though.
Re: Toja
A good sign that immediately after he was subbed in, he attempted a sliding tackle. It was an ugly, late tackle, but the effort was there at least. I think he got the message. As many have already said, it’s easy to forget how young he is. The Morrow sacking (in which he had to feel at least some responsibility) combined with his benching could do wonders for his determination. Neidermeyer – dead. Dema – dead, Robinson…
Attendance may have been low, but the crowd was actually noisier than normal. It was really cool and surprised me. I hope we can keep that up. Especially this Wednesday!