Bouncing Away
May 12th, 2008 . 1:33 pm . By: John CarltonOn Saturday evening at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake, FC Dallas was looking to re-ignite its once potent offense and put to bed a long scoring drought stretching back to mid-April. Their opponents, Real Salt Lake, sought to maintain pace in the lackluster Western Conference and use their bouncy home turf to full advantage. In the end, the bounces favored the home side and FC Dallas left Utah wondering how their 16 shots translated to only one goal. Fielding a lineup consisting of three forwards up top, the Hoops came out of the gate with vigor. In the first minute, midfielder Juan Toja, who has endured a slump in recent form, fired a shot from long range that flew just over the crossbar. A couple of minutes later, forward Arturo Alvarez took a pass from Toja and worked into position to get a shot off from the top of the penalty area, but RSL defender Nat Borchers was there to disrupt the shot. In the fifth minute, the Royals got their attack in gear with a cross to forward Kenny Deuchar at the top of the box, who settled the ball to the feet of Fabian Espindola, but the striker’s effort went wide. Just a moment later, Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman, who pestered the middle of the Dallas defense all night, forced FCD netminder Dario Sala to turn a hard shot away from goal and past the byline. Sala was again pressed into action in the 10th minute as he parried away a goal-bound header from Espindola. The next good chance for the Hoops came in the 17th minute as winger Andre Rocha knocked a cross to the top of the six-yard box, just missing the outstretched legs of forward Kenny Cooper. A minute later, Cooper settled a ball on the left side of the area, squared a ball to the middle which found strike partner Abe Thompson, but Thompson’s effort went wide left from about eight yards out. In the 25th minute, Dallas survived a scare when RSL’s Dema Kovalenko hit a low free kick from 30 yards which Sala touched away with his fingertips into the left post. The ball caromed off the post back into the mixer where Dallas left back Adrian Serioux accidentally kneed the ball back towards net. Fortunately, the ball found a fallen Nat Borchers instead and Serioux was able to clear the ball into touch. Then disaster struck for the Hoops. In the 28th minute, Real Salt Lake got the ball bouncing forward toward the Dallas goal. FCD defender Drew Moor and RSL midfielder Javier Morales gave chase, but Moor attempted to clear the ball prematurely and misjudged the bounce, giving Morales the inside track to the loose ball. Dario Sala, meanwhile, was quick to sense the danger and come off his line, but his attempt to clear the ball from the half-moon at the top of the box failed and Morales discovered he still had the ball at his feet. With Moor closing on the right and Andre Rocha on the left, Morales calmly slotted the ball into an empty net. Coming out of the locker room trailing by a goal, FCD took a more attack-minded posture in the second half, making better runs and looking to shoot more. In the 50th minute, Arturo Alvarez cut inside and laid a short through ball off to Abe Thompson, who only managed to get a toe on the pass before RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando smothered the effort. Then in the 56th minute, the Red Stripes leading scorer, Kenny Cooper, manufactured a goal from nearly nothing. Andre Rocha launched a well-weighted ball over the top from the right wing that Cooper ran onto. Letting the ball settle in his path, Cooper fired a shot from an oblique angle that hit the roof of the net to tie the game. The goal was Cooper’s fifth of the campaign. After the goal, Real Salt Lake continued to attack. In the 61st minute, Dema Kovalenko received a pass on the right flank and one-timed a shot on goal that Dario Sala managed to partially deflect. The deflection slowed the shot and FCD captain Duilio Davino was able to clear the ball off the line. Kyle Beckerman continued to find open space in the middle and hit a good long-range shot on goal in the 72nd minute, but Sala caught the shot with little problem. Only a minute later, however, Beckerman and Sala again faced off but this time Beckerman got the better of the exchange. Royals’ midfielder Andy Williams chipped a lovely ball over the defense and Beckerman took a few steps toward net to latch onto it, just tapping it through the legs of the onrushing Sala. The goal was well-taken and showed great communication between the Salt Lakers. In the 83rd minute, Beckerman continued to beleaguer the Dallas defense, running freely up the middle to drive a one-timed shot off a cross directly toward goal. Sala made a brilliant save with his right hand and caught the deflection to thwart the danger. Dallas coach Steve Morrow’s insertion of late speed into the match did not generate any potent offensives and the final whistle blew three minutes into stoppage time. For FC Dallas, the match was the latest in a line of disappointments, following the run of scoring impotence that plagued the team in late April. But despite the loss, the Red Stripes still sit at the top of the Western Conference with nine points, in a tie with four-loss Colorado. FCD will look to regroup Sunday when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy. With a little luck, the balls will bounce the home side’s way. FC Dallas (2-2-3) vs. Real Salt Lake (2-3-2)May 10, 2008 — Rice-Eccles Stadium Scoring Summary: FC Dallas — Dario Sala, Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Adrian Serioux (Aaron Pitchkolan 71), Andre Rocha (Dominic Oduro 84), Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa (Ricardinho 77), Juan Toja, Arturo Alvarez, Kenny Cooper, Abe Thompson. Substitutes Not Used: Mike Grazcyk, Dax McCarty, Bobby Rhine, Anthony Wallace Real Salt Lake – Nick Rimando, Jamison Olave (Andy Williams 40), Matias Mantilla, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Kyle Beckerman, Dema Kovalenko, Javier Morales (Kenny Cutler 57), Chris Wingert, Fabian Espindola (Robbie Findley 80), Kenny Deuchar. Substitutes Not Used: David Horst, Dustin Kirby, Yura Movsisyan, Chris Seitz
Misconduct Summary: referee: Ricardo Salazar No Comments No comments yet. Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||