Flatlining
July 20th, 2008 . 11:11 pm . By: John CarltonThe Colorado Rapids staked an early lead Saturday night at Pizza Hut Park, but FC Dallas came back with two goals of their own. Unfortunately, the Hoops gave up the equalizer shortly after scoring the go-ahead goal and, like every other MLS match of Week 18, this one ended in a draw. FC Dallas displayed better energy after a much needed respite from league play. Dax McCarty returned to the starting lineup and Adrian Serioux returned to his position at left back. For Serioux, the game started poorly. In the 5th minute he let Colorado striker Herculez Gomez run behind him in his channel, and gambled on a clearance when a well-flighted ball from Mehdi Ballouchy flew into the box. Gomez let the ball bounce on the sandy Frisco pitch and struck it past Argentine handball ace Dario Sala and into the net. It certainly wasn’t the first time this season that the Hoops had given up the early goal, so they knew what to do. Wanted target man Kenny Cooper got the boys going with a 7th minute blast that Rapids’ goalkeeper Bouna Condoul deflected. The fairly catchable shot from range bounced off Condoul’s arms, a sign of things to come, and into the path of an attacking Juan Toja. Toja got the ball onto his immensely preferred left foot and completely scuffed the shot. For a player in a half-season long funk, it seemed the only possible outcome. But for Toja, there would be redemption in this contest. In the second half, Cooper was again the danger man, running onto a long pass just outside the left side of the penalty area. After latching onto the ball, Cooper must have been surprised to find Condoul completely outside the penalty area trying to dispossess him. Wisely, Cooper continued his run to the byline and crossed the ball into the box with the outside of his right foot. Striker Dominic Oduro looked to receive the cross, but was shoved out of the play by Colorado defender Facundo Erpen. Referee Terry Vaughn had no choice but to point to the spot and Cooper stepped up to take the penalty kick. He coolly slotted it past Condoul, who bought Cooper’s hesitation hook, line and sinker. Bouna time, it was not. But Condoul wasn’t done. In the 64th minute, when Marcelo Saragosa crossed a ball from the right flank into the box, the Rapids’ net minder came far off his line again and challenged Cooper for the ball. Cooper wisely re-directed his header across the goalmouth where Juan Toja was arriving to kick the ball into the back of an empty net. This time, his trusty left foot didn’t let him down. Three minutes later the Red Stripes let themselves down, and in a familiar way. Marcelo Saragosa played a lazy clearance directly to Colorado midfielder Terry Cooke. Cooke played a looping ball forward that Christian Gomez tracked to the end line. Gomez hit a short chip to the far post where Colorado target man Conor Casey headed it in. Dallas’ last best chance came in the 86th minute when Toja shot with venom from 25 yards. Condoul stretched to parry the ball over the end line, his finest play in an otherwise miserable outing. Late changes helped neither team, with Rapids’ boss Fernando Clavijo substituting defensively and FCD coach Schellas Hyndman doing the opposite. The draw was the seventh for Dallas on the year, and denied Hyndman his first chance at a league victory. It seems likely that some roster changes are in the works, whether major or minor is the only unknown. What is known is that there is an absolutely huge home match against the Los Angeles Galaxy up next for the Hoops. Hopefully, some of the energy and attacking out of the back that characterized this performance will recur in the weeks to come. Now if they can only reduce some of the mistakes in the back… 5 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
You know, as bad as the first giveaway was, and as daft as some of the attempt to shoot in the box were, I actually thought there were several positives here. The team got forward perhaps more than I have seen in recent memory and there was an attempt to abide by Hyndman’s “8 balls into the box from each side” rule. The game was certainly more fun to watch than the last 2 or 3 stinkers.
Man, all Colorado did was dive and try to draw fouls all night. At least our guys didn’t do that…
Agreed, Moose. And a close call on your 3-3 prediction! Colorado’s acting was the only real downer (I was a few minutes late so missed the mistake by Serioux) on the evening. We had more energy and seemed to make an effort to get forward more as you mention. I also think KCJ is getting the message as far as positioning.
I agree with Moose — there were some positives and FCD seem to put more good shots on goal.
The only thing to work on now is FCD’s fragile mental state. It seemed to me that they have given up some very early goals this year, almost like they were coming out tentative or scared at the start of games. Once they took the lead in this game, they seemed to really be flying to the ball, getting aggressive and creating more chances…and yet once the Rapids tied it up 2-2 FCD seemed to be deflated and played much more hesitantly.
Anyway, overall I think the team looked better than in their last game…and that’s good.
I thought the guys did pretty much every thin SH has been asking for. They got more people into the attack seemed to get the ball wide more often and played hard. Now all we need to do is stop the easy giveaways that lead to goals. I hope Sh ask for Hitch to get him a couple of defenders by trading a couple of the midfielders we have
Jaime, Coops just needs to do what he does well, that is picking his spots when to go up top and when to come wide. Classic example, he hit two bombs from a strikers position in the first half. Second half he was in a wide postion playing the ball to Dom for the penalty. Then a wide position for the header baqck to Toja. He is not an out and out striker, we are lucky he can play both off striker too. The day of the out and out striker is gone. Just ask Sir Alex Ferguson. Coops mobility and work rate will produce goals for the team. Good for Schellas for allowing Coops to do his thing.