Matchday 22: Columbus Crew at FC Dallas
August 29th, 2008 . 5:25 pm . By: Jay BrownleeThe following article is written by guest writer Jay Brownlee Writer’s Note: I want to start off by thanking Jason Benfield for his outstanding contributions of Matchday to 3rd Degree. Jason’s exhaustive and unsurpassable writings will be sorely missed. If the season ended today, FC Dallas would be in the playoffs as the 3rd seed in the West. Is that crazy or what? A team that started off the year on such high hopes has quickly gone through three coaching changes, two full formation and tactics switches, a loss to a USL side in a meaningful match, the sale of the team’s MVP from a year ago and a protracted ordeal involving rumors, speculation and offers for the services of their best player, Kenny Cooper, Jr. The craziest thing of all is Coach Schellas Hyndman has this team playing its best soccer of the year. To keep all going, Hyndman must find a player to take up the reins on the left side of midfield due to recently acquired Victor Sikora’s knee injury. That player will most likely be Dax McCarty, who has had an up and down year to match that of his team. But replacing Sikora is not where the action ends. In case you missed it, Andre Rocha stormed off the field in last week’s match after being subbed in favor of former SMU Mustang Bruno Guarda. Apparently, Rocha was suspended for Monday and Tuesday’s workout, but did return for the reserve match against Houston on Wednesday. Although Hyndman said the incident has been resolved and is now behind them, it remains to be seen if Rocha will be in the 1st XI on match day. Dallas also takes a hit this week by the forced absence of Pablo Ricchetti due to seeing red in the Kansas City match. Apparently Marcelo Saragosa will come off injury to fill in. My guess is FC Dallas won’t be hurt that badly defensively, but will suffer going forward. Although Saragosa is clearly not the linking player of the sort he is replacing, I think the Hoops faithful can be reasonably assured that Hyndman has now learned not to trust Saragosa in any kind of offensive capacity. Wow. I have to make an admission to you. I am loving this season. Loving it! FC Dallas, without a doubt, is the most interesting team in MLS. And who knows if Hyndman is going to be a genius or a flop? The only thing we know for sure, Hyndman has definitely put his stamp on this team. He is clearly responsible for getting this team fit and playing 90 minutes each time out. Watching this team become a Hyndman team has already been fun to watch. Oh, I almost forgot. The Columbus Crew (11-6-4, Tied 1st, Eastern Conference) comes to town on the weekend for the second leg of the season series. The marketing beast that is FC Dallas has dubbed this game “Super Cooper” night. And rightfully so. It is time to honor Cooper, who has been on such a goal-scoring tear all season that although he’s only gone two matches without a goal, it seems like forever. In their first meeting of the year, your Hoops dominated play in the first half before succumbing to would-be MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto in the final frame. If you missed that match, Schelotto was the difference. He has brought class and confidence to the yellow-and-black. Although the Crew looks to be the real deal, and this will be yet another stern test for FC Dallas, I personally believe that the rest of this year sets up what you can expect from this club in the future. Although I have no personal knowledge, I do not believe that playoffs or playoff success is the goal this year. I think we’ll see Hyndman continue to put his stamp on this team and if they end up in the post-season, so much so good. And for me, as interesting as this team has been, I’m going to be just as sad no matter when the season ends. Oh, you want a prediction? Rocha plays, Dallas wins 2-1. 13 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
90 minute fit, but not 92 minute fit.
Well done, good read. Some deeper analysis of the Crew might have added some touch, but I like and agree with almost everything you about FCD.
Jay,
Not bad for a FO apologist.
We all know that Saragosa is not a good passer and that he sometimes retards the attack with an arrant pass, but something that everyone needs to watch in this game is the runs that he makes form the deep midfield. Pablo is my favorite Hoop and is the best option at HM, but Saragosa is not horrible and does make more (and better timed) runs into the attack from the holding midfield then does Pablo. Just give Saragos a fair and balanced look (and post pithy comments on 3rd degree) and you will see that Saragosa is not the drain of life force to this team that he has been made out to be.
Buzz,
What happened to Benfield?
Well said, Skeeter! You offer something that seems scares among some people — a balanced opinion that is not one extreme or the other. ALthough, I would still like to see Saragosa improve on the accuracy of his passes.
SH is doing what every youth coach does who doesn’t know tactics or what else to do, he get them real fit but this isn’t a track team.
I didn’t realize how much I would miss Jason’s previews.
“I think the Hoops faithful can be reasonably assured that Hyndman has now learned not to trust Saragosa in any kind of offensive capacity.”
Good one. What, exactly, are you basing this on? All I’ve seen from SH is if Saragosa is healthy, he’s on the field – wherever he can put him, including a couple of games @ left mid. Most other places you would probably want some offense out of your left mid.
The real test of whether SH has learned anything re: Saragosa will be whether he’s still out there, when healthy, and if/when the lineup isn’t so depleted by injuries, suspensions, etc, in any capacity other than very late game sub. I’m skeptical, but would love to be proven wrong.
Nice article, Jay. If I were a sports cartoonist I’d draw one showing Hyndman’s perfect team….and it would be 11 keepers. Last year’s game was the best one of the season IMHO and I think this one won’t disappoint either.
Dammit, Zippy, I should have known it would be someone like you to get me going on Saragosa! But no more hiding behind such a clearly made up alias, Mr. “Jay Brownlee”, no sir. Buzz went and outed you over on BS, so the jig is up!
Skeeter, Jason received a promotion at work and doesn’t have the time to commit to write for the site anymore.
Such things happen and we wish him all the best in his new position. He can of course come back any time he wants.
No one ever really leaves 3rd Degree.
Hey, I just want to say “thanks” for the comments (both positive and otherwise) on my first article for 3rd degree. Everything you guys add will help me write better pieces as we go forward. Of course, in a perfect world everyone would read every word I write and would nod their heads and agree with everything. Actually, that wouldn’t be a perfect world, it would just plain suck. So, once again, thank you for posting your opinions.
Congratulations to Jason. Too bad for 3rd Degree, but good for him.
i wouldn’t be surprised if rocha doesn’t return next year…that’s even if he does want to return. maybe it’s just better off that way. i like him, but he’s only on loan. we need our own guys to move forward. that way, we can get dax, bruno, avi as much time on the pitch as possible.
well, if the season ended today FCD would be out of the play-offs.