The Beautiful Game: Columbus Crew vs FC Dallas
September 1st, 2008 . 1:20 pm . By: Lorenzo de MediciFC Dallas now has one of the worst home records in MLS so it’s no wonder that concerts have become a priority for HSG, at least they are a win-win situation. FCD has now won a total of four of eleven home league games, hardly the sort of situation that would strike fear into any USL team (as we have seen), much less anyone from MLS. This team seems incapable of holding on to a lead, and in fact have the league’s worst record (by a decent margin) when scoring first. So lets look at just exactly why this is the case. First of all there appears to be zero continuity in the line-up. Can we not decide on a first choice eleven? Can we not just trade like for like when a player is injured/suspended? For myself the problem goes much deeper than that and in fact goes to the very heart of this team. There is no real strength in the middle of the back four, there is no leader back there, no ass kicker in sight, so we can start there. Find some nasty bastard, play him back there and quit giving up soft and stupid goals. In the midfield please tell me just what has Guarda done to deserve his meteoric rise into the starting eleven? The fact that he has come straight from the college ranks, only to be coached by a couple of former college coaches should tell us all we need to know. They value him more than his actual worth. How could this happen? Schellas is learning on the job but he needs to learn (and that right quick) that this is a different level, both for himself, his assistant and for any college player. Over the past few years SMU held pre season scrimmages against FC Dallas, Schellas Hyndman was coaching SMU during these games. For the most part his teams were competitive in these “friendlies” and I believe he got a false impression of the difference between the sides. I imagine that for most of his players playing in this game was one of the highlights of their season. They got to play and test themselves against professional players in a league many of them soon hoped to join. Problem is, someone forgot to tell them that, for their opposition, these games were nothing more than a break from the grind of pre-season training. This was Lincoln City playing at Manchester United in the third round of the F.A. Cup. Everything to gain, nothing to lose, the high point of a season that not many care about in any case. For the FC Dallas players the opposite was true. This was a game played in front of next to zero fans, nothing to gain or to lose either way. Schellas’ college players were motivated, inspired and fired up against opponents who really didn’t give a toss. Schellas and Ellinger received the wrong message: they both believed (probably still believe) that there wasn’t much of a gap, maybe no gap at all between top college players and their counterparts from MLS. They were wrong and they had better start coming to grips with that fact otherwise this strange season will continue to circle the bowl of mediocrity. There is a big difference between MLS and college soccer. Why has Avila been jettisoned for Guarda? Why? The team had been doing well with Avila in the line-up so what did he do to deserve this treatment? Why have Abe and Dom been pushed to the margins? Why has Cooper gone off the boil and failed to score since Cunningham arrived? What has happened to the team chemistry? Why the fascination with Saragosa? What is the teams record with him on the field? Schellas Hyndman is being paid to answer these, and other, questions. He has some time although the clock is ticking. He should start by leaving Bruno Guarda where he belongs: in the stands, watching and learning. He is just not ready for prime time and to expect him to be able to come in and handle these expectations is not fair to him or to this teams diminishing play-off chances. When Pablo returns he should play and Saragosa should sit. Cooper needs to figure out how to get back to where he was. The central defenders need to start imposing themselves or they too should sit. The mid field needs to be settled and needs to start doing the business at both ends. This means scoring some goals, getting some more assists, and helping out an inadequate back four. The season isn’t done yet and we all know that getting to the play-offs is what it’s all about in MLS. Get there, get hot, get the line-up right, get the bounce of the ball and anything can, and usually does, happen. Over to you Schellas. 19 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Best cloumn of the year, well done! Call them out my friend.
great article…some of the decisions SH has made are just baffling
Nice job. Yeah, Avi is young enough that he deserves some time to score. A few of his chances were extremely close. Aside from this the continuity (as you mention) at the position is critical. Perhaps this “wrong-time tryout” with Guarda is a red flag for fans that this season is partially in the tank for the owners as Hyndman begins to build the group he wants for next year. I highly doubt the coach will lose his job over these moves, even if it costs us a playoff spot.
Back to back wins vs Galaxy and Toronto with saragosa hardly involved and then Schellas totally changes the line up. Cooper has been handcuffed by Schellas and has stopped doing the things that made him successfull
I agree with everything you said. What an embarrasing game. I feel like he wants to play SMU style he needs to go back to SMU. The midfield looks like bunch of recs playing this whole mess has made it rough on the older guys.All of sudden we are winning with older guys then these smu guys come in can not hold a candle to the vets these guys only come up to there waiste.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t think that SH knows what consistancy is nor does he know a good thing is when he sees it (or thinks he sees it).
Ditto to all of the above. The most baffling/frustrating part for me is that it SEEMED like he had a real grip on things about a month ago. But now . . . I’m beginning to think he is nuts.
Well, FCD MUST win on Thursday. Period. They play the last-place CRapids. There can be no excuses. Right . . . Coach?
One of you down there in Dallas (I would be happy to do this, but I’m rather far away) needs to print a copy of this column and hand it to Schellas – at practice today, in his office, wherever. Likely wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference, but he still needs to know what’s being talked about outside of his insulated little world.
Great column.
I thought the same thing about Bruno when I saw him hopping around the field trying to figure things out. The best thing he did all night were his 2 ‘ruiz’ dives, if you watched smu you knew those were coming, and that’s it. No D, no O, nothing. What message does it send to the others? And Coop seems to be unsure how to play with another quality fwd, but he seems to be trying.
I know why Cooper has gone off the boil and it’s because the team has gone more vertical with their play trying to release Cunningham on quick counter attacks. The team has quit building their attack through the midfield and the long ball is getting old in a hurry.
I understand that a brand new coach is going to want to assert his style on the team, but maybe Schellas could work on fixing the things that AREN’T working with this team first? If his efforts were producing results I’m pretty sure we’d all be more tolerant, but weren’t most of thinking we’d still like a shot at success in the playoffs this year? I know I was.
Best question ever: “Why the fascination with Saragosa?”
Well done Lorenzo! Good questions that demand an answer. After the match I thought why do I drive from southwest Forth Worth? I rememebered that I love the game of soccer. I didn’t see much Saturday and have low hopes for the rest of the season however I am optimistic. The only positive thing I can say about the match is the field looked better.
some of the above is correct. schellas is an idiot. but the following is not true.
“Schellas’ college players were motivated, inspired and fired up against opponents who really didn’t give a toss”
fc dallas vs smu is a common game held usually once or twice in the fall and twice in the spring. smu players were hardly fired up this spring when they played both fcd and the reserves….and kc reserves for that matter, and heres why. smu was missing several starters to injury and ineligibility and the games were held in the middle of spring(which is an entire semester of off season) which means that theres nothing to gain from winning against fcd no college cup. nothing. to say that fcd was not concerned about this game is the easy way out. they are professional players who’s job is to win. its an embarassing loss so they should be concerned. think about it. imagine this happening in europe. a pro team loses to a college team. the next day that entire college team would be signed pro. its true that college soccer is not very good but lets face it….mls is not very good either. the gap between the bottom teams of the mls and the top teams of college is zero. and smu has proved it. so to take those wins(against fcd and kansas city) away from smu is an injustice to the world of soccer. its easy to give an excuse for the loss. much harder to accept it.
Lorenzo – You’re not ghost writing for Hitch, are you?
I think Schellas knows he has more job security. All he has to do is make the playoffs. He’s just trying out the pieces. Besides, this is the annual swoon.
Run the exact same column this week. It fits even more.
Resend the buzz. Its fitting even more. Whats it gonna take to wake up the management office. While SH is scratching his head we are losing great players losing the meaning of FUTBOL. We ahd a great team month ago why change if its working. Oh wait thats to easy.
With all the line-up changes, sitting talented players and shedding, what I think are needed players, I get impression that Hyndman is more interested in “sending messages” than playing well and winning. Sitting Dax, unless he is hurt, is beyond stupid. Whenerver he comes in, Dallas comes to life and the offense takes off. Why not play him? I just don’t get it….