Matchday 23: Colorado Rapids vs FC Dallas
September 3rd, 2008 . By: Jay BrownleeThe Colorado Rapids are in trouble. Actually, they have been since their opening night evisceration of the LA Galaxy, a game which gave fans a very false sense of security. The Rapids of 2008 have not been able to solve the problem of points on the road in MLS. Only Real Salt Lake is worse away from their friendly confines, securing a single win and two ties in 11 tries. That sort of futility will get a head coach fired in this league, and it would have had not Fernando Clavijo resigned for family reasons. If Colorado has been awful on the road, FC Dallas has been nearly as woeful on home turf. Dallas is only 4-3-4 at home so far in this campaign, good for 12th in the league. The Hoops confront that trend on Thursday night with what everyone is now referring to as a “must-win” game. That may be a tough nut to crack. No matter how bad Colorado has been, Dallas simply does not hold leads at home. In a season of almost constant change, that has been one of the few constants. This game marks the third and final match of the year between these two clubs. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that there is no way both these teams make the playoffs this season. While in most Hoops fans’ minds getting to the playoffs is a must, keeping Colorado at the bottom rung on the MLS ladder would add some spice to the pot. Hoops fans take heart. Colorado actually has a crappier defense than us, having allowed three more goals on the year. They’ve scored one fewer, too. Break out the booze! Colorado has only scored 12 goals on the road in 11 matches, while Dallas has scored 17 in their 11 home tilts. So what does a team like Colorado do when they are struggling to score goals? Well, they trade away forward Hercules Gomez for draft picks and the standard undisclosed sum of allocation money. That should straighten things out pronto. Oh, did I mention Colorado haven’t scored a goal in 223 minutes? I shouldn’t laugh at Colorado too much. Yeah, right. But, Colorado has had their issues with the injury bug this season, and this week is no different. Mehdi Ballouchy, Ugo Ihemelu and Greg Dalby are all staying in Colorado. Bouna Condoul is away for duty with Senegal. Expect Terry Cooke to return to the team with a possible appearance by the recovering Pablo Mastroeni. Dallas will also miss some players for this one. Duilio Davino apparently worked out a bit this week, but Buzz says “no chance” he plays and I believe him. Adrian Serioux is off to national duty for the Canadians. According to Buzz, we’re going to see yet more Hyndman tinkering this week. Anthony Wallace is expected to start out on the left mid. I’m actually interested to see how this works. Of course, Wallace was not good in Morrow’s 3-5-2, but then again, outside of Cooper, who was? Look for Pablo Ricchetti to slide into the center next to Pitchkolan, with Drew Moor handling the duties at right back. Bruno Guarda is going to play attacking mid again, but you knew that, didn’t ya? Oh, and everyone’s favorite scoring threat, Marcelo Saragosa is back at defensive mid. Frankly, I’m tired of second-guessing Hyndman. I want to see some danger from the midfield if the old geezer has to suit up and do it himself. This game shakes out to be a battle of the midfields. With Terry Cooke back in the line-up, Christian Gomez in the center and Colin Clarke on the left, it is almost baffling that Colorado are not better than they are. Dallas must find a way to contain these guys, because they all have great ability to put the ball in the box. Up front, McManus and Cummings have both hurt Dallas this year and must be slowed down for Dallas to stay in the match. Expect Mastroeni to be inserted at his usual defensive mid position, or even back to center back. Hyndman insists that this club is playing for the playoffs. I understand injury has taken away options, but to see the line-up in this much flux in the stretch run concerns me. To me, it just feels a bit like Hyndman is sticking his finger in the hole in the dam and hoping for the best until next season when he can build this team with his players. After seeing McCarty, Avila and Guarda in the attacking mid position and Hyndman still indicating he’s looking for a player there, I just wonder how many more changes are to come. Prediction: Cooper breaks a slump, Cunningham gets a brace, Dallas wins 2-0. 16 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
“If Colorado has been awful on the road, FC Dallas has been nearly as woeful on home turf.”
It’s like the age old adage about what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
i hope your prediction is right…although i’d like to see avila and guarda in the whole game…if points come by that hard at home, i don’t see why we shouldn’t throw the kitchen sink at them, seeing as how saragosa doesn’t like to go forward…
I have a baaaaaad feeling about this game. But, I am hoping that SH and FCD will surprise me and come out with a win. Hoping for a KCJ brace, too!
GO, FCD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Nice write up!
It’s goign to take a lot to convince me that Hyndman isn’t totally bluffing at this level.
I hope tonights game is better than last week agaianst the crew. I wanted a paper sack. But I believe in guys. Just asking WHAT WAS THE COACH THINKING!!!!!!!!!!! Saragosa was so bad and new kid from SMU was aweful .Yea he did have one good play. No wonder Adrian went back to Canada so he could play real soccer players. Except for them guys our guys are trying to understand what coach is thinking. Taking Dax out and not playing Abe ,Oduro. That is just plain stupid. If we wanted this kinda of coaching we should had given Marco, Oscar and and the chance to try. these guys coach are bringing only come to the waiste of the other teams and some of our guys. I love these guys but few need grow up if they want to play with big boys.
Hyndman looked like he was heading in the right direction until he took out what was working for us. Oduro, Avila, and Dax are all worthy of starting. Guarda needs to learn more about soccer at this level before he gets any PT at all. And Saragosa? Why should he even be on the roster?
agree with christian. change for the sake of change. This isn’t college Schellas.
Still can’t figure out why Dax & Avila didn’t play until late. Dello-Russo played hard, but he was getting worked by the Rapids all night.
I’m all for giving Bruno “the Chosen One” Guarda a shot, but he completed < 4 passes to FC Dallas players all night. He looks slow and tentative, and he defers to Saragosa on offense. (Anyone else see Marcelo’s step-over in the box? I gave up at that point.)
After that game I feel no better having Schellas here instead of Steve Morrow. At least Morrow would have known that Guarda shouldn’t be a starter and that adding strikers to a team with a poor defense will not help.
We are a loooooong shot to make the playoffs now.
Somebody gotta step up for FC…
Drew had a ok game at the back but had a clean chance of goal with that header and he needed to finish. Out Corners are just not producing goals and Cooper needs to pass the ball instead of trying all by himself. I didnt really like Pablo at the back at all and he produces so much more as a Dmid and I understand we didnt have anybody else to put in that position.
Avi got in and didnt do anything at all but bad passes and Dax just had corners and free kicks.. But one thing I cant accept is Sala. He gave away that goals for sure, and as ALWAYS didnt not come out on that cross. OMG we always get scored on either a corner or a cross and Sala always stays in the line which is Ridiculous…
Guarda played ok, just like the whole team so lets not blame him just cause he is the coach’s choice because I didnt see anyone playing better or worse than him, not even Dax or Avi.
Oh forgot to mention… How come SH takes away Rocha in a must win game just because of his comments to the DMN news? The player was just expressing himself and he was probably very tired of SH calling him out on the media everytime… and Wallace as starter? wont even comment
Sala was not the reason they scored that goal. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. The reason they scored is either one becasue it looks like Cooper tripped and didn’t come back to block or it could have been Guarda who decided to watch it happen and do nothing, good thing we have players on the team that can play both sides of soccer…
Holly H*LL. where do i start. Last night was a joke. B team midfield. After the game i went home and watched the game again to make sure i wasn’t being a jerk at the game for yelling at my own team. Bruno SUCKS!!! he still thinks he’s playing college ball. Everything he did was 2seconds to slow. he needs playing time but NOT starting time. Not Rocha or Dax as starters kills us. I can’t remeber the last time we scored on a set piece or a corner. We don’t have a single player thats dangerous. And poor KCJ. Cunningham has killed his attack. KCJ has resorted to shoting long range or top of the box. He has a great shot but he scores better making diagnal runs which cunningham kills because he clogs the whole miidle of the field.
I’m really beginning to think i may not want to renew my season tickets.
I think Kenny got frustrated at the lack of ability of that team last night and finally tried to do it all on his own. Which he can’t, because soccer is a team sport. (SIGH) Kenny is so out of here at the end of the season, I bet.
They should have mailed the season ticket packets the day after LA..The web site says over 7k there..NO WAY..and Rocha(not as good as Toja last year) is the key..He starts we start well. We sub him off the other team catches up or pulls ahead. We don’t let him in the staduim and see the worst MLS game I have seen in a long time Any USL team could have beat both those teams..I am not sure about renewing my season tickets. I drive from ft worth for that???!!!!??!?!
Wow.
And I thought Mo Johnson was a piece of shit manager.
I think other teams will continue to pluck away at the carcus of FCD until all that remains is ex-SMU players and guys Hyndman signed. FCD wasn’t a million miles off under Morrow - a better manager could have walked in and made this club compete from day 1, instead of stripping it down to scrap parts and rebuilding. I bet Cooper wishes he’s gotten the hell outof Dodge when he could have…