Bailout Plan
October 4th, 2008 . By: John Carlton
Not your normal expansion side, the reborn Earthquakes have put together an impressive run over the late summer. Prior to their last game, they had played ten straight games without a defeat. English footballer Darren Huckerby and FC Dallas castoff Arturo Alvarez have proven to be pivotal acquisitions for the ‘Quakes as they search for their own identity in their return to MLS. They certainly showed spark all night against FC Dallas. Huckerby and former Dallas winger Ronnie O’Brien provided danger from the flanks, while Alvarez and Scott Sealy looked to get forward often. Dallas showed attacking energy as well. In the 11th minute, Marcelo Saragosa got his head on an Andre Rocha corner kick right in front of goal, but he couldn’t direct the ball into the net. In the 25th minute, Rocha took a free kick from 30 yards out that forced a good save from Joe Cannon. Then for a long stretch of the first half, San Jose got the better looks at goal. Alvarez sprung Huckerby forward on a perfectly weighted through ball in the 33rd minute. Huckerby raced ahead and got one-on-one with Dario Sala, but hesitated a bit too long, and the shot was deflected wide. Sala came up big in the second half. His kick save in the 57th minute on an Arturo Alvarez shot was tremendous. Perhaps Sala was helped by knowing the tendencies of his former teammate and reacting accordingly. But there is no way that Sala knew anything of Ryan Johnson before Thursday night. The rookie Johnson’s goal in the 58th minute came on his first and second touches of the match. The goal sent Dallas into desperation mode. An example of that desperation came in the 71st minute when Hoops’ defender Duilio Davino clearly and knowingly handled the ball just outside the penalty area. Luckily, he was merely awarded a yellow card for his actions. Schellas Hyndman used all three of his substitutions, bringing on striker Dominic Oduro, attacking midfielder Eric Avila and Dutch international Victor Sikora in turns. Avila ended up playing a key role when his cross in the 87th minute hit Francisco Lima in the arm and led to a penalty kick. Kenny Cooper hesitated in his run-up before burying the PK into the left side of the net. It was Cooper’s 16th goal of the year, second only to the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan in the chase for the Golden Boot. Cooper celebrated the goal in his inimitable way, knowing that the goal bailed out his team and they would live to fight on another day. The day of reckoning is fast coming for the Hoops. With only three games left in the MLS regular season, two of which are on the road, FC Dallas may need another Hail Mary or two to get into the playoffs. One cause for optimism, however, is the combined record of 23-33-22 of the remaining foes on the schedule. And the team has performed better in recent weeks. With the collection of talent FC Dallas currently has, a three-game win streak to end the season is certainly possible. San Jose Earthquakes (7-10-9) vs. FC Dallas (8-9-10)October 02, 2008 — Pizza Hut Park Scoring Summary: San Jose Earthquakes – Joe Cannon, James Riley, Nick Garcia, Jason Hernandez, Eric Denton, Ronnie O’Brien (Ryan Johnson 57), Ned Grabavoy, Francisco Lima, Darren Huckerby, Arturo Alvarez (Shea Salinas 71), Scott Sealy (Jovan Kirovski 89), Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Cochrane, Mike Graczyk, Kelly Gray, Davide Somma FC Dallas — Dario Sala, Adrian Serioux (Dominic Oduro 69), Duilio Davino, Drew Moor, Blake Wagner, Andre Rocha, Bruno Guarda (Eric Avila 62), Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa (Victor Sikora 82), Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham, Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Michael Dello-Russo, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine
Misconduct Summary: referee: Abiodun Okulaja 15 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We continue to suck with our college coach….no playoffs for us.
had to watch this one on tv and nearly fell out of my chair when Guarda went off. I heard he was booed a bit by some Dallas fans, any truth to this ?
the other alex:
yeah i was at the game
and yeah it was true, he
did get a few “boooos” then
and even during his time on the
field,
At the start of the game there were a few high pitiched Beckham like squeels from what I believe were a few SMU girls.. however even they were asking for his head by the end of the first half. In his time on the field I counted one successful tackle, two passes that connected and twelve turnovers.
Davino stinks. What were we thinking.
I have to say the FCD stole this from San Jose who earned a win…bad officials start to finish. If my 10 year olds played like this i would be upset. Shockingly poor effort from a team that had been on the rise.
Bring Pitch back in the back.
wonder if SH will be talking to the press about “he gets the ball 14 times and gives it away 12″ like he did when he needed Rocha out of the line-up to make room for his boy. Somehow I doubt this.
Wow - New England, down 2-0 to Real Salt Lake with 15 minutes left in regulation, scores two goals in three minutes and gets the draw. Thank you, Revs.
FCD remains just one point away from Real with their match looming in two weeks. Let’s see if Houston can take down Colorado…
And ten minutes into the match, it’s already 2-1 Houston. Jeez.
At least we didn’t lose any playoff ground, RSL tied New England, and New York, DC, and Colorado both lost, so if the season ended today, we would lose out on a tiebreaker with Colorado for the 8th spot.
Also need to point out that was an atrocious PK call. Horrible. Still, it’s nice to be on the other side of the bad officiating for a change.
w/ the way we’ve been playing of late, would this be considered the start of SH’s 3rd stage of the forming-storming-whatever phase? it seems that everyone is playing w/ good energy and better chemistry.
i don’t think duilio is that bad. when he wasn’t injured, he really settled the backline. this was his 1st game back, so i’m sure he’s just shaking off some rust. but, i definitely see confidence in the team. andre has been playing like a man possesed.
While not the best game, and not a fan of all of SH’s decisions, I gotta say I enjoy the teams play soooooo much more now than the past couple of years. I think if we didn’t have donkeys in the office and had a coach with the freedom to build a team with the owner’s support, we would have a great team. Davino blows in this league. It’s too physical and he’s too slow. He’s a good player and has a good understanding of the game, but he’s just too far past his prime. Bring the youth. I don’t care if we make the playoffs this year soo much as I am cautiously optimistic about the teams future.
Ps. The young Hunts are twats. Too bad for us.
it can’t totally be the Hunts though
because the own the Crew too, and
just look at them! SH is getting better
but davino shouldn’t have played,
neither shouldve sikora, we need
these guys back at %100 before they
start again
I’ll stick my neck out and predict if SH starts Guarda and Saragosa FC Dallas will lose.
Jordan, true. I should have specified “he who shall not be named but came from Cali” as the font office fool that combines with the Hunts to create the perfect storm of idiocy.