3rd Degree

October 22nd, 2008 . By: Buzz Carrick

“I’m not saying he shoulda killed her… but I understand.” - Chris Rock

What a beautiful day for soccer, temps in the 70s, partly cloudy, no rain at all during the session.  With the team officially eliminated there’s not any intensity to training, but Hyndman seemed to want some.  He kept asking for the energy to be stepped up and there was some response, but not what we are used to seeing.  The coach is taking this last game quite seriously, and you better believe there will be evaluations based out of this game.

There is some kind of fan contest/foundation/hospitality thing today.  Three or four fans are sitting on chairs that say something about the Dominic Oduro family something…  To be honest I didn’t look much past seeing Oduro’s name on the seats. But nice to see Dom doing something for the community.

News, Notes, & Observations

- Adrian Serioux has his hand in a cast.  Injured it against Mexico they tell me.  He’s fine to play.

- At Hyndman’s urging, Saragosa went ahead and had the meniscus operation now and will thus miss any post season games as well as the LA final.  They were expecting the meniscus to be damaged enough to do a removal like Sikora, but once they started the operation discovered it wasn’t as bad as feared and thus opted for the longer recovery, but better for the player long term.

- Speaking of post season, Hyndman says they are working on two games.  One at home that he called a “nice one” for FCD.  If I had to guess… and this is pure guess… I might say… River Plate?  FCD is also working on a road game, but Schellas said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to “go halfway around the world for a friendly.”

- As a consequence the team will train for two weeks following the season ender in preparation for these two games.  This will be part of the evaluation for next year.

- There are two trialists already lined up to come in post season, one of them is a defender.  They are both from Norway (or are playing there?).

- This winter, after the college scouting, Schellas is going to both Argentina and Brazil, as well as to Ghana.  SH says he has two specific players in Ghana he has already identified and will be going to look at them specifically.

- Just in case you missed the RSL game, Pablo Ricchetti and Marcelo Saragosa are suspended for this one with their respective red cards.  Saragosa also having had above mentioned surgery.

- Also for this weekend, in specific reference to Cooper’s chase of the Golden Boot.  He will need to outscore Donovan by two goals to win the boot.  Cause if he gets just one they will tie on goals, and the tie-breaker is assists, a category in which Donovan is kicking Cooper’s tail.  One can’t help but wonder if this will be the last MLS game for both Cooper and Donovan.

- Emerson Hyndman worked in some drills again today, but did not participate in the full field scrimmage.  Every once in a while he does something that for a twelve year old is just nuts.  Like one timing a cross out of the air past the keeper.

- Schellas says because of Sikora’s injury he, Schellas, is still undecided about keeping the Dutchman for next season yet.  The next three weeks of training and the two, maybe three, games before the team breaks for the winter are going to be vital to Sikora’s continued FCD career.

Catching up with Schellas Hyndman

Again, don’t let it slip your mind that the coach speak translations are a bit.

Why was McCarty not on the travel squad for the RSL game?

You know, when it came down to a final decision where I thought we needed to win this game. I wanted more attacking players and it really came down to him or Jamie Watson. I felt that Jamie played well against Tigres, so it was really a coaching decision, trying to get more firepower in the attack. I think that Dom [Oduro] would be the only player up front if we had to have an injury of if we needed a third striker. So, I went with that idea.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  I’m not going to tell you the real reason.

You talked to the team before hand about not getting sent off in the big game, yet it happened.  There’s been a tendency the last few years for that to happen in big end of season games hasn’t there?

You know what’s interesting, we do a pre-game talk and so forth about 20 minutes or just a little bit before they come out to warm up and then we do a final talk when they’re coming off the field. The final talk was just something to put into their minds. It was just ‘Look, we all know how important this game is and it’s very important because they have two players on their team who are going to try and bait us-Dema [Kovalenko] and Clint [Mathis]. So, whenever you get into a situation with them, realize that they are trying to get you carded. So, the last word was that we’re going on the field with 11 players and let’s come off with 11 players because I really thought the pressure was going to be on all of our players.

Marcelo [Saragosa] had a wonderful goal and then comes up, I don’t know what I can say or can’t say, what pisses the league off or what doesn’t, but I really thought that first yellow wasn’t warranted. When you look at the whole procedure, it was nothing. It was a dead ball, Blake [Wagne] kicked it and all of a sudden, Dema and Marcelo are standing next to each other and he grabs him and slaps him in the face. I think the referee since we were up 1-0 said that both players get a yellow card and let’s calm this thing down. But who would expect six minutes later for Marcelo to get another yellow.

But it does go back to what you said earlier, Buzz. There has been a bad tradition here to shoot ourselves in the foot in recent years. Part of it is the pressure that we put ourselves under and then, part of it is the maturity and trying to get the players to calm down at the right time. I don’t think that was something where I can go to Marcelo and tell him he cost us the game. I think it was bigger than that.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  I’m not saying he shoulda got the red card… but I understand.

It seems clear the points dropped at home cost you the playoffs, what’s the cause of that?

Pressure at home, I don’t know if this team ever really got the support that other teams get at home. Not fulfilling our job at all, not getting it done at all. When I talk to the players because we always have to have a closure after the game, I said it should have never come down to this game, it should’ve been decided earlier. We should’ve been in the playoffs earlier. Why we put ourselves into this last game, it’s a must-win game and I think if we had taken care of some of our home games, we’d have been fine. Right at this point in time, we have 11 ties and if you take half of those into wins, then we’re in the playoffs. So, we’re a team that had to come back and tie or either people caught us.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  It’s Hitch’s fault.

Duilio Davino seemed to be at the center of the troubles in defense down the stretch, how would you evaluate him right now?

[pause]…I think Duilio was brought here for a purpose. I understand his purpose was to try and help a team that was having trouble on the defense to bring in a mature player whose very experienced at the international level and somebody who can also lead the team on the field by the captainship. I don’t know if he’s reached all those expectations. That’s a pretty demanding role to bring in one player and say, here are all the things we want you to do. But I think if this team is going to be a .700 percentile team, he’s got to be a player we can count on. He’s a player that can help this team shut opponents down.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  I didn’t sign him, but I have to figure out how to make him work, cause we’re stuck with him.

Where does Pitchkolan fit in the mix at this point?

I think he’s been a tremendous defender for us. If you saw the Tigres game, he scored two nice goals. Up until that point in time, he and Drew [Moor] had a really good combination as far as playing together. But it’s a similar player and I don’t know if we need a similar player. We need players that complement each other. Pitch has done a tremendous job and we’re trying to redo his contract because we think enough of him.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  We’re signing Pitch long term.

Thoughts on Cooper’s chase for the Golden Boot?

I think on a sidebar, I think it would be a great opportunity for Kenny to come through and get the Golden Boot. All I’ve ever talked about was the team first but on the sidebar, it would be tremendous for Kenny to get that because it would be great for him personally and great for FC Dallas to have a player to get such a great award.

Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator:  It’s nice, but we’re going out there to win, not to get Kenny the scoring title.

Training

Training started with some simple pass and move drills with poles, then was shifted to the large move the ball around field, cross, and shoot drill that Schellas runs very frequently.  After that was a possession game, then the full field scrimmage.  Last drill of the day was some 3 O vs 2D stuff that was high paced end to end on about a 40 yard field.

Lineup Prediction

Ricchetti and Saragosa out, so Serioux into midfield, Moor to right back, and Pitch back into the center of the back line.  Sikora stays in, as does Guarda, Cooper, Cunningham, Wagner, and Davino.  One interesting bit seems to be a curtain call for Bobby Rhine at right mid as he worked with the first team and Rocha with the second group.

Thought of the Day

I’m really looking forward to seeing Adrian Serioux play holding mid. Nothing against Ricchetti who has been terrific, but I’m interested to see how Serioux works in the diamond four.  He played that position quite a bit for Houston until they drafted Ricardo Clark and he proved strong enough for Houston to part with Serioux. 

I like Serioux’s mobility and aggression in midfield.  An ideal for me would be a modern 4-4-2 with Ricchetti and Serioux together and two high advanced wingers.  But that won’t happen.

Still for one game it will be fun to watch… just to see what some possible options might be for 09, if, for example, Ricchetti were to play center back.

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