February 14th, 2009 . 11:09 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Jump? Tiggers don’t jump. They bounce. - Tigger

FCD has developed a relationship over the last couple years with three college programs that they seem to play every spring.  SMU of course, Tulsa up the road a bit, and the Memphis Tigers.  The Memphis coach is Irish and that was the connection to Clarke and Morrow that got the series started but I’m pleased to see that it’s survived the coaching change here in Dallas.

Bit cold for the game today with the team in the low 50s, give or take, when the game starts.  Not unbearable but still annoying.  The north wind doesn’t help.

Lineups, Formations, and Goals

Both teams in a 4-4-2, although Memphis plays a flat one and not a diamond.

FC Dallas

Memphis Tigers

Memphis had open subs all game so tracking all of them would be a mess and complicated.  I put some names in based on their roster but don’t assume they are right as they chould be a new season’s jersey numbers and not last fall’s for them. 

Other numbers that I wrote down as taking the field:  1 Michael Goodlett (each keeper played half the game), 7 Sean Goulding, 3 Eric Trujillo, 4 Thomas Hyland, 11 Robert Sausaman.  If their roster is correct, they have eight freshman starting today, which bodes well for their future.

Memphis had to overwork to keep up with FCD and the load of subs helped them stay aggressive, but you can see them tire late in each half and break down.

Goals

44′  1-0 FCD Cunningham - Van den Bergh cross to Cunningham for an easy header.  Avila had crashed the box and there was only one defender marking both Avila and Cunningham so the header is virtually unmarked.  Good placement on the header.

45′ 2-0 FCD Cunningham.  - Saragosa wins the ball in defense and passes to Avila.  Avila fakes over the ball then dribbles about 50 yards uncontested before playing to Cooper on a wide run into the corner.  Cooper crosses to an empty box but the clear is poor and right to Cunningham at the top of the 18 for an easy score from there.  Honestly though Cunningham should have gotten into the box on the original cross.

71′ 3-0 FCD Bucknor - McCarty steals in midfield, runs ten yards with the ball and leads Bucknor on the break.  Bucknor shows some speed and gets to the ball before hitting a strong finish from just outside the box.  Watson had made a parallel run and was open but the shot was nice, so no complaints about taking it.

75′ 3-1 Memphis #7 Sean Goulding - There is a ball into the middle from the right side, and #7 who is playing striker has checked back into midfield unmarked.  He hits a looping lob over Burse. 

81′ 4-1 FCD McCarty - VDB earns a throw in deep in the offensive end.  He throws the ball to Bucknor down near the touch line.  Bucknor drives the ball back across to the top of the box where McCarty is crashing.  Dax one times a pure class finish into the back corner.

84′ 5-1 FCD Watson - McCarty leads Watson near midfield.  Watson touches it once out in front to chase and then finishes back post when he catches up to it. Nice finish.

El Bueno (The Good)

Man of the Match: Dax McCarty.  There’s a new energy and decisiveness to McCarty’s game this year.  I’m sure the winter was tough for him, but he’s made the changes asked for and I think he’s now a much better player.  The difference is notable and impressive  McCarty was getting into great spots in the first half but wasn’t getting much love from the ball.  In the second half he was fantastic as a right mid, with terrific timing on this penetrating moves.  Really impressive today.

I thought he was very active. For me, he’s a completely different player than he was last year. He’s very active, skillful at penetrating and passing, and can work on both sides of the ball. When I put him out wide, he was coming into the middle at the right time and getting wide again at the right time. He’s a smart player, very technical and he’s a competitor. He might have had the best game for him out there. If I had to pick a Man of the Match, he would be one that I would consider very strongly. – Coach Schellas Hyndman

The Purdy and Moor combo is looking really good.  One of the reason I think Torres is now being considered as a left back is the good form from Purdy.  He’s really quick and tall, plus the reading is coming up to speed.  The delay in Torres getting here may have opened the window I didn’t expect that will let Purdy hold this spot and start the year here.

Blake Wagner was, of course, strong.  He continues to show great against inferior teams and not so well against MLS level teams.  Today he was up and down the field, getting forward and combining, plus playing great defense.  Wish we would see that against MLS players.

Daniel Torres while not fast is a really nice looking experienced player.  He knows how to play plus combines and supports well.  He’s not going to be a flying wide modern outside back, but that’s not necessarily what Hyndman is asking for.  He looks reliable and that might be the ticket.

I thought getting Danny Torres out of the left side, he showed a little calmness and stability.

Danny has only been with us for less than a week. We saw him last summer and liked him. We brought him in as a center back but at the same time, I wanted him to get some left back position play. I thought his distribution was very good and his decision making was very good. – Hyndman

After I complained about the combination play by Cunningham and Cooper last game, I must admit this one was better.  It’s clear they’ve been working on it since Cooper came back.  Step in the right direction.

I finally saw some things out of Bucknor that really caught my attention.  1. He finally showed some speed to stretch the field on his goal.  2. The pass back to McCarty was a terrific low hard ball, that was nice.  3.  He’s getting into the flow and finding the speed of the game. I actually see enough progression that I’m kinda excited about him.  I understood why before, now I buy it. 

To give you a Memphis note… Their player that most impressed me was #12, who their roster says is a freshman named Bradley Jacobs from Tennessee.  He’s a mobile and active forward that has good work rate and plays up on the balls of his feet.  That’s the kind of player I like up top, not static at all.  I want to see him in college play  #13 Freshman Elias Groft was solid in midfield.  I liked him some as well.  #31 Freshman Chris Porter looks to have some athletic upside at outside back but was clearly inexperienced. 

El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)

Saragosa was better than last game at right back.  He continues to progress.  But right now he’s marking too deeply off players and allowing them to get the ball and turn to face him.  That’s not good enough for MLS yet.  We’ll see how it goes down the line.

It’s a process in motion. He’s learning. The mistake in the back led to the goal where the ball went off his foot and went into the center. I thought the overlapping, the attacking play and the distribution was good plus he’s so hard to beat in the air. It’s a process of learning and we’re going to spend more time with him, but he could very well play for us in that position.

Eric Avila I was pleased to see still starting.  He was dangerous and played some defense coming back and winning balls.  Unfortunately his finishing wasn’t on the mark today.  If it had been he would have gotten two or three goals.  That’s why he’s down the middle of the road section.

No Tan Bueno (Not So Good)

I’ll be honest, FCD is far better than Memphis so there isn’t all that much negative stuff on display for FCD.

It’s all right. We scored some goals. I thought it was a little difficult in the first half. There was a lot of enthusiasm on their part. We did a lot of things well but we just didn’t execute. It seemed like everything we hit went to the ‘keeper. At the same time, what I’m looking for is the things we’ve been working on. I thought our defense was doing a good job. And then the two things we’ve been working on in the attack, penetration and flank play, I thought we got quite a few crosses from both sides. Again, the finishing wasn’t where we want it to be, but that’s why it’s preseason. – Hyndman

If I had to pick out something bad I would saw letting #7 get free for his goal wasn’t good.  Someone didn’t track him up into midfield… then again if you over pursue and they turn with a midfielder through the gap you get torn apart.  So it’s hard to really point the finger at someone when he was left a bit open with a 3-0 lead.  Coach Hyndman says the ball was deflected of Saragosa on the cross, but I blame the unmarked player more than the deflected ball.

Ok here’s another one.  No Rocha.  I would have liked to have seen him out there for a few minutes at least.  Rocha spent the second half running laps on the outside with Ferruzzi and Dello-Russo.

Categories: 120 Fahrenheit.

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