Match Report: SC Herediano vs FC Dallas Reserves
June 11th, 2009 . 12:17 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
An odd match at an odd time in odd weather, it’s not a wonder such an odd game took place. This game was was set up as a reserve game for FCD from the get go. Why FCD decided to charge a gate and make it an official friendly I don’t know. Perhaps they have to or were asked to? To be far I recall other games against teams from other countries being done this way during the season, Atlas springs to mind, but given the crazy game the gate ended up hurting the usefulness of the event. First off, the great storm of 09 wrecked havoc with Frisco and delayed the start an hour. FCD evacuated all couple hundred people out of the stands and down into the tunnel on the stage. FCD suggested to the media to all go downstairs as well. I road it out in the press box because I wanted to watch it all unfold. I do love a great storm and this one was amazing. Someone said 80 mile an hour winds and I believe it. It was one of the most amazing scenes I have seen in my life and I won’t soon forget it. PHP held up well, but the water and wind were amazing to watch. A steady drizzle continues all game.
FCD in their red stripes, but with white socks instead of red, which I was kinda digging actually. I guess Herediano only had red socks to go with their yellow tops and black shorts. Dallas stays in the 4-5-1, putting forth more strongly than ever Hyndman is committed to this shape. Herediano tries to go 4-4-2, but we’ll get into that more in a bit. Here are the teams. LineupsFC Dallas
Herediano
Yes, they subbed two subs. Again I’ll come back to that. GoalsFCD 1, SCH 0 (12′) - McCarty takes a short corner to Ferreira who plays back to McCarty just outside the box. McCarty swings one in toward the back side of the goal box and Rocha heads for a goal. Very pretty play all the way around by FCD. FCD 2, SCH 0 (60′) – Wagner crosses into the box slightly behind Marosevic, who still manages to get to it and head it down back to Fichera outside the box. Fichera fires front post and the ball squirts under the keeper, who probably should have done better with it. Although given the rain perhaps that’s harsh. The CrazinessFirst let’s talk about the craziness. It all starts to go wrong in the 18th minute, when the referee gives out his first card for dissent. The ref by the way is Carlos Salas. I know nothing about him except a quick google check says he’s a national ref. He seems to go to the yellow card quick for dissent, and also seems to lose track of who he carded cause he has to check with the 4th official three times if I recall correctly. Anyway in minute 18 he gives Herron and Ferreira yellow cards for jawing at each other after a foul. Seemingly innocent at the time, it becomes important in minute 25 when Eduardo Gomez get a very legitimate straight red for a really bad tackle on Brek Shea down in the corner. Shea had been torching guys down that side, and near the flag Gomez comes in two footed cleats first. That’s a no brainer red card. The problem comes in the aftermath when Andy Herron is jawing at the referee who whips out a yellow card for dissent. After the 4th official reminds him he already carded Herron so that’s a second yellow and off goes Herediano’s best player today. The unfortunate part is that Herediano is now down to 9 players and this game has essentially become useless from an FC Dallas perspective. Credit to the Herediano coach who keeps his composure and works hard to keep his team putting in effort the rest of the game. He even subbed some subs to try and keep his overworked front three fresh to pressure FCD. Hyndman even mentioned it post game.
Unfortunately it didn’t get much better. Luis Vallejos gets two yellows in two minute just before the half. The first for a hard foul on Blake Wagner, totally deserved. The trouble comes when Wagner retaliates two minutes later to get a yellow card of his own, which was also totally deserved. Not shockingly the Herediano players go nuts, pushing and shoving Wagner and yelling at the ref. Among them is Vallejos who gets his second yellow, this one for dissent, and is gone. At this same someone for Herediano, a trainer or coach perhaps, is also told to leave. So if you’re counting that’s for red cards if you include the coach, by halftime. It makes this game even more farcical in the second hald as Herediano plays with 8 men. Their formation is a 4-3. Buddy Ryan would be proud. Later in the game, at the 83′, there is a horrible tackle that deserves a straight red, but gets a yellow. #24 Fabaian Rojas takes out Marosevic with a brutal tackle from behind, but a red card here would have ended the game as Herediano would have been down to seven payers. You can’t continue to play with less than eight. Perhaps not shockingly the red stayed in the pocket. Perhaps if the yellow had stayed in the pocket a little more earlier in the game… Thoughts and Observations- Blake Wagner was playing very aggressively even before Herediano was short men. He was almost reckless trying to get forward. I’m not sure that’s what will get him back on the field ahead of Wallace who is playing very well. - I raised my eyebrows when I saw that McCarty and Ferreira were starting. After the game Hyndman said with Sancehz out Rocha will be starting in the middle with the other two, just as he did in this game. The point was to get them some time together. Ok, good. I like that.
- Speaking of Sanchez, he’s in a walking boot today. Hyndman thinks 4 to 6 weeks. - Davis I thought was quite good today, really composed and calm. Particularly when it was mostly guest players, Davies held it together in the back four, although frankly there wasn’t much to do against eight players. For the first 35 he looked great.
- Marosevic should have scored about four times. He had two headers right at the keeper, twice missed from inside 10 yards by shooting wide, and one missed from 2 yards when the ball went under his foot. You could tell he was frustrated as hell. He’s got to start scoring goals in reserve games if he ever wants to get some real PT.
- Guest Players: From Austin Aztex were #23 Willy Guadarrama (who’s brother plays in Mexico), #24 Jose Esparza (had some nice moves but didn’t do much with them), #28 Michael Hicks (a defender who filled in at right back), and #29 Milton Blacno (who didn’t get a ton of PT but got a yellow card). From DFW Tornados were #31 Alex Fichera (a Dallas Sueno finalist and the best guest player as a holding mid) and #35 Adriel Adibi (who played center back but was running everywhere). - Brek Shea was dangerous on the left flank and was tearing Herediano apart until he subbed out at halftime. - Eric Avila was the best player on the field in the second half, constantly creating, breaking down the defense, and getting balls into the box. None of which were finished. - Poor Dello-Russo had to play right back, center back, and then left back. Although that versatility is probably why he’s still on the roster. - It was a shame Herediano couldn’t just put on two more players to even it up. Hydnman said with a paid gate and international friendly rules between two teams that’s not possible. Apparently when you charge a gate, it’s no longer just a scrimmage. Which I suppose is true cause that can cost a players his eligibility in college (see Smith, Alex). I know FCD took that into account when inviting guest players today.
22 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I think the gate/charge was based on a quick tally of the books and a desperate play to make the four bonus games appear.
US Open? Nope.
Playoffs? Not freaking likely?
Tigres? Tigger who?
“Yeah, um, Hitch, we CHARGED for four bonus games. We’ve collected MONEY on four bonus games. Find someone to PLAY four bonus games. Even if they suck. The hardcore will show up anyway, and we’ll get to write off the tickets. XOXO, Big Wags”
Actually, it’s FIVE bonus games. But I’m hoping for at least River Plate (although, I’m sure that will be the one week we are out of town).
Yeah, I think they are trying to figure out how to give us our bonus games. The complimentary food and drink was nice — before the storm warnings. Too bad the weather interfered, because now we can’t really judge how successful (or not) it would have been otherwise.
The cheesy brats were excellent, right up until the time we headed underground. My wife thought we were all going to die. The game itself was absolutely batty. Met a lot of nice people, though.
I’ve made this point before, that I don’t think a player ejection should be allowed to ruin a game. I think if you have subs available then you shouldn’t have to go short handed.
I hate the concept of a ref pulling out a card or not, depending on whether the player already has a yellow. I say the more yellows the better, and the players will adapt.
Brutal plays/players can be handled by leagues or federations.
On a separate note: Sanchez out 4-6 weeks on a non-call. Great work by that crew.
“My wife thought we were all going to die.”
Hehe. This is definitely NOT me. Hubby was taking a nap while waiting to leave. I was studying the radar and looking at all the pretty red squares along the front and thinking, “Hmmmm, it MIGHT miss Plano (where our 15 stayed).” I figured there wouldn’t be a big crowd, and there would surely be cover . . . so we came. Oh, and I made sure we had some sort of camera, just in cas there were cool photos . . .
“15-yr-old,” that is — the only one who doesn’t care for soccer.
I disagree with you on the red card for the tackle on Shea. It was NOT studs up and was really just a yellow card foul. The uncalled foul on Sanchez in the previous game was a far worse foul.
The referee last night should go back to rec games..
Ed, did you see the video feed on fcd site? I saw it in person and three times in replay and the guy leads with his cleats.
Yeah Ed, it really was a red card foul.
The tackle on Brek Shea was a classic cleats-up attack, aimed directly at the player and not the ball. No referee in his right mind would do anything but flash red.
saban, what are you trying to say? i dont get it. the referee should be able to show all the yellow cards he wants too, but they dont mean anything cuz nobody will even get ejected from the game? then the players understand that getting a yellow card doesnt mean jack shit so they can liberally foul as recklessly as they want with no penalty.
methinks its fair the way it is. Basketball is 2 Techs and you’re ejected. Football is 2 Unsportsmanlikes and your done. sure those sports get to replace the player on the field, but thats what makes soccer so special, IMO.
where can we find video of last night’s game?
Twotone – I think saban was trying to say that the player should still get suspended but the team could replace them. I think his logic was a lot of refs don’t give the second yellow because of the team going down a player and if that didn’t occur more yellows would be given. Who knows, could be worth a study. Might result in Saragosa type players constantly tossed and eventually they miss so many games they are dropped from teams.
I saw the video and I was sitting in the front row of the corner where it happened less than 10 yards away Clearly NOT a red card, cleats up foul.
Tater digs the white socks. Now if FCD would wear a Hoops/ white short/white sock combo.
The first red card was not only deserved- it was textbook foul play. How on God’s green earth anyone could think otherwise is beyond comprehension.
I didn’t particularily like non FCD players- I miss the reserve team quality. Those reserve league games on Sunday mornings were brutal and fun.
Here you go Ed. Three images of the tackle.
1 is the live shot.
http://www.3rddegree.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/live.jpg
2 is the first replay.
http://www.3rddegree.net/wp-co...nt/uploads/2009/06/replay1.jpg
3 is the second replay.
http://www.3rddegree.net/wp-co...nt/uploads/2009/06/replay2.jpg
please show how me that is anything but a leading right footed cleats first tackle. The defender lunges from 3 yards out, leads with the cleats of the right foot with his left leg under his body. You can clearly see his cleats going into the Shea’s feet on the ball.
buzz, are those still shots or videos?
those are stills of the video that is archived on the fcd website.
Hey Buzz, I got to agree with Ed here. I saw the replay video and it appears his toe is pointing out and cleats are pointing down to the ground. Regardless photos you linked don’t show anything but blurr
Pegasus intepreted my comments correctly.
I think cards should be pulled and players ejectd more frequently (until players adapt).
But I hate seeing a game where a team is playing a man down.
It doesn’t matter if the toes are pointing toward the player, if you leave your feet (which he does) and the leading part of your body is the bottom of your foot (which it is)… as opposed to say sweeping through with the leg/shin (i.e. a slide tackle), then it’s a red card.
It can even be a red card if you miss the player, just on intent alone.
To Jonesing: The best view is the third one. This was a vicious tackle aimed directly for the leg. Totally flagrant. The moment it happened I was seriously worried that Brek would come off on a stretcher.
Pegasus and Saban: I agree with your concerns. If I were the God of all things FIFA, a red card would mean that player was booked and suspended per current rules, and the team was down a player for 20 minutes, not the entire game. Similar to hockey but for a longer time period. Of course, it’ll never happen, so red cards will continue to completely change the fabric of every game in which they are issued. This is also the reason for the famous international “make-up” red cards that happen so often.
Red Cards and PKs toss in a tremendous amount of chance into the game and turn the referee into way too much of a factor in the outcome of the contest compared to most other team sports.
But that’s football for you! : )
Red Card – A player must be shown a Red Card and “sent off” (i.e., made to leave the field) for the 7 offenses listed below.
1. Serious foul play (includes any use of excessive force or brutality against an opponent when challenging for the ball. Examples include a dangerous slide tackle from behind, or an “over the top tackle” in which a player raises his foot so the cleats could hit a player, or a two footed tackle that takes down the opponent. FIFA has broadened this definition by saying that “Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.
For current rules visit http://www.fifa.com, Laws of the Game. The above quote is from Questions and Answers, Additional Instructions for Referees). The rules now include “Decision 4″, which says: “A tackle, which endangers the safety of an opponent, must be sanctioned as serious foul play”.