Zip It: FC Dallas vs West Texas United
July 8th, 2009 . 11:54 am . By: Jay BrownleeOn Tuesday night in Midland, FC Dallas eased past PDL-side West Texas United Sockers 2-0 before 3,751 at Grande Communications stadium on second half goals from Anthony Wallace and Andre Rocha. Left behind in Dallas were Pablo Ricchetti, Dario Sala, Ray Burse, Dave Van Den Berg, Jeff Cunningham and David Ferreira. Kenny Cooper and Peri Marosevic were still away on duty with the USMNT and US U20s respectivly. Dallas began the match in the now familiar 4-1-4-1 set-up with some necessary personnel changes, notably Brek Shea as the lone striker, the return of Daniel Torres at center back, and Bruno Guarda, who would play the entire match as holding midfielder. It should be noted that Dallas brought exactly zero forwards into this match. The Sockers countered by packing it in, rarely daring to go forward, and rarer still in numbers. The few chances the Sockers would have on the evening would be mostly speculative shots from player/coach Giber Becerra, who was clearly United’s best player on the field. United’s best chance of the first half came on a breakaway by Ben Everson, whose shot from 15 yards forced 18 year-old Josh Lambo into an athletic, diving save. Meanwhile, FC Dallas, often forced to the perimeters of the plastic pitch, missed a number of opportunities as they kept possession and heaped pressure on the home club, who were reduced to committing a number of ugly fouls on the team in stripes. The first half would remain scoreless, however. Unfortunately for FC Dallas, play would end with Michael Dello-Russo carted off to a local hospital for treatment after a collision to the head. Coach Schellas Hyndman brought on Dax McCarty at the beginning of the second half as attacking mid, as Rocha moved up to team with Shea as forwards in the more favored 4-4-2 diamond shape. Anthony Wallace moved to left wing, with Blake Wagner in at left back. McCarty responded in his move forward by providing the most exiting play of the night. McCarty received the ball at the top of the box, dribbled and spun past two Sockers defenders, and deftly heel-kicked out to a wide-open Wallace, who powered the ball beneath the goalkeeper for a 1-0 FC Dallas lead at the 57’ mark. Andre Rocha finished out the scoring three minutes from full-time on a header from an excellent cross off the foot of right winger, Eric Avila. West Texas United were reduced to only ten men after Rodolfo Collazo earned his second yellow of the night, and again rarely dared to move forward against the FC Dallas defense. But there was more to this match than just the game on the field. This was the first time an MLS side had made the trek to the Permian Basin. And happily, I would like to report that FC Dallas not only put on a good show in winning the match, but showed a tremendous amount of class in doing so. At half, Shea, McCarty and Drew Moor all had their game shirts auctioned off, each drawing over $300 to lucky fans. After the match, tables were set up at the north end of the stadium, and every single Dallas player signed autographs and had pictures taken for a full 30 minutes as excited fans lined up. A few lucky kids were seen waving several player’s boots, including Bruno Guarda’s, as he and others gave them away. How cool is that? Behind the players, General Manager Michael Hitchcock and Coach Hyndman stood, smiling and greeting anyone, including myself, who simply wanted to say hello.
That in the midst of a very tough season, FC Dallas took the gospel of MLS to far-flung West Texas earned the obvious good-will of the fans, including my own brother and his two sons, who had never been to a professional soccer match. For fans who wonder if FC Dallas cares about class and image, the scene following the match should help put minds to rest. Tuesday night was another reason to be proud of your team during a difficult season. Winning matches and hearts was a great thing to see. 8 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Dammit, I thought that was you, but I didn’t say anything because I figured you weren’t quite as crazy as we were to go all the way to Midland for this game. It wouldn’t have even occured to me that you have family there.
I have to say, for a team that’s in it’s inaugural season, in a city that would never have struck me as being soccer friendly, I was impressed with the setup the Sockers have and the crowd they drew (a local reporter told us that only 1 other team out of all the 68 PDL teams across the country averaged better this season). I really hope they can keep it up next season once the novelty has worn off, and I hope FCD maintain a relationship with them.
One thing that I particularly liked was the discount for fans wearing a jersey. I’m not sure if they were doing this just for the teams involved or if it included the one or two people in Chivas, Club America and Beckham jerseys too, but we in our FCD/Burn jerseys did get it. I’d like to see FCD figure out a way to use this in order to get more people in the crowd in red and white. Obviously with a much lower percentage of walk-up sales it’d be difficult to apply to the ticket price, but perhaps hand out a voucher towards concessions or merchandise to anyone entering the gates wearing an official/replica FCD jersey?
One note on your write-up that wasn’t clear – Wagner played the full 90 too, he and Wallace swapped positions on the left at half time. Wagner had some nice crosses when he was left mid but was often playing too high, almost like a second forward; Wallace was kind of lazy throughout the match but finished the goal nicely after Dax had done all the hard work. Honestly with George John seemingly back to full fitness, I’d drop both W’s and have Davies on the left.
Buzz, I’ll get some photos to you later today. First I have to catch up on the sleep that I missed on the long drive home.
The discount was for anyone wearing a team jersey, it didn’t have to be a Sockers or FCD jersey. The people next to us had two boys in jerseys who got the discount and neither was wearing a Sockers or FCD jersey.
Thanks for the write up!! I do love how classy the FCD players are. They are alway, always polite and nice with the fans.
It is I, Brother of Jay and soccer novice. We all enjoyed the game in Midland last night. My kids especially enjoyed the autograph session. By “kids,” I’m including Jay, of course!
As for soccer succeeding in West Texas, I think it stands a decent chance. The public has supported CHL hockey, AA Baseball, and Arena football for a long time, so maybe it can happen with soccer.
Also, we have a large Hispanic population out here who grew up playing “futbol.” It’s not unusual to see grown men playing soccer on the weekends in the parks. This segment was certainly represented well at last night’s game. Even the “Norteno” music blaring from the PA added Hispanic flavor to the proceedings. I enjoyed that.
Anyway, I hope to see a “fo’ reals” game in Frisco sometime, and perhaps we’ll see FCD back in Midland next year.
Next time your out there you got to eat to Rosas tortilla factory. The best place ever.
There are a few Rosa’s in the metroplex too. You don’t have to go all the way to the Petroplex.
Thanks for the comments and the compliments.
@Rex- I think you’re shirt idea is a good one. It seemed to work well in west Texas, where shirts are often optional, even in “fine-dining” joints.
@My brother- Resistance is futile. You shall be assimilated. Resistance is futile… and so on.
Thanks for the update.