Monday Morning Gaffer: Central Arkansas vs FC Dallas
August 18th, 2009 . 3:58 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
This is another one of the perhaps hastily arranged college scrimmages that pass for reserve games around these parts now that the reserve league is gone. It’s quit toasty out today as my car says 101 on the way up. I’m sure its not that hot officially, but the sun is beating down and it’s quite uncomfortable. The game is played on Pizza Hut Park Field #4, which is just north of the FCD training field. Central Arkansas 0, FC Dallas 4Lineups, Formations, and GoalsFC Dallas in the same 4-1-4-1, although given the personnel it looks a lot more like a diamond four than it should as Shriver and Shea both play higher and Guarda deeper than should be. Central Arkansas is in a very similar formation. The game was divided into three 30 minute periods, almost like a hockey game. FC Dallas
Central Arkansas
I forgot to write down the keeper’s number and I didn’t bother with the UCA subs. A quick scan of a few pics on the roster makes me think it’s fairly updated and the names are correct. Looking at their bios, I can tell you Greg Brooks played keeper in the middle 30 for UCA but wasn’t the starter. Goals 1-0 FCD (10′) - Guarda plays in from the right side to Marosevic. Peri chips the central D to a onrushing Shea (he’s held on by the left back, I know cause I was literally standing in a straight line with the linesman on the other side). Shea heads for the goal. Really class run by Shea. 2-0 FCD (15‘) – Wallace digs the ball out on the high wing and Avila picks it up. Avi beats three defenders in about 8 yards of space and dumps it back to Shea about ten yards in front of net. Shot is blocked by a defender but the rebound falls to Marosevic who scores. 3-0 FCD (35′) – Guarda saves a ball from going out deep in the UCA end and then earns a PK. Marosevic’s PK is saved (other than the stutter step the shot looked like Cunningham’s blown PK against Houston). Shriver collects the rebound near the end line left of goal and plays back across to Marosevic who scores. 4-0 FCD (75′) – Purdy plays a long floating ball from the righti side of D to the back post where Shea has ghosted in unmarked to one time just inside the post. FCD Guest Players- Dario Saintus, the older of the two Saintus brothers who played at SMU. He’s grown some dreads since his college days. - Freddy Garcia Jr is a frequent training player for FCD over the last five years. He’s the son of the Dallas Tornado great Freddy Garcia. - Daniel Dobson is a former Kansas City Wizards reserve player and Memphis Tiger. El Bueno (The Good)- Man of the Match is Brek Shea. He’s unbelievable in this one, far above the level of the play. The timing of the runs and the level of combination play is astounding. He was involved in all three of the FCD goals for which he was on the field. He also hit one from about 35 that went just over. Really impressive performance. - Eric Avila was also outstanding, as one would expect against this level of play. He could beat just about everyone on the field at will. - What can you say about Marosevic. The guy was invisible for most of the game. But he was also always in the right spot and while he’s not a pure finisher he sure as heck is a goal poacher. It’s not pretty, but he sure does score a lot. - Nice possession play by Guarda today, he dominates in this like he did in College. I still think he will be quite good eventaully. - I actually really liked the UCA right back, #20 Kaleb Ferrer (hey go figure on the name). The guy has some serious quicks. He usually could handle Avila’s moves, but the few times he didn’t he had the speed to recover with a yard or two. He had no fault on any FCD goal. He reminded me of Frankie Hejduk, relentless work and serious pace, and yes small. I will check up on him again, see where he ends up. I know I have his name right cause I heard the players calling him Kaleb. - The other interesting player for UCA was #2 Joseph Cervantes. He’s got some serious pace as well and tries to get some things going over the top. Manages a shot or two. Not sure he’s a striker long run, but you can’t teach that kind of speed and he does have a little bit of skill. Might make a interesting conversion project to outside MF or back. El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)- Daniel Hernandez was at one time a very good player. He’s still solid and dominates the midfield in this game. But he’s not in shape and he’s not MLS level anymore. - Bummer for Brian Shriver, here’s his chance to show something and five minutes in he gets whacked in the head and has to leave with a bleeding scalp. I’m told he’ll need stitches. Shea comes on at 9′. Shriver comes back with a big piece of tape wrapped around his head (you can see it in Maggie’s pics), but it can’t be easy to play after that knock. Shows some smarts and work rate, two things I think give him potential, on the PK he saves for Marosevic. No Tan Bueno (Not So Good)- The only really bad thing I have to say about this game is the level of play. I respect the need for scrimmages, but UCA has trouble even getting the ball past midfield. Dallas stopped really trying at about the 20 minute mark. - It’s possible Josh Lambo played some today and I missed it. Frankly the ball got to the FCD end so rarely that I chose to stand at the opposite end. Lambo could have played the last 30 without me noticing. 2 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nice write up — thanks!! Lambo came on in the middle of the second period and maybe touched the ball (due to pass backs) a coupe of times while I was there. I doubt he got many more touches in the last 30min. I agree about the level of play. The UCA guys seemed to be getting frustrated, and i was worrying about more FCD players getting hurt (I had missed Shriver’s knock). They did a lot of (attempted) slide tackles but really could not keep any sort of possession. At all.
But it was nice to see Avi and the others playing.
Anthony Delarosa is from Naaman Forest and Texans. Should get some playing time ar a weak program.