Zip It: FC Dallas at KC Wizards
September 20th, 2009 . 1:06 am . By: Jay BrownleeIn American football, teams often look to try to win the game on at least two of the “three” sides of the ball, offense, defense and special teams. Soccer, of course, is a much more free-flowing sport, but winning offense and defense is sometimes not enough to win a match. If soccer has a pointy-ball equivalent, it is the set-piece that comes closest to special teams. Poor play on set-pieces can and do cost teams matches. Unfortunately for FC Dallas, poor set-piece play cost the club two goals and the match Saturday night on the postage-stamp sized pitch of Community America ballpark outside of Kansas City. The Wizards, bolstered by two wide-open chances converted into easy scores helped the home team overcome FC Dallas 3-2. FC Dallas, perhaps experiencing a hangover from last week’s scintillating performance against the Los Angeles Galaxy, came out flat for about the first half-hour of the match. Kansas City quickly took advantage when Santiago Hirsig was left alone at the far post on a corner from Claudio Lopez in the 9th minute of play. Hirsig easily snapped the ball past Dario Sala for the early 1-0 lead. Dallas fought back, howevwer, as the club began to take control on the match through possession. Several near-misses on close-in chances kept Dallas trailing until the 44th minute when Jimmy Conrad’s first terrible gaffe of the night cost the Wizards the lead. Conrad, deep in his defensive end, sent a pass into the middle of the pitch and right to the feet of a streaking Dax McCarty. McCarty took the ball up-field and sent a low, hard ball out of the reach of Wizard ‘keeper Kevin Hartman and into the back of the net, tying the match before the break. FC Dallas looked to have renewed confidence as they played into the second half, controlling possession and looking for the go-ahead goal. Dallas would get their second well-deserved goal quickly, again coming courtesy of a Jimmy Conrad mistake in the 54th minute. Conrad, pressured high by the relentless David Ferreira, gave the ball over to Ferreira, who took the ball in free to the left of goal. Hartman came out to meet Ferreira, who made a simple squared pass to Jeff Cunningham, who easily tapped the ball into the back of the net for the 2-1 Dallas lead. Dallas dominance from the run of play looked to have the visitors in position for the win, but the inevitable mistakes that have cost this team all season again reared their ugly heads. Josh Wolff, who got the deflection tap-in, was the beneficiary of Zoltan Hercegfalvi (yes, I spelled that right) being left alone near the top of the box on another Wizard corner. Zoltan (who prefers to go only by his first name, most likely because his last name contains each and every letter of the alphabet) took the ball on the volley, launched it towards the goal for the simple netter from Wolff, notching the match at two apiece. Suddenly, Dallas had found a way to blow another lead. The match would be next. Lax defensive effort in the back line allowed Conrad to atone for his sins as he headed in the game-winner just 10 minutes from full-time. While not as quite as horrible as the melt-down experienced in Salt Lake earlier this season, or maybe even as disheartening as the blown lead in Denver, this match was still more evidence of a team that simply does not know how to win. Last week, I (rightly) called out the team for their over-exuberance in the win in Los Angeles. Their reaction to the win was not one you would expect from a team that expects to win. Worse, it was the reaction of a team who found themselves winning and decided to celebrate, a little too much for my tastes. Winning is a culture; I don’t care what sport it is. Teams that expect to win don’t allow the types of comebacks this club has given up all season long. Winning teams also do not dance around and rub it in the faces of opposing teams when they are on top. As much as I realize some of the less intelligent- and decent- fans might enjoy that sort of thing, there is a fact no one can deny- winning teams “look” like they’ve been there before. And winning teams take care of business. When teams with a culture of winning get ahead, they go for the jugular; the instinct to kill off the match is strong. They do not, as a rule, allow a down team to come back. Defenses stiffen, effort increases. Notice that none of these traits apply to our beloved former-hoops. The average armchair gaffer will quickly find their villain, Head Coach Schellas Hyndman providing an easy target for the blood-thirsty masses. And, yes, Hyndman is partially to blame. But who would have thought that the exact same line-up that was so good a week ago could be so bad only a week later? And the fact is, they weren’t- mostly. But they gave up just enough, provided the opposition with just exactly the right number of chances to blow the match in the end. Who is responsible for this team’s heart? 18 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
well normally you would say the coach is responsible for the heart of this team. But he has taken all the heart out of the team and replaced it with people that are “his” players. Sending Drew Moor away was just plain stupid. Ok so hes not the best defender in the league but I would put him in the top 10. He was well liked in the community. He was well liked by the fans. Would the bus driver have sent Bobby Rhine away? Or was he just smart enough to get out while the getting was good. Lets not even talk about KC. There were two rallying points for the fans. They are gone. Now we have a team of strangers that dont know each other and it shows.
I have said it before on other boards good coaches dont change players wholesale. Good coaches take the players they have and make the team better. They add a little here take a little there. How many starters are left from when Schellas started? 2 maybe 3? He needs to take lessons from our neighbors to the south. Houston built a team and just adds a little flavor when they are missing something. Im glad Schellas is playing a system. But he should have made the system fit the team not the team fit a system.
Corner kicks are the new penalty kicks.
Buddle scored on one last week too, so that was three straight goals conceded on corners.
Interesting analysis – I thought the team played really well, and for a majority of the game dominated play.
Dax was the best player on the field tonight. He has consistently played very well to the point that I think he deserves a look in January at the US Men’s National team camp.
Giving up three goals on corner kicks over the last two games reveals something else to me than a lack of “winning culture.” (What does that mean anyway? Has a team with a losing record ever had a culture of winning? Or is it just a circular argument – you have a winning culture when you win and lack one when you lose?)
The lack of team cohesion due to the plethora of new players is the cause of giving up several goals on a corner kick. Tonight’s back line had two players relatively new to the team – and on the second goal, FCD had two other players who have been added to the team in the last two weeks. These players have not learned (or been taught) how to communicate with each other causing blown assignments which lead to corner kick goals.
I am starting to get excited about next year – hoping that FCD resigns Dax so that we can start next season with the same midfield we had tonight.
Chavez out and Hernandez in didn’t foul up the chemistry but the team fell apart when Dave was pulled in favor of a rusty(and not familiar with team) Pearce. I put the loss directly on Schellas’ head. I thought he’d wreck the bus.
Neither Sala (or Burse) or our Backline including D-Mid have any quality of dominating the air.
We miss Clarence Goodsen; we need to prioritize getting a player like him. And we need to address the overall abiltiy of our defense to dominate the air. I think that can be coached up to some degree.
On our own Corner-kicks, I’d rather have Dax take them than Dave V., Dave should be better at knocking one in.
Steve Purdy was supposed to be our Clarence Goodsen.
While we lack in the height dept we do have a few tall guys – John, VDB and Harris who are capable of standing in the box at a Corner kick.. Infact Harris was beaten on a headed goal against us the other week..
These goals were given up because of lack of organization, not height. Jimmy Conrad isn’t 6ft 4 and neither is Hirsig.
While we played well at times, we weren’t nearly as sharp in our passing out of the back. For me this was a very frustrating game to watch.
Perfect analysis Buzz,
This team has blown so many leads, it is simply unthinkable. As to the question about “winning culture.” Yes, teams with a winning culture do lose sometimes, especially in football where chance plays the role of cruel mistress, but over the course of a season, teams with a winning culture finish very strong. For example, consider Columbus. They may or may not win the MLS Cup. They may or may not win the supporter’s sheild. But one thing they won’t do is cough up the lead after the 75th minute game after game after game like FCD does.
Columbus has a winning culture. Houston does too (although they may be slipping just a bit). DC United has a winning culture, even when their results are not stellar, and you are seeing the same thing being built in Seattle.
Why George John thinks its a good idea to head that cross on the final goal back towards goal is a mystery to me . . And just plain f’ing stupid
7th row, I agree; once vdB came out, the team was unable to maintain any kind of posession or composure. I do, however, think Pearce will be a contributor next year.
It’s been a few games. In those games, Ugo looks to me to be less than half the player Moor is. Giving benefit of the doubt to Ugo, defense may be about the same. But Ugo’s distribution out of the back is atrocious. And I’m shocked about how poor his service form the wings is. I do not recall a single cross in the offensive third that even resembled something dangerous.
What a pompous ass. You “rightly” called the team out last week, while anyone who doesn’t agree with you is “less intelligent – and decent”? Not going to take the bait any further, just confirmed that there’s no more reading anything on this site that doesn’t have Buzz’s name on it, that’s for sure.
March is only 6 months away. The club has improved in the past few month and there is a glimmer of hope for next year. I assume the club could not start putting the pieces together until Cooper’s transfer and the infussion of cash. Next year is critical for the organization. I’ll give HSG one more year until I official
ly boycott PHP forever. HSG has built a championship team in Coloumbus.
Marco4,
So you’re saying you disagree with the article?:)
“The club has improved in the past few month and there is a glimmer of hope for next year.”
But they have my money THIS YEAR!!
I’m with you Scott, but I don’t think there’s much we can do about that fact now…
I was bummed. LA gave me hope and that is dashed. I am tired of waiting till next year. Colin Clarke was fired for losing 1 playoff game. Give me a break…we have not been in it since.
All 3 goals were the result of lack of effort. Sala should have grabbed the cross from the corner on goal 1, everyone (anyone) needed to find their mark on goal 2, and Ugo jogged after Lopez and made no attempt to block the cross on goal 3 (while it was a bad move, at least GJohn made an attempt to make a play). Look, I don’t mind losing when you get beat by a better team after putting in a solid effort. I cannot stand to get beaten when players are giving a half-arse effort. It makes me feel sorry for those players that do care enough to fight for a win.
I think the players are to blame for the latest loss!
- You teach kids to stick to their man like glue when it comes to defending corners not professional adults; it should be a given that one doesn’t follow the ball like an air head!
- If you are a professional player then it is a given that at least 90% of the time you strike the ball at goal you hit the bloody target!!! We were way below this!
IT IS SO SIMPLE: You defend; you mark your man! You shoot; you hit the bloody target!
And if you can’t, then get the hell out of there and let someone else do the JOB!