When it comes to erosion, water always wins. But the gods (or the German coach) that made FC Dallas' defense used soft stuff at the moment of creation, a stone riddled with holes. DC United poured against that substance today, going through it time and again. Often as they went through, two goals made for a light return, but that’s still the kind of game that makes a team feel powerful. As for Dallas, their failings – and there are many – build on a kind of circular thinking. That’s a curious thing, which requires that I talk about the visitors first. But only after naming, the…

(Anti-)Man of the Match: Dax McCarty
I like McCarty as a player, but he’s not the fit for Dallas’ central midfield. Too small to play the wrecking ball and, yesterday at least, coming up short on his passing technique and decisions, he played the biggest role in DC enjoying easy command of this match.

Big Take-Away on FC Dallas
The rumors are true: this is simply a bad team, one that does so many things poorly. Making matters worse, they play in a system and with defensive personnel that demands clean execution. Here’s where the circular logic comes in: playing Cooper alone up top requires support from the midfield to mount an effective attack; going the other way, the collective fragility in defense compels the midfield to hang back and plug the many, many holes that the opposition merrily fills into going forward. Stretched between these responsibilities, Dallas needs a bomb-ass midfield…which they don’t have. Any game Dallas’ midfield fails to command the middle is a game they’ll lose – not unlike today’s game.

Big Take-Away on DC (with the big caveat that this was Dallas)
That 3-5-2 looks pretty smart out there, given the personnel. Clyde Simms and Ben Olsen battling it out on top of a back three who look aggressive and coordinated provides a great platform for the attack. Jaime Moreno, my first-draft man of the match, made the system work brilliantly yesterday by involving DC’s wide players, whether spring chickens Rodney Wallace and Chris Pontius or Santino Quaranta when he switched out there – and call that another good thing DC did today. Just pulled Dallas all over hell, which was deadly for a defense that's too often looser than a ten-dollar hooker.

A Couple More on FC Dallas
-I mentioned they do things badly, but here’s a short list to clarify: atrocious marking, just holes all over the defensive third; issues with simple clearances; telegraphing passes going forward plus under-hitting them and/or taking too long to make them – this last bit didn’t go away until the final 10 minutes. All that feeds into the dubious system in which Schellas Hyndman plays his team, thereby reinforcing the circular issues.
- The moment Cooper lost it was a magical one – e.g. where he spilled Olsen to the ground. Still, he must be going out of his head out there.
- Andre Rocha plays a little lazy. He picked up a nice goal, but the passes weren’t crisp, the tackling wasn’t strong…etc. etc.
- As much as I rip on McCarty above, he’s a good player, but a hard one to place. A central battler he is not, at least not till he finds a way to make it work. But he tried harder than anyone on Dallas.
- Well, except Daniel Torres, who cleaned up crap until he limped off.
- One of the commentators said something about Douglas Ferreira needing to get in synch with the club; let’s hope so, ‘cause they need him, especially in the one forward system.

A Couple More on DC
- On top of getting the most out of the system, Moreno knocked in a lovely pair of goals. How lovely? Well, no one else on DC managed to put away the chances…notably, Luciano “Large Touch” Emilio.
- It’s the fight that’s making this team work. Add a guy like Quaranta chasing back, while Bryan Namoff charges forward and it’s a pretty dynamic outfit.
- But are the title contenders, as the FOX team suggested? That’s a big step from dynamic. I’m not yet sold, but the players coming off the bench combined with how the starters are playing keeps that plausible.
- That three-man back-line impressed me as much as anything…until the final 10 minutes, at least. Put it all together and this team seems worth watching.