3-0 to the good guys. It was pretty obvious which team hadn't played in a week and which one had played in Honduras in the middle of the week.
From the PBP thread: No, not really. Until Dax came on and injected some life into the midfield I don't think Guarda had a single touch in the second half. Talking of Dax, I think seeing my jersey at the autograph session must have given him a boost, because he played a hell of a lot better than he did at the practice session . You know, in terms of overall and attacking posession, they kinda were, at least between the half and maybe the 75th minute. Their final balls were worse than pathetic though, and it didn't seem like any one of the players wanted to just take a shot. I don't recall Davino doing much after coming on, mostly because he never had to. Cunningham's goal was some nice work by Saragosa. Kind of reminded me of the service he gave Ruiz in the Columbus game last year, only he didn't get himself sent off a minute later. And how stupid a move was Moreno's elbow, a mere foot away from the ref? Although watching him as he came off, I got the impression that he just didn't want to be involved in that game any more.
Well, it still struck me as a bit of a dumb comment. When a team is down 2-0 and they've been completely hopeless in the final third, it's kind of ridiculous to use the word "dominate."
True, it was definitely a bad choice of words, just saying that, while stupid, it wasn't quite as stupid as everything else that comes out of Houston is all.
I thought Guarda actually looked decent in the first half -- I saw some nice passing and some of that "instant defense" (at least once). But in the second half all he did was jog around the middle of the field, it seemed, except for maybe one play when he had to run to chase a pass. Was Serioux hurt, since Dax came on for him? Overall, I thought FCD looked really solid in the first half -- and then had me worried in the second half because all of their passing and posseion seemed to disappear (until Dax came in, at any rate). Fun, trivial things: Quaranta was PO'ed when he came out and was griping at the coach and muttering under his breath on the bench. Loved hearing the east side fans yelling at the crazy DCU 'keeper, who needed to just chill out.
I wonder if Guarda is part of the reason Rocha is playing closer in -- I saw Rocha going after balls that Guarda should of had - but Guarda was no where in sight. Although sometimes its hard to tell, since Guarda, Saragosa and Wagner all have similar builds, hair and coloration. I did see a couple of nice moments out of Guarda in the first half, but then he disappeared.
late to the game...again. Walking in right when the first goal was scored, so didn't get to see that and the first 12 mins. Glad to see Cooper get back on the board tho, he looked really excited about that. if there are any video's of the goals scored, especially the first one; post up please.
Why are football lines on Pizza Hut Park? I say this as a Sounders FC fan who is concerned about the almost inevitable presence of lines at some game at Qwest field. I thought that if you had a SSS, you could make sure that doesn't happen. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that. If I were an FC Dallas fan I would be furious!
The local high schools use it for a football stadium. I'm not sure how often they do, but I must say the pitch looked exceptional. I almost mistook it for turf a few times.
Frankly, I'm getting a bit more annoyed that people keep asking this dumb question three years after the stadium opened and after other people have asked this same dumb question about 1000 times and had it answered 1000 times. In other words, I feel more outrage towards nincompoops who keep wasting our time with this same old question than I do about some faint lines on the damn grass. If I hate the football lines, it's because after three years, idiots keep rolling into this forum with their contrived outrage about some extra chalk on the field and bugging us about it. Fortunately for you, Rex Kramer is a more helpful moderator than I am, because I would've simply told that this question has already been answered 1000 times on BigSoccer and you go find the answer your own self.
Announced attendance is 12,138 . . . ??? Were there REALLY that many people there . . . or was that an empty seat count? It didn't look like that many BIS's, at any rate. A shame, because that was a fun game!
Don't think there were that many people there, but the turnout was pretty good. I turned and looked at the seats behind us (the ones in the shade) and there looked to be quite a crowd in the shady seats. Maybe someone from the east side can confirm this though.
Has Kenny Cooper ever scored a goal before? Wow, what an overreaction to a goal in the final seconds of a guaranteed victory over a team with 10 men. I'm not saying it's good or bad, just remarkable.
Might be his last in a Dallas uniform, maybe he's been struggling in practice (he's certainly hit a mini-drought in games), who knows? I'm glad to see some life left in this team. Also, great improvement on El Capitan turnaround time. Kudos!
The celebration was about more than just scoring a goal. Kenny has not scored in quite a while. Kenny is the leading goal-scorer on FCD. Kenny is second in goals scored in the entire league. When Kenny scores, FCD wins. The celebration was about a return to form, ending a streak of goal less games for Kenny, proving that the hard work in practice for the team is turning into results on the field for the team and the individual players.
Nice to see a cruical victory at home finally. Margin of victory overstates the performance quality though. Don't get me wrong there was some good playing but I do seem to recall Wagner getting smoked constantly as the right winger flew by into open space. Also Guarda make lots of turnovers as usual and was pretty much a non factor. Makes Thursday game worth going to at least. Is that the first time FCD scored in the PH 3 minute window btw? First I remember.
Random thoughts leave me with the overall feeling that SH coached a terrific game today. Although I questioned every one of the substitutions when they happened, they were intelligent and effective. I thought that when DC switched to a 3-5-2, we waited a little long to adjust. And, watching DCU's ping-pong interplay really undressed Drew Moore @ inside back. Davino, while not worth his salary and way past his prime, does read the game defensively MUCH better than Pitch and especially Moore. Putting Drew out wide and bringing Ricchetti and Davino centrally, immediately extinguished the life out of the DCU attack. Going 4-5-1 in the closing moments was also pretty smart. We still had an counter-attacking presence with KC the lone high, but fresh legs to support the breakouts. I also noticed something about Guarda. I also don't think he has shown anything but mediocre play, (yet). But, the one thing he does well, is to penetrate w/o the ball to counterbalance the teams penetrations with the ball. Since SH has implemented his system, we do have numbers up in the attack. Toja never did this. Not to say I am cheerleading having Guarda in the starting 11. I'm just trying to find what he does on the field to justify the time in the coach's mind. Another consecutive multiple goal butt whoopin' at the right time of the year. I like.
Pitch was starting quality MLS center back today. I'd say it's impossible to give a MOTM for this one as it was just such a team effort all around. Ricchetti won a lot of balls in midfield, the defense and goalkeeping was top notch quality and the forward play was decent. If I had to choose, it'd be a tie between Pitch, Rocha and Dario.