Game: CF Pachuca vs FC Dallas Date: Tuesday, April 4th Time: 9:00 PM [CST] Location: Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca, Mexico Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy; H 82, L 49 Competition: CONCACAF Champions League Last 5 For Opponent: L-L-W-W-W [all competitions] Live TV: Univision Deportes; Facebook Live Radio: ESPN Deportes [Spanish]
The boys have been in Mexico since Wednesday getting ready for this one. Should have as good a shot as any MLS team going into those conditions.
I was late to soccer support, and some of my earliest memories are watching Pachuca beat up on Houston in CCL play. My memories are pretty hazy, but I recall back then thinking how obvious it was that the Tuzos were much better than Houston and they'd be lucky to hang with Pachuca. It's early yet, but I don't get anything like the same feel. MLS has matured, and in particular I think this FCD team was built to compete with the Liga MX teams.
Still only need one goal, and we have plenty of firepower to get it. Need some energy in the midfield, though. Urruti looks gassed. Sub him out for a midfielder and push Tesho up top?
Ahhhhhh, damn it. Just not quite good enough tonight. The finishing woes are the sort of thing that tends to happen against talented teams, but the sluggishness in back is a bit disappointing.
Seitz had a nightmare, but that's gonna overshadow how Colman and Barrios fluffed chances that could've put FCD through.
The amount of easy tap ins and idiotic decision making is what cost us this game. Even after we finally scored and looked destined for overtime, Grana (inexplicably) dribbles into trouble instead of clearing it and loses the F'n ball. That lead to the cross turned goal that the whiny little bitch Chucky scored. Pachuca sure didn't do anything to quell the stereotypes of Liga MX. Pathetic attempts at deceiving the ref (who was actually half decent by CONCACAF standards) and constant pleas for cards against us. Hopefully more lessons about playing in big games were learned tonight by our boys and they'll be better for it. Little consolation though.
Really bad decisions in the final third, especially by Acosta. Even worse than usual by our guys. Almost Castillo-esque. I was sure their first goal was offside until UDN showed the replay that froze at the instant the ball left the crosser’s foot. Give Pachuca credit on their first two goals. On the first, the cross was perfectly placed and weighted, and the run was perfectly timed. Though one of our guys should have been closer to Chew-kie, he ripped a hell of a shot for their second. I was impressed that Gruezo got over top of his attempt that ended up on Colman’s head for our goal. I was sure Gruezo was going to blast it into the stands as he had with his other attempts. Maybe he’s learning. Their 3rd goal sucked, but I don’t think we could have kept them from scoring during extra time. We really looked gassed, especially Hedges and Zim. Not a bad showing by us, and I don’t think anyone came out of it injured. Onward to get the other 3 trophies.
Wasted chances. That game should have been put away in the first half. This game needed an excellent coaching peformance from Pareja and instead we saw a sub-standard coaching performance from Pareja. The team came out with a plan to weather the storm, to put little effort into maintaining possession, and to cede field position...all of this against a really fast and talented attacking team in the mountains who only needed one goal and then could rely on their top-rated defense to exhaust a tired team. That was a recipe for failure. Tactics get an F. Pareja's worst day as a coach for FC Dallas.
I'll admit the possession could have been much better and obviously (as I've mentioned before) we should have put the game away in the first half. Don't know how either of that is on Pareja. He didn't tell them to be sloppy and miss wide open chances.
Its hard to critique Pareja because hes everyones tío and is such an integral part of everything good about Dallas. However, this was not a good moment from him. Missed chances come from a lack of sharpness. Lack of sharpness comes from lack of focus. The team looked like their minds were in the next round, but their feet were still in Texas. The mental approach was lacking, but not as badly as the game plan. The game plan was naive and arrogant.