Round two for FCD, Rapids on Saturday
FC Dallas travels to Colorado for second time in 2009
DICK'S SPORTING GOODS PARK, Commerce City, Colo.
July 11, 2009 (WEEK 17) / MLS Game #121
7:30 p.m. MT (Altitude; KFWD-52)
The Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas meet for the second time in less than three weeks, once again facing each other at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The teams played to a 1-1 draw on June 24 in Commerce City, a late Omar Cummings goal giving the Rapids a share of the points after David Ferreira scored for FCD. The teams are separated by just four points in the Western Conference as each has been in a good run of form in recent weeks.
REFEREE: Yader Reyes. SAR (bench): Chris Strickland; JAR (opposite): Paul Scott; 4th: Ben Chouaf MLS Career: 3 games; FC/gm: 24.0; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 0; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: COLORADO RAPIDS - NONE REPORTED ... FC DALLAS - OUT: FW Peri Marosevic (R hip); MF Marcelo Saragosa (R hip); MF Alvaro Sanchez (R ankle); PROBABLE: DF Steve Purdy (R knee), DF Daniel Torres (R hamstring)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: COL: Colin Clark (USA; CONCACAF Gold Cup); JAM: Omar Cummings (JAM; CONCACAF Gold Cup) ... DAL: Kenny Cooper (USA, CONCACAF Gold Cup)
SUSPENDED: COL: Cory Gibbs (yellow card accumulation; through July 11)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: COL: Conor Casey, Ugo Ihemelu
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: COL: Scott Palguta ... DAL: Pablo Ricchetti, Andre Rocha, Marcelo Saragosa
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (47 meetings): Rapids 16 wins (1 shootout), 58 goals ... FC Dallas 23 wins (2 shootout), 79 goals ... Ties 8
AT COLORADO (22 meetings): Rapids 11 wins (0 shootout), 35 goals ... FC Dallas 7 wins (0 shootout), 34 goals ... Ties 5
REMAINING MATCH: 10/17: Colorado Rapids at FC Dallas, 7:30 p.m. CT
• The teams are meeting for the second time in three weeks in Commerce City. They played to a 1-1 draw on June 24.
• The Rapids win in the first meeting a year ago snapped a six-game league losing streak against FC Dallas. It was FCD's first loss to Colorado since Sept. 4, 2004 - a span of 11 matches and three full seasons.
• However, the teams met twice in that timeframe in the MLS Cup Playoffs - and the Rapids advanced on both occasions, in each instance winning the second leg at Pizza Hut Park (on penalties in 2005, in extra time in 2006) to move onto the Western Conference Championship.
•The Rapids victory in the series finale last year at Pizza Hut Park was their first ever in league play in Frisco. After a draw in the first meeting between the clubs there, Colorado won the next three before a draw in the first meeting there last year. The win was the first for the Rapids on their last 14 league trips to the Big D, since a 1-0 victory at the Cotton Bowl on March 25, 2000. That includes the then-Burn winning both meetings at Dragon Stadium in 2003.
•Coaches record: Gary Smith v DAL: P1 W0 L0 D1 ... Schellas Hyndman vs. COL: P3 W0 L1 D2
LAST MEETING (MLS):
6/24: COL 1, DAL 1 (Cummings 84 - Ferreira 37)
• In the first meeting of the year at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the Rapids came back with a late goal as the teams played to a 1-1 draw.
• The Rapids dominated all of the early exchanges, but it was FCD that drew first blood in the 37th minute. Jeff Cunningham played the ball forward to Kenny Cooper, who flicked it wide to an unmarked David Ferreira. The Brazilian carried into the area before chipping the ball over the on-rushing Matt Pickens for his second MLS goal.
• Colorado drew even in the 84th minute. Mehdi Ballouchy played a short through ball in behind the Dallas defense and Omar Cummings latched onto it before slotting home inside the right post for his fourth goal in the past three games and the equalizer.
• Here's Smith's team (4-1-3-2): Matt Pickens - Ugo Ihemelu, Cory Gibbs, Scott Palguta, Jordan Harvey - Pablo Mastroeni - Nick LaBrocca (Jacob Peterson 62), Mehdi Ballouchy, Colin Clark - Omar Cummings, Pat Noonan (Terry Cooke 71). Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Greg Dalby, Kosuke Kimura, Ross Schunk, Rob Valentino
•Here's Hyndman's team (4-1-4-1): Ray Burse - Drew Moor, Kyle Davies, Pablo Ricchetti, Anthony Wallace - Dax McCarty - Jeff Cunningham (Brek Shea 46), Andre Rocha (Eric Avila 71), David Ferreira, Dave van den Bergh - Kenny Cooper. Substitutes Not Used: Michael Dello-Russo, Bruno Guarda, George John, Josh Lambo, Blake Wagner
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids lost for just the second time ever on July 4, falling 2-1 to the Chicago Fire on Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids have 21 points from 15 matches, now tied for fourth place in the Western Conference with the LA Galaxy, now 10 points behind MLS overall leaders Houston Dynamo.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids were again playing host to their annual Fourth of July extravaganza after seeing their club-record eight-game undefeated run come to an end the week before in Seattle. The Fire were returning to MLS action after three weeks off for SuperLiga play, having lost their last three MLS games and with five losses in their last seven games in all competitions.
• The Fire took a two-goal lead before the first half was out. In the 30th minute, a well-worked move led to the opener. A ball into the area was chested down by Brian McBride into the path of Baggio Husidic, and he cut a rolling pass to the top of the box for Marco Pappa. The Guatemalan international coolly converted with a left-footed strike inside the left post for his fifth goal on the season.
• Seven minutes later, the Fire won an contested corner kick, and the visitors took advantage. Cuauhutemoc Blanco put in the ball from the right and Colombian center back Wilman Conde rose up to powerfully head home his second marker of the year.
• The Rapids created a tense final quarter-hour, getting a goal back in the 76th minute. Conor Casey sent a snap header toward the lower right corner and Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch got down well to make a terrific save. But he couldn't hold the ball, and Jacob Peterson swept in to poke it home from almost on the line for his first goal of the campaign.
• But the home side couldn't find an equalizer, and went down to defeat for just the second time on July 4 (along with just one draw), their only previous Independence Day loss coming in 1999 to Columbus.
• Rapids head coach Gary Smith made three changes to the team that lost 3-0 to Seattle Sounders FC on June 28 at Qwest Field. Kosuke Kimura, Terry Cooke and Conor Casey came into the team, with Colin Clark and Omar Cummings on Gold Cup duty and Scott Palguta going to the substitutes' bench.
• Here's Smith's team (4-1-3-2): Matt Pickens - Kosuke Kimura (Ross Schunk 89), Ugo Ihemelu, Cory Gibbs, Jordan Harvey - Pablo Mastroeni - Terry Cooke, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nick LaBrocca (Greg Dalby 84) - Conor Casey, Pat Noonan (Jacob Peterson 46). Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Steward Ceus, Scott Palguta, Rob Valentino
• "The reality is this: Chicago has come here with a group of players that have defended well, they've made sure that they've limited us to very little, few sights of goal, probably our least efforts at goal in a long time," Smith said. "And at the other end of the field, two center backs who we've seen perform extremely well looked unsettled. ... Clearances weren't cleared, they went up in the air and second-phase ball was won by them far too often in the first period."
TEAM NEWS
• Smith said he warned his team about falling into a trap of reading the club's gaudy record on the Fourth of July.
• "I said before the game, when that metal ball is thrown around the roulette wheel, and there's been nine reds before that, that ball don't know that there's been nine reds," Smith said. "So it ain't going to land on a black. It just lands when the wheel stops. This is just another game, and the statistics mean nothing."
• While Conor Casey was back in the lineup after missing four games while away with the U.S. national team for the FIFA Confederations Cup, it was the first game without Omar Cummings and Colin Clark while both were on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty with Jamaica and the USA respectively.
• "We missed Colin and Omar badly, lack of pace beyond," Smith said. "We looked very one-dimensional in the first 45 minutes, and subsequently [Chicago] was able to really get kempt in our half and create opportunities at will."
• Casey had played just 61 minutes total in South Africa with the USA; the last time he started a match was in May when he was named MLS Player of the Month.
• "I didn't feel as sharp as I would have liked to have felt," Casey said. "But I tried to get through it. I didn't feel as well as I would have liked. And we didn't win the game." Said Smith: "Players that I would have expected to make an impact on the game were second best," Smith said. "Conor, coming back off international duty, was well below his form that he showed before he left. Maybe a lack of match practice, who knows. But that's what we've got to deal with. We've relied on him and Omar massively, and tonight he wasn't on that sort of form."
• Terry Cooke started and played 90 minutes on the right wing, and Nick LaBrocca slipped over to play wide on the left. Additionally, Kosuke Kimura returned to the starting back line in hopes of adding a more aggressive element on the right flank, with Ugo Ihemelu returning to the center back position beside Cory Gibbs, where he had played before the emergence of Scott Palguta, who spent the game on the bench after 10 consecutive starts in the center.
• "The practicality of it was that I just felt if we could get on top with the loss of Omar and Colin that we might be able to get Kosuke involved a bit more down those flanks and show some energy," Smith said. "As it was, it was the total reverse of that, and [Chicago] took the advantage in the first half."
• It was Colorado's first home loss of the season, and paired with a 3-0 loss in Seattle last Sunday, it made for the first consecutive losses of the season for the Rapids. "Our quality was sorely lacking. There was a lack of sparkle," Smith said. "Even our general possession was untidy, was ponderous, allowed [Chicago] to recover and regroup, and to concede again from a set piece is very disappointing."
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas won for the second time in three weeks, defeating the New York Red Bulls 2-1 on Saturday evening at Pizza Hut Park. FCD has 17 points from 16 matches, still in seventh place in the Western Conference, a full 14 points in arrears of division leaders Houston Dynamo.
LAST MATCH
• FC Dallas had a win and a draw in their last two games, playing host to a Red Bulls team that had lost seven of their last eight games and hadn't won on the road in league play in a record 22 games.
• With Kenny Cooper away on international duty, Jeff Cunningham was given the start up top -- and he struck for a pair of goals within a three-minute span. First, in the 15th minute, his pace allowed him to strip a defender of the ball and he cut into the area before slotting home a left-footed shot.
• Then in the 17th, Dave van den Bergh -- playing on the right flank in his first meeting against his former club -- swung in a cross that Cunningham slipped between defenders to get onto the end of, knocking a low volley into the goal. It was Cunningham's first two-goal game since Sept. 21, 2008 at Chicago and gave him 107 for his MLS career, one behind Jason Kreis for third on the all-time list.
• The Red Bulls were able to pull a goal back two minutes before the break. Jorge Rojas found an overlapping Danleigh Borman on the left and he played a quick ball into Juan Pablo Angel in the six-yard box, who was able to get his first-time shot past FCD 'keeper Ray Burse.
• FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw in Colorado on June 24. With Kenny Cooper away on Gold Cup duty, Brek Shea came in on the left of a rebuilt midfield.
• Here's Hyndman's team (4-1-4-1): Ray Burse - Drew Moor, Kyle Davies, Pablo Ricchetti, Anthony Wallace (Blake Wagner 46) - Dax McCarty - Dave van den Bergh, David Ferreira, Andre Rocha (Eric Avila 65), Brek Shea (George John 84) - Jeff Cunningham. Substitutes Not Used: Michael Dello-Russo, Bruno Guarda, Josh Lambo
TEAM NEWS
• After starting with six losses in their first seven games, FC Dallas have lost just once over their last eight, though they still sit well outside the playoff positions.
• "(Saturday's) game was the start of the second part of the season. This is what we have talked about all week in training. The first part did not go as well as we wanted it to but we at least ended it on a run," Hyndman said. "Our objective was to get three points tonight. We have won our past two games at home, so there are some good things."
•There was concern around the FC Dallas camp with the departure of Kenny Cooper for CONCACAF Gold Cup duty, who had seven of the club's 15 goals on the season. But Jeff Cunningham, who came in with one goals on the season, stepped up in his absence.
• "I think hat Jeff brings to us that Kenny (Cooper) doesn't bring to us is that pure athleticism, that pure speed where he's able to gain quick ground," FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "If you look at his first goal, he took it off a defender. He outran a guy and then he's one-on-one with the keeper. I thought Jeff had a very good game and I thought the team performed well without Kenny."
• Dave van den Bergh, naturally left-footed, started on the right flank. Yet he still contributed to the second FCD goal in classic fashion, cutting back onto his left foot and serving a cross for Cunningham to volley home.
• "He is such a good player for us. He started on the right side and some great services came in. Then he played a little bit on the left and we were hurting in the midfield because of the heat and I thought we did not need Andre [Rocha] and [David] Ferreira both to be holding up so we wanted somebody that could come back and help Dax [McCarty]," Hyndman said. "That was one of our problems in the later part of the first half that Dax was getting up too alone."
• It was the first match for Dave van den Bergh against the Red Bulls, with whom he played for in 2007 and 2008. "Obviously I have played against former teams before so it wasn't the first time, but it's still special," he said. "You play against guys that know you and you know well. It's fun but it's still another game that's worth three points."
