New-look FCD ready to reverse history in LA
FC Dallas seek second franchise win at Galaxy with changes in lineup
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The teams are meeting for the second time this season Saturday, and since that first meeting (a 1-1 draw at Pizza Hut Park on May 23), the FCD roster has changed quite a bit. Head coach Schellas Hyndman will likely have only three players in his first 11 from that game in the starting lineup for this weekend -- midfielder David Ferreira, defender Pablo Ricchetti and midfielder Dave van den Bergh.
"We've been very busy. We've worked very hard," Hyndman said. "I think the team has really been lucky and unfortunate with the number of injuries. At the end of the day, we weren't getting results. We can count the number of games that slipped through our hands that we had leads in. The defense always bothered me. I never felt our defense had the athleticism or the unit to help each other. Even though we worked on it and worked on it, as soon as we were getting some place, George John gets injured, Kyle Davies gets injured and so forth.
"What we did was we took the approach or maybe we need to bring some new people in. What do we need? We need experience. I felt like we needed experience and I also felt like we needed some athleticism, some quicker, stronger, faster players. So when you look, you see Jair (Benitez), Atiba (Harris), (Marvin) Chavez and Ugo (Ihemelu). Daniel (Hernandez) just brings the experience. I think in some ways, it is changing. How do you establish a culture of winning when players are used to losing? You have to bring in players who are used to that mentality and I think that's been helping us."
Saturday's match should mark the FCD and MLS debut of Honduran midfielder Chavez, who could get a start in Hyndman's 4-1-4-1 formation. In the back, rookie Kyle Davies is out with a concussion but fellow newcomer John should be back and will likely start alongside captain Ricchetti.
The FCD coach has clearly taken notice of all of the changes that Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena has made since being hired last fall.
"What Bruce has been able to do is he's been able to go out with a plan and make a lot of changes from last year's team," Hyndman said. "The changes he's made are all players that he knows. He's got all the players that he likes that he knows what he can get out of him. That brings in that culture of winning. I do think that they're a hot team right now. They've been playing well and getting results. I'm really looking forward to playing the game because we're also improving."
Hyndman will have another new face making the trip to California in midfielder Daniel Hernandez, who played for him at Southern Methodist University. Hernandez played in MLS from 1998 through 2007 before spending the last few years in Mexico.
"We don't have him (Hernandez) in the starting lineup but he's making the trip," the FCD coach said. "If he would have been cleared to play last week, we might have put him in."
The Galaxy last played on August 29, when they prevailed 1-0 against Chivas USA in the latest installment of the SuperClasico. LA is just 4-3-4 at home compared to the 5-1-7 mark they hold away from home.
No matter where they're playing, van den Bergh, who played for Arena in New York, knows how tough the Galaxy will be.
"(They're) a tough team to beat, they just don't get beaten at all really," he said. "If they can't win the game, they just tie it. They have I believe the most ties in the league. They just don't lose. If you don't lose, you keep accumulating points and you are where they are. Kudos to Bruce Arena because he has really turned that team around. He really did well with that. Guys have stepped up, the obvious guys, but the not-so-obvious guys have been great for them."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com
