Seven winless in a row for the FC Dallas Eleven
By Matt Barbour
Frisco, TX – FC Dallas came into the match against Eastern Conference foe Philadelphia Union needing a victory to end their six match winless streak. Instead, the Toros were left wondering how they lost a lead for the fourth time in their last seven matches and left two important points on the field in a 1-1 draw.
The prospects for a reversal of fortune did not look good before kickoff as numerous regular starters were unavailable to Coach Schellas Hyndman because of suspension or injury: Brek Shea was sitting out the first game of his three match suspension for kicking a ball at an assistant referee against Columbus (in Brek’s defense, his shot was on target), defender Zach Lloyd was suspended because of a red card in the previous match, captain Ugo Ihemelu was recovering from a concussion and Fabian Castillo was nursing an ankle sprain. But the Union came into the match with problems of their own as United States National Teamer Freddy Adu was also on red card suspension, popular team captain and centerback Danny Califf was traded just two days earlier to Chivas USA and the team was on a three-match winless streak.
FC Dallas took control early in the match with a great sequence that started in the 6th minute. Defender Hernan Pertuz sent a fantastic ball over the top of the Union defense from fourty-five yards away that put Andrew Jacobson in on goal all alone. Jacobson tried to quickly chip the ball over Union keeper Chase Harrison (who was making his first MLS start), but Harrison made an acrobatic save and knocked the ball over the end line for an FCD corner. Midfielder Bryan Lleyva took the ensuing corner kick and sent in an out-swinging ball from the right side of the field. George John headed the ball to his left where a diving Blas Perez met it with his own head and knocked it into the bottom-left-corner of the net. And just like that FC Dallas had their earliest lead of the season, 1-0.
The first half ended up being an offensive coming out party for Andrew Jacobson. Hyndman generally gives Jacobson more defensive responsibilities, but tonight he was centrally involved in the attack. Besides the early chance, he had a second shot on goal from inside the box that went just wide and he later made a nifty move to split two defenders and earn a corner kick that almost led to another Perez goal, but this header went just wide left. The half ended on a sour note as Hernan Pertuz had to be carried off the field and subbed out of the match for Carlos Rodriguez in the 43rd minute. In his post-game remarks, Hyndman pointed to this as the turning point in the match.
Early in the second half, it all fell apart for FC Dallas. The organized team that hadn’t allowed a single Union shot on goal in the first half suddenly could not get out of their own defensive third and began
absorbing significant pressure from the Philadelphia attack. In the 56th minute, Union defender Carlos Valdes sent in a long ball from just inside midfield towards the FC Dallas penalty area. Pertuz’s replacement, Carlos Rodriguez, jumped to head the ball in an attempt to clear it, but misplayed it into the center of his own box instead of towards the sideline. The ball dropped right into the path of Union midfielder Gabriel Gomez, who was completely unmarked. He easily slotted it past Kevin Hartman into the lower left corner of the goal to tie the game 1-1. Philadelphia continued to put intense pressure on the FC Dallas goal for the next five minutes as they ahead an additional three shots, one of which beat Hartman, but luckily for Dallas it bounced off of the crossbar.
Dallas had a hard time mounting any consistent attacks the rest of the way and needed a couple of excellent saves from Kevin Hartman to even salvage the draw. The Toros missed a real opportunity in this one as they now have three straight roads matches and don’t play at FC Dallas Stadium again until June 23 versus Chivas USA.
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