WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Sorry for the delay in this recap. I haven’t been near a computer since the end of the game, not that there’s anything wrong with that but it just delayed this writing here.

I will break things down like I normally due here with the thoughts I had from last night, most of which are just random things I found through watching the two sides play last night in Frisco. I will start with just my overall thoughts, followed by a bit on each club and some key players involved.

Overall thoughts:

• Not the best crowd, only 11,564, I had said before game it would probably only be in the 12k range and it looked like I was right. Small crowd but pretty loud from the press box area, so that was nice to see. Those Inferno fans are nice and rowdy.
• For those curious, Dario Sala was in last year’s road kit as his keeper jersey. The staff in the box from FCD said that the club hasn’t received their keeper jerseys from Adidas yet for this year. Kind of odd that three weeks in and no new keeper jersey.

New York:

• Yes they were without some key parties tonight like Juan Pablo Angel and Dane Richards but this club will not scare people in the eastern conference in terms of depth that they have right now.
• They came out totally flat which lead to the quick strike from the Hoops.
• Jon Conway is not a number-one type keeper here, he is constantly out of position and in each FCD goal he was caught off guard by Kenny Cooper and Arturo Alvarez.
• New York will also not scare people with their defense. They are very poorly shaped on the field and can be beaten easily with balls over the top and through the windows between the back three. Guys like Chris Leich were beat too easy and will not compete well with other clubs in this league.
• Jozy Altidore had a bad night but for the most part it was due to the midfield not feeding him balls that he could get to and having Drew Moor and Duilio Davino as his shadow all night.
• Oscar Echeverry looks dangerous when he shoots but is too much of a ghost to really worry anyone. Too many times I forgot he was even out there last night. He cannot disappear for 20 minutes on end like he did last night for this club to be successful this season. He may not be Angel or Altidore but he is very valuable to this club.
• Claudio Reyna looked old out there…
• So did John Wolyniec…
• However Reyna did create some decent chances for New York, each of which were shut out by Dallas
• Had New York have scored in the first half they would have won this game, halftime came too soon for them as they were getting decent chances on Dallas.
• Danleigh Boreman kind of reminds me of Dane Richards. He’s a bit speedy on the wings but unlike Richards he isn’t crafty enough to do any damage. Plus he shoots like a rookie, really bad…I mean really bad.

Jozy Altidore:

• Again, not the best night for the kid but he did have some chances that looked decent but nothing on target.
• I think with Angel he played a much different style of game. The pressure is on Angel and not himself but as we saw last night the pressure was solely on him. Plus at times I thought he was playing as a lone striker (Echeverry was ghostly remember?).

Claudio Reyna:

• At times he looks worth being a Designated Player and at times he’s probably the most expensive waste of money that the MLS has ever seen.
• He does create decent chances for the Red Bulls but when he faces a decent defensive midfielder (or two like in Dallas) he is shut down too much to create anything and the rest of the New York midfield isn’t creative enough to pick up the load.

FC Dallas:

• Two very nice goals by Arturo Alvarez and Kenny Cooper thanks to very nice passes by Andre Rocha and Adrian Serioux.
• Sala may have been the man of the match for me at least, he had a number of key saves late in the game to keep New York from coming back.
• Defense for Dallas was much better tonight. Moor was Atlidore’s best friend, Davino was a steady rock in the middle and Serioux frustrated Ecteverry on all ends.
• Dallas plays very well with Pablo Ricchetti controlling the midfield and then allowing Andra Rocha and Juan Toja to create out of the midfield.
• Dax McCarty and Blake Wagner were steady on the wings but had it been a club with better flank players I’d be curious to see how they would have held up. Boreman and van den Bergh were decent on the wings for New York but neither really worried McCarty or Wagner.
• Halftime couldn’t have come soon enough for Dallas last night, New York was pressing well towards the end of the first half but couldn’t get any chances to go through. Once halftime came and ended Dallas played a lot better and didn’t allow much more from New York until the very end of the game when the Red Bulls were pressing again after being down by two.

Kenny Cooper and Arturo Alvarez:

• This is a much better striking combo for Dallas than Cooper and Thompson. The Hoops look more comfortable with the two up top as well, which allows them to create more chances.
• I think AA will have at least 10 goals this season if not more with the way he is playing right now.
• Cooper may chip in 10 to 15 himself this year with the way things are looking.

Game Grades:

Sala – 8; Moor – 7, Davino – 7, Serioux – 7; Wagner – 6, Ricchetti – 7, Rocha – 7, McCarty – 6, Toja – 6; Alvarez – 8, Cooper 7

Subs: Saragosa – 5, Pitchkolen – 4, Ricardinho – 4

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