On the heels of a disappointing 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Thursday night in front of a national television audience, FC Dallas look to finish a three-game homestand with a better result against the New England Revolution on Sunday afternoon at Pizza Hut Park.
A year ago, the sides split their season series, with the Hoops winning 4-0 in Frisco and the Revs prevailing 1-0 in Foxborough. But FCD head coach Steve Morrow and his players agree on one thing - with or without Clint Dempsey, the Revolution remain one of the top sides in MLS.
"They are a different team (without him)," said FCD right back Drew Moor. "I felt like he was a pretty big part of their attack and what they did. But they still have a lot of good players like Shalrie (Joseph) in the middle and (Taylor) Twellman continues to do well up front. Our result (against New York) makes Sunday's game all that much more important."
Morrow's slant was a bit different. "I don't think losing Dempsey has affected them too much," he said. "They pretty much have the same team that they did last year. It's the same team as last year basically. They're always going to have good quality. It's going to be a good test for us on Sunday."
For FCD captain Carlos Ruiz, playing the Revs is all about one thing - respect.
"New England is one of the best teams in the league," Ruiz said. "They have the same coach and the same players every year, so it's not a big change. Everyone knows what the coach expects and that's why they are always playing for the championship."
While the Hoops come off the loss to the Red Bulls, their first home loss of the year, the Revolution's last match was a 2-2 tie at Columbus on April 19. New England got goals from Andy Dorman in the 10th minute and Taylor Twellman in the 38th. The duo has scored five goals between them in their first three games of 2007.
While FCD have also been scoring goals -- their seven on the season is second-most in MLS -- it's happened as Ruiz has been a bit of a non-factor in recent games. Morrow admitted that last year's leading scorer had experienced some tightness in his hamstring in the 3-1 win against Colorado last Sunday, and it was more of the same against the Red Bulls.
"I don't think he is 100 percent at the moment," he said. "He's not playing as well as he can. He's not as mobile. He's certainly not free-flowing at the moment and (he) knows it. He's disappointed with himself because he's been giving up possession too easily and knows he needs to do a better job of taking care of the ball."
Morrow feels that Ruiz's hamstring problems could be tied to back problems the Guatemalan international has experienced in the past.
"Carlos is just feeling tightness in there," Morrow said. "We had a tough start (to the season) with two starts on turf and a long flight in there as well. Often, hamstring problems are related to back issues and Carlos has had one or two back issues. I think it started back then and he hasn't really had the time to shake it off."
The FCD boss admits that he does see some frustration in Ruiz over his not scoring in the last two games.
"Carlos thrives on scoring goals," Morrow said. "It hasn't always been his greatest strength - keeping the ball and passing. Those are areas where he needs to get better. He's always been good at scoring goals and when he's not, he gets frustrated. I think one or two goals in the next couple of games will see that right."
Ruiz admitted on Friday that he was indeed frustrated. "I got two shots on goal [Thursday] and that's not good for me," he said. "I need to score goals and have to find a way to see the goal and try to shoot. (Thursday) night wasn't a good night for the forwards. We just watched the video, know the mistakes we made and need to be prepared for the game on Sunday."
In Thursday's loss, FCD center back Alex Yi suffered a calf injury and Morrow brought Bobby Rhine on for him in the 71st minute. Yi is out for Sunday's game.
"(Yi) is not good," Morrow said. "He had a slight tear happen in his calf muscle (Thursday) night. It looks like we might lose him for the next game at least. We seem to pick up an injury a game at the moment, which is down to bad luck more than anything."
In Yi's place, Morrow will likely move Moor from right back to central defense with Rhine the likely choice to take Moor's spot at right back. Other than that, the FCD boss could field the same starting 11 that he did against the Red Bulls.
However, if FCD are to close out their current homestand with a win over the Revs, they will need to do a much better job in possession than they did in Thursday's loss.
"That was the message we got from watching video (of the New York game)," Morrow said. "It's been well-documented that we have some young guys out there and they need to learn lessons quickly about how important it is to keep the ball.
"If you give up possession easily, you're never going to keep it long enough to get into any kind of rhythm and that's what we did [against New York]. We gave up the ball too early, never kept possession and weren't able to create many chances."
In New England's last visit to Frisco -- not counting their loss to Houston in MLS Cup 2006 -- the Revs fell 4-0 as FCD netted a league-record four goals in the opening 19 minutes of play. Cooper and Nunez scored once with Ruiz netting a pair in the May 2006 blowout.
Historically, the Revs have dominated FCD, holding an all-time record of 17-9-1. That includes an 11-3-0 mark against them in the last 14 games. And under current head coach Steve Nicol, who has been guiding New England since 2002, they are 8-3-0 against the Hoops.
Sunday's match will also showcase two of the league's top scorers since they entered the league together in 2002: Twellman, who has scored 13 goals in 11 career matches against FCD, and Ruiz, who has eight goals in nine games against the Revs. Since the pair came into MLS, they are by far the two leading goalscorers over that time -- Twellman now with 78 goals for his career, Ruiz with 76.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
