Last Wednesday in Denver, FC Dallas avoided going winless for the month of August and ended a three-game losing streak that also saw them fail to score, recording a 2-0 win against the Colorado Rapids. Then on Saturday against in-state rival Houston in Frisco, the Hoops followed that up with a 1-0 blanking of Dynamo in a game where FCD held a man advantage for the final hour of play.
FCD head coach Colin Clarke attributes his side's back-to-back clean sheets to a total team focus on defense.
"We went into Colorado and worked hard before on our defensive shape and being hard to break down," he said. "At the end of the day, you need that little bit of luck. They had a couple of chances that didn't go their way.
"I think we've done a good job of limiting teams to shots from distance and not letting guys in behind us. Overall, it's just a team effort from front to back to be better on the defensive side and get more pressure on the ball."
The Hoops were actually outshot against Colorado, but did a nice job of limiting their offensive chances. Against Dynamo, FCD outshot their Texas rivals 13-10 but kept clamps on many of the Dynamo attacking options.
FCD left back Chris Gbandi attributes his squad's consecutive shutouts to having better shape in the back.
"We sat in a lot tighter than usual," he said. "The wide guys got the ball a little more and were able to pressure. We had four guys at the end of the day who realized that it was our fault that they had scored. We were able to do a good job as far as holding them back."
Midfielder Ramon Nunez likes how the Hoops are improving defensively.
"We're starting to defend well as a team," he said. "Our focus as midfielders has been on who is getting in deep behind the two front runners. We need to keep working on that until we perfect it."
This stretch marked the first back-to-back clean sheets for FCD this season. Saturday's shutout of Houston, even though it came against a Dynamo team that was shorthanded, was still impressive considering that the Hoops starting back four that night was a combination that hadn't been seen so far this season.
With Bobby Rhine, the usual starting right back, and Drew Moor, one of the starters in the central defense, out because of suspension due to yellow card accumulation, Clarke had some decisions to make. He had settled on a lineup of Gbandi on the left, veteran Greg Vanney and Clarence Goodson in the middle with rookie Justin Moore, a second-round pick in the 2006 Super Draft, on the right.
But those plans were somewhat laid to waste when Goodson contracted food poisoning before the game and had to be scratched from the starting 11. He was replaced by Alex Yi, who had started four games in the back for the Hoops before Saturday.
Clarke was clearly pleased with how his new-look defense performed against Dynamo.
"It was a lot different (lineup) from before because of suspensions, sickness and the like," he said. "It was probably not the back four that everyone was expecting. We had players out there that we think very highly of and who have seen some time in this league."
FCD will look to extend their current winning and shutout streak to three games when they travel to Southern California to face Chivas USA on Saturday.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
