Before last Sunday's game against the Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper had 15 career goals in MLS action. He then added two more in the 3-3 draw at Robertson Stadium -- the first time he had netted a pair against league opposition.
But the Dallas native was more concerned about the end result than about his two-goal performance on Sunday.
"It's nice to score but at the same time, the team stuff comes before that. Whether I score or not, I don't care as long as the team does well," he said, as FC Dallas saw a stoppage-time strike give their in-state rivals a share of the points.
Cooper's first goal came in the 35th minute after FCD midfielder Andre Rocha found him with some space on the right flank. Cooper saw that Dynamo backup goalkeeper Tony Caig was about 15 yards off his line and hit a lob from about 20 yards out, a shot that fluttered into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1.
He added a second just 10 minutes later after Juan Toja found him in the box. Cooper's shot was initially slowed by Caig but trickled into the goal nonetheless.
"(Andre) Rocha played a great ball in behind," Cooper said about the first goal. "On both goals, there was great build-up play. On the first one, Drew (Moor) won the ball back very well, Rocha turned really quickly and found me very well. It shows the quality that he's brought to this team."
Cooper also said he benefited greatly from some great work on the second tally by both Toja and Arturo Alvarez, a Houston native who had an assist and goal in front of countless family and friends on Sunday afternoon.
"On the second goal, Arturo (Alvarez) did some magic on the sideline, played it into Juan and then Juan played the ball into me," Cooper said. "We have a lot of great individual talent on this team and lot of players with great individual skill. On a couple of occasions, we really combined well, which was nice to see."
For Sunday's match, FCD head coach Steve Morrow paired Alvarez up top with Cooper for the first time this season. Alvarez had missed the season opener last Sunday against Chivas USA and Abe Thompson, who assisted on the Hoops' only goal in that 1-1 draw, started up top with Cooper.
"Arturo (Alvarez) is so talented," Cooper said. "He scored a great goal and did a great job on the first goal also. He's such a talent and it's always a pleasure to play with someone who has ability like that. Juan (Toja) was up there with us and the two of them have so much ability. It's fun playing with them and is a real pleasure playing with them both."
Morrow positioned Toja as a withdrawn forward immediately behind Alvarez and Cooper, giving his team more of a 3-4-3 shape compared to a 3-5-2. Cooper clearly likes having Toja in that role.
"We scored three goals and had a bunch of opportunities. With guys like Juan, Artie and really anyone on this team, I'm confident that we will create chances and opportunities," Cooper said. "Hopefully that will just continue throughout the year and we can score a bunch of goals."
But much like they did in their season-opening draw with Chivas USA, the Hoops were unable to hold a lead late and for the second consecutive week were forced to settle for a draw. Cooper is choosing to focus more on the positives from each game instead of the negatives.
"In the last two games, we have played two really good teams in Chivas, the defending champs in the Western Conference and going to Houston, the MLS Cup champs the last two years," Cooper said. "It's a good way to get the season going and we've picked up valuable points in both games. We've done good things in both games. Hopefully, we can keep building upon that and keep getting better and better."
Cooper also likes the fact that, so far, the Hoops have gotten goals from four different players and that six different FCD players have assisted on those tallies.
"It's nice to see that in both games we had a bunch of different players involved," he said. "That's a credit to Steve (Morrow) and the coaches. I believe we have a squad here that is really strong and deep. It's nice to see in our first two games that we have a lot of different options and different people contributing to the team."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
