On Tuesday night, FC Dallas and CD Guadalajara played to a 1-1 draw in their SuperLiga opener that saw the Chivas equalizer come after an apparent handball. On Saturday at Pizza Hut Park, the Hoops again fell prey to a pair of questionable calls and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with CF Pachuca -- and again were left to wonder about what could have been.
"I thought we deserved to win the game tonight," said FCD head coach Steve Morrow. "We should be sitting here with six points leading the group going into Tuesday's game with LA. Two points from two games, we feel that we deserve a lot more.
"We got another controversial decision tonight that led to a penalty kick that got them back in the game. I thought we were good enough to win it. We still had chances at the end to win it, but we didn't do it. We're disappointed not to get three points."
The first of those controversial calls came just before halftime. That was when FCD center back Clarence Goodson was on the receiving end of a great cross from Juan Toja at the left post. Goodson then punched the ball into the back of the net for an apparent goal, but was whistled offside and the tally was disallowed.
"When we looked at the replay on the screen, I think it was clear to everyone that when the kick came in, Clarence was clearly onside," Morrow said. "In fact, he timed his run to pull back half a yard on the right side of the defender. I think the linesman called it from when it hit his head. We felt it was clearly onside and a good goal."
Said Goodson: "I thought I had timed my run well, pulled away and come in well but they called me offsides. I came off the field and a couple of guys said that I was onside, so that just adds to it. What can you do? That's just the way it goes."
FCD broke through in the 75th minute when Carlos Ruiz scored after a great cross from Bobby Rhine came through the Tuzos box and was deflected by Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero. That carom landed at Ruiz's talented feet and the Guatemalan international scored to put the home side up 1-0.
But just 12 minutes later, in the second controversial call of the match, FCD center back Adrian Serioux was whistled for tripping Pachuca midfielder Damian Alvarez inside the Hoops box and the visitors were awarded a penalty kick. Christian Gimenez stepped up and converted the opportunity to level the score.
"I personally don't feel like I caught him," Serioux said about the call. "But from the referee's standpoint, he saw it differently. That's just the way the game goes sometimes and you have to take the good with the bad."
Even though once again the end result wasn't there, both Goodson and Serioux were pleased with their side's overall performance against Pachuca.
"I thought we were brilliant. We played very well. We were very strong and had a lot of good chances. We converted on a couple of those and I thought we were very unlucky for the second straight game," Goodson said. "There isn't much we can do about that. Unfortunately, the game wasn't decided by us. Little things happened that were out of our hands and that's how it goes sometimes."
Serioux agreed. "We played very well," he said. "We can't be disappointed with the performance that we put out there. Unfortunately, we just didn't get some calls to go our way. The game was kind of slow and we kind of got sucked into their style of play. We'll just have to look forward to Tuesday and hopefully we'll get a result then."
Morrow was also quick to laud the play of defensive midfielders Pablo Ricchetti and Marcelo Saragosa.
"I thought they did well. They had an important role to play tonight and we told them that before the game. Pachuca is a very good team, especially in the middle of the field and they are strong up top as well," Morrow said. "They have a lot of quality players and keep the ball very well. It was important that we were disciplined, especially in the middle of the field. I felt that both of those guys got in a lot of good tackles, kept their shape well and distributed the ball well. They were an important part of the team tonight."
Despite disappointing results from their first two games in the tournament, FCD still control their destiny in Group A, as a win next Tuesday against the LA Galaxy in Frisco will send the Hoops on to the semifinals.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
