Returning to league action for the first time in three weeks, FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow could face some real lineup questions on Saturday when the Hoops play host to the Colorado Rapids at Pizza Hut Park.
FCD last played a league game on July 14, a 3-3 draw with D.C. United at RFK Stadium. Since then, the Hoops played three games in SuperLiga, eliminated from the competition on Tuesday night after a wild 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Morrow faces gametime decisions about the status of three likely starters. Captain and forward Carlos Ruiz suffered a deep foot bruise against the Galaxy and continues to experience some discomfort and center back Clarence Goodson missed the L.A. game with a sprained right MCL suffered in Saturday's 1-1 draw with CF Pachuca. Both he and Ruiz trained on Friday but will have to be further evaluated on Saturday afternoon.
And starting goalkeeper Dario Sala, who admitted after the game he wasn't at 100 percent for Tuesday's match, is still slowed by a sprained right MCL that forced him to miss the SuperLiga opener against CD Guadalajara on July 24.
This year, FCD won both previous meetings against Colorado. They defeated the Rapids 3-1 on April 22 with two goals coming from Ramon Nunez and one from Dominic Oduro. And on June 23, they won 1-0 in their first visit to Dick's Sporting Goods Park as Juan Toja netted the game's only goal in the 62nd minute.
But Morrow knows that the Rapids team that FCD faced earlier in the year and the one his side will meet Saturday will look somewhat different mainly because of the trade of Kyle Beckerman to Real Salt Lake for Mehdi Ballouchy.
"They've got a different look team," Morrow said. "From what I could see against Kansas (City), they are trying to play a different system with a back three. They look like they're trying to go through a new system. I think it's important for us on Saturday to be mentally right and bounce back and not show any hangovers from SuperLiga."
In Tuesday's loss, the FCD back line surrendered four L.A. goals in the first 18 minutes and the Hoops never fully recovered. But Morrow isn't about to dwell on that less than stellar performance by his rearguard.
"We went through it (the video from the first 20 minutes of that game) with some individuals but didn't do it as a team," Morrow admitted. "We didn't want to put the entire team through that nightmare. We talked about some of the goal situations. The boys don't need me to tell them that we should have been better. I think we learned some good lessons from it."
However, as porous as his back line was against L.A., Morrow knows that the performance was more of an anomaly than anything.
"I don't think you can just go on the L.A. game," he said. "I think we were tight defensively in the two games before that and we have been recently as well. We've kept quite a few clean sheets over the past six to eight games in the regular season."
Colorado enters Saturday's affair on a downward slope. The Rapids are 0-6-3 in their last nine matches and have netted just five goals in that timeframe. On Sunday, they played Kansas City to a 2-2 draw at Arrowhead Stadium but have not won since May 26, when they beat the Galaxy 1-0 in Commerce City. Their last road win was on May 13 at the New York Red Bulls.
"It's a tough game," said FCD midfielder Pablo Ricchetti. "They have three or four new players. For us, we need a victory and need to play really well for our fans. We also need to forget what happened in the L.A. Galaxy game (on Tuesday)."
Still, even though the Rapids come in riding a winless streak, the FCD players know that they have a tough match in store with their Western Conference rivals.
"It's an important game for us," defender Drew Moor said. "We've had a little break from league play here and it's important for us to put SuperLiga behind us and to learn from it. To get three points on Saturday is important."
