Heading into Friday's second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series against Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow is looking for more fireworks from his high-powered strike duo.
In last Saturday's first leg at Pizza Hut Park, Houston outshot FCD 15-9 despite losing 1-0, thanks to a 23rd-minute goal from Clarence Goodson. Three of the Hoops shots were on target, but only one came from the partnership of Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper.
Cooper played 83 minutes before leaving for Abe Thompson. His lone shot of the evening came in the 81st minute, but was saved by Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad. As for Ruiz, he was without a single shot before coming out in the 65th for speedy Dominic Oduro.
"Those two (Cooper and Ruiz) need to give us a little more and they know that," Morrow said. "One shot between them wasn't quite enough. But if you look at (Brian) Ching and (Joseph) Ngwenya, there wasn't too much production from those two either. So, our defenders kept their front two quiet and they did a great job on Kenny and Carlos. They've got an opportunity this Friday to turn that around and to raise the level."
Cooper knows that better performances from both he and Ruiz on Friday could help ensure the Hoops winning their first playoff series since 1999.
"Houston is obviously a good team both going forward and defending," Cooper said. "We know we're going against good defenders but have to make our contributions to help this team win whether it's holding the ball up, getting shots, assists or goals. Steve (Morrow) holds us to high standards. We know we've got to live up to those and are confident that we can."
A seasoned playoff veteran like Ruiz has come to expect games in the playoffs where he doesn't get a lot of shots but knows that when he isn't getting looks, he needs to make sure that he contributes to the team in other ways.
"It's very difficult for us because we had just one shot," Ruiz said. "I played 68 minutes and Kenny more than 80 and that's all we had. As a forward, that's frustrating but we do other things like taking care of the ball to allow the team to step up and do different things. We didn't have a lot of shots but we tried to do other things to help the team score."
Morrow knows that in the playoffs, teams make an extra effort to neutralize opposing scoring threats, but that doesn't lower his expectations for Cooper and Ruiz in the least.
"It's often the case because the teams know each other very well and who to concentrate and focus on," Morrow said. "They did well keeping Kenny and Carlos very quiet and you have to rely on someone else to pop up and score. We're looking for more from our forwards on Friday."
For Ruiz, he knows that he see a little more operating room in Friday's second leg at Robertson Stadium. "The last game was a little bit boring but had a lot of intensity and everybody was fighting," he said. "Maybe this one is going to be different because Houston has to score because they're behind right now. That might make for more spaces and maybe we can play in those spaces."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
