Known as the "Bird Man," FC Dallas forward Dominic Oduro is flying high at the moment. The 22-year-old native of Ghana comes off the first two-goal performance of his MLS career on Saturday night against Real Salt Lake that led to a 2-1 win at Pizza Hut Park, FCD's first triumph in the month of May.
Oduro's brace last weekend came after he scored the Hoops' lone goal in the 5-1 loss to the L.A. Galaxy the Sunday before. In just those two games, Oduro has already equaled his season high for goals, which he set last year in 29 games, 10 of those as a starter.
A second-round pick (22nd overall) in the 2006 SuperDraft, the former Virginia Commonwealth standout has made big strides since his rookie campaign.
"I think I've really developed and come very far," Oduro said. "I think that I continue to work on it but won't stop because there's always room for improvement. Hopefully, I will keep getting better and better."
Oduro's second tally in the 91st minute against RSL, that proved to be the game winner, was nominated for Sierra Mist Goal of the Week. But he didn't enter the match until the 65th minute as a substitute, something he has done in all six matches he has played so far in the 2008 season.
Oduro, however, is not content just to play the role of "super-sub."
"That's a good thing, for me to be able to come in and run at defenses when they're tired," he said. "But as a player, that's not a dream for me because I don't want to be coming off the bench the whole time. If I'm given more time, which hopefully I will, then I think I can get some more out of it. It's great to come off the bench to score goals but it's my dream to be in the starting 11. I'm looking forward to it."
He scored his first goal in the 83rd minute, a tally which drew the match level after RSL's Fabian Espindola put the visitors ahead 1-0 in the 69th minute. Oduro did a somewhat subdued version of his Bird Man goal celebration after that goa, but after the second, he ripped his shirt off in jubilation.
"I didn't do it (the celebration) in the L.A. game because we were down 4-0 and I didn't think that was a good time to do it," Oduro said. "In the Salt Lake game, I did it after the first goal but didn't do it after the second goal because it was just a great relief. After what happened when Steve Morrow left, I think the group was down a little bit. After that second goal, I wasn't even thinking about the Bird Man, I was focused on us winning. It's still here and hopefully, I will score more goals and we will see it more."
Oduro's performance might have earned him a spot in the starting 11 for Wednesday's match against two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston, where he could start up top alongside Kenny Cooper, who leads FCD with five goals. His teammates have clearly noticed how well the Bird Man is playing.
"He's been playing great," FCD defender Drew Moor said. "He's just so dangerous. I hate training against him and as a defender of an opposing team, I would hate playing against him because he's so fast, is a threat and his feet are getting better."
Moor has definitely seen a different Oduro than what he saw in 2006, when he was an MLS rookie.
"I think when he first came here, people would criticize him when he was on the ball," he said. "But he's cleaned that up and is an extremely dangerous forward right now. The way that he's playing right now, we need to ride stuff like that. He's getting us goals and points. We want him to keep that up."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
