In the postmortem of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Chivas USA, FC Dallas felt they started the game exactly as they wanted. But as the match went on, so did an inability to possess the ball, and as a result the team's chances came solely from long balls since there was little or no distribution coming from the central midfield.
When FCD travels to Houston to face the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Dynamo on Sunday, Hoops head coach Steve Morrow knows that this trend will have to change if his side is to have a chance to leave the Bayou City with their first-ever win at Robertson Stadium in four days time.
"We talked about it as a group," Morrow said. "The guys feel that they're capable of possessing the ball for longer. I watched the (Chivas USA) game again and possession-wise, they were a little more efficient. We were more careless with our passing and they kept it for longer periods than us."
Morrow admitted that playing so many long balls was one of many schemes he and his staff came up with to get in behind the Red and White's back line. That gameplan resulted in the only FCD goal of the day, scored by Juan Toja in the 21st minute.
"The longer ball was just one of many strategies that we had in the game and was something to look for," he said. "We were able to create chances from getting Abe (Thompson) and Kenny (Cooper) in behind (their back line). But on the other side of it, our possession wasn't good enough and that's something we'll work on."
FCD right wingback Bobby Rhine agreed with Morrow's assessment.
"I thought we did exactly what we wanted to do in the first 20 minutes," Rhine said. "We wanted to try and play balls in behind them, get their center backs turned around facing their own goal. I thought we did that and were unlucky not to get one or two (goals) really. I thought that part was good but we needed to find the balance in terms of finding good combinations in passing to play some in behind them."
But unfortunately, the Hoops were unable to sustain that possession for the remainder of the afternoon.
"We definitely did that in the first 20 minutes but we needed to find our balance in keeping the ball," Rhine said. "I think that's one of the reasons why we lost our legs in stretches of the game because we didn't manage the game very well. We were at times in a little bit too much of a rush to get forward. We just need to find that next part of our game to manage it that much better."
Admittedly, the FCD midfield looked a bit differently than what Morrow had envisioned during the late portion of preseason. David Wagenfuhr, who had won the starting spot at left wingback, suffered a concussion late in preseason. His replacement, 20-year-old Blake Wagner, at times drifted out of the match against Chivas.
Morrow also was missing Arturo Alvarez, who can play either in the midfield or up top, as he was serving a one-game suspension for a red card he was issued in the 2007 playoffs.
And Dax McCarty was still being bothered by some tightness in his back and didn't return to training until Thursday after receiving a few days following his return from the Olympic qualifying tournament. McCarty did come on in the 73rd minute but admitted after the match that he is far from at 100 percent.
The FCD coach also went with Marcelo Saragosa in the central midfield to start Sunday's match instead of Pablo Ricchetti. And last season with Ricchetti in the starting 11, FCD was 10-7-2 compared to just 3-5-3 when he was not in the first team.
"I think it's certainly a factor," Morrow said. "We've had a lot of bad luck with injuries recently. It may take a little while for us to fully get into our stride. But clearly, we need to win games and pick up points as we go along. We'll work at that every day in training and I see improvements. Things will come together for sure."
Rhine added: "I think it's probably fair to say that might have been one of the contributing factors to us not keeping the ball as well as we should have. Clearly, keeping possession of the ball is going to be very important for our team. We have a good group of central midfielders who can match up well with any midfield in the league. We're going to continue to work on keeping the ball moving. They (Chivas USA) did a very good job of that."
During the first half of Sunday's match, FCD and Chivas had four shots apiece. But that all changed in the second half when the Red and White outshot the Hoops by an 18-4 margin and after the game, several Chivas players commented that they saw a tired FCD team take the field in the second half and that was largely why they controlled possession for much of the final 45 minutes. Morrow is well aware of this fact as well.
"We wasted too much energy in the game trying to win the ball back instead of using our energy to keep it," Morrow said. "Sometimes, you get into a pattern in a game and that's how it goes. By the time you win the ball back, you're tired because you've been chasing it. Again it's all back to keeping better possession of it when you get it."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
