FC Dallas hasn't won at Gillette Stadium in four consecutive games, since July 16, 2003 when the Dallas Burn beat the New England Revolution by a 2-1 score. So, when the Hoops face the Revs on Friday night, they are looking to rebound after a disappointing start to the month of June and in doing so put an end to that streak.
The Hoops come into the second meeting of the season with New England off a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids last Sunday, their third match in a span of nine days. On April 24 at Pizza Hut Park, FCD dominated possession but a late tally by Khano Smith gave the Revs a surprising 1-0 win.
Smith also scored against the Hoops in a 4-2 win at Gillette Stadium last fall and FCD head coach Marco Ferruzzi knows that the quick winger is one his team will have to keep an eye on.
"You've got to play him man-for-man and if that becomes one of the matchups that we have to deal with within the game, we'll deal with it then," Ferruzzi said. "He's a very strong player who came on late in the game against us."
New England will be without Taylor Twellman, who has scored 14 goals in his career against FCD and is out with an ankle injury, along with Gambian striker Kenny Mansally, who is away with his home country for a World Cup qualifier. But that doesn't mean that the Revs have any shortage of viable options on the attack.
"With those two guys out, they're still a deep squad that has some really good players," FCD midfielder Blake Wagner said. "They're still going to be a tough opponent but I think we're ready and will be all right. I think we will be able to compete well with those guys."
Kheli Dube has scored in his last three games, and the Revolution attack has started to heat up again with the return of Steve Ralston to the lineup. Ralston was out injured in the first meeting.
"Dube is on a goal streak right now, (Adam) Cristman is a handful and Ralston is going to work his way into the attack," Drew Moor said. "We also need to keep an eye on (Shalrie) Joseph. Just because they've got a couple of players out doesn't mean that they don't have plenty to offer up front. We've got to go in, be solid against them and give our team a chance to get three points."
For Ferruzzi, regardless of the cast, New England's brand of soccer is something that never changes. "They've always got options and play a well-organized game," he said. "They're going to be difficult to break down. We're going to have to be consistent and well-organized ourselves."
The Hoops currently have several players recuperating from injuries. Midfielder Dax McCarty is still recovering from sports hernia surgery a few weeks ago and won't make the trip. Also not traveling will be starting goalkeeper Dario Sala, who missed the Colorado game with a hip injury.
"Dario is OK," Ferruzzi said. "There is no need to be pushing players when we've got other players who can step in. No need to push them into a situation where they're not 100 percent fit and can risk injury to be out for even longer."
That means that Ray Burse will start for the second consecutive week in goal. He injured a thumb late during training on Thursday and had to leave the field but Ferruzzi said he will be fine. League emergency pool 'keeper Mike Graczyk will be called in to back Burse up on Friday.
"I think he (Burse) is trying to acclimate to the Texas heat again," Ferruzzi said. "He had a workout yesterday that was tough but his thumb will be fine. They'll tape it up and he'll be ready to go. He'll be fine."
For the Hoops to prevail on Friday, Moor feels they need to do one pretty simple thing better than they did on Sunday.
"I think we just need to stay focused for 90 minutes," he said. "Sunday was a tough game, our third game in nine days. We definitely played well at times but had some tired legs and weren't able to keep possession or play through the midfield as well as we needed to. That's one of our strengths, the players we have in midfield to link with the guys up front. We just need to keep the ball better and I think you'll see us do that on Friday night."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
