FC DALLAS v HOUSTON DYNAMO
PIZZA HUT PARK, Frisco, Texas
3 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
May 13, 2006 (WEEK #7) / MLS Game #36
A week ago, the league's newest rivalry kicked off in pulsating fashion, Houston Dynamo getting the better of in-state rival FC Dallas in a wild 4-3 victory at Robertson Stadium. Now the teams meet for the second time in their battle of an 18th-century Mountain Howitzer cannon, this time at Pizza Hut Park, and while Dynamo haven't played since, the Hoops have, moving to the top of the Western Conference and league's overall table with a 1-0 victory at midweek against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
REFEREE: Brian Hall. SAR (bench): Steven Davidson; JAR (opposite): Michael Salyers; 4th: Richard Heron
MLS Career: 106 games; FC/gm: 29.4; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 27; pens: 34
MLS 2006: 3 games; FC/gm: 32.0 (avg: 31.5); Y/gm: 2.3 (avg: 3.85); R: 0 (MLS: 7); pens: 1 (MLS: 7)
Games involving FC Dallas: P23 W13 L6 T4; FC/gm: 27.6; Y/gm: 2.5; R: 5; pens: 11
Games involving Dynamo: first game
INJURY REPORT: FC DALLAS - NONE REPORTED ... HOUSTON DYNAMO - OUT: MF Aaron Lanes (R fifth metatarsal fracture)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: HOU: Brian Ching (USA; World Cup 2006)
SUSPENDED: DAL: Bobby Rhine (through May 13)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (1 meeting): FC Dallas 0 wins (0 shootout), 3 goals ... Dynamo 1 win (0 shootout), 4 goals ... 0 draws
AT DALLAS: first meeting
This is the second of four meetings as the teams kick off their intrastate rivalry, the first two coming in back-to-back weekends. The next match is scheduled for Aug. 12 at Robertson Stadium; they'll conclude their league series on Sept. 2 in Frisco.
Coaches record: Colin Clarke v HOU: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Dominic Kinnear vs. DAL: P9 W4 L1 D4
LAST MEETING
5/6: HOU 4, DAL 3 (Clark 31; Ching 35; De Rosario 45, 67 - Ruiz 60; Nunez 61; Moor 76)
Dynamo were ahead by three goals by halftime before being forced to grimly hang on over the final minutes of the first meeting in their nascent Texas rivalry.
Ricardo Clark opened the Houston account in the 31st minute. A long throw-in into the FC Dallas penalty area was cleared, but eventually fell to Clark, and turned and let fly from all of 30 yards, the shot taking a deflection on its way past FCD 'keeper Dario Sala.
Brian Ching doubled the lead four minutes later, heading home his league-leading seventh goal of the year from a Brad Davis free kick swung in from the right flank. De Rosario then made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time, running onto a ball looped over the Hoops back four before lashing an angled shot past Sala inside the far post from the left side of the area.
But FC Dallas pulled back to within one by the hour mark, scoring twice in barely a minute. Carlos Ruiz hit for his first goal of the season in the 60th minute, banging home the rebound after Dynamo 'keeper Pat Onstad saved from Roberto Mina at close range. Then Mina twisted past Adrian Serioux on the right flank before driving a low ball across the top of the area, where Ramon Nunez coolly finished.
Yet De Rosario restored the two-goal margin just six minutes later, running down a long ball from Davis, spinning around Sala as the FCD 'keeper got a hand to the ball, then curling it home on the turn inside the far post.
Hoops defender Drew Moor scored his first professional goal 14 minutes from time, getting a head to a free kick whipped in from the right in the midst of a packed penalty area, but FCD just couldn't find the equalizer.
Here's Colin Clarke's team (4-1-4-1): Dario Sala - Bobby Rhine, Drew Moor, Alex Yi, Greg Vanney (Arturo Alvarez 85) - Simo Valakari (Chris Gbandi 86) - Roberto Mina, Mark Wilson (Kenny Cooper 58), Ramon Nunez, Ronnie O'Brien - Carlos Ruiz. [Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Cassar, Clarence Goodson, Aaron Pitchkolan, Abe Thompson]
Here's Dominic Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Pat Onstad - Craig Waibel, Eddie Robinson, Adrian Serioux, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario - Brian Ching, Ronald Cerritos. [Substitutes Not Used: Chris Aloisi, Ryan Cochrane, Kevin Goldthwaite, Kelly Gray, Stuart Holden, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski]
FC DALLAS
In between their home-and-home set with Dynamo, FC Dallas played the Los Angeles Galaxy at midweek - and came away with a 1-0 victory at Pizza Hut Park. The Hoops moved to the top of the Western Conference table with the victory, now with 14 points from seven matches, two ahead of Dynamo in the division and one ahead of the Eastern Conference-leading Kansas City Wizards in the league overall table.
LAST MATCH
FC Dallas remained perfect on the season at their Pizza Hut Park home, while the Galaxy fell for the second consecutive match to conclude a three-match road swing, shut out in both reversals.
Carlos Ruiz scored the game's only goal in the 20th minute - then FCD made it stand after they were left a man down just before the halftime break. A Ramon Nuñez shot was deflected by a Galaxy defender, falling to Ruiz, who perfectly placed a low shot inside the far post that beat Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.
The home side were left a man down after Bobby Rhine was sent off in the 43rd minute with a straight red card after a hard tackle on Galaxy substitute Ned Grabavoy at midfield. But the Hoops had only one real scare over the final 45 minutes - a Joseph Ngwenya shot that hit the crossbar then was cleared back over the bar by defender Alex Yi.
FC Dallas boss Colin Clarke made one change to the team that lost 4-3 to Dynamo the weekend before. Kenny Cooper came back into the starting lineup, replacing Mark Wilson.
Here's Clarke's team (4-1-2-3): Dario Sala - Bobby Rhine, Drew Moor, Alex Yi, Greg Vanney - Simo Valakari - Ronnie O'Brien, Ramon Nunez (Richard Mulrooney 69)- Kenny Cooper (Clarence Goodson 46), Carlos Ruiz, Roberto Mina (David Wagenfuhr 80) [Substitutes Not Used: Arturo Alvarez, Jeff Cassar, Abe Thompson, Mark Wilson]
"It's always hard to play when your one man down," said Clarke. "You're going to have to survive some stuff, but you get organized, get men behind the ball. We survived one of them that hit the crossbar, but I wouldn't say we looked comfortable but as comfortable as you can be with a man down."
TEAM NEWS
After Rhine was sent off, Clarke reshuffled his team, Cooper sacrificed as Clarence Goodson came in to restore the back four. Goodson partnered Yi in the center, as Moor moved to right back.
"Anytime you have one like that where you have to fight for it, where you have some adversity, it's good for the team," Goodson said to the Dallas Morning News. "It makes you rededicate yourself to the cause. It makes you feel good."
Ruiz's goal was his first against his former club. He has now scored a goal against every team in MLS. "It's more special because my team won three points with 10 men. That is what's special, not scoring against L.A.," he said.
In addition to the Ngwenya shot off the woodwork, Sala was called upon to make just one save after FCD went down a man. "They ran out of ideas there at the end," Clarke said to the Star-Telegram. "It was desperation, throwing long balls forward, and we coped with them very well."
In the 69th minute, Richard Mulrooney made his return to the field just a few days short of the one-year anniversary of his injury. Mulrooney last played in a league game on May 14, 2005, when he suffered a torn ACL in his return to San Jose, where he started his career in 1999 before moving to Dallas before the beginning of last season.
"I think people forget - not forget - but it's been so long since we've seen him out there" said Clarke. "What he brought for us at the beginning of last year, he was magnificent for us. He was our best player and it was a big hole - a big miss - for us, so hopefully we're past that and we can get him out there a lot more often."
Said Mulrooney: "It felt how I thought would. It was comfortable and I think that was the next step in my progress, getting some game time. The practices are fine, but to get some time on the field, there is nothing like that was the first step tonight."
HOUSTON DYNAMO
TEAM NEWS
Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear made one change for the FC Dallas match from the team that claimed a 1-0 victory away to the Colorado Rapids the weekend before. Ronald Cerritos made his first start of the season, coming in for Alejandro Moreno, sent off against the Rapids.
"It was a tale of two halves," Kinnear said. "We played well in the first half and defended well, and we played well in the second half, but we didn't defend too well."
After holding the three-goal lead at the half, Dynamo were left wondering how they suffered through a tense second half, allowing two goals within a minute and three in all in the half - especially for a team that a year ago had the best defense in the league.
"I'm very frustrated," said Dynamo defender Craig Waibel to the Houston Chronicle. "We've talked so many times about the defense doing its job. To give up three (goals) as a team after being up 3-0, that makes a statement as an 11 that we didn't come out with the right attitude."
Two of the FCD goals came from set pieces, which Dynamo have struggled to defend against this season. "We sat back after halftime and we all just kind of coasted," Waibel said. "It took them scoring two to make us come back out and play. That's a characteristic that is not normal for this franchise, not normal for the guys in the locker room, and it's one thing that's got to go right now. And we all know it."
Former Galaxy striker Naldo da Conceicao has been on trial with the club this week. The 30-year-old Brazilian is looked at as a possible immediate replacement for Ching, the league's leading goal scorer, who will be with the U.S. national team for the World Cup.
"It's going to be a long, hot summer here without Brian Ching," said Kinnear. "(Naldo)'s on trial with us. He'll play in the reserves game Saturday. We'll see what happens."
