FC Dallas dropped the first-leg of the third annual Rio Grande Plate friendly series with Mexican-partner club Tigres UANL by a 2-1 score on Wednesday night at the Estadio Universitario in Monterrey, Mexico. Tigres scored early and late in the first half, with FCD forward Ricardinho scoring the lone FCD goal early in the second half with a long-range. The return-leg will be played at Pizza Hut Park on a date to be determined later in 2008.
"Given that we are still very early in our preseason, there were a lot of pleasing things to come from the game, especially in the second half," said FC Dallas head coach following the game. "We had a couple of defensive lapses which cost us big in the first half; but in the second half we had better possession and created more chances. There were several pleasing individual performances. Our fitness and quality of play will get better as we go through preseason."
FCD, playing only its second preseason game, used two completely different lineups in each half, with seven players seeing their first action of the spring. To start, Ray Burse manned the goal in front of a three-man backline consisting of Drew Moor on the right, Duilio Davino in the center, and Alex Yi on the left. The five midfielders were Abdus Ibrahim on the right, Dax McCarty and André Rocha in the center, Blake Wagner on the left, with Juan Toja playing behind forwards Arturo Alvarez and Kenny Cooper.
Tigres got on the board after just five minutes, when midfielder Carlos Esquivel sent a cross from the left side to the opposite post where Jesus Palacios headed home the first goal. Tigres had success controlling possession throughout the first half, with FCD only creating a couple of half chances in the opening 45.
Tigres stretched their lead with a minute left in the half. Forward Francisco 'Kikin' Fonseca beat a man on the right side and took the ball toward goal by the endline. As FCD keeper Ray Burse stepped to cover the near post, Fonseca chipped a ball to the top of the six yard box where Esquivel came running in to one-time a shot past Burse.
Dallas entered the contest planning on giving each of the 22 players 45 minutes of action, therefore eleven new faces started the second half. And it was a tail of two halves, as FCD controlled play early and often through the second part.
In the 51 minute, Ricardinho got one back for FCD when he picked up a lose ball on the left sideline and raced toward goal, stopping to fire a 35 yard left-footed blast from outside the box for his first goal in an FCD uniform.
The Brazilian created another problem for Tigres 20 minutes later when his free kick from just outside the box bounced around and landed in front of Abe Thompson. With his back to the goal, Thompson hit a back heel that surprised the keeper but who reacted quickly by diving to his right and making the save on the goal line.
Dominic Oduro also came close to tying the game in the 87th minute, however his curling shot from just outside the arc was denied by the fingertips of outstretched Tigres goalkeeper Enrique Palos.
Dallas won the inaugural 2006 Rio Grande Plate 5-4 on penalty kicks after the teams split the two games, each winning their home leg by 2-0 scores. Tigres took the Plate in 2007, winning 2-0 at home and 1-0 in Frisco.
Scoring Summary:
TIG - Jesus Palacios (Carlos Esquivel) 5'
TIG - Carlos Esquivel (Francisco Fonseca) 44'
FCD - Ricardinho (unassisted) 51'
Tigres UANL: 1-Cirilo Saucedo (Enrique Palos 46'), 4-Flavio Rogerio, 29-Carlos Esquivel (8-Alejandro Villalobos, 86'), 5-Fabian Cubero, 9-Blas Perez (Jonatan de Leon, 46'), 11-Guillermo Marino (85-Jonathan Arenas, 59'), 17-Jesus Palacios, 22- Enrique Escudero, 26-Francisco Fonseca, 27-Diego Martinez (24-Jose Rivas, 65).
FC Dallas: Ray Burse (Dario Sala 46'), Drew Moor (Andrew Daniels 46'), Duilio Davino (Aaron Pitchkolan 46'), Alex Yi (Adrian Serioux 46'), Abdus Ibrahim (C-Bobby Rhine 46'), Andre Rocha (Marcelo Saragosa 46), Dax McCarty (Anthony Wallace 46'), Blake Wagner (Brek Shea 46'), Juan Toja (Abe Thompson 46'), C-Kenny Cooper (Dominic Oduro 46'), Arturo Alvarez (Ricardinho 46').
Disciplinary Summary:
FCD - Andre Rocha (yellow card) 16'
TIG - Blas Perez (yellow card) 25'
FCD - Aaron Pitchkolan (yellow card) 59'
TIG - Jose Rivas (yellow card) 73'
Attendance: 16,000
