When you go 92 days between wins — and it’s not the offseason — things can start to snowball out of control both mentally and physically.
So when Omar Cummings gave the Colorado Rapids a 1-0 lead early in the second half on Saturday night, things looked bleak for FC Dallas. However, head coach Schellas Hyndman would tell you the squad hasn’t put their heads down in a game yet during their winless streak and weren’t about to start on Saturday.
HIGHLIGHTS: COL 1, DAL 2
“The thing I’ve said to these guys is we’ve fought in every game,” Hyndman said after Saturday’s eventual 2-1 victory, FCD's first in 13 matches. “In every game, we fight and we just don’t find the way to get the win or we beat ourselves or we get fatigued.”
As Hyndman said, the fight was always there for Dallas, evidenced by the fact that they haven’t trailed by multiple goals in their past eight games while outshooting their opponents in their last four games. Still, the result eluded them until Saturday night’s streak-busting win at Colorado.
“We’re a group that really works hard and it has been disappointing to put together a winless streak as long as it was,” goalkeeper Kevin Hartman told reporters on Saturday. “There hasn’t been a lot of rewarding ourselves lately, so to have gotten a win in a very difficult environment tonight, it means a lot to us.”
As FC Dallas struggled during the first half of the season with David Ferreira on the sidelines, the mantra was once their MVP (above) came back, things would change. That has certainly been the case as FCD are 1-0-2 in the games since Ferreira's return, but perhaps the biggest impact he has on the side is the work rate he demands from the players around him.
“Right now, you see David Ferreira coming back, and I think this is his third game in a row.” Hyndman said. “He’s the one that’s making the pass. He’s the one that’s getting others to work harder. How can you not work hard when David is working his [tail] off?”
