CHIVAS USA vs FC DALLAS
THE HOME DEPOT CENTER, Carson, Calif.
March 10, 2013 (WEEK 2, MLS Game #16)
2 p.m. PT (UniMás; TWCSN-TX)
Chivas USA remain home for a second consecutive week to begin the new season when they entertain FC Dallas on Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center. Chivas began their new era under José Luis Sánchez Sola with a 3-0 season-opening defeat by the Columbus Crew. FC Dallas hit the road after starting off their new campaign with a 1-0 win against the Colorado Rapids in Frisco.
REFEREE: Armando Villarreal. SAR (bench): Greg Barkey; JAR (opposite): Brian Poeschel; 4th: Jair Marrufo
MLS Career: 9 games; FC/gm: 22.9; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 5; pens: 3
DISABLED LIST: none
SUSPENDED: DAL: Blas Perez (through March 10)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (22 meetings): Chivas USA 5 wins, 24 goals … FC Dallas 10 wins, 29 goals … Ties 7
AT CHIVAS USA (10 meetings): Chivas USA 3 wins, 14 goals … FC Dallas 5 wins, 16 goals … Ties 2
LAST YEAR (MLS):
6/23: DAL 0, CHV 0
10/7: CHV 1, DAL 1 (Villafana 69 – Perez 8)
10/28: DAL 2, CHV 2 (Jackson 73; Castillo 80 – Courtois 90; Agudelo 94+)
- Chivas USA have not defeated FC Dallas since a 2-0 victory April 25, 2009 at The Home Depot Center. FCD is 4-0-3 in the seven meetings since.
- FC Dallas had won four consecutive meetings before the teams played to draws in each of their three contests a season ago.
- Coaches record: Schellas Hyndman vs. CHV: P9 W4 L2 D3 … Jose Luis Sanchez Sola vs. DAL: first game
CHIVAS USA
The Jose Luis Sánchez Sola era at Chivas USA opened with a difficult defeat, falling 3-0 to the Columbus Crew on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center.
LAST MATCH
- The Crew finally opened the scoring six minutes into the second half. Taking a pass straight out from the top of the penalty area, Federico Higuain hooked a knuckling right-footed shot past goalkeeper Dan Kennedy that bounced off the inside of the right post.
- Columbus doubled their lead in the 88th minute as Josh Williams turned home a corner kick with an acrobatic flick from the heart of the area.
- The rout was completed in stoppage time when Dominic Oduro raced free on a breakaway of all of 80 yards, rounding Kennedy in the Chivas penalty area and slotting into the empty goal.
- Seven players made their MLS debut in the match for Sanchez Sola,with only goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, midfielder Laurent Courtois and striker Tristan Bowen part of the club last season.
- CHIVAS USA (3-3-3-1): Dan Kennedy - Mario de Luna, Joaquin Velazquez, Walter Vilchez - Eric Avila, Marvin Iraheta, Laurent Courtois (Bobby Burling 56) - Edgar Mejia, Julio Morales (Juan Agudelo 46), Giovani Casillas (Miller Bolanos 46) - Tristan Bowen
WATCH: Chivas USA fall to Crew in season opener
TEAM NEWS
- For his first match in Major League Soccer, Chivas head coach José Luis Sánchez Solá ran out three in the back. Mario de Luna, Joaquín Velázquez and Wálter Vílchez formed the three-man backline to start the match, while Bobby Burling came on in the 56th minute.
- “Defense isn’t the problem,” Sánchez Solá said. “[Columbus] scored on us twice when we had 10 players in the area. The three-man backline isn’t the issue … Every time we played straight up with our three-man backline, they didn’t succeed. That’s evident. That’s not the problem. The problem is having the necessary weapons to attack and put the ball in net.”
- Said goalkeeper Dan Kennedy: “My expectation is that we continue to go in that direction, continue to rally around his personality and let him be the leader. We just need to be on board.”
- Sánchez Solá had seven debutants in the opening day side, including four players acquired on loan from sister club CD Guadalajara.
- “It was a fast and strong opponent,” midfielder Giovani Casillas said. “In this league there are more collisions, the plays are through the air, and there are bigger players. But in soccer anything is possible when you put in the work.”
- Said Sánchez Solá: “We have to adapt before the next match to get points. I can’t make a prediction about how long it will take us to make adjustments. This is about the now. Our players deserve that we make changes now. I’ve got to get all of the stupidities out of my head and help my players.”
- Juan Agudelo, slowed by a foot injury throughout preseason, came on at halftime along with Miller Bolaños in place of Casillas and newcomer Julio Morales. “Perhaps the difference is that here [MLS] they send the ball long over the top more,” said Sánchez Solá. "Unfortunately, nowadays soccer has gone more toward the physical side than the technical side. In other words, it seems like now the style of playing is leaning toward the physical side all around the world.”
- The rojiblancos managed just two attempts on target for the match, one in each half.
- “The coach is trying to ease the pressure off of us but at the end of the day we didn’t perform,” Tristan Bowen said. “He’s not on the field so we as players need to look at ourselves and figure out what we need to improve on. Every last one of us that played has something that they need to improve on.”
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas got their 2013 campaign started off on the right foot, getting the only goal of the game for a victory against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening at FC Dallas Stadium.
LAST MATCH
- The game's only goal came in the 11th minute. Dallas playmaker David Ferreira launched a speculative long ball from inside his own half, but Rapids goalkeeper Steward Ceus failed to claim it after leaving his box, leaving Jackson with the simplest of finishes into an empty net.
- Kenny Cooper was given the start in attack in his return to FC Dallas, and Raúl Fernandez was the first-choice between the posts.
- FC DALLAS (4-2-3-1): Raul Fernandez - Zach Loyd, George John, Matt Hedges (Stephen Keel 90), Jair Benitez (Michel 30) - Je-Vaughn Watson, Andrew Jacobson - Jackson, David Ferreira, Fabian Castillo (Bobby Warshaw 79) - Kenny Cooper.
WATCH: FC Dallas top Rapids in season opener
TEAM NEWS
- FC Dallas won for the first time since last Sept. 15, ending the 2012 season winless in four matches (0-3-1).
- “We’ve had better training sessions than what we showed,” head coach Schellas Hyndman said. “At the same time, they showed a lot of character, a lot of discipline and commitment to defend and to come away with the three points and three points that Colorado doesn’t have.”
- Hyndman started the match with David Ferreira in a wide left role and Fabian Castillo partnering Kenny Cooper in attack in his return to the club, but he changed his tactics into the match.
- “It was a wide-open game. I could see our players were extremely tired just going back and forth. We shifted formation to a 4-5-1 to give us a little bit of an opportunity to hold the field a little bit better, which I thought worked,” said Hyndman. “Then it just got into one of those crazy, crazy games that you’re just putting yourself into so much pressure, so much pressure on you that you’re anxious to get rid of the ball, and sometimes just kicking it out.”
- Je-Vaughn Watson was given the start in the center of the park alongside Andrew Jacobson.
- “[Colorado’s] three guys in the center of the field, Thomas, Mastroeni, and Powers, were causing us a lot of problems. We were not able to sort it out,” said Hyndman. “All week at practice we tried to work on it and sort it out and this is the first time Je-Vaughn’s played with us so, it was a little bit weak and erratic at the beginning but I thought it got better as the game went on.”
- Jair Benitez was given the start at left back, but he was removed in favor of Michel after just a half-hour.
- “Look at what was going on in the first half, there were a lot of diagonal balls to Atiba (Harris) and most of those balls were coming from (Brian) Mullan and Atiba was winning a lot of the air battle against Jair (Benitez). One is 5-5 and the other 6-1 and there were a really, really difficult couple of balls knocked in that were second balls,” said Hyndman. “I thought when Michel went in he did a much better job at nullifying those diagonal balls and making it a competitive battle.”
- Hyndman opted to give the start between the posts to Peruvian international Raúl Fernandez ahead of Chris Seitz.
- “It wasn’t the prettiest game for us,” center back Matt Hedges said. “Defending-wise I’m happy for the shutout. After the first 15 minutes, we defended really well and took advantage of an opportunity that was given to us.”
- FCD was able to keep Colorado without a single attempt on target after the halftime break. “Obviously everyone saw it was a sloppy game. Very, very sloppy tonight. But to come out and get a win to start the season is good for the team and good for the morale of the team,” said Zach Loyd. “I think this week we’ll really look at film and fix some areas because overall the quality of play wasn’t something to our standard that we hold ourselves to.”
