FRISCO, Texas — FC Dallas didn’t manage to end their winless streak, which now stands at 10 matches, but they did get their confidence back in a high-octane 3-3 draw with the LA Galaxy on Sunday night.
FCD put a stop to their club-record 464-minute scoreless streak by putting three in the back of the net against the two-time defending MLS Cup champions. And that’s exactly what they needed to get their mojo back, according to head coach Schellas Hyndman.
“I think the glass is definitely half full,” he told reporters after the match. “We’re going in the right direction. Up until tonight, we were going in the wrong direction and [now] I think we’re going in the right direction."
Simply scoring goals was a step in that right direction. Hyndman said the team rededicated itself to attacking in training this past week, since the goal drought had started to drag on the team. In that respect, one of their main objectives was reached in the draw.
"After I talked with the team the other day, today it was our No. 1 priority," Hyndman continued. "Let's penetrate. Let's get services in; let's force them back on their heels. Let's force them to make mistakes. You can see that we're starting to get on the end of free kicks. If you want to score goals, you have to have the mentality that you're going to score goals, and you have to go forward."
Blas Pérez came through again for FC Dallas on that end. The team's leading scorer netted his first goals for his club since June 29, including the equalizer as FCD battled back after a hat trick by Landon Donovan.
But the final result wasn't enough for the Panamanian international despite his heroics. FCD need to get back on the winning track, he said.
“You get out of that bad drought where you’re not scoring goals,” Pérez told reporters via an interpreter. “The objective is to get three points at home and every game we need to get three points if we want to get back into the position that we were.”
That could be coming, said Hyndman. Although Dallas certainly could have done better on the goals they gave up, and although he’s unsure of how injuries to Zach Loyd and Andrew Jacobson will impact the team in its upcoming stretch of three matches in seven days, this result was one to build on as they'll keep looking for their first victory since May 25.
“It was a great game for the spectators, it was action from beginning to end," Hyndman said. "We twice take the lead and then they take the lead ... the team last week would have given up. The team last week would have found a way to just put their heads down and [say] 'We’ve got bad karma or something.'
"I thought this team continued to fight forward. If we play like this, we’ll get wins.”
