FRISCO, Texas – With their 3-2 loss to the Chicago Fire on Saturday night, FC Dallas were officially eliminated from contention for the 2013 MLS Cup playoffs. FCD led the league in points as recently as mid-June, so the finality of falling so far as to miss the postseason hit the team hard in a very somber locker room.
“We had such a wonderful start, one of the best starts in the history of the franchise, and then things just didn’t click for us for whatever reason,” coach Schellas Hyndman told reporters after the match. “We were scoring a lot of goals early, a lot of them on set pieces, and then when things started getting really difficult, we took our foot off the pedal and we got a little bit complacent.
“It’s great frustration for the coaching staff, it’s a great frustration for everyone who works here at FC Dallas, it’s a great frustration for the fans, but I think the greatest frustration is [with] the players themselves.”
Midfielder Andrew Jacobson, often the emotional voice of the team, said the team still had belief they could make an improbable comeback from a 3-0 deficit once Kenny Cooper scored his first goal in the 63rd minute. Another goal did come, but there was to be no third or fourth.
“Everyone came wanting to win ... you can look in the eyes of every player, we wanted to win this game,” said Jacobson. “[They scored] a couple goals we probably shouldn’t give up. It wasn’t them breaking us down real well or anything, it was just mental lapses and all of a sudden we’re in a hole.”
David Ferreira expressed his immense disappointment at not reaching the playoffs, particularly given the club’s strong start to the year.
“I’m sad because of the result,” Ferreira said through an interpreter. “It’s a big hit for the whole group, the whole group is really sad that we couldn’t get to where we wanted.
“At the same time, I’d like to take advantage of this [interview] and apologize through [the media] to the fans for not giving them the opportunity to see the team play in the playoffs.”
