FC DALLAS vs NEW YORK RED BULLS
PIZZA HUT PARK, Frisco, Texas
July 4, 2009 (WEEK 16) / MLS Game #114
8 p.m. ET (KFWD; MSG)
FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls meet in a interconference match where both teams are in need of points to move up their respective conference tables. FC Dallas have lost just once in their last seven games but still sit near the bottom of the Western Conference after a rocky start to the campaign. The Red Bulls are playing the final game of a seven-game stretch where six were on the road; they've lost each one thus far, their last victory in a league encounter coming on May 8.
REFEREE: Kevin Stott. SAR (bench): Steven Taylor; JAR (opposite): Kyle Borne; 4th: Jasen Anno MLS Career: 173 games; FC/gm: 26.2; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 49; pens: 34
INJURY REPORT: FC DALLAS - OUT: DF Steve Purdy (R knee); MF Alvaro Sanchez (R ankle); DF Daniel Torres (R hamstring); MF Marcelo Saragosa (R hip); PROBABLE: GK Dario Sala (L knee) ... NEW YORK RED BULLS - OUT: DF Kevin Goldthwaite (groin); DF Carlos Mendes (L hamstring); QUESTIONABLE: FW Juan Pablo Angel (R hamstring); FW Macoumba Kandji (R hamstring strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: DAL: Kenny Cooper (USA, CONCACAF Gold Cup) ... NY: Dane Richards (JAM, CONCACAF Gold Cup); Alfredo Pacheco (SLV, CONCACAF Gold Cup)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: DAL: Andre Rocha
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DAL: Marcelo Saragosa ... NY: Mike Petke, Dane Richards
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (32 meetings):
Dallas 15 wins (0 shootout), 50 goals ... Red Bulls 15 wins (1 shootout), 43 goals ... Ties 2
AT DALLAS (15 meetings):
FC Dallas 7 wins (0 shootout), 25 goals ... Red Bulls 7 wins (0 shootout), 21 goals ... Ties 1
RETURN MATCH:
8/23: FC Dallas at New York Red Bulls, 3 p.m. ET
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/12: DAL 2, NY 0 (Alvarez 1, Cooper 66)
6/21: NY 1, DAL 0 (Goldthwaite 16)
• The teams split their season series a season ago, each winning at home by shutout, FCD with a 1-0 win in Frisco, and the Red Bulls with a 2-0 win at East Rutherford.
• The Red Bulls won both meetings between the clubs in 2007, 11 days apart, and holding FCD without a goal. The win in the first meeting that year snapped a three-game Dallas winning streak against the New York club, its first victory since a 3-2 win by the MetroStars on July 27, 2005 in East Rutherford.
• From 2002-2007, the two teams alternated winning the season series - Dallas winning on the even years, and the MetroStars/Red Bulls on the odd ones. The season split last year was the first since 2001.
• Coaches record: Schellas Hyndman v NY: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Juan Carlos Osorio vs. DAL: P3 W1 L1 D1
FC DALLAS
FC Dallas return to action after having a weekend off, last playing to a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids 10 days ago at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. FC Dallas have 14 points from 15 matches, sitting in seventh place in the Western Conference, a full 14 points in arrears of division leaders Houston Dynamo.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids had come off a second bye week the Saturday before with a dominant 3-0 victory against Eastern Conference leaders D.C. United, while FC Dallas had put the skids on a two-game losing run with a late come-from-behind victory against the Columbus Crew.
• The Rapids dominated all of the early exchanges, but it was FCD that drew first blood in the 37th minute. Jeff Cunningham played the ball forward to Kenny Cooper, who flicked it wide to an unmarked David Ferreira. The Brazilian carried into the area before chipping the ball over the on-rushing Matt Pickens for his second MLS goal.
• Colorado drew even in the 84th minute. Mehdi Ballouchy played a short through ball in behind the Dallas defense and Omar Cummings latched onto it before slotting home inside the right post for his fourth goal in the past three games and the equalizer.
• FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman made one change to the team that came back to defeat the Columbus Crew 2-1 at home the week before. Jeff Cunningham came back in on the right of midfield, in place of the injured Marcelo Saragosa.
• Here's Hyndman's team (4-1-4-1): Ray Burse - Drew Moor, Kyle Davies, Pablo Ricchetti, Anthony Wallace - Dax McCarty - Jeff Cunningham (Brek Shea 46), Andre Rocha (Eric Avila 71), David Ferreira, Dave van den Bergh - Kenny Cooper. Substitutes Not Used: Michael Dello-Russo, Bruno Guarda, George John, Josh Lambo, Blake Wagner
• "They put us under a lot of pressure. It wasn't their day with the finishes. Credit them with fighting until the end and Omar getting a good goal to tie the game," Hyndman said. "To keep them that close with the amount of pressure we took I think shows a lot of character. It's not easy to play in Colorado. At the same time we're missing five starters, we've got to find a way to get points."
TEAM NEWS
• While Cooper did not add to his seven-goal haul from the season against Colorado (fourth in the MLS Golden Boot), he did contribute with his first assist of the season. However, FC Dallas will be without the big striker for at least the next two matches while he's with the U.S. team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
• "It really does (leave) not only an offensive void for everything Kenny brings plus the experience," Hyndman said. "He's started 45 or 46 games in a row so it is a little bit of a change. At the same time, it gives opportunities for others and it will give us a chance to have a different look too."
• Among the candidate to fill in for Cooper up top are second-year forward Brek Shea, who has one assist in seven appearances this year, or Jeff Cunningham, who has one goal and two assists this year.
• "I think (Shea) is ready (to play a full 90) but whether he will or he won't, we don't know," Hyndman said. "We also have Jeff as another striker and Peri (Marosevic) should be coming back. I think we'll have some options. Most of our injuries have been either goalkeeping or defenders, so I think we'll be OK as far as getting people on the field."
• David Ferreira, who scored his second goal in five games against the Rapids, will not be an option to play as an out-and-out striker.
• "We've worked awfully hard in our structure developing things," Hyndman said. "Ferreira has always been our second striker and has the freedom to come back in the midfield, so our system looks like a 4-1-4-1. At times, it looks like a 4-4-2 depending on where he goes. He scores a good goal against Colorado going in as a second striker, kind of disappearing and Kenny gives him a wonderful assist. I think we need a little bit more. That's what we're working on this week, getting other people involved instead of just the striker."
• While Hyndman said goalkeeper Dario Sala is about 90 percent, the FCD boss said he will not be available for selection for the New York match. Ray Burse has started the last nine matches, conceding 11 goals in all (while posting his only clean sheet) and FCD has lost just once in the last seven.
• "He started a little shaky in the first four or five games," Sala said of Burse. "Then, he made a transition. He started to do better in Houston when we lost 1-0 there. And from there, he picked it up and has been doing well. I told him that he needs to be in his comfort zone. It's all about his confidence and decision making. He's young but people say he doesn't have the experience. When I was young, I thought that experience was overrated. Looking back, I realize that you need it to make better decisions. I learned that and think he's going to learn that."
NEW YORK RED BULLS
The New York Red Bulls saw their winless stretch hit nine games, once again falling on the road, this time 1-0 to the Columbus Crew in a rematch of MLS Cup 2008 at Crew Stadium. The Red Bulls have 10 points from 18 matches on the season, good for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, still 13 points behind division-leading D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• The MLS Cup Final rematch featured a pair of teams going in completely opposite directions. The Crew had seen their nine-game undefeated streak come to an end with a late draw in Dallas the week before; they hadn't lost at home in more than a year, in 18 games in all competitions at Crew Stadium. The Red Bulls were riding an eight-game winless streak, with losses in six, and hadn't won on the road in 21 regular season games.
• The game's lone goal came just before the halftime break. Guillermo Barros Schelotto swung in a corner from the right and Chad Marshall skied over a defender to powerfully head past Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven and goalkeeper Danny Cepero just inside the post, the second goal of the season for the Columbus center back.
• Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio made one change to the team that lost 2-0 to Toronto FC at midweek at BMO Field. John Wolyniec came into the attack in place of the injured Juan Pablo Angel.
• Here's Osorio's team (4-1-4-1): Danny Cepero - Jeremy Hall, Andrew Boyens, Carlos Mendes (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 41), Alfredo Pacheco -Seth Stammler - Nick Zimmerman, Luke Sassano, Jorge Rojas, Khano Smith (Danleigh Borman 74) - John Wolyniec (Matthew Mbuta 46). Substitutes Not Used: Albert Celades, Jon Conway, Macoumba Kandji, Dane Richards
TEAM NEWS
• Once again, a late goal in a half doomed the Red Bulls. They have allowed a league-high nine goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half, and six have come in the 43rd minute or later. In addition, they've conceded four goals in the 90th minute or later.
• "If it happened once it wouldn't be that big a deal but we've been talking about it for the last couple of weeks because we continue to do it," Red Bulls midfielder Seth Stammler said. "That's how it's been the last two months. Stupid mistakes defensively and we give up goals and then we're not converting our chances. We've got to step up and take care of our responsibilities."
• Added forward John Wolyniec: "Those are times when teams usually let their guard down. It's a tough time to take a goal. It seems like we've been doing that to ourselves a lot this season. We put in a good effort in the second half and got some chances but it's really hard when you take a goal like that to rally the troops."
• The Red Bulls were without forward Juan Pablo Angel (hamstring) and defender Kevin Goldwaithe, who did not dress because of a bad hamstring. Dane Richards and Macoumba Kandji were nursing injuries, too. They were on the bench but were not among the three substitutes used and defender Carlos Mendes injured his hip and came out in the first half.
• "It's tough but it's an opportunity for some other guys to get some playing time. We have a pretty deep squad," Wolyniec said. "As long as we can put 11 out there we should be confident. Things don't seem to be going our way whether it's injuries or results."
• New York is on a 0-7-2 stretch overall and is riding a league record 22-game regular-season road winless streak (0-16-6). The Red Bulls' last league victory away from Giants Stadium was May 10, 2008 at Los Angeles, although they won two road playoff games to reach the MLS Cup.
• "Obviously, the two away wins were big ones so we can take something away from that but certainly you read it and go, 'Holy cow,'" Stammler said. "We treat road games with the same importance as home games so it's not like we're doing something strategically to let that happen."
• This season, they are 0-9-1 and been outscored 17-1 in away matches and have lost all five matches in this current stretch of six games out of seven on the road, which mercifully ends with the trip to Frisco. Beginning with the July 16 visit by the LA Galaxy, six of New York's next seven games are at the Meadowlands.
• "We've had a lot of games in not too many days and getting little nicks here and there. There's a lot of guys we're missing. Hopefully, we can get them back and start winning," Stammler said.
• On Monday, the Red Bulls announced the signing of former Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, whose rights they acquired for allocation money and a draft selection. Coundoul conceded 21 goals in 17 matches (1.24 GAA) with Colorado last year, posting five shutouts. To create space in the squad, veteran goalkeeper Jon Conway was released.
• "I think he will be aggressive coming for crosses," Osorio said. "Only time will tell. With our past experiences it seems players come to this club and it takes a little more if not much more to play here. But, hopefully Bouna can sustain what is needed to play for the Red Bulls and hopefully he will do well."
