Wednesday was quite a day for Marcelo Saragosa. First, FC Dallas completed the negotiation to acquire his rights from the Los Angeles Galaxy. L.A. had released him on June 28 after he had started 10 games in the central midfield for them this season.
The 24-year-old Brazilian had arrived in the Lone Star State from L.A. earlier in the day, and was slated to see between 15-20 minutes of action in the first leg of FCD's battle with Tigres UANL for the Rio Grande Plate.
Saragosa capped off his first day with the Hoops in storybook fashion, scoring in the 87th minute. He received a well-placed corner kick off the foot of rookie teammate Dax McCarty and headed it home to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team. It was his first goal since he scored the game-winner in the 74th minute of the Galaxy's 2-1 win against Kansas City on Sept. 25, 2005.
Head coach Colin Clarke was impressed by his newest midfielder's debut.
"He scored a goal," Clarke said. "I thought he did very well. We talked to him before the game and when he flew in this morning. He hasn't played in a few weeks and hasn't had a lot of training (recently)."
Clarke added that Saragosa told him before the game that he wanted to play about 15-20 minutes against Tigres and the FCD coach agreed.
"He said 15-20 minutes would do him and we agreed with that," he said. "I thought it was a good 15-20 minutes from him. He's a good player and I thought he did well when he went in."
Saragosa entered the game in the 73rd minute, coming in for Ramon Nunez, and just 10 minutes after he came on he saw the Hoops take the lead, setting the stage for his goal. He is clearly ecstatic about being one of the newest players for FCD.
"I'm very happy with making the move to FC Dallas," he said. "They have a very strong team and right now, they are in first place. I knew coming in that this team was the one most prepared to fight for the Western Conference title."
His new head coach feels that Saragosa will fit into his current mix of players quite well.
"I think he's going to complement what we've got here already," Clarke said. "He can play both ways. He's good defensively and reads the game well."
Clarke also feels that Saragosa should thrive with the Hoops because he will be able to be more involved in the attack than he was with the Galaxy.
"In L.A., he was asked to sit more and defend," he said. "He's better when he can get forward and express himself a little bit. The good thing is that he's 24 years of age. I think he's a good fit for us."
One thing Saragosa is ready to jump right into is getting comfortable playing with a whole new batch of teammates.
"I've always looked to be able to be on the field and to be able to integrate myself with my teammates," he said. "I look forward to getting used to playing with my new teammates."
When asked about why he thought the Galaxy had parted ways with Saragosa, Clarke chalks it up partly to him not being a good fit for them at the time.
"It was probably a little of that (him not being a good fit at the time) and them having too many players in the midfield," he said. "I don't know what the problem was, but we're very happy to have him here."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
