If it were another game, Youri Djorkaeff wouldn't have been playing. If the MetroStars had won three in a row going into their final game before the All-Star break, the former French international would have been able to rest his strained hamstring.
But Djorkaeff didn't have that option. Neither did Ante Razov, who has an assortment of aches and pains that normally would have afforded him a night off.
Without captain and MLS MVP Amado Guevara and the Metros limping into Wednesday night's game winless in three in a row, Djorkaeff and Razov put their injuries aside.
And the veterans helped the MetroStars go into the break with a critical victory, coming back to beat FC Dallas 3-2 at Giants Stadium.
"I spoke to [coach] Bob [Bradley] and I said I'm not 100 percent, but I want to be on the field," said Djorkaeff, who wore the captain's armband for the game. "I feel the team needs me and for that I was here today."
Djorkaeff gave the Metros something they've been desperately missing the last three games -- a playmaker in the middle of the park. And he set up Razov for the game's first goal in the seventh minute.
It's been a difficult stretch for Djorkaeff, who missed four of the last five games. But Bradley said Djorkaeff's work with U.S. national team fitness coach Pierre Barrieu, who was in town for the Gold Cup, has been huge for Djorkaeff to get back on the field.
"They can speak French to each other and all that good stuff," Bradley said. "Pierre's done a great job and Youri has really responded and taken the challenge."
After the first two goals of Clarence Goodson's MLS career put Dallas in front 2-1, Djorkaeff helped set up the Metros tying goal in the 68th minute. He sent a deep corner towards the far post that was bobbled by Dallas goalkeeper Scott Garlick. Mike Magee was behind Garlick to knock in the gift for his second goal of the year.
"You don't get too many chances like that," said Magee, who replaced Michael Bradley four minutes earlier. "It was an early Christmas present."
And it was a chance that hasn't gone the MetroStars way this year.
"We deserve one now and then. We haven't had many," Metros coach Bob Bradley said. "More often than not the other team's been the recipient of different things. It's nice for us to have a play like that for a change."
It proved to be a much-needed lift for the Metros. Razov fed Sergio Galvan Rey and the "King of Goals," who had two goals in the opening 20 minutes of the game called back for offside, ran in on Garlick and beat him with a low shot for his fifth goal of the year in the 74th minute.
"I was very sure of this one," Galvan Rey said. "The other two, I was really not in the right position to see if I was on or offside, but on this one I know that I started the run in the correct place and I know I was onside."
The Metros now have five days off to lick their wounds before facing FC Dallas again Aug. 6 in the opening of Pizza Hut Park.
"It's been a while since we won a game and every game we've been in a position to win, gone up a goal or tied and we blew it," Magee said. "Now to get a game where we do the same thing is perfect. It's a tremendous feeling."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
