particularly in defense -- took too long to become confident and comfortable, and though their experience this year should prove helpful next spring, the club can only look back at 2005 as an opportunity missed.
"We have to be better then what we were last year," said FC Dallas coach Colin Clarke. "We came up short at the end of the year for different reasons you; can make excuses, but at the end we weren't good enough and we need to improve for next year."
The Hoops' season ended in painful fashion, falling to the Colorado Rapids on penalty kicks after playing to a 2-2 draw on aggregate in their Western Conference Semifinal Series. Despite having a lead and a man advantage in extra time, FC Dallas couldn't get the job done.
"We need to be mentally stronger," he added. "We made a few too many mistakes at bad times in games that cost us. We gave up goals late. We went into the playoffs against Colorado, we go 2-1 up, we're up a man, and we give up a goal within 30 seconds and 30 seconds from the end of the first half of overtime.
"So that's the part of the game we need to work on and get mentally stronger and get a lot more focused at important times during the game. We went through a lot of adversity last year, and that's going to stand us in good stead [in 2006]."
Things started out great for the new-look FC Dallas this year. After acquiring three new stars -- forward Carlos Ruiz, midfielder Richard Mulrooney and defender Greg Vanney -- prior to the season, the club burst out of the gate, picking up 10 victories and three draws in 15 games through the end of June.
But a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to the New England Revolution on July 16 brought the runaway Texas train to a screeching halt. Two Taylor Twellman goals -- one in the 90th minute and another in stoppage time -- turned a 2-1 FCD win into the most crushing loss of their season.
The Hoops didn't recover from that game for two months. All of a sudden, the Dallas defense was leaking goals, and soft ones at that. Taking leads wasn't difficult, but holding onto them seemed impossible. Potential wins turned into draws, and potential draws turned into defeats.
According to Vanney, the club was deeply shaken by that loss to the Revolution. At the time, Vanney was away with the U.S. national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, but when he returned, the team's fortunes didn't change. Instead, the club's composure and swagger vanished, and all of sudden, the Hoops had to teach themselves how to win again.
"It kind of just turned into a little bit of ... a cancer, kind of, that spread through the team," Vanney said. "We were giving away soft goals and things like that. We were unable to get the ship going back in the right direction, and it just turned into lost confidence for a lot of players that are young and still trying to find a way to perform every week.
"The results were just turning against us," he added. "But I think it was maybe a learning process ... what we needed to learn early in the season, we were doing it kind of in the middle of the season."
The first step in FC Dallas' eventual downfall actually came in Week 7. Mulrooney, who had quickly become the engine in the Hoops' midfield, went down with a torn right ACL in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes -- his former team -- on May 14.
The club might have survived that one setback, but before long, strikers Eddie Johnson and Ruiz had caught the injury bug, too. Johnson, who was supposed to team with Ruiz to form the best strike force in the league, went down with turf toe at the end of May and played a total of just 15 matches, six of them after June 1. "El Pescadito" battled ankle problems and missed significant time due to duty with the Guatemalan national team and personal issues. In all, Johnson and Ruiz appeared on the field together only 14 times.
"For me, it was disappointing that we didn't get to see what all of our supposed weapons were supposed to be," Vanney said. "Carlos and Eddie hardly ever played together this year because one guy was injured, the other guy was injured, one was on national team [duty], the other guy came back, he was injured. We never got to put our group of supposed weapons on the field at the same time and see what we really had."
Said Clarke: "You'd have loved to have seen Eddie and Carlos play all season up front together, and Mulrooney in the midfield with [Simo] Valakari and [Ramon] Nunez and [Ronnie] O'Brien. That's an exciting six right there. It didn't happen; we'd love to think that next year it will happen and we'll get them all on the field for 32 games and into the playoffs. I think if we do, we'll be very, very hard to beat."
And they've got valuable experience to build on. The play of Aaron Pitchkolan and Drew Moor made veteran Carey Talley expendable at season's end. Nunez and his late season form saw him develop into a bonafide star, scoring several important goals for the Hoops. Abe Thompson and Roberto Mina came of age amidst the club's trials and tribulations in the second half of the season.
The same young players that seemed out to sea while FCD went winless in 10 games from July 2 to Sept. 10 eventually came around to be solid contributors. That gives Clarke reason to believe the future is bright for the Hoops.
"Certainly, a lot of the young players played a lot more than they thought or we thought they would at the start of the year," Clarke said. "A lot of young kids played very well, and that's going to help them down the road."
With the 2005 season in the rearview mirror, Clarke and his staff will have time to reflect on a less-than-impressive showing from the defense. The defense started off well with one of the best goals-against averages in the league in the early going, but came undone over the winless streak.
The need to have someone step up in Vanney's stead will be important in 2006, as he will certainly be on the short list for inclusion in the U.S. squad for the World Cup. Clarence Goodson made great strides as a second-year player, and under the tutelage of former Northern Ireland international defender and current FCD assistant Steve Morrow he is looked to continue his upward arc.
"[Goodson] came in during the second year and earned the starting role, and had a very good year," said Clarke. "I think had it been his first year he would probably be up for Rookie of the Year. Now it's up to him to continue to improve and be the starting center back."
Most importantly for FC Dallas, the 2005 season -- while falling short of expectations -- is a watershed in that two years ago, not a single soul would have expected the club to compete for a cup anytime soon. Simply having high expectations is a novelty for this club.
"We have a little bit more pressure on ourselves to get the results that we get," Vanney said. "With the experience of this season and having a winning season under the organization's belt, as well, I think it gives us a little confidence going into this year, and maybe a little extra fight because it ended a little bit on a sour note."
Added Clarke: "We feel that we're in a position now where every year we're going to be competing, and competing at the very top to win the cup. The depth of the squad, all the way through, we're very excited about and looking forward to the future."
Ron Goode, Jason Halpin and Scott Joiner are contributors to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
