FRISCO, Texas – Schellas Hyndman has never won at RFK Stadium. And it’s a trend he wants to see end.
In his three trips to the nation’s capital, FCD are 0-1-2. His club has also lost play-in games for the US Open Cup there in each of the last two years. FCD fell 4-1 to D.C. United back in April in the latest meeting.
“Since I’ve coached here at FC Dallas, it’s a tough place for us for whatever reason,” Hyndman said. “It could be the hotel. It could be the city, the pollution or all the politicians. I don’t know what it is but the ball doesn’t seem to bounce for us there.”
FCD captain Daniel Hernandez, who has known Hyndman since playing for him as a collegian at neighboring SMU, is at a loss to explain why his head coach hasn’t fared better on United’s home pitch
“I think coach has just had some bad luck, man,” Hernandez said. “It’s always a tough environment going to play on the road. Even though DC has been struggling, we saw what they did against us in Open Cup. I’m hoping we can go in there, take care of business and do what we’ve been doing on the road so far this year.”
FCD’s last win at RFK came on May 28, 2005. Carlos Ruiz scored seven minutes apart as Dallas handed the Black-and-Red a 2-0 defeat on their home field.
But goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who has experienced his share of success at RFK as a member of the Galaxy and Wizards, also doesn’t know why Hyndman’s teams haven’t fared better in the capital.
“[The Galaxy] got a lot of results there,” he recalled. “For some reason at Kansas City, we also did OK. … I think it’s just one of those things. We just have to go about it like any other game and really not put too much thought into it. They haven’t had the best season, so they’re going to take it out on the opposition.”
