FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas played D.C. United to a scoreless draw for the second time this season but manager Schellas Hyndman does not gauge Saturday night’s performance by goals and points.
“As I said to the players, I couldn’t ask anymore out of them,” Hyndman said in his postgame press conference. “They gave everything they had. Sometimes we measure people on wins and losses and today was a game I thought we got everything we could.”
FC Dallas created more opportunities than the visiting side, attempting 14 shots, but none was more grimacing than Chavez’s misfire in the second half.
The 27-year-old striker stole the ball from D.C. United center back Brandon McDonald and stormed in alone towards D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid with his teammate Jackson sprinting alongside him. But the Honduran international flubbed the game’s best chance well left of the goal from just inside the box.
“How often does that happen?” asked Hyndman. “He did a fantastic job winning it … and that could have been the game.”
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS: DAL 0, DC 0
Chavez thought his teammate, Jackson, might have been in an offside position, thus reducing one of the options available to him on the play.
“I was thinking of passing it to him but at the same time I thought it was going to be offside,” admitted Chavez. “I felt confident and well – that’s football. We have to keep working hard and rely on our teammates going forward.”
While D.C. United created few scoring chances – forcing one save from FCD goalkeeper Kevin Hartman – they did influence the FC Dallas midfield for much of the 90 minutes.
“They did a good job, especially in the first half,” said the captain Daniel Hernandez, in his first game back since sitting out with a knee injury. “They let us play a little more in the second half but in the first half they were just denying that ball from the defense into the midfield.”
For a team known for its dangerous corps of attackers, D.C. United was able to stymie the FCD attack.
“I had trouble trying to get the ball,” Hernandez said. “It seemed like their all of their forwards were trying to block off that pass. But that’s when we have to look for other options and have confidence in our defense to switch the ball as quickly as possible.”
With FC Dallas facing three road games in the next week, the club chooses to cast Saturday's result in the best light possible.
“This wasn’t one of those games where I thought we played badly,” Hyndman said. “I thought they did a good job of stopping us from doing the things that we wanted to do and then I think we missed some great opportunities.”
Robert Casner covers FC Dallas for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at rmcasner@gmail.com and on Twitter: @FCDallasBeatGuy
