In our weekly series featuring Schellas Hyndman, the FC Dallas head coach addresses 11 topics in brevity, including Saturday’s 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls, the New York heat, Thierry Henry and the development of a culture of winning.
I-II. After a midweek stop in Toronto, FC Dallas played the New York Red Bulls to an entertaining 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena Saturday evening.
“It was a hard-fought game by both teams. I thought we had a really slow start. We gave them a lot of opportunities in the first half and being down 1-0, [in the] second half, I thought we came to life.”
III. After a poor first half in which FC Dallas failed to register a shot on goal, Hyndman’s crew turned things on in the second 45.
“I thought we took the game to them and forced them to do things that they didn’t want to do.”
IV. For the second straight game, FC Dallas came out after the restart and scored a goal inside the second half’s first 10 minutes.
“We just talked — again reiterated to them that we needed to move the ball early — this was our pregame talk to move the ball early, because it was going to be hot.”
V. And it certainly was hot at Red Bull Arena, with game time temperatures hovering around 95 degrees.
“It was really hot out there, and when you play with one striker it’s really hard to shut down those two center backs.”
VI. But striker and Honduran international Marvin Chávez could not be shut down after the restart, notching a brace with goals in the 51st and 78th minutes.
“Marvin scored two good goals and I thought he had a very good performance.”
VII-VIII. However, Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry equalized the game in the 85th with a left-footed shot from outside the box just minutes after teammate Dane Richards left the game with his second yellow card.
“I think it’s as much as you hate it — being up a man and being up a goal — you like for us to keep going at them because you can move the ball.
“Again, we gave the ball away too easily and kept on putting ourselves back in hole. It wasn’t just Henry’s goal — there were three or four chances where we could have made a tackle and knocked it out of there.”
IX. Henry’s blast gave him his league-leading 11th goal of the 2011 campaign.
“It was a great strike of the ball by Henry. It was just very difficult for the ‘keeper to make the save because he couldn’t see it.”
X. While many teams would be satisfied with the away tie at New York, Hyndman didn’t approach it that way.
“We developed a culture of winning and for us it’s going through every game going to get three points.”
XI. But in the grand scheme of things — four points from two road games in four days — the road trip can be deemed a success.
“My challenges to the players were to make sure that we get some points when we got home. So in that way a win and a tie on the road, we’ll take that.”
Robert Casner covers FC Dallas for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at rmcasner@gmail.com and on Twitter: @FCDallasBeatGuy
