FRISCO, Texas – Sometimes in a match, players swear they can just feel a goal coming.
Less frequent are the times they say they know it’s coming before the match.
“Je-Vaughn Watson told me yesterday that he was going to score today, so he’s good for his word and it was a great three points for us,” FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman told reporters after the match, a 2-1 victory for the home side courtesy of Watson's late heroics.
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Telling the coach wasn’t enough, though. Watson said that he also called his mom in Jamaica and said that he was going to score a Mother’s Day goal for her.
“That’s the easiest goal I ever scored in my life,” Watson laughingly told reporters about the ball he chested into the net at the back post after a Michel corner. “I don’t care how it comes, it’s a goal and I am going to be there to finish it. It was so easy, I just made sure I’m in the spot because I was just determined to score tonight.”
Watson’s goal ended up being the game-winner because Dwayne de Rosario hit a late first-half free kick to level the match at 1-1. Hyndman said he was upset with the goal – the first goal given up by FC Dallas in the first half all season – and he let his players know it at the half.
He also let them know he was very pleased with what he saw the rest of the match.
“Today, I thought we had a really difficult first half,” Hyndman explained. “But we challenged them and they came back and showed their character. For me, it was a complete domination in the second half.
“What I said to the players after the game was that they showed real character tonight. When is character really being measured? It’s not when everything is going well in your life and your dad buys you a BMW. That doesn’t show your character. It’s not when you’re just as happy as can be and you get a great inheritance. When character is really being measured is when you’re having a difficult time. When you’ve got your back up against the wall.”
