FRISCO, Texas - FC Dallas are no strangers to playing meaningful games down the stretch.
In 2014, the team played six of their final eight games against teams that ultimately made the Western Conference playoffs. Now, third-place FCD are in the middle of five game stretch that will see them play four times against teams above the red line, with a rivalry match against Houston, a team pushing for a postseason spot, sandwiched right in the middle on Sunday (5 pm ET, ESPN2).
“Everybody knows what the intensity is going to be like now,” center back Matt Hedges told MLSsoccer.com. “We’ve got to start ramping it up. It’s going to be a whole different level.”
One difference between this year’s stretch run and last season’s is the performance of the defense. In last season’s final nine regular season games, Dallas never gave up more than two goals in a game. In fact, that streak stretched back to April 26 of last season, when Dallas gave up four goals in a loss to D.C. United.
Fast forward to today, and Dallas have given up three goals in two consecutive games to Western Conference contenders LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City. They’ve also given up three or more goals four times this regular season and once in the US Open Cup, compared to just twice in all competitions in 2014.
But Hedges believes the defense’s recent struggles have more to do with where they’ve been playing as opposed to how they’ve been playing.
“We’re on the road. That’s a big one,” Hedges said. “It’s never easy to play on the road. We only have four road wins this year, which is middle of the pack. I think playing on the road is always tough. When those teams come here, we hang three or so goals on them.”
Head coach Oscar Pareja attributed the woes to a combination of the talent they’ve faced, lack of communication and poor execution. But when it comes to addressing the problems, he does not want to single any individual out.
“I don’t just split up the things that much on my approach,” Pareja told MLSSoccer.com. “I think it’s my responsibility to always think as a unit. When you score goals, it’s a unit effort. And when you give up a goal, it’s a unit.”
While Pareja has repeatedly shaken up his lineup in recent weeks, the backline has been the least volatile group. With the exception of adding a fifth defender against Kansas City two weeks ago, the core of Hedges, Atiba Harris, Zach Loyd, Je-Vaughn Watson and goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez have remained in the back for the last three games.
With three of the final five games at home, where Dallas sports a 10-2-2 record and goals against average of 0.93, Dallas have faith that defensive improvement is on the horizon.
“We’ve got this,” Hedges said. “It’s two games that we’ve given up three goals on the road against two of the best teams in the league basically. Before that, we had a good stretch of games where we gave up zero or one goal. It happens. We have one of the better defensive records in the league, I think. So we’ll turn it around and get some shutouts.”
