FC Dallas 2 New York Red Bulls 2
Whew, what a game. There’s been a couple of stinkers the last two games where it’s a bit tough to find thing to write about…not tonight.
Game Thoughts
–I’ll lead off with the incident that everyone will be talking about tomorrow morning. Was it an accident when Henry kicked Hartman? It’s really tough to tell. I’m not going to say definitively one way or the other, but it was 100% reckless and 100% Henry’s fault. He can apologize all he wants while it’s Hartman who could be out for the season(Don’t take this to mean I know anything about the extent of the injury because I don’t). A stupid, foolish play by a veteran who should know better and should be suspended.
-There’s a lot more positives to take from this game than negatives. The biggest was, of course, Eric Alexander. The kid from Indiana outclassed Rafa Marquez the entire night and earned the respect of all his teammates. Huge credit goes out to the coaching staff for drafting this kid…one of the pieces that could put this team over the top and quality depth if nothing else.
-FC Dallas fans can rest easy if Daniel Hernandez is out for very long because Alexander and Dax played off each other very fluidly. Both can occupy the central midfield role and cover for each other excellently. Very, very encouraging for the future…
Lots more game thoughts after the jump
-The one negative from the game…Brek Brek Brek you’ve got to be smarter than that. I think without any back story that foul is a yellow card(in the EPL I’m not even sure that’s a foul), but after jawing with the refs you can’t just sprint 30 yards and do that. He let his team down and probably cost Dallas 3 points. It’s certainly something he’ll learn from and all part of the growing process, but it cost Dallas the game tonight.
-I know we already touched on it, but Dax doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat. He will certainly get the start next Wednesday against New England and the ginger ninja looks bang on form. What a huge lift to the team…
-Great to see Milton bag a goal at home. Hopefully this sets him on a nice little run.
-Dallas may not have gotten the result, but for anyone who has been through the wilderness of 2008 and 2009 I think it’s safe to say we have made it out the other end. An electric crowd, a team that wouldn’t give up no matter what the adversity and everything you could ask for in a game. PHP was alive tonight and it was straight up legitimate.
-8 PM kickoffs…..greatness. If I had one thing I could suggest to Doug Quinn to change next season, it would be 8PM kickoff. Every other major sport lets out around 10PM. It’s not going to hurt ticket sales at all and it helps the crowd atmosphere immensely.
-Huevos, Cajones, Brass ones….call it whatever you want but this team has got ’em.
-We don’t get a whole lot of comments around here, but I’d love to hear what others took from this game as there were enough talking points to fill up a month.
No links tonight, get some sleep…
Big D Soccer 
Alexander should be a MLS Rookie of the Year candidate. The popular media choice right now (Tim Ream)was a complete non factor last night.
Not sold on 8p start times – lots of kids there last night that would not have been if not for the Henry appearance.
Henry should be fined and suspended at least 1 game. That was completely reckless.
I hate how many idiots showed up to cheer for Rafa and therefore the NY. They won’t be back to FC Dallas games.
Rafa, by the way, looked extremely ordinary last night. Henry looked lazy.
Refs sucked. Shea lost his head after getting fouled at midfield and no call. Bad no call led to Shea losing his cool.
Exciting game last night. Alexander played great as did Dax. I liked Milton in the mid-field last night. I think it would be interesting to see him on the right with Cunningham up to in stead of Atiba who keeps blowing chances in front of the goal. Also, I thought the backline played together real well last night. Loyd and Jackson continue to impress. I think the athletism of Jackson has made a hugh difference. He continuely shut down Henry last night.
As far as the 8 pm start, I think its great for the weekend or summer game (especially a summer game). You could still start earlier for mid-week games during school.
I think this was an immense game for this franchise in front of new and national audience (15K attendance?). That is coming from a FCD critic who didn’t understand how mediocre players would dare to give such lackluster effort the past 2 years. Having your captain, GK and your LM gone and still play such a high level game spoke volume for their character. There was so many incidents that got me out of my seats.
Claw for Eric!
Antlers for Dax on chasing down a late stage counter from RBNY
@ Joe I think it’s too late for Alexander to be considered, which is a shame because he’s been immense. Think where this team would be if he wasn’t performing and FCD was forced to put Bruno in his spot.
@Jerry Yeah I forgot to mention Atiba….he’s so frustrating to watch as a forward with his donkey touch.
@pwip There was a foul called on that Dax antlers play that had me up out of my chair yelling at 3AM last night when I was re-watching the game. Unreal call…
1. I can’t get over Henry being so reckless. I have watched the replay a dozen times and Hartman is looking down at the ball, what was Henry thinking? Hartman was having a career year. I believe Hartman has been a catalyst this year for the Defense and i am not sold on Sala, I think he has lost a step. He did play well down the stretch last year but….. I don’t have a lot of confidence. I really bummed out about Hartman, it is one thing if he gets injured during the run of play.
2. On the bright side, the team showed a tremendous amount of heart. Playing down a man and almost pulling out the win.
3. NY defense seemed to fall asleep at times.
4. Alexander played a great game.
5. IS the MLS going to protect it’s players? I know the MLS has a more physical style of play, but there are a lot of fouls and hacks that go uncalled. David F is constantly getting fouled.
2. On the bright side, the team show a tremendous amout of heart.
I hope the coaching staff is cautious with Hernandez’ injury…..not because I’m so worried about Danny, but because I want to see more of the Dax/Alexander midfield pairing. If they can play really well together, and not leave the backline vulnerable, then there is a lot more attacking possibilities with the two of them on the pitch. You can bring in Danny Badass when you are up 2 goals in the 60th, but I want to see this team get aggressive from the start.
Brek is young and passionate. We all love that passion when he takes on defenders and dribbles with confidence and takes wicked shots from the top of the box. But there is a tradeoff, and we saw the bad end of the bargain last night. Considering that he’s never done anything like that before, it’s well worth it for all the greatness we get out of him on a weekly basis.
Let’s keep Milton out there for a while, I think he’s getting his goal on right about now. The good news is that the playoffs are a certainty, so if he doesn’t produce there is little damage and there is always Cunningham waiting in the wings. Rodriquez’s heading ability is a huge addition to the attacking front and something Cunny just doesn’t give us.
Love this team right now….playing with passion and fire….playing as a team….not letting red cards or injuries get in their way…..they knew they were the better team last night, didn’t matter than the other team had Henry and Marquez. Haven’t seen that out of an FCD team in….well….ever.