Interview
Letting a two-goal lead slip away with under ten minutes left makes for a long trip home no matter the opponent.
Still, despite coming away from Canada with the solitary point, Zach Loyd knows earning four points from consecutive road games against TFC and New England is an acceptable overall result.
"We come out [of the road trip] with four points, so from that perspective it was a great road trip," Loyd said after Saturday's game. "It was frustrating not to get the six points after being up two goals, but we are very happy to come away with four points. Now, we get two home games where we hope to win both of them and stay at the top of the table."
Before Justin Braun's 85th minute header ended the defensive shutout streak at 272 minutes, the Dallas defense held TFC to just three speculative shots on goal, but unfortunately all that will be remembered is the two late strikes from the home side.
"We got a two goal lead, but we kind of took our foot off the pedal and started sitting in and tried to kill the game instead of continuing to play," said Loyd. "We took a lot of pressure in the last 30 minutes and I tip my hat to Toronto, they were down two goals and they showed a lot of resilience to come back and get two goals."
With LA - a team known for late goals - coming to town on Saturday night, late-game defense will certainly be a focus this week as Dallas looks for three points on Saturday to widen their first-place lead in the Western Conference.
"Going forward with leads we need to not take our foot off the pedal and keep possession," said Loyd.
On Thursday, Dan Hunt joined the FC Dallas Facebook page for his weekly chat with the fans about anything and everything related to FCD. Among the topics discussed include third jerseys, Ajax, and Dan's favorite cold beverage(when he's away from the Budweiser Beer Garden, of course).
Click here to replay the full chat and start thinking of your question for Dan in next week's chat!
Once again, Dan Hunt sat down for his weekly Facebook chat with FC Dallas fans on Thursday afternoon. Hunt answered well over a dozen questions in this week's edition of the chat, and topics ranged from the FC Dallas Academy, to this week's fashion shoot with the players in conjunction with Nieman Marcus, to potential improvements to FC Dallas Stadium and more.
You can see a full recap of this week's chat here, and be sure to join Dan for next week's chat on the FC Dallas Facebook page.
Hunt Sports Group Vice President Dan Hunt sat down for his weekly chat with fans on the FC Dallas Facebook page on Thursday morning. During the chat, Hunt addressed a number of topics in response to fan questions; including the result against Chivas USA, the club's recent television deal, expectations for Kenny Cooper's first season back in an FC Dallas kit and more.
The chats are part of Hunt's recent initiative to be as interactive with FC Dallas fans as possible. The chats take place every Thursday, and you can see all of his answers from this week's chat on the FC Dallas Facebook page here.
A Dallas native, Hunt also wants to interact with FCD fans via his new Twitter account, @DanHuntFCD.
"I want the fans of this club to know how invested I am in the continued growth and success of FC Dallas, and the best way to make sure they know that is for me to talk with them directly," said Hunt. "Social media makes that communication extremely easy for me to let them know that we're all hoping and working for the same thing, and that is for FC Dallas to be a championship team."
Julian de Guzman's last minute heroics against Vancouver have made him the talk of the soccer world this week. ESPN's Jeffrey Carlisle chatted with de Guzman about his revival in Dallas, his time in Toronto and that magical goal that has FC Dallas in the playoff hunt. The entire story is worth your time, but here's an excerpt:
While Toronto limps to another last place finish in the Eastern Conference, de Guzman's arrival has helped revive Dallas' campaign, and his contributions go well beyond his stoppage-time winner last weekend against Vancouver. Overall, de Guzman's play has been sharp, and this is borne out by statistics provided by OPTA. de Guzman's pass completion percentage has been 83.4 percent since joining FCD, compared to just 70.5 percent while with Toronto.
How to explain such a difference then? Is it a case of being surrounded by better players? Is it a matter of style? Or is de Guzman simply in a better place mentally now that his Toronto nightmare is over? It's likely a combination of all three. The arrival of de Guzman in Dallas coincided roughly with the return of several injured players, including 2010 MVP David Ferreira. Just as important, de Guzman feels FCD's playing style suits him better.
FC Dallas midfielder Daniel Hernandez draws inspiration from his younger brother Nico, whose career was cut short by a car accident in college that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
FC Dallas' surge is getting noticed in the soccer world this week and David Ferreira is front and center in media coverage. The MLS Player of the Week spoke with ESPN's Jeff Carlisle and opened up about the difficulty of his lengthy rehab and his concerns about returning to the pitch. The entire piece is worth a read, but here's an excerpt:
"Definitely there were moments I thought that [I wouldn't return]," Ferreira said. "I was committed during all my therapy sessions, but then I injured myself again and nothing resulted quickly. The support of my family was fundamental and everyone as well as the group encouraged me and strengthened to keep looking forward. Thank God things are going well, and let's hope going forward there are no injuries and I can enjoy many more years of soccer."
George John chatted with Gina Miller on Tuesday's edition of The Fan Sports Show on TXA21. The defender discussed the team's current winning streak and also fielded some questions about his Greek heritage.
Midfielder David Ferreira recently did an interview with Spanish media outlet MARCA.com in which the former MLS MVP discussed his highly-anticipated return from injury last month and what FC Dallas needs to do to finish the season strong.
Ferreira also discusses the impact of Colombian players in Major League Soccer, the latest Colombian national team selection and the recent rise of countryman Radamel Falcao.
Click here to read the full interview in Spanish on MARCA.com.
Below are a few translated excerpts from Ferreira's interview:
On his feeling since returning in early July...
"I feel good. I’m getting better little by little and I’m trying to get back to a higher level where I will be able to help the team return to our objective of making the playoffs."
On turning the season around for FC Dallas...
"It’s really a matter of developing a good soccer team. We have gotten better the last couple of games but we know that we can’t afford to lose more points at home. That is the objective."
On Colombian players in MLS...
"I believe it’s important. The Colombian players that have passed through the league have left a name. Because of this, MLS teams have collected many Colombian players. We hope that more will come."
FC Dallas Homegrown Ruben Luna is featured in a Soccer365.com series about MLS' Homegrown Player initiative. The full story is worth a read, as it has thoughts from Luna and his Academy coach Darrin Hedges. An excerpt:
“At that early age, you could just see that he understood the game better than everybody else that was on the field,” Darrin Hedges said. “And he just had the determination unlike any other kids that were out on the field. It was just very apparent that the boy had soccer in his blood.”
At the time Hedges was coaching the FC Dallas Under-12s. Luna was playing for their opponents, Genesis Soccer Club – now known as Genesis Elite FC.
After Genesis went down 1-0, Luna moved up from defense to play striker. He equalized and returned to his starting position on the back line. FC Dallas went ahead once more. And again, Luna moved up top until Genesis leveled the score at 2-2.
FC Dallas would go on to win that game 3-2. But Hedges had seen enough.
“I just told him I thought he played a good game and if he ever wanted to maybe play for a different team or maybe come to FC Dallas and come give our team a look and just about six months later Ruben walked out, walks out to our tryouts and joins our team,” Hedges said.