Blog
An FC Dallas team made up of mostly Under-15 Pre Academy players is currently in Poland touring the country while playing games against Polish sides. For more information on the trip, click here.
Thank you to FCD U15 assistant coach Jesse Suarez for the updates!
Click here for a gallery of pictures from the games against MKS Blekitni Wronki - click here for day 1 & day 2 updates - click here for day 3 & day 4 updates - click here for day 5 & 6 updates
By Jesse Suarez
Day 9:
Saturday, May 4
We started the day with a two and a half hour drive back to the training facilities of Wronki. The boys started very quickly out of the gate. Sebastian Gordillo struck a 25 yard shot in the upper 90 to make the game 1-0 in favor of FCD in just the first minute. Lech Poznan kept an aggressive attack throughout the first half and found the back of the net in the 39th minute when Gras Ernest scored. The second half became a counter attack battle and saw even possession from both teams, but neither team could find the final touch and the game ended at 1-1.
FC Dallas 96' Pre Academy-1
Lech Poznan - 1
FC Dallas XI: Charlie Furrer, Livano Salas (Jeff Withers 56' ), Ryan Jakszta, Antonio Trespalacios, Clay Ritterhaus, Brent Mandelkorn, Reese Schattle, Martin Salas, Sergio Lara (Kody Korleski 60), Sebastian Gordillo, Christian Ramirez
Goals
FCD
1' Sebastián Gordillo
Lech
39' Gras Ernest
The 97's and Lech Poznan played hard to a 0-0 draw in the last game of the week
FC Dallas 97' Pre Academy - 0
Lech Poznan 97's(First place in Polish league) - 0
FC Dallas XI: Matthew Karasinski, Eric Davies, Phillip Ponder, Pablo Ocampo, Alex Lim, Irving Dominguez, Jason Saco-Vertiz, Bernie Zuazua (Joel Avilez 35) (Duncan James 54), Weston McKennie, Richard Tapia (Daniel Kiser 35) (Teague Loughmen 62), Alejandro Martinez
Right after the game, we drove to the Lech Poznan professional game. This was a game in which Lech won 1-0. It was an amazing experience for both the players and staff. We saw their ultra fans at their best and the atmosphere couldn't have been better!
Day 10:
Sunday, May 5
We are now heading back to the States. We will start with a 2 hour drive to Poznan, followed by a 2 hour flight to Munich, Germany. We then had a 9 hour flight to Chicago. From Chicago, we finished our journey back home into Dallas!
On behalf of FC Dallas, the players, parents, and coaching staff, we would like to thank the following people for their great hospitality and welcoming us to their beautiful country! Without them our visit would not have been the same!
Przemek Graczyk
Piotr Kocinski
Joanna Wrotek
Dawid Wrotek
Marek Bojarski
Ewa Bojarski
Filip Bojarski
Andrzej Gryciuk
Maryla Gryciuk
Kamil Gryciuk
Zbigniew Jakubczyk
Zygi "Bus Driver"
Zbigniew Witkowski
Thank you and WE will never forget you guys!
April was a good month for FC Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez. The Peruvian was unbeaten for the month scoring two shutouts while going 2-0-2 overall.
Due to his solid performances, Fernandez was up for the MLSsoccer.com Top 3 Performers of the Month award and FC Dallas fans came out in force voting Fernandez to the top spot.
The Top 3 Performers for April (as voted by the fans):
3. Ryan Johnson (POR) – 3 goals, 1 assist in 4 games
2. Jack McInerney (PHI) – 4 goals in 4 games
1. Raul Fernandez (DAL) – 16 saves, 1.00 GAA in 4 games
Congratulations Raul, here's to an even better May!
An FC Dallas team made up of mostly Under-15 Pre Academy players is currently in Poland touring the country while playing games against Polish sides. For more information on the trip, click here.
Thank you to FCD U15 assistant coach Jesse Suarez for the updates!
Click here for a gallery of pictures from the games against MKS Blekitni Wronki - click here for day 1 & day 2 updates - click here for day 3 & day 4 updates
By Jesse Suarez
Day 5:
Tuesday April 30
Day five was a day to go shopping and sight-seeing. We started the day with a light training session working on stretching, technical skills and a possession game. Our goalkeepers were trained by a special guest coach Mr. Maciek Kowal.
Thereafter, we headed to Poznan to visit the Plaza of Stary Rynek, which is a place where the Polish people shop, dance and eat. We took pictures, purchased items for the families and spent hours enjoying the scenery. We also visited the soccer stadium Lech Poznan Stadion Na Ulicy Bulgarskiej, that hosted the UEFA cup and Europa League games where the Lech Poznan pro team plays. We were hosted by the Sporting Director of Lech Poznan, Mr. Piotr Barlog. Back at the hotel, the boys watched the semifinals of the champions league between Real Madrid vs. Borrusia Dortmund, then had to pack because we were leaving the next day.
Day 6:
Wednesday May 1
The boys were all packed by 8:00 am and left for Poznan by 9:00am for our first game. They were well rested and it showed in our performance against Warta Poznan 96-97's.
The first goal came at the 18 minute when Jason Saco-Vertiz dribbled past the back line and took a shot to the far post which was blocked by the keeper. The ball was left in front of the net and Teague Loughmen scored. The second goal came in the second half when Alejandro Martinez slipped a pass by the defense and Richard Tapia ran on to it to score the goal.
FC Dallas 97 Pre academy - 2
Warta Poznan 96/97's - 0
FC Dallas XI: Charlie Furrer, Eric Davies, Phillip Ponder, Pablo Ocampo, Alex Lim, Bernie ZuaZua (Irving Dominguez 52) , Alejandro Martinez, Duncan James (Daniel Kiser 47), Jason Saco-Vertiz, Weston McKennie, Teague Loughmen (Richard Tapia 47)
Goals:
Teague 18' (Jason Saso-Vertiz)
Richard 68' (Alejandro Martinez)
The second game our 96 team played vs Warta Poznan 95-96' and they won 3 to 1. In the first half, Brent Mandelkorn took a right footed shot past the keeper outside the 18 yard line to score a beautiful goal. The second goal was scored by Sergio Lara who intercepted a back pass to the keeper and scored. Warta got a free kick goal right after which Krystian Lukaszyk scored. The third goal came after a great challange by Jeff Whiters who won the ball against their defense and Christian Ramirez first-timed a shot from about 25 yards and scored.
FC Dallas 96 Pre Academy - 3
Warta Poznan 95/96's - 1
FC Dallas XI: Matthew Karasinski, Kody Korleski (Livano Salas 56) , Ryan Jakszta, Antonio Trespalacios, Clay Ritterhaus, Brent Mandelkorn (Irving Dominguez 75), Reese Schattle, Martin Salas, Sebastian Gordillo (Jeff Withers 69), Christian Ramirez (Bernie ZuaZua 75), Sergio Lara
Goals:
FCD
Brent 39' (Unassisted)
Sergio 48' (Unassisted)
Christian 71' (Jeff Whiters)
Warta Poznan
Krystian lukaszyk- 50'
After the game we drove two hours away to the city of Slesin where we will be staying the rest of our trip. Once we arrived at Wityng Hotel, coach Molina had a recovery session next to the beautiful lake. Now the boys are watching Barcelona against Bayern Munich.
Dobranoc (Good night in Polish),
Jesse Suarez
D Magazine has put out their annual 2013 Best of Big D: Readers’ Choice Poll and FC Dallas was nominated for three awards!
For Best Athlete, Kenny Cooper is up against some stiff competition with names like Tony Romo, Dirk Nowitzki and Yu Darvish on the ballot.
First-place FC Dallas was also nominated for best local sports team and FC Dallas Stadium was nominated for best local sports venue.
Click here to vote FCD!
With his 47th minute goal as well as an amazing 14 clearances according to the OPTA Chalkboard, Matt Hedges earned a spot on the weekly Castrol Index, coming in at 20th overall. With George John out for the second half, Hedges had to come up huge on multiple occasions in Vancouver, leading the back line.
Castrol Index Week 9 Top 20 Performers
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | Minutes | Opponent | Points |
| 1 | Camilo Sanvezzo | Forward | Vancouver Whitecaps | 90 | FC Dallas | 2,088 |
| 2 | Bobby Shuttleworth | Goalkeeper | New England Revolution | 90 | Philadelphia Union | 1,546 |
| 3 | Troy Perkins | Goalkeeper | Montreal Impact | 90 | Chicago Fire | 1,461 |
| 4 | Tim Cahill | Midfielder | New York Red Bulls | 90 | Toronto FC | 1,401 |
| 5 | Chance Myers | Defender | Sporting Kansas City | 90 | Portland Timbers | 1,393 |
| 6 | Brian Rowe | Goalkeeper | LA Galaxy | 90 | Real Salt Lake | 1,371 |
| 7 | Lee Nguyen | Midfielder | New England Revolution | 88 | Philadelphia Union | 1,368 |
| 8 | Mike Magee | Midfielder | LA Galaxy | 90 | Real Salt Lake | 1,332 |
| 9 | Dan Kennedy | Goalkeeper | Chivas USA | 90 | San Jose Earthquakes | 1,325 |
| 10 | Brad Davis | Midfielder | Houston Dynamo | 90 | Colorado Rapids | 1,293 |
| 11 | Chris Wondolowski | Forward | San Jose Earthquakes | 90 | Chivas USA | 1,245 |
| 12 | Ryan Johnson | Forward | Portland Timbers | 71 | Sporting KC | 1,232 |
| 13 | Donovan Ricketts | Goalkeeper | Portland Timbers | 90 | Sporting KC | 1,143 |
| 14 | Drew Moor | Defender | Colorado Rapids | 90 | Houston Dynamo | 1,097 |
| 15 | Diego Fagundez | Midfielder | New England Revolution | 90 | Philadelphia Union | 1,071 |
| 16 | Aurélien Collin | Defender | Sporting Kansas City | 90 | Portland Timbers | 1,065 |
| 17 | Andy Gruenebaum | Goalkeeper | Columbus Crew | 90 | D.C. United | 1,058 |
| 18 | Dwayne De Rosario | Midfielder | D.C. United | 90 | Columbus Crew | 1,002 |
| 19 | Dominic Oduro | Forward | Columbus Crew | 90 | D.C. United | 983 |
| 20 | Matt Hedges | Defender | FC Dallas | 90 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 974 |
After Saturday's draw in Vancouver, FC Dallas slid to the second spot in the MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings saying "On the face of it, a 2-2 draw on the road is a pretty good result. But it came at the price of two starters going off injured, a third going off under the influence of the red mist and a two-goal lead coughed up in the interim. Hey, at least they got the point."
FCD also dropped to the #2 slot in the Soccer by Ives rankings, also noting that FCD struggled a bit when George John and Andrew Jacobson had to come out of the lineup. Dallas retained the top spot in the Soccer America power rankings staying above Los Angeles while the Sporting News rankings dropped FC Dallas to number two.
An FC Dallas team made up of mostly Under-15 Pre Academy players is currently in Poland touring the country while playing games against Polish sides. For more information on the trip, click here.
Thank you to FCD U15 assistant coach Jesse Suarez for the updates!
Click here for a gallery of pictures from the games against MKS Blekitni Wronki and click here for day 1 & day 2 updates.
By Jesse Suarez
Day 3:
Sunday April 28th
Day three was a special day. We drove about one and half hours north to the city of Wagrowiec to play MKS Nielba Wagrowiec. Much to our surprise, we were greeted by the city mayor and the entire MKS club!
The stadium was outstanding and the fans were excited to see the FC Dallas team. Autographs were signed by the players and coaching staff and the introduction to the game was full of excitement with local tv stations present. The boys were nervous and with a little bit of jet lag they didn't start the game well. However, we managed to get an early goal on a hand ball called in the box and Joel Aviles made the penalty kick.
In the 16th minute, FC Dallas was awarded a corner kick and Weston McKennie scored an "Olimpico" goal straight from the corner. After the game, coach Molina and Weston did an interview with the Polish national press which was aired the next day. Immediately after, the team was greeted by the city mayor who invited us for lunch and then the team took pictures and exchanged gifts.
FC Dallas Pre Academy 97 -2
MKS Nielba Wagrowiec 97 -0
FC Dallas XI: Matthew Karasinski, Eric Davies (Teague 65), Joel Avilez, Phillip Ponder, Pablo Ocampo, Alex Lim, Irvin Dominguez (Bernie ZuaZua 63), Alejandro Martinez, Daniel Kiser (Duncan James 50), Jason Saco-Vertiz, Weston McKennie
Goals:
6'- Joel Avilés PK
16'- Weston McKennie corner kick
In the second game, the FC Dallas 96 Pre Academy traveled about one hour away to a city called Szamotuly. The club we played is called MSP Szamotuly who had a mixture of older players. A similar display of gratitude and greeting was displayed by the club. The boys managed to keep a 0 to 0 score at the end of the half. In the second half, MSP scored two early goals and the final score was 3-1 MSP with Sergio Lara scoring for our 96 team.
MSP Szamotuly 94,95,96,97 - 3
FC Dallas 96 Pre Academy - 1
FC Dallas XI: Charlie Furrer, Kody Korleski, Ryan Jakszta, Antonio Trespalacios (Eric Davies 54), Clay Ritterhaus, Brent Mandelkorn (Livano Salas 54'), Reese Schattle, Martin Salas, Sebastian Gordillo (Bernie ZuaZua 59), Christian Ramirez (Richard Tapia 78) Jeff Withers (Sergio Lara 45)
Goals:
0-1 50' min zandecki
0-2 53' min kitlinski
0-3 76' min lagodzinski
1-3 89' min Sergio Lara
Day 4:
Sunday, April 29
The boys had an easy day. We drove back to the training academy facilities of MKS Blekitni Wronki. We were treated by Lech Poznan coaching staff and players to a soccer tennis tournament and barbecue.
The boys had wonderful time meeting new friends. Later in the day, we took a trip to the town square of Szamotuly, but unfortunately everything was closed. The tradition is to close at 6pm here in Poland. The boys still had a great time walking around, taking pictures and being asked for autographs by locals.
An FC Dallas team made up of mostly Under-15 Pre Academy players is currently in Poland touring the country while playing games against Polish sides. For more information on the trip, click here.
Thank you to FCD U15 assistant coach Jesse Suarez for the updates!
Click here for a gallery of pictures from the games against MKS Blekitni Wronki.
Day 1:
Thursday April 25th
We left Dallas at 4:00PM and arrived at 7:00AM in Frankfurt, Germany. We had a layover for a few hours and then took a short flight to Munich, Germany then to Poznan, Poland. At the airport in Poznan, we were greeted by Derek Karasinski's friends and family who took us to the Olympic Hotel which was about one hour away. We had a short training session with the direction of Francisco Molina working on functional defense, Raul Herrera working with the keepers and Jesse Suarez work on shooting drills with the midfielders and forwards.
Day 2:
Friday April 26th
The players had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then had a stretching session for 25 minutes to get ready for their first game. We played a club called MKS Blekitni Wronki in the facilities which they own at a town ten minutes away called Popowo.
First game of the day:
FC Dallas - 3 vs. MKS Blekitni Wronki 97 - 0
In the fifth minute, Erick Davies (our right fullback) ran down the right side of the field, made a diagonal pass across the goal and Alex Lim (our left fullback) shot from outside the 18 yard line placing the ball in the upper left corner. The second goal came in the 38th minute when Jason Saco-Vertiz dribbled pass the midfield and played the ball to Weston Mckennie who made a one time pass to Richard Tapia. Tapia then made a diagonal run in front of the defense and found himself one against one with the keeper and sliped the ball down the left side of the keeper for a beautiful goal. In the second half in the 42nd minute, Bernie ZuaZua applied high pressure on the left fullback and won the ball from him, then bent a shot around the keeper for the goal.
Goals
5' - Alex Lim (Eric Davies)
38' - Richard Tapia (Jason Saco-Vertiz)
42' - Bernie ZuaZua
FCD XI: Matthew Karasinski, Eric Davies (Joel Avilez 41), Phillip Ponder, Pablo Ocampo, Alex Lim, Irvin Dominguez, Alejandro Martinez (Duncan James 53), Richard Tapia (Daniel 41), Jason Saco-Vertiz, Bernie ZuaZua (Teague Loughmen 53)
Second game of the day: FC Dallas - 2 MKS Blekitni Wronki 96- 0
In the 20th minute, a cross from Martin Salas was dropped by the keeper in front of the goal and Brent Mandelkorn finished it into the net. In the 60th minute, Jeff Withers dribbled past two defenders then made a diagonal pass to Christan Ramirez who beat two players and then shot the ball pass the keeper, hitting the upper bar and scoring.
20'- Brent Mandelkorn
60'- Christian Ramirez (Jeff Withers)
FCD XI: Charlie Furrer, Kody Korleski ( Eric Davies 60), Ryan Jakszta, Antonio Trespalacios (Joel Avilez 70), Clay Ritterhaus, Brent Mandelkorn, Reese Schattle, Martin Salas, Sergio Lara (Sebastian Gordillo 53), Christian Ramirez, Livano Salas (Jeff Withers 53)
Full match highlights from FC Dallas' wild 2-2 draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
SAVE: Raul Fernandez comes up big on Darren Mattocks' wide open shot.
OWN GOAL: Michel's corner kick results in a Vancouver own goal for the early 1-0 FC Dallas lead.
GOAL: Matt Hedges finishes the set piece opportunity early in the second to give FCD a 2-0 lead.
POST: Mattocks comes inches away from putting Whitecaps FC on the board.
GOAL: 18-year-old Kekuta Manneh breaks through for Vancouver late in the second half.
GOAL: Brazilian playmaker Camilo equalizes with 15 minutes remaining.
RED CARD: Brazilian midfielder Jackson sees a straight red late in the game.
SAVE: Blas Perez shows great ball control, but Joe Cannon comes up big to keep the match tied late.
This weekend, FC Dallas players will be out in the community at Get Kidz Fit Fest 2013 and Dia Del Nino.
You can catch Ugo Ihemelu, Victor Ulloa, Stephen Keel and Jonathan Top out at the sixth annual Get Kidz Fit Fest 2013 on Saturday afternoon from 12-4PM at Dallas Market Hall. Kids can experience an abundant variety of physical activities and interactive games, meet sports coaches and VIPs and dance to the high-energy performances at the Main Stage party. Admission and parking are free.
Victor Ulloa will be out at the Latino Cultural Center Sunday from 12-4PM as the LCC is celebrating its third annual Día del Niño (Day of the Child). The daylong celebration will feature over a dozen activities focused on theater, dance and visual arts for the entire family. Activities will be held throughout the LCC, allowing families to drop-in on arts and crafts workshops, view theater performances, or listen to a storyteller in one of the galleries.