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It might not seem like a big deal to most people, but getting to participate in team warm-ups is a big step for FC Dallas rookie Walker Zimmerman. The young centerback was drafted in the first round (seventh overall) by Dallas in last January's MLS SuperDraft, but due to a prior groin injury has yet to practice with the squad.
Zimmerman was considered by many to be a risky pick by FCD because his injury prohibited him from participating in the Combine leading up to the SuperDraft. Head coach Schellas Hyndman said his staff scouted the defender during his college career at Furman well enough to know that he was worth the risk.
"We’d seen him play in college and we knew he was with the Under-20 National Team, so we got a lot of reports on him," Hyndman told FCDallas.com after training Wednesday. "The things we really liked about him were his athleticism, his courage and his character. He’s a lot like George [John] and Matt [Hedges], a similar type of player."
Ever since FC Dallas picked him in the first round, Zimmerman has been working tirelessly to return to the field and show the club that it's faith was not misplaced.
"We know it’s frustrating for him and he wants to be able to help the team," said Hyndman. "He works awfully hard and follows his recovery plan religiously and now we’re starting to see a little life in his legs because he’s really excited to join us in training."
Now that he's started participating in warm-ups, Zimmerman's next milestone will be to take part in a full training session. The recovery process may sound tedious, but Hyndman said it's the best way for players to avoid a more severe injury in the long run.
"Sometimes you’re so anxious to get players back onto the field that you can push them too quick," said the gaffer. "Then when they’re in a game situation, their adrenaline’s going high and they want to help the team, but if something goes wrong then they’re set further back again with another injury.
"We want to make sure he’s capable of the demands of the training session, which will then verify to us that he’s capable of the demands of the game."
Just about everything was going right for FC Dallas through the first half of Saturday's game at Toronto FC. Andrew Jacobson's 34th-minute strike put the away side in front, but a peculiar moment happened just before halftime.
A hard cross fired in by Michel met the head of George John at an awkward angle and while the big defender popped right back up, things didn't seem quite right as they walked off the field at the break. Suffering from some balance loss at halftime, Schellas Hyndman chose to not take any chances and substituted in rookie defender London Woodberry.
While there have been some thoughts that John may not be able to go this weekend against Los Angeles, Hyndman dispelled those fears after practice on Wednesday.
"He had a pretty bad headache and balance loss out in Toronto which really affected our performance, but for safety’s sake we went down the road of protecting players," Hyndman told FCDallas.com. "Yesterday, he was cleared by the doctors and just did a warmup at SMU. Today we got him involved in training, but used him as a neutral to keep him away from heading. Our thoughts are that he’ll be alright for this weekend."
FC Dallas' 2-2 draw with Toronto FC over the weekend had differing effects on the various power rankings around the online soccer community. The most dramatic change took place at MLSsoccer.com, where the Power Rankings politburo dropped FC Dallas from fifth place to seventh.
The rankings by other sources weren't near as harsh, as ESPN FC was the only other entity that dropped FC Dallas, but by only one spot from first to second. Two sites opinions of the club were unchanged by the draw; Yahoo! Sports kept FCD as its number one and Bleacher Report held Dallas steady at second place. Sports Illustrated, on the other hand, actually moved FC Dallas up a spot from fourth to third after the draw.
What do you think? Who has FC Dallas ranked most accurately?
It's been a good month for Andrew Jacobson.
The FCD midfielder scored his second goal of the season on Saturday - a new single-season high - and now MLSSoccer.com has named him to their Team of the Week for the second time in a row. Scroll down to see their comments on the Jacobson's game against Toronto FC and watch his great goal one more time.
MF: Andrew Jacobson (FC Dallas) – A second consecutive Team of the Week honoree, this time for his performance in FCD's 2-2 draw at Toronto FC. Though Dallas eventually dropped their two-goal lead, Jacobson was a force at both ends of the field and did well to open the scoring.
FC Dallas’ Blas Perez, Andrew Jacobson and Michel were ranked in the Castrol Index Weekly Top 20 for Week 6. Perez was ranked fifth after scoring his second goal of the season against Toronto FC.
Jacobson was ranked ninth, while Michel was 18th.
Castrol Index Week 6 Top 20 Performers
|
Rank |
Player |
Position |
Team |
Minutes |
Opponent |
Points |
|
1 |
Donovan Ricketts |
Goalkeeper |
Portland Timbers |
90 |
Houston |
1,358 |
|
2 |
Clint Irwin |
Goalkeeper |
Colorado Rapids |
90 |
Real Salt Lake |
1,284 |
|
3 |
Ryan Johnson |
Forward |
Portland Timbers |
88 |
Houston |
1,228 |
|
4 |
Jack McInerney |
Forward |
Philadelphia Union |
90 |
Columbus |
1,198 |
|
5 |
Blas Pérez |
Forward |
FC Dallas |
90 |
Toronto FC |
1,110 |
|
6 |
Atiba Harris |
Forward |
Colorado Rapids |
90 |
Real Salt Lake |
1,056 |
|
7 |
Sean Johnson |
Goalkeeper |
Chicago Fire |
90 |
New York |
1,055 |
|
8 |
Maicon Santos |
Forward |
Chicago Fire |
27 |
New York |
1,050 |
|
9 |
Andrew Jacobson |
Midfielder |
FC Dallas |
90 |
Columbus |
1,019 |
|
10 |
Chris Wondolowski |
Forward |
San Jose Earthquakes |
90 |
Vancouver |
1,011 |
|
11 |
Dan Paladini |
Midfielder |
Chicago Fire |
90 |
New York |
982 |
|
12 |
Matt Besler |
Defender |
Sporting Kansas City |
90 |
D.C. United |
901 |
|
13 |
Andy Gruenebaum |
Goalkeeper |
Columbus Crew |
90 |
Philadelphia |
896 |
|
14 |
Dominic Oduro |
Forward |
Columbus Crew |
90 |
Philadelphia |
892 |
|
15 |
Joe Cannon |
Goalkeeper |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
90 |
San Jose |
887 |
|
16 |
Jámison Olave |
Defender |
New York Red Bulls |
90 |
Chicago |
885 |
|
17 |
Corey Hertzog |
Forward |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
81 |
San Jose |
883 |
|
18 |
Michel |
Defender |
FC Dallas |
90 |
Toronto FC |
860 |
|
19 |
Claudio Bieler |
Forward |
Sporting Kansas City |
90 |
D.C. United |
844 |
|
20 |
Rodney Wallace |
Defender |
Portland Timbers |
90 |
Houston |
830 |
You can see the full Castrol Index Weekly Top 20 list from Week 6 here.
Raul Fernandez made four huge saves in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Toronto FC, but none was bigger than his sprawling, fingertip denial of Darren O'Dea's flicked-on shot.
MLSSoccer.com has nominated this stop for Save of the Week so head on over and give Raul a vote(or ten)!
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.
Full match highlights from Saturday's 2-2 draw between FCD and Toronto FC
CROSSBAR: Andrew Jacobson pings one off the crossbar on a dipping effort from 30 yards out
GOAL: Andrew Jacobson finishes a free kick from Michel for his second goal of the season to give FCD a first-half advantage
GOAL: Blas Perez blasts home a long cross from Jackson to double Dallas' advantage in the 59th minute
GOAL: Second half substitute Justin Braun scores off a Dallas miscommunication to pull TFC within a goal
SAVE: Raul Fernandez gets a fingertip on Darren O'Dea's flick to preserve the FCD lead
WIDE: Fabian Castillo just misses restoring the two-goal Dallas advantage after a long run
GOAL: Darrel Russel hits an incredible shot in the 90th minute to steal a point for Toronto FC
FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper will be making an appearance at the Rally House next Thursday, April 11. Cooper will be there from 5-7 p.m. and will be accompanied by the FC Dallas Promo Girls. There will be various giveaways, including a four (4) person field-side table for Saturday's game against Los Angeles and autographed cards signed by Kenny Cooper. The Rally House is located off Alpha Road and the Dallas North Tollway, just north of the Galleria.
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!