FRISCO - Happy rainy Monday morning to you all - it looks like we brought the rain back with us from Vancouver over the weekend. FC Dallas and the Whitecaps played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday, and let’s take a look at a couple of things we learned from the match.
Maxi Urruti for MVP
While on a league level the bigger names will likely overshadow the Argentine, Urruti’s work over the first 15 games has been MVP quality for the team. We saw just how talented Urruti is as he struck his eighth goal already this season - two off his career-high in MLS. His work off the ball has caused defenses trouble all season long, and he single-handedly won the ball back deep in the midfield and took it all the way to goal for the opening goal after a bleak first half. FCD hasn’t had a 10-plus goal scorer since the 2014 season and the confidence of their vibrant striker could see him work his way up the Dallas record books.
| Goals in a Season | FCD Player (Year) |
|---|---|
| 18 | Jason Kreis (1999) Kenny Cooper (2008) |
| 17 | Jeff Cunningham (2009) |
| 15 | Ariel Graziani (2000) |
| 13 | Jason Kreis (1996, 2002) Carlos Ruiz (2006) |
| 12 | Dante Washington (1997) Eddie Johnson (2004) |
Mauro is Back to Fitness
We’ve seen bits and pieces of the Magician over the last few weeks, but after the eights days that were the Portland-Open Cup-Vancouver gauntlet, it’s safe Diaz is fully available for Oscar Pareja and FCD. He went 26 minutes two Saturdays ago in Portland (on turf), a full 90 on Wednesday in Open Cup and then another 22 minutes Saturday against the Whitecaps (again, on turf).
I’d venture to say we could see his first MLS start of 2017 this week in Houston.
Defensive Stalwarts
We saw the importance of the veteran FCD back line on full display. Maynor Figueroa was easily one of the best performers of the match with team-bests in clearances (8), interceptions (6), blocks (2) and recoveries (7). Matt Hedges added five clearances and two recoveries and his presence was unmistakable as Dallas held Vancouver to just two shots on target, one of which was a perfectly-placed free kick that led to the Whitecaps’ lone goal.
