DALLAS - The rain postponed all but two Dallas Cup games for FCD on Wednesday, but the two that were played were chalk-full of action.
U-19s Draw Queretaro, Miss Knockout Round Qualification
Despite just one point between their first two Super Group matches, the U-19s came into Wednesday’s final group stage match with an outside chance at winning their group.
To do so, they’d need a win over Queretaro and Red Bull Brasil to beat Arsenal, while equaling or surpassing Red Bull’s win margin.
FCD started their match on the wrong foot, however, and allowed the visitors to strike first in just the 4th minute. Midfielder Thomas Roberts won a header in the midfield, but did not get the favorable bounce he anticipated as the ball sat still on the saturated field. Queretaro quickly picked it up, played a ball out wide and beat Carlos Avilez in goal on the counter for the early lead.
From then on, it was Dallas’ game.
Despite increasingly dangerous looks as the first half wore on, the game went to halftime 1-0, but the U-19s came out firing in the second half and leveled the match just seven minutes in off a corner. Roberts headed a ball near the far post back across goal off a corner, where Chris Richards sent a header of his own into the back of the net on his 18th birthday.
The rest of the match held chance after chance for FCD as they dominated at least three quarters of the possession. Christian Cappis, Bryan Reynolds, Ronaldo Damus, Emmanuel Paga and Gibran Rayo all had looks at goal, but nothing else would solve the Queretaro goalkeeper as the match ended 1-1.
“We complicated things in the first half with a lack of concentration early,” head coach Chris Hayden said. “You can’t fault the players’ energy, effort to get forward, fight - a lot of things we look for in the Academy I saw [in the second half]. I’m really pleased with the way they kept pushing to get the second goal to give us a chance to go through.”
U-14s Fall in Final Game of Dallas Cup Super U-14s, by Carla Duffey
The FC Dallas U-14 Academy fell 5-2 to the Real Oviedo U-14 Academy as the tournament's top two teams coming into the day fought for a spot in the Semifinal.
The first half saw Oviedo come out of the gate strong, with the team scoring their first goal in just the 5th minute. In the 21st minute Oviedo scored again to take a 2-0 lead.
FCD answered right away in the 22nd minute when Victor Fimbres was able to pass the ball down the left flank for Berin Droemer, who put it away with a rifle shot straight past Oviedo’s goalkeeper.
Dallas started the second half with a new wave of confidence as goalkeeper Elliott Finley was able to block two shots on goal by Oviedo. The fire for FC Dallas quickly died down, however, as Oviedo scored their third goal of the game.
Droemer was able to pull Oviedo's goalkeeper out of the net for a 1v1 which ended with a beautiful open net goal in the 48th minute, but Real Oviedo went on to score two more goals in the second half to take a 5-2 win.
The U-14s were poised to advance to the Semifinals after all as the best second-place finishers in a group, but a 14-0 win by FC Golden State in their final game later on the day gave the California club the goal differential tiebreaker.
“We are very proud of the team’s performance, now they have this experience on their backs," said assistant coach Jesse Suarez. "With such a big tournament, especially with this one, I am proud of the attitude this team had throughout the match and on the field.”
