Cruising clubs clash as D.C. meet FCD
Pair of rolling MLS clubs meet with seedings at stake
MLSnet.com Staff
FC DALLAS v D.C. UNITED
PIZZA HUT PARK, Frisco, Texas
7:30 p.m. ET (CSN-DC)
Sept. 1, 2007 (WEEK 22) / MLS Game #142 Two of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer meet at Pizza Hut Park when D.C. United travels to take on FC Dallas. United come into the game riding a five-game winning streak, which equals the longest in MLS this season, and with shutouts in four games over that span. FC Dallas saw their six-game unbeaten streak come to an end in their last game, two weeks ago at Houston Dynamo. The teams have already met once this season and it was a classic - United taking a three-goal lead in the second half at home before FC Dallas came all the way to grab a 3-3 draw in one of the biggest comebacks in MLS history. REFEREE: Brian Hall. SAR (bench): David Bragg; JAR (opposite): Kyle Borne; 4th: Richard Heron
MLS Career: 134 games; FC/gm: 28.8; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 33; pens: 39
Games involving FC Dallas: P30 W16 L8 T6; FC/gm: 28.2; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 6; pens: 12
Games involving D.C. United: P30 W13 L12 T5; FC/gm: 30.5; Y/gm: 3.1; R: 7; pens: 8 INJURY REPORT: FC DALLAS - OUT: FW Kenny Cooper (R tibia); FW Roberto Mina (L knee); DOUBTFUL: DF Michael Dello-Russo (R calf); QUESTIONABLE: MF Juan Toja (R ankle); PROBABLE: GK Dario Sala (L knee) ... D.C. UNITED - OUT: FW Jamil Walker (Achilles rupture); MF Josh Gros (concussion); GK Shawn Crowe (meniscus tear); QUESTIONABLE: FW Luciano Emilio (hamstring strain) SUSPENDED: DC: Brian Carroll (through Sept. 2; five cautions)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: DAL: Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa ... DC: Christian Gomez
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DAL: Chris Gbandi, Clarence Goodson, Drew Moor, Dominic Oduro, Carlos Ruiz, Juan Toja, Alex Yi ... DC: Bobby Boswell, Fred, Josh Gros, Ben Olsen, Greg Vanney
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (29 meetings): FC Dallas 14 wins (4 shootout), 52 goals ... United 11 wins (0 shootout), 54 goals ... Draws 4
AT DALLAS (16 meetings): FC Dallas 10 wins (2 shootout), 31 goals ... United 5 wins (0 shootout), 20 goals ... Draws 1
• This is the second of the two meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for Pizza Hut Park
• A year ago, the teams played to a 1-1 draw in Washington on April 29 before United claimed a 1-0 victory on July 4 in Frisco.
• United has won two of the last four meetings between the teams (with two draws), and both of those victories have come at Pizza Hut Park, the first-ever meetings in Frisco in the series.
• But United haven't defeated Dallas at home since the 2004 season, with FCD winning 2-0 in 2005 before draws now the last two years.
• Coaches record: Steve Morrow vs. DC: P1 W0 L0 D1 ... Tom Soehn v DAL: P1 W0 L0 D1
2007 (MLS)
7/14: DC 3, DAL 3 (Emilio 8, 47; Fred 45 - Ruiz 51; Toja 71, 81)
• When the teams met July 14 at RFK Stadium, D.C. United stormed out to a three-goal lead just after halftime before being reined back in by FC Dallas as the teams played to a 3-3 draw.
• United got off to a brilliant start. Fred's cross-field ball found Jaime Moreno on the right, and he drove a low ball to the near post that Luciano Emilio got on the end of to poke home from close range, after just eight minutes. Then Fred doubled the lead just before the break, getting onto the end of Moreno's looping ball from the right and squeezing a header inside the post.
• The Black-and-Red made it 3-0 in the 47th minute. Ben Olsen corraled the ball on the right side of the area and sent in a short pass that Emilio flicked past FCD 'keeper Dario Sala from the spot. It moved Emilio into a tie for the MLS Golden Boot with 10 goals, his sixth in the last six games, and the rout was on.
• But FC Dallas had other ideas. Carlos Ruiz powerfully headed home the first just four minutes later, when Arturo Alvarez chased down an errant ball and hooked a cross back into the heart of the goal area.
• In the 71st minute, Juan Toja started to put his imprint on the match. Ruiz looped a ball over his head into the United area, and while holding off Brian Carroll from behind, the Colombian playmaker rifled a shot over Troy Perkins to pull the Hoops within one.
• Then 10 minutes later, Bobby Rhine had time to pick out Toja from the left flank, and he made no mistake with his header, snapping it home after Perkins came out too late to claim the cross and the Dallas fight-back was complete.
• The three-goal comeback was the largest in FCD club history. A three-goal rally to produce a win or a draw has happened just twice before in Major League Soccer, both times by the MetroStars - in 1996 when they overcame a 3-0 second-half margin against Tampa Bay and won in a shootout, and in 2003 when the MetroStars rallied from a 3-0 deficit after the break to manage a draw with New England.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Devon McTavish, Bobby Boswell, Greg Vanney, Joshua Gros - Ben Olsen (Clyde Simms 91+), Brian Carroll, Fred - Christian Gomez - Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Guy-Roland Kpene 55). Substitutes Not Used: Nicholas Addlery, Marc Burch, Jeff Carroll, Domenic Mediate, Jay Nolly
• Here's Morrow's team (4-2-1-3): Dario Sala - Drew Moor, Adrian Serioux (Abe Thompson 66), Clarence Goodson, Chris Gbandi - Bobby Rhine, Marcelo Saragosa - Juan Toja (Aaron Pitchkolan 84) - Dominic Oduro (David Wagenfuhr 86), Carlos Ruiz, Arturo Alvarez. Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Shaka Hislop, Ramon Nunez FC DALLAS
FC Dallas returns to action after a week off, after seeing their two-game winning run put to an end in a 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo on Aug. 19 at Robertson Stadium. With the win, Dynamo moved back into the lead in the Western Conference, two ahead of FC Dallas, who have 36 points from 21 matches, now tied for second with Chivas USA (who have played two fewer games). LAST MATCH
• Back-to-back 1-0 losses to Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids had dropped Houston Dynamo into second place in the Western Conference, behind FC Dallas, which had a six-game unbeaten streak in league play.
• Yet the Orange maintained their home dominance over their in-state rivals. The game's lone goal came in the 42nd minute when Dwayne De Rosario sprung Brian Mullan with a ball down the right side, and he sent a low cross into the center of the goal area where Brian Ching ran on and sent a diving header past Ray Burse.
• FC Dallas has still never won in Houston in five matches in all competitions. With the win, Dynamo ensured "El Capitan", the Civil War-era cannon awarded to the winner of the season series, would remain in the Bayou City.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Colorado the weekend before, though they precipitated a number of positional shifts. Out of the team were Craig Waibel and the injured Ryan Cochrane, while Eddie Robinson and Brian Ching came back in. As a result, Nate Jaqua moved back into the midfield, while Richard Mulrooney went to right back.
• FCD head coach Steve Morrow made three changes to the team that defeated the Columbus Crew 3-2 the Saturday before in Frisco. Aaron Pitchkolan came in for the injured Adrian Serioux in the back four, while Bobby Rhine came in for Marcelo Saragosa and Ricardinho made his first MLS start, partnering Carlos Ruiz in place of Abe Thompson.
• Here's Morrow's team (4-4-2): Ray Burse - Drew Moor (Abe Thompson 74), Clarence Goodson, Aaron Pitchkolan, Chris Gbandi - Arturo Alvarez, Bobby Rhine, Pablo Ricchetti, Dax McCarty - Ricardinho (Dominic Oduro 65), Carlos Ruiz. Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Daniels, Boris Pardo, David Wagenfuhr, Blake Wagner, Anthony Wallace
• "I'm disappointed to lose one-nil a couple minutes before halftime," Morrow said. "Apart from a lot of long balls and set plays they threw at us in the first half, we coped with it pretty well and weren't in too much trouble with anything else. At least we tried to play some soccer, get the ball down and knock it around."
TEAM NEWS
• It was a battered FC Dallas team that traveled south to face Dynamo. Juan Toja was still out injured, and Serioux and Saragosa were added to the long-term injury absences that included Roberto Mina, Kenny Cooper and Alex Yi.
• "In the second half, the quality just wasn't there," Morrow said. "We've come with a very depleted team today, a lot of bodies missing as well. So I think the boys did gave their best effort but the quality just wasn't there today."
• Said FC Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez: "We couldn't get our rhythm going tonight. We're a team that I don't think showed our character tonight. We're always good at coming back from deficits and today I don't think we gave it all, including myself."
• As well, Ray Burse was in between the posts for a third game, as Shaka Hislop and Dario Sala were also still out injured. Burse made four saves. "They were pushing pretty hard at us from, I think, the 63rd minute until maybe the 71st," Burse said. "I just had to come up big for my team, keep us in the game, keep us at one-nil and give us a chance to get the equalizer and hopefully the win. Unfortunately it didn't happen tonight."
• After a week in first place, FC Dallas fell back out of the top spot - and then, in their off week, saw Chivas USA pull level in second place in the West. "This was a very important game for us," Alvarez said, "and unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted. There's still a lot of games and we're going to continue going forward."
• Since the match, Morrow has had some good injury news. Sala and Yi returned to full training, as did Serioux, who was held out of the Dynamo game as a precaution.
• "Because we don't have a game this weekend, we want to make sure we're testing him as much as we possibly can with the hamstring," Morrow said. "We want him to be at 100 percent full sprint again before we put him back in. We didn't want to take any risks for him. I think he should be ready for D.C."
• But Morrow was less confident about Toja, while saying Cooper will likely be ready in a week or two. "It was quite a bad ankle sprain. He will take it easy this week and we'll try to get him jogging and see how he goes in the latter part of this week," Morrow said of Toja. "At the moment, I think it's very unpredictable."
• Then on Monday, FC Dallas officially presented Brazilian World Cup winner Denilson as their Designated Player signing. Denilson, who last played with Al-Nasr in Saudi Arabia, becomes the fourth World Cup winner to play in MLS - Lothar Matthaus (Germany 1990), Branco (Brazil 1994), and Youri Djorkaeff (France 1998). He will be available when he receives his work visa - which, in an outside chance, could happen for the United game, but more likely the following week.
• "I think he can fit into a couple of different positions with the way that we play. It was important for me to replace Ramon Nunez in many ways," Morrow said. "He's another option at that spot, attacking midfielder and I think he can do that position for us. With us playing with the three forwards, I think he can also play a wide role in the front three. He gives us a couple of different options with the style of play that we have."
• However, since Denilson is a senior international, it means that when he is added to the roster FCD will have to trade or release one of its four current senior internationals: midfielder Pablo Ricchetti, forward Carlos Ruiz, midfielder Marcelo Saragosa or defender Adrian Serioux. D.C. UNITED
D.C. United extended their winning streak to five games, going to BMO Field and coming away with a 1-0 win against Toronto FC last Saturday. United now have 39 points from 21 matches, still three points behind the New England Revolution for the Eastern Conference lead, but more importantly, now six points ahead of the New York Red Bulls for the conference's second and final automatic spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United came in riding a four-game winning streak, having seen their club record shutout streak snapped at midweek in the 3-1 win against New York. Toronto FC hadn't won in seven games and had gone 552 minutes without scoring a goal, five minutes shy of the league record set by Real Salt Lake in 2005.
• Toronto had two corners and three shots in the first six minutes, but it wasn't enough for the streak-breaking score. At the six-minute mark, TFC officially set the league's new standard for lack of scoring. The BMO Field fans showed a sense of humor by counting down the seconds until the record was clinched, and then "celebrating" the event with streamers and applause.
• Two minutes later, United took the lead. A long ball down the left flank from Troy Perkins was flicked on by Nicholas Addlery, and Fred raced in alone behind the TFC defense. Rounding the corner at a tight angle at the left post, Fred poked a low shot that slipped past Kenny Stamatopoulos and into the back of the net.
• United held on for the shutout, their fourth in the last five games, and their fifth victory in a row. Toronto's last goal came on July 7 - an MLS record 642 minutes played without a goal.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made three changes to the team that defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1 the previous Wednesday evening. Brian Carroll came in for an injured Ben Olsen, while there was a new strike partnership of Nicholas Addlery and Rod Dyachenko in place of Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Greg Vanney, Marc Burch - Brian Carroll, Clyde Simms, Fred - Christian Gomez (Domenic Mediate 84) - Rod Dyachenko (Jaime Moreno 46), Nicholas Addlery (Guy-Roland Kpene 61). Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Boswell, Jeff Carroll, Justin Moose, Jay Nolly
• "You know they came out flying and put us under a lot of pressure, you know sometimes the game -- especially on the road -- it's going to turn into a dogfight and give our guys credit because we've dealt with it pretty well," Soehn said. "They kept throwing in service and free kicks and we were able to dodge a lot, but it was a roll up your sleeve day and work, and that's what we did."
TEAM NEWS
• Spurred on by the home crowd, and trying not to set the ignominious record, United knew they would have to weather an early storm from Toronto FC.
• "It was a great result, any time you can battle for 90 minutes and pull away a road game victory like this is great credit to us, and to the defensive shape of our entire team," said Bryan Namoff. "It's just a great victory all around, we said we wanted to come out strong in the first 15 minutes, we knew they were going to come and press the beginning of the first half, they're at home they have nothing to lose -- they defended like crazy and we were lucky enough to put a ball behind them and get a goal early."
• But the Black-and-Red got the goal they needed and they stood tall in the back for a fourth shutout in their last five games, allowing just a single goal over that time.
• "It's a deep team, there's a lot of guys who are playing well right now and a lot of guys that are confident, and we're defending very well as a team, not just the back four ... and any time you can get zero, then you have a chance to win, and you know we got that one chance early on and Fred took it well," said Greg Vanney.
• The United attack, with Emilio and Moreno given the day off after playing just three nights earlier, struggled after creating the one goal it ended up needing. Moreno did come on at halftime, while Emilio was not available after suffering a hamstring injury against New York.
• "You saw as soon as Jaime came in and Guy [Roland-Kpene] came in, we started dictating a little more of the play," Soehn said. "It still wasn't a great day for us in that respect, but on the days where it's not good, you have to roll up your sleeves and do the other part, and I thought they did a good job of that."
• Troy Perkins made a key save early to ensure TFC would set the record, then in the second half made sure his team would take all three points when he stopped Todd Dunivant as he broke in alone along with striker Danny Dichio.
• "Troy did well; he managed the box very well. You know, they (Toronto) survive on free kicks, they've got a few guys that can hurt you on set pieces, they're a handful, we gave them too many but, Troy managed the box very well and we were able to keep them out," said Soehn.
PIZZA HUT PARK, Frisco, Texas
7:30 p.m. ET (CSN-DC)
Sept. 1, 2007 (WEEK 22) / MLS Game #142 Two of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer meet at Pizza Hut Park when D.C. United travels to take on FC Dallas. United come into the game riding a five-game winning streak, which equals the longest in MLS this season, and with shutouts in four games over that span. FC Dallas saw their six-game unbeaten streak come to an end in their last game, two weeks ago at Houston Dynamo. The teams have already met once this season and it was a classic - United taking a three-goal lead in the second half at home before FC Dallas came all the way to grab a 3-3 draw in one of the biggest comebacks in MLS history. REFEREE: Brian Hall. SAR (bench): David Bragg; JAR (opposite): Kyle Borne; 4th: Richard Heron
MLS Career: 134 games; FC/gm: 28.8; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 33; pens: 39
Games involving FC Dallas: P30 W16 L8 T6; FC/gm: 28.2; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 6; pens: 12
Games involving D.C. United: P30 W13 L12 T5; FC/gm: 30.5; Y/gm: 3.1; R: 7; pens: 8 INJURY REPORT: FC DALLAS - OUT: FW Kenny Cooper (R tibia); FW Roberto Mina (L knee); DOUBTFUL: DF Michael Dello-Russo (R calf); QUESTIONABLE: MF Juan Toja (R ankle); PROBABLE: GK Dario Sala (L knee) ... D.C. UNITED - OUT: FW Jamil Walker (Achilles rupture); MF Josh Gros (concussion); GK Shawn Crowe (meniscus tear); QUESTIONABLE: FW Luciano Emilio (hamstring strain) SUSPENDED: DC: Brian Carroll (through Sept. 2; five cautions)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: DAL: Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa ... DC: Christian Gomez
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DAL: Chris Gbandi, Clarence Goodson, Drew Moor, Dominic Oduro, Carlos Ruiz, Juan Toja, Alex Yi ... DC: Bobby Boswell, Fred, Josh Gros, Ben Olsen, Greg Vanney
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (29 meetings): FC Dallas 14 wins (4 shootout), 52 goals ... United 11 wins (0 shootout), 54 goals ... Draws 4
AT DALLAS (16 meetings): FC Dallas 10 wins (2 shootout), 31 goals ... United 5 wins (0 shootout), 20 goals ... Draws 1
• This is the second of the two meetings between the teams this season, the only one set for Pizza Hut Park
• A year ago, the teams played to a 1-1 draw in Washington on April 29 before United claimed a 1-0 victory on July 4 in Frisco.
• United has won two of the last four meetings between the teams (with two draws), and both of those victories have come at Pizza Hut Park, the first-ever meetings in Frisco in the series.
• But United haven't defeated Dallas at home since the 2004 season, with FCD winning 2-0 in 2005 before draws now the last two years.
• Coaches record: Steve Morrow vs. DC: P1 W0 L0 D1 ... Tom Soehn v DAL: P1 W0 L0 D1
2007 (MLS)
7/14: DC 3, DAL 3 (Emilio 8, 47; Fred 45 - Ruiz 51; Toja 71, 81)
• When the teams met July 14 at RFK Stadium, D.C. United stormed out to a three-goal lead just after halftime before being reined back in by FC Dallas as the teams played to a 3-3 draw.
• United got off to a brilliant start. Fred's cross-field ball found Jaime Moreno on the right, and he drove a low ball to the near post that Luciano Emilio got on the end of to poke home from close range, after just eight minutes. Then Fred doubled the lead just before the break, getting onto the end of Moreno's looping ball from the right and squeezing a header inside the post.
• The Black-and-Red made it 3-0 in the 47th minute. Ben Olsen corraled the ball on the right side of the area and sent in a short pass that Emilio flicked past FCD 'keeper Dario Sala from the spot. It moved Emilio into a tie for the MLS Golden Boot with 10 goals, his sixth in the last six games, and the rout was on.
• But FC Dallas had other ideas. Carlos Ruiz powerfully headed home the first just four minutes later, when Arturo Alvarez chased down an errant ball and hooked a cross back into the heart of the goal area.
• In the 71st minute, Juan Toja started to put his imprint on the match. Ruiz looped a ball over his head into the United area, and while holding off Brian Carroll from behind, the Colombian playmaker rifled a shot over Troy Perkins to pull the Hoops within one.
• Then 10 minutes later, Bobby Rhine had time to pick out Toja from the left flank, and he made no mistake with his header, snapping it home after Perkins came out too late to claim the cross and the Dallas fight-back was complete.
• The three-goal comeback was the largest in FCD club history. A three-goal rally to produce a win or a draw has happened just twice before in Major League Soccer, both times by the MetroStars - in 1996 when they overcame a 3-0 second-half margin against Tampa Bay and won in a shootout, and in 2003 when the MetroStars rallied from a 3-0 deficit after the break to manage a draw with New England.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Devon McTavish, Bobby Boswell, Greg Vanney, Joshua Gros - Ben Olsen (Clyde Simms 91+), Brian Carroll, Fred - Christian Gomez - Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Guy-Roland Kpene 55). Substitutes Not Used: Nicholas Addlery, Marc Burch, Jeff Carroll, Domenic Mediate, Jay Nolly
• Here's Morrow's team (4-2-1-3): Dario Sala - Drew Moor, Adrian Serioux (Abe Thompson 66), Clarence Goodson, Chris Gbandi - Bobby Rhine, Marcelo Saragosa - Juan Toja (Aaron Pitchkolan 84) - Dominic Oduro (David Wagenfuhr 86), Carlos Ruiz, Arturo Alvarez. Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Shaka Hislop, Ramon Nunez FC DALLAS
FC Dallas returns to action after a week off, after seeing their two-game winning run put to an end in a 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo on Aug. 19 at Robertson Stadium. With the win, Dynamo moved back into the lead in the Western Conference, two ahead of FC Dallas, who have 36 points from 21 matches, now tied for second with Chivas USA (who have played two fewer games). LAST MATCH
• Back-to-back 1-0 losses to Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids had dropped Houston Dynamo into second place in the Western Conference, behind FC Dallas, which had a six-game unbeaten streak in league play.
• Yet the Orange maintained their home dominance over their in-state rivals. The game's lone goal came in the 42nd minute when Dwayne De Rosario sprung Brian Mullan with a ball down the right side, and he sent a low cross into the center of the goal area where Brian Ching ran on and sent a diving header past Ray Burse.
• FC Dallas has still never won in Houston in five matches in all competitions. With the win, Dynamo ensured "El Capitan", the Civil War-era cannon awarded to the winner of the season series, would remain in the Bayou City.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Colorado the weekend before, though they precipitated a number of positional shifts. Out of the team were Craig Waibel and the injured Ryan Cochrane, while Eddie Robinson and Brian Ching came back in. As a result, Nate Jaqua moved back into the midfield, while Richard Mulrooney went to right back.
• FCD head coach Steve Morrow made three changes to the team that defeated the Columbus Crew 3-2 the Saturday before in Frisco. Aaron Pitchkolan came in for the injured Adrian Serioux in the back four, while Bobby Rhine came in for Marcelo Saragosa and Ricardinho made his first MLS start, partnering Carlos Ruiz in place of Abe Thompson.
• Here's Morrow's team (4-4-2): Ray Burse - Drew Moor (Abe Thompson 74), Clarence Goodson, Aaron Pitchkolan, Chris Gbandi - Arturo Alvarez, Bobby Rhine, Pablo Ricchetti, Dax McCarty - Ricardinho (Dominic Oduro 65), Carlos Ruiz. Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Daniels, Boris Pardo, David Wagenfuhr, Blake Wagner, Anthony Wallace
• "I'm disappointed to lose one-nil a couple minutes before halftime," Morrow said. "Apart from a lot of long balls and set plays they threw at us in the first half, we coped with it pretty well and weren't in too much trouble with anything else. At least we tried to play some soccer, get the ball down and knock it around."
TEAM NEWS
• It was a battered FC Dallas team that traveled south to face Dynamo. Juan Toja was still out injured, and Serioux and Saragosa were added to the long-term injury absences that included Roberto Mina, Kenny Cooper and Alex Yi.
• "In the second half, the quality just wasn't there," Morrow said. "We've come with a very depleted team today, a lot of bodies missing as well. So I think the boys did gave their best effort but the quality just wasn't there today."
• Said FC Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez: "We couldn't get our rhythm going tonight. We're a team that I don't think showed our character tonight. We're always good at coming back from deficits and today I don't think we gave it all, including myself."
• As well, Ray Burse was in between the posts for a third game, as Shaka Hislop and Dario Sala were also still out injured. Burse made four saves. "They were pushing pretty hard at us from, I think, the 63rd minute until maybe the 71st," Burse said. "I just had to come up big for my team, keep us in the game, keep us at one-nil and give us a chance to get the equalizer and hopefully the win. Unfortunately it didn't happen tonight."
• After a week in first place, FC Dallas fell back out of the top spot - and then, in their off week, saw Chivas USA pull level in second place in the West. "This was a very important game for us," Alvarez said, "and unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted. There's still a lot of games and we're going to continue going forward."
• Since the match, Morrow has had some good injury news. Sala and Yi returned to full training, as did Serioux, who was held out of the Dynamo game as a precaution.
• "Because we don't have a game this weekend, we want to make sure we're testing him as much as we possibly can with the hamstring," Morrow said. "We want him to be at 100 percent full sprint again before we put him back in. We didn't want to take any risks for him. I think he should be ready for D.C."
• But Morrow was less confident about Toja, while saying Cooper will likely be ready in a week or two. "It was quite a bad ankle sprain. He will take it easy this week and we'll try to get him jogging and see how he goes in the latter part of this week," Morrow said of Toja. "At the moment, I think it's very unpredictable."
• Then on Monday, FC Dallas officially presented Brazilian World Cup winner Denilson as their Designated Player signing. Denilson, who last played with Al-Nasr in Saudi Arabia, becomes the fourth World Cup winner to play in MLS - Lothar Matthaus (Germany 1990), Branco (Brazil 1994), and Youri Djorkaeff (France 1998). He will be available when he receives his work visa - which, in an outside chance, could happen for the United game, but more likely the following week.
• "I think he can fit into a couple of different positions with the way that we play. It was important for me to replace Ramon Nunez in many ways," Morrow said. "He's another option at that spot, attacking midfielder and I think he can do that position for us. With us playing with the three forwards, I think he can also play a wide role in the front three. He gives us a couple of different options with the style of play that we have."
• However, since Denilson is a senior international, it means that when he is added to the roster FCD will have to trade or release one of its four current senior internationals: midfielder Pablo Ricchetti, forward Carlos Ruiz, midfielder Marcelo Saragosa or defender Adrian Serioux. D.C. UNITED
D.C. United extended their winning streak to five games, going to BMO Field and coming away with a 1-0 win against Toronto FC last Saturday. United now have 39 points from 21 matches, still three points behind the New England Revolution for the Eastern Conference lead, but more importantly, now six points ahead of the New York Red Bulls for the conference's second and final automatic spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
• D.C. United came in riding a four-game winning streak, having seen their club record shutout streak snapped at midweek in the 3-1 win against New York. Toronto FC hadn't won in seven games and had gone 552 minutes without scoring a goal, five minutes shy of the league record set by Real Salt Lake in 2005.
• Toronto had two corners and three shots in the first six minutes, but it wasn't enough for the streak-breaking score. At the six-minute mark, TFC officially set the league's new standard for lack of scoring. The BMO Field fans showed a sense of humor by counting down the seconds until the record was clinched, and then "celebrating" the event with streamers and applause.
• Two minutes later, United took the lead. A long ball down the left flank from Troy Perkins was flicked on by Nicholas Addlery, and Fred raced in alone behind the TFC defense. Rounding the corner at a tight angle at the left post, Fred poked a low shot that slipped past Kenny Stamatopoulos and into the back of the net.
• United held on for the shutout, their fourth in the last five games, and their fifth victory in a row. Toronto's last goal came on July 7 - an MLS record 642 minutes played without a goal.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made three changes to the team that defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1 the previous Wednesday evening. Brian Carroll came in for an injured Ben Olsen, while there was a new strike partnership of Nicholas Addlery and Rod Dyachenko in place of Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Greg Vanney, Marc Burch - Brian Carroll, Clyde Simms, Fred - Christian Gomez (Domenic Mediate 84) - Rod Dyachenko (Jaime Moreno 46), Nicholas Addlery (Guy-Roland Kpene 61). Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Boswell, Jeff Carroll, Justin Moose, Jay Nolly
• "You know they came out flying and put us under a lot of pressure, you know sometimes the game -- especially on the road -- it's going to turn into a dogfight and give our guys credit because we've dealt with it pretty well," Soehn said. "They kept throwing in service and free kicks and we were able to dodge a lot, but it was a roll up your sleeve day and work, and that's what we did."
TEAM NEWS
• Spurred on by the home crowd, and trying not to set the ignominious record, United knew they would have to weather an early storm from Toronto FC.
• "It was a great result, any time you can battle for 90 minutes and pull away a road game victory like this is great credit to us, and to the defensive shape of our entire team," said Bryan Namoff. "It's just a great victory all around, we said we wanted to come out strong in the first 15 minutes, we knew they were going to come and press the beginning of the first half, they're at home they have nothing to lose -- they defended like crazy and we were lucky enough to put a ball behind them and get a goal early."
• But the Black-and-Red got the goal they needed and they stood tall in the back for a fourth shutout in their last five games, allowing just a single goal over that time.
• "It's a deep team, there's a lot of guys who are playing well right now and a lot of guys that are confident, and we're defending very well as a team, not just the back four ... and any time you can get zero, then you have a chance to win, and you know we got that one chance early on and Fred took it well," said Greg Vanney.
• The United attack, with Emilio and Moreno given the day off after playing just three nights earlier, struggled after creating the one goal it ended up needing. Moreno did come on at halftime, while Emilio was not available after suffering a hamstring injury against New York.
• "You saw as soon as Jaime came in and Guy [Roland-Kpene] came in, we started dictating a little more of the play," Soehn said. "It still wasn't a great day for us in that respect, but on the days where it's not good, you have to roll up your sleeves and do the other part, and I thought they did a good job of that."
• Troy Perkins made a key save early to ensure TFC would set the record, then in the second half made sure his team would take all three points when he stopped Todd Dunivant as he broke in alone along with striker Danny Dichio.
• "Troy did well; he managed the box very well. You know, they (Toronto) survive on free kicks, they've got a few guys that can hurt you on set pieces, they're a handful, we gave them too many but, Troy managed the box very well and we were able to keep them out," said Soehn.
