Philadelphia Union @ FC Dallas – 8/12/2014, 8pm CST

Tomorrow night FC Dallas will play their most important match since losing 2-1 to Colorado Rapids in the 2010 MLS Cup Final. Dallas gets a beatable opponent in the Philadelphia Union, a team they beat 2-1 in Frisco on July 4^th. The stakes are high: on the line for Dallas is an opportunity to a host a Cup Final on their home pitch. During the MLS All Star festivities, US Soccer conducted a coin flip that awarded the right to host the US Open Cup Final to the winner of the FCD v Philly semifinal. Home field is great, but potentially avoiding a final in Seattle, on turf, and in front of 40,000 fans is a huge break.

FC Dallas comes into this game on a fantastic run of form, going unbeaten in their last 11 matches across all competitions. Since a 2-1 loss to San Jose on May 31^st, Dallas has 5 wins and 3 draws in MLS play, taking 18 of 24 possible points and moving up to 3^rd in the Western conference. After outclassing Colorado on Saturday night for a 3-1 win, FCD is tied with Portland for most goals in MLS play, having scored 38 times in 23 matches (Philly is not far behind though, leading the East with 36 goals in 23 matches).

Dallas’ season can be broken into three different stretches:

Stretch #1, games 1-5: 4 wins, 1 draw. They began the season on fire, leading the league in scoring and taking a nice lead in the standings after the 5 game unbeaten run. The 5^th match of this stretch saw FC Dallas absolutely destroy their in-state rivals, Houston Dynamo, 4-1 in Houston.

Stretch #2, games 6-15: 1 win, 7 losses, 2 draws. Dallas goes 10 games with only 1 win (which came at home against a Jermaine Defoe-less Toronto FC). The other 9 games in this stretch saw FC Dallas drop 25 of a possible 27 points, losing 7 matches and drawing 2. Just like 2012 and 2013, FC Dallas’ season was off the rails with a disastrous late spring/early summer winless slide. The team was ravaged by injuries, missing their best defender in George John (out for 2014), their best D-mid in Hendry Thomas (also out for the year now), and their critical #10 Mauro Diaz (fully returned from injury now). The team also dealt with injuries at FB and racked up a ridiculous number of red cards. Through 15 MLS games, FC Dallas had managed just 1 clean sheet (against RSL at Rio Tinto, oddly enough). Unfortunate scheduling in the month of May was also a reason for FCD’s poor play in stretch #2. In mid May, FC Dallas played five matches in 18 days, including two brutal double-game weeks. All five of these matches were against Western conference opposition and four of the five were on the road. The club took 1 of a possible 15 points in those 18 days. It was painful to watch, but it is history now, and the injuries gave manager Oscar Pareja a chance to develop young players who now make FCD a deeper squad (namely, homegrown D-mid Victor Ulloa, homegrown left-back Moises Hernandez and rookie Canadian striker Tesho Akindele).

Stretch #3, games 16-23: 5 wins, 3 draws. The summer has been good to FCD. MLS powerhouses like Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy, Seattle, Sporting KC, NY Red Bulls and Houston were without some their best players for about two months due to the World Cup – The USMNT camp began on May 14^th and most players didn’t get back into their respective MLS squads until mid July. Last week’s All-Star festivities brought unwanted midseason travel demands on a lot of those same star players (see ASG preview below). But not a single FCD player was voted onto the All-Star roster or selected for a final World Cup roster (or preliminary roster for that matter). It’s not very exciting/sexy for the fans or very useful for FCD’s marketing team, but it gave the injured players time to recover and the healthy ones a chance to get their legs back. FC Dallas played Portland to a 2-2 draw at Providence Park on June 11^th, World Cup Eve, and Major League Soccer began a break that lasted through the group stages in Brazil. The draw versus Portland was the second game in FCD’s current 8 game unbeaten run. Since the break, FC Dallas is not only getting results, but playing really good soccer. Manager Oscar Pareja has been flexible, using a 4-2-3-1 formation during stretch #1 that featured the dynamic Argentine playmaker, Mauro Diaz. FC Dallas was averaging 2.4 goals per game before Diaz was injured vs. DC United in the club’s 8^th match of the season. However, stretch #3 has seen Pareja go to a 4-4-2 as FC Dallas does not have an ideal replacement #10 for Mauro Diaz at this point – interesting side note: FCD management made a move during this transfer window to get Sacha Kljestan, but came up short. The new 4-4-2 has been a great formation for a team that struggled to keep clean sheets early on, and with the emergence of large, strong (and pretty good) rookie striker Tesho Akindele, FC Dallas now has the additional forward required to produce in the 4-4-2. However, now Mauro Diaz is healthy again and Pareja has tough decisions to make. Mauro is too good to no start in this league, but it will be hard to abandon the 4-4-2 that saved Dallas’ season.

That is sort of an update on what FCD has been through this year and where they stand heading into this cup semifinal. I didn’t even get to the wingers, but both are stupid fast and have played for Colombian youth national teams. If you do tune into an FCD match, watch out for #11 and #91, very entertaining. Check out these two quick highlights of Fabian Castillo in a recent match (#11) if you like:

1) True separation speed, some filth, and a nice cross

2) Speed kills, still working on that last touch

On Saturday night, just 72 hours before the semifinal kicks off, FC Dallas took a 3-0 against Colorado and was able to sub out some players and keep some fresh legs heading into Tuesday. Philadelphia also played on Saturday, taking a 2-0 lead in the 63’, eventually beating Montreal 2-1 in a game where they were able to make key subs for the upcoming semifinal. Dallas and Philly both played at home last weekend, but I love the fact that we will not have to travel, while the Union will face a trip down to Texas and a bout with the summer heat, not to mention a hot FCD squad. If we play our game and don’t make a massive mistake (red card, PK etc…), then I believe we are the favorites.

I don’t exactly follow other teams, but I keep an eye on the league and here is my take on the Union in 2014:

Philly has had a bit of an up and down year in MLS play; a lot of writers feel they have underachieved to this point, having collected 27 points in 23 matches, good for the 5^th place in the relatively weak Eastern conference. Due to their inability to close out a few games, perform up to their potential with healthy XIs, and their poor standing in the table, the Union fired manager John Hackworth in early June. They replaced him internally with Jim Curtain and the team is getting better results. Philly was active in the transfer window, bringing back a former player, CB Carlos Valdes, that most seem to think is a massive upgrade for a team who has leaked some silly goals at inopportune times in 2014. Amobi Okugo and Maurice Edu, two guys I think of D-mids, have been playing a lot of CB for Philly recently, so it is possible this transfer for a CB actually upgrades Philly’s defense and their midfield. Philly also brought in a good GK, picking up the fella who started in goal for the impressive Algerian squad at this year’s World Cup – have no idea how to spell or pronounce his name, but he’s good. Lastly, Philly brought in a guy who was leading the Jamaican league in scoring. Check out this awesome highlight video if you feel like it:

Some highlights were better than others, but I think Brian Brown could be pretty productive here in MLS. For what it’s worth, in his debut MLS appearance, after being subbed on in the 69^th minute, he scored an equalizer at SKC in the 71^st minute. I believe it was his first or second touch in Major League Soccer. The new CB should definitely play on Tuesday, the GK is a strong possibility and the striker may come off the bench if I had to guess. Like Dallas Philly has been in a pretty good run of form, I saw this on Twitter earlier:

Both the Union and FC Dallas are in extremely competitive playoff races. However, I believe this semifinal is a higher priority for FC Dallas, which had lower MLS expectations prior to the season (new coach + the West is stacked). Philly has a quicker turnaround, playing on Friday night while FCD does not play until Saturday.

Should be a fun match tomorrow night. There is a lot on the line. I’ll take FC Dallas 2-0 in the end. In the other match Seattle hosts Chicago Fire. I give Chicago about a 10% chance.

Speaking of watching, here are a few general thoughts on the coverage of the USOC:

The tournament is still mostly unknown or overlooked (see “Soccer Therapy: USOC Style” below) but it is a little more accessible to viewers across the nation every year. This year, US Soccer has been live streaming the USOC “match of the round” on their website. Naturally, Seattle v Chicago on Wednesday is that game for the semifinal round – the FC Dallas game can be found on either FC Dallas’ team site or Philadelphia’s. The cup final will be broadcast on live cable television! It will be on GolTV, a small Florida based station that shows cool soccer stuff (including “Oh My Goal” and Live Bundesliga matches). GolTV isn’t exactly ESPN, but I did not think the US Open Cup would be getting live matches on cable TV in 2014, so this is a step in the right direction.