The motorcycle...

Things seemed be getting back to normal today. For instance, it was back to mid-90's by the time training ending some time after 11 am. Also, Juan Toja was back to full training.

We're told that Bruno Guarda has received his visa, which makes him eligible to play in games held in the U.S. However, since he's Brazilian and we're playing in Toronto on Sunday, he needs another visa to enter Canada. There's a good chance he'll have that by Friday afternoon, and then its up to the coaching staff to see if he'll travel.

Friday will be the last practice in town before Toronto. Normally, we'll train here on the morning before we fly to road games. However, this time we're leaving early on Saturday morning and training at BMO Field later in the afternoon.

So, about the photo above - on Monday, our kit man Marcus rode his bike in to work. Dominic Oduro and Aaron Pitchkolan borrowed the FCD Blog camera. As you can see, Dom can take good pictures.

Wallace from the Milk Cup

FCD has three players on the U.S. U-20 that is currently playing in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. Being the veteran of the three, we asked Wally if either he could send us a short note on how things are going, or ask one of the rookies...Anthony's note:

"I have a room to myself, so it'll just be my update on the trip, if that's fine.

Hey what's goin on guys. Yep, all is good out here. And yes, I have been hearing all the buzz going on with the team right now...very interesting time at FC Dallas these days.

We followed our game against the Galaxy on matchtracker, caught it about 35 minutes in and saw we were up 3-0. I haven't talked with anyone that was at the game yet, but I'm sure we dominated play.

The trip has been going really well. It's always good to be back with old friends, teammates, coaches, and staff. For the first two days, we stayed at a university in Belfast that was nice. Rooms were extra small. I mean, they were dorms, ha. We had a match against a local professional team while we were there. It was a good test for us because at the last minute we found out we were playing against them at a totally different field than where we practiced. We got a good result there, winning 3-1.

We took about 45 min bus ride from Belfast to Ballymena the next day, had two good practice sessions before the opening game against Northern Ireland, which we lost 3-1. No need to talk about that game.

Today (Wednesday) we played Wales and won 4-0 which was a great turn-around for us. Josh and I played 90, and Brek played like 75 - and he scored the first two goals for us. Now on Friday we play for 3rd place against Belgium.

So, good trip so far. Hopefully we get another win on Friday."

Abe's Goal of the Week

Abe's bending shot to the far right side in Sunday's 4-0 win over LA was voted as the MLS Goal of the Week today through fan voting on MLSnet.com. The last GOW by a Dallas player was Chris Gbandi's strike against RSL in 07.

Photo: Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas

More from Around the World...

It's been a couple busy days upstairs since the last training session...The guys had Tuesday off, and were back at work today. Schellas addressed the team prior to practice about the recent announcements...the acquisition of Bruno...that Kenny is staying...that Arturo is leaving...and Juan Toja's status.

Then, he put the team through what is becoming a normal session...long and intense, but functional. The day ended with a running exercise - though that may be an understatement, as the guys were gassed when it ended...they met at the end of the training on the field and learned they have another session at the Michael Johnson Performance Center this afternoon. These are the days we’re glad we get to type.

MORE NOTES:

**While we still see the FCD name in media in Wales and Norway, we're moving on to other countries. Hitch tells us that the talks with Steaua Bucharest (Romania) have progressed, but nothing has been finalized. Toja, recovering from his quad injury, worked on the side with the training staff, and joined the team for the last drill of the day - the running part.

**Remember Victor Sikora - the forward / midfielder from Holland that trained with us a couple weeks ago? We're looking to bring him back...nothing has been finalized, but the coaching staff really likes him...

**Last Friday we told you that John Ellinger and Schellas were going to meet to discuss John's trip to Argentina...they’ve identified two River Plates players that they’ve requested permission to bring in, to see them with the current group: Lucas Gomez, a 21- year old forward, and 19-year old Lucas Malacarne, a left-sided defender. It's likely that next week we'll have both of the Lucas’ and Victor training with us.

**Jamie Watson is here again. The staff called him in for Monday's reserve game, and asked him to come back for the rest of the week.

**Forward Assan Jatta from The Gambia is still training with the team. Schellas tells us that they wanted to see him in a larger field session, which was one part of today's training.

**Former UCSB goalkeeper Bryant Rueckner, who played with Eric Avila in college and John Ellinger knows from residency, has been training with us since last week.

**Arturo Alvarez stopped in to say goodbye to the team and staff, and pick up his belongings. He’s on his way to San Jose on Thursday.

**Bruno Guarda (in photo above) participated in his practice with the team today. He’ll wear #12. He's not technically a Generation adidas player, but like the Crew's Robbie Rogers, who was also taken in a lottery last year, he does not count on the senior roster. He does count as our fourth Brazilian player. Bruno will be eligible to play once he gets his P-1 visa, which could be next week.

**Dax McCarty played the second half for the U.S. Olympic team in a scoreless draw with Ivory Coast in the opening match of the ING Cup in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The U.S. plays Cameroon on Saturday.

**Brek Shea and Anthony Wallace played the full 90 while Josh Lambo was an unused sub on Monday for the U.S. U-20 in a 3-1 loss to host Northern Ireland. They play Wales today.

Cooper Staying

FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock issued the following statement regarding transfer offers for Kenny Cooper.

“We received offers from multiple international clubs for Kenny Cooper during this transfer window, but we elected to decline them all. The international interest is a credit to Kenny, FC Dallas and the ever increasing talent level in Major League Soccer.

“Winning championships is our priority, and we feel strongly that Kenny will continue to be an important part of our success as we compete for the MLS Cup this year and in the future.”

Cooper voted MLS Player of the Week

With his two goals and assist in the 4-0 win over LA, Kenny today was voted the MLS Player of the Week. Its the second time he's received the honor in his career. Congrats Kenny!

The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).

PHOTO: MLSnet.com (Rick Yeatts/Getty Images)

FCD Trades Arturo Alvarez

We had the sense this may be a busy week - late this afternoon, we completed a trade that send Arturo Alvarez to the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for allocation money and their first round pick in the 2009 SuperDraft, which was originally Houston's - acquired last week in exchange for forward Kei Kamara.

Artie was here for three and a half seasons, playing in 85 regular season game and scoring 11 goals with 11 assists. We wish him well (except when he plays Dallas, of course).

FCD Acquires Bruno Guarda

PHOTO: SMU Athletics

Here we go...the first news (of the week)...today, we acquired former SMU midfielder Bruno Guarda from Colorado. We give up our 2nd and 3rd round picks and allocation money. Bruno will occupy a place on the teams developmental roster.

Bruno played three seasons under Schellas at SMU. He's pretty excited to go pro, and have the opportunity to finish his degree here in Dallas.

The Rapids won a special lottery to obtain the rights to Guarda on July 22. Special lotteries are conducted by the league among interested teams for players who are not eligible to be discovered and who were not drafted (like Robbie Roger's last year). Twelve of the 14 teams participated in last week’s lottery for Guarda’s rights.

From the front office...

We've received and answered questions from the media about both Kenny Cooper and Juan Toja. However, we continue to see inaccurate reports on various internet sites.

Yes we have received offers for Juan Toja and Kenny Cooper, and other players as well. Nothing has been finalized with any of them. It's a tribute to the players on this team, and the growth of the league when foreign clubs are watching the talent that plays in our league.

Last week, there were internet stories that erroneously reported that Toja had been sold. That never happened. Media that has asked any of us that are actually involved had the right story.

Toja never told any member of the media that the teams had agreed to terms, and was visibly frustrated when he was told that such a quote was attributed to him. Now, we have media reporting the Kenny Cooper is on his way to Europe. Which was news to him as he finished his recovery session and watched the reserve game on the adidas field this morning here at Pizza Hut Park.

Most fans and media understand that when there are any negotiations, it’s not common for teams to discuss those matters publicly. If anything gets resolved, we’ll be here to let you know, obviously when all the final i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

Thanks again for your support of FC Dallas.

FCD Reserves 2, LA Galaxy Reserves 2

Michael Dello-Russo scored in the 90th minute to give the FC Dallas Reserves a 2-2 tie against the LA Galaxy Reserves this morning on the adidas Field.

Ricardinho put FCD up early with a goal in the 14th minute. Chase Wileman sent a ball from the left across the field to Bobby Rhine, who one-touched the ball forward to Ricardinho in stride. Ricardinho calmly poked the ball past onrushing LA keeper Josh Wicks.

The Galaxy evened the score on a 52nd minute goal from Bryan Jordan, and then Alan Gordon put LA up 2-1 just twelve minutes later with a header off an Israel Sesay cross.

Dello-Russo helped FCD pick up the point just a minute before the final whistle when he received the ball near the right sideline. Dello-Russo then dribbled to his left toward the center of the field, cut back just inside the penalty area, and struck a hard shot into the upper left corner of the net.

Full recap will be posted on fcdallas.com shortly.

FCD 4, LA Galaxy 0

UPDATE: What a game...4-0 for the good guys. Kenny scored twice in the first 17 minutes, and then Dominic and Abe closed it out. The offense unleashed 25 shots, four went in and three more that hit the cross bar...the midfield did not let them breathe...and the defense only allowed two shots on goal. We dominated them!

In the post-game press conference, Kenny did not want to talk about his future, instead wanting to talk about how special this win was since it was Schellas Hyndman's first in MLS play. He says he doesn't know what his future holds. When Schellas was asked, he said he doesn't want to think about not having Kenny.

(EDITED, postgame: Kenny grabbed the ball after the game, and brought inside. He then asked all the players to sign it...and then they gave it to Schellas for his first MLS win.)

Some notes: Some may not realize it, but we're on a four game undefeated streak...FCD is now 17-1-6 all-time when Cooper scores...nine of the 11 goals he's scored this year have either tied or given FCD the lead - the other two goals increased the lead (like tonight)...Cooper moves into 4th place all-time in team's scoring charts...Michael Dello-Russo and Chase Wileman made their season debuts, making their second and first ever appearances...Eric Avila made his first career start...Chase gets his first assist...Oduro scores his fifth goal of the season, while Abe nets his third...Dario and the defense get their fifth shutout of the year, the 16th of Sala's career, which puts him in second all-time for the team...the team started of in Schellas' prefered 4-4-2 today
===============================

FCD Jr. Split with Houston

FCD Jrs. U-16s (above) and U-18s (below) prior to each of their first games at Pizza Hut Park. Photos: Jimmy Vanegas / FC Dallas.

Ruben Luna scored twice in the first half to give the FCD Juniors U-16's a 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo U16s today at Pizza Hut Park.

In the second game, Houston scored twice in the last five minutes of the first half, but Gabriel Funes got one back just before the whistle. With FCD pushing everyone forward in the second half, Houston knocked one more in during stoppage time for a 3-1 win.

FCD Juniors U-16 (4-4-2): 21-Nelson Morales (1-Reece Doan 75), 4-Giovanni Gomez (14-Eddie Vega 75), 5-Daniel Premenko, 6-Jacob Gerondale (2-James Daniels 70), 3-Tony Cruz (12-Jose Perez 46), 17-Alex Molano (15-Rigel Mathis 60), 8-Chris Figueroa, 16-Moises Hernandez (10-Bryan Leyva 30), 7-Victor Ulloa (22-Ralph Velasco 56'), 18-Rafael Martinez (11-Jonathon Top 56), Ruban Luna.

FCD Juniors U-18 (4-4-2): 1-Jaime Ibarra (0-Chuy Cisneros 80), 7-London Woodberry (20-Enrique Sanchez 85), 3-Jael Barrerra, 4-Abe Juarez (6-Forrest Harrington 70), 2-Cody Adams (23-Kalon Parmon 70), 12-Nate Dombrowski (15-Bradlee Baladez 46), 5-Ramiro Funes (16-Joshua Hernandez 46), 8-Alexei Reyes (18-Clint Ramos 55, 22-Trey Rayfield 75), 11-Damian Rosales (17-Noel Luna 57), 10-Jesse Gamino (14-Dalibor Golubovic 70), Gabriel Funes.

Three games today

Three games today at Pizza Hut Park...Our staff will be there for all three (or, some of our staff will be)...will you?

The FCD Juniors U-16s play the Houston Dynamo U-16s at 12:15...the Jrs. U-18s play Houston's U-18s at 2:15...and FC Dallas faces the LA Galaxy at 6 pm...A limited number of tickets are still available for the game.

El Salvador 0, Jamaica 0

The national teams of El Salvador and Jamaica played to a scoreless draw tonight in a friendly exhibition match at Pizza Hut Park in front of 11,482 predominantly Salvadorian fans. Both teams used the game as preparation for the Semifinal Round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup which begins on August 20.

The Day Before the Game...

The guys had their last practice this morning before Sunday's game versus LA (6 pm CT). Both Juan and Kenny made it back safely from Toronto on Friday afternoon, though only Kenny trained today. Juan stayed inside, attending to a left quad knock he picked up on Thursday. Kenny is available, but we'll know more about Juan's status on Sunday.

Following practice, Arturo fielded questions from some of the Salvadorian media in town for tonight's game. Last year, he often fielded questions from the media asking if he would consider playing for El Salvador. We get the feelings those questions came back up today.

At the same time, over on the Dr. Pink field, Oscar Pareja, Chris Hayden and Francisco Molina put both the U-16 and U-18 Juniors teams through their last session before their games tomorrow. The FCD Juniors will play a friendly against their Houston Dynamo counterparts on the stadium field on Sunday, the U-16s at 12:15 pm, followed by the U-18 at 2:15.

Last month, the FCD U-16's defeated Houston 3-1 and the U-18s tied 1-1 in their first ever meeting. Fans are welcome to attend the games tomorrow. Click here to learn more about both Juniors team.

Ellinger back at PHP

John Ellinger landed this morning at DFW after spending the first part of the week in Argentina. We caught up with him a few hours later at FCD's practice, and he tells us he had a very positive and hopefully benefitial experience.

On Wednesday morning, he attended a scrimmage between River Plate's 88/89s against Venezula U20's , which ended in a scoreless draw, but gave him a chance to look at a couple of players. Keep reading...

He also had a chance to take in training sessions for what they call "Baby Soccer" - which is 5 v 5 with goalkeepers. Players from ages 8-13 play this twice a week and then play a match on Saturdays. They also train for 11 v 11 three days a week and play an 11 v 11 match on Sunday. So players aged 8-13 participate 7 days a week! There are official standings kept of both "Baby Soccer" and 11 v 11. All of the age group brackets for River Plate have pools of 35 players."

The River Plate first team returned from preseason in Uruguay last Monday, and had Tuesday off. They had a light session on Wednesday which John attended, but he wanted to take in a full practice, so he decided to stay on Thursday's to watch both the reserves and the first team train.
We didn't bug him too much to give us some names of players that caught his eye, since he and Schellas were to meet later in the day to go over such details. We'll see if we can give you some names next week.

Drew arrived in Brazil yesterday morning and has already taken in one game, with another set for today, and one more on Saturday. We'll find out what his trip was like when he returns on Sunday morning.

El Salvador vs. Jamaica, July 26 at PHP

UPDATED (8 pm CT): An old friend of ours was at the El Salvador team hotel tonight - Jorge 'Zarco' Rodriguez. With a lot of Salvadorian media in attendance, the popular 'Zarco' informed everyone tonight that he is retiring after 18 years as a professional soccer players, six of those years with us. Zarco had contemplated a couple of offers from teams in his native El Salvador, but today decided that he's satisfied with his career accomplishments as a player, and wants to dedicate more time to his family. Continue...

Many long-time Dallas fans remember Zarco for his effort and commitment to the team, having appeared in 155 regular season games and scored 25 goals. We want to wish Jorge all the best in his next phase of life and his career.
==================================
We're winding down the use of the stadium field, two games left to play this weekend before we re-sod. On Saturday, we're hosting our sixth match between national teams since the stadium opened (second this year), when El Salvador plays Jamaica here at PHP. Kick off is scheduled for 6 p.m. We're anticipating the game to have a large contigent of Salvadorian fans.

JAMAICA- Head Coach, Rene Simoes
Goalkeepers: Donovan Ricketts (Bradford City – England), Shawn Sawyers (Portmore United)
Defenders: O'Brian Woodbine (Reno), Jermaine Taylor (Harbour View), Adrian Reid (Portmore United), Lance Laing (Harbour View), Keniel Moodie (Seba United), Nathan Koo-Boothe (out of contract).
Midfielders: Ricardo Cousins (Portmore United), Hugh Howell (Waterhouse), JeVaughn Watson (Sporting Central), Eric Vernan (Meadhaven United), John-Ross Doyley, Evan Taylor (Reno), Wolry Wolfe (Joe Public FC - Trinidad), Andy Williams (Real Salt Lake-USA).
Forwards: Kavin Bryan (Harbour View), Keammar Daley (Meadhaven United), James Thomas (Portmore United), Omar Cummings (Colorado Rapids-USA).

EL SALVADOR - Head Coach, Carlos de los Cobos
Goalkeepers: Juan Jose Gomez (Firpo), Miguel Montes (Nejapa)
Defenders: Manuel Salazar (Firpo), Jonathan Barrios (Alianza), Rolando Torres (Alianza), Alex Escobar (Metapan), Marvin Gonzalez (FAS), Ramon Flores (FAS), Shawn Martin (Aguila), Alfredo Pacheco (FAS) - captain.
Midfielders: Ramon Sanchez (Alianza), Christian Castillo (Alianza), Oscar Jimenez (Alianza), Osael Romero (Vista Hermosa)
Forwards: Jose ‘Chepe’ Martinez (Alianza), William Reyes (Metapan), Salvador Coreas (Vista Hermosa), Emerson Umaña (FAS), Rudis Corrales (Aguila), Rodolfo Celaya (Alianza)

FCD vs. LA Preview

Ray Burse is listed as ‘out’ for Sunday's home game against the Galaxy as he has not been able to train this week due to a right ankle injury. With keeper Josh Lambo away with the U.S. U-20 team in Northern Ireland for the Milk Cup, the team will call in League Pool goalkeeper Mike Graczyk to serve as the backup this weekend. This will be Graczyk’s seventh appearance on the FCD bench this season.

Andrew Daniels will also be listed as 'out' after picking up a knock to his left knee during yesterday's practice. Bobby Rhine has participated in full training for the last few days, so he's been cleared off the injury list.

Watch a video preview of Sunday’s game, featuring comments from Schellas Hyndman and Arturo Alvarez.

All-Star Game Tonight

UPDATE (Postgame): MLS All-Stars win 3-2 on goals from Gomez, Blanco and DeRosario. Kenny played the first half and Juan notched the assist on Blanco's goal. Check out MLSnet.com for a full recap and box score.
=====================================
UPDATE (5:45 p.m.): Kenny and Juan are both starting tonight!

Here's the MLS starting lineup: Matt Reis (GK), Frankie Hejduk, Jimmy Conrad, Jonathan Bornstein, David Beckham, Pablo Mastroeni, Shalrie Joseph, Juan Toja, Christian Gomez, Cuahtemhoc Blanco, Kenny Cooper.

========================================

Catch Kenny Cooper and Juan Toja as they take on West Ham United in tonight's MLS All-Star Game at Toronto's BMO Field (live on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT). Read all about the game here and feel free to use this as a forum to discuss.

Two-A-Days

The team finished training today on a strong note with a common drill that seemed to be kicked up a notch. Here’s how it works – the team is split into groups of 4 field players each and the game is played on a twenty yard field with full goals, with the groups rotating in and out quickly (keepers stay in the nets).

The small field doesn’t allow for any rest and you could hear Schellas encouraging the guys to play tight defense everywhere on the field in order to cause a turnover and create a quick transition score. To top it off, some groups played for two minutes while other groups played for one. This of course means that if you’re one of the teams that just played for two minutes, you only get a one minute break before you get back out on the field.

At the end of the session, everybody had tired legs and Schellas applauded all of the guys for their hard work. This afternoon, the team will also head over to the Michael Johnson Performance Center for some additional core strength work, before coming back in for regular training tomorrow morning.

Dax Officially Named to U.S. Olympic Team

UPDATE 2 (10:30 a.m.): We have now officially confirmed that Dax is going to the Olympics, replacing the injured Nathan Sturgis on the U.S. roster. Dax caught an early flight this morning to join the Olympic team for training in Palo Alto, California today.

Apologies for the mix-up last night, but we were asked to hold off on the announcement until Real Salt Lake had been contacted regarding Sturgis' injury.

The Olympic Team will travel to Hong Kong on Friday, July 25 for the ING Cup, facing fellow Olympic participants Ivory Coast on July 30 and Cameroon on Aug. 2 in the final two matches before the start of the Olympic Games.

The U.S. has been drawn into a difficult Group B at the Olympic Games and will open against Japan on August 7 before facing the Netherlands on August 10, with both games taking place at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Tianjin. The team will then travel to Worker’s Stadium in Beijing to conclude group play against 1996 gold medalist and 2005 Under-20 World Cup champion Nigeria on August 13.

Check out ussoccer.com for more info on the U.S. Olympic Team.

===========================================

UPDATE (Wednesday night): we'll try to come back with the original post which stated that Dax was added to the U.S. Olympic team. But late tonight, we've been asked to remove this info. We'll try to clarify what the situation is / was in the morning.

Ellinger from Argentina

Couple notes this morning...John Ellinger has extended his stay in Argentina, staying there until Friday. With that, Drew Keeshan traveled to Brazil to attend a couple of Atletico Paranaense scrimmages. It's good to have a larger coaching staff.

John, as executive director of FCDs Youth Program, has had a great opportunity to take in how River Plate runs their youth program. At the same time, he's getting the opportunity to look at some of their younger professional players. He shared the following on Wednesday (keep reading):

On Tuesday morning, I watched River Plate's youth team training, which included U14-U20. While the lower age groups sessions were great to observe, I spent most of my time watching players in the U18 and U20 groups. The U20 team plus several first team reserves will play against Venezuela U20's this morning at 9:00 (Wednesday).

After lunch, I met with CARP Youth Director-Gabriel Rodriquez (who worked with Pablo Richetti when he was here) for two hours discussing everything regarding how the youth teams are organized.

Some notes: each age group from U14-U20 has around 35 players each...on any given weekend during the season, the players will either play with the first team from the age group in the National Youth League or on the team that plays in the Metropolitan League....all first division clubs put teams on the field for these games...the teams train five times a week, then play on Saturday, and are off on Sundays...the U20 plays in the 4th Division, the U18 team plays in the 5th Division, the U17 team plays in the 6th Division and so on.

In the afternoon, I watched U11-U13 training sessions. The U8-U10 teams were training in what they call "baby soccer" which is 5 v 5 w/GK's. If time allows, I'll try to talk more about this tomorrow.

Heading to Europe..

We add another country - Northern Ireland...

Brek Shea, Anthony Wallace and Josh Lambo have been called up to the U.S. U-20 team for the Milk Cup in Norther Ireland.

The team will travel on Thursday, July 24, and will have four days of training before playing matches against host Northern Ireland on July 28 and Wales on July 30.

Good luck to all three.

From Toronto...

We're all over the place, bringing you updates from Frisco, Argentina, and now Toronto.

Kenny Cooper and Juan Toja both arrived in Toronto on Tuesday, and joined some of their fellow All-Stars for a light workout at BMO Field. Today, with just about all the players in, the MLS side was able to go through a more structured practice.

This morning, Kenny joined MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Toronto FC's Jim Brennan in opening the Toronto Stock Exchange.

It's a great scene here, as these event often are. Mingling throughout the host hotel here in downtown, we see representatives from every team, many sponsors, and a lot of media. MLS does a great job branding these events, from the moment you walk off the plane, and throughout the hotel and surrounding areas.

Finally, we told you last week that we are in negotiations with a team that is interested acquiring Juan. And, sitting here at 8:30 pm ET on Wednesday, July 23, we can tell you that no deal has been reached at this time.

Ice Cold

This morning’s training session was fairly standard, running just shy of two hours. One of the highlights of the day came from the sidelines at the end of practice while Andre Rocha and Arturo Alvarez were catching some shade under the tent. Assistant equipment manager Daniel Granados snuck up behind Rocha and dumped a cooler full of ice water on him, which had many of his teammates laughing hysterically.

Kenny Cooper and Juan Toja were out today, as they’re in Toronto preparing for tomorrow night’s All-Star Game at BMO Field. While we were missing those two guys, we gained another in Gambian trialist Assan Jatta (pictured in red).

Jatta arrived to the Dallas area yesterday and he tells us this is his first trip to the United States. Jatta last played for Lierse S.K. of the Belgian second division, and has made 12 appearances for the Gambian national team, scoring six goals.

Ellinger checks in from Argentina

As many of you know, John Ellinger is down in Argentina this week - at River Plate, specifically. He sent us the following a note this morning...continue reading.

My flight from Dallas on Sunday was delayed two hours, so I arrived at the hotel in Buenos Aires around 12:00 pm local time on Monday. River Plate had someone pick me up, and I went to lunch with Alfredo Wodke and Oscar Ojeda, two of the gentleman that met with Hitch in Frisco a couple of weeks ago.

After lunch, I went to River Plate's stadium - el Monumental - and was given a great tour of their complex. Some interesting things:

The club has a private school with about 1300 students inside the stadium...the first team stays in rooms inside the stadium from two nights before each match (home or away)...I got a tour of the home locker room, which has access to a complete medical facility, with doctors' offices, x-ray rooms, rehab, everything you can think of...about 100 youth players live in a separate dorm facility on the stadium grounds...the place also has has a large pool, which is currently being used by the Argentine Olympic swimming team....and, the complex also has practice and match facilities inside the stadium for River Plate's basketball, handball, and martial arts teams.

The tour lasted a little over three hours, and then I met with River Plate's Manager of Youth programs. I'll be seeing him again this morning at 8:30, and spend much of the day observing River's youth training session for players from ages 11-19. Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'll be at the first team training session, and then watch the match between River Plates 'B' team and Venezuela's U-20s.

I believe Schellas has stated the positions we're looking to strengthen. There are a few players we want to see more closely, and the setting will also allow us to perhaps see other players we may not yet know.

Juniors and Reserves

UPDATED: The FCD Juniors U-18 team today scrimmaged the first team, which was made up of players that did not see (much) action last Saturday against Colorado. It was the first time we've been able to do this since the Juniors program got underway, and both Schellas and Oscar told us that they'd like to do games like this more often.

It was, again, incredibly hot out here, and with the sun blazing - so the scrimmage was set for two 25 minutes halves. The first team went through a little over an hour of practice, then Marco, Drew and Schellas kept half the team for the game.

The first team won 2-1, both goals scored by Abe Thompson, one of a corner kick and one after a slick move by Brek to free Abe all alone in front of the goal. The Juniors, to their credit, played well, especially as some told us they were a bit nervous at this opportunity.

FC Dallas (3-4-1-2): Josh Lambo, Blake Wagner, Aaron Pitchkolan, Andrew Daniels, Spencer Wadsworth (Arturo Alvarez), Chase Wileman, Anthony Wallace, Michael Dello-Russo, Eric Avila, Abe Thompson (Ricardinho), Brek Shea

FC Dallas Juniors U-18 (4-4-2): Jaime Ibarra (Jesus "Chuy" Cisneros), Cody Adams (Trey Rayfield), Abe Juarez (Forrest Harrington), Jael Barrera, London Woodberry, Damian Rosales (Kalon Parmon), Alexei Reyes (Noel Luna), Ramiro Funes (Josh Hernandez), Nate Dombrowski (Bradlee Baladez), Gabriel Funes (Dalibor Golubovic), Jesus "Jesse" Gamino.

Eric Avila prepares to cross / shoot while Cody Adams closes in.

Kenny on DFW Sports Beat

The team has the day off, but don't let that cause you to have a case of the Mondays. Check out Kenny Cooper as he appears on DFW Sports Beat tonight at 6:30 p.m. on FSN-SW, with a replay at midnight.

The other featured guests on tonight's show are Cowboys fullback Deon Anderson and Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin.

The team will return to practice on Tuesday morning for a 9 a.m. session. Kenny and fellow All-Star Juan Toja will miss the next few days of training, as they depart for Toronto tomorrow morning.

Photo: Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas

SuperLiga update...

Photo: Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas

Mexican National Team coach Sven-Goran Erikson (right) watched Pachuca and Santos Laguna tie 1-1 on Sunday night here at Pizza Hut Park in the final group game of SuperLiga 2008. Pachuca will travel to Houston for one semifinal on July 29, while New England hosts Atlante on July 30 in the other semifinal.

Pachuca vs. Santos - Tonight at Pizza Hut Park

Group play of SuperLiga 2008 closes out tonight with a match at Pizza Hut Park between current Mexican champion, Santos Laguna, and reigning CONCACAF Champions Cup winner, Pachuca FC (9 pm CT).

Both teams are still alive in Group B, as are the New England Revolution and Chivas USA. New England can clinch the group with a win or tie at Chivas USA tonight. However, they can also be eliminated, as both first and second place are up for grabs. Click here to see all the tie-breakers.

Group A was settled last night, with the Houston Dynamo defeating DC United 3-1 to claim first place, and Atlante edging Chivas Guadalajara to finish second in the group.

Tickets for tonight game are available at the stadium box office or through any ticketmaster outlet (from $25). If you're planning on bringing kids, it may be worth stopping at a Fiesta Mart, which is the only place to get youth tickets for $5 (12 and under; not available at the stadium).

FCD 2, Colorado 2

UPDATED: Well, on the bright side, it's the third straight league game we've been able to come back from a deficit to earn a point...on the down side, we're disappointed as we had taken the lead. Cooper scores his 9th and Toja nets his second of the year. Go to fcdallas.com for the recap, box score, and highlights. Schellas comments...

Travel stories...

We've been at home for a bit now, and don't travel again for another couple weeks...so, since we haven't been able to share our own travel stories recently, we wanted to make sure you saw what happened to New England yesterday on their way to LA to play Chivas USA ...
this story has been all over mainstream media since yesterday...

UPDATED: Friday news...

Couple of interesting notes for a Friday...

John Ellinger is traveling to Argentina and Brazil next week to look at players from River Plate and Atletico Paranaense, respectively. He leaves on Sunday and should be back for the LA game.
Today, we finalized two trades...

We traded our natural 4th Round SuperDraft pick in 2009 to Kansas City in exchange for an international slot...we also traded our natural 1st Pick in the 2009 Supplemental Draft to Columbus for another international slot...

UPDATED (6 pm CT) - both international slots revert back to the original teams following the 2008 season.

Dallas now owns six picks in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft:

• One first round selection (natural)
• Three second round selections (natural; Los Angeles’ natural, acquired in Jan. 2008 in Carlos Ruiz trade; and Real Salt Lake’s natural, acquired in June 2007 in MLS Ruling when Jeff Cassar joined Real Salt Lake's coaching staff)
• Two third round selections (natural; and Chivas USA’s natural acquired in August 2007 in Ramon Nunez trade).
• The team also owns its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th natural selections in the 09 Supplemental draft, as well as San Jose’s 3rd Round pick acquired in March 2008 in exchange for rights to Jamil Roberts.

FCD vs. Colorado Preview

Short training session today ahead of tomorrow night's home game against the Colorado Rapids. Bobby Rhine again worked off to the side with the training staff due to the injured left ankle, and he remains out for tomorrow night. Ray Burse will also be out tomorrow because of a right annkle injury suffered during practice on Tuesday, so Josh Lambo will serve as the backup to Dario Sala.

Watch the English preview for the upcoming game, featuring quotes from Schellas Hyndman and Drew Moor...


For those that speak Spanish, Juan Toja provides some thoughts below...

Toja named to All-Star team..

Major League Soccer today announced that Juan Toja has been added to the MLS All-Star team. This will be Toja's second all-star appearance, after also starting and scoring in 2007 against Celtic FC.

Toja, 23, was selected as an alternate by All-Star head coach Steve Nicol along with Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein and New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston to replace Sacha Kljestan, Michael Parkhurst and Robbie Rogers who were named to the U.S. Olympic Team roster today and will miss the All-Star game.

In other news, we can confirm that Juan Toja is one of the players that has attracted interest from overseas teams. No decision has been made.

U.S. Olympic Roster

U.S. Soccer just announced the Olympic team roster, and no FC Dallas players are included. Dax McCarty, who helped the team qualify for Beijing and was named to the CONCACAF Best XI, has been named one of four alternates for the U.S. side.

2008 U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC TEAM ROSTER (Detailed Roster)
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (5): Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (out of contract), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Pareja returns...

As we mentioned a couple weeks ago, Oscar Pareja has returned. He arrived last week, and was able to catch the Juniors scrimmage on Saturday versus a selection of players from our other youth teams. We're not sure if Oscar's presence at the scrimmage had anything to do with it, but the Juniors won 12-0.

Oscar then ran his first practice, together with Chris Hayden (below, left), on Monday. U.S. Soccer is expecting to present a tentative schedule for the Academy league in the coming weeks (this year's Academy League is wrapping up in LA this weekend.)

The Youth Club looks like it will have over 75 boys and girls teams from U-11 to U-18,; and the Academy teams, run by Chris Clarke, look to have over 50 boys and girls teams from U-7 to U-10.

First team goalkeeper/assistant coach Dree Keeshan (below, center) will to be the Director of Goalkeeper Coaching for the entire youth program, and Francisco Molina will serve as an assistant to Oscar and Hayden on the Juniors teams.

Next week, we're looking to set up a scrimmage between the Juniors and the first team Reserves, possible Tuesday. The Juniors teams are getting ready for their first home game, which will be against the Houston Dynamo U-16 and U-18 teams here on the Pizza Hut Park field on Sunday, July 27 prior to the first team's game against LA.

Shade Is Good

For us blog staff, standing around in 100 degree weather while we observe practice is difficult enough. We can't imagine how difficult it must be to actually play in this heat everyday, especially out on the adidas Field, where there is absolutely no escape from the sun.

As soon as the summer sun hit, the equipment managers starting putting out a tent (sometimes two) for the players and we usually see several players gathered under the tents at the end of practices, before they head to the locker room.

Not sure if today was that much hotter than yesterday but it sure felt like it, and at the end of this morning's session we saw more of the guys together under the tent at one time than we've seen all summer long...

Full Charge

If asked to choose one word to describe the team as a whole this morning, we’d go with “recharged.” The team looked well-rested from the four-day weekend, and they wasted no time getting right back into it this morning with a high-energy training session that lasted a little over 2 hours. Everyone was back, including Brek Shea, Josh Lambo and Anthony Wallace, who are coming off a slightly shorter weekend after representing the U.S. U-20’s in a 3-0 victory against the Mexico U-20 team down in Laredo, TX last Friday night.

Bobby Rhine also returned to the practice field for the first time since suffering a left ankle injury against Chivas de Guadalajara, although he worked off to the side individually with the training staff. Bobby will remain out for this Saturday’s home contest versus the Colorado Rapids after missing the two Open Cup games and the 4th of July game versus KC.

Joining the guys today was one new face and one familiar one. You already know about Victor Sikora (below left), the forward from Holland who is here training with FCD for the week. Another player who will be around this week is Carl Bussey (below right), who's no stranger to the area, having played for Dallas from 2002-2003 and at SMU prior to that. MLSnet.com's Steve Hunt with more from Schellas and the guys...

From Holland to Frisco...

When we posted the world round-up, we left out the connection to the Netherlands. Yesterday, former Holland international Victor Sikora arrived at DFW Airport. The former Ajax and recent NAC Breda forward / midfielder will be training with us when the team starts back up on Tuesday...Ready, set, google...

FCD's World Round-Up...

While we concentrate on the DFW metroplex on a daily basis, the nature of our sport is very international...below are some recent notes involving other countries and FCD/PHP...

FCD assistant / goalkeeper coach Drew Keeshan is down in Laredo, Texas tonight to watch Josh, Brek, and Anthony with the U.S. U-20s in their match against Mexico's U-20s.

The FCD Blog faithful are fully aware that we hosted execs from Argentina's famed-club River Plate last weekend. We're happy to report that both sides were extremely pleased with the meetings. We can tell you that we've been invited down to Argentina to meet again, soon...a coach may also be on the trip.

Next Saturday, we return to regular season play when we host Colorado here at PHP. The next night, Sunday, July 20, we are hosting a SuperLiga Group B match between two Mexican First Division teams: Santos vs. Pachuca. SuperLiga begins this weekend.

The following week, a couple days after Kenny visits Canada for the All-Star game, we'll be hosting another international game. The national teams of El Salvador and Jamaica will square off here at Pizza Hut Park in a friendly, preparing for their World Cup Qualifiers next month. The El Salvador vs. Jamaica game is on Saturday, July 26 at 6 p.m. CT. We play the LA Galaxy the following afternoon.

We're told that next week U.S. Soccer will announce the roster that will travel to China for the Olympics...

Former FCD keeper Shaka Hislop is being inducted into the Trinidad and Tobago National Sports Hall of Fame this weekend...

We've received inquiries/requests from media in Europe.

And finally, we've been in talks with a group from South Africa about a potential goodwill event, which would include a friendly game over there, soon...we'll keep you posted if anything comes of it.

Time off...

The guys trained hard on Thursday morning, finishing off a busy stretch of games and training sessions - they're getting the next four days off (including Friday). Time to rest bodies and minds, to relax, and to enjoy the longest run of mid-season days off in a long time. We'll see them back for training on Tuesday, July 15.

Cooper voted to MLS All-Star First XI

Congratulations to Kenny Cooper, who today was announced to the MLS All-Star First XI. Kenny was on the ballot of 7.4 percent of fans ballots, 30.6 percent of all players, 33.3 percent of the media, and 40.9 percent of MLS Coaches and general managers, finishing second to LA's Landon Donovan among all MLS forwards. Congrats to Kenny!

2008 MLS All-Star First XI
Goalkeeper: Matt Reis (New England Revolution)
Defenders: Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution).
Midfielders: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
Forwards: Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy).

Josh and Brek's Crib Part 2

Last week, rookies Brek Shea and Josh Lambo gave us a glimpse of their lives as roommates in part 1 of 'Josh and Brek's Crib.' This week, the boys bring us back into their apartment for Part 2 below. Enjoy...


...and just in case you missed Part 1, here you go...

Recovery session?

This morning's 9 a.m. training time had the team back in early following last night's game , which ended about an hour later than normal due to the 50-minute lightning delay. Typically, practice sessions following a game are rather short, however today's session didn't end until 11:30 a.m...

Adrian Serioux went through full training after missing the Charleston game with a left hip injury. Missing from today's practice were Anthony Wallace, Brek Shea and Josh Lambo, who have joined the U.S. U-20 National Team in Laredo, TX for Friday's friendly against the Mexico U-20's.

FCD 1, Charleston 3

This is not the way we wanted to go into the break...we're out of the U.S. Open Cup, falling 3-1 to Charleston tonight in the Quarterfinals. We don't play again until July 19 when Colorado comes to town. Click here if you want to hear what Schellas had to say afterwards...

FCD vs. Charleston

UPDATED (9 p.m. - 39th min): GAME ON! The players have started to make their way out on the field for warm-ups so it looks like we'll be starting back up in the next few minutes. Join us on the live video webstream on fcdallas.com.

==============================================
(8:50 p.m.) With lightning still in the area we're hearing that the referees have decided to take another 15 minutes to wait out the storm, and hopefully they'll be able to make a decision at that time. We're looking through the U.S. Open Cup Handbook and we've found that if the game does not make it to halftime, it will have to be played in its entirety on a later date. If the game had made it through halftime before being called, the result would stand....

==============================================
(8:20 p.m.) The referees have stopped play in the 39th minute due to lightning in the area. When lightning is within a 5 mile radius, there is no choice but to stop play. We'll have at least a 30 minute delay, and it will be up to the refs to resume play at the end of the delay. The rain is really coming down here now and from what we can see most of the fans have ventured up to the concourse to find cover. We'll post updates as soon as we can...

==============================================
The teams are about to head down to the field for pre-game warmups. FCD will be lining up in a 3-4-1-2 tonight: Sala, Moor, Davino, Wagner, Saragosa, Rocha, Ricchetti, Alvarez, Toja, Cooper, Thompson.

==============================================
FC Dallas returns to U.S. Open Cup play tonight against the Charleston Battery (USL-1) in a Quarterfinal match here at PHP at 7:30 p.m. Dallas has faced Charleston in the Open Cup in each of the last two years -- a penalty kick win in 2006 and a 2-1 overtime win in last year's Quarterfinals.

Charleston leads the USL 1st Division with an 8-3-3 record, 27 pts. The Battery defeated ASC New Stars (USASA), Charlotte Eagles (USL-2) and the Houston Dynamo in PK's last week to reach the Quarterfinals.

FCD ties LA and Chivas USA at SUM Cup

Photo: MLS/SUM

After dropping the opening game at the SUM U-17 Cup to the Columbus Crew (3-2), the FC Dallas U-17 Jrs. team tied both Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy by the same 1-1 score. Chivas USA advances from our group to the semifinals, joining Real Salt Lake, Toronto, and defending champion D.C. United.

While of course we would have liked to advance, we're still proud of the way the team came together - considering it was our first-ever meaningful competition.

One other note: Apologies for not catching this last week when we posted the initial roster, but we had two last minute changes. Bryan Leyva and Noel Luna could not make the trip, and were replaced by Ruben Luna and Jacob Gerondale.

Abe Wins an Award / Up For Another / Open Cup

UPDATED: Abe Thompson has been named U.S. Open Cup Player of the Round for his two-goal performance in last week's win over Miami FC in the 3rd Round, which included a goal in stoppage time of each half. Visit usopencup.com for more details.

Abe's also up for another individual award as his game-tying header in second half stoppage time versus KC last Friday is a Sierra Mist Goal of the Week nominee. He’s up against New England’s Adam Cristman, Colorado’s Colin Clark, Chicago’s Calen Carr and Chivas USA’s Ante Razov. Click here to vote for Abe and view the other Goal of the Week nominees.

Tomorrow night FCD returns to Open Cup play in a Quarterfinal game against the Charleston Battery here at PHP at 7:30 p.m. CT. We hope you can join us at the stadium, but if you’re unable to, we’ll have a live video feed available online at fcdallas.com. The stream will start at 7:15 p.m., with Ray Canevari providing some pregame coverage.

FCD Youth Development...

One of the key focuses of both the League and individual teams is the development of future professional players - youth systems.

Later this week, Hitch will provide more details on the entire FCD Youth structure and system, but we wanted to give you an advance. One important element was that each piece of the pyramid (see above) had to have cross-over; the goal is to make sure each step is connected, giving players an opportunity to advance from the academy teams to the professional side...

In May, we launched the FC Dallas Juniors Program, consisting of a U-16 and U-18 team that will compete in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. These teams will supply the pro team with players...

This week, we're finalizing the rest of the FCD Youth Teams, with at least one team in every age category...these will be feeder teams for the Juniors...

Next is the Academy teams, which will consist of multiple teams in the young age groups -developing players from the initial stages.

John Ellinger, who is the top assistant on the first team, will be the Executive Director of the FC Dallas Youth Program. John was the U.S. U-17 coach that spearheaded the launch of the U.S. Soccer U-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, Florida back in 1999.

Next, we've been able to bring Oscar Pareja back - he played, captained, and then became assistant coach for us from 1999-2007; then became the assistant coach of the U.S. U-17s until this past week. Oscar will be the Director of Player Development, the head coach of the FCD Jrs U-18 team, and the co-head coach of FCD Jrs. U-16 team.

Chris Hayden will continue his role as the Director of Coaching for FC Dallas Youth, and co-head coach of the FCD Jrs. U-16 team (with Oscar). Chris has been with us for some time; he'd worked closely with Chris Clarke (below) during the Sueno MLS tryouts, and then oversaw the launch of the FC Dallas Juniors program.

Finally, Chris Clarke will be the Director of FCD Academy Development and FCD Soccer Camps. As many know, Chris - or 'Clarkie' - has also been with us for a while. He's run the School of Excellence camps, youth camps and clinics, and has often been called in to assist the first team.

Stay tuned for more details later this week...

FCD 1, KC 1

UPDATED (Full Time): The halftime subs, Abe Thompson and Eric Avila, proved to be the difference tonight after connecting for the game-tying goal. Abe again provided the late-game dramatics with his third goal in the last two games. Avila picked up his first career assist in his second League appearance.

Quotes from Schellas Hyndman, Abe and Eric below...



Check fcdallas.com for highlights, full recap and stats.

======================================

We hope everyone's having a great 4th of July. Make sure you throw a burger on the grill for us -- cheese please. We're a 45 minutes away from kickoff and it's partly cloudy and 94 degrees. The parking lots are buzzing with fans and the stage is all set up for the post-game festitivities.

The team is lining up in a 3-4-1-2 tonight:

------------------- Sala ------------------
------- Moor ----- Davino ----- Serioux---
Rocha --- Ricchetti - Saragosa --- Wagner
------------------- Toja ------------------
------------- Cooper --- Oduro -----------

The available subs are: Burse, Thompson, Avila, Pitchkolan, Dello-Russo, McCarty, Shea.

If you're unable to make it to the stadium tonight, we hope you can join us at home by watching live on HDNet. You can also follow with the live matchtracker on fcdallas.com. We'll be back after the game to post recaps, etc.

FCD Juniors at SUM U-17 Cup

UPDATED (2 pm CT) - The first game just ended, Columbus winning 3-2. We took the early lead on a goal by Gabriel Funes, but the Crew scored three unanswered. We made it 3-2 with a goal from Rafael Martinez, but couldn't get the tying goal.
======================================
The FC Dallas Juniors are in Colorado today to participate in the second annual SUM U-17 Cup at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Since it is a U-17 tournament, coaches Chris Hayden and Francisco Molina brought a mixed squad which includes players from both our U-18 and U-16 teams.

FC DALLAS JUNIORS ROSTER FOR SUM U-17 CUP:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Jaime Ibarra, Nelson Morales
DEFENDERS (5): Cody Adams, Jael Barrera, Giovanni Gomez, Forrest Harrington, London Woodberry
MIDFIELDERS (7): Bradlee Baladez, Chris Figueroa, Ramiro Funes, Moises Hernandez, Noel Luna, Alexei Reyes, Alex Molano,
FORWARDS (4): Nate Dombrowski, Gabriel Funes, Rafael Martinez Jr., Bryan Leyva.

We're in Group C, and will face the Columbus Crew (today at 12:15 p.m. CT), Chivas USA (July 5 at 9:30 p.m. CT) and the LA Galaxy (July 7 at 9 p.m. CT) in group play. The winner of each group will advance to the Semifinals on July 8, with the final on July 10. Click here for a full schedule and scores / results.

River Plate...at Pizza Hut Park

We've been wanting to get this bit of news out to you for sometime, but we had to wait till it happened.

This morning, we are proud to welcome the leadership of one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world - Club Atletico River Plate from Argentina. River Plate VP Mario Israel and General Manager Alfredo Wodke arrived into DFW Airport today to meet with FCD General Manager Michael Hitchcock and continue discussing a potential partnership between both clubs.

Continue reading...

As most fans know, FCD has many international players - including three that previously played for River Plate (Dario Sala, Pablo Ricchetti, and Juan Toja). In addition to the international players, we've made it known that we want to continue expanding our reach internationally, beyond our successful relationships with Clube Atletico Paranaense (Brazil) and Tigres (Mexico). We explained this potential opportunity to our friends from CAP, and they have been supportive of our discussions with another South American club.

Hitch and River Plate management have had various discussions and exchanges, and the next logical step was to take those talks and turn them into a face to face meeting. The invite was extended from both sides to visit the other, and timing made it more realistic for River to come here. Last week, River Plate held a party to celebrate winning this year's Clausura Championship - the clubs 33rd local title. This week, their leadership flew to Dallas!

Mr. Israel and Dr. Wodke will meet with Hitch today, then attend a Texas-style BBQ at Hitch's house tonight, along with our City and business leaders, our FCD/PHP management staff, and the FCD coaching staff. Tomorrow, they'll attend our game and post-game festivities. After spending a weekend getting to know Dallas, we'll meet again on Monday to see if we're close to finalizing a new partnership. Stay Tuned...

Injuries / Dax on TV / KC Preview...

Pablo Ricchetti (right foot) went through full training this morning so he's been upgraded to questionable for tomorrow's game. Arturo Alvarez (right quad) again did some work with the training staff instead of training with the full team, so it's likely he'll be out. Also out for tomorrow -- Bobby Rhine (left ankle), and Chase Wileman, who picked up a knock to his left foot in the Open Cup win over Miami FC. Dax McCarty remains questionable with some soreness in his back.

You can catch Dax tonight on Southwest Kia SportsTalk hosted by Josh Roe. The show airs at 6:30 p.m. CT on KFWD channel 52.

(CORRECTED, 8 pm - July 3): Last week, we mentioned that Ray Burse will be recalled from Portland to remain with FCD going forward. We've also signed 22-year-old forward Spencer Wadsworth, who played at Duke University from 2004-2007 and local high school Plano West before that. He's been training with the team for a few weeks now, and if you remember, he scored in the scrimmage against the DFW Tornado on June 16.

In the meantime check out a preview of the KC game featuring comments from Schellas Hyndman and rookie Eric Avila...

Tickets for Troops

FCD is inviting all military personnel (both active duty and retired) to attend the biggest Independence Day Celebration in the Metroplex for free this Friday, July 4 when FC Dallas takes on the Kansas City Wizards at PHP.

Here's how: As part of the "Tickets for Troops" program, FCD partners Pizza Hut, Texans Credit Union, The Cox Family, Building Specialties and Salinas & Legere, PC have all purchased tickets to Friday's festivities to show their appreciation for the men and women who serve this country.

Click here to find out more...

If you're a member of the armed forces, all you have to do is show your military ID at the Pizza Hut Park Box Office from now through Friday, July 4 at 6 p.m. and you'll receive two of those tickets to the game for free while supplies last.

Not only will you be able to catch FCD in action but you'll also get to enjoy the post-game festivities which includes the largest fireworks show in the Metroplex! Here's a rundown of all of the activities taking place at PHP on the 4th:

4 p.m. - FC Dallas Experience & Tailgate with face painting, inflatables, music, food, drinks & more (Gold Parking Lot)
6 p.m. – FC Dallas vs Kansas City Wizards
8:30 p.m. – Concert featuring Freddy (learn more about Freddy)
9:45 p.m. – North Texas' Largest Fireworks show produced by the Zambelli Brothers
10:00 p.m. – The Temptations Review (featuring Dennis Edwards) Concert

The Dario Sala Show

Goalkeeper Dario Sala steps out of the net and into the studio tonight as he begins The Dario Sala Show on ESPN Deportes Radio 1480 AM.

The weekly radio show will air Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. CT and ESPN Radio’s Jesus Padilla joins Dario on-air as co-host. Make sure to check it out whether you're in your car driving home or sitting at home in your living room.

Shea, Lambo and Wallace Called to U-20's

U.S. Soccer has announced that Brek Shea, Josh Lambo and Anthony Wallace have been called in to the U.S. U-20 team for a game against Mexico's U-20's on Friday, July 11 in Laredo, Texas (8 p.m. CT). They will join the U-20 team next Wed, July 9 and will return to Dallas on July 12.

Each player has participated in camps with various U.S. National teams this year: Lambo and Wallace with the U.S. U-20s in for the Copa Chivas in Guadalajara, Mexico in January; Shea and Wallace with the U.S. U-20s in Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament in April; and Shea with the U.S. U-23s in France at the Toulon International Tournament in May and with the Men’s National Team for a World Cup Qualifier in Barbados last month.

Check out ussoccer.com for more info on the game.

3 Down, 1 to Go

Last Thursday, FCD began a four games in nine days stretch that will conclude this Friday against Kansas City here at PHP. With so many games in such a short period of time, the practices lately have been a little shorter, to get the guys off the field and out of the heat so they get some much needed rest.

Today's warmup began at 9am, and after that the team was split into two groups -- basically those that have played a lot in the last couple of games, and those that haven't. The first group went through a recovery session and finished by 10 am. while the second group went through some attack buildup / finishing drills and ended around 10:30.

Arturo Alvarez (right quad) and Bobby Rhine (left ankle) did not train today as both are still recovering from injuries, although Arturo was outside working with the training staff. Dax McCarty (back) and Pablo Ricchetti (right foot) took part in the recovery session to get some light ball work in. When they finished there, Dax did some individual work with Marco Ferruzzi while Pablo jogged around the training field.

FCD 2, Miami FC 1

UPDATE (Full Time): What a game. Miami jumped out to an early lead, but Abe Thompson scored a stoppage time goal in each half help send FCD into the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals for the fifth straight year and 11th time overall. Abe is now Dallas' all-time leading scorer in Open Cup history with six goals, after entering tonight's game tied with Jason Kreis.

FC Dallas will face the Charleston Battery in the Quarterfinal round next Tues. July 8 here at Pizza Hut Park at 7:30 p.m. Charleston defeated the Houston Dynamo tonight in penalty kicks to advance past the 3rd Round.

Visit fcdallas.com for full recap and stats. Check out the video below for post-game quotes from Schellas Hyndman and Abe Thompson...



===========================================

FCD Lineup (3-4-1-2): Burse, Moor, Pitchkolan, Wagner, Saragosa, Toja, Wallace, Rocha, Wileman, Oduro, Thompson.

Reminder, in U.S. Open Cup play, teams may only have five international players (green card holders do not count as internationals) on their 18-man rosters. Also, USOC rules allow four substitutions per team.

Click here to watch the live webstream. You can also follow along with matchtracker on fcdallas.com.

Josh & Brek's Crib (Part 1 of 2)

Teenage rookies Josh Lambo and Brek Shea first met each other at the U.S. U-17 Residency Program in Bradenton in 2006. When FCD drafted both players in the first round in the 2008 SuperDraft, it was basically a foregone conclusion that the two would live together here in the Metroplex. Check out today’s feature article in the Star-Telegram, which gives us a glimpse of the lives of these two youngsters, who are living on their own for the first time.

Brek and Josh also allowed the FCD TV cameras into their home, which has all of the essentials: a full-size ping pong table, a giant bean bag chair, motorized scooters, and more. Check out Part 1 of 2 of “J&B’s Crib” below…

FCD Begins Open Cup Play Tonight...

FC Dallas enters the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tonight in the Third Round against the Miami FC blues at Pizza Hut Park, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.

If you can't make it out to the park, we hope you can join us at home with the live video webstream on fcdallas.com. Ray Canevari will provide the call.

Check out the preview for the game here and visit Miami FC's website to find out more about tonight's opponent. If you're still craving for more info visit usopencup.com for all of your Open Cup needs.