FCD 1, Columbus 2

UPDATED: We're going to have to find a way to end this stretch...for the fifth consecutive game, we took a lead. However, for the third straight game, we gave it up. As happened a couple weeks ago, Columbus came back from a 1-0 deficit to earn the three points. They are the first team in MLS to reach 40 points this year, and hold the best record in the league.
===============================
Same formation, but a couple positional changes: Dax McCarty slides over to left midfield, Marcelo Saragosa starts in the holding mid spot, and Bruno Guarda gets his first MLS start tonight at the attacking midfield position.

Day Before the Game

FCD and Columbus met just two weeks ago at Crew Stadium, but click here to read the preview if you're looking for a refresher and/or additional notes on how the clubs match up. Tomorrow night's game here at PHP will kick off at 8 p.m. CT, airing live on KFWD-52.

The players walked out on the practice field around 9:30 a.m. this morning after watching film, as they did yesterday. Being the day before a game, today's practice was light and short, ending at 10:30. No changes on the injury front. The one missing person today, Schellas, who had to attend to a family matter. He'll be here for Saturday's game.

* The first 5,000 kids to enter will get a free FCD player poster, courtesy of The Dallas Morning News.

Pablo's All-Star Jersey Raffle

Pablo Ricchetti has donated his personal time to support The Miracle League of Frisco this year by becoming actively involved in raising awareness and funds for its various sports leagues, including soccer, softball and bowling. Since April, Ricchetti has traded jerseys with some of the top players in Major League Soccer and Mexico, and beginning Saturday, Aug. 30 fans will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win one of the framed jerseys.

Ricchetti has personally acquired the following jersey’s that will be included in the initial raffle: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo), Christian Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Claudio Reyna (New York Red Bulls, retired), Bruno Marioni (Pachuca – Mexico), Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna – Mexico), and former FC Dallas midfielder Juan Toja.

Fans can purchase raffle tickets at the FC Dallas Foundation tent during the Aug. 30 and Sept. 4 home games. Tickets are also on sale at Soccer City on Main Street in Frisco and through the Frisco Soccer Association. All proceeds will support the Miracle League of Frisco.

The drawing will take place on Sunday, Sept. 28 when FCD takes on D.C. United at Pizza Hut Park. The first 10 winners drawn will each receive a jersey based on preference. All names will then be re-entered and the grand prize winner will receive a framed game-worn David Beckham jersey.

Preparing for Saturday

At 9 a.m. this morning, instead of heading out to the practice field as usual, the team met briefly in the player’s lounge to break down some game tape. By 9:15 a.m. the guys were out on the field for training, where the team spent lots of time in 11 v 11 situations.

Marcelo Saragosa, coming back from the right groin injury, worked with the full team today as he did yesterday. Training ended around 11 a.m. with the last 15 minutes spent in a 3 v 2 drill with emphasis on attacking in numbers to punish the defense and finish on goal.

Sikora update

Victor had his surgery this morning on his torn right lateral meniscus. The doctors tell us that they ended up cutting out the damage part of his meniscus, and they expect the recovery time to be 4-6 weeks.

FCD Reserves 0, Houston 3

The FCD Reserves fell to the Houston Dynamo Reserves 3-0 this morning on the adidas Field. UPDATE (5:30 pm) - Click here for the release.

FCD is now 2-3-2 (8 pts.) on the Reserve Division season and will next face Colorado on Friday, Sept. 5 at 10 a.m. on the adidas Field.

Lineup (4-4-2): Ray Burse (Josh Lambo 62), Anthony Wallace, Brek Shea, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo (Bobby Rhine 63), Chase Wileman (Dax McCarty 63), Pablo Ricchetti (Andre Rocha 67), Bruno Guarda (Eric Avila 66), Jamie Watson (Spencer Wadsworth 66), Abe Thompson, Dominic Oduro.

While the Reserve match kicked off at 10 a.m. the guys who weren’t going to start or play in the game went through an hour-long training session on Field 4. After practice, all of those guys came to the adidas Field to either join the team on the bench or watch the game from underneath the shade of the players’ tent.

Cunningham on SW Kia SportsTalk Tonight

If you're looking for something to watch on TV now that the Olympics are over, you can catch Jeff Cunningham tonight on the Southwest Kia SportsTalk show hosted by Josh Roe.

The show will air live at 6:30 p.m. CT on KFWD channel 52 with a replay at 11:30 p.m. He'll be talking about making his Dallas home debut against his old club this weekend and getting his 100th career goal against them in Columbus just a couple of weeks ago.

New Field

As most fans who follow FCD closely know, a lot has happened since the team’s last home game about a month ago. Among those, a new field has been installed and Saturday night’s game against the Columbus Crew will be the first on the new grass. Mother Nature has done her job, as we’re told that the weather lately has been absolutely perfect and the roots have already settled in.

Out on the adidas Field this morning, everyone went through full training except for Duilio Davino (left toe), Marcelo Saragosa (right groin) and of course Victor Sikora with the torn meniscus in his right knee. Andre Rocha was also out for what Schellas called “internal reasons.” Duilio and Marcelo instead worked on the sidelines with the training staff.

Yesterday we told you that Victor will be out at least 4-6 weeks, but there’s a chance it could be longer based on the surgery, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning. We’ll check back in tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

UPDATED (5 pm): We forgot to mention that on Wednesday at 10 am, we'll be playing the Houston Dynamo in a reserve match that was originally scheduled for earlier in the year.

The River Plate Trip (Part III)

This is Part III of III of our trip to Buenos Aires and visit with River Plate. Click here to read Part I and here for Part II.

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

We start Sunday with a visit to La Boca – a neighborhood in southern Buenos Aires, which is where Boca Juniors plays. To say they are rivals to River is an understatement. The area is a mix of tourist trap and real-life living. The day before, Boca played Barcelona in Spain in a charity match. Clubs here can petition the AFA once a year to move a game. The Boca game for this weekend has been rescheduled for Sept. 5 (a FIFA date, when the rest of the Argentine top division is off). Keep reading...

Today, Hurucan is playing Racing at the Bombonera, Boca's Stadium.
Apparently Hurucan’s stadium is under some type of renovation, so they play their home games here this season. As we walk by the stadium, a side door is open, and we see the inside. We’re with River execs, so we’re careful not to comment too much. Still, it was impressive to see. The sideline comes right up to about 10 feet from the street. Around town, Diego Maradona is still idolized here, as shown by the statues and merchandize bearing his image.

We then go to El Monumental. The River Reserves are playing before the first team game – fans are already inside. This is the first home game for River this season, after having won their 33rd championship a few months ago. Outside the stadium, the security controls start blocks away. For 2-3 blocks, we see hundreds of signs with the photo of a fan, who apparently was killed a year ago in a fight among fans. Today, he’s being remembered.

They tell us that on average, 500-600 police work a game. Incredible. As Dan and Hitch take in the Reserve game, I go outside to get a feel for the atmosphere. Behind a boarded up wall, I see multiple buses. They are for the fans of Rosario Central, who arrived together hours ago.

River members have access to a couple of different sections in the stadium. If one section is full, they are told to check another section. It’s best for them to claim tickets before the day of game, or sometimes they can be left out.

I go back inside and make it back for kickoff – the stadium now looks full. We’re in a suite behind two long rows of media. River has about 10 radio stations that have daily / weekly shows dedicated to their team. The Argentina Futbol Association overseas the ‘league’, unlike the U.S. where we have the MLS league office.
Rosario Central (edited) fans take up three of the away supporters section on the south upper deck. They bring all kinds of banners, and somehow find a way to place them on the outside of the barb-wired fence. Of course, no one can see from the first few rows because the banners are there, so they all move up. The singing and chanting starts here first.

A look across the stadium – it’s all red and white. The River banners are in the hundreds. Most include the neighborhood or area of Argentina they represent or come from. Fans are creative. Since there are metal detectors at the security check points outside, fans need to find other ways to weigh down the banners that they'll hang from the upper decks. So they bring in water balloons. The video board cannot show any video of the game, only fans reactions. So for the most part, a simple ad is displayed throughout, until a goal is scored (when they show the fans celebrating).

The River hard-core fans are on the opposite end of Central's– also in the upper deck. These are called the ‘popular’ section. No seats – so they can fit, who knows how many. Today, we’re told there are 15,000 in this section. When they start signing and dancing, well, it’s almost un-describable. They compete with Rosario Central fans – we’re sitting in between both. At times, you don’t know if you should watch the game or the stands.

On the field, River is determined to win. They get two late goals and win 2-0. We hear the PA inform fans that they can’t leave until all the away supporters are out of the stadium. Meaning, they leave the stadium, get on their buses, and are driving away. Here, it appears the thought of leaving early is unheard of. It takes about 20 minutes, and then they open the gates for the rest of the stadium.

We’re told that only one player on River played the same position today as he played last year. The reason, they feel all players should be versatile and be able to adapt to new roles. So, last years center backs are now on the flanks, etc.
On Monday, we meet for lunch and once again go over the trips – their visit to the U.S. and ours to Argentina. It’s clear both sides want to enter into a strategic partnership. Among the topics discussed: loans of players, hosting players (including FCD Juniors), friendly games, preseason trips, the use of each others brands, business practices, etc.

We leave lunch with exchanges of hugs and handshakes. We all agree that something will come out of this – both seeing the value the other can contribute.

We head to the airport, and discuss the experience among ourselves. The beauty of the city, the way of life here, the food, the similarities and differences between the soccer cultures, structures, business, and teams.

Some things you can describe. Some you can write / read about. Some you must experience on your own. How soccer is lived here, well, it’s in the blood of the people. It’s been a great trip.

Sikora has torn meniscus

Bad news today. An MRI this afternoon on Victor Sikora's right knee revealed a torn lateral meniscus. He's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday morning. At minimum, it appears he'll be out at least 4-6 weeks. We'll know more on the timeline after his surgery.

Victor was injured when he was tackled by Sasha Victorine two minutes into the second half of FCD's 1-1 draw at KC on Aug. 23. He was replaced a few minutes later by Eric Avila.

The River Plate Trip (Part II)

This is Part II of III of our trip to Buenos Aires and visit with River Plate. Click here to read Part I.
======================================

On Saturday morning, we get to watch the first team practice inside the stadium as they prepare for Sunday’s game. The practice is similar to how FCD trains the day before the game. Short session, working on set pieces, and a run-through of the lineup and formation. Some guys work on the side with the fitness coaches. When training ends, a few guys stay to take PKs and shots on goal.

We meet Diego Simeone, the head coach. He looks like he should still be playing. Dan and Hitch give him an FCD jersey – we are the visitors, so the blue-white jersey is presented. Keep reading Part II...

Back inside the bowels of the stadium, we visit the home locker room. Pretty basic – not like ours. The weight room is about the same size as PHP’s, only it faces the field. The trainer’s room – one bench. The equipment room, a little bigger than ours, but similar system. The players. lockers – not really lockers, as you see in the photo.

The team is staying in the stadium today – as they do before every home or away game. They call it ‘concentration.’ On the third floor of the stadium is a dorm for the team and coaches. The players lounge includes a foosball table, ping-pong table, and pool table, as well as couches and flat-screen TV. A door leads to a deck space within the stadium stands, facing the field, that has a built-in-grill for their ‘asados.’

The dorm’s rooms are basic – they fit three players to a room by adding an extra bed. Again, nothing flashy, but as they tells us, they are here to rest and sleep and concentrate of the next day’s game.

The lounge has photos of past players and stadium events. The Rolling Stones played here to a massive crowd, and were given River jerseys. Later this year, a large concert is planned for the same day as a game, so River will move their ‘home’ soccer game to Velez Sarsfield’s stadium.

We learn they try to bring in 10 or so concerts and non-soccer events per year. A year ago, they held a Rally Car race here, building a full track raised above the playing surface – the first team played three days later – a proud day for their staff as they pulled off such a turn-around. The Argentina National team will host Paraguay here on Sept. 5 for a World Cup qualifier.

The equipment managers – Pichi and Chochi – are happy to hear that Pablo Ricchetti and Dario Sala are with us. They have fond memories of both, and are glad to hear both are doing well at Dallas. Pichi explains the story of River’s third jersey, which is purple and without the common red sash. In 1949, Italian club Torino was involved in a plane crash where the entire team perished. So, River Plate went to Italy to play a benefit match versus Torino youth players and other Italian pros, for the families of the deceased. Torino’s jersey was purple. Last year, River brought back the kits and we’re now told they look to use it twice per season to honor to that Italian club team.

We then go to the River training center by the airport, which is about 40 minutes away from the stadium. On one side of the highway we see the Argentine Federation’s Training grounds – it looks impressive. One thing we notice throughout the drives (other than the fact that the lane markers are more-or-less suggestions, and that apparently cars don’t have turn-signals – or maybe its just that they are not used), is that there are ads all over with sponsors of the National team. The blue-white jersey is a national mark, thus many billboard ads display the kits.
The grounds are simple – three well kept fields (with barbed wire above so no one enters). A mini-stadium houses the locker rooms. A large tent is the temporary weight room, though construction of a permanent weight room is now underway. A small concession stands sells snacks for the families out to watch the Youth games.

We watch the U-17s game – River dominates. Couple things on how this works. River has the first team, reserve team, and six youth divisions. Since all the players belong to River Plate, the first team coach can call in any player from the system. Some kids have found themselves one day playing on the U-17s, and the next week called up to the first team. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. When a player plays five games for the first team, he would be offered a contract. Until then, they can be placed on any of their teams. We’re not there yet in MLS...

After visits to other cool neighborhoods, we return to the hotel. We gather around the blogger’s laptop to watch the FCD vs. Crew game – on the Slingbox. We don’t need to remind everyone of that game, so we move on. Later that night, the game is show on TV here. We suffer through it again.

Sunday comes – it's game day.

FCD 1, KC Wizards 1

UPDATED: We couldn't hold off the strong KC attack, and come away with a 1-1 draw in KC. Disappointing, as their tying goal came in stoppage time, with us playing the final 28 minutes down a man. We're now 6-7-8, 26 points. Disappointed, to say the least.
====================
Tonight we start the last third of the season - 10 games left. The team starts with almost the same starting lineup as last week in Columbus, the only exception is that Dax McCarty replaced Eric Avila as the attacking mid.

The River Plate Trip (Part I)

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 to win their second consecutive Olympic gold medal. We can imagine how happy the people in Argentina must be – you see, we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina last weekend and got an idea of how the sport is lived there.

On Thursday of last week, HSG VP / team owner Dan Hunt and GM Michael Hitchcock were set to go to Buenos Aires – and fortunately for this blog staffer, they brought me along. With that, here’s my take on the incredible experience. Keep Reading...

As you know, FC Dallas and River Plate have entered into a relationship, which has already seen: top River execs visit us in Texas for the 4th of July; FCD assistant coach John Ellinger visit River Plate to observe players and their youth system; and has seen two River players train with us for a few days. The next step was to have FCD execs visit their city, and club.

We’ll leave off the details of our upgrade to business class, but we can share that it’s a great way to fly. Ok, a couple details since this blogger hasn’t traveled that way before. You get own portable video player that has movies, music, games, and TV shows – including six episodes of The Office. Noise reducing Bose headsets. Food and drink, with real glass and silverware. The seats recline to almost a full bed. And the seat in front is so far away, that some of us can’t touch it with our legs stretched out.

Eleven hours later, we land in Buenos Aires (Friday morning), and are met by an airport attendant that gets us to the front of the passport control line. As we wait for our bags, the attendant shares with us that his boss is a Boca Juniors fan, and that he would not approve for us to go through the line – because he knew we were here to meet with River Plate. After some convincing, he had ok’d the move. This was our first experience of how soccer and society are inter-mixed here.

We’re taken through the center of Buenos Aires, past the Obelisco, and to a northern neighborhood called Recoleta. The hotel was called the Alvaer Palace – and the name fit. With plenty of valets, doormen, porters, bellhops – we could tell this was an elegant place. Then, we see they had butlers on each floor, and a dress code for the hotel lobby bar / restaurant. It was clear that River Plate was gonna take care of us. They tell us they were blown away by our hospitality, that they wanted to surpass it.

A couple hours later, we’re at our first ‘parrilla’ of many. The steak is so good, that we found ourselves eating meat at least two times a day, for the length of our stay. For example, on one occasion, the waiter cut the meat with a spoon – to show how tender it was.

On Friday afternoon, we meet with River Plate Secretary General Mario Israel at the stadium – el Monumental. What a complex!
Last season, River Plate won it’s 33rd championship – almost double what Boca has. With that, they have adopted a new slogan – El Mas Grande, which translates to The Biggest (or, the best). We see this everywhere, most interestingly, on the back collar of the uniforms.

Here’s a brief run-down of what makes up the club: River Plate is a social club – kind of like a country club in the U.S. They have upwards of 62K members, who may enter the complex and have access to a variety of facilities, as well as access to the soccer games.
Within the walls of the 70K (or so) stadium are gymnasiums, used for: basketball, futsal, volleyball, judo, wrestling, and gymnastics. Also, playrooms, cafeterias, and a school – that’s right, they have a school for 1,200 students. Half the classrooms, their windows face the inside of the stadium – the field.

Next to the stadium, within the complex, are more athletic facilities: clay tennis courts, field turf soccer fields (with lights), futsal and basketball courts, outdoor swimming pool and indoor Olympic-size pool, a mini-hotel that houses the young players (12-18) that don’t live in Buenos Aires.

Inside the stadium – stands that can fit over 70K fans (the upper decks are standing room), a track around the natural grass field, and covered openings on the ground behind the benches where both teams and referees come out. It’s impressive – thinking of all the players that have played here, the Argentina national team, and the 78 World Cup final.
The complex is just a buzz of activity – kids playing every sport. And, the River Plate logo on just about every kid (the school uniforms even have the shield on the chest).

Interestingly, they don’t have natural grass fields here. The first team trains in a complex about 30 minutes away near the airport. Today, the women’s soccer team is training here, on the synthetic field.

Come back later for the rest of the trip, with more photos...

Off to Face the Wizards

This morning’s training session was light as usual on the day before a game. The team started with a passing drill that incorporated some plyometrics, and quickly moved into a full-field 11 v 11 walkthrough, before finishing with a 6 v 6 20-yard grid finishing game.

Yesterday, Marcelo Saragosa pulled up near the end of practice with some pain in his right groin. After going through the first drill this morning, the tightness was still there so he went inside to work with the training staff.

Duilio Davino has yet to participate in full training since suffering the left toe injury a couple of weeks ago, but has been doing extensive work with the training staff, picking up in intensity this past week. Both players are listed as “OUT” on the injury report provided to MLS today.

The team is currently on the way to the airport to catch a 2:55 p.m. flight to KC. Here’s the list of guys that boarded the bus…

Dario Sala, Ray Burse, Victor Sikora, Eric Avila, Dax McCarty, ,Adrian Serioux, Aaron Pitchkolan, Andre Rocha, Jamie Watson, Kenny Cooper, Abe Thompson, Drew Moor, Blake Wagner, Michael Dello-Russo, Pablo Ricchetti, Bruno Guarda, Jeff Cunningham, Dominic Oduro.

Dallas Sports Awards

Tonight, DFW welcomes the 1st-ever Dallas Sports Fans Choice Awards, and we'll have three players in attendance: Pablo Ricchetti, Kenny Cooper, and Dax McCarty.

The Sports Awards are produced annually by SPP Sports, are similar to "a local ESPY's", and are produced in Chicago, LA, Denver, Philly, Detroit and Boston. This year, Dallas and Phoenix have been added. Tonight's program will benefit the Open Doors Foundation with the Academies of Excellence as well as the Jason Terry and Josh Howard Foundations.

Players from the Mavericks, Stars, Rangers, Desperados, FC Dallas, and Cowboys will all be in attendance. Special tributes will include honoring Pablo, Howard, Bradie James, Michael Young, Marty Turco, Bobby Perry, and others for their work in the community. (For those unfamiliar, Pablo has worked with the Miracle League of Frisco for some time now.)

They will also honor the area MVP and Rising Star, for which Kenny and Dax have been nominated respectively. Over 300 professional athletes, team alumni, media, corporate VIP’s and other celebrities are also expected to be in attendance.

While we do find it great to have our players included among such company, and appreciate the public’s votes, we do find it ironic that the event is closed to the public. However, we’ll be sure to let you know how the evening goes for the three FCD players.

Ricardinho returns to CAP

Forward Ricardinho is returning to his original club, Atletico Paranaense, having cleared MLS waivers today. He joined FCD in July 2007 as the first player exchanged between the two partner clubs.

For as talented as we all feel Ricardo is, it wasn't working for him here. It happens to players and teams all over the world. The advantage a soccer player may have, when compared to many other professions, is that soccer is global - there are teams all over the world. We wish him nothing but the best as he returns to CAP tonight.

We had a chance to talk to Ricardo this morning as he came in to say goodbye to the guys and the office staff. Click here to read Ricardo's comments:

(UPDATED: 4:20 pm)
"I had very good moments here, had an incredible time. I know that one day I could return because the fans and the people treated me so well. I am very grateful for everything; very happy to have played for a team like FC Dallas.

I will keep following the team, pushing for them to make the playoffs and to have success. I made incredible friendships here, and these are things one can't ever forget.

This was an opportunity that CAP and FC Dallas gave me together. I was the first player to come here as part of the partnership between the two clubs. But the most important part for me was that I came with the idea of playing. I was always there with everyone, working hard. Many times we laughed together, and others times we suffered (cried) together. And that is football. But I am sincere when I say I am very grateful to FC Dallas - I will miss this place a lot, because I made great friends. The team has incredible people and players – they are incredible professionals.

These things happen in football. I just turned 20 years old, and I have to respect everyone and everything. I was left off sometimes (the gameday roster), and many times I understood and other times I didn't - maybe because I was young or inexperienced. But also, I know it’s because the team has really good players in my position - like Kenny Cooper, Dominic Oduro, and Abe Thompson. So, I respect the decisions. These things happen in football. I leave with my head high because I did my best, and it just wasn't meant to be here for me at this time.

I hope to return one day, with a little more maturity and a little more experience. I'm going back to CAP now, and we'll see what the future has in place. This was a special place for me, and I’ll never forget my time here."

Post-Practice Clinic

The FC Dallas Foundation often donates gifts such as jerseys, game tickets, soccer balls, etc. for various charitable causes. Earlier this year, the Foundation provided a prize package for a fundraising auction at Frisco’s Pink Elementary School. The prize package featured the opportunity to meet FC Dallas players after a practice and participate in a skills clinic with the head coach and some of the players.

In this case, a parent from local soccer team Liverpool FC America 98 Girls won the auction, and at the conclusion of this morning’s practice, the team had lined up just outside the gate to meet and get autographs from FC Dallas players as they walked off the training field.

After all of the players had signed autographs, Schellas Hyndman took the girls over to Field 2 and ran a skills clinic with help from Brek Shea, Spencer Wadsworth and Chase Wileman...

Back Outside

Brek Shea, Bobby Rhine and Dario Sala try to keep Aaron Pitchkolan, Marcelo Saragosa and Kenny Cooper from scoring off a service into the box.
===================================================

The team returned to work outside on the adidas Field this morning after going through a recovery session at the Michael Johnson Performance Center yesterday.

This morning’s practice, which lasted two hours, focused primarily on defensive pressure. After the team warmup, Schellas began practice with a drill that had three defenders trying to win the ball from six players in a 20 x 20 grid. The team would later move on to a 7 v 7 exercise with full-size goals before working into an 11 v 11 full field game, with Schellas stressing team defending throughout.

For the final 20 minutes, the guys split off into two groups to work inside the penalty box at each end of the field. Four different players were stationed around the outside of the area about 25-30 yards from goal, who took turns serving the ball to three attackers inside the box. For the two defenders and keeper, the objective was simple: beat the attackers to the ball and clear it to safety.

Practice ended at 11:15 a.m. and most of the players stayed out on the field an extra 20-30 minutes after the session to get some additional touches on the ball.

Serioux With Canadian National Team

Adrian Serioux has joined the Canadian National Team in preparation for Wednesday night's World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica. The match will be played in Toronto at BMO Field (8:30 p.m. CT).

Adrian caught a flight from Columbus, OH to Toronto on Sunday morning, rather than returning with FCD to Dallas. He is expected to rejoin FCD at Friday morning's training session before the team heads to Kansas City for Saturday night's game versus the Wizards.

FCD 1, Columbus 2

UPDATE (Postgame): Dallas was up 1-0 at the break courtesy of newly acquired forward Jeff Cunningham, but the Crew fought back with two goals in the second half to end FCD's unbeaten streak at five games.

Cunningham's first-half goal was the 100th regular season goal of his career, and the first against the Crew, the team that drafted him in 1998. In addition to Cunningham, Dutch midfielder Victor Sikora also made his FC Dallas debut tonight.

Dallas' shutout streak ends at 265 minutes dating back to the July 19 game versus the Rapids., the longest such streak of the season.

Check fcdallas.com for the full recap, box score and highlights.

In Columbus

Our flight heading out of DFW was delayed a little over an hour but other than that, everything was smooth sailing. We touched down just before 7 p.m. ET and the bus was already at the curb waiting for us when we landed. It didn't take too long for our bags to come out on the conveyor belt, and it was just a short 15 min ride from the airport to the hotel.

Here's the travel party...

Adrian Serioux, Pablo Ricchetti, Eric Avila, Ray Burse, Abe Thompson, Victor Sikora, Chase Wileman, Jeff Cunningham, Kenny Cooper, Blake Wagner, Drew Moor, Dario Sala, Aaron Pitchkolan, Andre Rocha, Bruno Guarda, Marcelo Saragosa, Michael Dello-Russo, Dominic Oduro.

FCD to Face Club America on Sept. 7

While we were in the air, the team finalized an international friendly against Club America. FCD will face the Mexican club at Pizza Hut Park on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 4 p.m. CT.

Duilio Davino, who spent 10 years at Club America before coming to Dallas offered some thoughts on facing his former team...

“Without a doubt I’m going to feel odd playing against America. One of the reasons that I no longer wanted to play in Mexico was so that I wouldn’t have to face them. In saying that, I’m now with FC Dallas and we’re playing them in a friendly, and we hope that it’s a fun event for the public instead of a strong rivalry. It will be good to see many teammates and friends that I left there, and we’ll try to make it a good game so that fans enjoy it and leave happy.”

Tickets will be available tomorrow morning beginning at 11a.m. through all Ticketmaster locations. Prices are: $33 (General Admission sec 112-132), $43 (Sideline West), $53 (Midfield Club West), and $153 (Field Seating). This match is not included as a bonus game for plan holders.

Read the full press release for more info.

Off to Columbus

The team held its final training session before catching a flight to Columbus for tomorrow night's game against the Crew (live at 6:30 p.m. CT on Fox Soccer Channel). The guys welcomed back teammates Dax McCarty and Anthony Wallace who were away with the U.S. Olympic Team and U-20 Teams, respectively.

With the Olympics going on, the U-20 friendlies against Guatemala's U-20 team in Florida flew a bit under the radar...they ended up dropping the first game 1-0 and tied the other 0-0.

The bus will depart for DFW in about 30 minutes, and we'll check back in once we arrive in Columbus this evening.

Ice Bath

From the time Victor Sikora first arrived from Holland, he's fielded different variations of the following question: how is he adjusting to the heat? When practice ended today, Victor gave us a glimpse of one way he can try and stay cool. Before stepping off the field, he asked head athletic trainer Joshua Watts for a good old fashioned Gatorade cooler ice bath, and when it was said and done, he walked off the field with a big smile on his face.

Youngsters Mason and Travis Carmichael often come to FCD practices during the summer. Today, the boys brought two friends to watch this morning’s training session and when everyone else had left, Kenny then invited all four out onto the field. They started out taking turns in goal, with each kid trying to save three of Kenny’s shots and then worked into a shooting drill where one would feed Kenny the ball so he could shoot on goal.

The team will train once more Friday morning, before heading off to Columbus in the afternoon.

U.S. Falls to Nigeria

If you had something else going on at 4 a.m. this morning and you happened to miss the U.S. vs. Nigeria Olympic game, allow us to fill you in. The United States fell to Nigeria 2-1 in the final game of the group stage, thus ending their run in the tournament.

The U.S. fell into a hole early when Michael Orozco picked up a red card in the 3rd minute, and was forced to play with only 10 the rest of the way. Dax entered the game in the 69th minute and nearly helped tie the game in the final minute of regulation. His free kick from 30 yards out found the head of Charlie Davies, however, Davies’ attempt hit the crossbar and the U.S. was unable pull level. Check ussoccer.com for the full recap and box score.

On the bright side, Dax will leave Beijing at 11 p.m. CT tonight and is expected to be back in Dallas by 4:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday Update

Today’s practice was a solid two-hour session with the majority of the time spent in a penalty box to penalty box game with full goals that featured one team of 11 guys facing a team that was down one player, and down two players for some portions. Neutral players were later added to the mix, which helped even numbers out for the short-handed team when they had possession. But defending against the full strength side plus neutrals looked to be a tough task to say the least.

Victor Sikora returned to the practice field today after sitting out yesterday’s session with the sore right knee. Drew Moor was unable to go today, so he stayed off to the side and did some work with the training staff. After spending the first 45 minutes inside, Duilio Davino came out to the training field to get in a little bit of work with the trainers as well, before heading back in early.

Staying after...

A bunch of guys are often stay after practice ends; some working on shooting drills, some on crosses, some of other tecniques. When the more structured part of extra work ends, a few guys stay around for fun. Today, Dominic Oduro, Drew Keeshan, and Andrew Daniels were taking crosses from Marco Ferruzzi - trying to hit bikes / volleys / one-time, acrobatic shots...

Dominic Oduro...

Drew Keeshan...

Andrew Daniels...

In fairness to Andrew, he did get on the end of a good one, but we missed it...

Two Replacing Two

Jeff Cunningham trained with FCD for the first time today, in the rain and sun.

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

Following an endless number of days training in over 90, and even over 100 degree heat, today's strange weather day was welcomed, cause it kept the temp at about 75 when training started.

The practice started off with a slight bit of sun, though the heavy clouds were approaching from the north and west. Then, the dark clouds hovered, bringing a decent amount of rain for about an hours-worth of practice. And, as some Texans would expect, the sun came out for the last 45 minutes of practice - of course bringing back higher temps.

A regular session today. Meaning, a bit over two hours - the last part, a running drill. Drew Moor and Victor Sikora sat out today, both tweaking their right knees. Taking their place were Bobby Rhine and Marcelo Saragosa, who both returned to practice for the first time in a bit. We're expecting all four to continue improving and all should be ready for Saturday. Here's the injury report submitted to MLS today:

OUT: DF Duilio Davino (L toe); QUESTIONABLE: MF Brek Shea (L hamstring); PROBABLE: DF Drew Moor (R knee); Victor Sikora (R knee); MF Marcelo Saragosa (L calf); MF Bobby Rhine (L ankle); GK Ray Burse (L ankle).

UPDATED: we forgot to mention that Jeff Cunningham will be # 9 and Victor Sikora will be #12.

There goes the field...

The work on the PHP field started soon after the concert ended in the early hours of Sunday morning. As you see, there was a lot of clean up to do, first. Amidst the trash and recyclables, our ground crew tells us they've found about $15 worth of coins, along with plenty of pieces of sunglasses and plenty of dead batteries.

The field started coming up on Sunday afternoon, and we should have it all lifted by tomorrow. Then, the laser-grading begins. The goal is to start laying down the new sod over the weekend, if not early next week. We're putting down the regular thinner sod, since we have time for the roots to settle before the first use.

And they're back...

The guys were back this morning for training, having enjoyed their last weekend off of the season. A couple guys are still coming back from injuries, so they did not train. Jeff Cunningham will be arriving tonight, therefore Tuesday will be his first day with the team. And, Anthony Wallace has been called up again to the U.S. U-20 team for two friendlies against Guatemala.

The OzzFest Crowd

Pizza Hut Park added more big names to its all-time guestbook on Saturday, hosting the only OzzFest in the U.S. this year. Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica gave the record-crowd quite a show.

We're waiting to get the official attendance from the concert promoters, but we're thinking the crowd pushed 30,000 - which would make it the largest-ever crowd for any event at Pizza Hut Park.

PHP, Frisco, and FCD were likely introduced to many for the first time. We had fans from all 50 states and from 19 countries buy tickets for the show...we also had national media such as Sirius Satellite radio and Rolling Stone magazine in the building.

By Sunday morning, the stages, tents, and trailers were on their way out, and the stadium field starting coming up. We'll be installing the new field over the next couple days, giving us about three weeks before we play on it on August 30.

OzzFest at Pizza Hut Park

Over the past week, we've had a lot of activity here at the Park - all in preparation for today's OzzFest, which features headliners Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica.

Fans started arriving on Friday night in anticipation of the festival, which has non-stop music on three stages starting at 11 am. The main stage is the obvious one, inside the stadium. But we've also created two additional stages out on the blue lot and grass areas on the east side of the stadium. As you see above, which by the way shows the crowd at 3 pm, we did not put down the terraflor for this event. We're replacing the field starting Monday.

As we often do when we host such top acts, we welcome the artists to our home and give them an FC Dallas jersey as a gift. Our conference rooms have become the main areas for three radio stations, which have scheduled interviews with Ozzy and Sharon, as well as Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Below, FCD GM Michael Hitchcock gives Kirk and Robert their jersey.

FCD Acquires Jeff Cunningham

Photo: Getty Images

FC Dallas has acquired forward Jeff Cunningham from Toronto FC in exchange for a third round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.

Cunningham joins FCD as the 4th leading goal-scorer in league history with 99 career regular season goals. He began his professional career in 1998 with the Columbus Crew, where he became the co-leader in goals scored for the club (62) and earned his first MLS Best XI honor (2002).

After seven seasons, he was traded to the Colorado Rapids in 2005, where he finished third in MLS with 12 goals scored. He then led the league with 16 goals in 2006 as a member of Real Salt Lake, earning a place on the MLS Best XI team and becoming one of three finalists for the MLS Most Valuable Player award. Cunningham has also made 10 appearances with the U.S. Men’s National team.

UPDATED (12:10 pm CT)
Schellas on Cunningham: “Jeff’s going to help the team tremendously, because now we’ll have two legitimate goal scorers with him and Kenny Cooper. You win games by scoring goals, and Jeff’s a proven goal-scorer. We feel this could be one of the strongest attacking duos in MLS soccer.”

Sikora gets visa...

This morning, as we were about to send the press release announcing the trade for Cunningham, we also got word that Victor Sikora has received his work visa, thus making his signing official. This was somewhat surprising, as it's often taken much longer to secure that document. Now we wait for the ITC in the next couple days and he'll be eligible for next weekend's game at Columbus.

Also, Schellas tells us that the two River Plate players that trained with the team this week would not be asked to stay. They'll be returning to Argentina this weekend.

Schellas on Sikora: “Victor brings a wealth of experience to our team. He’s a natural attacking player and we see him complimenting the strike force on the flanks. He has the ability to score quality goals and to assist his teammates with his service.”

Break time...

Today's session was simple - play a 60 minute full field game. Of course, the day ended with a running exercize. But for the most part, the practice was less stopping and more playing.

The guys now get their final weekend off of the year. Knowing that, some guys took it easy, getting an extra day to rest. For instance, Brek tweaked his left hamstring last week with the U-20s, and felt it tighten up after yesterday's reserve game. So he did not play today.

Also, Dario's left knee was a little sore - he also stayed in. Marcelo is coming back from a small tear in his right calf, so he jogged lightly around the complex; as did Rhine with his sprained left ankle. Ray was able to come out for the latter part of training to work on a few drills.

As we've seen all season, Andrew Daniels and Aaron Pitchkolan just about always stay after practice to work on different things, like touch, runs, long passes, etc. After today's practice, they went to the Dr. Pink field to test Andrew's arm - his long throw reaching 86 yards in the air.

Dax at the Olympics

Dax stretches out before Wednesday's training session in China, the last practice before the start of the Olympics. Thanks to U.S. Soccer for the photo.

===================================================================
FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty is currently in China with U.S. Olympic Team, staying in a mini-Olympic village at the satellite venue of Tianjin - the third-largest city in China (behind Beijing and Shanghai).

The U.S. Men will open the 2008 Olympics on Thurs., Aug. 7 vs. Japan, live at 4 a.m. CT on MSNBC, Universal HD and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel. Today, Dax took some time to send us / you a brief update on his experience so far...keep reading...

"Hey everyone. Just thought I would catch up with you all from here in China as we prepare for the start of the Olympics. What a crazy past few weeks it has been for me.

As I'm sure most of you know, I was sitting at dinner with some friends when I got the call a couple weeks ago that I would joining up with the Olympic team in San Jose. I was obviously sad for Nathan Sturgis, who got injured, as he is a good friend of mine. But ultimately, I was thrilled to be going. I arrived in San Jose the next day (after a 6am flight!), and immediately met up with the team before we departed for China.

That was a crazy day because we were issued all the gear we would be receiving for the Games. Let me tell you, I have never been given as much gear as I was in that day: two big, full duffle bags - full of shirts, shorts, warm-ups, jackets, hats, socks, shoes, a suit and a cell phone! The next morning we were off to Hong Kong to compete in the ING Cup against the Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

Hong Kong is truly an unbelievable place. It has just as many, if not more, huge buildings and apartment complexes (with a few skyscrapers thrown in there) than New York City. We stayed in a 5-Star hotel that was right on the water (Hong Kong Bay, I think), and were treated very nicely.

The weather out here is extremely hot and humid. I won't say it is as hot as Dallas (it’s close), but the humidity is what really gets to you.

After a few days of training, we played the two friendlies in Hong Kong's national stadium. We ended up tying Ivory Coast 0-0 and losing to Cameroon 1-0. Not the results we wanted, but ultimately these games are just warm-ups to prepare us for the real thing. We did not play our best, but you can tell that the team is starting to come together and play some good soccer. We will definitely be ready for that first game against Japan.

We left Hong Kong after our last game, and arrived in Tianjin (the site of our first 2 games in these Olympics) with tons of excitement.

We are staying in another first-class hotel. The security here is crazy. Just to get into the hotel, our whole team had to go through metal detectors and put our bags through x-ray machines. The only others staying in the hotel with us are the 3 other teams in our group (Japan, Holland, and Nigeria) and one of the groups from the women's side (Canada's group). No one else is allowed to come to the hotel unless they have an Olympic credential to get in. Not even families are allowed to come in. Pretty crazy stuff!

Our first game is tomorrow against Japan, and everyone is very excited that the games are finally about to start. I am very happy to be here and just trying to soak up the whole experience, because this is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I have been following the guys back in Dallas very closely and am thrilled to see us playing so well right now. I knew it was only a matter of time before we started playing how we are capable of. I can't wait to get back to Dallas and start playing with the guys again, but I need to bring back a Gold medal first!"

FCD Reserves 2, Real Salt Lake Reserves 3

The FCD Reserves fell to the Real Salt Lake Reserves 3-2 this morning on the adidas Field. Jamie Watson scored both Dallas goals against his former club, including one that tied the game up at 2-2 in the 66th minute. But RSL's Kenny Cutler struck just four minutes later to give Salt Lake the win.


A full recap will be posted later today on fcdallas.com.

Here's how Dallas lined up (4-4-2): Josh Lambo (GK), Anthony Wallace, Blake Wagner, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Chase Wileman, Bruno Guarda, Eric Avila (Aaron Pitchkolan 75), Jamie Watson, Abe Thompson, Brek Shea (Dominic Oduro 75).

The rest of the team went through a training session on the stadium fiel before the Reserve game from 8-9 a.m.

Adding Six

We had six more players at training today that we had last week. Brek Shea, Anthony Wallace, and Josh Lambo all returned from Northern Ireland, where they helped the U.S. U-20s finish third at the Milk Cup last week. Also at training today were Lucas Malacarne (left), Lucas Gomez (right), and Victor Sikora (below)- all three arriving from their home countries over the weekend.

Tomorrow, we're making up the reserve game against Real Salt Lake that was postponed back in May. The team is scheduled to be here at 7:30 am on Wednesday. We're fairly confident that we won't have a blog writer or photographer here when they arrive...

The reserve game is scheduled for 9 am on the adidas Field. Don't count on any of the new guys to play - they are not eligible.

The FCD Blog Banner - You Vote...

When we started the blog in January 2007, we didn't spend much time polling people to see what we should name this new platform. We literally went with what we intended the blog to be - FC Dallas Updates.

Since then, we've found that the name most commonly used when referencing the team blog is - The FCD Blog. So, we'll accept it as the new name. Now, please help us decide which banner to use.

Victor Sikora joins FCD

Last week was as busy a week as we've seen around here, at least with regard to the make up of the team. Today, former Holland international Victor Sikora agreed to terms to join FCD.

Technically, Victor's not officially signed until we get either his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) or work visa. And, actually, we'll need both before he's eligible to play. So while he's here, and will be training with us on Tuesday, don't expect a formal press release until the ITC arrives (which could be tomorrow). Consider this a perk to blog faithful - unofficial, yet more or less official, news.

Joining the midfielder / forward at Tuesday's practice will be River Plate players Lucas Gomez and Lucas Malacarne, who arrived this morning from Buenos Aires.

Cooper Repeats as POW

Kenny Cooper today became the second player to win back-to-back MLS Player of the Week awards this season, taking the honor for Week 19. Cooper also won the award last week after he scored twice in FCD’s 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy, becoming the first player this year to win the honor unanimously.

With two goals on Sunday, Cooper set a new personal high with 13 goals on the season, moving into a tie with LA's Landon Donovan for the lead in the Budweiser Golden Boot race. (Donovan was the first to win back-to-back Player of the Week awards - Weeks 4 & 5).

Cooper has scored seven goals in the last seven games, including back-to-back two-goal games. Ten of Cooper’s 13 goals this season have either tied or given Dallas a lead in games, and the other three goals have increased the team’s lead. Dallas is now 18-1-6 all-time when Cooper scores a goal.

(Photo: MLSnet.com / P. Giamou/Getty)

FCD 2 at Toronto 0

Big win today. It's the second shutout win in as many games, which moves FCD into third place in the Western Conference. Schellas Hyndman gets his first road victory in MLS. FCD hands Toronto FC its first home loss of the season.

Kenny scored twice to give him 13 on the year, a new career high, which ties him for the league lead. Dario Sala picks up his 6th shutout of the season, also a new career high. He is now second in Dallas history with 17 career shutouts, moving one ahead of Mark Dodd.

Check FCDallas.com for a full recap and box score.

Checking In From Toronto...

The plane landed in Toronto at 2:45 p.m. ET this afternoon and it took about 45 minutes to get everyone through customs and retrieve all of the bags. By 3:30 p.m. we left the airport and headed straight to BMO Field to get a practice in so the guys could get a feel for the artificial surface.

A normally 30-minute ride from the Toronto Airport to the stadium was doubled this afternoon due to the Caribana 2008 Festival. Side-note: our bus driver, Les, made the hour long trip rather enjoyable with his colorful observations, comedic one-liners, and endless facts about the city of Toronto. The travel party - keep reading.

Here’s something we learned from Les today…Caribana is Toronto’s annual Caribbean festival, which brings over 1 million tourists to the Greater Toronto Area every year. Part of today’s festivities included the parade – the route for which coincidentally began right next to BMO Field. Because of this, there was an increased amount of foot traffic around the stadium, forcing our driver to carefully weave through crowds of pedestrians as we pulled up to our destination.

All we could hear when walking out onto the stadium field was music blasting so loud that it was hard to believe a live band wasn’t playing on the empty field right in front of us. A quick walk up the stairs on the south stands revealed the source…the adjacent parking lot was used as the staging area for today’s parade. There must have been at least 15 different floats, each with about 20-plus large concert style speakers blasting their own selection of music, with each float seemingly trying to outdo the next. It made for quite an entertaining practice atmosphere.

At the start of practice, the sun was shining bright with temps near 80, with a nice cool breeze every now and then. Not surprisingly, the weather was a popular topic throughout the day, and the consensus was that everyone was happy to be out of the Texas heat for a few days. About 30 minutes into the session, however, it appeared the weather wasn’t going to cooperate as the sun disappeared behind some dark clouds, the temperature dropped a few degrees, and large gusts of wind started to run across the field. At one point, the gusts were strong enough to blow over the bench shields, luckily without anyone getting hurt.

What appeared to be storms heading in our direction never materialized, and after a quick 45 minute session on the turf, we boarded the bus and headed for the hotel, about a 10 minute drive. After checking in, the guys were free to find dinner on their own, rather than having a team meal at the hotel. On this road trip, there’s only one scheduled team meal at the hotel (Sunday’s pre-game meal), compared to two to three on previous road trips. We asked Schellas about it and he says he wants to give the guys more time on their own, so they have a chance to get out of the hotel a little bit on road trips.

By now, we are sure you're proably wondering which players made the trip. Blog followers know that Duilio Davino and Bobby Rhine each suffered injuries at the end of the week, keeping both out for Sunday’s game. In addition, Ray Burse, who has missed the last two games with a right ankle injury will also be out, so the team has again called in League Pool GK Mike Graczyk to serve as the backup. Brek Shea, Josh Lambo and Anthony Wallace were not scheduled to return from the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland until late Saturday so they all stayed behind as well.

Here’s the traveling list: Dario Sala, Mike Graczyk, Dominic Oduro, Drew Moor, Pablo Ricchetti, Chase Wileman, Adrian Serioux, Aaron Pitchkolan, Michael Dello-Russo, Blake Wagner, Kenny Cooper, Eric Avila, Andrew Daniels, Andre Rocha, Marcelo Saragosa, Bruno Guarda, Abe Thompson, Jamie Watson.

Juan Toja Transferred to Steaua Bucuresti

Photo: Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas.

Late this afternoon, we here at the FCD Blog were able to witness Juan Toja signing off on the final document that sealed his transfer from FC Dallas to Romanian club Steaua Bucuresti.

With parties from three different countries involved, and documents being sent / read / translated in three different languages, it took some time. In the end, Juan was here at the stadium early this evening, signing the last document and faxing it in.

He cleaned out his locker, and said goodbye to the staff that was here. He then sat down for a quick interview with our FCD TV crew. He's got a lot to do tonight, and tells us he'll be here early on Saturday morning (8 am) to say goodbye to his (now former) teammates before they leave for Toronto. He will likely be on his way on Saturday as well.

Here's a little video tribute...enjoy...

NOTE: seem like we fixed the IE problem. All browsers should be working now.

The Turf Field

To say it was hot this morning is not really doing the temperature justice. The humidity alone made this one of the hottest days we've had. Enough that even Schellas told us he stopped practice a bit short.

The team started off training on the Dr. Pink field, which has the same field turf surface as we'll be playing on in Toronto on Sunday. After about 45 minutes, they moved back over to the adidas Field for another 45 minutes.

Before practice started, we found out that Duilio sustained an avulsion fracture of the big toe on his left foot. This happened toward the end of Thursday's practice, and x-rays this morning confirmed it. He'll be out, at the minimum, for Sunday's game, and likely longer. During the practice, Bobby Rhine rolled the same left ankle he's been recovering from. He's also out for Sunday.

Trialist Assan Jatta's trial is over. He was not here today.

Jamie Watson's week turned out very positive him - he was offered and accepted a contract following practice. He'll be joining the 28-man roster.

U.S. U-20 Finish third at Milk Cup

Just got a short note from Anthony Wallace informing us that the U.S. U-20's beat Belgium 2-0 to finish in third place in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. The FCD players will be returning to Dallas on Saturday.