Playoffs in sight..

As we approach the final games of the season, knowing the playoffs are within in reach, it's fair to say that the guys are concentrated, focused, and determined on the final stretch. And as we were looking through the photos we took at today's practice, the one above caught our attention.

This is not an attempt to be one of those 'inspirational' posters. But as you can tell, everyone is looking ready. We have four games left; two at home, two on the road. If we win on Thursday, we jump into 2nd place in the West (we won the season series vs. Chivas USA).

Comments from Schellas and Dario.

FCD Foundation: Ping Pong Event

On Monday, Dario Sala, Pablo Ricchetti, Drew Moor, Eric Avila, Anthony Wallace and Josh Lambo took time on their day off to join kids from the Reverchon Recreation Center for the FC Dallas Foundation Ping Pong Party. After playing, the kids and players ate together, and then the kids received some free FCD goodies. Sounds like all had a great time.

FCD fans know that ping-pong at FCD is as competitive as it gets, more so because we actually have a ping-pong table right smack in the middle of the locker room. Guys are always challenging each other – either before practice or after.

If there’s interest from fans, we’ll ask our staff to look into possibly hosting a ping pong tourney at a local bar, like the foosball tourney a few months ago.

(The FC Dallas Foundation would like to thank Dick's Sporting Goods and the North Texas State Soccer Association for making this great event possible.)

Thoughts and Prayers

This afternoon, we heard the tragic news that long-time FCD season ticket holder Anthony Mungioli was killed in an accident this morning. Formerly the coach of adult amateur team Azzurri, Anthony was a collegiate All-American defender and captain of SMU from 1976-1979. He and his family were also very involved in the soccer community in the Metroplex. On behalf of the front office and FC Dallas fans, our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Soccer Golf - Dax vs. Dello-Russo

A couple of weeks ago, U.S. Youth Soccer invited Dax McCarty and Michael Dello-Russo to appear on their web video in a game of soccer golf. They received permission from a local golf course to allow the guys to actually play golf with their feet and a soccer ball. Have a look...

A Day off, Completely off...

As one can imagine, the players and staff were happy with Sunday's result. Following the game, as always, Schellas addressed the team in the locker room before meeting with the media. In closing his comments, he told the team that they'd have Monday off. We instantly heard the whispers and saw a few guys look at each other...

Then, one player asked, "Off ? As in completely off, or off and Michael Johnson Center?" Laughter then ensued.

See, as we've tried to inform through the blog, the guys have been working incredibly hard over the past couple of months. We're not around them for the recovery sessions following games, since they typically go to the MJPC. However, the guys tell us that those recoveries are more like hard workouts than what they were used to.

So, when Schellas told the team they were off on Monday, they guys thought that maybe they were off from PHP training, but would have to go workout. Schellas laughed and explained they are completely off. To come back on Tuesday ready to work.

Then, Andre Rocha verbally acknowledged that he understood. More laughter followed, as one person said, "Andre understood English."

Still, some guys came in on their own to use the tubs / pools here at PHP today.

They'll all be back on the adidas Field on Tuesday at 9 am.

FCD 3, D.C. United 0

UPDATED (post-game) - That was nice, a 3-0 win at home. It's our 7th shutout of the season, 4th at home...we've now scored in the first 15 minutes of a game seven times, tied with NE for most in MLS...we're 5-0-2 in those games...Andre scores his and the team's first goal off a direct kick this year...Cunningham scored his 5th goal in seven games with FCD...Cooper scored his team-leading 15th on the season, which was his 30th career goal - tying him with Ariel Graziani for third-place on the all-time Dallas charts...
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For the second time this season, we're starting the same XI in back to back games. That is, we're starting the same XI that started in last week's 4-1 win at Chicago. In fact, we have the same 18 dressing as we did last week. The firsttime we started the same XI in back-to-back games was in Game 2 (3-3 vs. HOU) and Game 3 (2-0 win over NY).

Three home games left

The team trained on the stadium field today, taking advantage of a 75 degree sunny morning, and the great field condition. We only have five regular season games left in the season, with the next three all at home. We've gotten good points on the road lately (2-1-3), though have not had the same success at home (1-2-2) - so we're definitely looking to get that straightened out on Sunday when we host D.C. United (2 pm).

Currently, we're one point behind both Colorado and RSL, and only three points behind Chivas USA. LA is still behind us, and they've already played this week (lost to Chicago). SJ is also one point behind, but they come to town for Thursday's ESPN2 game here at PHP.

On Saturday, Colorado plays at NY, RSL plays at SJ, and Chivas hosts KC. You can watch on Direct Kick, on MLSnet.com, or follow along on the MLS Scoreboard.

Friendly Competition

A video session kept the team inside the locker room until about 9:30 a.m. this morning. When the guys got out on the field, they started in a small field 11 v 11 game with mini goals on each end. After working on that for 20-30 minutes, the team went straight into a full field scrimmage which lasted until about 10:45 a.m. That was the end of the structured portion of training, leaving the guys free to utilize the next 20 minutes or so to break off and work on their own.

On one end of the field, a small group continued to work with Schellas on set pieces. On the other end, the majority of the team practiced crossing and finishing.

Some friendly competitions took place in other areas of the field. In the middle, Adrian Serioux, Andrew Daniels, Anthony Wallace and equipment manager Marcus Owens each tried to hit the cross bar from about 20 yards out. Surprisingly, Marcus won by hitting the bar twice.

Later on, some of the guys played a game of soccer horseshoes. The teams were Dax McCarty and Jamie Watson; Dominic Oduro and GK coach Drew Keeshan; Andrew Daniels and Aaron Pitchkolan. Two markers (balled up pennies, in this case) are placed about 20 yards apart and teammates stand at opposite markers. The player with the ball chips it to his teammate, who has one touch to bring it out of the air and make the ball land closest to the marker. We’ve seen the guys play this many times, and Dax’s team usually wins. It was no different this time around.

The team will conduct a special practice on the stadium field Saturday morning, where season ticket holders have been invited to come out and watch. Afterwards, the attendees will have the opportunity to meet and chat with the players and coaches.

Falling Down

This morning, Schellas had the guys start off working in various small-sided games with focus on defensive pressure to create quick transition opportunities. He would later apply that same principle to an 11 v 11 full field scrimmage, before ending training around 11 a.m.

Today, the guys proved again that you can’t turn your head away from the field after practice is over, because that’s when the good stuff happens.

This time, it started with Eric Avila and Andre Rocha teaming up to pull a prank on Marcelo Saragosa. It was an oldie but a goodie -- as Eric was talking with Marcelo, Andre kneeled down behind his fellow Brazilian, which is when Eric pushed Marcelo to make him trip over Rocha and fall on his backside.

Minutes later the tables were turned on Eric when Rocha got behind him, allowing Anthony Wallace to get in on the act and push Eric over. Both instances were hilarious, but it looked like the guys got a bigger kick out of seeing Eric fall down, especially after watching him cheer victoriously after pulling the first prank on Marcelo.

Don’t know if they can top that one this week, but we’ll be pulling for it tomorrow and Saturday -- the team’s final practices ahead of Sunday afternoon’s clash with D.C. United here at PHP.

Return Leg of Rio Grande Plate Announced

FC Dallas will play Mexican-partner club Tigres UANL on Tues. Oct. 14 at Pizza Hut Park (7:30 p.m.) in the return-leg of the third annual Rio Grande Plate.

Tigres won the first leg 2-1 back on Feb. 20 at Estadio Universitario in Monterrey, Mexico.

FCD season ticket holders should use Bonus Game D in their season ticket booklets. Tickets for the general public are on-sale now at all Ticketmaster locations and fcdallas.com.

Click here to read the full press release.

Slam Dunk

After going through a recovery session at the Michael Johnson Performance Center on Monday and having the day off yesterday, the team returned to training on the adidas Field this morning. The field looked to be in top condition today, benefiting from the regular maintenance applied to it over the past two weeks.

The team started with a possession game and then moved into a drill which consisted of five attackers taking on three defenders and a keeper. The bulk of practice was spent in 7 v 7 games (including keepers) on two small fields side-by-side. Practice ended around 11 a.m. with a little bit of conditioning --- timed group runs around the field.

We’re not sure exactly how it began, but several of the guys who stayed outside after practice started an impromptu slam dunk contest amongst themselves, using the crossbar of an empty goal as the rim. Adrian Serioux, Dominic Oduro, Andrew Daniels and Ray Burse were the main participants, and while it only lasted about 10 minutes or so, there were a couple of great highlight moments.

Although we didn’t catch this one with the camera, one of the highlights came when Ray perfectly timed a jump to reject one of Andrew’s attempts, which had everybody rolling in laughter, including Andrew as he tumbled into the net.

But if you ask anybody on the team, we’re sure they’d tell you that Adrian provided the highlight of the day. How can you not give it to a man who had Jamie Watson stand in the way so he could leap over him and finish with a two-handed dunk? Check it out…

The MLS Business Summit

While the team is back on the training field in Frisco, ten members of our front office management staff flew out to Chicago on Tuesday evening to attend the 2008 MLS Business Summit.

MLS headquarters organizes this event, bringing League office executives together with execs from all 14 teams for two days of meetings, presentations, and interactive breakout sessions to discuss all matters of our business.

This morning, the entire group - we're told there are about 200 people here from all the teams and the league office - will gather for a general session where MLS Commissioner Don Garber will speak.

Breakout sessions begin later this afternoon - Finance, Commercial, Legal, Marketing, Fan Development, Communications, Ticket Sales, Player Personnel, Community Relations, etc. More of the same follows on Thursday, and the large group will also hear from other MLS execs as well as execs from league partners and foreign clubs.

What we find interesting at such gatherings is that no matter how competitive the teams are on the field, off the field all the teams want success for each other. It's what allows us to meet like this with everyone; to discuss success and failures, to discover new ways to do things, to learn how to overcome challenges, to strive to continue to improve.

Community Update

We wanted to bring you up to speed on some of the efforts of the FCD Foundation and Community Relations Department. The players continue doing clinics and appearances throughout the metroplex, and have more coming up this week. If you have any questions, suggestions, or need more info about the Foundation or community events, feel free to contact us at 214.705.6700.

HURRICANE DISASTER RELIEF
If you haven't bought tickets to the Sept. 28 game versus D.C. United, you can do so now and help support the American Red Cross Hurricane Disaster Relief fund. A $3 donation from every ticket purchased through a special online offer will go toward the fund, with the FC Dallas Foundation matching a portion of the proceeds. Additional opportunities to donate to the cause will also be available at the stadium on game day.

KICKS FOR KIDS PING PONG PARTY
The Ping Pong Party is one of four community events hosted by Kicks for Kids. This event will take place on Monday, Sept. 29 at the Reverchon Recreation Center in Dallas from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Invited organizations and after-school programs will join FC Dallas players and mascot Tex Hooper for an afternoon of fun, food and games. Kids can challenge their favorite FCD players to a game of ping pong and receive free tickets to an FCD home game. Admission is free, but space is limited.

FC DALLAS FOUNDATION CASINO NIGHT
The Third Annual FC Dallas Foundation Casino Night will take place on Saturday, October 4 at the Verizon Wireless Club at Pizza Hut Park (6 p.m.). Join FCD players, coaches and fans in support of the FC Dallas Foundation and its mission of reaching youth in the Dallas area through special programs and events. The money raised during Casino Night will help fund the Foundation's initiatives, programming efforts and grant programs.

Player Clinics with area youth soccer associations:

Sept. 23 – Partner Program Clinic (North Ft. Worth Alliance Soccer Assoc.) - six players

Sept. 24 – Partner Program Clinic (Arlington Soccer Assoc.) - seven players

Sept. 25 – Partner Program Clinic (Eagle Mountain Soccer Assoc.) - five players

Sept. 25 – Partner Program Clinic (Lake Cities Soccer Assoc.) - five players

And, while we're reminding fans how involved the players are with the community, we leave with this story and / or news video.

FCD 4, Chicago 1

That felt good, a 4-1 win at Chicago...we keep the Brimstone Cup, and are now 3-0 at Toyota Park...Pitch scores his first since 2006, Bruno scores his first career goal, and Cunningham strikes twice - his 17th and 18th career goals against Chicago. Andre gets two assists. More importantly, we're now only three points from second place Chivas, and only one point behind Colorado and RSL.
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We just settled in here at the press box when Cunningham scored 90 seconds into the game. And, as a tribute to his new-born daughter, the guys helped him celebrate, pretending to rock a baby.

We're in Chi-town...

We've made it to Chicago...a practice this morning at 9 am, was followed by lunch at 11, a 45 minute bus ride to DFW airport, a couple wait for our flight, a two hour flight to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and about a 50 minute bus ride got us to the Midway Marriott around 6 pm, this is where we'll be for the next 18 hours...

You see, there are no direct flights from Dallas to Midway Airport. Last year, we flew on ATA, but that airline is no longer operating...so, instead of connecting somewhere in order to land at Midway, we flew direct to O'Hare on American. Oh, and the reason we're at Midway, it's cause Toyota Park is about 10 minutes away.

Enough on that. Here's who traveled (beside the coaches and staff): Dario Sala, Ray Burse, Aaron Pitchkolan, Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Adrian Serioux, Michael Dello-Russo, Blake Wagner, Bobby Rhine, Dax McCarty, Bruno Guarda, Eric Avila, Pablo Ricchetti, Marcelo Saragosa, Andre Rocha, Dominic Oduro, Jeff Cunningham, and Kenny Cooper.

And if you're wondering what the photo above is about - well, as we flip on the TV in our rooms, we hear what sounds like a mariachi music. We look outside, and notice the wedding party that taking place right outside our windows...

FCD Juniors Kick Off Inaugural Season on Saturday

UPDATE (Sept. 20) - We split today, the U-16s won 3-2 thanks to a Bryan Leyva freekick...the U-18s lost 2-0, finishing the game a man down.
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We've been preparing for this weekend since January, and now it's here. The FCD Juniors teams begin their inaugural U.S. Soccer Development Academy season on Saturday, when they face 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer National Champions, Andromeda Soccer Club, in Plano. The U-16s start at 1:30, followed by the U-18s at 3:30.

While it seems like a long-time coming, we look back at some key dates (with links) that got us here...keep reading.

Back in January, when we were hosting the popular Sueño MLS competition, coaches Chris Hayden and Chris Clarke quickly realized that if they couldn't find a player that could step right up to the first team, that they were at least looking at plenty of players that could help start our soon-to-be-announced Juniors program.

After seeing thousands of players, and numerous cut-downs, on March 31, Gabriel Funes is announced as the winner of Sueño MLS on national TV...

In May, we launched the new Juniors program and introduced the first commitments, which includes Gabriel and three other players first discovered at Sueño...

In June, we held invite and open tryouts, which pretty much helped fill out both the U-16 and U-18 rosters.

In July, Oscar Pareja returns to FCD to head up the Juniors programs, which serves as the serve as the flagship teams for the FC Dallas Youth Development program.

Since then, the Juniors have played a couple of friendlies against the Houston Dynamo...they've scrimmaged the first-team Reserves...and, they've participated in the SUM U-17 Cup. We've even had a player - Alex Molano - chosen to attend the U.S. U-17 Residency Academy in Florida.

For the past months, Oscar and Chris had held regular training sessions here at PHP, treating the players as pros, and exposing them to similar training environments.

They guys are ready and anxious. We wish them all the best!

Davino and Sikora

After kicking this morning’s practice off with a possession drill, the focus moved to a team defending / counterattack exercise, and then finished with an 11 v 11 scrimmage. Training ended around 11:30 a.m., although many stayed out on their own for extra work as usual.

The news of the day was that both Duilio Davino and Victor Sikora participated in training for the first time in a while.

At the end of practice, as Anthony Wallace was saying hello to Dave Dir on the sidelines, a couple of the trainers sneaked up behind him and poured water down his back with a squirt bottle. Minutes later, Kenny Cooper and Drew Moor narrowly escaped a second water attack from the trainers, when an attempted Gatorade cooler dump fell just about a foot short, leaving only a drenched set of bleachers. Andre Rocha also avoided the water...and, he managed to sneak behind one of the trainers to empty out a cooler full of ice.

The team will hold one final training session on Saturday morning, and then catch an afternoon flight to Chicago ahead of Sunday’s game against the Fire (FSN-SW / Telefutura, 2 p.m.).

Here's a video from today's practice, with comments from Moor, Schellas, and Cunningham:

Brek out 3-4 months

Brek Shea had surgery this morning to repair the torn medial meniscus in his right knee. The decision was made to repair the torn portion of his meniscus, which is the prefered option for the long-term health of the athlete. In saying that, recovery from a 'repaired' meniscus is 3-4 months.

The other option would have been to remove the damaged portion of the meniscus, as happened with Victor Sikora. In that case, recovery is a lot faster, as we've seen with Victor. The difference with Victor and Brek is that the damage to Victor's meniscus made it un-repairable.

Full Group

With the full team together for the first time since Tuesday, Schellas started today's practice by splitting the group into two squads of 10 field players each for an exercise that emphasized defending as a team. After working together on that, the group that traveled to Colorado broke off to use the remaining time for recovery.

The rest of the guys would later split into three groups of five for a small-sided drill that focused on transition – winning the ball from the opposition and quickly attacking. Practice ended around 11:30 a.m. with some individual dribbling around the outside of the 18-yard box, which gradually picked up in intensity, ending at a full speed sprint.

Adrian Serioux returned to practice after having a few days off. Kenny Cooper trained for the first time this week...he spent Mon.-Wed. working on the sidelines with the training staff. Victor Sikora and Duilio Davino continued to work with the trainers, and then Victor finished off the day participating in the final dribbling exercise with his teammates.

Duilio sparked some competition today when he nonchalantly chipped a ball with his left foot into a trash can from about 15 yards away. As soon as training ended, at least 10 players tried to outdo him by attempting the feat from 25-30 yards. Although nobody was successful, Dario Sala came the closest when one of his volley attempts bounced off the rim of the trash can, which was pretty impressive.

Brek Shea went in for knee surgery this morning – we’ll look to post an update this afternoon as soon as we find out the results.

Meanwhile...

While the Reserve squad was in Colorado getting ready to face the Rapids this morning, the rest of the team went through a practice here at Pizza Hut Park. Lasting a little over an hour and 15 minutes, today’s training mainly involved some possession work before ending with a fun, high-tempo finishing drill.

After practice, Bobby Rhine, Bruno Guarda, Aaron Pitchkolan and Blake Wagner all stayed outside for at least 30 minutes to take shots on Bryant Rueckner, the goalkeeper who’s been training with the team for the past few months.

Jeff Cunningham rejoined the team after spending the past few days in Toronto for the birth of his first child. Jeff was the first player out this morning, running laps before practice began. He was also the last player to leave the training field, taking shots on an open net.

We’re looking forward to having the full team back together tomorrow morning for training. The team will practice at PHP at 9 a.m. for the next three days, before heading to Chicago on Saturday afternoon.

Reserves - FCD at Colorado

Final – Colorado 3, Dallas 0…not the type of result we had in mind when we decided to try this today…we’ll be heading back to Dallas in a couple hours. We attempted a blog-type of matchtracker, which you can read by clicking here

85th – Both Dom and Jamie get shots off from good spots, one saved and the other hits the side net…

75th – Colaluca makes it 3-0…Kwame Sarkodie took a ball down the right side into the box, drawing Lambo to the near post…he then calmly laid the ball off to the middle, where Colaluca entered unmarked for the easy tap in…

70th – Colorado scores, 2-0…Dallas had done a lot better job of keeping possession, and flicked a ball up to Oduro, but just too long. Burciaga got the ball and sent a long pass over the top that Daniels misread, and went over his head…and, Gomez was there to take the ball another 30 yards, round Lambo, and put the ball in the back of the net…

65th – Guest player Zach Pope in for Wadsworth, but drops to the right back and Watson moves forward…

59th – Dominic gets off a good shot, but Bouna makes the acrobatic save…

51st – great chance for Dallas…Dominic takes the ball in the box on the right, and draws Bouna out…he crosses the ball in the six yard box for Rowland, but a Rapids defender steps in front and taps the ball sideways to Bouna, who picks it up…so, an indirect kick from about 10 yards out…Dax touches to Dello, who rips a low shot but Bouna somehow smothered it almost as it was coming off his foot…he then springs Gomez, who runs in at goal with only Watson marking, and Jamie takes him down outside the box…the ensuing freekick goes high..

Second half starts...Lambo in for Burse...

Halftime

41st – Dominic has a great chance, with a defensive mistake leaving him to take an open shot from the top of the box, however his shot went high…

39th – Colorado takes the 1-0 lead…Gomez keeps finding teammates all over the field…this time, he wins a ball in midfield, sends Peterson down the left, who crosses the ball. Andrew attempts to clear, but the ball is quickly redirected past Burse by Colaluca.

33rd – Dax rips a shot from outside the arc that goes about 3 feet high.

29th – Gomez first opens up Burciaga who moves up on the left and takes a shot that narrowly misses wide right…then, Dax finds himself out on the left and sends in a dangerous ball to Rowland, but Bouna reacts and starts a counter…this time, Gomez, springs Colaluca on the left, and his shot from the top of the box also goes wide right…

18th – Colorado had a bit more possession for the last five, with Gomez either breaking up or starting plays…however, we got the ball down to their end for a couple set pieces from out wide, though all three crosses were cleared…

10th – Burciaga rips a free kick off the wall, and the follow up shot goes way high.

7th minute – Dominic with the first shot, coming from a far left angle and going wide a couple minutes ago…I’m looking at the players Colorado put out and realizing there are a lot of players who have played some minutes on the first team this year, including one all-star…

9:50 – Colorado’s lineup: Bouna Coundol, Tim Ward, Facundo Erpen, Ugo Ihemelu, Jose Burciaga, Greg Dalby, John DiRaimondo, Ciaran O’Brien, Jacob Peterson, Nico Colaluca.

9:30 MT – FCD has taken the field for warmups. This is how we’ll start: Ray Burse in goal; Anthony Wallace, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, and Jamie Watson in the back. Chase Wileman at left mid, Dax McCarty at holding, Eric Avila at attacking, and Spencer Wadsworth at right mid; Jeff Rowland and Dominic Oduro at forward.

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Here we are live from Dick's Sporting Good Park in Colorado, where the FCD is about to play the Rapids in a Reserve Game. We're on field #20, which is the Rapids primary training field, which is in great shape. We found an electrical outlet near the field, which should allow us to keep the laptop running as we attempt a blog version of a matchtracker. The game kicks off at 10 a.m. MT, 11 a.m. back in Dallas, and we'll do our best to keep you updated.

Gone Fishin'

If you’re familiar with Pizza Hut Park you know that Field 5 backs up to the pond just off of World Cup Way. And if you’re familiar with odds you know that even with a net behind the goal that measures about 30 yards wide by 30 feet tall, chances are that some attempted shots are going to sail past that net and into said pond.

It happened so much today that equipment manager Marcus Owens, the trooper that he is, spent the majority of today’s practice fishing balls out of the water hazard. The current caused by the fountain in the middle of the pond helped push everything out to the banks so they could be easily retrieved, but occasionally a few balls would get caught up in some brush, which required some creativity.

That’s when Marcus went to his arsenal to break out the 4 ft. long coaching sticks, which are primarily set up in two’s during practice and used for makeshift goals or “gates” for players to play the ball through. The secondary use as we’ve come to find out is for retrieving lost soccer balls.

After practice, Blake Wagner helped by fishing out one that he had knocked into the water, except it appears he decided to use a pole of some sort that he must have found on the ground. Here’s Blake waiting patiently for the right moment to reel in his catch of the day.

Even though all of the practice balls were retrieved and thankfully there weren’t any unfortunate accidents such as somebody falling into the pond, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a future request to forbid shooting on the southern goal at Field 5.

Congratulations Jeff!

We'd like to congratulate Jeff Cunningham and his wife Jocelyn on the birth of their first child, a baby girl! Mikayla Jane Cunningham was born at 2 a.m. Monday morning at 8 lbs. even. Jeff will arrive back in Dallas tonight and train with the team on Wednesday.

Half of the team will be at PHP tomorrow morning while the other half will be in Colorado for Wednesday's Reserve game against the Rapids. The team has taken 14 players to Colorado, and included amongst that group are two guest players that trained with the full team today. One is defender Zack Pope, who currently plays for the Austin Aztex PDL team. The other is Jonathan Burklo, a defender with the USL-2 Wilimington Hammerheads.

Here's the full travel list...

Ray Burse, Josh Lambo, Jamie Watson, Andrew Daniels, Michael Dello-Russo, Anthony Wallace, Spencer Wadsworth, Dax McCarty, Chase Wileman, Eric Avila, Jeff Rowland, Dominic Oduro, Zack Pope, Jonathan Burklo.

Brek's MRI Result...

The team held a light practice for about an hour this morning. The guys who played a lot on Saturday went through a recovery session while the rest of the players had a more structured session.

Neither Kenny Cooper nor Brek Shea practiced today. Kenny instead rested his sprained left ankle inside while Brek lifted weights in the gym. Brek’s MRI on Friday revealed a torn meniscus in his right knee. He’ll undergo surgery later this week, at which time we’ll have a better idea of his recovery time.

Jeff Cunningham flew straight to Toronto from D.C. on Sunday to again be with his pregnant wife who is due any day now…Adrian Serioux was given the day off to rest after his busy recent weeks with the Canadian National Team…Duilio Davino is returning to Dallas today from Mexico.

After practice, all the players headed to Stonebridge Country Club in McKinney for the 2008 FC Dallas Foundation Golf Tournament.

On Tuesday, the entire team will practice at 9 a.m., and then 16 players will head to Colorado for Wednesday morning’s Reserve game against the Rapids (11 a.m.). Marco Ferruzzi and Drew Keeshan will lead the Reserves in Denver, while Schellas and John Ellinger will stay to work with the rest of the guys here at PHP on Wednesday.

Our Southern Neighbors

We want to pause for a bit to wish our neighbors to the south all the best. Hurricane Ike caused a lot of damage in southern Texas, leaving many without homes and many even worse off.

It appears the Galveston area took the worse of it, though many other portions of Texas - including Houston - were also heavily affected. So, while we continue preparing for our game next weekend in Chicago, we're keeping everyone affected by the storm in our thoughts.

FCD 2, D.C. United 2

UPDATE (Postgame): FCD picked up a valuable point on the road tonight, coming back from a one-goal deficit late in the game to earn the draw on Andre Rocha's 79th minute score.

The team is now tied with the Colorado Rapids for fifth in the West at 27 points...Colorado plays Chicago tomorrow. Dallas also benefitted from a few results tonight with KC defeating LA 2-0, Real Salt Lake falling to New York 2-1, and Houston and San Jose tying 1-1.

Visit fcdallas.com to check out highlights and read the full recap and box score.

Some notes from tonight's game...

• Kenny Cooper tonight tallied his team-leading 14th goal of the year, putting him two behind Landon Donovan for the League lead.
• It was Cooper’s first career goal against D.C. United, and he has now scored against 12 of the 13 MLS teams he has faced. The Columbus Crew is the only remaining opponent the forward has not yet scored upon.
• FCD improves to 18-1-7 all-time when Cooper scores.
• Rocha’s game-tying goal was the second of his MLS career. His first came on Aug. 23 at Kansas City.
• Dallas has scored nine times in the final 11 minutes of play this year, with four of those goals helping the team earn a point.
• This was the sixth time this season that Dallas has fought back from a deficit to earn a point, and the third time the team has done it on the road.
• Cooper left the game in the 57th minute with a sprained left ankle. He has played more minutes (2,114) than any Dallas player this season, missing only 36 minutes of action.

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Here’s how FCD started the game (4-4-2): Sala, Wagner, Ricchetti, Pitchkolan, Serioux, McCarty, Saragosa, Guarda, Rocha, Cunningham, Cooper.

Eastward Bound

Short session this morning, this time on Field 7. The team went through the typical 11 v 11 full field walk-through, then had some quick small-sided games (old guys against young guys) before finishing with set piece drills, including corners.

Adrian Serioux rejoined the team after spending the last week and a half with the Canadian National Team. Brek Shea was also out on the practice field after sitting out yesterday with a sore knee.

The team is on its way to D.C. We’ll come back with an update after we arrive. In the meantime, you can read the FCD at D.C. United preview and download this week’s game notes.

Couple extra notes:

** The traveling players: Sala, Burse, Pitchkolan, Serioux, Wagner, Daniels, Dello-Russo, Ricchetti, Wallace, Saragosa, Guarda, McCarty, Rocha, Avila, Watson, Oduro, Cunningham, and Cooper.

** When Club America was here last weekend, Duilio had a chance to catch up with many old teammates and staff, including the team's medical staff. They told him that if he wanted, they'd treat him down in Mexico on his current foot injury. Duilio brought it up to Schellas, who told him to go for it. So, yesterday, Duilio paid a visit to the CA facilities, as he'll likely do today. He's expected to be back on Sunday.

** Brek is going to have an MRI on his right knee later today. It's more as a precaution since he again felt slight discomfort after today's practice.

** We saw Victor advancing his work off to the side. Later, we asked him how he's feeling. He tells us that he's yet to experience any pain, and he thinks he could be ready to begin training after the Chicago game.

** Couple of roster moves: Andrew Daniels has been moved up to the 18-man Senior Roster, taking the last spot...and, UPDATED (4 pm): forward Jeff Rowland has been signed and takes up the final Developmental Roster spot.

Together Again

The full team was back together this morning for training on Field 5 (the “Wendy’s Field”), which is just a slightly longer walk from the office than Field 4, where the team practiced on Tuesday. For that reason, we’re glad that it wasn’t raining for the last 30 minutes of training as it did two days ago.

Schellas had the guys spend the majority of the session in an 11 vs. 11 scrimmage, and then later split the team up into groups of seven for a drill that also utilized the full length of the field. Practice ended with a light cool down passing drill, and then the guys were free to work on individual needs for a few minutes before heading into the locker room. Here’s a couple of observations from today…

Adrian Serioux is scheduled to return to Dallas today following Canada’s 2-1 loss to Mexico last night in World Cup Qualifying, and will practice on Friday. Duilio, who is still recovering from his left toe injury, was given permission to attend to personal matters in Mexico while the team is in D.C. this weekend. Brek sat out today with a sore knee after starting and playing the first half of yesterday’s Reserve game in Houston.

While Victor Sikora wasn’t out on the field with the team, he did make it outside for some light jogging around the sidelines for the first time since undergoing knee surgery two weeks ago. He showed up to the field about 20 minutes into practice and you could tell his teammates were happy to see him out there. As Victor ran laps around the field, some of the guys took the opportunity to throw some friendly jibes in his direction, which he took in stride.

Practice ended shortly after 11 and they’ll all be back in for 9 a.m. training on Friday morning. Immediately following tomorrow’s practice, the team will head to the airport to catch the flight to D.C. for Saturday night’s game against United.

At half-mast...

All around we've seen the U.S. flag flying at half-mast today, in remembrance of the tragedy that occured on Sept. 11, 2001. In response, the league cancelled the remaining games that season. We caught up with a few FCD players/coaches to hear what they remember from that day...

John Ellinger: was the head coach of the U.S. U-17 team, in Trinidad and Tobago for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship...to get their minds off the events of that morning, the team went to train in the afternoon...upon arriving at the field, a truck-load of TnT military jumped out and surrounded the playing field...from then on, the team had this type of security at the hotel or where ever they went...

Anthony Wallace: was in seventh grade art class (in Florida)...his parents called their family in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan and found out everyone was ok...Wally's grandfather was actually in the World Trade Center that day in 1993 when the building was first bombed...

Pablo Ricchetti: was playing for Valladolid in Spain...was home with his wife, who was pregnant with their first boy...was in the backyard when his wife came out to tell him of the first plane...he ran inside and also was watching live as the second plane hit...his brother-in-law moved to NYC a couple of weeks later for school...his sister moved to Manhattan the following year...

Dominic Oduro: was in school in Ghana, about to go to lecture...he'd watch CNN in the mornings, and that day, he tuned in a few seconds before the second plane hit...it took a second to realize he was watching that live...he did not know anyone in NY or DC at the time...

Bruno Guarda: was in high school in Piracicaba, Brazil...two weeks prior, he had been in Sao Paolo getting his student visa, since he was set to come to the United States in March 2002...he had just returned from school, and flipped on the TV...though he and his family were initially nervous that he was set to come to the U.S., he followed through and arrived a few months later...

Andrew Daniels: was in high school in Wisconsin at the time with his younger brother...their older brother was a student at Columbia University in NYC...went to the principals office and called home, when their mom told him that his older brother was ok...his family moved to NJ a couple years later...

Victor Sikora: was in his car when he heard the news on the radio...at the time, he was playing for Ajax in Holland, and was teammates with American midfielder John O'Brien...the next day, to show compassion and respect for John, the team held held hands and had a moment of silence before training...

Michael Dello-Russo: was walking to class at Maryland when his dad called and told him to turn around and go home...like many, he sat there watching TV all day long...the fear grew stronger when the nearby Pentagon was attacked...members of his team knew people that were in the Pentagon that day, so a couple of days later the team went together to the site...

Dario Sala: was playing for Independiente in Argentina, and had traveled to Brazil for a game...they were on their way to training and watched the events unfold on the bus' TVs...upon arriving to the stadium, the team security guard told them all to get back on the bus...they returned to the hotel and watched more on TV...

Kenny Cooper: was going to art class in high school, here in Dallas...the class watched the events on TV together...lost a family friend in the Pentagon attack that day...

Jeff Cunningham: was with the Columbus Crew, and on the morning of Sept. 11 the team was flying from Tampa to Colorado for a game on Sept. 12...their plane made an emergency landing in Alabama, for reasons he remembers the pilot saying "terrorist activities"...once on the ground, some players were able to contact family members who explained what was happening in NYC...the Crew ended up busing from Alabama to Columbus...Jeff was afraid of flying then, and is still today...

Reserves: FCD at Houston

UPDATE: FCD took a 1-0 lead into the half, but Houston came back with three unanswered goals to claim the 3-1 win.

Jeff Cunningham opened the scoring with about 10 minutes to play in the first half. Goalkeeper Ray Burse punched out a Houston corner kick that Dominic Oduro chased down. Oduro then advanced the ball to Cunningham, who took a couple of touches forward before taking a shot that the keeper couldn't hold on to.

Things changed in the second half. In the 55th minute, Houston's Chris Wondolowski evened the game off a penalty kick that was called when Drew Moor was called for a handball. Five minutes later, Kyle Brown gave Houston the lead, and then Guy-Roland Kpene redirected a cross from the corner of the box, scoring on a close-range header in the 70th.

FCD: Burse, L-Wallace, Shea (Moor 46), Daniels, Rhine (RB), L-Wileman, Dello-Russo, Avila, McCarty (Watson 46), Oduro (Rowland 46), Cunningham (Wadsworth 70).

Heading to Houston

The team trained on Field 4 this morning while the adidas Field undergoes scheduled maintenance. They’ll rotate between complex fields for the rest of the week before returning to the regular practice field after the weekend.

Jeff Cunningham rejoined the team today after spending the weekend in Toronto with his pregnant wife. The baby hasn’t arrived yet, but it could be any day now.

Sixteen players are on the way to the airport for tomorrow morning’s Reserve Division game at Houston (10 a.m.). This game was originally on the board for May 29, but both teams decided to reschedule. Here’s the travel list…

Dominic Oduro, Drew Moor, Ray Burse, Anthony Wallace, Bobby Rhine, Jamie Watson, Michael Dello-Russo, Dax McCarty, Chase Wileman, Andrew Daniels, Eric Avila, Jeff Rowland, Bryant Rueckner, Spencer Wadsworth, Jeff Cunningham, Brek Shea.

All four coaches will travel to Houston, so on Wednesday morning the rest of the team will go to the Michael Johnson Performance Center for a workout. The entire team will be back together for practice here at PHP on Thursday at 9 a.m.

Bowl-O-Rama

Today’s practice was a recovery day for the guys that started against Club America, finishing around 10:15 a.m. The rest of the team went through some more intense drills and exercises before ending at 11.

This afternoon the team will meet up off the field for a fun bowling challenge. They’ll be split into groups of four, and the coaching staff will field a team as well. There are prizes of some sort involved, and knowing this group, we're expecting a pretty strong competition with guys doing whatever it takes to win.

We’ll look to get the results later on today, but we won't be sure who to believe...

FCD 2, Club America 1

FCD receives the "Copa El Mexicano" trophy on the field after the game.
Photo: Rick Yeatts / FC Dallas.
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UPDATE (post-game): With the 2-1 win over Club America today, FCD captured the "Copa El Mexicano" in the team's first-ever meeting against the Mexican club.

Dominic Oduro put FCD up a goal just nine minutes in off a feed from Bruno Guarda. Dax McCarty played a ball to Bruno on the right side, who beat his defender to the endline and laid it off to Dom for the easy finish from 12 yards out.

Kenny Cooper doubled the lead in the 28th minute on a similar play. Drew Moor beat defender Juan Carlos Mosqueda on the dribble up the right flank. Before reaching the endline, Drew laid it off to Kenny inside the box, who one-timed it home.

Club America got on the board in the 33rd when Alfredo Moreno converted a PK, which was awarded when Drew fouled Moreno in the box. Dario Sala nearly stopped the attempt, which flew just past his outstretched hands. Dario finished the game with nine saves.

Club America players Alejandro Arguello and Antonio Castro were each sent off -- Arguello in the 78th minute for an elbow to Guarda's head, and Castro in the 89th for a high tackle on Jamie Watson.

Visit fcdallas.com for the full recap.

Next up -- a Reserve Division game at Houston this Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., before the team's next regular season game at DC United on Saturday.

Saturday Session

Light practice for the guys this morning on the adidas Field ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Club America at PHP (4 p.m. CT).

Marcelo Saragosa joined Duilio Davino (left toe) and Victor Sikora (right groin) inside today for work with the training staff, after re-aggravating his right groin on Thursday night. All three will miss Sunday’s game.

Also missing from practice was Jeff Cunningham -- he flew back to Toronto yesterday to be with his wife, who is due to give birth to the couple’s first child this weekend.

Mexican media outlet Televisa, who are covering Club America’s U.S. tour, came out today and spoke with Duilio, Pablo Ricchetti and Eric Avila after the session. Several Club America supporters also showed up to get Duilio’s autograph and snap some photos with him.

FCD Reserves Defeat Colorado Reserves 2-1

The FC Dallas Reserve squad picked up its third win of the season this morning, defeating the Colorado Rapids Reserves 2-1 on the adidas Field. Dominic Oduro and trialist Jeff Rowland provided the goals -- just three minutes apart -- in the first half. Colorado's Adriano Sella answered back in the 35th, but FCD was able to hold the lead in the second half.

Play was stopped in the 6th minute when Colorado's starting goalkeeper Chris Sharpe stretched his left leg out to save an Oduro shot with his foot, injuring his right ankle in the process. The keeper was attended to by Colorado's training staff before being carted off the field 11 minutes later. Preston Burpo finished the first half for Colorado, while Bryant Rueckner, who has been training with FCD for the past couple of months, played the second half for the Rapids.

BREAKING: Abe Traded to KC

Abe scores the tying goal against KC on July 4. Photo: Rick Yeatts/FC Dallas
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This morning, we finalized a trade with the Kansas City Wizards that sends forward Abe Thompson to KC in exchange for an undisclosed amount of allocation money.

Thompson was selected by Dallas in the 2nd Round of the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft (16th overall). In four seasons with the team, Thompson started 32 of the 69 regular season games in which he appeared and scored 14 goals while adding 11 assists. His six goals in 11 career U.S. Open Cup games for Dallas are most in team history. In 2008, he scored three regular season goals in 13 games (four starts), and two Open Cup goals in two games.

FCD 0, Colorado 1

UPDATED (post-game): Not much to say from us here at the blog. Obviously, disappointed. It was, as one can imagine, a quiet post-game locker room. We'll play the Reserve Game on Friday morning here at PHP. Sorry, no video today. The game recap, boxscore, etc. are on mlsnet.com and fcdallas.com.
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There are a few changes to the lineup from last week -- Pablo Ricchetti comes back from suspension to play center back next to Pitchkolan, with Drew Moor sliding to right back. Anthony Wallace gets the start at left midfield and Michael Dello-Russo starts on the right side of the midfield.

It's Gameday...

Yes, we know we've lost some points lately...and, we know the records between us in the playoffs...but, as we approach tonight's game, we're going to try to forget the past and look ahead with positive thoughts...you know, get that positive vibe going early...

DYI - we're unbeaten in 13 straight games against Colorado in Dallas (10-0-3) and 16-4-3 all-time at home against them (4-0-2 at Pizza Hut Park)...we've scored more goals (78) versus the Colorado Rapids than against any other MLS opponent...Click here for League's preview and game notes.

If you're planning on coming out to the game, remember we're having $1 domestic beers on the stage (6:30 - 7:30 p.m. CT) and $1 sausages all game long...and, for the kids, the first 5,000 that enter will get a free soccer ball.

Alex Molano Joins U.S. Residency Program

FCD Juniors 16-year-old midfielder Alex Molano. Photo: Jimmy Vanegas
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We're proud to inform that FC Dallas Juniors midfielder Alex Molano is one of 17 new players selected to join the U.S. Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla. The players will be competing for a place on the U.S. team that will attempt to qualify for its 14th consecutive FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the spring of 2009.

Molano is one of six players that joins the Residency Program from youth clubs associated with Major League Soccer teams, along with John Agudelo (N.Y. Red Bulls Academy), Jonathan Kempin (K.C. Wizards Juniors), Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire Academy), and Julio Arjona and Shaquille Phillips (D.C. United Academy).

As one of the players identified by FCD under MLS’s homegrown talent initiative, Molano, who has been part of the FC Dallas Youth program for the past two years, will remain protected by FCD and thus not enter future MLS Drafts.

Congrats to Alex, and to coaches Chris Hayden and Oscar Pareja for a great start to the Juniors program.

Ball Corral

Today (Wednesday) was noticeably windier than yesterday, and with the sun behind the clouds all morning, was much cooler. Most of the guys came out to the field in jackets and we can’t remember the last time we saw that.

Here’s how the wind affected today’s practice:

• Equipment manager Marcus Owens decided to bring out what he calls the “ball corrals.” He fashioned these contraptions (above) out of PVC pipe, and uses them on days like this to keep the practice balls from rolling away in the wind.
• Neither the player’s tent nor the media tent went up today….we don’t even want to think about how difficult chasing a runaway pop-up tent must be.
• A Ray Burse punt - which initially looked like it was going to travel about three quarters of the length of the field - was held up by the wind and actually starting traveling backwards in the air, causing it to land in his own half.
• Media interviews with Schellas and the players after practice were conducted inside one of the visiting team locker rooms because strong winds and voice recorders don’t mix.

Still, the team went through a light workout, including a walk-through of what could be the starting lineup, which included - 4 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 2 forwards...

The Winds

UPDATE: as we were typing this entry on Tuesday, the power went out here at Pizza Hut Park...it appears the affects of Gustav reached us up here in north Texas early...Tuesday's practice session was conducted under some very strong winds....it got even windier later in the afternoon, though we're still not sure if that's the reason for the power outage...

Chat with Schellas

Schellas will be taking questions from fans today - Tuesday, Sept. 2 - at 2 p.m. CT on a live chat on ESPN.com. Send in your questions ahead of time or when the chat starts. You can submit questions and follow along by clicking here.

Labor Day

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend. Although the front office is closed for Labor Day, the team was in this morning for practice. We’ll get to practice below, but we wanted to start things off by reminding everyone that there is lots of action here at PHP later on this week:

• Thursday - FCD takes on the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 p.m. (live on ESPN2)
• Friday - Reserve Game: FCD vs. Colorado at 10 a.m. on the adidas Field.
• Sunday - FCD will face Mexico’s Club America on Sunday in a friendly at 4 p.m.

This morning, assistant coach Marco Ferruzzi led the starting field players from Saturday night’s game (minus Adrian Serioux) in a recovery session while Schellas and John Ellinger ran the remaining field players through a regular practice. The keepers spent the first part of training together with coach Drew Keeshan as usual, before working in with the team later on.

Adrian was not in training, as he left yesterday to join the Canadian National Team for upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against Honduras (Sept. 6) and Mexico (Sept. 10). He is expected to return to Dallas on the 11^th.

One piece of news from today -- the team has brought forward Jeff Rowland (right) in on trial for the next 10 days. The 23-year-old was drafted by Real Salt Lake in 2006, and just wrapped up his first season with the Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2). FCD currently has one roster spot available, which opened up when Ricardinho returned to CAP.