Friday news...

Couple of interesting notes for a Friday...

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

Today, we finalized two trades...

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

FCD vs. Colorado Preview

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

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


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

Toja named to All-Star team..

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

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

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

U.S. Olympic Roster

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

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

Pareja returns...

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

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

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

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

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

Shade Is Good

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

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

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

Full Charge

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

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

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

From Holland to Frisco...

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

FCD's World Round-Up...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time off...

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

Cooper voted to MLS All-Star First XI

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

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

Josh and Brek's Crib Part 2

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


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

Recovery session?

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

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

FCD 1, Charleston 3

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

FCD vs. Charleston

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

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

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

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

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

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

FCD ties LA and Chivas USA at SUM Cup

Photo: MLS/SUM

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

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

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

Abe Wins an Award / Up For Another / Open Cup

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

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

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

FCD Youth Development...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned for more details later this week...

FCD 1, KC 1

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

FCD Juniors at SUM U-17 Cup

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

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

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

River Plate...at Pizza Hut Park

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

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

Continue reading...

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

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

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

Injuries / Dax on TV / KC Preview...

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

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

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

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

Tickets for Troops

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

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

Click here to find out more...

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

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

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

The Dario Sala Show

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Down, 1 to Go

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

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

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

FCD 2, Miami FC 1

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

FCD Begins Open Cup Play Tonight...

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

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

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

Between Games...

With the team coming off last night’s friendly against Chivas de Guadalajara and heading into Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup 3rd Round matchup with Miami FC, today’s training session was fairly light. The guys started warming up at 11 a.m. and practice officially ended a little after Noon, although many of the guys stayed on the field to get some extra work in.

Below, Adrian Serioux looks on as Dominic Oduro works on some quick touches with Marco Ferruzzi…
Meanwhile, Chase Wileman lines up for a shot as Josh Lambo recovers from the previous one in a quick turn / finishing drill.
After taking knocks in last night’s game Arturo Alvarez (right quad) and Bobby Rhine (left foot) stayed inside today and are not expected to play against Miami FC tomorrow night. In addition, Pablo Ricchetti (right foot) and Marcelo Saragosa (right ankle) were out on the field today, but both worked off to the side with the training staff before heading in early. It looks like Pablo might also be out for tomorrow, while Marcelo’s status is questionable.

REMINDER: All-Star voting ends on Wednesday

A reminder that voting for the 2008 MLS All-Star game ends on Wednesday, July 2. Fans are able to cast up to 10 votes per day (click here to vote). The MLS All-Star First XI, which will consist of one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards, will be announced on July 10.

The First XI are determined by online fan balloting comprising 25 percent of the total vote, with MLS coaches and GMs (25 percent), media (25 percent) and players (25 percent) accounting for the remainder. On July 15, Steve Nicol and his staff will select five All-Stars who will join two Commissioner's selections to complete the MLS 18-man roster.

The 13th annual MLS All-Star game features the MLS stars taking on West Ham United of the English Premier League at BMO Field in Toronto, July 24 at 7 p.m. ET.

FCD 1, Guadalajara (Chivas) 2

UPDATE (post-game): FC Dallas surrendered two late goals to give Chivas de Guadalajara a 2-1 win in a friendly exhibition on Sunday night at Pizza Hut Park.

Juan Toja gave Dallas the lead in the 21st minute, knocking in a corner kick from Andre Rocha. FCD made nine changes in the second half, with only Dario Sala, Duilio Davino, and Blake Wagner playing the full 90 minutes.

Ricardinho and Brek Shea had the two best chances to stretch the lead. In the 75th minute, Ricardinho broke free on a one-on-one, but Chivas keeper Luis Michel did well to cut the angel and make the save. A minute later, Brek Shea’s header from eight yards out went just over the crossbar.

Chivas drew even in the 82nd minute, when Ramon Morales converted a penalty kick after Dallas defender Michael Dello-Russo tripped Antonio Salazar. Guadalajara took the lead four minutes later on a goal from Marco Fabian, who intercepted an errant pass from FCD’s Anthony Wallace and raced around Dario Sala before shooting in from 25 yards out.

SCORING SUMMARY:
DAL – Juan Toja (Andre Rocha) 21’
GUA – Ramon Morales (Penalty kick) 82’
GUA – Marco Fabian (unassisted) 86’

FC DALLAS (3-4-1-2): Dario Sala, Drew Moor (Aaron Pitchkolan 70), Duilio Davino, Blake Wagner, Adrian Serioux (Michael Dello-Russo 75), Marcelo Saragosa (Anthony Wallace 46), Andre Rocha (Bobby Rhine 61, Andrew Daniels 88), Arturo Alvarez (Brek Shea 46), Juan Toja (Chase Wileman 54), Abe Thompson (Eric Avila 68), Dominic Oduro (Ricardinho 59).

GUADALAJARA: 1-Luis Michel, 18-Xavier Baez, 4-Hector Reynoso, 17-Antonio Olvera, 6-Omar Esparza (21-Jorge Cardenas 78), 16-Edgar Solis (7-Julio Cesar Nava 46), 20-Edgar Mejia, 13-Sergio Avila (8-Marco Fabian 65) 11-Ramon Morales (3-Juan Ocampo 90), 9-Omar Arrellano (23-Antonio Salazar 65), 15-Jesus Padilla (2-Javier Ledesma 91+).
===================================================
The team is starting off with a 3-4-1-2 formation...there will be unlimited subs, so just about everyone is available. As we mentioned yesterday, Kenny is being rested, Pablo is out with an injured right foot, and Ray is up in Portland getting his belongings.

The starters:
-------------------Sala----------------------
-----Moor--------Davino----------Wagner---
-------------Serioux----Saragosa-----------
----Rocha--------------------------Alvarez---
----------------------Toja--------------------
------------Thompson-----Oduro---------

UEFA EURO 2008: Spain vs. Germany

ABC Sports has a doubleheader of soccer today, starting with the LA Galaxy at DC United game (11 am CT) and then followed by the UEFA EURO 2008 Final between Spain and Germany at 1:30 pm CT.

Give your thoughts on the tourney, a prediction, etc. in the comments...

I'll get it started: it's awesome that all the games have been available on TV (or online)...the games have been great (overall)...I'm picking Spain. (Grammar corrected for #2).

Training for Chivas

While 18 guys traveled to Houston on Wednesday, the rest of the guys took part in some intense conditioning drills on Thursday and Friday mornings. Today, the entire team was back together on the adidas Field - getting ready for Sunday night's game versus Chivas Guadalajara...

Schellas tells us that Pablo won't play, since he picked up a right foot injury at Houston...he also tells us it's likely they'll rest Kenny...Ray is finishing up with Portland tonight at Atlanta, so he'll be out as well...other than that, we're expecting all the players to be available...we'll talk with the Chivas coaches and the refs before the game to determine the number of subs allowed...

On Friday, we asked Schellas his thoughts on approaching the three games this week:

“That’s going to be a real task for us, because we want to see as many players as we can in competition, and obviously its good competition...But to give everybody playing time, we also realize we have to give other players rest. So the trick is to put a good, competitive team out on the field; play good, attractive soccer; try to get results; and give younger players an opportunity to give the veterans a break as well to give themselves another opportunity to be seen.”

Sala in Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game

Last night, Juan Toja and Adrian Serioux were invited by Envy Magazine to be celebrity judges for the Miss Envy 2008 Model Search held at House of Blues...there was no need to twist either of their arms in order to participate...

Tonight, Dario Sala will join other famous faces from Hollywood, the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and more at the Seventh Annual Reebok Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game at the Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco. Kenny Cooper, Abe Thompson, and Aaron Pitchkolan will also be involved in some of the activities (not the game).

Dario joins other local athletes like Mike Modano, Brenden Morrow, Michael Irvin, Jason Terry and DeMarcus Ware, as well as TV and movie stars for the benefit game. Money raised will benefit the children’s charities of The Heroes Foundation YOUniversity Program and The Mike Modano Foundation.

The Homerun derby starts at 4 pm, and celebrity game at 6 pm. Click here for more info.

Guadalajara arrives...