Vancouver came out like a team determined to put its recent defeat at the hands of Kansas City in the past. Dallas came out as a side hoping to set up another final 20 minutes of late-match drama. BC Place witnessed a match won in just 10 minutes of pressure from the home side.
Vancouver’s early, persistent attack and pressure paid off, culminating in Camilo’s goal in the 11th minute. In a bigger sense, the pressure and persistence forced Dallas on their back foot and into a game they couldn’t stamp their brand on. Attacks built slowly, and chances were few and far between in the first half. The most clear-cut chance floated over the bar, courtesy of Brek Shea after a Vancouver defensive scramble in front of the six yard box. If that’s the most clear-cut chance Dallas had, then “limited” is the first term that comes to mind.
Albeit FCD dominated possession in the first half, they still had nothing to show for it. Joe Cannon remained relatively untested, and after taking a three goal beating against SKC three days prior, one would have guessed that FCD would be willing to ratchet up the pressure on the veteran goalkeeper. Still, none of this happened. Brek Shea was silent in the first half, along with Fabian Castillo, and even though he has only been back for two games, certainly had his worst performance of the season.
Whatever Hyndman communicated to his team at halftime worked, and Dallas came out spirited and showing urgency early on in the second half. Brek, to be fair, had his work cut out for him, often paired against Young-Pyo Lee, the fleet-footed Korean right back for Vancouver. Lee was good going forward, recovering promptly, and neutralizing Shea early on. Credit’s due to Lee and the rest of the Vancouver defense, who didn’t allow a single one of the four crosses (and that’s a low number to begin with) hit by Brek Shea to penetrate. The shots launched by Shea were directly at goalkeeper Joe Cannon, and all taken at low angles. I’m sure this was a talking point between Brek and Hyndman in the past couple of days, but ideally those balls should be whipped back across the face of goal to the feet, or heads, of Perez, Castillo, or even further back towards Guarda. Yet, Brek’s choices as he closed in upon goal were less than selfless, and a ball or two sent into the mix, low and across the face of goal for Dallas’ attackers could have provided better results.
Stifling Brek Shea would still have directed attention away from Blas Perez and Fabian Castillo, though, right? Sadly no, as the two both had off nights. Fabian was a shadow of his usual self (and is still in the process of recovering to 100%). Blas only managed a single shot on frame this match. That number has to increase, but I won’t disparage Blas too much. He shows well for the ball. He connects even better with his supporting attackers. The difference between today and other matches was that the service was non-existent to Perez, or lacking at that. The Panamanian’s instincts are outstanding just before he receives the ball, and once it’s at his feet; he naturally gravitates towards the feet and space around his teammates. He would definitely be at his most effective with better balls provided from his supporting company.
Despite the notable absences of Ricardo Villar and Andrew Jacobson in the middle of the pitch, FCD still held the majority of possession throughout the match. Bruno Guarda and Bobby Warshaw acquitted themselves very well. Warshaw is definitely the inheritor of Hernandez’s mantle; he’s better in a defensive midfielder’s role than an attacking one. At times when Hernandez pushed high Warshaw settled in nicely in front of the back line, stopping an attack or two, and spraying the ball wide and to the likes of Loyd, Rodriguez, Shea, Castillo without hesitation. His performances this season had gone without much notice, but his play is slowly starting to grow on me, and I’d at least hope also with many other FCD supporters. Yet, he is certainly better as a DCM, not an ACM, and was a bit out of position Saturday night.
Bruno played decently, held the ball well, and provided decently. The same could be said for Hernandez. Holding possession in the middle third was easy for Dallas, as long as they avoided Vancouver’s midfield triangle and used the back line to switch the ball, things went just dandy. But the moment the team moved forward with the ball problems abounded. Dallas seemed in a rush, trying to send direct ball after direct ball into the middle of the Vancouver defense. Out of the 130 passes attempted by FCD’s midfield trio, 96 were successful. It seems like a good statistic until you look at where these passes were made. Most of which were within the middle third of the park, and just towards the edge of Dallas’ attacking third. The final ball lacked all night, and the remaining 34 passes out of that 130 attempted by Guarda, Hernandez, and Warshaw were, on the whole, all forward balls.
It is unreasonable to say that every through ball and chip will find its way through or above an opposing defense. But it is reasonable to say that the Dallas midfield rushed its attack often after maintaining good possession in the middle of the field. Quick combination play close to Blas Perez, Brek Shea, and Fabian Castillo in the final third has generally worked out for FCD this season, but it was non-existent Saturday. The pattern of play seemed to run as first some patient possession along the back line and in the midfield, followed by some penetration on the wings, ball returned back to the center of midfield, and then a final attempted through ball once FCD was within 15 yards of the 18 yard box. All this is to say that the final ball wasn’t of the utmost quality, Vancouver were very organized along the backline, and the limited evenings of Shea and Castillo on the wings didn’t stretch out Vancouver’s backline as hoped, the gaps in which being few and far between. The best attack of the evening for Dallas didn’t come until the 61st minute, where the ball was built from the back line, moved from the right sideline, through Guarda and Hernandez, to the left sideline as Vancouver scrambled to organize itself. It resulted in an attempt on frame from Brek Shea, sadly from a low angle, but still showed that FCD had the potential to dictate the pace of play and build an attack that they could be proud of. However, this prowess in attack and patient in possession didn’t rear its head for the remainder of the match.
Defensively, Dallas did well in stifling Sebastien Le Toux, Camilo, and Omar Salgado. Camilo’s brilliant, low drive that tailed away from Chris Seitz in the eleventh minute was a product of poor defending. The guilty parties: first, Fabian Castillo, and secondly Carlos Rodriguez. Fabian failed to pin Camilo to the line and really quit after the first change of direction that the Vancouver attacked presented. Carlos failed to close the four yards of space he gave Camilo inside the Dallas 18 yard box, sort of reminiscent of Pertuz’s failure to close Maicon Santos just outside the box in the DC United match. Nonetheless, that defensive lapse defined the scoreline. Vancouver simply proved they wanted a goal and the upper hand early on. Dallas did not. Ten minutes, sadly enough, proved definitive against a Dallas team that was better rested and on a two-game win streak. Despite the team playing very well in the second half, and having a great deal of possession, Brek Shea and company were unable to find enough chances against a well-organized, but truly untested Vancouver defense.
(image courtesy of fcdallas.com)
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