‘Till the Death…Again

Pardon me for the melodramatic overtones hanging from that headline. Bobby Warshaw: your heroics in KC last year are still not forgotten, and a fightback that special will have to be replicated on Sunday (or at least the effort will need to be).

Simply put: this will be a tough task for FCD. Dallas enters the game with two injuries (Castillo and Ferreira) and two absences (Shea and Rodriguez, both for Olympic qualifying). FCD had their confidence shaken a bit last week. The boys in red were uninspired going forward in the second half and really couldn’t break the Timbers’ back line. Still, the fluke goal given up against Portland was just that, and hopefully not a portent of things to come. Remember, Dallas won this fixture last year, but that was with Brek Shea, who was a major catalyst behind the come-from-behind victory (KC only having 10 men on the pitch helped as well).

Sporting enters the game on a two-game high in which they’ve shutout both opponents and netted four goals. Keep in mind that the three-nil rolling-over of New England last week was done against a weak Revolution side further weakened by a red card in the 14th minute. SKC will also be missing Teal Bunbury (Olympic qualifying), and have three players (Zusi, Convey, Collin) carrying knocks obtained last week versus New England. Regardless, they’re only one of two teams undefeated in the East and are still riding a high from the end of 2011 that saw Sporting in the Eastern Conference finals.

Keys to a Dallas Win

1. Denying service from the wings. When New England bunkered (putting 9 behind the ball) the Revs played straight into KC’s hands. FCD can’t afford to do the same. Sinovic, Zusi, Convey, and Kamara all played key roles in serving the ball from the flanks. Sitting too deep allows Sinovic to press higher than desired for any opposing defense. Including corners, Kansas City sent in 20 crosses into the box, and that’s not even counting the positive-angled balls looped in by Convey, Sinovic, and Zusi.
2. Winning the 18. Judging KC’s best opportunities from both games their strategy isn’t tough to pick apart: ball goes into the middle, goes wide, cross/negative ball to the top of the box gets sent in. Repeat. I realize I’m dumbing it down a bit, but KC are dangerous in the box and in the air. They play to their strengths. Ihemelu, John, and Pertuz should give Dallas enough size and aerial coverage to repel the barrage of crosses sent in by SKC wingers. Portland played in a similar fashion with less edge (and worse service) and Dallas was able to fend off the multitude of balls driven and lobbed in from the wide areas last Saturday. Hopefully it’ll give the back line needed confidence going into Sunday’s match.
3. Attack through Perez. He’s been a revelation for Dallas and has been a part of every Dallas goal this season. SKC is more than likely aware of this. Blas is very good with his back to goal and links up well with Villar and Jacobson. Any good build from Dallas needs to involve Blas and the quick linkup with any of Dallas’ five midfielders.
4. Exploit the wings. Kansas City will commit numbers forward, and if they style themselves into more of a 4-3-3 (extremely offensive) than a 4-2-3-1 (conservative and defensive) they will be vulnerable in the spaces behind Convey and Kamara, especially on the counter. Will we witness the 2012 debut of Wiedeman, who could thrive in an environment like this? We’ll see.

Something tells me this won’t be as straightforward, however. If Kansas City plays more conservatively and doesn’t throw numbers forward we could see this game being more of a midfield battle than anything else, and ten total midfielders in the mix. A ground battle in the middle of the pitch should favor FCD, as it will allow Dallas’ outside backs to get involved in the attack, forcing Kamara and Convey to play more defensively than desired. Unfortunately, we may have a grinder of a match on our hands, but only time will tell. Hyndman and company will have to see this one through until the very end, again, to pull out of Kansas with a fair result in their possession.

(image courtesy of fcdallas.com)