FC Dallas Wins Pioneer Cup With 2-0 Victory Over Columbus

Two weeks in a row that FC Dallas has now put in a complete performance from start to finish and has gotten the all important three points. Dallas got goals for the forth straight game from Jackson Goncalves (including the USOC game) and for the third straight game from Brek Shea in the 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew Saturday night. 

The win pushes Dallas up the standings and back into second place with 34 points, just one behind the league leaders the Los Angeles Galaxy. The win was also the 10th of the season for Dallas, the first MLS club to do so this season.

Shea's goal was his eighth, which puts him in a tie for the Golden Boot standings with LA's Landon Donovan, New York's Thierry Henry and DC's Charlie Davies. Not bad company for Shea.

(Read on for thoughts, video and stats)

1. Killer speed. One thing is certain, when the speed is there with Shea, Jackson and Marvin Chavez, Dallas typically wears teams down as the games go on. By the middle part of the second half, just after Shea scored the game's first goal, the Crew just looked gassed. Shea was beating Chad Marshall with ease late in the game. Chavez was burning Andy Iro easily all night, which caused Iro to see two yellow cards.

2. Midfield three. The combination of Eric Alexander, Daniel Hernandez and Andrew Jacobson was literally too much for the Crew on Saturday night. Their coach said it, their players agreed. Those three do an excellent job of clogging up the passing lanes and not allowing the flow of offense to happen for the other team. Columbus is a dangerous wing team too and they only had a couple decent looks last night on goal.

3. Great start to a busy month. I talked about it on Friday, July is a monster month for Dallas and getting off to a good start was key. Games like this should set the tone for the month a head and if May is any indication of how things could go in a busy month, then we could be in for a real treat if Dallas keeps this up. 

Hyndman on the game:

Hyndman on Shea and Jackson:

Shea gives his thoughts on the game, his goal and more:

Hernandez on the game, and more:

Robert Warzycha- Columbus Crew Head Coach

Thoughts on the game...

We played against a better team today. In the heat like this and these conditions, especially in the second half, they were much better. They scored two nice goals and they came out on top today.

On what his team needs to do to bounce back against Vancouver...

We have to play better. We have to keep the ball for longer periods of time instead of giving it up so easily. We need someone to step up and score a goal to give us a chance to win in Vancouver.

 Danny O'Rourke- Columbus Crew Midfielder

Thoughts on the game...

On a personal level, it is good to be out there with the guys, but more importantly it is frustrating to lose 2-0. Dallas absorbed a lot of pressure in the first half and came out and got a goal in the second half to change the momentum. The unfortunate red card was tough in a place like this, but personally I'm glad to be back out there with the team.

 On what the team needs to do to bounce back against Vancouver...

We need to forget about this, come in tomorrow start focusing on Vancouver. [We need to] take this one game at a time. If we can get back to Columbus with three points out of six, I don't think it will be the worst road trip, but we need to reflect on what happened tonight and get back to work tomorrow.

Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew Captain

Thoughts on tonight's game...

It was a bad game on our part. We played well the last two games, an away win at Houston and a good home performance against Colorado. We just didn't put it together tonight. We couldn't keep the ball, couldn't create anything offensively. We turned the ball over in bad situations, which put them in good situations because they are a team with great speed. We made it a long night for ourselves.

On what the team needs to do to bounce back against Vancouver...

We need to get back to the things we do well, keeping the ball and moving it from side to side. We took too many touches today which killed our attack. We know how we can play when we play up to our potential so we will have to just regroup, watch some video, and figure it out before our next game on Wednesday.

On the heat...

It is hot for both teams, but it makes for a long game when you keep turning the ball over.

Attendance: 20,704 

Scoring Summary:
DAL - Brek Shea (unassisted) 58
DAL - Jackson (Andrew Jacobson) 76

Misconduct Summary:
CLB - William Hesmer (caution; handball) 7
CLB - Emmanuel Ekpo (caution; tactical foul) 20
DAL - Eric Alexander (caution; reckless foul) 24
DAL - Ugo Ihemelu (caution; tactical foul) 29
CLB - Andy Iro (caution, tactical foul) 57
CLB - Andy Iro (caution, tactical foul) 82 
CLB - Andy Iro (ejection, second caution) 82

FC Dallas - Kevin Hartman, Zach Loyd (Andrew Wiedeman 92+), Ugo Ihemelu, George John, Jair Benitez, Brek Shea, Daniel Hernandez, Andrew Jacobson, Eric Alexander (Ricardo Villar 60), Jackson, Marvin Chavez (Milton Rodriguez 83).

Substitutes Not Used: Chris Seitz, Bruno Guarda, Ruben Luna, Bobby Warshaw. 

TOTAL SHOTS: 25 (Brek Shea 7); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Martin Chavez 3); FOULS: 8 (Daniel Hernandez 2); OFFSIDES: 3 (Jackson, Shea, Chavez 1); CORNER KICKS: 10 (Daniel Hernandez 5); SAVES: 5 (Kevin Hartman 5) 

Columbus Crew - William Hesmer, Sebastian Miranda, Chad Marshall, Andy Iro, Josh Gardner (Robbie Rogers 60), Eddie Gaven, Rich Balchan (Danny O'Rourke 69), Emmanuel Ekpo, Bernardo Anor, Tommy Heinemann (Jeff Cunningham 60), Andres Mendoza
 
Substitutes Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Julius James, Justin Meram, Dejan Rusmir. 

TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Eddie Gaven 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Andrew Mendoza 2); FOULS: 13 (Gaven, Robbie Rogers 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Tommy Heinemann 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Bernardo Anor 4); SAVES: 5 (William Hesmer 5) 

Referee: Jorge Gonzalez

Referee's Assistants: Bill Dittmar, Paul Scott
4th Official: Mark Declouet
Time of match:1:51

Weather: Clear, 97 degrees