Schellas has fired back at his critics explaining the Bryan Leyva substitution in more detail to Todd Date. What I take from his quotes are that the substitution was more about getting George John on the field than it was getting Bryan Leyva off the field. He didn't like the size of the FCD backline going up against Kris Boyd with Jair Benitez & Hernan Pertuz so he brought on George to deal with that. Is it worth sacrificing the entire team shape for the second half because Portland had a 5 minute stretch of solid possession and pressure? That's for the coach to decide and I certainly applaud him for explaining the decision in such detail.

"I wanted to go into halftime with a 1-0 lead and could I have done it... the timing, let Bryan Leyva play the half out and then make the change at halftime? Yeah, I could have done that, but I felt so confident that we were being exposed that it was my responsibility to make an adjustment and that’s why the decision was made to bring in somebody that could deal with Boyd or the big boys coming through and they had some big boys," Hyndman said.

Olympic Qualifying is starting up and EJ Holland writes that for Carlos Rodriguez representing his country is a huge responsibility. I've been very impressed with Rodriguez so far in his time with Dallas, both on and off the field, and I think he's a guy that you're going to see wearing the red and white for a long time.

"You have two commitments. You have your commitment with your team, and you have your commitment to the national team," Rodríguez said. "Wherever I’m at, whether I’m here at FC Dallas or in Panama with my national team, I’m going to do my best self for my team and do whatever the coach tells me to do. "

The Fort Worth Star Telegram has a nice profile of Fort Worth native Jonathan Top. One interesting note in the article is that it mentions Top would have gone to Maryland had he not signed with FC Dallas.

"I am pushing to get better every practice, every day, even when most of the other players are already inside," said Top, a Fort Worth native. "A lot of us younger guys put in extra work on our technique, anything we can improve on our own."

Keep reading

Todd Date wonders if this could be the week that David Ferreira and Fabian Castillo return....Dallas really needs to have at least one of those two on the pitch Sunday.

"With David it’s kind of a day-to-day. He still has pain in his movements," FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "It seems to be more of a bone bruise from what I’m understanding and with bone bruises, you’ve got to wait for it to heal and the more you push it, the more the bone bruise lingers on."

Power rankings are out....FCD is 7th (Soccer America), 6th (Major League Soccer), 5th (SB Nation), 5th (WVHooligan), 7th (Sporting News), 8th (Goal.com) and 7th (ProSoccerTalk)

David Sakata of Diario Pro Panama has a nice article in Spanish on Blas Perez who is looking to conquer MLS.

And finally, FCD Television announcer Johnathan Yardley blogged about his first game behind the mic in Frisco. Check it out, it's a great read.