FC Dallas defeated the University of Tulsa 5-1 on a rainy morning in Frisco. I wasn't able to make this game so just a few things to take from this one. I'll list my observations then click through for the stats and lineups.

Same 4-4-2 lineup Dallas played the same 4-4-2 formation this morning that they showed against SMU with the only change being Bobby Warshaw slotting in for Daniel Hernandez at defensive midfield. The bottom line is if David Ferreira, Andrew Jacobson and Daniel Hernandez are healthy, the 4-1-4-1 is going to be the preferred formation, but we could see the 4-4-2 to open the season if Ferreira can't get into starting shape.

Sealy impressing Two more goals for Scott Sealy today and you've got to think he's getting close to earning a contract. Whether he makes the team or not, the Trinidadian can be happy in knowing that he's done just about everything he could have to make the squad. I'm rooting for the guy at this point.

Blas Perez hitting gear Yes, it is against inferior competition and yes we will learn much more in Orlando, but Blas Perez now has 4 goals in his last three halves of soccer. I feel even better about this signing than I did before. The guy is going to give MLS defenders a lot of problems, I've seen enough of him to be assured of that. Just keep him healthy.

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In the chaos of the pre-season, player acquisitions and filling the remaining holes on the roster, some may forget that FC Dallas has a defender named George John, you may have heard of him. It's crazy to think that one of the most dominant center backs in the league over the last two years is kind of an afterthought to an FC Dallas team that has added two new center backs in the offseason.

George has, unfortunately, failed to even get on the gameday roster for a game as the Hammers ended up signing James Tompkins to a new contract rather than selling him, while other circumstances, like the Saturday afternoon game being canceled due to froze pitch, keeping John from working his way into a crowded fixture schedule. Has Big Sam been impressed enough with him in training to splash the cash on the defender?

While I'm sure MLS, FC Dallas and John himself would probably prefer that the Hammers end up paying his transfer fee, if they choose not to then John returns to FC Dallas just days before the season starts. So what's going to happen? I talked to a source very close to the situation yesterday and the fact of the matter is that no one knows right now how things will play out. It's looking like things are 50-50 at this point and literally anything could happen between now and the March 5 deadline. Let's take a look at the possible scenarios.

West Ham chooses to purchase John's rights The best scenario for everyone involved from FC Dallas' standpoint. George John is absolutely a professional and I don't see there being any problems from a locker room standpoint if he returns, however I'm sure MLS would love to get the cash from the transfer, FCD would love the allocation and GJ would love the bump in salary. It's a win-win from all standpoints.

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Schellas Hyndman

General thoughts on the game

I thought the first half was one of our better performances as far as quick play and combination play and people just kind of understanding the structure and coming along with it. So I was glad to see the progress.

You had Fabian playing more up top than at right midfield do you feel like that's a more natural role for him?

I think Fabian's a player that likes a little bit more freedom. It seems like we always have a little bit of difficulty when we restrict him because he is so fast you just can't leave him alone. I think this will be an important year for him to continue to develop. Whether we go with two of those guys up front together or whether we go into a 4-1-4-1 will be determined by when the season starts with injuries, where is David, we didn't have Villar today which is a player that really settles things down for us and I thought today we did really well without those two.

The defense wasn't really challenged too much tonight but how did you feel about their performance?

I thought they were fine. I think where our defense ran into problems was when we lost our footing(on the slick pitch), we slipped and fell down and all of a sudden we were caught. I thought Jair was out of position a couple times and they were quickly able to counterattack there, but this is what this is all about. How do I now identify these things to help them in training.

Keep reading for much much more from Schellas and Andrew Wiedeman

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FC Dallas played their next to last scrimmage in Dallas tonight defeating the Southern Methodist University Mustangs 4-0 at Westcott Field on the SMU campus. For the first time this season, FCD put out an almost full strength starting lineup with SMU graduates Ugo Ihemelu and Daniel Hernandez seeing their first playing time this year.

The scoring got started in the sixth minute as Panamanian forward Blas Perez played a fantastic through ball to a streaking Andrew Wiedeman on the right side of the box. Wiedeman controlled and fired a high, hard shot past Jaime Ibarra in goal to give Dallas the 1-0 lead.

After spurning a couple chances, Perez would grab his goal about 15 minutes later as a deep, lofted cross was headed home low and to the corner past Ibarra.

The second half was more disjointed with Dallas scoring a third goal off some really nice work from trialist Dogba. He barely kept the ball in on the right side and crossed to Jeison Quinonez who tapped home easily. The fourth goal was scored on a really nice individual effort from Bryan Leyva. The homegrown player stole the ball in midfield, beat a couple defenders and slotted past Devin Cook in goal for SMU to round out the scoring.

Jump for a bunch of impressions including the 4-4-2 lineup

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The big news of the day is the Soccer America story making its way all across the soccer interwebs regarding David Ferreira and his recovery. The story basically says that right now a lot of the problems are mental which is not surprising at all. It seems like it's going to take Ferreira getting tackled hard and popping right back up, like he did about 500 times in 2010, to be truly healed.

"He’ll see a foot-ankle specialist on Wednesday and we’re hoping that helps him," said Hyndman of the 2010 league MVP who played just six games before Jonathan Leathers crunched him with a tackle. "One of the problems he’s running into is the mind; he’s still worried about how strong he is, or if he’ll be reinjured, or is he at his best. These are things you don’t know how good you are or how much you’ve recovered until somebody kicks you and you go, ‘That wasn’t so bad.’ But right now he’s not prepared to get kicked.

It doesn't look like Ferreira will play tonight in FC Dallas' battle at SMU, but one player could make his pre-season debut.

"I plan on playing at least two more years after this," Hernandez said. "Unfortunately, the only thing the team would guarantee me as a player is this year. But by no means do I plan on retiring this year at all. I have no desire at all to retire after this year."

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As crazy as it sounds, the pre-season is about at the halfway point. That's not to say that many of the starters are halfway to fitness, but things are getting going. There's two friendlies, Wednesday and Saturday, before the team leaves for two weeks in Orlando that will serve as the true tune up to March 11 vs New York.

In this article, I will include comments on all players having seen them in multiple practices and multiple games this pre-season, and also note the changes in internationals due to 3rd Degree reporting that certain players have gained their green cards. This is a snapshot of the roster that could change significantly once the team leaves for Orlando.

Slam dunk 2012 senior roster spots

1. Kevin Hartman - Should have no problems with fitness coming into the season. Has looked good in the games I've seen and you never worry about preparation with El Gato.

2. Chris Seitz - The backup goalkeeper that needs a good 2012. In a tenuous position with British goalkeeper Richard Wright having been brought in a few weeks ago for a look

3. Jair Benitez (green card) - Having a good pre-season so far. No injury problems and has played a nice amount of minutes in preseason games. Always a little scary to watch, but an above average MLS left back

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Due to the cancellation of a tournament River Plate was supposed to play at the Cotton Bowl this weekend, the reserve team of the Argentine giants faced FC Dallas at a frigid FCD Stadium on Saturday morning. The tightly-contested match saw FC Dallas field a starting team in the first half and reserve team in the second half with River Plate taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, but FCD leveling the match on a penalty kick midway through the second half to end the game at 1-1.

The first half, featuring almost an exact starting XI for FC Dallas, was played at a fairly slow pace. With wind chills in the 20's, it seemed like the FCD starters spent the first 15 minutes or so simply trying to get their legs below them and get warm. Neither team made too many forays into the offensive area, though things began to heat up a bit as the half went on.

River Plate opened the scoring in the 23rd minute as a break down the right freed a River player who stormed down the right side. Defender Matt Hedges was not able to close down enough space and the cross in was finished well low and to the far post beating Kevin Hartman in goal.

Dallas began to open up the attack with the majority of chances going through Brek Shea and Fabian Castillo as they alternated positions on the right and left. FCD was unable to break down a fantastic River back four, however, and the game went into the half at 1-0 to the Argentines.

Keep reading for the second half recap and observations

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Sorry on the lateness of this one, but yesterday FC Dallas ended up drawing Atlante reserves/youth 0-0 in a rain-shortened 45 minute affair. There's a couple of quick, interesting notes from a lineup that seemed to give us our first look at what Schellas Hyndman will be throwing out there on opening day.

FC Dallas – Kevin Hartman, Jair Benitez, Ugo Ihemelu, Hernan Pertuz, Zach Loyd, Brek Shea, Nicolas Gianni, Andrew Jacobson, Rodolfo Espinoza, Blas Perez, Fabian Castillo.

There's a lot of obvious information in here, but the most interesting notes were seeing Hernan Pertuz starting at center back, Fabian Castillo out on the right and Nicolas Gianni given another chance with the starters. It's great to have Blas Perez and Hernan Pertuz get their first run out with the team and Hyndman was complementary of both guys.

Fabian [Castillo] and Blas Perez caused a lot of problems for them. The thing I really like about Blas is that he puts himself right in front of the goal.

He [Pertuz] is a solid center back. He marks tight. He wins balls. He is very composed under pressure. He is going to have a very good career in MLS.

FC Dallas has their biggest game of the pre-season so far on Monday afternoon as they face off against New York Red Bulls, the last MLS team they played back in late October and the first team they will play in the new season on March 11. The story also notes that FCD will try to reschedule the Atlante game, presumably for Tuesday as the team is supposed to head back to Dallas on Wednesday.