Features
Major Changes Announced to US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League
by Daniel Robertson on Jan 13, 2012 5:51 PM CST
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With all the transfer and MLS draft news, this has gotten lost in the shuffle but I wanted to address it now that things have slowed down a bit. The US Open Cup has been a flawed competition for many years now with weird qualifying stages and the absurd bidding system that has seen some teams host game after game at home while others hardly pay the competition any mind.
US Soccer has taken major steps to change that by introducing a majorly retooled format. Under the new format, there will be 64 teams with the first round pitting 32 amateur teams against each other, the 16 winners from those games facing the 16 American USL/NASL in the second round and the 16 winners of those games taking on the 16 American MLS teams in the third round. Matchups will be roughly geographic based and here's the big kicker, the home team will be determined by random draw until the semifinals. Also, the schedule for the competition will be greatly sped up with the MLS clubs entering play on May 29 and the tournament finishing by August 7 or 8.
While it's still not quite perfect, the third round of the US Open Cup will be one of the most exciting weeks of the whole year with 16 games taking place across the country matching MLS teams against lower league sides. The tournament has finally become a true national knockout-style tournament.
Changes to the CONCACAF Champions League after the jump
2 comments10 Moments that Defined 2011: #8 US Open Cup Loss to Seattle Sounders
by Daniel Robertson on Nov 7, 2011 11:30 AM CST
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Dallas headed to Seattle for the US Open Cup semifinal against Seattle Sounders FC at an interesting spot. The team was flying fairly high, having won 3 of their last 4 games, 2 historic CCL wins and the 3-2 comeback at Kansas City. However, cracks were starting to appear as the team began to look tired while the defense was struggling due to the absence of George John in Europe. With the winner facing Chicago or Richmond in the final, this semifinal was the biggest hurdle left in Dallas' search for a first trophy in nearly 15 years.
The team fought extremely hard at the legendary Starfire Sports Complex which boasts an undefeated Sounders record in US Open Cup play. However, it wasn't quite enough as a 40th minute Fredy Montero strike downed a Dallas team that hit the post and nearly equalized on multiple occasions in a wide open game.
The US Open Cup loss to Seattle was the beginning of the worst run in recent Dallas memory, going 7 straight games without winning before.
10 Moments That Shaped FC Dallas in 2011: #10 Maicon Santos Trade
by Daniel Robertson on Nov 2, 2011 2:35 PM CDT
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10 Moments that shaped FC Dallas in 2011 is another feature on the blog for the next week or so. I picked 10 games/trades/injuries that shaped this season. We start the countdown at #10...enjoy.
On August 2, Eric Avila, a player who showed enormous potential but could never quite put it together for an extended period was traded to Toronto FC in exchange for Maicon Santos, a player we all hoped would finally give Dallas that target forward they needed so bad.
It was a move that was generally thought of as a success at the time, at least judging from the comments left by many of you on the story. It's very interesting to go back and read what we all thought of the trade a few months ago.
Timothy Winning Voyles said:
I think we fans are going to have to learn Portuguese just to cheer our squad on lol. I like this move. Nothing against Chavez, he has handled the top spot fine for what he brings to the table, speed and good work rate. Now we’ve got a big guy who is apparently a bit selfish on the ball; isn’t the selfish part the iconic adjective used for all strikers? At 27, he could be our target guy up front for a few years to come, should he work well in the system FCD plays. Alas, so much for going after Cooper as many people wanted. Adding Maicon and soon to return Castillo, plus a pending return for Dahvee; we look very good and have depth.
While jyj said:
Depending on his mindset, this guy appears to have the tools to flourish in the offense.
It will be interesting to see if he is handed the starting striker role and, if so, what happens to Jax and Chavez. One of them would figure to stay central with DH and AJ, but not sure Chavez has the consistent first touch to operate in tight quarters and not sure Jax has temperament to play central without accumulating a lot of cards. Of course, always nice to have the option to rest one of the three (or bring off the bench when needed) – Brek, Jax, Chavez – and let DH/AJ/EA man the middle behind the new striker.
Sad to see Avila go, but he was regressing as a player and is too good to ride the pine waiting to play in a system where he was never going to be a 90-minute guy. I hope he becomes the creative force that TFC is lacking and goes on to much success (except for against us).
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Final FC Dallas 2011 Attendance Numbers and Thoughts
by Daniel Robertson on Oct 25, 2011 12:57 PM CDT
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2011 was just as much of a rollercoaster in attendance as it was in the games on the field. There were some amazing atmospheres with sellouts for opening day against Chicago, LA Galaxy in May, and Columbus on July 4 while there were also some library atmospheres especially as the season wore towards the end.
We all know FCD attendance isn't where we want it to be, but this post is not intended to highlight anything good or bad, simply the facts. I will have thoughts on the attendance after the jump, but I think these numbers are overall very promising. There are obviously good and bad stats in here, but everything seems to be trending upward.
2011 Attendance Numbers
-FC Dallas finished with an average attendance of 12,861 an 18.9% raise from the 10,815 average of 2010
-The 18.9% raise was 3rd highest in the league behind Sporting Kansas City(New stadium/Ownership) and San Jose(Played a 50k game at Stanford Stadium, though SJ did sell out their last 5 or 6 games so they deserve lots of props).
-FC Dallas ranks 16th in MLS attendance in front of San Jose and Columbus.
-The 12,861 attendance number ranks 4th out of the 6 full seasons at Pizza Hut Park
2006: 15, 299 Source
2007: 15,145 Source
2008: 13,097 Source
2009: 9,883 Source
2010: 10,815 Source
2011: 12,861 Source
-Through the first 8 home games of 2011 FC Dallas averaged 13,308 while the last 9 home games averaged 12,463.
-2011 marks the second straight rise in attendance for FCD.
FC Dallas at Tauro FC Panama Travel Blog
by Daniel Robertson on Oct 4, 2011 12:55 PM CDT
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My friend, Inferno member and all around great guy Justin Kirchdoerfer was lucky enough to be a part of the traveling contingent of FC Dallas fans that made it down to Panama for the Tauro game. He was kind enough to write an awesome travel blog for Big D Soccer. It's a great read! Panama sounds amazing.
Panama Travel Blog by Justin Kirchdoerfer
Day one:
Up at 4:45 to make the trek out to Pizza Hut Park for the busses. As I drove past DFW I wondered if I could just call Allen and meet the team at the airport. I forgot about it and continued on.
Pizza Hut Park at 5:45 and on the bus. Couple of hours at DFW where I had a quick chat with Doug Quinn about what a great opportunity this is for the fans and a few minutes later the players showed up and the plane took of at the scheduled time.
Players up front and fans in the back. I was impressed with all of the attractive female fans FCD was pulling until my seatmate suggested that they were probably WAGS. Right. Flight was uneventful and long. Saw a few players as they shuttled back to drop a deuce or whatever. No Daniel Hernandez, no Brek. No Jackson. All of these exclusions made sense as all three are suspended anyway.
Disembarkation from the plane in Panama and the adventure began. Wait, there really hasn’t been an adventure yet as Allen and the rest of the FCD staff have had everything running like a well-oiled machine. As I exited immigration and walked to the exit doors of the airport I saw the FCD players waiting for their baggage. The exit from customs behind a group of players brought me face to face with a local television news camera. Glad I was wearing my “Glory, Glory, Rahr United” shirt. Maybe get FC Rahr some advertisement down here in Panama. I understand they make some brews.
Remembering Bobby Rhine
by Daniel Robertson on Sep 6, 2011 11:27 PM CDT
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There's a lot of posts out there to remember Bobby that are extremely well written and touching. I will link to as many of them as I can find tomorrow. I don't really know what to write. Generally I'm never at a loss for words, but I've never had to deal with something like this before. Excuse my rambling, selfish post. BR19 as a player was exactly what you would want in a fan favorite. He never gave an inch on the field, taking on guys that were bigger than him and coming out the other side. At one point or another in his career his primary role on the field was to score goals, create goals and stop goals. There wasn't one particular thing Bobby was stellar at, it's just that he would try much harder than you would because he had to. It wasn't until after his on-field career ended, however, that we really got to see the Bobby Rhine that was so great. While it wasn't bad watching Rhine in practice, I have to say I much preferred chatting with him rather than watching him play. Whenever I could make it out there, I always hoped Bobby would come out of the office because I loved telling him what was up with my life. Sure, we would talk about the team, but I really was more excited to tell him about the progress of my upcoming marriage(my wife is a founding member of the original Bobby Rhine fan club known as "The Posse") or whatever what going on with my budding career. He was someone I wanted to make proud. Selfishly, it pains me deeply to not be able to see Bobby rise to the top of the American soccer broadcasting peak waiving the flag of FC Dallas like I know he was destined to do and it pains me deeply to not have Bobby see where I take my career and my family though I know he will be watching from heaven. I hurt for his wife Bevan who has always been so genuine to Amy and I hurt for his sons who will be forced to watch dad play soccer in old videos rather than trying to score on him in the back yard. It makes me so sad that I won't be able to raise a beer with him after Dallas finally gets that first championship. Bobby Rhine truly was Mr. FC Dallas and his loss is one that cuts deep into anyone with a vested interest in this team. I don't think I'm close to fully comprehending that I will never see him again after a game. He will be missed dearly. An impromptu memorial has been set up in front of his poster on the southwest corner of Pizza Hut Park. It will be there for days and is lit up at night. If you can at all make it out there, please stop by.
Kansas City Travel Blog: Day 1
by Daniel Robertson on Aug 27, 2011 10:52 AM CDT
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Harlan and Amanda(newlyweds) met up with myself and Amy(newlyweds) to head up to KC yesterday morning for tonight's game. We finally got away at about 930 to head to my old stomping grounds of Norman, OK for lunch. One of my favorite parts of going to Kansas City is stopping at the alma mater to grab a quick bite to eat and check out the surroundings.
It's the first week of school at OU and we arrived around 12:15, right when a block of classes gets out, so there were wide-eyed freshman everywhere. You can spot the freshman as those kids who actually dressed up and did their hair for class. The ones in mesh shorts, hat and flip flops? Not freshmen.
After grabbing a bite to eat at the Norman staple of Pita Pit, we're back on the road. For some reason, I always seem to stop at the first of those travel stops you see in Kansas that are in the middle of the highway. They're always super clean and it gave the wife an opportunity to get a Kansas pin
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Where are they now? FC Dallas edition
by Daniel Robertson on Aug 10, 2011 1:10 PM CDT
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Seeing Ramon Nunez score for Leeds United yesterday in Carling Cup action got me to thinking, what's up with the FC Dallas team of 5 years ago. Well it's a slow news day so why don't we take a trip down memory lane and see what's going on with the heroes of the past.
2006 was probably the most talented team on paper FC Dallas has had until this season finishing top of the west and just three points behind DC for Supporters Shield. Let's take a look at what's up with the FC Dallas team that lost 1-0 to Houston almost 5 years ago today.
Dario Sala Dario is heavily involved in soccer marketing and still lives in Dallas with his family. He has also began work on a career as a soccer agent and almost any deal bringing an Argentine into MLS likely has his footprint on it somewhere.
Bobby Rhine Bobby is one of the front office faces of FC Dallas. Since retiring after the 2008 season, Bobby has been the television voice of the team and appears on Soccer Today, a soccer-themed show on 103.3 ESPN Saturday mornings.
Drew Moor Traded to Colorado for Ugo Ihemelu in 2009, Drew has been a mainstay of the back four for MLS champions Colorado Rapids. Drew has played in every minute for 24 of the 25 Colorado games this season adding two goals and an assist.
Greg Vanney Vanney joined FC Dallas in 2005 after a career in France and was a mainstay at center back and right back for FCD. He was traded to Colorado in 2007 and bounced around a bit before retiring after the 2008 season. Vanney has remained extremely active in the soccer community having led the RSL youth academy in Arizona before leaving to join Robin Fraser's staff at Chivas USA as an assistant coach. You're likely to see Vanney at just about any high-level soccer game in Southern California.
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