FRISCO — The one potential positive for FC Dallas could be that if the team is going to be bad at least it’ll be bad but young.
Fielding an inexperienced lineup, FC Dallas fell 1-0 to the Colorado Rapids on Thursday at Pizza Hut Park.FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman insisted that he’s still aiming for the Major League Soccer playoffs rather than writing off the season and giving the youngsters playing experience."The bigger picture is still trying to get into the playoffs," Hyndman said. "I think we’ve bumped our toe a little bit in the last two games because those are games we could have won." The Rapids (8-12-3, 27 points) hadn’t scored a goal in three matches and before the game was in last place in the tight Western Conference.FC Dallas (6-9-8, 26 points) had an inexperienced midfield that struggled to hold possession.Hyndman’s midfield lineup included Bruno Guarda (second career start), Anthony Wallace (fifth start) and Michael Dello-Russo (second start).The match marked Hyndman’s 10th game in charge of FC Dallas and his mantra remains "do as I ask or you won’t play."Certainly, that was the case as Andre Rocha didn’t even make the dress list.Rocha leads the team in assists (6), but has been substituted for and criticized by Hyndman for not defending enough.Rocha criticized Hyndman’s substitution patterns publicly this week. Two games ago Rocha was removed and made his way to the locker room rather than the team bench.After Thursday’s match, Hyndman said curtly that Rocha’s absences were "an internal matter."Later, however, Hyndman talked about the absent players — Duilio Davino and Victor Sikora (both injured) and Rocha."You take a look at what was missing on the field today, players that we think are some of our key players — Duilio, Andre, Victor," Hyndman said. "And you put those three players on the field, could we be a more experienced, talented team? I think so. So hopefully we can get those players thinking right and healthy."Defensive midfielder Pablo Ricchetti has played at team MVP quality. Without Davino and Adrian Serioux (Canadian national team), Hyndman dropped Ricchetti into central defense.Colorado snapped a 283-minute goal drought when it scored in the 60th minute off a corner kick. Defender Mike Petke, wide open on the back side, sent a header to the far upper corner off a sharp cross by Terry Cooke.Tobias Xavier Lopez, 817-548-5451
