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Crew, FC Dallas end in stalemate in hot, muggy conditions

Tony Tchani

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

After a three week break in Major League Soccer action, both FC Dallas and the Columbus Crew showed that they still need some more time before they hit fifth gear.

On a hot and muggy afternoon at Crew Stadium, neither side could find a goal as the match finished in a scoreless draw. The match was moved to Sunday at 2 p.m. after being postponed due to a fan being injured during an inclement weather delay just prior to the original kickoff time at 8 p.m. on Saturday evening.

Despite the conditions, the game was not devoid of chances. However, glaring errors on both sides kept the ball from going in, as well as strong performances from FC Dallas defender Matt Hedges, Crew defender Eric Gehrig, and Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark.

Both teams were missing key players for the match, though FC Dallas may have felt the recent loss of Fabian Castillo and Blas Perez to suspension more than the injury issues through midfield.

Rookie forward Tesho Akindele had two chances that were begging to be put home, but somehow couldn’t finish either of them. Teammate Andres Escobar drove down the left side of the box in the 52nd minute and found a space between Gehrig and Crew centerback Michael Parkhurst to play a ball to Akindele. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Akindele somehow pushed his shot wide.

Five minutes later, Akindele again had a chance in front of goal after a great ball was played in from the right by Je-Vaughn Watson but the rookie somehow fired his shot over the bar.

Crew forward Jairo Arrieta, who worked hard all day to hold the ball up for his teammates, was equally poor in front of goal. His worst miss came in the 84th minute, when winger Alvaro Rey sent a ball in to Arrieta and after his first attempt was blocked, Arrieta’s second attempt was slammed into the side netting, despite only needing to just lift it above the goalkeeper Chris Seitz.

When the final whistle blew, both head coaches – Gregg Berhalter of the Crew and Oscar Pareja of FC Dallas – shook their heads and went to shake hands halfway down the sideline, knowing that the outcome was two points dropped for their squads.

Comments

  1. I don’t see what rel/pro has to do with supporting your local MLS team, unless he’s international and has no dog in the fight. We don’t need new fans to get passionate about the league, just their particular team…change will come in time.

    Until we get to the point where the money (when there’s actually enough to support rel/pro) can trickle down to the clubs that would really need it in order to stay competitive, we won’t be able to support a rel/pro system, no matter how much the fans and advertisers want the added drama. It’s shown year after year that we have lower league teams that can go toe-to-toe with MLS, in the USOC. The biggest problem I see is with the egos of the leagues in reference to setting the order of leagues. Naturally MLS will be at the top, but everything else is for grabs. The USSF will have to take charge of being the arbiter of the new league tiers and putting people in their place.

    This is why SBI needs forums…how did an article about a 0-0 draw turn into a debate on the merits of instituting an MLS rel/pro system?

    Reply
  2. new to MLS. A few questions. How come they are playing during the World Cup? Wouldn’t teams with internationals be at a disadvantage in these matches? Is it just a case of not being able to extend the season?

    Also, when will MLS adapt the relegation system like Mexico has (and South America, Europe etc)? In Mexico i think the worst two teams go down to another league and the top two come up to LigaMX. Makes for a very interesting and exciting end to a season.

    Reply
    • You answered the first question yourself. MLS season including playoffs already runs into December which was almost disasterous with MLS cup played on a completely frozen field.

      Just mentioning pro/rel on any US soccer site could cause a 100 comment meltdown. Bottom line is while the league is growing and charging $50 to $100 million dollars for a franchise no one is going to risk seeing their investment cut by 50 to 75% by being relegated. Perhaps far in the future.

      Reply
      • Never relegation? I don’t think I’ll bother with MLS then. Plenty of soccer between LigaMX and BPL to watch.

        Thanks for the reply.

      • Not sure if this is a serious question. but I think there could be pro/rel some point in the future though probably not for a while. The “people pay $50m to $100m so it’ll never happen” argument overlooks that people already invest tons of money in leagues where there is pro/rel now and it also overlooks the fact that relegated teams can get promoted again. I don’t see why being relegated to some sort of MLS2 would decrease a franchise’s value by some huge amount when they can just bounce back the next season.

      • Llort… I wouldn’t blame not wanting to watch MLS because of del/pro…. just say you don’t want to watch it. Period. Don’t make excuses. sounds like you already follow great soccer leaguesand that is cool! enjoy LigaMX and BPL….

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