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SBI MLS Team of the Week: FC Dallas

FCDallas1 (ISIPhotos.com)

 Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By RYAN TOLMICH

A trio of goals in just 15 minutes were enough for FC Dallas to overwhelm Chivas USA 3-1 Saturday at Toyota Stadium.

Fabian Castillo, Je-Vaughn Watson and Michel all found the back of the net between the 71st and 86th minute for the hosts, who now sit undefeated atop the Western Conference. The three goals were enough for FC Dallas to earn maximum points against Chivas USA, as well as recognition as SBI MLS Team of the Week.

FCD beat out the Columbus Crew, Seattle Sounders and Colorado Rapids for this week’s honors.

What did you think of FC Dallas’ performance? Who stood out to you in MLS Week Three?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Castillo is putting it all together this year. He has looked unstoppable so far this year. Michel has been deadly on set pieces. Matt Hedges has been the best CB in the league thus far. Mauro Diaz and Hendry Thomas have formed a great partnership in the middle of the field. Kellyn Acosta is giving Yedlin a run for his money as best right back from the U20s. Once George John gets back from injury FCD will prove an even more daunting opponent.

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  2. Well deserved FCD doesn’t get the recognition around the league that it deserves (remember 2010?). For 2014, backline is an issue and hope Fernando Clavijo, Dan and HSG get solid resources in that area so that Oscar Pareja can take this team far! Also, team would be greatly enhanced by the arrival of quality DP!!!

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      • Correct that Escobar is on loan, but he’s not a young DP in any case. FCD’s 3 young DPs are Castillo, Diaz, and Texeira.

        If FCD decides to exercise the buy option on Escobar next year, it may take some maneuvering to make that work with the current 3 DP and salary cap limits. Perhaps with a new CBA next year that becomes a non-issue though.

      • Castillo is no longer a young DP. See the link I posted above, which is an official list of all DPs in the league.

        The only reason Castillo was considered a DP was because of his transfer fee. After signing, the transfer fee is reduced every year by the salary cap hit for DP purposes. Since this is his third year, Castillo’s transfer fee must have been $400k or under because Young DPs ages 21-23 count for $200k against the salary cap.

      • Thanks, I missed that update.

        Interesting that FCD has 3 out of the 6 total young DPs across the league. I like the investment at FCD in developing young players both through their academy (5 Homegrowns in their 18 man game-day roster last Saturday) and using the YDP provision to acquire young international talent. Diaz is already looking like a future star and a major bargain at $200K cap hit for next couple years. Castillo, while still inconsistent, seems to be showing some significant improvement this year as well and should reward FCD for their investment.

        FCD is also fortunate to have a coach who is fully committed to developing the young players, and ownership who stands behind that vision. I expect they’ll have some growing pains this year as the schedule gets harder, but this team looks loaded with promising young talent and will be one to watch for the next several years.

    • Back line is an issue because of injuries to John, Zimmerman, Loyd, Fernandez.

      FCD are using all three DP spots. Once Texeira and Escobar are acclimated to the league, I’d be worried to defend against this team.

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  3. One thing that can be said about Hyndman’s time in charge, the depth of the squad has improved threefold. Oscar took over at just the right time to see all the fruits of Schellas’ labors come to fruition, but it was clear that he was not the guy to be at the helm anymore.

    I didn’t get to see the game, but I’ve been bullish on Fabian Castillo for a while and was really hoping that this was going to be his breakout season. So far, it looks like that very well could be the case.

    Let’s hope that they can continue the same good results through August.

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      • At the same time, Hyndman had everything to do with playing players out of position, as well as his over-reliance on David Ferreira. Je-Vaughn Watson got so much stick last year playing in an unnatural position, how he’s up there with Castillo and Diaz for best performance on the team. Plus he broke Kenny Cooper! Plus his man-management was horrendous towards the end, he never dealt with Eric Hassli’s weight issues.

  4. A lot of people are lampooning that FC Dallas will do what it did last season & fizzle out in the coming weeks. I think having Pareja in charge things will shape up differently & hopefully as a result we’ll see a more consistent FCD team. Plus, several starters have been out on the backline/GK spots & we’ve still seen pretty good results.

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  5. Dallas is going to shred Portland in the next game. Portland didn’t do well with the speed of the Rapids Brown. Timbers backup keeper is a big drop off from Ricketts and Dallas has a lot of speed with Watson and Castillo and others.

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