FRISCO, Texas -- When he came on the field for the final 11 minutes last Saturday against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium, FC Dallas forward Jamie Watson saw his first MLS action in more than a year. Last with RSL, where he did not see any action before leaving the Wasatch Front earlier this year, his last league minutes came Oct. 15, 2007, when he played the final 44 minutes of a 1-0 RSL loss to eventual MLS Cup champion Houston.
"He did fine," FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "He was active. He was running forward, was trying to get open and dropped a great ball back to Drew (Moor) that he put onto the crossbar. I just think that we needed something a little bit more inspirational and somebody that was willing to get into the goal box at all costs to score a goal in spite of the risk of injury. I thought he brought that with his enthusiasm. I thought he played very well against Tigres, so it was kind of a reward for him."
For Watson, he couldn't have drawn up any better circumstances to make his first-team debut with FCD.
"If I had to pick one team to make my debut against, it would definitely be Salt Lake for personal reasons and also for this being the biggest game that this club has had in the year," he said. "So, I was glad to be able to be part of it. The circumstances weren't the best, being a man down and at 2-1, we were just pushing forward. When they scored the third one that was going to happen because we were pushing numbers forward.
"Personally, it was pretty cool because there were a lot of people within that organization and outside of it in the fan base that kind of wrote me off," he continued. "To kind of prove some people wrong that I can't play at this level and can't contribute to a team as big as Dallas, it was nice to put it back on some people and say that you can't put a period where there should be a comma."
The Dallas-area native has been on a good run of form lately. Watson played well in a reserve game prior to last Tuesday's friendly with Mexican side Tigres UANL, a match in which he scored a goal. That performance helped land him on the travel squad for the RSL game.
"I think he's a player that plays on emotion and drive," Hyndman said. "He's got a lot to prove. He was let go by (RSL), so this was a great opportunity for him to come back. He did have a good game against Tigres, who was a very good defending team. He matched them physically and scored a goal. He's somebody that I think has some soccer tactical sense."
Even though the Hoops will not be going to the playoffs for the first time since 2004, Watson admits considering the run he is on, he wishes the season was a bit longer.
"I'm sad the season is ending right now," he said. "I've done well. You get a run of form, just go with it and try to do the things that you've been doing that are working. The coaches were good about talking to me because I did well for a while when I first got here but then, I don't know what happened but I kind of got into a lull. Maybe I'm blacked out right now and don't know what I'm doing. Maybe that's why it's going well. I don't know."
Watson attributes his good form to a high fitness level.
"Right now, I think part of my run of good form is being so fit," he said. "I feel like I am in some of the best shape I've been in a long time. I do a lot of stuff on my own in the afternoons when we have time off. I stay up all night and can't sleep during the day. So, I have all this extra energy and have been running a lot. It's weird but it's also good because I'm in shape now."
He also wants to carry that over into the offseason. "I thought about going to Salt Lake and training out there," Watson said. "It's weird because when I was there, I always came back to Dallas to train in the offseason. Now I want to change it up, so I might go back there to train. It will be good to get into shape at altitude because once you come back there, everything is so much easier."
FCD finishes the season on Sunday against the LA Galaxy at The Home Depot Center. But Hyndman plans to train his club for another two weeks in order to evaluate personnel and Watson definitely wants to be with the Hoops again in 2009.
"I mean I hope so because I don't (think) the coaches would have brought me in if they didn't see me making it through the end of the season," Watson said. "If that was the case, they probably would have told me to just train on my own and look for a team next year. You never know because there are going to be a lot of changes, so it's hard to say how each person is going to match up until you get into the meeting with Schellas (Hyndman) and John (Ellinger).
"It's an issue too of this being my fifth year in the league and I need to be in a situation where I'm challenging for playing time," he continued. "That's on me. I can't expect them to give it to me but at the same time, I need to put myself in a good situation and kind of find a role within the team whether it's here or anywhere else. I'd like it to be here. This is where I wanted to be in the first place. I loved my time in Salt Lake but Dallas is my hometown and this is the team I grew up watching. Why wouldn't I want to be here?"
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