FRISCO, Texas -- After getting their Florida trip off to a positive start with a 1-0 victory against the Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas returns to preseason game action Thursday when they take on Florida International University.
It will be the second college team that FCD has faced this preseason. Last Saturday, the Hoops handed the University of Memphis a 5-1 defeat at Pizza Hut Park thanks to two goals from Jeff Cunningham and two assists each from Dax McCarty and Dave van den Bergh.
"FIU is the home team and a good, skillful team," FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "They are team that likes to play with each other. We hope that they will give us a match that we need to improve in."
One player who will likely see his first preseason action for the Hoops is defender Michael Dello-Russo, who suffered a broken nose early in preseason after a collision in practice with Cunningham and is locked in a battle for a roster spot.
"Dello is a great guy," Hyndman said. "He's a warrior and has got a fighting spirit. It will be his first game back. We'll see how he does."
However, one player who might not return this week is Adrian Serioux, who was first bothered by a hernia but has since suffered from knee and hip issues.
"Adrian is a player that is working hard on his recovery," Hyndman said. "He gets into the gym, does his cardio and takes care of his treatment. He's religious in all the things he needs to do to take care of himself. The season is starting up in a few weeks and he needs to get out there and play a little bit more to overcome the setbacks, the injuries and the pain.
"It's more of the recovery -- getting fit again and how much can your body do without it swelling? We don't worry about Adrian," Hyndman continued. "We put him on his own timeline because he's the kind of player who wants to be on the field. I'm not sure if he'll play this week. It's kind of a gauge where he gauges himself. At the same time, you don't want to put him out there too soon and force him out there. If he can get some time, we encourage it."
FCD's lone goal against the Rapids came off a free kick in the 57th minute when Kenny Cooper converted to give his side their first goal of the preseason against a league foe and Hyndman saw a number of good things from that performance.
"I think there were a few positives," he said. "I thought it was a fantastic free kick taken by Kenny. And I thought we had a pretty good number of services, especially from Dave (van den Bergh). We had some great overlapping on both sides of the field. Again, the coordination in the attack with the strikers is not there yet. But that will probably be the final piece that we will develop.
"Dax (McCarty) did a good job with Pablo (Ricchetti) in the middle. The defense got a shutout. There were a lot of positives out there and some players helped themselves. So it's encouraging. I think we're a better team than we were last year. But the ingredients and the pieces all still need to continue getting stronger."
The Hoops boss, however, did have some concerns.
"I would have liked to have seen us put some more of our opportunities away in the run of play," he said. "I think there are still a couple of players not understanding their role or the team structure. That's something they've got to take and embrace. I think that's about it. Those are the only two issues that I have right now that I should be concerned with."
FCD will play their final game of the trip on Saturday when they face BK Hacken of Sweden.
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