FRISCO, Texas -- Following Friday morning's 3-0 defeat to Houston at Robertson Stadium, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman called his side's performance an eye-opener. The Hoops boss was a bit taken aback at his squad letting in three goals, especially considering that most of his focus during the first few weeks of preseason training has been on the defensive side of the ball.
Following a practice session on Saturday, the FCD coach said he wanted to see a better effort from his side on Monday, when the Hoops would face the Orange again, this time at Pizza Hut Park. FCD performed better in a 0-0 draw and Hyndman was clearly encouraged.
"If you saw the last game, we were quite disappointing," Hyndman said. "They (Houston) are getting ready to play a game in a couple of weeks and were pretty sharp and pretty intense. I thought that the game was a pretty even game today. They had some scoring chances as we did. I was glad not to get scored on, something that we've talked about and tried to get better on, giving up soft goals. I thought we made them earn every opportunity. We've only worked one day on our attack, so we've got a ways to go yet until we're on the same page in our attacking phase. We've been spending a lot of time on our defending phase."
FCD's starting 11 featured many who figure to start in the season opener on March 21 against Chicago, including forward Kenny Cooper and new left-sided midfielder Dave van den Bergh. However, one surprise was Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Saragosa starting at right back, a position he had never played before.
"We really don't have a quality right back right now," Hyndman admitted. "We can put Drew (Moor) out there. We can put [Pitchkolan] out there and can put a lot of different people out there. I think with Pablo (Ricchetti) holding that defensive midfield position, where do you put Marcelo (Saragosa)? You can put him in right midfield or left midfield but I don't think you're ever going to get the best out of him. So we had a conversation with him on our way back to Houston and he said that he would play anywhere we wanted him to play but he said that we would have to work with him because he had never played there before. We worked with him the other day on it and the day before game and I thought he was solid."
Hyndman was definitely pleased with Saragosa's performance in his new role.
"The thing that is encouraging is that he's only going to get better with more time and comfort," he said. "He overlaps well, attacks well, is a good distributor of the ball and has got a great vertical leap. He can help us in defending. The one thing we seem to have a problem with is our weak side. When the ball is coming across, we tend to ball watch. I think he did OK with that. I was pleased with the first thing for him."
One mitigating factor in Hyndman plugging Saragosa in on the right side is the slow progress that Adrian Serioux has made in recovering from several injuries.
"I don't know (when he will return)," Hyndman said. "It's one of those things where he had abdominal surgery for a sports hernia. Then he comes back and has a chronic knee that bothers him a little bit. Now he's got a hip that is bothering him a little bit. As soon as we get through one thing, something else happens. If Adrian comes back, is solid and Marcelo is doing a good job, we will be forced to put Adrian back on the left side."
Brazilian midfielder Andre Rocha did not play against the Dynamo after arriving in Texas on Saturday. Hyndman did state that Rocha, who last year led FCD in assists, should be ready to practice on Wednesday. The Hoops have a fitness session at the Michael Johnson Performance Center on Tuesday.
"He's back," Hyndman said of Rocha. "He had some visa problems and we're really glad he's here. He'll start with the team tomorrow. He said he was (working out with a team down in Brazil). We'll find out (later in the week)."
In Monday's draw, Dax McCarty played the attacking midfield spot for FCD but Hyndman remains adamant that is not the ideal scenario for that position.
"We're still looking at one player," he said. "We're just trying to see if we can maybe work that out. If it doesn't work out now then we'll have to do something. We feel like we need a true No. 10 playmaker, somebody who can do things differently than Dax. We've found a couple of players but it they are so expensive."
Hyndman also sees another pretty big need in his back line.
"I think the team is getting pretty close to where we need to be," he said. "I think we need a very good left-sided fullback, somebody that has good speed, quickness, maturity and experience. We've got Blake (Wagner) that can bring some things and [Anthony Wallace] who can bring some things. I think that if the two of them were one player, we would have a pretty nice player out there. But they're young and they're going to make their mistakes. If we had a left-sided fullback who could get up and down the line and distribute the ball, it would really make a difference."
FCD returns to preseason action on Saturday morning when the University of Memphis visits Frisco.
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