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Played
September 4, 2010 8:30 PM EDT
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas, United States
Referee: Alex Prus
September 4, 2010 8:30 PM EDT
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas, United States
Referee: Alex Prus
47′
Jeff Cunningham
FC Dallas 1-0 Toronto FC: Cunningham’s Quick Second-Half Strike Sinks Reds
Hosts hold on to keep pace with RSL.
By Mike Beauvais
FC Dallas continued MLS’ longest unbeaten streak of the season, extending their run to thirteen matches with a scrappy 1-0 win over visiting Toronto FC. Jeff Cunningham’s early second-half marker was the difference, as Kevin Hartman and the Hoops held off a spirited late attack from the Reds, who fell into fourth place in the East with the loss. Toronto’s Martin Saric received a second yellow at the end of the 90 minutes and will now be unavailable for Wednesday night’s encounter with Chicago.
First Half
In the 5th minute, the MLS Player of the Month for August came to the forefront. From a Gargan throw-in, O’Brian White headed on to Ty Harden, who sent a header of his own in on goal, but Kevin Hartman reacted quickly and dived headlong to tip over the bar nicely. This was Hartman’s 351st career appearance, trailing only Steve Rolston for most all-time in MLS history.
By the halfway mark of the period, neither squad was able to impose itself on the match and take any kind of control of the proceedings. Both clubs seemed content to trade possession in the midfield and make the occasional in-road forward, yet neither FCD nor Toronto was able to attack with any real intent. This was not from a lack of effort from either side, though, as the likes of White and George John displayed a great deal of hustle.
The hosts sought to break the duck in the 28th through a sloppy TFC turnover. Mista, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, was easily stripped of the ball at midfield by Jackson. Breaking forward, the speedy Brazilian, on loan from Sao Paulo, looked to take advantage of Dallas’ odd-man rush. Spotting Cunningham on his left, Jackson sent in a crisp pass for the former Red, who found himself with Maksim Usanov to beat. With the Russian applying pressure in closing down on the striker, Cunningham struck a low drive wide of the near post.
FCD dealt with a Gargan throw into the box in the 42nd, but were only able to clear it as far as Gargan, as the utility man dropped back to collect. Gargan then sent a beautiful ball back into the area. Joseph Nane ran at goal to meet the service, getting in between Heath Pearce and Brek Shea, and did well to get head on ball, but his effort was wide of Hartman’s goal.
The Hoops would get two quick chances just before the whistle to grab an opener. First, Cunningham moved fluidly towards the Toronto goal with some fine ball control. Going wide, Cunningham found David Ferreira at the touchline. As Hoops players entered the box, Ferreira flung in a good cross, but it was intercepted and held by Stefan Frei. Then, literally seconds from time, Shea got a great deal of power behind what looked meant to be a cross and just cleared the TFC bar and a surprised Frei.
The clubs would head to the room even on zeroes, with neither club begrudging of the level terms.
Second Half
Dallas opened up the second with a bang. After a decent run forward by the Reds, the Hoops broke back the other way with Ferreira catching Toronto completely asleep. The influential Colombian sent a long ball over the heads of the static Toronto defence to Chavez, who, along with Cunningham, was in alone on Frei. With Nick Garcia giving chase in vain, Chavez calmly centered for Cunningham, who calmly slotted home for a 1-0 lead in the 47th. Cunningham celebrated by running over to a banner in the supporters’ section that marked his career goals total. The striker excitedly updated the number to 129 and now sits only three behind Jaime Moreno for the all-time MLS record.
A couple of TFC players clamored to the officials about an offside on the play, but the referees had this one right. Replays showed that Cunningham was offside, but passively, and the player who mattered, Chavez, was, in fact, level with the Toronto defence, after having caught Garcia out of position.
Toronto should have levelled in the 64th. Usanov won a ball in the midfield, colliding with Shea in the process. Shea went down under the contact, but there was no call on the play, as the defender obtained the ball cleanly. Usanov, coming down the right, had plenty of space and sent in a beautiful cross into the box. With the FCD defence completely taken aback, White was able to meet it with a free header, but sent the ball over the bar. The Jamaican should have done better here, as Hartman was beaten on the play.
White tried to redeem himself only minutes later, putting Jair Benitez under pressure and forcing a quick back pass to Hartman. Hartman was seemingly unprepared for the service and slipped on his goal kick and it was blocked by the oncoming White. Fortunately for FCD, the deflection went straight out and White didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of an open net.
There was still more from White in the 75th. Taking advantage of a period of sloppiness from the Dallas defence, White tipped a ball through his markers and into the FCD box. Hartman raced from his line to meet it, but the former UConn man got there first. With Hartman out of position and an open net looming, White could only weakly side-foot an effort on net and Benitez was able to intercept well before the ball even approached the goal line.
The Reds kept pushing for an equalizer. In the 80th, a trademark Gargan long throw bounced through the Dallas box before being met by the head of Harden. The defender’s effort caught Hartman going the wrong way and went inches wide of the far post. Then, five minutes later, an Usanov free kick made itsway into the box. Hartman came out to punch away, but Adrian Cann met it before the ‘keeper could get there and his header went just wide.
Against the run of play in the 88th, Dallas broke to net through Eric Alexander. Martin Saric got a hold of his jersey and the Indiana grad went to ground, but the ref waved play on with the debuting Ruben Luna getting in alone on Frei. Out of nowhere, Harden dove in with a sensational clean tackle and prevented a fantastic opportunity for the Hoops to double their lead.
With Alexander still down, TFC moved back the other way, until Gargan was fouled by Benitez. The stoppage in play allowed the ref to check back on Alexander, but he was followed there by Saric. The Argentine, already sitting on a booking and presumably upset over what he felt was embellishing from Alexander, chirped at both his opponent and the referee and was sent off for his protestations.
From the free kick awarded for the Benitez foul, Usanov’s service landed at the feet of Jacob Peterson, but his shot was blocked smartly by an alert Hartman.
Now a man up and into stoppage, the Hoops looked to put the game away. Shea, coming up the left, drilled a low shot in on Frei. The Swiss ‘keeper never really got a hold of the drive, allowing the trailing Luna to poke home for what seemed to be his first career goal in what would have been a dream debut. Although Luna began to celebrate, his joy was shortlived, as it was adjudged that the rookie had fouled Frei and the goal was disallowed. The rookie was unlucky here, as if there was contact, it was minimal at best and certainly not enough to call off the goal.
With the final whistle, many of the Dallas XI collapsed to the ground, completely gassed after a hard-fought 90 minutes. The Hoops, who have now won a league-high sixth straight match and have not conceded in 280 minutes, next see league action on Saturday away to the Earthquakes.
Toronto, still only on four away points all year, must attempt to stop hemmorhaging away road points on Wednesday evening against the Brian McBride-less Chicago Fire.
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com's MLS page and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
First Half
In the 5th minute, the MLS Player of the Month for August came to the forefront. From a Gargan throw-in, O’Brian White headed on to Ty Harden, who sent a header of his own in on goal, but Kevin Hartman reacted quickly and dived headlong to tip over the bar nicely. This was Hartman’s 351st career appearance, trailing only Steve Rolston for most all-time in MLS history.
By the halfway mark of the period, neither squad was able to impose itself on the match and take any kind of control of the proceedings. Both clubs seemed content to trade possession in the midfield and make the occasional in-road forward, yet neither FCD nor Toronto was able to attack with any real intent. This was not from a lack of effort from either side, though, as the likes of White and George John displayed a great deal of hustle.
The hosts sought to break the duck in the 28th through a sloppy TFC turnover. Mista, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, was easily stripped of the ball at midfield by Jackson. Breaking forward, the speedy Brazilian, on loan from Sao Paulo, looked to take advantage of Dallas’ odd-man rush. Spotting Cunningham on his left, Jackson sent in a crisp pass for the former Red, who found himself with Maksim Usanov to beat. With the Russian applying pressure in closing down on the striker, Cunningham struck a low drive wide of the near post.
FCD dealt with a Gargan throw into the box in the 42nd, but were only able to clear it as far as Gargan, as the utility man dropped back to collect. Gargan then sent a beautiful ball back into the area. Joseph Nane ran at goal to meet the service, getting in between Heath Pearce and Brek Shea, and did well to get head on ball, but his effort was wide of Hartman’s goal.
The Hoops would get two quick chances just before the whistle to grab an opener. First, Cunningham moved fluidly towards the Toronto goal with some fine ball control. Going wide, Cunningham found David Ferreira at the touchline. As Hoops players entered the box, Ferreira flung in a good cross, but it was intercepted and held by Stefan Frei. Then, literally seconds from time, Shea got a great deal of power behind what looked meant to be a cross and just cleared the TFC bar and a surprised Frei.
The clubs would head to the room even on zeroes, with neither club begrudging of the level terms.
Second Half
Dallas opened up the second with a bang. After a decent run forward by the Reds, the Hoops broke back the other way with Ferreira catching Toronto completely asleep. The influential Colombian sent a long ball over the heads of the static Toronto defence to Chavez, who, along with Cunningham, was in alone on Frei. With Nick Garcia giving chase in vain, Chavez calmly centered for Cunningham, who calmly slotted home for a 1-0 lead in the 47th. Cunningham celebrated by running over to a banner in the supporters’ section that marked his career goals total. The striker excitedly updated the number to 129 and now sits only three behind Jaime Moreno for the all-time MLS record.
A couple of TFC players clamored to the officials about an offside on the play, but the referees had this one right. Replays showed that Cunningham was offside, but passively, and the player who mattered, Chavez, was, in fact, level with the Toronto defence, after having caught Garcia out of position.
Toronto should have levelled in the 64th. Usanov won a ball in the midfield, colliding with Shea in the process. Shea went down under the contact, but there was no call on the play, as the defender obtained the ball cleanly. Usanov, coming down the right, had plenty of space and sent in a beautiful cross into the box. With the FCD defence completely taken aback, White was able to meet it with a free header, but sent the ball over the bar. The Jamaican should have done better here, as Hartman was beaten on the play.
White tried to redeem himself only minutes later, putting Jair Benitez under pressure and forcing a quick back pass to Hartman. Hartman was seemingly unprepared for the service and slipped on his goal kick and it was blocked by the oncoming White. Fortunately for FCD, the deflection went straight out and White didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of an open net.
There was still more from White in the 75th. Taking advantage of a period of sloppiness from the Dallas defence, White tipped a ball through his markers and into the FCD box. Hartman raced from his line to meet it, but the former UConn man got there first. With Hartman out of position and an open net looming, White could only weakly side-foot an effort on net and Benitez was able to intercept well before the ball even approached the goal line.
The Reds kept pushing for an equalizer. In the 80th, a trademark Gargan long throw bounced through the Dallas box before being met by the head of Harden. The defender’s effort caught Hartman going the wrong way and went inches wide of the far post. Then, five minutes later, an Usanov free kick made itsway into the box. Hartman came out to punch away, but Adrian Cann met it before the ‘keeper could get there and his header went just wide.
Against the run of play in the 88th, Dallas broke to net through Eric Alexander. Martin Saric got a hold of his jersey and the Indiana grad went to ground, but the ref waved play on with the debuting Ruben Luna getting in alone on Frei. Out of nowhere, Harden dove in with a sensational clean tackle and prevented a fantastic opportunity for the Hoops to double their lead.
With Alexander still down, TFC moved back the other way, until Gargan was fouled by Benitez. The stoppage in play allowed the ref to check back on Alexander, but he was followed there by Saric. The Argentine, already sitting on a booking and presumably upset over what he felt was embellishing from Alexander, chirped at both his opponent and the referee and was sent off for his protestations.
From the free kick awarded for the Benitez foul, Usanov’s service landed at the feet of Jacob Peterson, but his shot was blocked smartly by an alert Hartman.
Now a man up and into stoppage, the Hoops looked to put the game away. Shea, coming up the left, drilled a low shot in on Frei. The Swiss ‘keeper never really got a hold of the drive, allowing the trailing Luna to poke home for what seemed to be his first career goal in what would have been a dream debut. Although Luna began to celebrate, his joy was shortlived, as it was adjudged that the rookie had fouled Frei and the goal was disallowed. The rookie was unlucky here, as if there was contact, it was minimal at best and certainly not enough to call off the goal.
With the final whistle, many of the Dallas XI collapsed to the ground, completely gassed after a hard-fought 90 minutes. The Hoops, who have now won a league-high sixth straight match and have not conceded in 280 minutes, next see league action on Saturday away to the Earthquakes.
Toronto, still only on four away points all year, must attempt to stop hemmorhaging away road points on Wednesday evening against the Brian McBride-less Chicago Fire.
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com's MLS page and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
Goal
Own Goal
Penalty
Penalty Missed
Yellow Card
Assist
Penalty Save
Penalty Shootout Goal
Penalty Shootout Miss
Yellow Card / Red Card
Red Card
Substitution IN
Substitution OUT
Injury
Goal.com Rating
Goal.com Man of the Match
Goal.com Flop of the Match
Top & Flop Global Ranking
Fans' Man of the Match
Fans' Flop of the Match
Results
Times In EST
Match News
Top Scorers
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Kenny Cooper
Striker NY Red Bulls |
11 | 2 |
|
Chris Wondolowski
Striker San Jose Earthquakes |
11 | 1 |
|
Thierry Henry
Striker NY Red Bulls |
9 | 0 |
|
Saer Sene
Striker New England |
7 | 1 |
|
Maicon Santos
Striker D.C. United |
7 | 0 |