September 1, 2012
ONE GAME AT A TIME
Hoops host Sounders on Sunday with playoff hopes intact

Brek Shea: “We’re just looking at it one game at a time, trying to get as many points as we can in each game.” Photo by Michael Stephens

FC Dallas are still looking to make up ground and get themselves back into the Western Conference playoff race. The Hoops have clawed their way into sixth place in the MLS West, closing steadily on faltering Vancouver, but will face an even hotter team on Sunday, when Seattle Sounders FC come to FC Dallas Stadium (6:00 pm, FSW+).

"We got a big home game and we’re gonna be looking for nothing but three points, for sure," said FC Dallas midfielder Andew Jacobson." We have to just keep playing our game. We can’t go in pretending we’re something we’re not, and with the players we have, we have to play attacking soccer and we’re going to have to do that next weekend, for sure, looking for three points.”

After last weekend’s 2-0 loss to the LA Galaxy, it’s evident the Hoops are not among the cream of the crop in the MLS West, but they still have a chance to qualify for the playoffs.

“We’re just looking at it one game at a time, trying to get as many points as we can in each game," said midfielder Brek Shea. "Obviously tonight doesn’t help us, he said after the loss in LA, "but if we can get points then we have a better chance of getting into the playoffs.But I don’t want to sit here and say ‘this is what we have to do to get into the playoffs,’ that’s not really anything, we just need to play and take it one day at a time.”

Seattle comes into FC Dallas stadium one of the hottest teams in the league. Powered by Fredy Montero, Eddie Johnson and Mauro Rosales, the Sounders have scored 13 goals in their last four MLS matches, six of them in last weekend’s 6-2 dismantling of Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center. Montero had a hat trick and an assist in the rout. He and Johnson have combined for 22 goals and seven assists this season, and Rosales – who set up three goals against the Goats – is the league assists leader with 13. The bright side for the Hoops is that Seattle is just back from a midweek CONCACAF Champions League jaunt to Trinidad for a 3-1 win over Caledonia on Thursday night, and are probably at less than peak form physically.

"We know we’re running out of games,” Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman said of the team's playoff chances and making up the five points that are between them and the fifth-place Whitecaps.


In last week's loss to LA, Fabian Castillo’s three-game scoring streak also ended and, of more concern, the Colombian forward, who is tied with Blas Perez for the team scoring lead with five goals and three assists, picked up an injury in a first-half collision with Galaxy netminder Josh Saunders and is expected to miss Sunday’s game.