September 2, 2012
UNLUCKY
Hoops players feel three points were within reach against Sounders

Much of FC Dallas’s “bad luck” against Seattle stemmed from defender Brad Evans, who cleared Andrew Jacobson’s 8th-minute shot off the line and blocked a potential late game-winner by Blas Perez. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images

FRISCO, Tex---FC Dallas feels it may have been a bit unlucky to not come away with three points from Sunday's 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders FC.

"It was a pretty good battle," said defender George John. "We had the better of the play in the second half and were unlucky not to get a second goal there at the end. That’s just how it goes sometimes. We got one point and we’re just going to have to move on from it.”

The Sounders took the lead in the 20th minute, on a fantastic effort by Steve Zakuani. Zakuani made a run down the left side until he was almost even with the six, beating defender Zach Loyd along the way. Zakuani played the ball back to Mauro Rosales, who got behind Jair Benitez and had an easy finish past Kevin Hartman.

Dallas equalized in the 33rd minute. Blas Perez sent a cross from the right side across the mouth of the goal and Jackson tapped it in.

In the second half, Perez came close in the 66th minute, when he chipped a shot on a cross from Ferreira just wide. In stoppage time, he had a shot pushed out by Sounders defender Brad Evans.

"We had a lot of opportunities,” said Perez. “We couldn’t finish them and we didn’t have the right last touch. Myself, I had two opportunities that I normally capitalize on. I know that had I been 100 percent physically, those are goals that I make. Even then you go onto the pitch and give 100 percent of yourself to help your team win and these are games that make you go home sad."

Andrew Jacobson came closest to giving Dallas the lead in the eighth minute, when his shot was cleared off the line by Evans.

Seattle also had another great opportunity to score another goal, only three minutes after FCD tied the game. Rosales sent a ball across the 18 from the right side. Evans got a head on it, and Kevin Hartman had to leap to push it over the crossbar. The Dallas goalkeeper also grabbed away a header by Fredy Montero in the 86th minute.

"Fortunately the majority of the opportunities they had tonight were kind of right at me… right into my bread basket," said Hartman. "That just happened to be one where he put it somewhere where it was savable. I was able to push it up and over the bar… keep it at 1-1 going into the half."

With the tie, FCD moves to 8-12-9 for 33 points, still four points behind the skidding Vancouver Whitecaps, who lost to Los Angeles 2-0 on Saturday. With the tie, the Sounders (12-6-8) move a point ahead of the Galaxy with 44.

"Defensively, I thought it was an excellent contest between two teams that were trying to win,” said FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman.

With temperatures reaching 100 degrees on the pitch, and Seattle coming off a Thursday night Champions League match, Dallas thought it might have a slight edge, but the heat seemed to get to both teams.

"Our guys looked pretty fatigued," said Hartman.

But the heat really affected the Sounders, according to their coach Sigi Schmid.

"I think it showed," he said. "When you look at the stats of the game, it showed in terms of us winning less duels in the second half, just not being able to get the balls, not being able to really generate as many attacks in the second half that got into the final third as we did in the first half. That was just a reflection of just tired legs."