FC Dallas falls again to New England
Published 4/5/2009 8:47:29 AM by staff from dallas
FC Dallas fell to 0-3 on Saturday despite some good play and a good effort in New England. Unfortunately, they were outdone by a soft referee decision to award a penalty kick that broke the 1-1 tie with less than 15 minutes to play.
It's ashame when a referee has such a large impact on a very competetive and entertaining match, but such was the case on Saturday. It was a tight 1-1 match entering the last phases of the match when the referee intervened. He awarded a penalty to New England when Kheli Dube felt a slight grab from Dallas rookie George John. Dube twisted and fell in a heap. Even though the ball was already in FC Dallas keeper Ray Burse's control and the other fact that Dube would never have gotten close to the ball a penalty was awarded. Veteran Steve Ralston slotted it home for the winner.
It was a much better effort from Dallas as they were much the better team for a good 70 minutes of the match. Kenny Cooper grabbed a much deserved 1-0 lead in a first half where Dallas outshot New England 7-2. The lead could have been much more if not for the heroics of Revolution keeper Brad Knighton.
A clever halftime substitution introducing MLS veteran Steve Ralston changed the flow dramatically to start the 2nd half. The Revolution attacked in waves as Dallas could not adjust to the formation change. Hoops keeper Ray Burse made several nice plays to keep New England on zero. After about 20 minutes Dallas got their feet underneath them and started to control play once again. Then the silly penalty kick call changed the match and came totally against the run of play. Dallas attacked the final 10 minutes but could not get the equalizer.
Label: FC Dallas falls New England, Kenny Cooper, Brad Knighton
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