Dallas Related Soccer Articles and News by Soccer Xpert

North Texas sides fare well at Opening Day of Nationals

staff — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:58:41 GMT

A review of how the North Texas teams fared in the first day of 2008 USYSA National Championships. The North Texas boys teams had a very successful opening day. The six sides won 4 and tied 2 suffering no losses. The six girls teams won 3 lost 1 and tied 2 on the opening day.

Under 15 Boys -
Solar Red 93 had no problem defeating Valley United Blast of Southern California 5-2 on the day while Dallas Texans 93 fought to a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire Juniors.

Under 16 Boys -
Dallas Texans 92 smashed Lower Merion Velez of Pennsylvania by a 5-1 score.

Under 17 Boys -
Andromeda 91 rallied from an early deficit to defeat Diabloe FC Black from California 2-1 behind goals frolm Dillon Powers and Matthew Bewley.

Under 18 Boys -
Defending national champs Andromeda 90 were down two goals but rallie for a 2-2 draw with Shattuck St Marys of Minnesota. Andromeda goals from Zach Funk and Eric Frazier.

Under 19 Boys -
Solar 89 won a wild 4-3 decision over Colorado Rush.

Under 14 Girls -
D'Feeters 94 suffered a 2-0 loss to San Juan Spirits of California.

Under 15 Girls -
Dallas Texans 93 fought to a 1-1 draw with Slammers FC from California. Texans got a late goal from Clarissa Wedemeyer to earn the draw.

Under 16 Girls -
Sting 92 drew 2-2 with Eclipse FC from Illinois while Dallas Texans 92 defeated Vardar of Michigan 1-0.

Under 17 Girls -
Dallas Texans 91 took an impressive 2-0 victory over Slammers FC from California.

Under 18 Girls -
Sting 90 opened with a 2-1 win over Eclipse FC from Illinois.

Assistant Tim McClements to be named SMU head coach

staff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:32:25 GMT

Assistant coach Tim McClements will be named the new SMU men's soccer head coach on Wednesday, according to a source close to the SMU athletic department. The announcement will be made during a noon press conference at Ford Stadium. McClements declined to comment.

McClements, a former Vanderbilt head coach, will replace Schellas Hyndman, who turned SMU into a soccer powerhouse before becoming the FC Dallas coach last month. After 24 seasons, Hyndman led SMU to a 368-98-38 record and 23 NCAA playoff appearances that included four trips to the College Cup.

McClements has been an assistant to Hyndman twice in his career. His first stint was in 2000-2001, and then came back for the last two seasons after losing his job at Vanderbilt. He led Vanderbilt to a 3-15-0 in his first season in 2002, but three years later, he was Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year after his team finished 9-7-2. But then before the 2006 season started, Vanderbilt eliminated its men’s soccer program and instead added women’s swimming.

Tim McClements also coached at Baker University (1995-1996) and at Eastern Illinois (1996-1999), thirteen years after Hyndman left as head coach to take the SMU job. He also played pro soccer for three years at the National Professional Soccer League and the American Professional Soccer before becoming an assistant college coach.

SMU star Bruno Guarda to turn pro

staff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:22:11 GMT

Former Arlington Oakridge soccer player Bruno Guarda has opted to turn pro in Major League Soccer rather than return for his senior year at SMU next fall. Tuesday, Guarda will be placed in a weighted-lottery based on the team’s records during the past 30 matches to determine which club acquires him.

The dynamic, Brazilian-born midfielder finished as a Hermann Trophy semifinalist the past two seasons at SMU. Last year he notched 8 goals and 7 assists for the Mustangs and many felt he would turn pro prior to the MLS draft in January. He played all three college seasons under FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman. Toronto and FC Dallas will be the favorites to land Bruno Guarda's services in the draft.

NOTE: The Colorado Rapids won the draft lottery for Bruno.

FC Dallas settles for draw with Colorado 2-2

staff — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:01:51 GMT

After just five minutes Saturday, FC Dallas found themselves down 1-0 to Colorado. But the Hoops responded with a pair of unanswered goals in the second half to take a 2-1 edge, after Kenny Cooper converted a penalty kick and fellow MLS all-star Juan Toja scored his first goal since March 30. But in the end, it wasn't enough as Colorado's Conor Casey tied it at 2-2 just three minutes after Toja's goal before the teams settled for the draw. Dallas now has not won a league game under Schellas Hyndman, who was hired as head coach on June 17. The Hoops' last league victory came on June 15 when FCD beat Chicago 1-0 in what proved to be interim boss Marco Ferruzzi's final game at the helm.

After the draw at Pizza Hut Park, Hyndman was clearly less than pleased. "The teaser is taking the lead 2-1 and then scoring within four or five minutes to make it an even game," he said. "They came into our field and got a point, which is disappointing for all of us. I think it showed a lot of character on our part to play with a lot of enthusiasm, to get crosses off and to have more people in the attack. I saw that we're making some progress but we have to eliminate that big boo-boo."

Dallas outshot the Rapids 15-10 on the evening and Hyndman was pleased with the play of leading scorer Cooper, who assisted on Toja's goal.

"I wanted Kenny (Cooper) to get more touches, not so much run out wide and make the crosses but to be a target player," he said. "I thought today he was very dangerous, especially in transition. He was able to get behind them. One of the things we look for from our strikers is that we all want them to score but we also want them to hold the ball, create opportunities and make assists."

Even though FCD got a point for a third consecutive week and extended their home unbeaten streak against Colorado to 14 games, Hyndman's players were less than pleased with the end result.

"I thought we fought back, did well and were in the lead but we've just got to do the little things right," FCD forward Dominic Oduro said. "We're not too excited about it. It's a very bad result for us even though it's a tie because we wanted three points out of it. But it's over, what else can we do but try and improve in the next game?"

Oduro sees a clear trend that has reared its head in each of FCD's last three matches that definitely needs reversing. "In all three games, we have been scored on early," he said. "We have to avoid that and all those little mistakes that have cost us. We need to try and score early goals. We also need to try and keep the ball and stay focused for the whole game."

One positive for the host side was the return of third-year midfielder Dax McCarty to the starting 11 for the first time since April 24 against New England. "I feel good," McCarty said. "It's been a while since I've gotten a start and it felt good to walk out the tunnel with the guys. I had a little bit of nerves at first but once I got my first touch, I settled down pretty well and felt nice, loose and warm."

He added: "I felt like I combined well with the guys and that we created a lot of chances. Unfortunately, we didn't finish enough of them. Ultimately, we came away with a decent result but at home, you always want to get the win, so it's a little frustrating."

McCarty had only played five times since his last start after having sports hernia surgery in late May but the youngster admitted he felt pretty good. "I felt surprisingly up to par in terms of my fitness," he said. "Maybe my groin started tightening up toward the end and I felt a little less mobile. I felt pretty good in terms of fitness and think a few more games like that, I will be able to get over that hump of the tightness in my groin totally being eliminated."

But what was most impressive about his performance is that it came just two days after McCarty learned he would not be on the US Olympic team after being one of the top players during qualifying back in March.

"You have to move on and life goes on," McCarty said. "It obviously wasn't what I wanted and that's pretty disappointing but you've got to move on. Maybe it's a blessing because I can come and maybe help FC Dallas qualify for the playoffs and make a run. There's not much I can do. I'm just going to take it day-by-day and get 100 percent fit because I'm really close so that I can help FC Dallas."

Dallas will have Monday off before returning to the practice field on Tuesday. Both Cooper and Toja will depart on Tuesday morning for theMLS All-Star Game. The Hoops' next action will be on Sunday, July 27 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

FC Dallas giving Victor Sikora trial

staff — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:40:57 GMT

Dutch NAC Breda winger Victor Sikora is currently busy trying to earn a job with MLS auditioners FC Dallas. The 30 yr old former Ajax man also has six Holland caps to his name. Last season, Sikora scored three times for the Yellow Army, but was allowed to run out of his Ajax loan contract by general manager and former DC United star Ernie Stewart.

FC Dallas is next to last currently in the MLS Western Conference. New coach Schellas Hyndman has made no secrets that the club is looking to add new attacking options to pair with Kenny Copper during the upcoming transfer window.