Steve Davis Torches FC Dallas

If you're a close follower of this blog, you know that I occasionally blog about soccer, both domestic and otherwise. That includes blogging about FC Dallas, our local Major League Soccer squad. If you pay very close attention to this blog, you may realize I haven't had much to say about FC Dallas as of late. That's because, unless you're a soccer-specific blogger, there isn't much to say about near-constant suckitude. That is unless you're Steve Davis, former soccer reporter for the Dallas Morning News, and you've saved up all your grievances for one gigantic broadside against the club (via 3rd Degree.) Steve Davis hated the re-branding, among other things. Some choice excerpts:

Yep. Five years ago in August the Dallas Burn became FC Dallas. A year after that, they moved into a dandy little stadium, where tens of hundreds of people now show up 16-18 times a year to watch a poor product while frequently taking a beating in customer service and then putting the cherry on the bad experience sundae by getting stuck in traffic on the way home. (OK, the club has done something about the wacky traffic congestion. By stinkin’ up the joint pretty much everywhere else they have largely eliminated all traffic entanglements. Well done, kids.)

Oh, he's just warming up. Why didn't the re-branding work?

First, Pizza Hut Park is just too far. I have ultimate respect for the late Lamar Hunt – a truly wonderful human being -- for all his dogged and impassioned efforts at building this sport. But the fact is that there is a learning curve on this critical MLS stadium initiative. Somebody had the really push the limit and built one WAY out (23 miles from the city center in this case) to start locating the balance between "cheap land" and "too freakin’ far." Unfortunately, Hunt built a swell little stadium too far away, too far from the 20- and 30-something urbanites who are making such cool waves at Toronto, Seattle, etc.

But the stadium is built, it’s got a 30-year shelf life and there you are. So FC Dallas should have recognized quickly that it would have to be the consummate "try harder" property. That is, they could win loyalty and fans by being the team that tries harder. Better concessions. Better prices. Better customer service. A better product, not just a proxy product for making money off concerts.

They fell short, and how. They fell show the way Plaxico Burress fell short in gun safety, the way Marilyn Manson fell short on normalcy, the way Britney Spears fell short on general life train wreck avoidance.

[...]

Look, I could go on and on about bad print ads, nonsensical media buying strategies, ridiculously failed DP bids, money wasted on ballyhooed partnerships with foreign clubs, about running out of pizza countless times at Pizza Hut Park, about out-dated marketing strategies, about the long-term scourge of artificially inflated attendance numbers, about the mindless pursuit of the suburban family dollar, etc.

Bottom line, people figure it out. You are what you are, and you had better find a way to work with it.

As for the re-branding five years ago from Dallas Burn to FC Dallas, all they did back then was thoughtlessly erase history. Was the "Burn" name kinda goofy? You bet it was. But fans embraced it. They grew fond of it and felt protective of it, the way your little brother or sister bothers the crap out of you – but you’ll beat the holy hell out of someone who "effs" with them cause’ that’s just the way it is.

Man. Ouch. Now, I was against the re-branding too, especially when I figured out that the trend in MLS was to thoughtlessly copy the Euro-style of generic names for clubs (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, etc., etc.) First off, that's not an American tradition so it defies the idea that MLS is presenting a uniquely "American" brand of soccer. Second, attaching "Real" or "FC" anything to something like a club that plays in fourth-tier soccer league in Salt Lake City or Dallas of all places, is so beyond pretentious that it's just absurd and completely open to ridicule. It's doubly absurd if, upon doing so, you go on to become one of the most underachieving teams in the entire league (as both FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake have done.)

I was also completely opposed, and remain opposed, to the idea that a team called FC Dallas should be playing in Frisco, almost 25 miles north of downtown Dallas. I understand that team officials didn't have a ton of choice in where they were going to have a stadium built, but their fascination with the suburban (and white) soccer fan was betrayed by the moving of the team to Southlake for a season. By moving to Frisco, the team instantly alienated the team's most passionate fan base, Hispanics, in favor of fans whose loyalty to soccer is questionable at best, and whose motivations for showing up the game frequently involve being given free tickets, or needing an outing for their kid's u-9 soccer squad.

Now, both of these moves could have worked. In the end, what matters the most is the product that gets put on the field. You can get away with ditching a name and tradition that fans had just begun to get attached to, and ditching a substantial portion of your fan base, and all the other legion of problem that Davis recounts, if you put a winning team on the field. Especially if you put a team on the field that manages to get into MLS championships being hosted at your own stadium (something FC Dallas had an opportunity to do two years in a row.) What you cannot do is lose. Then you find that people like me, who were once utterly devoted to the club, will refuse to drive 35 miles or more to see inferior soccer, to not be able to get a pizza, to get stuck in traffic, to watch designated players under-perform, etc., etc., etc.

Is anybody up top getting the message? I don't know. Check back with me in two years, and I'll let you know.

Soccer weekend!

My thoughts on the USA - El Salvador game are summed up by this Soccer Experts blog post title:

U.S. must kick sand in the face of CONCACAF weaklings

Couldn't agree more. My thoughts on the FC Dallas - DC United game tonight are summed up by this gentleman's comments:

Here is my lineup predictions.......




........aww who really gives a fukc

Ha. Oh well. Maybe next season?

Goodbye FC Dallas

As in, there goes my last reason for watching them:

FC Dallas announced Friday that forward Kenny Cooper has been transferred to German second division side TSV 1860 Munich pending a medical examination. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not announced.


"Kenny has been an outstanding player for us over the last four seasons as well as a tremendous ambassador for FC Dallas in his time with the club, and we wish him the best in Munich," said general manager Michael Hitchcock in a press release. "Kenny indicated to us that he wanted to return to Europe when his contract expired next year. The timing of this transfer allows Kenny to continue his career overseas while providing our club with valuable resources for new acquisitions."

Cooper joined FC Dallas on Feb. 6, 2006 from Manchester United and was voted the team's most valuable player last season. He scored 40 goals in 93 appearances for Dallas. TSV 1860 Munich finished 12th in the Bundesliga 2 2008-09 season.

Kenny Cooper was the bright star on a team of thundering duds. His frequently phenomenal goals had lately because the sole reason for watching this team (unless you enjoy defensive meltdowns by teams that won't make the MLS playoffs.) I wonder what Arial Graziani is up to...

Afternoon Links

Things worth reading:

1. An earthquake in Italy is estimated to have killed a hundred people so far, and left tens of thousands more homeless.

2. Florida: bringing back debtor's prison (sort of.)

3. Turkey: President Obama visits Turkey, calls Turkey an important ally, speaks of resolving the conflict over the Armenian genocide. Turkish PM Erdogan tells us to accept the reality of Hamas.

4. Thirty-three Iraqis die in coordinated car bombings in and around Baghdad.

5. The brain: Researchers are working on ways of "editing" memory. Scientists have also concluded that the stress of being poor alters the brains of children.

6. Secretary of Defense Gates proposes to make cuts to several big-ticket defense items. To which I say, we'll see about that.

7. President Obama aims for a world free of nuclear weapons.

8. Millions of shelter animals die, while morons buy designer "hybrid" breeds raised in appalling conditions.

9. Sports: Can Brazil's talented soccer player Marta revive women's soccer in the U.S.? Speaking of soccer, FC Dallas has stunk it up in the first three games of the season, losing all three while giving up seven goals and scoring only two. The Dallas Mavericks, as is typical in this up and down season,lost to a woeful Memphis team with less than half their win total on Friday night and then blew out similarly struggling Phoenix on Sunday. They are now one win or one Phoenix loss away from wrapping up the eight seed in the playoffs, and still-amazingly-in the hunt for the seventh seed, which they can get with some help from Utah. And the Texas Rangers open their season today with a game at home against Cleveland.

Rough Weekend

So I, and most other people around these parts, thought last week was a bad one for the Cowboys. A narrow loss to Arizona, Romo hurt, Felix Jones hurt, Terrence Newman hurt, Adam "Pacman" Jones suspended for getting in a fight (with his own bodyguard!?) The Cowboys go out and pick up Detroit's impressive young WR Roy Williams, and are looking at facing the horrendous St. Louis Rams on Sunday...great chance to get back on track, right? Uh, not so much. I'll confess to not watching more than about 2 minutes of this game, but that was enough. The first minute was the 42-yard catch by Donnie Avery that tied the game at 7-7, and the second minute was at the end of the first quarter(!) when I saw that the Rams were leading 21-7. So instead of getting back on track, the Cowboys have jumped off the rails and into the fire...and worse yet, they face Tampa Bay's impressive defense next Sunday. At this point, keeping backup QB Brad Johnson alive for the duration of the game should be a priority. 

Oh and in addition, FC Dallas was eliminated from the playoff chase on Saturday night, losing 3-2 against Real Salt Lake. The loss came in typical fashion; FC Dallas surrendered an early goal, and chased RSL the rest of the game. Frankly, they simply spared us the pain of watching them either not in the playoffs after next week's game, or flameout of the first round. 

Good Sports Weekend

It was a good weekend for Dallas sports franchises, as the Dallas Cowboys got their first win ever at Lambeau Field (seriously?) and FC Dallas thrashed the Chicago Fire. I can't believe the Cowboys have visited Green Bay only six times in their history, given how frequently they've played them throughout the years (including one of the most famous games in NFL history.) The team turned out a solid performance , giving up the first touchdown only at a meaningless point in the 4th quarter. The rest of the NFC East is doing well too though, so 3-0 is only good enough to stay tied with the Giants for first in the division and a game ahead of the Redskins and the Eagles (though the Cowboys own a tiebreaker against Philly thanks to last week's win.)

FC Dallas got off to a great start, with new forward Jeff Cunningham scoring in the first ninety seconds of the game. He scored again before the end of the game, along with Pitchkolan and Guarda to finish with a 4-1 win in Chicago. The win permits fans such as myself to maintain the illusion that FC Dallas could both get in the playoffs and do well there, but a win and an uncertain future is always better than a certain premature end to the season.

Season Begins with a Win

The Dallas Cowboys opened the season at Cleveland yesterday, and dominated the Browns winning 28-10. Alas I didn't get to actually see much of that game except the 4th, when most of the excitement was already over. But watching the recording later I was very impressed by Barber, Jones, Witten, T.O. and even Crayton (who's a fine player when he talks less.) And Romo of course, who is playing at about the highest level a quarterback can in the NFL. So all in all, a good start and with the injury to Brady likely to remove another roadblock to a championship, the season is shaping up very nicely. At least in Week 1. Week 2 may be slightly different, as the Cowboys will make their 69th appearance on Monday Night Football against an Eagles team that absolutely destroyed St. Louis yesterday. That will be a hell of a game my friends.

The U.S. Men's soccer team also got a win in Havana on Saturday, racking up six points total in the qualifying group they're in and giving themselves an excellent head start on making it to the next round with two victories on the road. The game wasn't pretty and coach Bob Bradley is still struggling to find players who can turn in consistent performances in key positions, but a win on the road is a win and as there's still two years between now and the next World Cup, still some time to find all the right pieces.

FC Dallas didn't play this weekend but they did play last Thursday, losing a "must-win" game at home to Colorado and demonstrating for something like the 10th year in a row that an inability to completely concentrate on defense can cost you a game. FC Dallas has fallen to next to last in the standings as the win permitted Colorado to leap-frog over them and at present they would fail to qualify for a playoff spot. With seven games left there's still plenty of time to undo that, but backwards movement in the standings in September is usually not a sign on imminent post-season success. 

Inside Look at the Fans

Via 3rd Degree, here's a nice little article in D Magazine about the hard-core supporters of FC Dallas, the Inferno. Basically, the Inferno consist of half-crazed FC Dallas supporters (not fans, and the writer explains the difference) who are willing to sweat out the heat to cheer for their team before, during and after the game. But though they may adore the team, they don't uncritically support everything the team does. That includes the move to Frisco (a suburb far north of Dallas), as supporter "Cupcake" explains:

Since the team was founded, FC Dallas (originally the Dallas Burn) played at the Cotton Bowl, Southlake Carroll’s Dragon Field, and then the Cotton Bowl again, before finally finding a permanent home in Frisco. Cupcake is happy FC Dallas now has its own soccer-specific venue, but the moves to Southlake and then to Frisco killed off a large portion of their passionate fan base—most notably from the region’s Hispanic community—which was far more exuberant than the largely white suburban crowd. “I guess they would rather sell a season ticket to a soccer mom,” says.

Stepping away from section 116, the Inferno do appear to have a point. Besides two smaller Hispanic supporter sister groups banging away on percussion, Pizza Hut Park is filled with a relatively quiet collection of youth groups, families, and soccer teams. Blonde mothers and their daughters wearing youth soccer team t-shirts serve up lemonade and pretzels in the concession stands. At the half, two small fields are set up on the main pitch and kids knock around the ball in a short scrimmage. Standing beneath the second-tier luxury suites, the supporters are only background noise, a handful of rowdy spectators at an otherwise placid sporting event.

It is clear with what vision of the future the front office has cast its lot.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that Pizza Hut park is a great venue for soccer. I can also tell you that I have been there exactly one time. That is largely due to the fact that I don't like driving the 100 miles between where I live and Frisco (I exaggerate a little, but it is an unpleasant drive.) But I did attend games regularly when they played at the Cotton Bowl, only about a 1/2 hour from me. And I can tell you that although the Cotton Bowl looks like it was built 100 years ago and practically swallowed the crowds of around 5-15k that the former Dallas Burn might draw for any given game, the atmosphere was considerably more festive thanks to the tons of Hispanic fans packed into the...well, the "festive" side of the stadium (as it was officially designated) where I would sit for games. Now while it's plainly ridiculous to say that the largely white soccer fans who show up to see FC Dallas in Frisco sit on their hands most of the game and only politely clap when FC Dallas scores, it is true that they're more of the "sit and enjoy the game and only get up and cheer when somebody scores or almost scores" kind of crowd, and being as scores and near-scores happen in soccer about a dozen times a game on average that makes for a fairly peaceful audience. The zigzagging from Southlake in 2003, then back to the Cotton Bowl in 2004, then out to Frisco in 2005, effectively shed the very rowdy and very pro-soccer Hispanic fans in favor of a calmer, less rowdy, wealthier, and whiter fan base. And you can imagine how strange it is to have a soccer team in Texas that draws mostly white fans.

Anyway, the move to Frisco is over and done with, and there's no going back to the days of the Cotton Bowl. But indeed, the move to Frisco is one that cannot be undone, nor can it be expected that Hispanic fans will ever return in droves to watch FC Dallas play unless and until they start moving in large numbers to Frisco (a socio-economic change that may be decades away.) In truth it's not entirely the team's fault as Frisco made an offer that other cities in the Metroplex were not, but there's no denying that the move completely altered the fan base for the team, for better or for worse.

FC Dallas Stomps the L.A. Galaxy

The last time the David Beckham show rolled into town, they delivered a thorough whuppin' on FC Dallas, winning 5-1. Tonight was a completely different story, as FC Dallas wins in a rout, crushing LA 4-0 in a game that easily could've been 7-1, as Oduro, Cooper and Avila each banged one off the crosbar (as did Ruiz for L.A., for his part.) As it is, Cooper netted himself two goals two minutes apart, one with a nice assist from Oduro, putting himself at 11 for the year and tied for second in MLS. Oduro got one of his own off of a nice assist from Alvarez, and Abe Thompson added one in the late stages of the game. Frankly there hasn't been much to write about when it comes to FC Dallas. Trade rumors swirl around Juan Toja, who mysteriously was left off the roster, and Cooper, who several European clubs have expressed interest in. But more wins like this and FC Dallas can look forward to having more than simply potential trades to get exited about.

World Cup Qualifying Begins

The United States began the long trek to the 2010 World Cup with a rout of Barbados, who I am now convinced is possibly one of the worst national soccer teams in the world. The U.S. won 8-0, scoring in the very first minute of the game and not letting up after that. The goals came with such frequency that U.S. players on the bench could hardly bring themselves to stand up and cheer after the 7th and 8th scores. I'm not at all convinced that the U.S. is suddenly a better team than the one that failed to score in three matches against England, Spain and Argentina, but as far as confidence building exercises go one could do worse than to rout a lowly opponent at home. And when it comes to World Cup qualifying, all that matters is getting to the tournament. They can worry about the big dogs once they've secured their berth. The U.S. will face Barbados again next Sunday in the second leg of the home-away match-up, but unless Barbados plans on scoring 9 goals and shutting out the U.S., the advancement of the U.S. to the third round of qualification in CONCACAF is a foregone conclusion.

FC Dallas also notched a win against the Chicago Fire today, blanking Cauhtemoc Blanco and his team 1-0 on a Kenny Cooper score. They looked composed and threatening, and if they can hold to form there's a chance that they can do something in the post-season. Of course, the coaching turmoil as well as FC Dallas' past history with summer slumps hardly suggests a surge to the top of the West, but a new coach may mean new opportunities.

Eh

So yesterday was a great day for soccer fans, if you don't mind watching one of your two favorite teams give up a late goal and lose 3 points, and you don't mind watching the other indulge in lackluster and unimaginative play against one of the best teams in the world. First the US: the squad started off the game with solid play, but gradually conceded to England's midfield pressure, their own defensive gaffes, and an inability to create any decent chances up top. The latter is truly the worst problem this team faces, as there is simply no one on the US side that other teams should fear getting near the goal. Josh Wolff was once one of MLS' top players, but without decent service (Landon Donovan was out with a groin injury) he's simply a non-factor. Former Dallas Burn/FC Dallas striker Eddie Johnson was worse, whiffing on his only decent chances at goal but otherwise disappearing for long stretches, and helping to prove that he's simply incapable of playing at the international level (the 3-goal performance against Panama that I witnessed in 2004 being to this point the highlight of his professional career.) Freddy Adu, subbed in the 2nd, was better but not enough. Veteran Eddie Lewis had a decent run at the goal the ended in a great cross, but had no other opportunities to threaten England. With the retirement of players like Brian McBride (who is, incidentally, returning to the US after four seasons with Fulham FC) US soccer simply lacks the ability to reliably threaten the opposition's goal. An inability to score only magnifies the problems of inadequate midfield play and defensive errors, and it's hard to see how this team can threaten anyone on the world stage unless some attacking players emerge. A match against Spain is coming up on June 4th, and the US will have to play better than they did last night to avoid a shellacking in Santander.

FC Dallas does not lack for the ability to score (Kenny Cooper recorded his fifth goal of the season last night against Houston thanks to a beautiful first touch...maybe the US should consider calling him up again) but they have a frustrating inability to concentrate defensively at crucial moments of the game, allowing Dwayne DeRosario to score in the 93rd minute and giving up 3 key points at Pizza Hut Park. FC Dallas also got a player ejected for the third time in three matches, which is perhaps a sign of their own frustration with their play on the field. FC Dallas plays Colorado on Sunday.

Soccer Extraordinaire!

The U.S. Men's national soccer team has an absolutely glorious month of soccer coming up. Between tomorrow and June 22nd, the team will play three friendlies against international superpowers England, Spain and Argentina (with only the Argentina game coming at home) and two 2010 world cup qualifying matches against Barbados (the first and second legs of a home-away series.) The three matches against the world's top clubs will test this team in a manner they've never experienced, even in first rounds of prior world cups. There could hardly be a more challenging and exciting opening to world cup qualification season, and I can't wait to catch the games (all of which are televised.)

Tomorrow is a good day for us local fans of soccer as well, as we'll have the match-up against England early in the day, and another session of the heated inter-state rivalry between FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo in the evening. Dallas recorded a victory against Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, on the back of two late-game goals by Dominic Oduro. But it's likely they were also motivated by the unexpected firing of coach Steve Morrow, a casualty of FC Dallas' 5-1 collapse against L.A. and underwhelming performances in the three games leading up to the debacle. Whether the replacement of Morrow with interim head coach Marco Feruzzi.

And Now For Some Good News

The Mavericks are provoking much rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth, but there are a couple of bright lights in Dallas these days. The Dallas Stars finished off the Mighty Ducks in six games and are onto battle the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the NHL playoffs. FC Dallas, who take on the New England Revolution tomorrow night, have won two and tied two in their first four games to retain the only unbeaten record in the MLS, and their two wins have come in two consecutive and solid performances. Also, the Cowboys have a draft coming up so that's always nice, right?

Of course, in the meantime the Texas Rangers are challenging their legendary reputation for mediocrity by tanking so early in the season that it's a surprise even to long-suffering Rangers fans (but if you think Rangers fans are mad, see the fans of Hicks newest toy Liverpool FC who hate Rangers owner Tom Hicks with such passion that local police have begged Hicks to stay away from Liverpool games because they can't guarantee his safety.) But 3 out of 5 non-horrible storylines ain't bad, right?

MLS Looks South (except maybe for Theirry Henry)

Here's a good article in the New York Times about how Major League Soccer is looking to Latin America for young, talented and inexpensive soccer players. It's a solid strategy as there are many, many first and second tier Latin American players who don't mind coming to America so they can start or have bigger roles than they would at home. The article mentioned New York and D.C., but they could have easily referenced Dallas which has three Brazilians, two Argentinians, a Mexican and a Columbian who are all expected to start or make substantial contributions to the club. The atmosphere at FC Dallas games has changed somewhat since they started playing out in the suburbs instead of at the Cotton Bowl in downtown Dallas (as in the faces in the stands are whiter) but it remains the case that vast majority of soccer fans in and around these parts are Hispanic, and I think the team roster should reflect that fact.

The article also cites to M.L.S.' fondness for bringing aging and somewhat less than devoted European stars to America to play (Djorkaeff, Mathaus, Stoichkov); stars that later turned into duds as their age caught up to them or they struggled with the very physical style of play that characterizes M.L.S. soccer or they simply weren't that interested in their quality of play while here. I can say with moderate confidence that M.L.S. clubs have abandoned that approach, but they have definitely not abandoned signing European stars who maybe closer to the end of their careers than to the beginning but who are still light-years beyond the average M.L.S. player (Beckham.) In that vein, there are now rumors that Seattle FC, an expansion club set to start next season, is in the hunt for French and Barcelona star Theirry Henry. This is in addition to rumors that have circulated regularly since before Beckham came that other big name players would like to come to America to finish out their careers. They seem attracted to the fact that M.L.S. can now pay big money to designated players outside of the salary cap, and that they can be bigger fish in littler seas. But M.L.S.' biggest selling point appears to be America itself, as the players can come here and walk the streets without being mobbed (or even recognized) and will be adored by fans as opposed to scrutinized endlessly in their home countries.

Anyway, I can think of a worse league than one that's stocked with young Latin American and American players who are on the rise, and older but still good European stars who are on the decline. Someday M.L.S. may even be dominated by American players, but American soccer still has a lot of catching up to to do before that happens.

More Sports News

I know you guys come here for the insightful political commentary, energy analysis and posts about deceased science fiction and fantasy authors, but I love sports too much not to comment on my local basketball, soccer, football and baseball teams. In that spirit, here's what I thought to be a pretty good preview of FC Dallas' upcoming season by Steve Davis, former soccer scribe for the Dallas Morning News. Davis knows what he's talking about, and in this preview he basically boils down FCD's chances of doing well to the ability of key vets and acquisitions to turn in consistently solid performances on the field. In other words, he (nor anybody else) knows how good or bad this team is going to be this season. Dallas battles an unfortunate history of mediocrity, but I'll go out on a limb to say that I feel better about the players on this team now than I have anytime in the last five years (even with Ruiz gone back to L.A.) If Coach Steve Morrow can relax long enough to give these guys a chance to shine on the field and in a regular formation, there's hope for better this season than anything we've seen lately around these parts.

Sports Stuff

As they say, loose lips sink ships. Or in this case, blockbuster trades.

In other news, fans of FC Dallas may be wearing Brazil yellow to games this season. And I don't really have a problem with that at all.

Local Soccer Action

FC Dallas gets a mention in this piece in the Dallas Observer about the increasing ability of Dallas teams to flame out in the playoffs. Any press is good press, right?

In other local sports related news, both the Dallas Observer and the FW Weekly have documented the speed with which Rangers and Stars owner Tom Hicks has taken his newest toy, Liverpool FC, and reduced it to mediocrity utilizing the "don't spend" strategy that has produced so much success out at the Ballpark in Arlington. The terms under which Hicks bought the team require him to refinance the loans he took out to make the buy, which apparently hasn't been easy as of late with the general tightening of credit in American and European markets. Liverpool fans were looking to be rescued by investors from Dubai, but alas it looks like Hicks will be able to pony up the money to retain his hold on the team. As a perpetually disappointed Rangers fan I can only say this to fans of Liverpool...move to Manchester.

Ruiz Gone

FC Dallas traded forward and captain Carlos Ruiz back to LA this past week for some more money to use against the cap and a pick in 2009 draft. This isn't a huge surprise as Dallas has looked to go in a different direction, and Ruiz had a disappointing year (by his lofty standards at least.) But here's this description from the Star Telegram article about the trade:

Ruiz enjoyed his best seasons with LA; he scored 24 goals in 2002 and was an All-Star all three years. The Galaxy re-acquired him to fill a need as a target forward for midfielder David Beckham's passes.

In other words, LA will play to his strengths as Dallas has been unable/unwilling to. Meaning which he'll probably come back here next season and score a hat trick against Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, proving yet again that many FC Dallas players hit their strides when their somewhere other than with FC Dallas.

Defender Clarence Goodson is already gone, having jumped ship for more money in Norway. Fortunately Dallas has replaced him with Duilio Davino, a quality Mexican center back. I don't for an instant believe that the days of six-goal meltdowns is quite gone yet, but you take what you can get. I do believe though that FC Dallas is taking significant steps to improve themselves, especially as quality players in the form of Pablo Richetti and Juan Toja are returning from last season. There's hope yet for somebody around here to make something of themselves in the playoffs.

MLS Surges

Things are looking good for America's premier soccer league. First this:

YEAR OF M.L.S. A watershed year for the league. David Beckham received most of the headlines, but the league has finally turned its attention to the quality of the game. In addition to Beckham, the acquisitions of players like Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago), Juan Pablo Ángel (Red Bulls), Luciano Emilio (D.C. United) and Juan Toja (F.C. Dallas) brought a needed injection of skill and class. More international players are on the way, with the focus turning from older Europeans to promising players from Latin America.

Off the field, M.L.S. hopes to expand to 16 teams, and perhaps 18, in the next five years. There is no shortage of cities and investors. Many of the investors, however, may be drawn more by real estate possibilities than an interest in the game as the league pursues public/private developments that also include soccer stadiums.

An example:

The new Major League Soccer franchise in Seattle, due to start playing in 2009, is not going to settle quietly into the league.

The heavyweight consortium that includes Carey and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen want to establish the organization as one of the leading lights in MLS. Expect Seattle to make plenty of noise in 2008 and probably clinch the signature of a big international name before the end of the year.

Rogers is probably right that Seattle will take to the field storming out of the gates. Of course, that a brand-new franchise might plausibly enjoy considerable on-the-field success in their first season doesn't say much for the prowess of the other more established teams (ahem, FC Dallas) but I do believe that parity is a side-effect of a league trying to ensure stable but productive growth, and I think eventually the league's talent level will enjoy more disparity, not less.

Speaking of FC Dallas, they do get a positive mention in Rogers' article, in the form of GK and shining light Ray Burse:

Burse, 23, is improving fast, and he could be next in the long line of successful American goalkeepers. He should confirm his spot as the No. 1 keeper at FC Dallas this season, raising serious questions over Dario Sala's future in Texas.

Athletic and fearless, Burse reads the game well. If he ratchets up his play, European clubs will start taking notice.

FC Dallas has rarely lacked for strong goalkeepers, as in their short history they've been the home to shot-stoppers Mark Dodd, Matt Jordan, Scott Garlick, and (briefly) Shaka Hislop. Unfortunately as Rogers indicates, Burse is unlikely to be here for much longer if he keeps up the good play.

Reflection

Being as it's the end of the year and all, retrospective top this-or-that lists are the order of the day. Here's one I particularly enjoyed, listing the top ten biggest mistakes in FC Dallas history. And boy is it a doozy, including the dunder-headed short-term move to the white-as-snow suburb of Southlake that in one season destroyed the team's significant Hispanic base, and the permanent move to the whiter-than-snow suburb of Frisco that has ensured it will never return. There's eight more to go with those two, which ought to put you in the perfect mood for ringing in the New Year if, like me, you're hoping desperately in 2008 that your local MLS club will stop being so dang mediocre.