FC Dallas 1, Houston Dynamo 0

by PegNews wire

Jeff Cunningham would prove to be the name of the game once again when FC Dallas defeated its in-state rival, the Houston Dynamo for only the second time in league play ever.

In fact, Cunningham's name is all over the early statistics of the game. Within seconds of the match's start, he had a shot that sailed just off mark. Followed by a penalty kick (that he missed), a header just off mark, and then the goal, which we scored unassisted after stripping the ball from a Houston defender, all in the first 20 minutes of play.

For the rest of the game, other names got a chance to be noticed, some good, some bad. One of the bads, Pablo Ricchetti was yellow-carded, his fifth in a row, meaning he'll miss FCD's next match. Andre Rocha was the closest to putting Dallas up by two, as his 86th minute, long-distance blast banged off the crossbar.

The win is FC Dallas' first against a conference opponent this season.

GAME 20 – August 6, 2009

FC DALLAS 1, HOUSTON DYNAMO 0

Pizza Hut Park – Frisco, TX

Scoring:

DAL -- Jeff Cunningham 9 (unassisted) 20

FC DALLAS: Dario Sala, Drew Moor, Pablo Ricchetti, Kyle Davies (Daniel Torres 59), Jair Benitez, Dax McCarty, Atiba Harris, David Ferreira, Dave van den Bergh, Brek Shea (Andre Rocha 66), Jeff Cunningham (Blake Wagner 78).

Subs Not Used: Ray Burse, Bruno Guarda, Steve Purdy, Eric Avila.

Shots - 11; Shots on Goal - 3; Total Saves - 1; Fouls - 9; Offsides - 4; Corner Kicks - 0

HOUSTON DYNAMO: Pat Onstad, Andrew Hainault, Geoff Cameron, Bobby Boswell, Mike Chabala (Danny Cruz 72), Corey Ashe, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Brad Davis (Julius James 65), Brian Ching (Kei Kamara 46), Dominic Oduro.

Subs Not Used: Tally Hall, Craig Waibel, Wade Barrett, Ade Akinbiyi.

Shots - 6; Shots on Goal - 1; Total Saves - 2; Fouls - 14; Offsides - 5; Corner Kicks - 7

Misconduct Summary:

HOU -- Bobby Boswell (caution) 12

HOU -- Pat Onstad (caution) 16

DAL -- Pablo Ricchetti (caution) 22

DAL -- Atiba Harris (caution) 36

HOU -- Kei Kamara (caution) 56

DAL -- Dario Sala (caution) 84

HOU -- Julius James (caution) 85

NOTES:

FC Dallas (6-9-5, 23 pts.) tonight defeated the Western Conference leading Houston Dynamo (10-6-5, 35 pts.) 1-0 at Pizza Hut Park. Dallas is now 5-3-3 at home this season.

This is the first win for FC Dallas in the 2009 campaign against a Western Conference team as they improve to 1-6-4. It now puts Dallas tied with Real Salt Lake for sixth in the Western Conference and four points behind fourth place teams Chivas USA and the Colorado Rapids.

Dallas has now won four straight home games and recorded their third shutout of the season.

FCD improves to 2-7-5 all-time against Houston and 2-2-3 in games played in Dallas.

Jeff Cunningham scored an unassisted goal tonight, the 113th of his career, remaining third on the all-time MLS goals list only one behind Chivas USA’s Ante Razov with 114.

His game-winning goal ties him also with Razov for first on the all-time list with 33. Cunningham now ties D.C. United player Jaime Moreno for sixth all-time in games played with 307.

Cunningham has now scored in three straight games and four out of the last five. The last time a Dallas player scored in three consecutive games was Andre Rocha last season in the month of September.

There was only one change in Dallas’s starting lineup from last Saturday’s 6-0 victory over Kansas City, Drew Moor returned to the right back position in place of Daniel Torres after serving a one-game red card suspension.

Dario Sala made his second consecutive start since missing 15 matches this season due to a knee injury; it was his second shutout of the season.

Pablo Ricchetti, receiving his fifth yellow card of the season tonight, will be suspended for the next FC Dallas match on August 15 at Columbus.

Two FCD players have now started all 20 regular season games: David Ferreira and Dave van den Bergh.

Kyle Davies would leave the match at the 59th minute with a right groin injury. He was replaced by Daniel Torres.

Three Dallas players missed the game with injuries: forward Peri Marosevic (right hip), midfielder Alvaro Sanchez (right ankle) and defender George John (left hamstring).

FC Dallas goes on the road to face defending MLS Cup Champions the Columbus Crew for the final time in regular season play on Saturday, August 15 (6:00 p.m. CT, live on KFWD-52) at Crew Stadium.

Tonight’s attendance was 7,442.

FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman on the game: “I thought our team was really attacking well and I didn’t think Houston was in the game early. It comes back to what we worked on two weeks ago, playing smart and delaying the game. And you know what; I really thought it was another great team performance and a game that we deserved to win. In the past we have been up and would find a way to give up goals and this is one of those games where we continue to grow in our confidence. It was a good win for us.”

Statistics and notes provided by FC Dallas Communications

Posted by Erin