Another week on the road, another match without a goal for FC Dallas.
After falling to the Seattle Sounders 3-0 at CenturyLink Field on Saturday night, Dallas have now gone three straight games and 283-plus minutes since netting their last goal. And with four games completed from their current five-game road trip, FCD now only have one goal to show for it, being outscored 9-1 during the stretch.
“We had so many chances but just could not pull anything out,” midfielder Ryan Hollingshead said after the loss. “It’s not about being in the right spot [with us]. It’s just about converting and finishing that last pass or that last shot.”
This time, Dallas were a little closer to full force on the attacking end with midfielder Fabian Castillo and forward Blas Perez together in the starting XI for the first time in three weeks. Both gave the club some scoring chances, particularly in the first half, but the team pointed to the emerging theme of a failure to capitalize on their opportunities.
Castillo was particularly active in the opening 45 minutes, routinely pushing the ball on counter attacks and finding gaps in the Seattle defense, but it never amounted to much more than potential. His closest chance came midway through the half when he fired a shot off the right goalpost, a near miss on a golden chance to give FCD the lead.
Perez assisted on another golden opportunity for Dallas in the 31st minute when he found midfielder Kyle Bekker, making his second start of the season, inside the penalty box with a clean look at goal. But staying true to recent form on this road trip, Dallas suffered a stroke of bad luck as Stefan Frei made a heads-up diving save to prevent the chance.
“I thought it was our best first half of the season so far,” head coach Oscar Pareja said. “We created a lot of chances in front of the goal. I think we dominated the game. We created a lot of great sequences, but we were not effective. And then Seattle took advantage of it in the second half.”
After going into halftime in a scoreless deadlock, when it could have easily been a one- or two-goal advantage, Dallas began to unravel in the second half. Not only did they not fire off a single shot on target after the break, their defensive woes also reared their heads again and allowed the Sounders to make the most of their opportunities.
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Granted, the club was without defenders Moises Hernandez and Atiba Harris due to international duty, Matt Hedges to injury and Je-Vaughn Watson to suspension, which forced Dallas to play Hollingshead and fellow midfielder Michel at the two outside back spots.
“Anytime you have chances like that and create chances like that and don’t convert, you give the other team confidence,” Hollingshead said. “In yourself, you start feeling the urgency of it, needing to get that goal, especially because you haven’t scored in three games. We’re feeling that.”
Dallas’ goal differential now sits at minus-four on the season, and they remain in the middle of a group of five Western Conference teams separated by just three points in the middle of the table.
“We have to get better in front of the goal,” Pareja said, “because in the end that’s what decides the points.”
