Across the Pond - Your Weekly European Soccer Update

     A very entertaining weekend of soccer in Europe was highlighted by El Clasico, which is the name given to a match between Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. A Lionel Messi hat trick saw Barcelona come from behind to win in Madrid 4-3. The win puts Barcelona right back in the title race. Real Madrid and crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid both have 70 points and Barcelona are just a point back with nine games left in the season. The win also ends a 31 match unbeaten streak in all competitions for Real Madrid. The two teams will next play each other in the Copa del Rey (Spanish League Cup) semi-finals in April.

Lionel Messi celebrates scoring during his club’s 4-3 win over Real Madrid and a dejected Cristiano Ronaldo. 

           In England, Chelsea spoiled Arsene Wenger’s 1000^th match in charge by thrashing Arsenal 6-0. The result gives Chelsea a 4 point lead at the top of the table and leaves Arsenal in 4^th place, 7 points off the lead. Second place Liverpool kept up the pace with a 6-3 win in Wales against Cardiff City. Luis Suarez scored a hat trick and tied the club record for goals in a single season with 28. The achievement is even more impressive given there are still 8 games left and Suarez was suspended for the first six. Liverpool are the biggest surprise of this Premier League season, and they are very legitimate title contenders. All season long critics have been saying there’s no way Liverpool can mount a title challenge, but their offensive brand of soccer is shredding Premier League defenses. Part of Liverpool’s success is playing fewer games. Liverpool is the only team in the top 4 that wasn’t playing in any European cups, meaning their players are less fatigued. Regardless, it’s a great story for a team that has been struggling for the last 5 seasons. 

Messi wasn’t the only one who was celebrating; Luis Suarez netted a hat trick for Liverpool to keep them in the Premier League title chase.

            Elsewhere in Europe, Bayern Munich continues its tear in Germany. The Bavarian club hasn’t lost a league game since October of 2012, a stretch of 51 games. With a win next weekend, Bayern will clinch the Bundesliga title with 7 games remaining in the season, which would be yet another record. Oh, and the club is still in the league cup and Champions League competitions. If Bayern wins all three competitions (known as winning the treble) they will be the first team in Europe to achieve the feat in back to back seasons. This streak that Bayern built is something you would expect to see in a video game. There are no words to describe it, but it is amazing to watch a team play so well so consistently. My advice: if you’ve never watched soccer and want to give it a chance, watch Bayern Munich play, they may just change your mind.

Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich scores the first goal in his team’s 2-0 defeat of Mainz. The club is unbeaten in 51 straight league games.

FC Dallas Weekly

Record: 2-0-1 (7pts) 1^st in Western Conference

This Week: W 3-1 vs. Chivas USA

            FC Dallas continued its hot start this weekend with a 3-1 victory over Chivas USA. Fabian Castillo opened the scoring in the 71^st minute with a tap in after a Mauro Diaz free kick bounced in his path. Diaz then played supplier for Je-Vaughn Watson with a luscious through ball and Watson side stepped the goalie to double the lead. Erick Torres pulled a goal back for Chivas in the 81^st but Michel restored the two goal lead in the 86^th with a deflected free kick. The win sees FC Dallas move into first place overall in the MLS through three games played. Both teams entered the game with a win and a tie, and this is a good win very early in the season. Chances were hard to come by in the first half, with neither team really threatening. FC Dallas did a good job in possession, keeping the ball for about 60% of the game. After no goals in the first 70 minutes of the game, fans were treated to 4 in 15 minutes. The game ended on a sour note for FC Dallas as Hendry Thomas was shown the red card in stoppage time for a bad foul. The final 10 minutes of the game also saw 3 yellow cards between the two teams as the game got very aggressive and scrappy.

FC Dallas midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson (#27) and FC Dallas midfielder Mauro Diaz (#10) celebrate with Michel (#31) after putting FC Dallas back in the lead

            What this win does for FC Dallas is continue a great start to the season. A 1-1 draw away from home the previous week against defending champion Sporting KC is also a good result. The preseason talk was that FC Dallas is a transition team, and that they are missing the defense to really compete for a playoff spot and beyond. There is some evidence to that, as FC Dallas gave up 2 goals to MLS newcomers Montreal. However, if they can continue to score 3 goals a game, they will win games. The real test will come when Dallas plays in a tough road environment like Seattle and might be forced to sit back for a good part of the game. While the result of the game is positive, there is some bad news as Adam Moffat and Andrew Jacobson both had to leave the game due to injury. Both hurt their left ankles, and Jacobson’s injury is described as a significant ankle sprain which will see him miss some time.

Next up for FC Dallas is a home game against the Portland Timbers. Portland was one of the pre-season favorites to win the title, but they’ve struggled out of the gate with two ties and 2-0 loss to Colorado. But this is a good team and FC Dallas will have their work cut out for them. 

Green Machine Musings- Reflecting on a Rocky Road Trip

 

 

            Four games, one lousy point.  That's not going to cut it out west.

 

 

            These are trying times for the Dallas Stars.  Every team goes through them, but a stretch like this at this time of year always threatens to be the undoing of a team that is still forging its identity.  Over their current four-game winless streak, the Stars have played two (maybe three) solid periods out of twelve (plus an extra session).  Now trailing the Phoenix Coyotes by four points (with one game in hand) for the final playoff spot and now almost even in points with the resurgent Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets, each game is exponentially more crucial than the last for Dallas.  However, to understand exactly what we need to do moving forward, we have to look back and analyze the carnage of the past week.

 

            The Stars woes cannot be blamed on the shortfalls of just one aspect of their game.  At home against Calgary, execution on scoring chances and the failure to sustain offensive pressure were to blame.  In Winnipeg, Dallas’ inability to counter the Jets’ physical play at the offensive blue line was the culprit.  Against Pittsburgh, turnovers and sloppy defensive coverage were our undoing.  And tonight in Philadelphia, no depth scoring, some bad “puck luck” and lousy goaltending led to another defeat.  Each problem deserves due attention from Lindy Ruff and his coaching staff.

 

• Trouble finishing- The Stars had multiple third period breakaways against Calgary with the chance to put the game away with just one goal.  They couldn't do it.  In Pittsburgh, they consistently fired pucks over the net while on odd-man rushes. Tonight in Philly, they were in close consistently against Steve Mason, but everyone not named Jamie Benn failed to jam it home.  Generating chances is good, but it means nothing if the puck doesn't hit the back of the net.

 

• Getting outmatched physically- Grit (and size in general) is not something that the Stars have nor were expecting to have entering this season.  Jets coach Paul Maurice undoubtedly instructed his men to exploit this Sunday night and they were quite successful.  While the shot count was not heavily in Winnipeg's favor, the Jets generated many more quality scoring chances, aided by 13 takeaways, a result of their hard work in the neutral zone.  That brings me to the next problem... 

 

 

• Turnovers and sloppy defensive play- You really can't point fingers at any one individual or defensive pairing, but certain guys in green stood out more for all the wrong reasons.  The pairing of Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski really stood out to me, especially in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia games.  Not just turning the puck over in crucial areas to world class skaters, but also poor decision making when attempting to clear the puck or execute a breakout. 

 

 

• No depth scoring- This problem has been lurking in the shadows all season, but it has only recently stood out as the production behind Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin has dropped off considerably.  Both players are headed for career years, but they can't do it all.  The resurgent play of Alex Chiasson has been a welcome sight, but Cody Eakin, Erik Cole, Valeri Nichushkin, and Ray Whitney need to step up and provide some offense of their own if this team is to start winning again.

 

• Bad puck luck- This is characteristic of just about any losing streak in this sport, but the Stars have seemed increasingly snake-bit over this four-game stretch.  It seems like even modest mistakes are ending up in our net and the most egregious turnovers are always finding the sticks of some of the league's best players.  And on the other end, it's just not going in.  Whether a breakaway, odd-man rush, or mad scramble in front; every quality scoring chance the Stars generate seems to go for naught.  The only way to fix this is to keep generating chances.

 

 

• Goaltending issues- When Kari Lehtonen was injured on March 8th, Stars GM Jim Nill looked like a genius for acquiring veteran netminder Tim Thomas from Florida.  Since then, it appears that Thomas might not be the perfect fit that we were hoping he'd be.  The result of his aggressive playing style is that he spits out a lot of rebounds, a very unwelcome side effect for this undersized defensive corps.  On top of that, Thomas looked quite shaky in net tonight against the Flyers.  The first goal he let in was a point shot that he was not heavily screened on, and the third was on an odd-man rush that was pretty well defended by the two Stars in front of him.  Alas, the jury remains out on whether or not the Thomas-Ellis swap will benefit the Stars significantly over the course of this stretch run.

 

 

So what does it all mean for the Dallas Stars moving forward?  Ultimately, we must accept that there are some things that we can't change until the offseason, which makes the issues we can fix all the more important to address.  It all starts with Dallas playing smarter and more patiently with the puck. If we can minimize the turnovers and allow ourselves to focus more on our offensive game, then this team is still very much alive in the Western Conference playoff race.  If not, then, while it pains me to say it, we could be shifting into offseason mode sooner than we would all prefer.