Dallas vs. Rapids - Three Questions w/ Big D Soccer

It seems like only a few weeks ago we were already asking questions of our Dallas blog. Well, that's what this unbalanced schedule does to you, we're once again meeting FC Dallas in the third and final match of the season.

If the title of this post or the first sentence didn't give it away, we also asked some questions about Dallas to Daniel Robertson of Big D Soccer to get some info on our upcoming opponent. His answers to my questions about the Hoops are below, you can see my answers to his questions about the Rapids over on Big D Soccer.

BW: Fabian Castillo came out of nowhere in the eyes of most Rapids fans to take over that last 2-1 match. Is that his usual form and should we expect another such performance Saturday?

BDS: That was actually probably his best performance in a Dallas jersey. The variable at play when Castillo takes on Colorado is that he’s facing Oscar Pareja, the guy almost single-handedly responsible for bringing him to Dallas. Castillo lived with Oscar’s family when he first got here and he feels a very close connection to him.

That’s not to say Castillo isn’t capable of the spectacular, but he’s never been able to do it consistently as you might expect from a 20-year-old. He’s about as electrifying when running at defenders as any player in the league and loves to beat defenders to the endline before sending in a dangerous cross, but he’s never been able to do it for a month at a time.

Read on for more...

BW: Which player from the Rapids are you as a Dallas fan most worried about when the teams take the field?

BDS: Of course there's always going to be a worry when Omar Cummings and Conor Casey are on the pitch together. I'd be very interested to see what kind of record the Rapids have and how many GPG they score when those two guys are healthy. It's a shame they can't seem to put together a long run of games together.

Another guy that scares me is Brian Mullan simply because he's a guy that always seemed to kill Dallas when playing for Houston. Mullan just never takes a game off it seems like...

BW: Are Dallas fans considering that 5-0 thrashing of Portland to be something of a season changer, seeing as it showed just what Dallas was capable of? Or is it seemingly just a blip on a radar to you folks considering how Portland has been playing?

BDS: Well first off, Portland is awful. They're really, really bad.

I think that the Portland game was 50% Portland simply giving up, as their coach said they did, and 50% Dallas taking out a lot of their frustrations. When healthy, I think FC Dallas is a playoff team, but they still have yet to put a first choice XI on the pitch one time this year. In the Portland game, everything clicked and for whatever reason the Timbers employed a strategy of sitting off David Ferreira and letting him turn with the ball. When you do that, he will kill you.

BW: Lineup/score prediction?

BDS: I think we've seen some really good signs from the Dallas offense and Brek Shea played well in his return last week at Portland. If Dallas hadn't gotten the red card, I think FCD would've scored two or three goals. Scott Sealy has scored twice in three games and thigns are finally starting to gel. Another key addition has been Julian de Guzman who has produced some very solid defensive midfield play. Homer prediction of 3-1 FC Dallas(as long as they don't get two sent off in the first half ;)

Hartman - Rodriguez - John - Hedges - Benitez - de Guzman - Jacobson - Castillo - Shea - Ferreira - Sealy

Thanks for the final time this year to Daniel over at Big D Soccer!