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After spending several weeks doing rehab out in Los Angeles, 2010 MLS MVP David Ferreira returned to Frisco last week and has been doing rehab at FC Dallas Stadium. The veteran Colombian playmaker has now missed over a year after suffering an ankle injury at Vancouver last April and an Achilles injury late in preseason.

Ferreira underwent surgery in April, which should put his return for somewhere in June. Here’s more on how “El Torito” is progressing from FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman:

“He’s back,” Hyndman said after training Monday. “He came back early last week. He’s been getting his treatment here, his rehab here, so I think we’re getting the things done we need to get done.”

Jackson Goncalves has now played five games, four of which were starts since returning to FC Dallas in the middle of last month. He has had some solid moments for FCD, but it’s also been clear that he isn’t match fit, something Dallas gaffer Schellas Hyndman addressed after practice Monday morning.

“Attitude-wise, 60 percent better. Focus wise, much better. Emotional intelligence, much better and he’s playing himself into game shape. Would I like to give him more rest time? Absolutely, but with the injuries we have it’s kind of hard,” Hyndman said.

Mexican national team coach Jose Manuel de la Torre announced the list of domestic league players who will form part of El Tri's roster for exhibitions in New York, Chicago and Arlington as part of the team’s U.S. tour May 27-June 3.

The additions to the roster feature players with European experience such as defender Carlos Salcido from Tigres and Cruz Azul goalkeeper Jesus Corona. The squad announced by De la Torre also includes players from Mexico’s two First Division Clausura 2012 finalists, Santos Laguna and Monterrey.

Mexico's roster already included players who are based abroad; Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez; Deportivo La Coruña (Spain) midfielder Andres Guardado; Tottenham Hotspur (England) midfielder Giovani Dos Santos; and New York Red Bulls defender Rafael Marquez.

Mexico's match with Brazil in Arlington caps the U.S. tour on June 3. El Tri has already played two matches at Cowboys Stadium, drawing 82,252 for the 2009 Gold Cup and 80,108 for last year's Gold Cup.

Tickets for the U.S. tour are still available at Ticketmaster.com, by calling 1-800-745-3000 and at all Ticketmaster locations.

MEXICO ROSTER

Goalkeepers: Jesús Corona (Cruz Azul/MEX); Alfredo Talavera (Toluca/MEX), Guillermo Ochoa (AC Ajaccio/FRA)

Defenders: Rafa Márquez (New York Red Bulls/USA), Héctor Moreno (RCD Espanyol de Barcelona/SPA), Francisco Javier Rodríguez (Club VfB Stuttgart/GER), Hugo Ayala (Tigres/MEX), Carlos Salcido (Tigres/MEX); Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres/MEX); (Israel Jimenez (Tifres/MEX); Severo Meza (Monterrey/MEX)

Midfielders: Andrés Guardado (Deportivo La Coruña/SPA), Pablo Barrera (Real Zaragoza/SPA), Jesús Zavala (Monterrey/MEX), Gerardo Lugo (Morelia/MEX); Luis Ernesto Perez (Monterrey/MEX); Jesus Molina (America/MEX); Angel Reyna (Monterrey/MEX); Edgar Andrade (America/MEX)

Forwards: Javier “Chicharito” Hernández (Manchester United/ENG), Giovani dos Santos (Tottenham Hotspur FC/ENG), Oribe Peralta (Santos/MEX), Aldo de Nigris (Monterrey/MEX)

No doubt about it, things just aren’t going well right now for FC Dallas. One month has come and gone since the club last won, a 2-1 victory over expansion Montreal back on April 14. The results simply aren't coming as FCD is currently on a three-game losing streak and a six-match winless streak.

But despite his side’s current struggles, Dallas manager Schellas Hyndman doesn’t see an issue as far as team chemistry goes. “I think the guys have very good team chemistry,” Hyndman said on Monday. “I think they like each other”

However the FCD coach does see two major exceptions, something which he sees as being normal for every team, no matter the level of competition.

“I think we’ve got a couple guys that are off the line. We’re all walking off this road and we’re all fighting for each other, but I think we’ve got a couple guys off the line, either through immaturity or through selfishness. And that’s kind of a normal thing,” Hyndman said.

He added: “What we have to do is continue to reinforce how important it is that they’re part of the team, functioning with the team and trying to work with the team. But it’s an interesting thing when you talk to a group of players, if I make the same statement to the team the two players I’m talking about don’t think I’m talking about them. So it’s one of those things where we’ve got to spend a little bit more time in grooming them and letting them know. You do that through videos and work, but I think the chemistry on the whole is good.”

And while some might think that the coach has little to no role in developing team chemistry, Hyndman begs to differ a bit as to what part he plays in his team’s chemistry.

“One of the things with the chemistry is when you are winning and everything’s going well, you don’t worry about chemistry. When things aren’t going well, it’s very common to start pointing fingers at other people,” he said. “I think my role as the coach is it’s very important for me to get the mindset right and we get the results.”

Scoring Summary:
DAL – Fabian Castillo 22
CLB – Justin Meram (Eric Gehrig) 67
CLB – Sbastiean Miranda (Nemanja Vukovic) 72

FC Dallas – Chris Seitz, Zach Loyd, George John, Hernan Pertuz, Jair Benitez, Jackson, Daniel Hernandez, Andrew Jacobson, Brek Shea, Fabian Castillo (Ruben Luna 60, Matt Hedges 73), Blas Perez

Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Hartman, Moises Hernandez, Bruno Guarda, James Marcelin, Scott Sealy

TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (George John, Blas Perez, Fabian Castillo 2);
SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (George John 2);
FOULS: 21 (Zach Loyd 5);
OFFSIDES: 0;
CORNER KICKS: 2 (Jair Benitez, Daniel Hernandez);
SAVES: 3 (Chris Seitz 3).

Columbus Crew – Andy Gruenebaum, Sebastian Miranda, Eric Gehrig, Josh Williams, Nemanja Vukovic (Shaun Francis 90+), Eddie Gaven, Danny O’Rourke, Milovan Mirosevic, Tony Tchani, Ethan Finlay (Justin Meram 45+), Emilio Renteria (Bernardo Anor 83)

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Lampson, Chris Birchall, Kevan George, Cole Grossman

TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Milovan Mirosevic 4);
SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Justin Meram 2;
FOULS: 14 (Danny O’Rourke, Emilio Renteria, Justin Meram 3);
OFFSIDES: 3 (Ethan Finlay 2);
CORNER KICKS: 6 (Nemanja Vukovic 4);
SAVES: 2 (Andy Gruenebaum).

Misconduct Summary:
FCD – Zach Loyd (caution; foul) 43
FCD – Andrew Jacobson (caution; foul) 45
CLB – Justin Meram (caution; foul) 52
FCD – Fabian Castillo (caution; time wasting) 60
FCD – Zach Loyd (ejection; second caution) 63
CLB – Milovan Mirosevic (caution; foul) 80

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants: Corey Parker, Jason Cullum
4th Official: Matthew Foerster

Attendance: 11,120
Time of Game: 2:01
Weather: Cloudy and 72 degrees

FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman:
On the match changing with Zach Loyd's second yellow card:

“I think it was a couple things. I thought it was a very aggressive game and there was a lot of physical play going on. I'm only speaking from my side. I didn't think the right calls were being made. What I said to the boys at halftime: 'This will be a difference maker in the second half.' They will find a way to give you a red card, so be smart. That didn't take very long at all. “

On whether Zach Loyd's second yellow was deserved:

“I thought the second yellow was probably deserved, but there was two or three hits that went on that could've stopped the whole play. Those are the things that don't occur. Those are the things that aren't called that eventually come into something else. The first yellow I really questioned. Looking at the replay, I think that was a questionable call. “

On the change in mentality being up 1-0 and having a man sent off:

“It changes on the other team more than yours. The other team is going to be throwing more people forward and will be more aggressive and try to get something on the break.

On your team, you're trying to figure out your shape and if you remember, I had just made a sub before they scored. I had put in another forward and all of a sudden we had too many attacking people and we just lost someone. We had to lose somebody in the midfield. We had to make some adjustments and I had to make another sub, take the guy off that I put on. “

FC Dallas defender Daniel Hernandez:

On the match changing with Zach Loyd's second yellow card:

“I just thought the second half, we dropped back a little too deep like we had done a lot in the past. We weren't really keeping the ball. We knew Columbus was going to come out in the second half and put pressure on us anyway. We lost the ball in the midfield and it went kind of on a counter attack and they shot. We already were kind of struggling a bit to get possession. Obviously that hurt us after the red card. Unfortunately, we’ve had to deal with that for the last couple of weeks. I think after the red card, we were tied and trying to figure out a way to still pick up our game and get a goal, but at the very least, hold the 1-1 tie. I thought we did a decent job defending. It was just the same old story for us: one simple lazy mistake of not marking up at the top of the box. It was a great header, but the guy never should've been free. “

On Sebastian Miranda's game-winning goal:

“It was an unbelievable header for him, a great goal. But again, it's the little things that have been costing us games all season. Whether it's making a mistake and getting a red card, or ending the game slipping up and making a mistake and letting the opponent back in the game. This was a game I think we could've held on with a tie. It was just one simple assignment that somebody wasn't marking up at the top of the box where they should've been and it cost us the game.”

Crew head coach Robert Warzycha

General thoughts on the game

“We played against a very good team to be honest with you. They came out strong in the first half. I don’t think we had much rhythm in the beginning. They were connecting more passes and they came out stronger. In the second half it was a different story. We came out strong, creating chances and moving the ball well. The red card, obviously, changed the game. After they got the red card they bunkered in, we created more chances and scored two goals.”

On what led to Dallas’ goal

“You have to play until the whistle and that was a mistake by [Tony Tchani] that led to a goal. I think he [Tchani] played very well in the second half; he was winning 50/50 balls and running forward making crosses. It seemed like he wanted to be the best player on the field.”

On Justin Meram making the difference when subbed in

“I felt that Meram’s speed could hurt them [Dallas] on the left side. I think he did very well today, he was very quick, didn’t hold the ball too much and that’s how we wanted him to play. If he keeps playing that way he can be very effective.”

On Josh Williams play

“I think [Williams] was a beast today in the back. He was winning every header, his passing was good and he was vocal on the field. I think he was very good.”



Crew defender Sebastian Miranda

On his goal

“We practiced some plays and corners and the idea was maybe to find Milo [Mirosevic]. I was outside the box unmarked and I headed the ball and scored. It was my first time scoring with a header in my career. I headed it as hard as I could and it went in. The important for me was not the goal but that we won. This was good for our confidence.”

Crew midfielder/forward Justin Meram

On the goal

“I was trying to read the play and the ball went by me. I saw Eric [Gehrig] step up and win the ball back. I had a good position looked up and saw an opening. I took the shot and luckily it went in.”

On needing the spark

“We needed it. It has been over 200 minutes without a goal and we finally got the monkey off our shoulders and we were able to get the first goal. Once you get the first one the others will come”

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sebastian Miranda scored on a long header off corner kick in the 72nd minute in the Columbus Crew's 2-1 comeback victory over FC Dallas on Saturday night.

Justin Meram tied it for the Crew (3-4-2) in the 67th minute, 4 minutes after Dallas' Zach Loyd was sent off for a second yellow card for his tackle on Meram.

"I shot as hard as I could," Miranda said. "The important thing for me is the win. We needed the three points. That's better for the confidence of the team."

The veteran of nearly 10 years in his native Chile scored for the first time in 43 games since joining the Crew last season. He got the goal on a sitting, snap header from just outside the penalty area off a cross from Nemanja Vukovic.

"We practice some plays but maybe not like this," Miranda said. "The idea was from the middle, outside the box. I was alone."

FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman thought the second caution to Loyd when he elbowed Meram was fair but questioned other calls.

"There were two or three hits that could have stopped the whole play," Hyndman said. "Those are the calls that aren't made that eventually come into something else."

Meram made Dallas pay when he struck from 35 yards after teammate Eric Gehrig stole the ball from Matt Hedges.

"I like the goal I scored but you have to win," Meram said about scoring for the first time 19 career MLS games. "If we tied and I scored I wouldn't be this happy."

Fabian Castillo put Dallas (3-6-3) ahead in the 22nd minute with his first goal of the season.

The Crew snapped a six-game winless streak, while Dallas dropped to 0-3-3 in its last six.

FC Dallas has been shut out in two straight matches, part of a lengthy victory drought since its best stretch of the season.

That mirrors what's happened to the Columbus Crew.

Meeting for the only time this season, Dallas and Columbus will each try to snap a five-game winless streak Saturday night at Crew Stadium.

"It's going to be two desperate teams looking to get a result," Columbus goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum told the club's official website. "They're a very dangerous team and very potent offensively."

That hasn't been the case lately, as Dallas (3-5-3) has scored just twice -- both on penalty kicks by Brek Shea -- since its last victory, 2-1 over expansion Montreal on April 14. That was the team's second consecutive win after defeating New England 1-0 on April 5.

Dallas is 0-2-3 since those victories, but the team has reason for optimism heading into Saturday. Daniel Hernandez and Blas Perez will return from red-card suspensions, and Shea likely will be back in a starting role after being a second-half substitution Wednesday due to turf toe.

"I think the biggest thing we can do is to come together as a team and continue to believe in one another," defender Zach Loyd told Dallas' official website following Wednesday's 2-0 loss to Seattle. "For the next game, we'll have Daniel back, we'll have Blas back, and we will have Brek back in the lineup, so I think we're going to see a huge improvement with the team. Hopefully going forward we can see better results."

FC Dallas' last single-season, six-game stretch without a win was an 0-3-7 slide July 2-Sept. 10, 2005.

The Crew (2-4-2) are trying to avoid their first winless skid of that length since going 0-1-5 from Aug. 27-Sept. 28.

Columbus is 0-3-2 since winning back-to-back matches to close March.

"I've been very happy with the last three games, to be honest with you," coach Robert Warzycha said after Sunday's scoreless draw at Portland. "We were unlucky last week (a 1-0 loss to Vancouver), but overall, we're playing pretty good, pretty solid and steady games. We're making progress."

The Crew, though, have been shut out in three of their last four matches and have scored six times all season. With midfielder Dilly Duka and forward Olman Vargas questionable due to injuries, Columbus could get a boost Saturday if midfielder Chris Birchall makes his debut. He was signed this week after making 18 starts during Los Angeles' run to the 2011 MLS Cup.

Both sides could be without their captains as Dallas' Ugo Ihemelu and Columbus' Chad Marshall are dealing with concussion symptoms. Rookie Matt Hedges will likely get a second straight start if Ihemelu can't go, while Eric Gehrig could get the call again if Marshall is a scratch.

Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, a native of Athens, Ohio, made five saves in a 2-0 home win July 2 to end the Crew's four-game point streak in this series. Hartman's teams have not won in 13 consecutive games in Columbus since the Galaxy's 4-2 win there May 17, 1998.

Warzycha was playing for the Crew at the time.

FC Dallas will look to end its two-game losing streak and secure their first road win of 2012 on Saturday night against Columbus at Crew Stadium. Here are five quick hits on the game:

1. Shea starting or not -- Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman confirmed Thursday that Brek Shea will make the trip to Columbus. But the gaffer is unclear as to whether or not the Bryan native will start or come off the bench against the Black-and-Gold come Saturday. Gut feeling is that No. 20 starts, have nothing to base that on but just have a feeling he’s back in the first 11.

2. O Captain, My Captain -- Who will be wearing the armband come Saturday? Hyndman said the club will find out more about the scope of Ugo Ihemelu’s concussion symptoms on Friday and called the SMU product 50-50. If he can’t go for a second straight game, expect George John to again don the armband. Don’t look now but John is quietly putting together another solid season in the central defense for Dallas.

3. Thorn in their side -- If there’s one Crew player who has done his share of damage against Dallas, it’s defender Chad Marshall. Whether it’s attacking or defending set pieces or just the overall presence he brings to the Columbus back line, the two-time MLS Defender of the Year is definitely a difference maker in the back for the Crew. But like Ihemelu, he experienced concussion symptoms before his club’s last game and his status for this weekend remains uncertain.

4. Exorcising a demon -- To say FCD’s record at Crew Stadium is horrible (1-10-6) might be a huge understatement. Dallas’ lone win on Columbus’ home pitch came in 2007 under Steve Morrow. This is a Crew club currently in transition and FCD has to win on the road sooner or later, so why not this weekend? If they can exorcise that demon, it would give them a nice shot of confidence heading into a game with Philadelphia next weekend, a match that starts another run of several matches in a compressed time frame.

5. Perez Back in the mix -- After getting a questionable red card in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Colorado and sitting out Wednesday’s setback to Seattle on suspension, FCD figures to get a huge boost from the return of offensive cog Blas Perez to the field Saturday. Perez leads the team with three assists and is tied with Shea for the team lead in goals with three. Plain and simple, Dallas is a different team when he’s on the field, which is exactly why he was signed in the off-season. Perez’s presence alone makes leaving the Ohio capital with at least a point a distinct possibility this weekend.

Here are a couple of other random subjects that FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman was asked about Friday:

How great is it going to be to get Blas Perez back for the Columbus game?

Hyndman: He’s the one that we brought in. He’s the one that’s going to help us get goals. I thought yesterday’s game in some ways was one of our better performances. If he’d been on the field, I think he would have found himself at least in front of the goal with the ball.

Jair Benitez has delivered strong performances in the last two games. Do you feel like his confidence is back up to where it was before his knee injury?

Hyndman: Yeah, he has. Confidence, I don’t know if it’s confidence. He had a little bit of an issue with his knee and LA game was a game where he was just coming back. I thought what he did in the Colorado game was he worked probably as hard as anybody on the field. I think now when you look at this game last night, I thought he was one of the bright spots.

Earlier in the week, you said you’d like to give one of the two games this week to Chris Seitz. Will he start Saturday against the Crew in goal or do you go with Kevin Hartman?

Hyndman: Yeah, Kevin’s played real well. I think what we’ll do is for all the tactical reasons, we’ll make that decision later.

The MLS Disciplinary Committee has suspended Seattle Sounders FC defender Zach Scott one game and fined him an undisclosed amount for endangering the safety of FC Dallas midfielder Fabian Castillo in the 75th minute of the May 9 game on this foul.

Scott will serve his suspension this Saturday when Sounders FC host Real Salt Lake at 9 p.m. CT.

Fines collected will be donated to the charitable partners of MLS W.O.R.K.S. and the MLS Players Union.

FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman weighed in on his side’s next opponent, the Columbus Crew and here’s what he had to say.

General thoughts on the Black and Gold

Hyndman: They’re not having a great year. They haven’t played a lot of games. In fact, they haven’t played a midweek game, which is horrible when you look at parity in the league. It seems like we live on midweek games, so we’re going in there tired. Two very difficult games and then we’re going to a team that hasn’t played since last Saturday. So I think you’ll see a fresh team, a team that’s playing at home, team trying to turn their difficulties into strengths and then we’ll have to battle that storm and try to score goals.

Columbus’ captain Chad Marshall, who missed their last game with concussion symptoms, has wreaked his share of havoc on FCD over the years. Talk about him and what he brings to the Crew.

Hyndman: He’s a very difficult player to play against. He’s savvy. He’s powerful. He’s big and experienced. They play a lot of their game to him, whether it’s free kicks or corner kicks. If he’s unable to score the goal, he always seems to redirect it, knock it back against the grain or he creates an opportunity for someone else to score. Yeah, he has been a problem for FC Dallas. It’s not through lack of recognition or effort on our part. You have to compliment him for being a good player.

FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman was asked about what is always a point of contention in Frisco these days, his injury situation. Here are some updates:

Captain Ugo Ihemelu (concussion symptoms)

Hyndman: He’s going through the protocols. We’ll get the final evaluation tomorrow. But I think it’s 50-50 right now [for Saturday].

Midfielder Carlos Rodriguez (dislocated left elbow)

Hyndman: Yeah, he really is (getting close). It’s again one of those goofy injuries, but he’s had a great attitude. Thank goodness it didn’t need surgery. It was just put back in place. I would hope next week when we start training. We’re going to take Monday off, we hope to start training on Tuesday and we hope that he will be able to now come into our training.

Midfielder Ricardo Villar (right foot strain)

“Well, we’ll wait and see. I haven’t got those type of reports yet, but I know Ricardo;’s wanting to get on the field. What’s funny with Ricardo is he’s such a positive team player, he thought he’d be back in a week. I told him it’d probably be closer to four to six weeks and it seems to be.”

After starting Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to Seattle Sounders FC on the bench, FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea came off the bench in the 70th minute and finished with one shot. Now, FCD supporters are wondering whether the 22-year-old Bryan native will play or even start for Saturday’s visit to Columbus.

Here’s what FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman had to say about Shea’s status going forward for the Crew game after a regeneration session Thursday.

“We took Brek through a test yesterday before the game and he did fine on it to put him on the bench. Like I said last night, it was interesting when we called him we just gave up the goal,” Hyndman said. “I was hoping that he would be able to be a difference maker on the other end and I think you saw the desperation in our team. And he was part of our desperation, but he’s such a handful that he’s one guy who does a good job finishing and that’s what I was looking for. I’m sure he’ll make the trip. How much he plays, if he plays, that will all be determined by how he’s feeling.”

And he also addressed those misguided souls in the media who said that he brought Shea on too late, right after FCD went down 1-0 following the first of a pair of goals by Fredy Montero.

“Everybody has an opinion and you know the phrase about opinions,” Hyndman said. “We weren’t sure Brek would even dress out. That’s the idea and then if we needed him, we would go to him. With 20 minutes left I think was the point in time where I said OK, we need to see what Brek can do, realizing we weren’t going to get his best. But you know, it’s do you continue to irritate an injury and then the player’s value start to drop because of his confidence and he’s not being productive. The fact of the matter is in all reality if we didn’t have so many injuries, he probably wouldn’t have even dressed out.”

Shorthanded FCD didn't do so well. Here's the photos to prove it.

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