Whether due to injuries or starters playing out of position, FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman shuffled his back line in last Saturday's game at New England. Three players either were new starters or started in new spots, leaving left back Blake Wagner as the lone defender who has played in the same spot for each of FCD's first three games.
Hyndman's first change was to move Drew Moor from right back to a central role, where he is a better fit. Moor was victimized by Chicago in a 3-1 season-opening loss on March 21 but performed much better in a 2-0 loss to Chivas USA eight days later. His replacement at right back was Michael Dello-Russo, who was seeing his first action of 2009 and making just his third career start with the first 11.
Moor moved inside when Steve Purdy, who had started at center back and struggled in FCD's first two losses, was unavailable because of a hamstring injury. The Dallas native was originally scheduled to start alongside Daniel Torres, but after the Costa Rican failed a fitness test prior to facing the Revolution, Hyndman was forced into another change.
Enter 6-foot-3 rookie center back George John, who made his MLS debut. John, the 14th overall pick in the 2009 SuperDraft, had missed much of preseason after having offseason knee surgery, but once he hit the training field, he quickly showed himself to be a difference maker in the back.
Some might say John's debut was rocky as he was front and center for both New England goals in the 2-1 loss, but others feel his otherwise strong performance is a hint of good things to come from the University of Washington product.
The Revs' second goal came when Steve Ralston converted a penalty kick in the 80th minute, which was caused when John grabbed the shirt of Kheli Dube inside the FCD penalty area.
"You look at the goals and say he got called for the PK, but I really think that was a soft call," Hyndman said. "On the first goal, he shouldn't be the guy who is covering the guy coming in. I thought he did a really good job, enough to maybe become a future Chad Marshall in this league."
It was an equally solid performance given John did not know he could be starting until the bus ride to the stadium for the game.
"He didn't know he was playing until Danny (Torres) pulled himself out in the warmup, so he didn't have a lot of time to prepare himself mentally and was put in," Hyndman said. "I thought he did a good job of defending two pretty quick players up front. He did a pretty good job and I was happy with him. He was strong in the air and didn't take any pushes or knockdowns by Shalrie Joseph. I think it showed a lot of maturity and confidence in him."
Moor might have stayed on the right side and Aaron Pitchkolan playing in place of Purdy, but Pitchkolan had a rough second half in the loss to Chivas and was responsible for one of the Red-and-White's two goals, a performance that opened the door for more changes to the back line.
During preseason, it looked like FCD's defense would be set after Brazilian Marcelo Saragosa won the starting job at right back, which would allow Moor to settle into central defense.
However, several weeks before the start of the 2009 season, Saragosa had to have knee surgery and Moor was shuttled to the right flank.
"I thought the two of them (John and Moor) gave us our best look to date (in the middle)," he said. "I think Drew (Moor) brought confidence to the team and the back four through communication and his ability to get players to do things. I think George (John) picked up on it pretty quick. I thought Drew did a good job for us."
Dello-Russo also chipped in. A great overlapping run by the former Maryland standout on the right flank led to FCD's only goal of the night, which was scored by Kenny Cooper in the 38th minute.
"I thought he did a good job," Hyndman said. "It was a good overlapping run. I think Andre (Rocha) helped by calming the ball down a little bit. I thought there were some good things there. I thought it was our best performance to date."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
