Trailing after just three minutes on a goal by the Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan, FC Dallas overcame the 26th-minute ejection of Marcelo Saragosa and drew level in the 31st minute thanks to Drew Moor, before the teams finished in a 1-1 draw Saturday night at Pizza Hut Park.
FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman employed the same 3-5-2 formation that FCD utilized for the entire second half of last week's 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders FC. Hyndman also went with the same 11 players who finished last week's draw.
On the other side, LA's Bruce Arena made two changes to his first 11 from last week's 1-1 draw with defending MLS Cup champion Columbus. Midfielder Stefan Miglioranzi and forward Bryan Jordan rotated out of the lineup while defenders AJ DeLaGarza and Todd Dunivant entered the fold.
Donovan's goal came on the Galaxy's second opportunity of the contest. The sequence began when Mike Magee got the ball to Eddie Lewis on the left flank. Lewis showed great vision and pounded a cross into the heart of the FCD box, where Donovan got a slight edge on defender Daniel Torres and put it into the back of the net with the side of his foot.
That goal, Donovan's sixth of the year, marked the eighth that the LA midfielder has scored against FCD as a member of the Galaxy. That tally also drew him into a tie with Chicago's Brian McBride and Kansas City's Josh Wolff for the league lead in goals.
FCD nearly drew one back in the seventh minute when forward Brek Shea hit the left post. After getting some great service to the left of goal, the rangy Shea quickly struck the ball but saw it crack off the near post.
In the 13th minute, LA nearly added to their lead but FCD dodged a huge bullet thanks to Pablo Ricchetti. Alan Gordon got things going for the Galaxy with a hard blast that was right at FCD goalkeeper Ray Burse, which he saved. The ensuing deflection fell to Magee, who tried to put it in the back of the net before being denied by Ricchetti, who was perfectly positioned on the line for a goal-saving block.
In the 26th minute, Lewis and FCD forward Kenny Cooper had an exchange right in front of the FCD bench. Saragosa rushed in and pushed Lewis from behind. This all happened right in front of an official and Saragosa was ejected for the third time in his career.
Even with the man advantage, the visitors were unable to capitalize, leaving the door open for an FCD equalizer, which came in the 31st minute when Drew Moor scored for the second time this year.
Moor's header into the left side of the net came after a perfectly struck corner kick from Dave van den Bergh, who got his third assist of 2009 on the tally. It was FCD's third goal of the season from a corner.
Without Moor's goal, FCD would not have had a shot on goal the entire first half. LA finished the opening 45 minutes with 13 shots, including six on frame, compared to just five total attempts by the home team.
Hyndman made two changes to start the second half, bringing on Anthony Wallace for Andre Rocha and Alvaro Sanchez for Shea. Sanchez, a Costa Rican international who was signed in April was making his league debut.
The changes meant a switch from the 3-5-2 into a 4-4-1. Wallace went to left back, Torres into the middle with Ricchetti and Moor shifted to the right side. Sanchez took Rocha's spot at right midfield and Cooper was now playing alone up top. Cooper, who finished the game with just two shots, has now failed to score in five consecutive games.
All was quiet for the first few minutes of the second half until van den Bergh shot one high in the 51st. About 10 minutes later, Hyndman took off the veteran midfielder for the fresher legs of Eric Avila.
LA had several chances of their own in the first 15 minutes, a shot by Gordon in the 55th went high, another by Magee three minutes later was deflected and Josh Tudela's first shot of the night in the 60th went to the left of goal.
Arena's first change came in the 67th when he brought on Edson Buddle for Gordon. It was almost a year ago that Buddle had a hat trick in the Galaxy's 5-1 win over FCD on their home ground, a loss that was Steve Morrow's last as head coach. In the 74th, the LA coach went to his bench again, bringing off Tudela for savvy veteran Chris Klein.
Sanchez and Wallace both had considerable impact after entering the match. In the 71st, Sanchez forced LA goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts to make a save and one minute later, the versatile Costa Rican was active again but this time, had his shot deflected. In the 73rd, Wallace also forced Ricketts to make a save, his second of the evening.
With a roster already depleted by injury, FCD got more bad news when in the 90th minute, midfielder Bruno Guarda had to leave the field on the stretcher. With Hyndman out of substitutes, the Brazilian's departure meant that FCD finished the night with only nine players.
The draw extended LA's their unbeaten streak to eight. For FCD, the result marked only the second time this season that they have gotten points in two consecutive matches.
Both sides return to the field next Saturday with LA playing host to Kansas City at The Home Depot Center and FCD traveling to Toyota Park to face Brimstone Cup rival Chicago for the second and final time in the regular season.
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
