FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea scored his first ever MLS regular season goal in the 13th minute and it looked to be enough until the very last minute of stoppage time when Philadelphia’s Danny Mwanga rocketed a shot from just inside the box that made the final score 1-1 Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field. Mwanga, who was the first overall pick of the 2010 MLS Super Draft, scored his first ever MLS regular season goal and this was on his first official shot and obviously first ever shot on goal. The shot kept Dallas’ new starting keeper Kevin Hartman from getting his third consecutive clean sheet win even though he made 4 saves and basically kept FCD from getting behind, especially early on. A bit of history was also made as FCD was a part of the Philadelphia Union’s first ever Major League Soccer regular season draw. They had started out with one win and five losses but had yet to finish in a “kiss your sister” match.

Brek Shea’s first goal was created when FCD forward Jeff Cunningham found FCD midfielder Attiba Harris in the middle of the field who turned and layed it off to Shea on the left side of the box. Shea made a move to the outside beating his defender then cut back in and got a shot off with his right foot that beat Union keeper Chris Seitz to the upper part of the far post. But, for the next 77 plus minutes no one for FCD could join the goal scoring club of the day. The two chances that will linger with FCD supporters the longest will be Attiba Harris missing a golden chance wide left in the 18th minute after a Dax McCarty mishit fell to him 7 yards from goal and Jeff Cunningham missing one over the crossbar in the 39th minute after a terrible play by Philly defender Danny Califf. Either of these gives Dallas a 2-0 cushion I don’t believe the Union can fight back from.

Watching the game I knew FCD was the much better team and kept thinking to myself how many of Philly’s starting 11 would I even have on my game day roster of 18 if I was a decent side. I really could not get past the number 5 or 6. No offense to these guys but I just couldn’t. Now some of their youth on the bench could be really good in 2-3 years granted. But the whole game I knew Philly was a normal MLS expansion side as opposed to Seattle’s lights out debut last year, but still I had to found myself having to focus on the fact that FCD was in red and was the better team. Philadelphia had possession for what seemed like 80% of the time in the second half and late in the game it seemed like 95% of the time. I know it wasn’t it just really seemed so.

FCD’s opponent was playing just there second home tilt of the season coming off a four game road trip and now they are about to hit the road for four more in a row. Dallas, meanwhile, returns home for a Thursday night tilt against the LA Galaxy and FCD is getting a huge break here. I know we are losing versatile defender/midfielder Heath Pearce but LA is losing US Men’s National Team stalwart and 2009 MLS MVP Landon Donovan and also forward and current Golden Boot leader Edson Buddle to the 30 man camp for the USMNT road to South Africa.

This result puts FC Dallas at 2 wins, 1 loss and 5 draws. So do we need to change the team name to FC Draw-us? I don’t know. Sounds pretty lame and even looks lamer typed up. But something has to give. I know how it will be spun. Great effort, on the road, got at least a point, didn’t lose, yada, yada. But hey, I am from a different school. Give me liberty or give me. Oh wait, someone already used that line. But seriously. Would you rather have 15 wins and 15 losses with no ties? That’s 45 points my friend. Or would you rather hardly ever lose and have a record of say 6 wins, 3 losses and 21 draws? That gets you 39 points and a front row seat in front of the telly watching the MLS playoffs. I know both scenarios are somewhat ridiculous but the point is, get some WINS. There is still plenty of time as we are only 8 games in and 11 points are already in the bag. But you somehow get the feeling some sort of meltdown is lurking. Not sure how or why but that smoke monster is out there somewhere.

And back to Hartman before I finish. That was easily his best game of the year and although I only saw him in about 10 games last year, that might have been the best he has played in quite a while. He denied Alejandro Moreno’s header in the fifth minute, blocked Roger Torres’ diving header in the twenty first minute, got a little lucky when Sebastien LeToux blew his golden chance in the twenty seventh minute and then made another save off a Moreno shot in the thirty seventh minute.

Game Grades:

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best:

Hartman 8 – I like Sala fine but Kevin is #1 without a doubt right now
Loyd 6 – did pretty well defensively but added little offensively
John 7 – solid, he is going to score off a header soon
Ihemelu 7 – seems to like working with George
Pearce 6 – not playing as well as earlier in the year it seems
Hernandez 4 – seemed really slow today, kept Philly onside in the final third more than once
McCarty 5 – seemed off for stretches, still hustles like no one’s business
Harris 6 – tracked back well but he has got to put that one away from 7 yards
Shea 8 – nice goal and not his fault he got subbed out
Ferreira 6 – his turnover ultimately lead to Philly goal at the end. Check the tape at 91:40 he tries to dribble out loses ball, they get corner, Dallas never gets possession, ball never gets past half line before Mwanga ties it up
Cunningham 4 – blew chances and first one subbed off

Substitutes:

Chavez 3 – I know he looked fast twice but he got subbed off too
Avila 5 – not sure why he came on for Brek and he didn’t create like he has so far. Now that I think about it, it may be he does well at home in late game situations. I’ll have to research this soon.
Wallace IC – came on in time to witness Philly’s first tie up close