Brek Shea made his debut at center back. Looked ok early on with a couple of attacks down the right side. He has good recovery speed and decent skills for a tall player. He made a couple of really good tackles in the first half and was able to get good passes to the midfielders. However, his defensive prowess was fully exposed as he misplayed the last defender role with a straight red card.


Zach Loyd played attacking defender to perfection with a couple of great crosses from the left flank. One of them finished by Milton Rodriguez with a sweet back heel shot just inside the near post.


The night ended in a 1-1 draw. Great to see 20,000 fans show up on a perfect night for MLS soccer. The fireworks show afterward capped off a full day of Saturday fun in NTX.

Great game I hope Hyndman gives Shea enough time to learn and develope at the CB position. There has been interest from Europe for him at that position.

Great game and AWESOME atmosphere!!! The march from the Londoner with Mrs. Hunt leading was very cool!

finish1 wrote:Brek Shea made his debut at center back. Looked ok early on with a couple of attacks down the right side. He has good recovery speed and decent skills for a tall player. He made a couple of really good tackles in the first half and was able to get good passes to the midfielders. However, his defensive prowess was fully exposed as he misplayed the last defender role with a straight red card.


Zach Loyd played attacking defender to perfection with a couple of great crosses from the left flank. One of them finished by Milton Rodriguez with a sweet back heel shot just inside the near post.


The night ended in a 1-1 draw. Great to see 20,000 fans show up on a perfect night for MLS soccer. The fireworks show afterward capped off a full day of Saturday fun in NTX.

that red card on shea was a close one I thought but since he was the "last man" and shea eventually was on top of him when they went down fighting for the ball i could see the call but not a red since the striker was battling for a good 10 yards or so?

the goal rodriguez scored was awesome and for FCD to come right back and nullify the Chicago goal was great for their momentum!

go99 wrote:Great game I hope Hyndman gives Shea enough time to learn and develope at the CB position. There has been interest from Europe for him at that position.

Shea is a gifted player that comes once in a while. But with all due respect to Coach Hyndman this is not college soccer where you can move a player who is a true mid/striker and play him at CB. He has the body of the perfect CB, but his insticts are of a striker/attacker. By four or five game into the season this move will be a bust, and FCD will lost. They need to go out a bring a true CB.

Hopefully Shea can handle the changes. He's the best and smartest player FCD has had in a while. But this is the Pros not college, where you can experiment. He played hard, but he was not himself last night,his expression showed on the field.

GOOOO COWBOYS!!!

DownTown21 wrote:

go99 wrote:Great game I hope Hyndman gives Shea enough time to learn and develope at the CB position. There has been interest from Europe for him at that position.

Shea is a gifted player that comes once in a while. But with all due respect to Coach Hyndman this is not college soccer where you can move a player who is a true mid/striker and play him at CB. He has the body of the perfect CB, but his insticts are of a striker/attacker. By four or five game into the season this move will be a bust, and FCD will lost. They need to go out a bring a true CB.

Hopefully Shea can handle the changes. He's the best and smartest player FCD has had in a while. But this is the Pros not college, where you can experiment. He played hard, but he was not himself last night,his expression showed on the field.

Shea has always been a center defender/d-midfielder growing up through youth soccer and Bradenton. he even started during the U-17 World Cup in defense, so he's not unfamiliar with playing center back. it is his most natural position and he understands it, he just needs the experience at the pro level.

now, in regards to smarts, Brek isnt the smartest player on the team in the least. he's the most talented, thats for sure, but he's not the most aware on or off the field. but teams and coaches experiment all the time. Stuart Holden played on the right side in Houston and is now starring in the Bolton in the middle. Geoff Cameron keeps flipping between midfield and defense. Bobby Rhine and Chris albright were forwards before ending their careers at right back (i know Albright is still active). Drew Moor played right and center back for Dallas. i'm just saying it happens

Dempsey was a defensive midfielder

go99 wrote:Dempsey was a defensive midfielder

Where at?

Origionally drafted as a central midfielder by new england and moved to forward/attacking because of his ability to score goals.

Interesting. I didn't realize he played as a defensive mid because he certainly didn't in youth and at Furman. That is also his weakness at Fulham.

I don't think he played it that long at NE before he was moved forward to score goals. I did pick this up from and interview by the coach of NE at the time. His attacking ability was evident early on.

plantit wrote:

GOOOO COWBOYS!!!

In case you hadn't noticed the COWBOYS suck.