FRISCO - After one of the best starts to a season in franchise history, FC Dallas finds themselves in the middle of a two game slide, but the focus for Oscar Pareja's side is not about looking back, it's about looking forward.
Dallas ends a stretch of five home games out of their first seven matches to start the 2015 season against Toronto FC on Saturday night and know nothing less than three points is acceptable.
"I think to some degree we need to put [last week's game] behind us but realize why it happened," said Tesho Akindele. "[We can't] just think it was a bad day, whatever, we need to realize why it was a bad day for us."
TICKETS - FC Dallas vs Toronto FC pres. by Elephant Insurance - Saturday, April 18th 7:30PM
Over the past two matches, opponents have jumped out to early leads and controlled the tempo of the game which. This week, starting off the match strong will be one of Dallas primary goals.
“That is our job as coaches and as players,” FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja said. “Getting a good start to the game is something that we all want. The thing is, that the guy in front of you is thinking the same thing. The other team is preparing the same way. It is crucial and the more work that we do, we can have more good starts than bad ones.”
Saturday presents a similar challenge to the last two games and that is an opponent that is near the bottom of the MLS standings, but with plenty of firepower and motivation to pull themselves up from the cellar. Toronto FC made a huge splash in the offseason adding a couple new big-name signings and the FC Dallas defense will be keyed in on forward Jozy Altidore who leads TFC in scoring.
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“Obviously, [Jozy] is a player that has made an impact wherever he has played,” Pareja said. “We have to do our best as a team. I think our fundamentals, our team, and the way we do things as a unit is more important than any individual. He is a good player, obviously I respect him, but I think we have very good defenders.”
FC Dallas hasn’t lost back to back home games since the end of the 2013 season. Protecting their home field and bouncing back from last week’s loss, will be huge.
“We are still in a good spot,” Pareja said. “It’s early and we have a team that is preparing for the long run- a long journey through the MLS season. We are not going to be that low when we lose or that high when we win. We’ll just keep doing what we do.”
