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Dallas Burn 10 Questions: Jason Kreis | Coachspeak: Dave Dir
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 09:16 PM
By Jeff Diecks, CNNSI.com Pardon Dallas coach Dave Dir if he doesn't subscribe to the popular preseason theory that the Burn enters the 2000 season as one of the league's deepest teams. Sure, Dallas boasts a roster stocked with forwards Jason Kreis and Ariel Graziani; goalkeepers Matt Jordan and Mark Dodd; midfielders Oscar Pareja, Chad Deering and Mark Santel; and promising youngsters Sergi Daniv, Lazo Alavanja, Aleksey Korol, Bobby Rhine and Antonio Martinez. Dir points to the Burn's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy in Game 3 of last year's Western Conference finals as an example of how "depth" is a silly notion in a league with such strict roster limitations. Two rugged three-game playoff series against Chicago and Los Angeles left Dallas one game away from reaching MLS Cup '99 but also sent the Burn into the decisive game against the Galaxy without three key defensive players. Brandon Pollard broke his right fibula in the second game against the Fire, and Daniv and Eric Dade picked up their third yellow cards of the playoffs in the second game against Los Angeles.
"I don't think that any team could have taken three hits defensively in one game and had the depth," Dir said. "When you're playing midfielders in the back for the first time in a season, that's pretty impossible. I give credit to our players, who made the series tough against L.A. anyway. But in a big series like that, you've got to have your guns." Dallas has taken two more hits in an active offseason for the club. Defender Jorge Rodriguez, the team's 1998 MVP, is holding out for more money. According to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rodriguez's agent said the defender is considering retirement and has been seeking "about $5,000" more than his $70,000 salary. Injury-plagued goalkeeper Mark Dodd, meanwhile, will miss 3-4 months while recovering from surgery to repair ligaments in his right hand. Dodd's left knee injury in 1999 opened the door for Matt Jordan, who posted a league record 11 shutouts and became a finalist for the MLS goalkeeper of the year award. In front of Jordan, Dir continues his search for an international player to lead the defense. "You have to play so much from the back because there's no space or time as you get forward," Dir said. "The guys that you have in the back have to be almost playmakers themselves, and we kind of lack that."
But there is no lack of playmaking ability for the Burn up front. League MVP Jason Kreis, who led MLS in scoring with 18 goals and 15 assists, might not even rank as the most dangerous player on his own team. That honor goes to Ecuadorian striker Ariel Graziani. Mired in fourth place in the Western Conference on Aug. 13, the Burn traded defensive midfielder Leonel Alvarez and future considerations to New England for Graziani, and Graziani responded by scoring in each of his first four games in Dallas. Following the trade, the Burn went 8-1 and finished second in the West, and Graziani struck five more times in the playoffs. In acquiring Graziani, the Burn simply followed a tried-and-true MLS method of adding star players: waiting for New England to give up on them. Dallas used the same formula to obtain playmaker Oscar Pareja in a 1998 trade with the Revolution for forward Damian, who is no longer in the league. But the addition of Graziani last year sent oft-injured striker Dante Washington to the bench (upon his return from a knee injury). Dallas shipped the frustrated forward to Columbus in the offseason, clearing up salary cap room for the international defender Dir covets and -- following a subsequent trade with Colorado -- giving the Burn two first-round draft picks. The Burn used one of the picks (the other one it gained is for the 2001 draft) to select Indiana forward Aleksey Korol No. 5 overall. Dir plans for Korol to battle second-year forward Bobby Rhine for the starting spot during the seven or eight games Graziani is expected to miss this season because of national team duty with Ecuador. Rhine scored twice -- his only two goals of the season -- in his first career start, a 2-1 win over San Jose on May 15. Not surprisingly, Rhine scored his goals at the Cotton Bowl, where the Burn posted a league-best 13-3 home record in 1999. Dallas scored 35 goals at home and 19 on the road. "We play a little bit more of an upbeat, attacking style at home," said Kreis, who scored 14 of his 18 goals at the Cotton Bowl. "We really get after the other team, and I guess a lot of our goals came from that factor." The road doesn't get any easier for Dallas in 2000, as MLS realignment has placed the Burn in the Central Division with Columbus, Chicago and Tampa Bay. The Central is the only one of the three new MLS divisions to feature four teams that reached the playoffs in 1999. Despite a second-place finish in the West in last year's two-conference alignment, Dallas inherits the Central Division's No. 1 schedule in the league's new format. It means the Burn must face D.C. United (No. 1 in the East) and Los Angeles (No. 1 in the West) four times in the regular season, while the rest of the Central teams play United and the Galaxy twice each. "It always seems to work that way for us," Dir said. "We don't get the fun of being No. 1, but we get the schedule." Dir concedes that a tougher regular season schedule could strengthen his club in preparation for the playoffs, and the Burn is the only team in MLS to hold a winning all-time record against D.C. United (6-5). Dallas also holds winning records against new division rivals Columbus (7-3) and Tampa Bay (6-4).
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