It was never going to be easy for Vancouver Whitecaps heading into Dallas this weekend for the first of back to back league games against the Western Conference leaders and so it proved.
A Brad Rusin own goal and a Blas Perez header gave Dallas a 2-0 victory, but the result belies the dominance of Dallas on the night and the scoreline was kept down thanks to a great goalkeeping display from Joe Cannon.
Vancouver had a couple of chances to get on the scoresheet, as Martin Rennie rang some surprising changes up front, some brought on by injuries. The new look attack was general devoid of ideas and struggled to get in the game.
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Corey Hertzog did not travel with the team due to concussion symptoms. The general consensus pre-game was that Darren Mattocks would return to the starting line up, but Rennie surprised everyone by giving Tommy Heinemann the nod for his first MLS start for Vancouver.
Camilo Sanvezzo dropped to the bench and Daigo Kobayashi was missing due to a late knock. Erik Hurtado and Matt Watson came in to the starting eleven. For Watson, it was his first minutes of the season.
Vancouver had an early taste of what lay in store for the evening ahead in the opening seconds as Blas Perez forced a great save out of Joe Cannon with a low long range rocket with less than a minute on the clock.
The chance came after a terrible giveaway from YP Lee, who weakly headed out straight into the path of the Panamanian.
The Caps settled and stopped immediate thoughts of it being one way traffic, having some nice possession and forays forward but with no end product each time.
Dallas soon turned up the heat though and had Vancouver under the cosh, with chance after chance being created and Cannon having a very busy night.
With ten minutes gone a long range shot from Kenny Cooper from the corner of the box saw Cannon produce an acrobatic save to tip the ball over for a corner.
The veteran goalkeeper had to come up big again six minutes later, producing a fantastic save from a bullet header from Perez who had got on the end of a pinpoint Jackson cross.
Jackson was next to try himself, curling a shot narrowly over in the 21st minute, after a neat layoff from Perez.
Andrew Jacobson let rip with a long range effort in the 27th minute, which Cannon had put past for a corner and it came as no surprise when Dallas eventually opened the scoring from a corner two minutes later.
As Brad Rusin and George John tangled in the box, John guided Rusin towards the ball coming across and the big defender was unlucky to see the ball hit off his back and past Cannon into the net.
Vancouver were unfortunate with the nature of the goal but could have no complaints with Dallas having the lead.
Perez should have doubled Dallas' advantage in the 31st minute when Perez found himself unmarked eight yards out and on the end of a David Ferreira cross, but the Panama international could only head his effort straight into the arms of Cannon.
Vancouver nearly grabbed an unlikely equaliser with four minutes of the half remaining.
Nigel Reo-Coker whipped a cross into the box which Dallas keeper Raul Fernandez fumbled. The ball broke to Matt Watson who guided it towards goal but the Dallas defence scrambled it clear for a corner.
The Whitecaps had another chance a minute before the break.
Erik Hurtado showed some nice hustle on the right and cut the ball back to Russell Teibert at the edge of the box, but the young midfielder wasted the good position and blasted wildly over.
The half time whistle saw Vancouver needing to regroup and with a lot of work to do to try and get something going in this game.
Five minutes into the second half and that task became even harder when Dallas doubled their advantage.
Breaking quickly from a Whitecaps corner, Cooper saw his shot deflect off Lee and into the path of Perez, who got goalside of the Caps defence with ease and had the easy task of heading home.
The game fell into a bit of a lull, but Dallas were still in the ascendency and created a couple of half chances.
Vancouver sub Camilo took a long range shot in the 81st minute which Fernandez spilled but although Heinemann got on the rebound, he was unable to do much with it apart from play it back out to Camilo, who was brought down for a free kick. Camilo stepped up and curled a lovely effort wide right.
Dallas should have finally killed the game off once and for all in the 85th minute when Ferreira played in Fabian Castillo, but the Colombian took a heavy touch and allowed Cannon to come out and smother.
Heinemann pounced on a Dallas giveaway in the 88th minute but produced a horribly weak shot when one on one with the keeper in the box.
Vancouver had looked more likely in the last ten minutes of the game but it was far too little too late and Dallas comfortably saw the game out for their fifth clean sheet of the season in their eight matches so far this season.
Of the many burning questions to come out of this game, one of them is certainly how well would the Whitecaps have done if the eleven players who finished the game were the ones who had started it?
Vancouver have an immediate chance to bounce back against the Western Conference leaders at home next weekend. A share of the spoils over the two games will be acceptable, however unlikely that may look after tonight's performance.
The Whitecaps really need to try and kickstart their attack but there are no easy answers for their stuttering squad.
What is certain is that whoever turns out next Saturday, they will have to play far, far better if they are to get even anything remotely from the game. Falling 14 points off the top this early in the season, would not only be damaging, it is also unacceptable.
FINAL SCORE: FC Dallas 2 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
ATT: 14,339
DALLAS: Raul Fernandez; Jair Benitez, George John, Matt Hedges, Zach Loyd; Jackson (Je-Vaughn Watson 85), Andrew Jacobson, Michel, David Ferreira; Kenny Cooper (Fabian Castillo 76), Blas Perez (Eric Hassli 89) [subs Not Used: Chris Seitz, Bobby Warshaw, London Woodberry, Kellyn Acosta]
VANCOUVER: Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Brad Rusin, Andy O’Brien, Alain Rochat; Jun Marques Davidson (Gershon Koffie 59), Nigel Reo-Coker, Russell Teibert (Darren Mattocks 58), Erik Hurtado, Matt Watson (Camilo Sanvezzo 70); Tommy Heinemann [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Johnny Leveron, Kekuta Manneh]
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