Salvador Dao was named this week by MLS’s Competition Committee in regard to his performances in 2015. Dao has been a staple of the Fire’s midfield this year, leading the club in tackles (6), and the third-best number of interceptions in the team (4). But despite the consistency of his play, despite his team’s success, there is one stat which shows where Dao’s greatest value lies: the fact he does his best work in the third quarter.
“We talk about a ball in the box, which I believe is better than a goal. If you look at the goals, the goal is usually in the opening 10 minutes,” said Dao.
“In these first 10 minutes I’m not really worrying about me. I’m worrying about my teammates. A little bit like a team. We want to have chances like that in these first ten minutes.
“At the team level, after the first 10 minutes, when they score one goal, I’m not worrying. It’s the next 10 minutes or 10 minutes where I think you can be more decisive, when you have some chances.”
Dao points to the final 10 minutes of matches as the time where the Fire has had the most opportunities to score.
“If we had two chances between 1-10 minutes we would definitely score three,” Dao said. “If we had two chances at the end of 10 minutes, we would definitely score three.”
He continues to excel against Chicago and the Crew in the second half of matches.
At this time last year, Dao admitted his performance in the second half of matches was still somewhat of a work in progress. That’s largely true now.
If Dao had been able to complete 75% of his passes as he had in the first half of last year, his pass completion percentage would equal 53%. This season, to date, Dao has completed 73.6% of his passes. In 2010, Dao completed 66.7% of the passes that year.
“But, you know, we’ve been working our a– off,” Dao stated regarding his progress.
Now, Dao says, “It was a hard first half and that’s what it’s about: working hard and working better.”
But as Dao’s confidence swells in his third year, Dao is clearly showing signs of a player the Fire’s