Soccer Columnist Steve Davis

FRISCO – Dario Sala is getting it done in Dallas. Eddie Johnson, in Kansas City, isn't.

Kenny Cooper is having a campaign for FC Dallas like few could have predicted.

And a couple of Cooper's teammates are thriving now despite earlier bust-ups with the club.

From the strikers up front to the goalkeeper who backstops it all, FC Dallas manager Colin Clarke's choices this year seem spot-on for a team flirting with several regular-season bests.

Clarke's bunch could all but lock away the MLS West crown and home-field advantage through the playoffs with a win tonight over Chivas USA.

Of course, FC Dallas hasn't won anything yet. In a league in which eight of 12 earn playoff spots, the real cred is earned after the 32-game regular season.

What FC Dallas has done so far is exploit the slightly deflated quality in MLS. Ten other clubs (this side of D.C. United and Dallas) can't claim to have done so.

"You have to give credit to Colin for making those bold decisions," captain Simo Valakari said.

"At the same time, we all know that for the facility we have here now, and the owners we have here, we feel that we haven't done anything yet."

The management choices have, at least, positioned the team for a good look at the target.

Clarke, operating tenuously on a one-year contract, looks particularly prophetic with the most important call of 2006. When management aggressively drove to re-sign striker Carlos Ruiz, it was always with the knowledge that Johnson would probably become a salary-cap casualty.

That was a tough call. Johnson was a popular figure, about to participate in his first World Cup, and was quite valuable to the marketing effort.

But Johnson has done little to earn his $800,000 salary this year. He has just two goals in 18 starts for Kansas City. Seven other Wizards, including two defenders, have as many goals.

Clarke suspected he had some wiggle room because he had a big belief in Cooper, the young Jesuit graduate pried off Manchester United's bench this year. Cooper has a team-leading nine goals and would be the easy Rookie of the Year frontrunner if not for MLS rules excluding players with previous pro contracts elsewhere.

Clarke also chose to trust Sala, though the veteran Argentine goalkeeper had appeared in just one match last year.

Sala's season has included more ups than downs. While he has allowed the occasional soft goal, he also has provided the difference-making saves that sometimes eluded starter Scott Garlick last year.

Plus, Sala's experience and easygoing attitude have been a handy brace for an impressionable back line.

Even Clarke's personnel choices during matches have proven astute. Six times this year, a substitute has sprung from the bench to nail a game-winning goal.

Clarke's most meaningful actions, perhaps, had little to do with roster choices. Earlier this year, two personnel hiccups threatened to undermine team spirit or divide the locker room.

Ronnie O'Brien and Chris Gbandi each expressed unhappiness with their place on the team or with a perceived lack of communication from management. Clarke responded in each case by "suggesting" the player take a little time away from the team to think over matters.

Clarke contained the damage by declining to publicly criticize either player, coolly preferring not to escalate tensions. In both cases, the player returned soon enough and has expressed little displeasure since.

"That sent a strong message for the club," Valakari said. "All the choices Colin has made here say the same thing: that the club comes first."

E-mail stevedavis@dallasnews.com

Chivas USA (8-7-11) at FC Dallas (14-8-4), 7 p.m. today, Pizza Hut Park, Frisco (KXEB-AM 910; KTNO-AM 1440 in Spanish)

30 –Number of goals allowed by FCD this year.

35 – Team record for fewest goals allowed in a season.

14 – Goals by Chivas' Ante Razov, second in MLS.

•With a road game coming up Saturday, an FCD starter or two could be rested tonight.

•Arturo Alvarez (groin) will be held out.

•FCD clinches a playoff spot with a win.

Keeping score in soccer around the area.

1. Schellas Hyndman –His SMU men's team shows up at No. 1 in all four national polls after an undefeated start.

2. Copa Lowe's –Championship game in the local finals of the national Hispanic amateur tournament is 5 p.m. Sunday at Richland College.

3. Alberto Garcia Aspe –Former Mexican great will be at Richland on Sunday (3 p.m.) to sign autographs and conduct a youth clinic. Call 214-752-6000.

4. U.S. Soccer –Americans Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra score one each in Fulham's 2-1 English Premier League victory.

5. Jonathan Evans –Northern Ireland defender gets his first cap in a shock win over Spain. Dallas fans saw him captain Manchester United last spring in Dallas Cup Super Group play.