After a nearly 4-month hiatus from Toyota Stadium, FC Dallas secured a 4-3 win over Sporting KC after going down 2-0 early in the game. On the 15th anniversary of Bobby Rhine’s passing, the Burn found a way to honor the club legend in the best way possible.
Lineups and Tactics
For their first home game since May 13th, Dallas came out in their usual back 3 formation, with Jonathan Sirois in goal for his 8th goal of the season. Nolan Norris came back in for Sebastien Ibeagha and started the game in the middle of the back three CBs.
Up top, Logan Farrington replaced Santi Moreno at ST and unified the classic Pairington of strikers with Petar Musa, who had played so well early on in the season. Joaquín Valiente took up more of a pure 10 position in the hole.
Kansas City sported a 4-4-2 formation, with Stefan Cleveland in goal for his 14th start of the season. The backline consisted of Emir Karić (LB), Or Blorian (CB), Moisés Mosquera (CB), and Justin Reynolds (RB).
Capita (LM) and André Luiz (RM) played out wide on the wings, while Kwaku Agyabeng and Lasse Berg Johnsen were paired at CM in the midfield. Up top, Taylor Calheira and Stephen Afrifa started as dual strikers.
Most notably absent from the starting XI was Dejan Joveljić, who leads the team with 8 goals this season. Unfortunately for Kansas City, Joveljić was transferred to the Seattle Sounders back on August 25th.
The Game
The away side got the scoring started early, in the 4th minute. Karić played Capemba through down the left side. His initial shot was saved by Sirois; however, the follow-up from Calheira was tapped in for the game’s opening goal and a 1-0 lead.
Following the goal, FC Dallas swapped Norris and Urhoghide, with Norris taking up his usual left center back position.
A bit of a mishap for the home side happened nearly 15 minutes later. In the 20th minute, Osaze Urhoghide weakly played a ball back to Ramiro, who had dropped way back into defense. As he turned to clear the ball forward, Afrifa got his foot on the pass and was able to deflect it into the open net. 2-0, Sporting KC.
Dallas finally settled down in the 27th minute. After Valiente’s pass was headed away by Mosquera, Musa picked up the ball around the top of the box and played it to Farrington. Surrounded by the goalie and a couple of defenders, Farrington was able to get the ball back onto his right foot before finding the bottom right corner to cut the lead to 1.
Less than 3 minutes later, Dallas equalized. Bernard Kamungo went 1-on-1 with his defender, crossed the ball into the box, and found a leaping Musa, who headed in Dallas’ 2nd goal of the game and his 17th goal of the season.
That wouldn’t be their last goal of the first half, however. In the 45th minute, Farrington picked up the ball at the top of the box, laid it off to Kaick, who volleyed a rocket off the left post and in for the 3-2 lead.
“I thought the first 10 to 15 minutes were horrible for us,” Farrington said. “It was probably the worst start we could have had coming back, especially in front of our fans. But I was proud of everybody, proud of the guys who were on the field and everybody who gave us the support to come back, bring the game level and eventually go up.”
With the subs of Sebastien Ibeagha and Christan Cappis in the 62nd minute, Dallas changed to a 4-5-1. Ran Binyamin and Santiago Moreno joined the fray in the 75th.
Kansas City found their own equalizer in the 2nd half. In the 78th minute, Karić played a cross into the box from the left side. Due to some confusion on the backline, Calheira was able to slip between Osaze and Norris to head home his 2nd goal of the night and 2nd of the season.
In what would be the most controversial play of the night, Dallas drew a penalty in the 91st minute. Sam Sarver played a cross toward Musa, who was tripped and taken down. After a couple of minutes of VAR review, the ref determined Musa had been taken down in the box and awarded Dallas a PK.
Musa stepped up with the game on the line and buried his 18th goal of the season in the top right corner, solidifying the 4-3 win and tying the single-season goal-scoring record. All of this with 11 games remaining in the season.
“We spotted them two goals, and to come back on a night like tonight, after being away from home, to have that happen in the first 10 minutes was tough to take and swallow,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “But they keep proving themselves again and again that they’re never going to turn over and die. They’re going to roll their sleeves up and find a way.”
After scoring 2 goals, adding an assist, and drawing the penalty that led to his 2nd goal (which won Dallas the game), Petar Musa did just about everything tonight to help his team win tonight. Our Man of the Match is currently tied for most goals in the MLS with Lionel Messi, at 18 for the season.
Musa is now tied for the FCD single-season goals record of 18 goals with Jason Kreis (1999), Kenny Cooper (2008), Jesus Ferreira (2022), and himself (2025).
Up next, FC Dallas travels to Allianz Field to take on Minnesota United on Wednesday, September 9th at 7:30 pm CT. The Loons are currently 7-8-8 on the season.