After conceding a goal early in the 2nd half, FC Dallas scored 3 straight, and secured a 3-1 win against the Colorado Rapids at Toyota Stadium. The win cemented Dallas’ spot as the 2-seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Lineups and Tactics
For their final regular season game, Dallas held a 3-4-3 formation. Daniel returned as the starter in goal for his 10th start. The backline saw one change as Shaq Moore replaced Lalas Abubakar at LCB. Both Osaze Urhoghide (CB) and Sebastien Ibeagha (RCB) remained as starters.
Bernard Kamungo replaced Ran Binyamin at LWB for his 19th start of the season. Herman Johansson started opposite Kamungo at RWB. Also in the midfield, the pairing of Kaick and Ramiro linked together, with Kaick playing more as an 8, and Ramiro a 6.
Up top, Petar Musa earned his 24th start of the season at ST, in place of Santi Moreno. Daniel Job and Joaquín Valiente remained as the team’s dual 10’s. Most notably absent from the starting XI was defender Nolan Norris, who was available off the bench as a reserve.
The Rapids maintained a 4-3-3 formation, with Nicholas Hansen in goal for his 23rd start of the season. The backline consisted of Miguel Navarro (LB), Loïc Williams (CB), Noah Cobb (CB), and former Toronto FC player Kosi Thompson (RB).
In the midfield, the experienced duo of Hamzat Ojediran (CM) and Wayne Frederick (CM) remained in the starting lineup from their previous match. Josh Atencio (CM) joined them in the midfield, in place of Georgi Minoungou, for his 21st start.
Up top, Sayed Abu Farkhi (ST) earned his 3rd start of the season, in place of Darren Yapi, who is the Rapids usual starting striker. Paxten Aaronson and Morgan Whittaker joined Abu Farkhi at LW and RW, respectively.
The Game
The 1st half of action was quite frustrating for the home side. Dallas was getting plenty of opportunities as they accumulated 15 total shots; however, only 4 hit the target. Despite the increased number of shots, none managed to find the back of the net.
“I thought it was arguably our best first-half performance of the year, but we didn’t get the goal I thought we deserved,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “It was difficult to go into halftime knowing how well we had played on both sides of the ball.”
In fact, Colorado would open up the scoring in the 2nd half with a goal in the 47th minute. Aaronson played Minoungou down the left side of the pitch, where the Burkina Faso winger played a low cross into the box. Yapi dummied the ball for Whittaker, who buried his 6th goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Nearly 30 minutes later, in the 75th minute, Dallas found their equalizer. After Moreno’s corner was cleared away, Kaick lobbed a ball over the defense, which found Valiente alone in the box. The forward took full advantage of his speed to get past the defense and curled in a left-footed shot to tie the game, 1-1.
“Joaquín scored a huge goal to give us that boost again,” Quill said. “It was a great run off the edge and a great ball from Kaick. We needed that goal, and it gave us new life. I thought we created so many chances after that.”
It wouldn’t take long before Dallas doubled their lead. In the 88th minute, Norris played a long ball over top towards Kaick, who bodied a couple of Rapid defenders to take control of possession. After settling the ball, Kaick was able to find the top right corner for his 5th goal of the season, to make it 2-1.
The nail in the coffin came in the 2nd minute of stoppage time. Musa started the break by playing Logan Farrington down the right side of the pitch. Farrington found Moreno in the box, who beat his defender to the ball and tapped home the final goal of the game for the 3-1 win.
An emphatic finish, for a game that was dominated by the home side in many respects. My Man of the Match, Kaick, finished the game with a goal and an assist. On top of finding the scoresheet, he also completed 85% of his 39 passes. A fantastic performance from the Brazilian.
Up next, FC Dallas officially kicks off their postseason run against the Portland Timbers, time and date TBA. The Timbers finished 7th in the Western Conference and had a regular season record of 13-14-7.
“We’ll take a closer look at Portland, but they’re a team that’s been playing really well over the last three weeks,” Quill said. “We’re going to be ready for them. Playing in Portland is probably one of the toughest challenges in this league, so we know we have our work cut out for us.”
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