Daniel’s seven saves were enough for FC Dallas to secure a 1-0 win against the Seattle Sounders at Toyota Stadium on Saturday night. With this win – and draws by Real Salt Lake against San Jose Earthquakes and Houston Dynamo against San Diego FC – the Burn clinched their second straight playoff berth.
Lineups and Tactics
For their midweek matchup against Seattle, Dallas remained in their 3-4-3 formation, with Daniel in goal for his 6th start of the season. The backline saw 2 changes as Shaq Moore replaced Nolan Norris at LCB and Sebastien Ibeagha replaced Lalas Abubakar at RCB.
The home side ran with 2 new wingbacks as well, as Bernard Kamungo and Ran Binyamin started at LWB and RWB, respectively. Ramiro replaced Christian Cappis and paired with Kaick as dual 8’s in the midfield.
Up top, Petar Musa returned to the starting lineup as the team’s lone striker. Joaquín Valiente remained as one of the team’s 2 CAM’s. Santi Moreno was the other CAM, who replaced Patrickson Delgado for his 13th start of the season.
The Sounders held a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Andrew Thomas earning his 29th start of the season. The backline consisted of Nouhou Tolo (LB), Jackson Ragen (CB), Stuart Hawkins (CB), and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (RB).
Snyder Brunell and Cristian Roldan were paired together as CDM’s, while Albert Rusnák started as the team’s lone CAM. Out wide, Former FC Dallas player Paul Arriola started at LW, and Sebastian Gomez started at RW.
Dejan Joveljić earned his 6th start up top at ST for the Sounders this season. Most notably absent from the starting XI was another former FC Dallas player, Jesus Ferreira, who has 2 goals and 6 assists this season but has been fighting a hamstring injury.
The Game
Despite neither team scoring in the 1st half, Seattle saw the lion’s share of shots as they accrued five shots on target to Dallas’ one. Seattle also controlled 53% of possession; however, Dallas tallied 17 touches in the opposition’s box, which was 10 more than Seattle.
Kaick finally broke through for the game’s first goal, 63 minutes into the 2nd half. Moreno’s corner kick was played into the box and headed away by Roldan. Urhoghide was able to head it again, out towards Kaick, who volleyed home his most impressive goal of the season to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
Seattle continued to fight, stealing 62% of possession in the 2nd half. However, their two additional shots on target were not enough to level the game. Dallas extended their home game win streak to five games with a 1-0 win over the Sounders.
“Seattle is a tough team to beat any night you play them,” Head Coach Eric Quill said, “but after what happened in Charlotte the other night, getting a response like this is exactly what we needed heading into Houston next Saturday.”
One of the main reasons Dallas was able to end Seattle’s 9-game unbeaten streak was my Man of the Match, Daniel. With seven saves to earn his 7th clean sheet of the season, Dallas is hoping their keeper is coming into form as playoffs draw near.
“[Daniel]’s here to help us win games, and he’s been doing it his whole career,” coach Quill said. “Just imagine where his game is going to go as he gets more rhythm and his health improves each week. We’re going to need him, and he’s going to come up huge for us. That’s why he’s here.”
With the win, FC Dallas secured a winning record both at home and on the road in the same season for the first time since 2010, when the club advanced to the MLS Cup Final.
Up next, FC Dallas travels to Shell Energy Stadium to take on the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, October 17th at 7:30 pm CT. The Dynamo are currently 13-9-7 on the season.