Despite losing the battle of possession, FC Dallas found a way to score twice in their 2-0 win against New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday evening. A much-needed three points as the Burn found their first win in almost a month.
Lineups and Tactics
With Seattle in their rear view mirror, a refreshed lineup returned to action for FC Dallas. The Burn opted for a fluid 3-4-3 formation that they’ve been in favor of recently. Michael Collodi earned his 11th start of the season.
On the backline, both Osaze Urhoghide and Shaq Moore replaced Sebastien Ibeagha and Lalas Abubakar, while Nolan Norris remained at RCB. Herman Johansson replaced Sam Sarver at RWB, whilst Kaick replaced Louicius Deedson, which allowed Ran Binyamin to slide out wide to LWB.
Binyamin earned his second straight start of the season, and Joaquín Valiente replaced Patrickson Delgado, as one of the team’s two 10’s alongside Santi Moreno. Petar Musa, without the other half of the Pairington, started as the team’s lone striker.
Ed note: This was a very fluid tactic; the base set could be described as either a 4-4-2 or a 3-4-3 as it was flexing between the two shapes.
Opposite FC Dallas, the New York Red Bulls held a 4-3-3 formation with Captain Emil Forsberg paired with Ronald Donkor as dual 8’s in the midfield. In goal, Ethan Horvath got his 11th start of the season, with a centerback pairing of Tim Parker and Dylan Nealis.
Out wide, Juan Mina made his debut in the RBNY starting XI at RB. Adri Mehmeti started as the team’s lone defensive midfielder, as the Red Bulls opted for a single pivot formation. Up top, the front line consisted of Jorge Ruvalcaba, Cade Cowell, and Julian Hall. Hall came into the game as the team’s leading scorer (6).
Most notably absent from the starting lineup was former FC Dallas homegrown Justin Che, who continues to remain sidelined after sustaining a hamstring injury on March 14th against Toronto FC.
The Game
After 45 minutes of action, neither side was able to find a goal. Possession was split, with New York having the slight advantage with 54%. Dallas tallied 3 shots on target, of their 5 total shots, while New York failed to find a single shot on target, out of their 4 total shots.
Neither team was able to find that quality ball into the final third, as the majority of their passes fell behind their own half. Dallas was finding some success, having won 64% of the ground duels.
Coming out of halftime, FC Dallas flipped their switch. In the 54th minute, Valiente kicked off the counterattack by playing Binyamin out wide. Binyamin then played a through ball to Musa, who found the back of the net for his 10th goal of the season. 1-0, Dallas.
In the dying minutes of the game, Sam Sarver secured the win with his first MLS goal. In the 88th minute, Kaick played a through ball to Logan Farrington, who then played it back across goal to Sarver. The former Hoosier headed it home and secured the 2-0 win for the Burn.
It was FCD’s first win against RBNY on the road since April 15, 2007.
“They told me that Logan and I were coming on and gave us some defensive instructions,” Sarver said. “Then one of the assistant coaches, I think it was Mark Briggs, said, ‘Go win the game for us. Put it to bed.’ Five minutes later, we did just that.”
A number of players were deserving of tonight’s Man of the Match honors, I believe Shaq Moore had himself quite the night. Having completed 84% of his passes, with 57 touches, and 9 defensive contributions, Moore did a great job of securing a clean sheet for this Dallas backline.
“I’m super proud of the guys. They fought from the first minute to the 95th with heart and soul and found moments of quality to win the game,” head coach Eric Quill said. “To do that on the road in this stadium against a side with Red Bull’s quality says a lot about the effort our guys put in.”
Up next, FC Dallas welcomes Real Salt Lake to Toyota Stadium on Saturday, May 9th at 7:30 pm CT. The Timbers are currently 6-3-1 on the season.
