FC Dallas knocks off Austin FC 3-1

FC Dallas made it eight home wins on the season with a 3-1 home victory over Austin FC.

“It means a lot, especially with this hard week,” said FC Dallas forward Petar Musa of the win. “We have a really hard schedule right now with so many games in a short time. I’m really happy because tonight we saw this team’s spirit, maybe we didn’t play that nice soccer, but we fought together as a team until the end. I’m happy for this teamwork and three points.”

Coach Luccin intended to make one change from the 2-0 win over LA Galaxy with Ema Twumasi dropping to the bench in favor of captain, Paul Arriola. The Frenchman was forced to slightly tweak that lineup as walking-wounded Asier Illarramendi was a late scratch with an ankle injury.

Paul Arriola admitted after the game that he only found out two minutes before warmups that he would change to a more advanced role, but there was plan in place as Illarramendi was going to be a game-time decision.

The team moved into more of a 4-4-2 with Arriola playing ahead of Twumasi down the right, and Tsiki Ntsabeleng playing as a dual-8 with Sebastian Lletget.

Anthony Ramirez signed on a short-term agreement with the possibility of FCD losing yet another central midfielder, and jumped up to the bench.

Nkosi Tafari and Ema Twumasi both made their 100th MLS regular season appearance, number 120 in all competitions for Kos and 150 for Ema.

Austin recorded a shot on target with an easy gather for Maarten Paes, but the first real chance for either side came in the 11th minute with the first goal of the game. As an Austin attack broke up, Tsiki Ntsabeleng pinged a long ball out of the defensive third for Logan Farrington to chase after. The rookie stood up Julio Cascante on the edge of the visiting box, and found the run of Paul Arriola on the far side of the area to slide the ball under Brad Stuver with a first-time effort.

The visitors pulled the score back just five minutes later through Gyasi Zardes. A mix up between the two Dallas center backs let Zardes wander into a lot of space in the middle. Dani Pereira picked out a neat pass from close to the center circle, and Zardes stuck it high inside the near post.

If the goal was a moment of to forget for the back line, the 24th minute brought something a little more positive. The beige-clad team broke down the Dallas right after Sebastian Lletget slipped while taking down a high ball. As Zardes, Owen Wolff, and Jader Obrian awaited the pass from Sebastian Driussi, Lletget and Marco Farfan combined to steal the ball away before Ntsabeleng dropped a shoulder to glide past Obrian and play out of danger.

Petar Musa tried to break free into the Austin box heading towards the half-hour mark. The Croatian forward went down under a challenge from two players, but despite his appeals, it looked more like he’d got himself tangled up attempting to pull the ball back rather than anything deserving of the referee’s attention.

Dallas channeled my home nation with an incredibly passive showing in the final 15 minutes of the first half. The Burn stuck in a mid block, but happily let Austin have the ball and attempt to find openings. Between somewhat stingy defense and some poor attacking, those gaps didn’t emerge before the break.

Coach later explained that as part of the game that didn’t come together for the side.

The second period started with two teams that simply looked exhausted. The game jumped into life in the 51st with a penalty for FC Dallas. Petar Musa juggled the ball on the edge of the box and an Austin arm made contact with the ball. The Moose saw his spot kicked pushed on to the post by Stuver, and Bernie Kamungo couldn’t steer a follow up header at goal.

Referee Armando Villareal immediately went to the monitor and deemed that Stuver came off his line early. Musa struck the retake in the top right corner with some venom. Things immediately boiled over in the aftermath as Petar Musa copped a yellow card that keeps him out of FCD’s next game. Nkosi Tafari also picked up a yellow card for his part in an incident that reduced Austin to ten men.

Julio Cascante initially saw red for a clash where Tafari was grabbed by the throat and ended up on the floor. On VAR review, Cascante was brought back with Driussi determined to be the culprit.

Peter Luccin made use of his bench soon after the goal, giving Musa some rest in favor of Carl Sainte. Musa had missed a few days through illness in the week.

The Huntsmen made the man advantage count in the 74th minute. Marco Farfan pushed the ball out wide left to Paul Arriola. The captain ran it into the Austin box, cutting back to his left back as the Austin defenders looked to block a potential Arriola shot. Farfan pushed the ball into the far corner past Stuver for his third career goal.

Austin went into damage control mode with a quadruple substitution in the 77th minute. Luccin got some fresh legs in with Eugene Ansah and Sam Junqua replaced Tsiki Ntsabeleng and Bernard Kamungo. Ansah moved high alongside Logan Farrington while Junqua was a straight swap on the left side of midfield.

Ansah should have added a fourth in the 81st minute, running clear off a pass from Sebastian Lletget, but failed to beat Stuver, opting for power over placement.

Maarten Paes didn’t require a masterclass, but still managed to stop a close range effort by Dani Pereira in the 84th minute.

The final changes came in the 87th minute. Goal scorers Marco Farfan and Paul Arriola took a seat with Omar Gonzalez and Dante Sealy coming into the game. Sealy immediately won a free kick on the edge of the Austin box as the team settled into a 3-4-3 shape to finish out the game.

With two VAR reviews, a retaken penalty, and a bunch of subs, fourth official Chris Penso showed 10 minutes stoppage time. There was a little more shouting after the final whistle from the visitors aimed at Nkosi Tafari, who didn’t seem to see what the fuss from a pair of visiting players was about. The FC Dallas defender brushed the incident off with “I play the game, and when the game’s over, I go home.”

The win sees Copa Tejas return to Frisco, but more importantly the result brings FC Dallas a point behind the playoff line with Minnesota United losing to two stoppage time goals against DC United.

2 Comments

  1. Musa has an outside shot of breaking single season goal record of 18 (Ferreira, Cooper). Logan Farrington is making me feel better about a future without Jesus. He’s not the same caliber but he’s looking better and better.

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