In what turned out to be a dominant game from FC Dallas, the away side picked up a 4-0 win against DC United at Audi Field for their 3rd win of the season. Everybody for FCD seemed to want to get in on the scoring, with four different players finding the back of the net.
Lineups and Tactics
After a week off from Major League Soccer, the Burn returned to action with some tweaks to the lineup. Reviving their signature 5-3-2 formation, with Petar Musa returned alongside Logan Farrington, to complete the team’s Pairington of strikers.
In goal, Michael Collodi earned his 6th start of the regular season. On the backline, Sebastien Ibeagha replaced Herman Johansson, which allowed Shaq Moore to slide out wide to RWB. Opposite him, Bernard Kamungo started at LWB.
With Dallas returning to a two-striker formation, the midfield changed slightly. Christian Cappis and Joaquín Valiente were both on the bench after having started the last 3 games. Patrickson Delgado took on a more offensive role in the midfield as the team’s CAM.
For the home side, DC United held a 4-4-2 formation, one that Dallas had yet to see so far this season. In goal, Sean Johnson earned his 6th start, with the team’s leading goal scorer Tai Baribo starting up top. Jackson Hopkins started alongside Baribo to give DC United their own pair of strikers.
Defender Sean Nealis got his first start of the season at CB, alongside captain Lucas Bartlett, who started his 6th consecutive regular season game. Most notably absent from the lineup tonight was Kye Rowles, who had started every game prior to tonight for DC United.
The Game
Farrington kicked off the scoring in the game, as Ramiro played a beautiful ball over the top in the 16th minute, with the outside of his right foot. Farrington took a touch past the backline defender, still onside, and managed to curl the ball past Johnson for an early 1-0 lead.
“I saw there was a lot of space, Ramiro played a great ball,” Farrington said. “I kind of lost [the ball] for a second, but I found it, I was able to bring it down, and then just wanted to get an extra touch so I could get slotted near post past the keeper.”
Dallas doubled their lead in the 46th minute off another moment of brilliance. This time, Delgado stepped up to take the free kick after the foul on Ramiro. The Ecuadorian midfielder bent in a beautiful strike for his first of the season, and extended the Burn’s lead to 2-0.
“I thought the second goal, right before the half, was a really key goal for us,” Head coach Eric Quill said. “We dropped a two-goal lead last time against Houston, and we came out front-footed again, which I was really proud of, because I challenged them with that mentality to stay front-footed and not conserve the lead, but keep going for more.”
Quill’s dawgs weren’t quite done yet. In the 78th minute, Valiente played a cross in the box from out wide and picked out Osaze, who headed in his first goal of the season and gave Dallas a 3-0 lead.
In the 85th minute, the Burn’s newest signing, Santigo Moreno, made his debut and quickly made an impact on the field.
After Musa played a ball through to Moreno in the 91st minute, Moreno’s shot was blocked and deflected out to Musa. Mus then did what he does best, and tucked it away for the nail in the coffin and the final goal of the game. A dominant 4-0 win for FC Dallas.
“We can feel good about this [win] tonight, and every opponent is tough,” Coach Quill said. “We got better and better as the game went on, and I thought we killed the game off really beautifully with some really good football. And I think hopefully made our fans proud.”
Although there were a ton of options for Man of the Match tonight, one player who I felt like doesn’t get enough love sometimes is Ramiro. Not only did he find Farrington for the first goal of the game, but he also drew the foul that led to the second goal. Not to mention, he completed 81% of his passes and added two clearances to his stat line. Bravo, Ramiro!
Up next, FC Dallas returns home to Toyota Stadium to take on St. Louis City SC on Saturday, April 11th at 7:30 pm CT. The Timbers are currently 1-3-2 on the season.
