After being down 2 goals, 80 minutes into the game, FC Dallas secured a 3-3 draw against St. Louis City SC on the road at Energizer Park. The “Road Dawgs” secured a hard-fought point as they round out their 9-game road stretch.
Lineups and Tactics
After rolling with a heavily rotated lineup in their last game, Dallas sported a 3-4-3 formation with Jonathan Sirois in goal for his 7th start of the season. The backline saw two changes as Shaq Moore moved to LCB in place of Nolan Norris and Osaze Urhoghide (CB) replaced Lalas Abubakar.
The midfield saw Kaick and Ramiro paired as CM’s, while Bernard Kamungo (LWB) and Herman Johansson (RWB) started out wide on the wings. Up top, Santi Moreno and Joaquín Valiente played as dual-10’s.
Per usual, Petar Musa started at ST for the 17th time this season. The Croatian forward has 16 goals and 2 assists on the season. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Norris, who has 15 starts for FC Dallas in 2026.
The home side also maintained a 3-4-3 formation, with 35-year-old Roman Bürki in goal for his 20th start of the season. The backline consisted of Dante Polvara (LCB), Timo Baumgartl (CB), and Jaziel Orozco (RCB), who all earned another start.
Norwegian wingbacks Tomas Totland (LWB) and Conrad Wallem (RWB) played out wide on the wings, for their 13th and 19th starts, respectively. Midfielders Christopher Durkin and Daniel Edelman played further in the middle at CM.
Up top, Alexandru Matan played opposite Sang-Bin Jeong (RW) for his 2nd start of the season at LW. Simon Becher started as the team’s lone striker. Most notably absent for St. Louis was Marcel Hartel, who departed for Hannover 96 back on August 11th.
The Game
St. Louis opened up the scoring early, just 3 minutes into the game. As the home side progressed the ball forward, Totland found Jeong, who touched it forward to Becher. With his back to the goal, Becher’s fadeaway shot found the bottom left corner for the 1-0 lead.
Dallas answered right back, however, just 15 minutes later. In the 18th minute, Moore made a run down the left-hand side of the pitch. After losing the ball against Wallem, Moore regained possession and had his shot deflected in by Orozco for the equalizer.
Just before halftime, St. Louis regained their lead. In the 43rd minute, Matan played the ball to Becher, who then dribbled towards the box, shot, and had his shot saved by Sirois. The rebound bounced out to Edelman, who slipped between two Dallas defenders to tap the ball home. 2-1, St. Louis City.
“We started the game a little bit fish-out-of-water, but we regained ourselves to go 1-1 with a great goal by Shaq,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “The second goal was a tough one to give up before halftime, and we were sloppy in a lot of moments trying to regain possession and get ourselves out of our defending half.”
The home side doubled their lead in the 64th minute. After the ball was played out wide, St. Louis found themselves on a 4-on-3. Jeong played Wallem in toward goal, who then played the ball back across goal to Carlo Holse, who tapped it home to make it 3-1.
However, in the 81st minute, Dallas regained their footing. Valiente played a cross toward the box, where Sebastien Ibeagha found a pocket of space and headed home his 1st goal of the season to cut the lead down to one.
With only seconds remaining in the game, Dallas equalized. In the 7th minute of stoppage time, Norris played the ball towards Sam Sarver, who dummied it to Musa. Musa then turned, played it through to Logan Farrington, who blasted home his 7th goal of the season.
“I told him before the game to be ready to come in and get the game-winning goal, and he got the game-tying goal.” coach Quill said. “That’s what I’m most proud of with guys like Logan and the guys off the bench. Their contributions mattered tonight. Our subs made the difference, and it’s a credit to our team and our collective group.”
Despite being down two goals with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, FC Dallas found a way to secure a lone point on a 3-3 draw against one of the better opponents in the Western Conference, after the game was all but lost.
My Man of the Match, Shaq Moore, was a huge bright spot in tonight’s game for FC Dallas. He completed 93% of his 40 passes, had 6 defensive contributions, and had the lone goal for the away side in the first half.
“Yeah, it wasn’t our best night,” Moore said. “Obviously, it’s been a long couple of weeks with games on the road, but we dug deep. Even when the score wasn’t in our favor, we dug deep and were able to get a point at the end. I’m super proud of the guys.”
Up next, FC Dallas returns home to Toyota Stadium for the first time since May 13th to take on Sporting KC on Saturday, September 5th at 7:30 pm CT. SKC are currently 4-15-3 on the season.